Kapitel 5: Underage Adventurer

After arriving in Elsvaert, we ditch Vale. That is to say, we leave him at a hospice to be healed, and head towards the guild headquarters. According to Elizabeth, the guild is an organization of intelligent beings, like humans and elves, which aims to keep other intelligent beings safe. It's basically your standard adventurer's guild.

Entering the guild, I'm surprised by its cleanliness and apparent structure. There are people milling around, but it all seems very organized. Most adventurer's guilds I've seen are dingy and filled with what you might call "ruffians." We approach the desk and a woman about Elizabeth's age looks up at us.

"Good morning, miss. Sir. How can I help the two of you today?"

She's very deferential and reminds me of a personal secretary, though I'm not sure how I know that. Have I ever even met one? Elizabeth replies to the woman.

"He wants to register."

"Ah, I see."

The woman looks down at me, curiously.

"And might I ask how old you are, sir?"

"Fifteen."

That's a lie, of course. This body is 14, but Elizabeth mentioned that the minimum age to register is 15. I'm lucky that this world doesn't have the infrastructure to verify that. I'm just hoping that my manners are good enough to convince her.

"Very good. And what is your name, sir?"

"Sebastian"

"Your surname, too, if you please, sir?"

"Malt"

"Sebastian Malt. Thank you, mister Malt."

She's marking down my answers on a piece of paper, as I give them. She asks a few more questions, and I am weighed and measured. She copies all the answers down on a second piece of paper, marks both of them with a stamp, and hands one to me.

"Thank you for registering. Please choose your first assignment on the board to your left, mister Malt. Please note that you may only choose F- to H-level assignments, as an unranked adventurer."

"Thank you."

Looking at the paper, I notice that she's written down a detailed description of my appearance. I suppose it's to prevent impersonation. Clever. It is potentially problematic, but I don't think anybody is going to figure out that I'm Stencil just from this. We pick out a quest - sorry, assignment - from the board. Slime hunting.

Slimes are cute, if quite literally brainless. However, they're rather unpopular, since they travel in large groups and tend to get armor all sticky.

Neither Elizabeth nor I care, so we go to the location where they were spotted.

On the way there, however, Elizabeth suddenly stops in her tracks. For a second, I think she's spotted more monsters, but I don't feel any around, so that can't be it.

"Sebastian," she says.

"Hm?"

"I have a question for you."

I pause and look back at her. Odd, she doesn't usually build up her conversations like this. Is she trying to be cautious?

"Who are you?"

What?

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"I saw you."

Saw me where? Doing what?

"I don't understand. Are you trying to be funny again?"

"No."

Alright, this is making me kind of concerned.

"That spell."

What? The barrier spell I used against the greater monster? She saw it, so what? It shouldn't have been anything special. Not to mention, it broke just a few seconds after I cast it.

"The barrier spell? What about it?"

"No."

What the hell does she mean, "No." This is starting to get annoying.

"I haven't cast any other spells. I'm 15 years old. I don't have a large enough mana store for it."

"..."

She just stands still, gazing at me, with that blank expression on her face.

"Nevermind," she says, and keeps going.

What in the world is happening?

"Hold on, where are you going?"

"To kill slimes."

"No, we were in the middle of a conversation. You can't just walk away after being so strange."

"..."

I wait, holding onto her arm to prevent her from leaving. We stand there for a bit, and just as I'm starting to feel like a pleading child, she finally speaks up.

"You made it run away."

Huh?

"No, you cut off its fang and it ran away. You told me yourself, remember?"

"No. I cut off its fang. It also ran away. Both things happened, but they were not related. You made it run away."

Is she losing her mind?

"Earlier today, you used magic, too."

"What in the world are you going on about? I haven't used any magic. I told you, I don't have a big enough mana store."

It seems I let a bit of my annoyance slip into my voice. I force it back.

"I've never seen goblins act like that before," she says.

Now it's my turn to be silent.

"And to appear out of nowhere? That should be impossible."

Sure, but that doesn't mean it has any connection with me. He was probably just lying because he got caught off guard or...

"In fact, I've only seen it twice."

Huh? Twice?

"Earlier today was the second. The first was 5 days ago. At your mansion."

That isn't possible. That simply. Isn't. Possible. The greater monster didn't appear out of thin air. I felt the its mana approaching us, right? Right? Didn't I?

Either way, the appearance of the greater monster wasn't because of anything I did. I know what casting magic feels like, and I've only done it once in this world, which was the barrier spell *after* the beast appeared. I manage to calm myself a bit, and form a retort.

"I can understand why you might think that, but they're just coincidences. I really haven't cast any magic besides the barrier spell. I assure you."

I might be reassuring myself a little bit here, too.

"..."

Elizabeth continues her blank silence, but her gaze feels somehow different now. I'm not sure what kind of feeling it's expressing, but it is, at the very least, less suspicious than before.

"I see. Maybe you're right. Sorry about that. We can go kill those slimes now."

Somehow, I get the feeling that she doesn't actually believe me.

