AMLA 48

Chapter 48

Toby let out a series of annoyed sighs at my words, then came over and stuck his arm directly into the magical device.

“I, Toby Mastel, am the deputy captain of the Abel Mercenary Corps.”

At Toby’s words, the magical device emitted strange sounds and a blue glow, then soon changed to a bright green with a clear ding sound.

“See? It’s working properly.”

Toby immediately stood up and sat down opposite me.

Phew.

Taking a deep breath from my dantian, I clenched my fist tightly and put my hand inside the magical device.

Abel, sitting silently across from me, just crossed his arms and watched.

“Well then, shall we get started?”

“W-wait a moment. I want to test it too.”

At my words, Toby pursed his lips as if displeased.

“I’m a woman.”

The magical device displayed the green light of truth, and I sighed in relief.

“Well then…”

Toby opened his mouth to ask a question.

No, if Toby asks the wrong question, it will be hard to answer.

If Toby asked, “What is your purpose in joining this mercenary corps?” I wouldn’t be able to lie.

I hurriedly interrupted his question.

“I am not a spy sent to infiltrate the mercenary corps.”

That’s true.

And it was the very point they wanted to know the most.

The magical device began to glow blue and move, filling the room with silence.

Ding.

At the sound that announced the truth, the magical device’s blue light changed to green.

“See? It’s the truth!”

Upon hearing the signal of truth, Abel’s tense expression relaxed, but Toby frowned as if something still didn’t sit right with him.

Sigh… the machine can’t be broken… so it’s really true?

“Of course.”

“Then what’s your purpose for coming to this inn?”

At Toby’s question, I slowly pulled my arm out of the magical device.

“To earn money, of course…”

“You look like nobility, though.”

Toby cut off my words as if what I said was nonsense.

“Yes, I’m obviously not here to earn money.”

What should I say?

“Actually… as you can see, I’m a noble.”

“Ah, that makes sense. One of the cadet branches of the Madonia dukedom? With that amount of mana, it has to be from that branch.”

Though Toby didn’t know I was the daughter of the Lucceronia count family, he had already guessed I was from one of the many cadet branches of the Madonia dukedom.

“Yes… but I want to learn skills to protect myself… but my family says women shouldn’t learn swordsmanship like this…”

In fact, in this world, women learning swordsmanship and magic was frowned upon.

At my words, Toby and Abel both nodded as if they understood.

“But why does a woman have to…”

One of the mercenaries listening from behind spoke up, and Toby shot him a warning look, telling him to shut up.

“That’s right. There’s no need for women to learn swordsmanship and magic. But… there’s no reason they can’t.”

Abel wore a thoughtful expression.

“That’s why I came here. I thought this was the only place that would accept me without prejudice against being a noblewoman. Is there any chance I can learn here?”

Toby looked at Abel.

Abel, who had been lost in thought, slowly opened his mouth.

“Hey, that blonde outside — she’s also a mercenary trainee. Starting tomorrow, come and train with her whenever you have time. But work hard.”

Abel said that and stood up.

What? I’m in the mercenary corps now? That easily?

I cheered quietly to myself.

Finally.

I had a chance to get closer to Abel.

Although there had been a big crisis in the middle, now that I was in the mercenary corps…

I thought it was only a matter of time before I raised Abel’s favorability.

“Can I really train in the mercenary corps?”

I asked behind Abel’s back, and he nodded.

I covered my mouth with my hand, unable to contain my joy, and tapped my feet.

“Don’t act like this here — go greet Henny.”

Toby looked at me with a slightly pitiful gaze as I fussed, then stood up.

“Who’s Henny?”

“That blonde the captain mentioned earlier.”

Toby pointed his finger outside the window to the man running hard in the open field.

That man was earlier…

He was the one who had been beaten one-sidedly by a bigger guy during sparring.

“Riche, are you okay?”

The innkeeper looked at me worriedly as I came out of my room.

“Yes, I’m fine. And I got accepted to train with the mercenary corps.”

“Oh my, that’s wonderful! Now…”

The innkeeper glanced around and lowered her voice.

“You’ll get closer to the captain now.”

“Yes.”

The innkeeper’s face was full of excitement, like a girl hearing a friend’s love story.

“Oh, then Riche will be busy now?”

“Yes.”

“I’ve gotten used to how fast you do the dishes and laundry, but now it’ll get harder.”

The amount of dishes and laundry a mercenary corps of dozens produce in a day was enormous.

So far, I had taken on doing the laundry and dishes as a way to practice magic, and I could finish it faster than a human using magic.

My magic skill was improving daily, and now it took less than thirty minutes to finish the work.

The innkeeper’s face darkened with worry at the thought she’d have to do all that without me.

“Don’t worry. Even if I train with the mercenary corps, I’ll still do the dishes and laundry. Actually, I can use magic. So I can finish quickly.”

Hearing this, surprise and joy appeared on the innkeeper’s face at the same time.

Of course, it’s for my training.

Until now, I had only used magic in lessons with Lian, but working at the inn using magic helped improve my skills.

The amount of water I could manipulate at once and the water pressure were far better than before.

This is like training blended into real life.

Without knowing what I was thinking, the innkeeper thanked me warmly.

“I was wondering why you finish so quickly even though there’s so much work. Thank you, Riche.”

“Don’t mention it. I’m off to the mercenary corps for a bit now.”

I headed to the open field with light steps.

At that moment, people were resting as the training seemed to be finishing, and they looked at me in amazement as I returned unharmed.

“Hey, spy.”

“Ah, I’m not a spy.”

“Really?”

A mercenary sitting and drinking water laughed lightly and asked, and I waved my arms and legs to prove I was fine.

“See? All misunderstandings cleared up. And I’m going to train with the mercenary corps now.”

“Training?”

“Yes.”

At my voice, the blonde man sitting in a corner of the field turned his head and looked at me.

“So that means you’ll train with Henny.”

The mercenaries chuckled as if entertained by the sight.

The blonde man turned his head away again, and I approached him.

“Hello! I’m Riche, who will train with you starting tomorrow.”

I approached him cheerfully, but he completely ignored me.

Complete ignoring.

The blonde man, Henny, seemed to be deliberately avoiding me and turned his head fully the other way.

What is this?

Is it okay to ignore someone like that when you’re supposed to train together?

I moved my body toward the direction Henny had turned, and he turned his head the opposite way again.

Is being handsome all that matters? What a jerk.

Looking at the man’s face again, I thought it was a face too good to be just an extra character. Besides…

I’m sure I’ve seen him somewhere before…

Such a handsome face was hard to forget once seen.

“Have we met somewhere before?”

At my innocent question, Henny’s body stiffened.

“……”

At my question if we had met somewhere before, Henny said nothing.

“Hey, Henny?”

When I grabbed his arm to turn him around, he shrugged off my hand.

“Uh, hey. We’re going to train together, don’t be like that…”

“Don’t bother me.”

Leaving those words, Henny walked away.

“What is with that jerk…”

I stared blankly at the hand that had pushed me away and glared with all my might at Henny’s retreating back.