The Mysterious Child: An Adventure Tale Beginning with Numerology

 ------------------------

Author Notes:

  [Today's two updates. 2/2]

------------------------

"No... way..."

I was stunned, unable to move.

Roze was gone.

Elenora had collapsed from mana exhaustion.

We were surrounded by countless Gray Wolves and their superior species, Garm Wolves.

As if that situation wasn't critical enough, before us stood the pack leader commanding these beasts—a giant winged monster, the "Celestial Wolf" Marcosias.

Despair began to show its face.

"Ru... ruk... run..."

The A-rank monster, which even Elenora's maximum firepower couldn't scratch, looked down at us as if we were mere insects.

Certainly, if I abandoned Elenora, there might be a one in a million chance of escape.

...But I just can't do that. There's no way I could.

Suppressing my trembling legs, I pushed my unreliable 9-year-old body to its limits.

If I ran away here, I would be disgracing the face of... Ruruk Muuteru!

Nanairo Gaku—I—have died once before.

So, on this soul and on Ruruk's pride, I will never abandon my comrades.

"Grrrr..."

Seeing my determination, Marcosias slowly opened its mouth.

Purple lightning ran through the giant monster's red maw.

Magic was coming. And it was going to be devastating.

A direct hit would likely leave nothing, not even bones.

Knowing this, yet still not averting my eyes, I shouted.

The last resort to survive.

The greatest technique I could muster now.

"'Lore Manifestation'!"

—In that instant, the world connected.

□ □ □ □ □

The time rewinds to the previous day.

"...What a run-down town this is."

We entered the Kingdom of Stoania after crossing the forest.

Normally, one would enter through a checkpoint on the main road, but apparently, there are no checkpoints between Stoania and the Kingdom of Mataisa.

I thought, "Is this really okay for another world?"... but it seems other countries do have normal checkpoints, and the treaty between Stoania and Mataisa is special. There are no tariffs on industrial technology and food imports/exports, and the economic movement of goods is liberalized. Accompanying this, taxes on human movement have also been abolished, and you only need to show identification when entering a town. It's somewhat reminiscent of the EU.

As a result, entering from anywhere doesn't constitute illegal entry, so we took this shortcut.

Well, let's set aside the fact that we probably would have taken the shortcut even if it wasn't allowed.

After crossing the border and proceeding for a while, we hit the main road. Following it, we arrived at Freia, the southernmost town in the Kingdom of Stoania.

Upon showing our identification documents and entering the town, we immediately headed for the Adventurers' Guild. Along the way, there were no street markets, and every street seemed deserted.

Despite being a fairly large town, the atmosphere felt somewhat depressed.

The reason for this was quickly explained to us when we reached the Adventurers' Guild.

"...A large horde of monsters?"

"That's right, little boy. Recently, a lot of wolf monsters have settled in a valley west of here. Because of that, the nearby farming villages have suffered quite a bit of damage. It seems the royal capital has sent subjugation teams several times, but they've all failed. So everyone's anxious, you know? It looks like many people are leaving town too... I might run away myself."

The young receptionist sighed.

Wolves again, huh.

Wolves in the south in Teruzu territory of the Kingdom of Mataisa, wolves here, and the ones that attacked Elenora's hometown were also wolves. We seem to have a lot of connections with wolf-type monsters.

"Oh, by the way, where was Elenora's hometown again?"

"Mm, north side of Restamia."

The Kingdom of Restamia is southwest of the Kingdom of Mataisa. The north side of that isn't too far from here, I suppose.

Which means, perhaps the cause of the wolf monster outbreaks in these three locations might be the same.

Then the receptionist, resting her chin on her hand, said:

"The north side of the Kingdom of Restamia... I've heard rumors that everywhere there has been suffering from monster attacks recently... Did you escape here too, little miss?"

"Mm, that's right."

"You came from the Kingdom of Mataisa side, right? Or was it the Dragon Duchy of Bargia?"

"We're from Mataisa."

"I see, that makes sense. If you came from Bargia, you'd have to pass through that valley I mentioned. You made the right choice with that route. I'm glad children like you are safe."

We continued chatting with the bored-looking receptionist for a while longer, and in return, she gave us information about recommended inns. The sun was about to set, so we had no intention of taking on any quests today.

We told Roze about the inn information and headed there.

The recommended inn was an unassuming place with a tavern on the first floor.

The tavern was deserted, so we decided to at least have dinner there since we were staying. Elenora and I ordered the innkeeper's recommendation.

