บท 18: A Fine Addition

"A companion. Her name's Yukina." Albrecht simply answered. Fortunately, he was rational enough to put a cap on Yukina so no one would see her snake hair. Then again, it was an unnecessary gesture since Yukina could hide her snake hair.

She had no idea why Albrecht put on a cap on her head, but she didn't see anything wrong with it so she went with the gesture. She didn't complain at all.

"I see, she looks familiar... hmm... in any case, why don't we head inside. We're going to give you the terms of the contract, and then we can negotiate whether you like the contract or not." Cainsz said as he grabbed Albrecht by the shoulder and led him inside the guild.

"Unfortunately, the guild master is not here to greet you, but he was the one who put up the terms on the contract for this quest. Of course, he gave us the freedom to alter the contract if ever you're not satisfied with it. You don't have to worry, we're open to negotiations so just voice out any concern you have."

The hospitality slightly weirded Albrecht out since he wasn't used to such a fine welcome. Most of the time, he would just stay behind the Heroes of Relics, and whenever they went somewhere, people and adventurers alike would open up a path for them.

It was a display of reverence and fear... with fear being most prominent since the Heroes of Relics are a force to be reckoned with. No one would want to cross such powerful figures so they'd rather bow their heads than get accused of disrespect.

Despite being a porter, Albrecht was treated equally by Cainsz, and it gave him a good image of the party leader of the Heroes of Lomenschwaal.

"Cainsz! Is he here?" A cheerful voice broke the silence as soon as they entered the guild. It came from a petite girl with blond hair and blue eyes. Her features resemble that of a princess in fantasy novels, and her vibrant nature filled the guild as soon as she appeared.

"I'm Marilynn, nice to finally meet you, Albrecht." The girl called out. Although she was shorter than Albrecht, Albrecht could tell that they were more or less the same age. "You're going to join us, right? Right?"

"Come on, Mar, don't force him. Then again, we're more than ready to alter the terms should you find some of them unpleasant."

So far, Albrecht never received a bad stare from the people he met in Lomenschwaal. Despite their indifferent nature to the neighboring cities and villages outside, they weren't that cold at all when it came to welcoming new people.

Their mindset was realistic though. After all, the cities and villages chose to stay outside the kingdom. They could seek protection from the kingdoms whenever they wanted but they chose not to.

"Hold on, please seat yourself, Albrecht. Have you eaten? If you want we can order food from the nearby tavern. Their mushroom gratin is to die for."

"Mushroom gratin? What's that?" Yukina asked, whispering at Albrecht as if she wouldn't be overheard by Cainsz and Marilynn herself.

"Oh, are you interested? Then let's order some! We can have some sparkling ginger while we're at it. I'm sure you wouldn't want to drink alcohol while going over the terms of contracts, right?" Cainsz called out, pointing a finger at Albrecht before telling the entrance guard to order some food for all of them present.

Since the entrance guard was still on the duty assisting Albrecht, he didn't pass up the chance to take a break from boorishly watching the kingdom entrance. He took the order with much enthusiasm.

Cainsz disappeared for a couple of moments, telling everyone that he would look for the contract by the guild master's office. "You don't have to entertain Marilynn over there. Normally, she'd bombard a new face with a plethora of questions. Just ignore her." Cainsz advised, causing Marilynn to pout before turning at Albrecht.

"..."

"So... why were you kicked out?" She asked as soon as Cainsz got out of the room.

Before Albrecht could say anything though, the door to the room opened once again and Cainsz's face peered through the gap with his brows furrowed. "Don't ask him too much questions. He's exhausted. And Albrecht, need I remind you not to entertain her?" Cainsz warned the two of them but he snorted out a chuckle before closing the door.

"Your hair looks nice. Very well, I'll allow you to become my master's subordinate... or you can be his concubine, whichever you prefer." Yukina said, crossing her arms while she stared down at Marilynn.

"How daring... aren't there any requirements about becoming your master's subordinate? And just to be clear... you were referring to Albrecht when you said 'master' right?"

Yukina nodded her head before Albrecht could refute what she was saying. This time, it was Marilynn who had the last laugh.

"So... you're into that kind of thing huh..." Marilynn coquettishly covered her mouth as she let out a gentle 'hoh-hoh'.

"Whatever it is you're thinking, it's not what it is. She was the one who decided to be my master, not me." Albrecht said with all seriousness written on his face. This was not a misunderstanding he wanted to come by, that's why he had to outright reject the notion no matter what.

"It's true. Albrecht is the only one fitting to be my master." Yukina muttered.

A couple of seconds filled with awkward silence passed by before Marilynn cleared her throat. "Going back to the question... why were you kicked out of the party? Is it because they think they didn't need a porter?"

Albrecht nodded. That was one of the reasons, but it wasn't the whole story behind his banishment.

First of all, he didn't bother getting stronger, and he just did the bare minimum. Of course, he did all he could to support the entire party, even going out of his way to monitor their diet and their finances so they would be able to sustain themselves as a group. But now, with him gone, he could only expect the worse.

"But tell me something... you were hiding your power, didn't you?" Marilynn asked out of nowhere, and Albrecht felt the temperature in the room drop a couple of degrees as Marilynn asked a pressing question.