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The Silver Mask and the Cursed Girl – Part 01

Paula was confused, wondering if this was the right thing to do. She was from a remote village called Cotton-elka and became an adventurer to make money. There was an incident in which monsters spilled from the Forest of Deception, a dungeon near Cotton-elka, sending the village on the verge of collapse. Hikaru rescued her, and she now lived with him.

She thought at first that she was joining their party as an adventurer.

But…

“Um, Lord Hikaru. Is this okay?”

“Hmm? Oh, you’re out of money? Here you go, allowance.” Hikaru handed her a few silver coins.

“Thank you… No, wait!”

Paula was about to accept them, but quickly pushed them back.

“It’s not enough?”

“This is not what I meant! It’s more than enough. I mean, I haven’t even spent the money you gave me three days ago!”

“Are you eating properly?” Hikaru gave her a suspicious look.

“I am! Why are you looking at me like that?! We eat breakfast and dinner together in this hotel. Two full meals are more than enough for me.”

“Then what is it?” Hikaru asked, perplexed.

This was exactly what was bothering Paula. Hikaru’s lifestyle exceeded her imagination. Firstly, they were staying at the Grand Hotel Pond, considered the finest lodging facility in the town of Pond. Moreover, their hotel room was first-class, spacious enough for each of them—Hikaru, Paula, and Lavia—to have their separate bedchambers.

This kind of luxurious living was not something that a novice adventurer could afford. Novice adventurers were supposed to be pinching pennies—sleeping in large, shared rooms and scrimping on everything, from lodging to food expenses. Having a soft bed, ordering room service for breakfast, and going to a restaurant for dinner was absurd.

What’s more, Hikaru even gave Paula pocket money, a generous amount of 1,000 gilans every time. The currency in this world, gilan, was worth approximately ten times the value of the Japanese yen, which meant Hikaru gave Paula about 10,000 yen without a second thought.

“You’ll need money for the time being,” Hikaru had said, so she reluctantly accepted it. But Paula thought that one day she would have to pay him back. Yet he kept on giving her more money anyway. She didn’t know what to do.

“Um, do you spend your days like this?” Paula asked.

Hikaru woke up leisurely in the morning, spent his mornings reading, and then headed out into town to shop or look for books in the afternoon. After dinner, he and Lavia exchanged their thoughts on books and stayed up late reading or writing. His lifestyle was so carefree and comfortable that one might mistake him for a wealthy man or the son of an aristocrat.

In reality, when Hikaru first arrived in this world, he earned his keep at the Adventurers’ Guild, slept in a shared room, and subsisted on street food. But Paula knew nothing of that time.

“Hmm. It’s best to rest for now, I guess,” Hikaru said.

“Is that so…”

“After what we went through in Cotton-elka, we need a period of relaxation. It’s important to rest after such a harrowing battle. Mental fatigue is invisible. If you keep pushing yourself, thinking you’ll be fine, you might end up with an irreparable mental breakdown.”

“Is that how it works?”

“It is.”

Hikaru had shared a brief account of his exploits in the Forest of Deception with Paula. To sum it up, he had single-handedly killed the Dungeon Master in the dungeon’s deepest level, which caused it to go dormant and cease generating monsters.

Initially, Paula was skeptical about Hikaru’s feat, but when she saw the hair of the Fire Drakon, she was convinced. The magical energy emanating from the hair had sent chills down her spine.

Paula was aware that Hikaru had somehow enhanced her healing powers. She also knew that Lavia was a fugitive on the run from the authorities. Despite the girl’s circumstances, Paula would often catch Lavia napping with a book on her chest. Her nonchalant behavior was unusual for a wanted criminal.

“I suppose it’s about time to get back to work,” Hikaru said.

He assumed that Paula was feeling guilty for spending her days idly while her former companions worked towards rebuilding their home village.

Hikaru closed the book he was reading and turned to face her. “Paula.” His face was grim.

