Swamp Girl! Chapter 23

The Adventurers’ Guild.

The place had been bustling with people since morning. It was, as the name implied, a gathering place for the world’s adventurers.
Naturally, most of the people inside were coa.r.s.e and out of place against the city scenery, but on the other hand, plenty of merchants and ordinary townsfolk were crammed inside too.

Considering the guild’s goal, it made sense.
The Adventurers’ Guild’s primary objective was pretty much to manage jobs for the jacks-of-all-trades known as ‘adventurers’. Adventurers accepting work would naturally gather, and of course, so would the parties with work to be done.
And they usually weren’t adventurers themselves.
So it was a gathering of various professions and social cla.s.ses.

Even leaving all that out, the Adventurers’ Guild also functioned as a source of local information.
Adventurers with work inside the city, or possibly outside, were always returning with all kinds of intel. For example, ‘Take care near so-and-so because this or that monster has appeared there’, or ‘The highway bridge at whatever location was half-destroyed by the bad weather the other day, take that into consideration when you set out’.
Adventurers aside, these tidbits were also valuable to the traders. Of course, the Adventurers’ Guild didn’t release all the information it received, so misinformation would occasionally surface too.
Still, that information was precious, and worth a lot of money to people.

As a result, even more people gathered.

And in most cases, they did so in the morning.
See, the standard day for an adventurer would go something like this: take a request in the morning, finish it during the day, return in the evening. And because traders usually departed in the morning, they would stop by the Adventurers’ Guild in order to get the most up-to-date information.

Aira murmured, “There’s an amazing number of people…”

Which I completely forgot.

While I stared at the scene before me, thinking, ‘Oh yeah, it was like this’, Aira and Palmira watched the same scene in blank amazement.

The Adventurers’ Guild in front of me was so packed with people that even ‘an amazing number of people’ could barely describe it.
The building was of considerable size, as an Adventurers’ Guild of Telaberan’s cla.s.s, but it was full as far as the eye can see. Even the outside teemed with people. Inside, I bet it was a scene out of h.e.l.l.
Well, even so, although the Telaberan branch I recalled was certainly crowded, I didn’t remember it being this bad.
Did something happen?

“Sure did. You should know that better than anyone else.”

Somehow, my eyes landed on Rupert while I was pondering my doubts, and he looked back at me with eyes that said, ‘Come on, you don’t know?’
He was treating me more and more casually.

“Why?”

“Mm, I’ll explain. It’s the change in administration. In this transition period, the city’s gotten a bit disorderly. This is the city lord we’re talking about, after all.1 And the Guild was suppressed somewhat under his rule. Throw in the elimination of the goblin colony on the highways, and trade will get moving too, won’t it?”

In response to Palmira’s artless question, Rupert neatly laid everything out.
It seemed that in Rupert’s internal pecking order, I ranked the lowest. I’d have to re-educate him sooner or later.

That aside, he was right.
When the Lord changed, so did the city’s power structure. Leon had said it too, but in the middle of the transition, it was chaos. It really was the key moment of the change-over.

And so, the odd-jobs men, the adventurers, had gotten busier.
Things that had been lying dormant until now, things that would usher in the s.h.i.+ft to the new city framework.2
They were converging.
When I was an adventurer, I would definitely have considered it a good time for business.
Since I thought so, no doubt everyone else had the same idea.
The result: ta-da.

“So what now? Wait?”

“Nah, it’ll probably be like this until noon. Let’s come again in the afternoon.”

“Anywhere else you want to go?”

“No, this is it for me.”

My conversation with Rupert was quite simple. I didn’t much care, so I was fine with leaving the decision up to Rupert. Well, hopefully it wouldn’t be anything tiring.

While we were talking, a commotion erupted from the direction of the guild. In the next moment, a man flew out, smas.h.i.+ng open the door on his way. His body was folded in a >.
Even so, the man roared as he rose to his feet and charged once more into the guild.

“It’s a fight. C’mon.”

Aira was surprised by the sight. Giving her a sidelong glance, I nudged Rupert.
With a crowd that dense, one or two fights were bound to happen.

“You’re kidding. I’m off-duty today. If it’s that bad, someone from Vyde’s end will come sort it out.”

“You were supposed to be on break?”

“Well, yeah. But it’s because I’m on break that I have the luck to go on a date with beautiful women like this. Seriously, it’s like I’ve got my own harem.”

Rupert responded to an apologetic Aira with heartfelt happiness.
Listening to him talk like he was on top of the world, I simply felt exasperated.

“Alright then, we’ll handle Chris’s errand later. Airi, Polly, anywhere you want to go?”

“I want to go to the weapons shop.”

Sure enough, it was Palmira who spoke up, her voice without inflection. Of course, even Rupert was momentarily taken aback.

“Okay. Weapons shop it is. Airi, what about you?”