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Kapitel 6: Reaching Out To The Gods

It's been about 6 months since Elizabeth brought up her theory that I am responsible for the odd occurrences happening around us. She hasn't mentioned it since then. There have been a few other instances of strange happenings in the area, though. Two other, separate, adventurer groups claim to have witnessed monster spawns, too.

Despite this, we've been doing well as adventurers together. After our bout with the slimes, we took on assignments to eradicate goblins, orcs, salamanders, and a bunch of other monsters. This eventually raised me to J-rank. Elizabeth tells me that she is an H-rank adventurer, herself. It seems quite low, though, when I take into account her considerable strength. She may be lying.

The guild headquarters allows an individual to review our attributes, statuses, and abilities in a readable format. Unfortunately, only the individual can see it. No exceptions. Trust me, I've tried to find a way to look at Elizabeth's since I found out about it.

I won't bother you with the exact numbers. Currently, my stats lie a bit above the average numbers listed out at the guild. The sole exception to this is my mana. For some reason, it hasn't gone up at all. It's exactly the same as when I started. This is concerning.

I'm just on my way to the guild to pick up a new assignment, when I spot a familiar face. It's Vale. I haven't seen him since we left him at the hospice after we first arrived. He spots me and, waving, walks in my direction.

"Hey! Sebastian!"

"Hello, Vale."

"Wow, it's been ages, kid."

Right. The "kid" thing. I almost forgot. You'd think he'd have more respect for the person that literally saved his life.

"Where're you headed?" he asks, curiously. "Is that lady - what's her name - Elizabeth, not with you?"

"I'm going to the guild. As for Elizabeth, I don't know. I haven't seen her this morning."

"Oh, I see. That's too bad. I was looking for her."

It's been 6 months. Why would he be looking for Elizabeth now?

"Why?"

"I wish to pray to the gods, but the cathedral won't let me in without someone to vouch for me, since I'm an elf. I was hoping she would."

A cathedral? I didn't know there was one around here. In the other worlds, I have been able to contact the gods for short periods in churches dedicated to them. Perhaps it's about time I had a talk with them about this mess.

"I can vouch for you," I say.

"Really? You would do that? Are you even old enough?"

"I am 15."

Still not technically true, but I'm a lot closer now. I guess you could say it's slightly less of a lie.

"Brilliant! When do you have time?"

"Now is good."

So we go to the cathedral. It was quite a bit off the beaten path, so it's no wonder I wasn't aware of it. I vouch for Vale to the adventurers guarding it, using my J-rank adventurer's registration as proof of trust. For such a small town, the church is quite large, and has several colorful stained glass pictures. I separate from Vale in the main hall and enter a private room of prayer.

It's been a while, but I've done it often enough to remember the routine. I sit down on my legs and close my eyes, focusing on the god of nature, Gaia. Slowly, I count to 10, as I let out a deep breath. I sit still for a few seconds until a gentle, motherly voice speaks to me.

"Hm? You're here rather early. You have not defeated the demon lord yet, have you?"

I open my eyes to the sight of an astonishingly beautiful lady. She truly looks like the embodiment of the words "mother" and "nature." Pretty in every sense of the word, with vines and leaves covering her blatant nudity.

"No."

"Then? Surely, you're not here expecting an early reward. You know better than to try that again."

Right. That was one of my earliest mistakes. Shortly after I was reincarnated as Number 3, I yearned to see Princess Sofia again and, despite the gods' earlier warnings, asked them to show me her before I had defeated the demon lord. I don't remember what they did to me, but attempting to recall it causes me to wince.

"It's not that. I have a question about the world you sent me to."

"Oh? And what would that be?"

"About 6 months ago, a greater monster appeared near my home, destroying it, and killing my mother and father."

"..."

"A few days later, a man claimed to witness monsters spawn. In the days since, several more people have claimed the same thing. All of these occurrences have been within my rough vicinity. Not closely, but within a few kilometers at most."

"And? What is your question?"

"Do you know what the cause is?"

"I do."

Finally. Some answers. I wait for her reply with baited breath. After a few seconds, as if considering the right way to put it, she speaks up.

"Stencil Marakov's body is broken. His mana store is pierced. Or, rather, punctured. All the mana you have accumulated is leaking from his body with every passing day."

"May I ask why you provided me with a broken body?"

"How dare you think so lowly of us? We did no such thing."

"My apologies. I was merely inquiring."

The pressure she emanates makes me automatically fall back into the deferential tone I used as Number 2. Even after all these years, I can't stand up to the gods.

"If I may ask, then, how did the body break?"

"You do not know?"

She sounds almost scornful. You'd think Mother Earth would be kind and motherly, but this is the presence of a bully with far too much power; not a mother.

"Please, enlighten me," I say.

"You broke Stencil Marakov's body. You used a spell far above your limits. It was too much for a newly grown mana store and it snapped into pieces. In your pathetic fear and ignorance, you crushed it. As long as you live in this world, you will be unable to use any magic."

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