It was a simple dish of thin, long pasta-like noodles topped with stewed meat and vegetables. The seasoning was just salt and chili pepper, so it wasn't particularly delicious, but Roze taught us that in places like this, it's good enough if it's not bad. They probably think it's wasteful to use spices since it's not a specialty restaurant.

"Mm... Ruruk's is tastier."

"Please don't make it sound like my meat is delicious."

And so, on the day we arrived in Freia, we soon went to bed.

The next morning, I was alone at the Adventurers' Guild early.

When I asked Roze, she said there was no reason to stay in this town, so we were planning to move on to the next town soon. I thought it would be good to take on a transport quest to earn some points, so I came to check the quest board.

Unfortunately, there were no transport quests I could accept, and as I was slumping my shoulders in disappointment, yesterday's receptionist came over.

"Oh, it's you from yesterday. What brings you here so early?"

"We're heading to the next town, so I came to see if there were any transport quests... but as expected, there aren't many F-rank quests."

"That's right. The timing is bad now... Oh, I know, little boy."

"It's Ruruk."

"Ruruk-kun, do you have a little time? If you want to earn points, I have a small quest here."

The receptionist was waving some papers, as if she was about to post a new request.

"Is it an F-rank quest?"

"That's right. And it's something you can do right away."

"Let me see!"

I took the paper the receptionist handed me and checked the contents.

The task was "Deliver a Letter." It was to be delivered from this guild to the soldier's post at the west gate. However, the letter was sprayed with perfume, and women were prohibited from carrying it. Even men who were unclean adventurers were forbidden.

What a strange request.

As I was tilting my head in confusion, the receptionist lowered her voice.

"It's a request from a young girl, and it seems to be a love letter. That's why women aren't allowed, and smelly people are prohibited too."

"Ah, I see."

"So the task itself is simple, but because there are many specifications, they made it an F-rank. Ruruk-kun, you fit the conditions, so could you deliver it?"

"Yes! I'll go right away!"

This is lucky.

The sleepyhead Elenora is probably still asleep, so I have enough time to go to the west gate.

I received the letter to be delivered from the receptionist, had my guild card checked, and immediately left the Adventurers' Guild.

As expected, I arrived at the west gate quickly.

It seemed to coincide with the soldiers' shift change time, as I could see soldiers entering and leaving the guardhouse.

I approached the guardhouse with the letter to hand it over. At first, the soldier looked suspicious, but after seeing the addressee and sender, he grinned and called another soldier inside, teasing him as he handed over the letter. The called soldier received the love letter with a bright red face.

Nice, it's springtime.

I want riajuu to explode, but I love young boys and girls who are one step away from being riajuu and experiencing youth. The BIG 3 handsome guys? They're riajuu from birth, so they don't count.

I got a signature of receipt and turned on my heel triumphantly.

That's when it happened.

"Monsters! Monsters have appeared!"

A loud voice came from outside the west gate. Indeed, through the open gate, I could see a single wolf.

It was a battered and bloody wolf, but it was slowly walking towards us.

"Close the gate immediately! Inform the Adventurers' Guild, the south gate, and the north gate!"

Bells rang out, and the gate began to close immediately.

Fortunately, no one was near the gate yet, so it closed without confusion. Of course, the wolf monster didn't get in either. It doesn't seem like it will turn into a major problem.

While mentally commending the soldiers giving orders from atop the outer wall and those running to their respective positions, I returned to the Adventurers' Guild.

I wonder if that wolf from earlier was part of the recently rumored pack.

But it was too battered and beaten up for that. It looked almost as if it was running away from something.

Hmm... Could there have been hunters? Or is the kingdom's subjugation team nearby?

"Well, there's no use thinking about it."

Anyway, I should get the quest completion confirmed.

Thinking that, I returned to the Adventurers' Guild, only to find it in a flurry of activity.

Amidst the bustling voices flying about, I had the receptionist confirm my quest and received the reward.

"They say a monster appeared outside the gate? That's scary, isn't it? Did you see it, Ruruk-kun?"

"Yes, it was a wolf. It looked pretty beaten up though."

"A monster was? That's even scarier, isn't it?"

"Why is that?"

"Because if an already dangerous monster is beaten up, doesn't that mean there's an even stronger monster out there?"

Ah, I see.

That way of thinking is natural.

It's not just humans who defeat monsters, after all.

As I was nodding in understanding, a man burst into the guild and shouted with his first breath:

"Urgent message! An A-rank monster has appeared in the northern area! Emergency quest orders for all C-rank and above adventurers in town!"

"A-rank!? Isn't that a job for the knights?!"

Whoa.

It seems things are starting to get quite serious.