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Chapter 9: Guild

“There’s a vacant spot next to Zeph, would you like to sit there?”

I’m arbitrarily determined.

The girl who identified herself as Milly walked towards me while her twintails shook.

We made eye contact, and with a triumphant smile, she took her seat next to mine.

“Now that that’s finished let’s start the lesson!”

Everyone who heard Claire-sensei’s voice spread out their textbooks.

Milly seems to participate in the lesson seriously, while I went to asleep.

Immediately after it became rest time, I tried to listen in on Milly’s conversations while staying still.

What the hell are you plotting? My so-called classmate Milly.

She’s a transfer student, but she has this rare aspect to her that draws people to her.

Soon there was a crowd forming beside me.

“Where are you from Milly-chan?”

“Your clothes are so cute! Where’d you get them?”

“Hey, you’re from Berita right? That’s where my mom is from you know~”

As if soothing the noisy children, Milly responded in a dignified voice.

“My father works as a mage in the nearby town, and now that we live so close I was enrolled here to this school.”

“What a joke.”

The air froze.

Crap, I let my real thoughts slip.

“What did I do to be patronized like this, Zeph-kun? Well?”

To Milly that said so with an innocent voice, I responded with turning my upper body away.

“If you want to talk to me, can you not use all these roundabout tricks? If that’s what you want we can just leave now you know?”

“That’s an interesting proposal, but seeing that class is about to start how about we do this later?”

What’s with this girl, to be so good at acting.

I’m bad at acting though, they’re only children so who cares what they think?

For now, I’ll just ride with this.

*Ha~tsu* “Fine, I’ll wait for you after school.”

I immediately put my head down after, and started imitating a sleeping person’s breathing.

I could hear people’s conversations. ‘The guy sitting next to Milly-chan is dangerous!’ and so on…

I’m dangerous? If I’m dangerous, then this fellow sitting beside me is just as dangerous.

She’s about 12 years old or so? Even if she’s slightly older than me, she’s still just a brat.

Though the magic emanating from beside me isn’t something some random brat would have either.

Although she said her father’s a mage, that probably has no real influence on her identity, she’s quite the ominous brat…

– After school.

Milly and I stand face-face behind the school.

As if testing the waters, classmates who heard about us were staring from afar.

It’s a bit regrettable, but it’s good I can just brush this off as some kind of lovers quarrel.

“The first time I saw you, you were doing battle at the Decayed Church.”

“Oh? …you look just like any other kid, so why were you hunting there?”

“I wasn’t, I was scouting for my guild ‘Hunters of the Blue Sky.’”

“I see…”

Hunting grounds for beginners are, for the most part where guilds can ask solo hunters if they want to join them.

A collection of adventurers who come together create a guild, because it’s difficult to work alone. Items, broader range of work, and mutual cooperation with guildmates can be easily obtained. Well, guilds have always been that sort of thing.

Though this is only true if you ignore the guilds that just act lazily, apparently there are even guilds that treat their members like troops in a platoon instead of equal leaders. There aren’t just good guilds.

Many different things can be born when people gather.

“‘Hunters of the Blue Sky’, that’s its name right? ‘Cause I’ve never heard of them, and the name’s meaning is weird.”

“Huh?! Th-the name’s not weird…! ‘Hunters of the Blue Sky’ is really cool you know?!”

“Stupid, just because the words sound nice when you put them together doesn’t mean that the name is good. I can tell you made it yourself.”

‘What a jerk’… Milly held her tongue.

She’s only a brat, it would take over a hundred years for her to win in a verbal quarrel against me.

“Ha~a… I’m not used to talking like this let’s just talk normally. Okay, so what are your intentions? Oh and just call me Zeph, ‘cause I’ll be calling you Milly from now on.”

Kids who pretend to be grown-ups are nothing but cheeky.

Trying to fool me from the start, how stupid.

Invitations themselves are good, but not if they were to some random guild.

“For guild invitations, I have no interest in joining.”

“…really?”

With energetic eyes, Milly stared at me, but I was determined not to enter any guilds that could only be detrimental in the long run.

Of course, that’s because there are always strings attached.

“First of all, joining a guild will cost me my freedom. I hate being tied down. For example if there was some meeting happening I’ll go depending on whether I think it’s too tiring or not.”

“Okay, that’s no problem.”

Oh? My demand got recognized.

Unexpectedly this guild would let me keep my peace of mind, but at least if I join, there’s a high probability of it becoming beneficial for me.

“I want to be able to leave at anytime, if I don’t feel like staying anymore then I can quit when I want.”

“Okay, that’s no problem either.”

There’s no problem here either.

There’s no reason to refuse it anymore.

If I’m going to join a guild why not this one?

Zombie hunting will become less efficient over time, but if I get accustomed to fighting in a party now, it will be much more beneficial for me in the future

We could leave the city of Nanami, so that we could find an even better hunting grounds to train.

“Then, can I be the guildmaster of the group?”

“That’s not possible, in ‘Hunters of the Blue Sky’ I’m the guildmaster.”

So that’s how it is.

I feel kind of bad, somehow.

Telling her that the name of the guild was stupid, when she probably put a lot of effort into making it.

“For the guildmaster to personally invite me, I’m honoured.”

“You’re not joking, right?”

“It’s not uncommon for people to want someone as excellent as I am.”

“As if!”

At the very least its not a lie.

I’ll stay for at least a decade or so.

“Though I said that, other people have accepted your invitations right?”

“Umm…”

“Oh well, why don’t we get started?”

Guild, joined.

Although I could’ve joined any of the other big guilds, it would be a lot simpler to train in a small one like ‘Hunters of the Blue Sky’.

*Gosugosu* While I was thinking things like that, Milly was rummaging through her pockets for something.

Hey, what’re you doing in front of your guild member, keep your pockets organized.

…Well, even if I say this I’m kind of a slob myself.

“Here we go~! Crystal circle rings~!”

It’s a crystal that helps the bonds between comrades grow stronger.

In other words, it’s expensive… then I realized something.

-They’re only used when creating a guild.

“Hey! No way, are you…”

“On her name, Milly Reyad hereby establishes a new guild! Let this meeting place connect us through the blue crystal rings!”

Paa~a… and with a bright light, the crystal rings disappeared.

“This is great! I’ll be the guildmaster, while Zeph can be the vice-guildmaster.”

“Ah…”

Far from a weak guild, it was guild that wasn’t even created yet?!

“I’ve been had…”

In response to my glare, Milly stuck her tongue out towards me.