Volume 1 Chapter 11 Maiden's Anger
After the commotion in front of the guild.
Rose and I arrived at the western forest as planned.
We started hunting monsters for training, but Rose was moving slowly, and we couldn't explore the forest much.
The reason her feet felt heavy was obvious──it was because of what happened earlier.
"I'm, I'm sorry. I dragged Mr. Roezé into my mess."
"No, I'm the one who should apologize. I took on that challenge without even consulting you, Rose."
I felt a strong urge to apologize too.
I had let my frustration over Rose's talent being denied get the better of me and fell for a cheap provocation.
Then Rose shook her head as if to brush away my guilt.
"No, I don't really mind that. If Mr. Roezé hadn't said anything, I probably would have."
"R-Really? Then, was that okay?"
She must have felt pretty frustrated about it.
Even I could easily tell that just by watching her.
So, she reassured me that it was the right call.
I felt a bit hesitant, but I couldn't help but ask again.
"Those people were Rose's former party members, right?"
"Yes. We haven't gotten a party name yet; we're just a rookie adventurer party. The one with the golden hair is our leader, Ms. Freesia."
I could kind of guess from the atmosphere, but it turned out that the confident blonde girl was indeed the leader.
She seemed to really dislike Rose, but I wondered if there was a reason for that.
"At first, we formed a party as rookie adventurers, and our skills were pretty much the same. But I was the only one who was slow to grow, and it seemed like Ms. Freesia didn't like that, so I got kicked out after a month."
"A month..."
That was a pretty quick decision.
They could have waited a little longer to see how things went.
I mean, if they were party members, they should at least help each other grow.
It seemed like they only saw their teammates as pawns.
"Since then, every time I meet the Freesia folks in town, they've started teasing me. This morning, I ran into them on my way to meet Mr. Roezé..."
"I see."
They're picking on Rose, who they've decided is beneath them, and feeling all superior about it.
What a terrible person to have their eye on her.
Wait, but I heard...
"From what I heard, Rose got teased today and said something back, which led to an argument..."
"Uh, well, that's..."
For some reason, Rose looked away and answered with an awkward expression.
"'You could never help your cursed mother,' they said, and instead of thinking about my own stuff, I felt like they were denying Mr. Roezé's power..."
"My...?"
Just before I tilted my head in confusion, I understood what that meant.
Right now, I'm trying to get stronger to help her mother, and I'm in the middle of helping Rose grow too.
If someone says that goal can't be achieved, it sounds like they're saying my power is lacking...
or at least, that's how it must have sounded to Rose.
I smiled, thinking what a loyal kid she is.
"Thanks for standing up for me."
"N-no problem..."
"And also, thanks for getting mad for me this morning. That really made me happy."
"Huh?"
I recalled what happened in the morning and shared my honest feelings.
"You were trying to make Freesia apologize, right? Even though she's someone you're not good with, you were so fierce. Rose, you looked really cool."
"..."
Maybe she felt embarrassed by the compliment, as Rose's cheeks turned red and she looked away.
"Well, it's only natural to get angry if someone disrespects a benefactor."
Then she seemed to gather herself and said with a determined expression.
"I'll definitely make Freesia apologize for saying bad things about Mr. Roezé. I've got a new goal that's just as important as breaking the curse on my mom."
"Thank you, Rose."
I didn't care that much, but it seemed like it was something Rose couldn't easily forgive.
Anyway, I thought it was lucky that the usually passive Rose was getting fired up, but then she suddenly slumped her shoulders.
"...I said that, but I'm really starting to worry if I can actually level up to Rank 4. Like Freesia said, there's only a week left, and I've heard the exam content changes every time."
"Well, I'll figure something out. I'll help Rose grow as much as possible so she can pass the exam. Plus, if you can level up to Rank 4, I think other adventurers will start to see you differently and invite you to join their parties."
The promotion exam to level up as an adventurer.
If you level up, you can take on more monster-hunting requests.
At the same time, you can show your skills, so other adventurers should start inviting you to parties.
If you can join a party, you can expect to be even more active as an adventurer.
If that happens, earning fees for curse-breaking services will become realistic, and who knows, you might even be able to go defeat the one who cast the curse.
Passing the promotion exam in a week is, without a doubt, the fastest way to break her mother's curse.
Regardless of how she ended up taking Freesia's challenge, I think it's a good thing that she's going to take the promotion exam in a week.
"Anyway, let's do our best with what we can do right now."
"Y-yes!"
As planned, we started the monster hunt.
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