Paula quickly straightened herself. “Y-Yes?”

“Do you prefer floral or star patterns?”

“…What?”

“I have here two types of silver masks.”

Hikaru pulled out a couple of silver masks from out of nowhere. They were similar in color to the mask that he had.

Paula had also learned that he went out as Silver Face when he was doing work that could not be disclosed.

“I’ll have the star one.” Lavia, who should have been asleep, woke up and picked up one of the masks.

“Huh? What?”

“Paula will have the flowers, then.”

“Huh?”

“There will be times in the future when I will take action in a mask when I don’t want to attract attention from others,” Hikaru explained. “During that time, I need you two both to be wearing masks as well.”

“I’m going to wear this?!” Paula asked.

“Maybe.”

Paula looked at the mask handed to her by Hikaru. The mask hid everything from the eyes to the nose, and had a floral pattern carved on the edge. It was rather fancy.

Lavia’s, on the other hand, had a pattern with scattered stars, a bit childish and yet pretty, but not as childish as the floral pattern.

“Not fair!” Paula protested.

Lavia cackled. “The early bird catches the worm.” She was already wearing the star-patterned mask with a smug look. “You look good in something glamorous.”

“Th-That’s not true.”

“It should look great on you. Try it on.”

“Don’t look at me. It’s embarrassing!”

“I didn’t realize they were this close already,” Hikaru mumbled as he watched them.

Before starting to live together, Lavia and Paula had a discussion between the two of them, which resulted in a decision to change their way of addressing each other, with the younger Lavia calling Paula by her first name and the older Paula doing the same. Hikaru didn’t know the details of their conversation, but whatever they had agreed upon helped to bring them closer together.

“We’re gonna order some custom-made, black hooded cloaks, so take your measurements,” Hikaru said. “I’ll go to the Adventurers’ Guild and get some information.”

“Okay!”

“U-Understood.”

Thus, Hikaru decided to resume his life as an adventurer.

---

The café was a haven of serenity, with ample space between the tables, and the sound of muted conversations and clinking dishes filling the air. A rare, upscale café in Pond, where every element was of the finest quality, from the fabric and cushions of the chairs, to the warm, inviting light of the magic lamps hanging like lanterns in the dim interior.

“I was so worried! If you were in Pond, you should have let me know,” Freya, a receptionist at the Adventurers’ Guild, puffed up her cheeks. Her blouse and pants made her look more mature than when she was in her uniform.

It was Freya who suggested this cozy café, Spring Illusion.

Hikaru had visited the Adventurers’ Guild earlier after being gone for days.

“My shift is almost over, so please wait!” Freya had said.

Thus Hikaru was forced to meet her outside the guild.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t end up going to Cotton-elka, so I didn’t feel like showing my face.”

Officially, Hikaru was not involved with the incident in the Forest of Deception. If possible, he wanted to pretend that he was in Pond all along, but the Four Eastern Stars had seen him when he saved Paula and her friends from the adventurers that ambushed them.

So he lied and said that he didn’t continue to Cotton-elka and instead went back to Pond.

Meanwhile, the adventurers who attacked Paula had their membership revoked by the guild and were currently in prison. The two young men who stuck with them—originally Paula’s party members—were also punished, but since they were not the ringleaders, their penalty was likely to be lighter.

Paula herself had said, “I want them to reflect on the stupid things they did, but I don’t want them to be punished too harshly.”

“It’s okay,” Freya said. “You’re a Rank G adventurer, after all. We couldn’t assign the commissions to anyone lower than Rank D. Fortunately, the Four Eastern Stars just happened to be available.”

“They must be incredible.”

“That they are. Rank B adventurers get welcomed as guests by nobles. I heard they’re even going to receive a commendation for killing the dragon.”

“I see.”

“Amazing, huh? They’re auctioning off the gem they obtained by killing the White Dragon and donating half of the proceeds to the reconstruction of Cotton-elka.”

“What a kind gesture.”

“It truly is.”