Chapitre 11: Arc 1, Chapter 11: Early Birds~

That night was the first night the other adventurers actually noticed them. They actively went out to search for a velatos despite being an under-levelled party and came back with its corpse.

The others didn't grovel at their feet or question them over the next couple of days, but at least they no longer stared at them with a lowered gaze.

With their new found mini-fortune, they decided not to tackle on a velatos till they were recovered from the last one.

Over the two days, Hotaru filed in her paperwork to resign from being a lawyer, becoming a full-time adventurer.

Jotou, with not much else to do other than contemplate reasons she's here, realized she should at least work on herself before continuing. Those squishy arms could barely beat a gust of wind.

She surveyed the equipment in the guild's training facilities filled with weights to lift, bows to fire and swords to swing. The smell of sweat burned the air.

Upon closer inspection, it was obvious that mostly, if not only, male members were in the area.

A quick look at the registered guild members would show that a lot of women used simple magics and were mages. There were many outliers, but they clearly weren't here… Wonder what the reason was…?

'I think the last time I went to the gym was to impress a girl who didn't even know I existed… Maybe I should've tried talking to her before buying that membership I never used.' She walked in.

Her eyes darted between all the heavy lifters and archers as she beelined to the dumbbells. She lifted one off the rack, showing how easily she could curl… the smallest one there.

'How long have I not worked out? Wait a minute, I'm in the body of a woman who was dead and kind of a noble.' Her thoughts contrasted her confident smile. Sweat already began to drip after six mere seconds.

The others peered over; were they gawking at a pretty woman? Or that the blonde was already gritting her teeth?

'Time to take it up a notch!' Jotou switched. The dumbbell barely lifted off the rack, "HNGY!" Jotou's eyes went side-to-side before her smirk wavered.

Two hands would surely do it! Grabbing it with both, she tried to lift- "Tung!" Managing to at least lift it a bit off of the rack…

Jotou hid her panting. A man approached, curling a weight much bigger than the one Jotou was attempting to take on, "You need some help there?"

Jotou glanced over, "Actually, I'm never stepping foot in here again. But I'll lift much heavier than you at some point," a scowl in her tone. 'Ugh! Do you really need to show off how I can't lift something so 'light'!?'

"Well, you are useful here. Gives us motivation."

'What does that mean-' Jotou glanced around the room to see their stares, "Huagh," Jotou verbalized, hurling at the man's words. Jotou Howllett was never seen in the guild gym ever again…

Fumeko? She was pretty easy to find; at least when dishes were being served. The real question was, where did all that food go?

She spent the two days eating in her room; sometimes she even ate in the hall if one was so lucky to be greeted by her presence.

Although Hotaru assured that there was no serious injury to any part of her body, anybody telling her that will be greeted with-

"I RAN AROUND RISKING MY LIFE! MY SOUL IS TIRED, I NEED REST!" -the same response…

The following morning the three could be found at the guild hall, eating their morning meals.

"And this time, it won't break!" Jotou finally had found a sword from the pile of old weapons that looked decent.

"You say that," the brunette munched on more eggs, "But then it's going to ting, ting, ting away into the sea again."

"Whatever, as long as it helps with any velatos we fight today," Jotou put it away in a sheath, "Right Hotaru?"

Hotaru looked up from the morning paper, "Mhm. I doubt your sword would do much but if you need something that will fall apart, why not a wooden spear instead?"

Jotou's eyes glazed over, "I'm gonna go find a commission," the chair edged back.

"Oh, let me join you then," Hotaru followed.

"Hey! Wait up!" she began devouring the food before her, stealing from Hotaru's half-eaten plate as well. Fumeko's eyes caught sight of the paper Hotaru left on the table—her pupils dilated.

Hotaru and Jotou were soon joined by a speeding purple visage who hopped up behind them, putting an arm on both of their shoulders, "The circus is in town! Can we go!? Please, please, please!"

"No." Jotou's immediate shut down—"Thump!"—made Fumeko fall to the floor.

"We have the Velatos Case we barely know about, why I can somehow kill them and the mystery of how the heck did I get here. How's a circus even fitting in that supposed detective head of yours?"

Fumeko's eyes shifted to Hotaru while still laying on the ground—arms and legs spread apart like a dead frog.

"Jotou's right, we have other priorities. Besides, circuses stay a while so we can go at some point," Hotaru bartered before looking to Jotou.

"Sure, I've gotten over my fear of clowns. Still, I'm not wasting time going to a circus," Jotou inspected the notice board. Fumeko stared at the ceiling and whinged to herself.

Only now did Jotou realize, all the papers from afar, were in fact torn and or outdated. "There's not a single commission," she took a second look.

Fumeko jumped up, "Not even a velatos one? Who would take those?"

"It's certainly strange; maybe the clerk hasn't posted any?" Hotaru supposed before they found themselves at the front desk.

"Oh? You're just in luck. I was about to pin this up," the clerk handed over a commission poster and what appeared to be a flyer stapled to it…

'Zayexiwovu Circus!' the title of it read as Jotou quickly hid it from Fumeko.

"May I know the list of current adventuring parties in Kria?" Hotaru requested.

"Oh, certainly. Here is the updated public list," the clerk took a sheet off of the clipboard.

They returned to their seats, "What's with the list?" Jotou queried whilst Hotaru examined it thoroughly. Jotou's hand kept pushing Fumeko's head away from the flyer in her other hand.

"Let me see!"

"I was gonna ask what parties took the velatos commissions, but that might've been more private. With this, I can assume… Grayfence? Bulhebedin? Inoxinon?" Hotaru read some of the party names.

Fumeko settled down, her curiosity peering elsewhere, "What's wrong with those names? It's not like we have one."

"I've kept track of the Krian Adventurers Guild's parties for as long as I can remember and I've never heard of these parties before and look," she pointed the sheet to the other two, "Those three are considered master level parties."

"So?"

"Only master level casters or parties have even dented a velatos, excluding you… Kria, currently only has one high ranking adventuring party, the Lexokodac who're also master level.

These parties are clearly transferred from outside of Kria. With the recent increase in velatos related commissions, the guild must've hired some outside help to deal with them. One armite can make anyone interested real quick," Hotaru set the paper aside.

Jotou tilted her head, "Okay? That opens up an easier path for us to figure out how I ended up here and bring safety to Kria. Isn't that a good thing?"

"They'll take away the fame we can acquire," Hotaru stated.

"They'll take all our money!" Fumeko stated.

"Anyway, we'll only get more information by facing the velatos themselves not investigating post-mortem. And… money is nice."

Jotou sighed, "I wasn't expecting us to quit either way," she paused. 'What am I even saying? They're right. The easiest way forward is for us to seize the opportunity first.'

Jotou smiled, "After all, I think our party's being severely underestimated. That glory and money is ours!" she slammed the flyer down on the table.