But he recovered immediately.
However, Rupert’s pecking order had become Aira → Palmira → me. Well, whatever.

“I don’t have…”

Even as she spoke, Aira seemed most worried about the fight, her eyes flickering in the direction of the guild.

“Like I said, it’s alright. Now then, shall we be on our way to the weapons shop?”

“Both of them got thrown out just now. There’s no problem.”

“Ehh–?!”

Sure enough, two people flew out, curled up like b.a.l.l.s.
Well, that’s the Adventurers’ Guild for you. Something like that was an everyday occurrence. They could handle things just fine by themselves.

–

–

The weapons shop!

There was hardly a boy out there whose heart wouldn’t race at those three words.
Weapons. Symbols of strength.
Lump all bladed objects together, and a fairly familiar example would be the kitchen knife. After all, a kitchen knife could become a weapon. Mostly in the hands of a housewife. When raging at her husband for sleeping around.
Though it did have potential as a weapon, the usual application of a kitchen knife was more peaceful. Its blade was used on vegetables, meat, and fish.
In other words, although a kitchen knife had a blade, it was just a tool.

But its bladed cousin, the sword, was different.
The sword was forged solely for the purpose of repelling foreign invaders. Its purpose was to bring about the end of its own violence, and nothing more.3
So it generally held a special place in the hearts of the boys who pursued or admired power. In other words, it had a certain romance.
And the weapon store had them arranged in neat lines. Naturally, the air was full of romance. Any red-blooded male should feel an irrepressible surge of emotion at the sight.

Such was the romance of the weapons shop, but in my current ball-free state, I didn’t feel particularly emotional.
No, I don’t mean to peg this on my transformation into a woman.
Basically: I just got used to seeing them. But I’ll say this once — the first time I laid eyes on a sword, it was an especially moving experience for me.
But the adventurers’ trade was just as indebted to these weapons shops as it did to the guild. Reasons aside, if a guy gets that emotional every time he steps into a shop he’s visited several hundred — or even thousand — times, all I can say is, ‘Wow, what an unimaginable guy.’

I didn’t know if Palmira, who insisted that she wanted to come here, felt moved by all that.
Or rather, I didn’t know why she wanted to come here.
Of course, I knew Palmira wasn’t the type to say [I want to see the sea from the harbor], or [I want eat something swee~t].
If anyone, that was Aira. Well, maybe Irene was an even better example?

Anyway, people visited to a weapons store with some goal in mind. It was a bit intense for a spot of window-shopping.
That was why most weapons stores had rules against that sort of thing.
Like this one. What was Palmira looking for?

“Why did you want to come to the weapons shop, Polly?”

“I wanted a weapon.”

I couldn’t say if he was thinking the same thing as me, but in front of the weapons store, Rupert asked and Palmira readily answered.

I wanted a weapon, so I came to the weapons shop.

Yeah, that checks out. Or maybe I should say it’s the universe’s greatest truth?4
But — .

“Why do you want a weapon all of a sudden?”

I asked, but Palmira ignored me and entered the shop. Was it a secret?

Quickly catching up to her, I heard the shopkeeper’s incredibly apathetic voice saying [Welcome]. But seeing us startled him.
That seemed about right. There was a bunch of girls standing there who didn’t seem to have any business handling weapons — plus one.
There were a spa.r.s.e number of other customers, but they all stared at us the same way when they noticed. I could only imagine that they were curious.
In that bizarre atmosphere, even country mouse Aira was silent. Incidentally, Rupert was also standing around with an indescribable expression. Oh, so that’s what it is. It felt like a playboy just swaggered in like he owned the place, pretty women in tow. The shopkeeper and the others turned eyes that said as much on Rupert. Yeah, can’t be helped. He’s our chaperone.

Completely ignoring the atmosphere, twenty-year-old Palmira rummaged through the small swords, looking for all the world like a twelve-year-old girl. Before long, she was going to be told that they weren’t things for children to look at.
In fact, I heard the same on my first time in here.
Well, let’s just leave her to it for now.

The Telaberan weapons shop, Talwall.
As this place was known.
There was a reason I was specially mentioning the name. Basically, this shop had taken good care of me many times in the past.

The first was when I crossed over to this continent at ten years old.
At the time, there was no age limit, but the people at the guild were still unwilling. I forcibly talked them into making me an adventurer, and then I came here, to Talwall.
I was practically broke. Plus, I was a ten-year-old brat. So of course I was turned away, but what with this and that, I was eventually able to buy a small dagger.

I think I spent about three years in Telaberan after that.
Talwall, the guild. Then, my lodgings. These were the places I visited over and over.
Honestly, even the shopkeeper was still the same. He got older, but he was just as grumpy as he was then.
By the end, we’d become friendly enough to joke around quite a bit, but, well, I bet he didn’t remember. Even if he did, it was impossible for him to recognize me as I was now.

