Volume 1, 12: 1st Class Adventurer, Cradle?
Volume 1, Chapter 12: 1st Class Adventurer, Cradle③
Lambert and the others soon arrived at Ainsaz.
From the outside, people could already see two or three storied buildings that were built next to one another, and the street that was brimming with life.
It was a scenery you could find in any city. The orange roof and white plastered wall could be seen anywhere you looked in this city. As if…the entire city was one giant castle.
As Lambert walked, inadvertently, he struck the stone paved road with his metal sole.
「… T-This is Ainsaz city. It’s a well built city.」
Lambert’s voice, as he spoke, was laced with excitement. And, as he walked, he unconsciously increased his pace.
Our kingdom has become a really splendid one! Her Majesty would be surely crying in happiness once she sees this scenery!
「Well, this city is ranked as the 1st, or 2nd best city in the Kingdom of Regios after all.」
Fiona and the others finally managed to catch up to Lambert who was walking ahead so quickly a la an excited child. Especially when he stopped at every chance, saying 「OOOH!」, or 「This is!」, with an excited voice.
Meanwhile, separated from quite a distance from Lambert, Fiona was whispering to Lily with a wry smile on her face.
「At first I thought that Knight-sama was a scary person, but he has a surprisingly cute side to him.」
「He is…… Cute? 」
Lily asked as she looked at the figure of the-literally-walking full plate armor that was making loud crunching sounds with every step he took. From her perspective, she just felt that it was weird for him to be able to walk that easily while wearing such heavy full-plate armor. He didn’t even look to be losing his stamina, making it even weirder.
「Zee…… Zee…… Uhm, what should I call that one? 」
As he looked at the top of the five floor building, Lambert asked Llyod, who was by now out of breath following him.
「Not the knight, I mean the girl who looks similar to her high-…… With that Fiona.」
「Seriously… You don’t even know about knight Ainsaz, the origin of this city’s name? Anyway, since your appearance is already too conspicuous, please stop over-reacting over the small things! It’s rather embarrassing to us, you know.」
「…………」
At that, Lambert turned around to look at Lloyd.
Certainly, though he still lacked a complete idea about the current era, his overly excited behavior was too conspicuous. And, his current get up didn’t help matters.
If his action left him with no choice but to unfasten his armor, he might be subjugated as a monster. And, it wouldn’t help with his goal, which was a round trip around the present Kingdom of Regios. So originally, while he couldn’t help with the fact that he would most certainly gather attention when he entered the city, to gather information, he had vowed to not gather too much unwarranted attention.
It was something that he knew he needed to avoid. Yet…he ended up doing it.
Lambert, one of the Four Demon Generals of the Kingdom of Regios, had ended up making such a mistake. And, to make matters worse, he was an undead.
For a while, Lambert was silent as he was chastising himself for making such a rudimentary mistake in his excitement. But, to Lloyd, he looked like he had a grudge after being reprimanded like that. Then again, there was no other room for other interpretation in Lambert’s current get up of being covered in full-plate armor.
「AH… N-No, I mean you don’t have to force yourself if you didn’t want to, it just a reminder anyway…」
「Understood. I’ll pay more attention to the manner I behave.」
Lambert said as he approached Lloyd with a calm and composed pace.
「HYIII! 」
However, Lloyd ended up stretching out his arms with eyes tightly shut when Lambert approached him. In the end though, his hysteria proved to be unfounded as when he opened his eyes a while later, he found out that Lambert had passed by his side as if nothing had happened.
「Is he…… Not angry? Hey? 」
Lloyd asked Lily, a desperate tone coloring his voice. Lily, being soft at heart, sighed before she went to chase after Lambert.
After Fiona managed to persuade Lambert to calm himself, they continued on toward the guild. And, even though Lambert had been very talkative, midway to the guild, he fell silent before they had even realized it.
For some reason, they felt the aura around Lambert became heavy.
「Did we…displease him?」
「Isn’t this your fault, Lloyd? 」
Lily and Lloyd bickered in low voices.
「P-please stop scaring me like that.」
「My condolence. You’ll meet the same fate as those thieves, he’s going to screw you up with that giant sword. If that comes to happen, I’ll make sure to pour some ale on your grave.」
Lily offered her condolences as she clapped her hands.
「Stop it already! It doesn’t sound like a joke you know! Hey Fiona… I really can’t figure out that person’s mood you know. Let’s not…」
「I’m sorry, Knight-sama. If you want to stroll around the town, I’ll become your guide later after I bring you to meet our guild master…」
「… I-It’s not like I wanted to stroll around the city or something but… Well, I guess I’m gonna trouble you for that later.」
After Fiona offered her help to guide him around the city later, the solemn atmosphere around Lambert dissipated immediately.
Lloyd who saw that whispered, 「The heck, so you knew all along…」.
「We’re about to get there… It’s over there, the tallest two floor building with the signboard 『Dusk of Spirit』. That one… With Spirit’s anemoscope on its roof…」
Fiona theaterically raised her voice at the end of her words, pointing at the building with Spirit’s like ornament affixed atop the building’s roof.
「I see… that building huh. There’s a splendor in its humble appearance.」
Though it was the smallest guild within Ainsaz city, its building was still quite a splendid one, and it was also properly managed or so Fiona said.
「Ah, no… You’re mistaken. What I mean is, our 『Spirit’s Dusk』 guild is on the second floor of that building. The first floor is…used by the building owner for his 『Fairy’s Stove』, a bar. And we’re just…renting the second floor for our guild. We… Uhm, have yet to be able to buy our own building. You know, the price of real estate in this city is still far beyond our reach.」
「… I, I see now.」