I didn’t have any particular intention of buying anything, but feeling nostalgic, I took the chance to look around at the weapons. The shopkeeper glanced at me from time to time, but since he hadn’t said anything so far, I didn’t pay it any mind.

By virtue of being in a fairly large city like Telaberan, Talwall’s selection was quite good. Most of the weapons in stock were available in complete product lines.
The most common, swords. Then spears, and bludgeons. There were lines of swords in all shapes and sizes. Starting with knives, then shortswords, longswords, and two-handers. Perhaps because of their high quality, I could see them gleam with the s.h.i.+ne of well-polished steel.

But practically speaking, their cutting ability wasn’t anything to write home about. In terms of sharpness, kitchen knives blew them out of the water. It wasn’t much of a consideration when forging swords.
There wasn’t any particularly outlandish reason for it. Swords were specialized for the battlefield. In such a place, the primary focus was durability. Not sharpness.

In the ever-s.h.i.+fting conditions on the battlefield, the sword wasn’t used directly.5 It served many different purposes. What does that mean? Basically, a sword whose selling point was its ability to cut down others in the blink of an eye, was not fit for use.
Kitchen knives did emphasize sharpness, but unless they were honed at regular intervals, they would lose it. Then, for instance, how would that play out on the battlefield? In battles without a foreseeable end? There was no time to meticulously sharpen each and every blade.
After cutting down three of the enemy, a sword would lose its edge, blunted by the blood and fat. Eventually, it would warp. Before long, it was less like cutting the enemy down with a sword, and more like bludgeoning them to death with it.

For that reason, a sword’s primary quality was durability. That the second would be sharpness was common sense. In practice, if it couldn’t slice through the enemy, then it would be used to beat them down.
So, in terms of killing ability, or perhaps destructive power, axes and hammers were far and away the superior weapons.
However, using them was difficult. Even the hammer, sure to kill with one well-aimed blow, would be worthless if its head didn’t strike the target.
Besides, in comparison, swords were better in general purpose utility and user friendliness. That was why even now, the sword was the most popular among the weapons.

“Hn, this one.”

When it seemed that the shopkeeper would say something at any moment, Palmira brought over a sheathed sword. A shortsword with a thin blade, fifty centimeters long.
Usually, it wouldn’t be chosen as a primary weapon, but for someone Palmira’s size, it might be just right. I couldn’t speak for its durability, but it wasn’t that heavy.

“This is fine, right?”

Tentative, I showed it to Rupert too. In my current state, there was a possibility that my perception had dulled.
Rupert took the sword from me. Sliding it halfway out of its sheath, he examined the blade from multiple angles before handing it back.

“Well, the worksmans.h.i.+p is relatively good quality. It’s not half-bad, is it? But what will you use it for?”

Now that he’d mentioned it, that was a good question. I didn’t know what it would be used for.
While returning the sword to Palmira, I asked her.

“…To protect you, Chris.”

Palmira spoke briefly, in a whisper.
Protect? Me?
While I was still astonished by her unexpected words, Palmira continued.

“In the room that city lord trapped us in, I couldn’t do anything. You tried to fight, but I only let myself be thrown down on the ground, helpless, and then sent away… That’s why I want the power to fight.”

Holding the sword reverently in both hands, Palmira turned her earnest gaze toward me.

…It was like that?

Those words woke a feeling in me I didn’t know how to express. There was regret in it. And resolve.
That day, I charged Guibenague without thinking about anything. As a result, I was treated ruthlessly, and at that time, Palmira tried to save me.
Her attempt literally ended with a single kick, but she probably regretted it this whole time.
Of course, I didn’t know how things would have turned out if she’d had a sword.
But still, I was sure it gnawed at her: what if she had more strength?

So I thought of this sword as the manifestation of her resolve.

“Got it. I’m counting on you.”

I gave her just a short reply.
If this were before, I might have told her, ‘Leave it to me, you’re fine.’
But that wouldn’t do any good. She told me, ‘Rely on me,’ so I answered her back, ‘I will.’

We should stand together.

“Thank you.”

For a moment, Palmira smiled at me bashfully. Then, with both hands, she handed the sword back to me.

……
I’m confused.

…What is she telling me to do?
No, could it be…? Is she telling me to touch the blade to her shoulder and say, [Arise, my knight something something]?
As I puzzled over it, Palmira simply said,

“I don’t have money. You buy it.”

…Oh yeah, I forgot to hand out the money I got.
The sword cost four iron coins.

Author’s Notes
I think the weapon shop stuff might have dragged on for too long.

Footnotes
1. Guessed: だいたい今までの領主が領主だったからねぇ ↵
2. Guessed: 今まで溜め込まれていたもの、新しい枠組みに向かって動き出すもの ↵
3. 己が持つ暴力の最終点として使用されることを目的とし ↵
4. というかこれ以上無いぐらい正しい ↵
5. ??: 剣といえどまともに使用されない ↵