The eyes of the Adventurer Guild’s patrons widened when they saw the mother and her two daughters walk through the door.
The only adventurers whose eyes weren’t bulging were the ones who also stayed at the Deficit House. Everyone else turned their heads and stretched their necks to get a look at the similar-looking family with their distinctive snow white hair.
“Oi, did that Sword Demon have younger sisters?”
“No, I’ve heard about this, those are apparently her daughters.”
“They look so similar… Anyways, appearance aside, isn’t she way too young to have daughters that age?”
At first glance, the family looks like a group of sisters, and the adventurers gaze at them as they made their way to the request board.
Unlike Shirley who seems completely unfazed, Sophie and Tio aren’t used to this and seem a little fidgety getting so much attention.
“They’re still staring…”
“Uu… This is my first time in the guild, are kids not allowed in here…?”
That’s not actually true, they had been in the guild many times back when they were infants, but right now those two girls were feeling a touch overwhelmed by the hustle and bustle of the guild that was very different to that of the Deficit House.
But, those two are secretly aspiring adventurers. They do their best to ignore the eyes on them and put on a brave face.
“Mum, what’s this?”
“The request board… It’s a bulletin board that details all the requests submitted to the guild, today I’m hoping to find a good quest to do tomorrow.”
When adventurers receive a request, they don’t necessarily have to immediately go out into the field to complete it. Depending on the circumstances, it might require some preparation in advance, so it’s quite common to accept requests several days in advance of starting them.
The dragon-slaying expedition she embarked on the other day is more an exception than a rule. Even putting aside the bad bonobos, Shirley is the only person in this remote town who would consider adventuring to a dragon’s lair with so little preparation.
“Hm… There are lots of requests. Um… Hunting smiles and anni… annihilating bandits?” And collecting feathers from a rainbow coloured bird.”
“Mm. Sophie, look.”
As she was looking at one of the requests at the edge of the board so as not to get in the way of the other adventurers, Tio pointed out a request to gather herbs which are often taken by rookies.
“I wonder if we can do this?”
“You’re right. It’s just going out to pick some plants…”
“It’s not as easy as that.”
Shirley gives the two a light smack over the head.
“The reason adventurers are asked to do this is that it is dangerous. Herb gathering outside the city… You have no idea what kind of monsters you might encounter. I don’t want the two of you imitating me, am I clear?”
“D-don’t worry! Mama, you’re such a worrywart!”
“…I’m not going to do something dangerous like that.”
They’re lying. In fact, they’ve been wanting to imitate her for quite some time. Even if she says that the outside world is filled with dangerous monsters, they won’t lose heart.
Those rude adventurers suddenly stopped gossiping out of fear of the Demonic White Sword, who seemed to be exuding a slightly menacing aura, although that adventuring mother took a request from the board as if nothing had happened.
“Mama, what’s that request for?”
“It seems that a bear is snooping around a nearby farm, so I’ll get rid of it tomorrow.”
She only chose the request because she can complete it in a single day. Truth be told, the bear is actually a horned monster known as a Demon Bear, but that makes little difference to Shirley.
Thinking that she’ll be able to blitz the quest if she borrows the riding dragon Rangitz from the guild, she brings the request form to Yumina at reception, who is glaring at her for some reason.
“Exterminating the Monster at the Farm… You’ll be doing this tomorrow, I take it?”
“Is there a problem?”
“Not particularly. I don’t want to be stingy about which adventurers get which requests. But, you know, there’s a request with a much higher reward than this available.”
Yumina leans towards Shirley, and whispers in her ear.
“It’s actually a calamity class request… An Arch Demon has appeared in the Kingdom.”
“Okay.”
“…An S-Ranked party was already dispatched, but they’ve run into serious trouble.”
“I see.”
“…So, I was wanting to ask Shirley-san if perhaps she would go to temporarily join the party to support them in defeating the…”
“I refuse.”
The reply contained no malice, but also absolutely zero interest.
“I’m sure that party will eventually defeat it, and I promised to help out with my daughters’ homework today.”
“…Yes, but… I think this might be a little more important than spending time with your daughters…”
The receptionist gulped and looked down, Sophie and Tio don’t really understand what’s going on but even they feel pity for her.
Yumina knew that Shirley doted heavily on her daughters, but she believes that other things should be a higher priority for her.
“…Ah. Don’t you two want to see Shirley-san do something really amazing?”
“Can you stop trying to get my daughters on your side?”
Yumina clicked her tongue in frustration. Apparently, the pressure on her from the higher ups in the guild is still intense.
“Well, maybe it would be a good opportunity for you to party up again?”
“I already fulfilled that obligation.”
Without even a vague verbal agreement to provide a glimmer of hope of appeasing middle management, Yumina sighed heavily as she accepted she was fated for another tongue lashing.
Curious as they were, there’s no way the twins weren’t going to be drawn to the sound of wooden and steel swords clashing.
On the guild premises, there is a basic training square. Although a dedicated facility will be built sometime next year, for now, the square is filled with training adventurers, from the freshest of rookies to veterans in between requests.
“Hah!”
“Uwaaa!?”
“What!? Are you seriously trying to cut us up!?”
As Shirley went to take a peek with her daughters, she noticed Asterios leading a rookie party in training.
The Minotaur isn’t going easy on them… Making swings and slashes left and right at Kyle and Cudd, the two of them are twisting and turning this way and that in a desperate attempt to dodge his attacks.
“A-are they going to be okay!? He’s attacking with a big axe!?”
“There’s no problem. They aren’t going to get killed.”
“…I’m not sure…”
From Shirley’s point of view, the swings aren’t fast enough to be killing blows, they are measured attacks… But to an untrained eye, it would seem like he was seriously trying to kill the two of them.
Even if it wasn’t truly a life or death situation, this kind of training would help prepare the two of them for when they did face one.
It’s hard to say whether or not this training will really keep them alive, but if they gain anything from it then it’s not wasted effort.
“There. Your footwork is wrong.”
“Guah!?”
Being far too slow on his feet for a scout, Cudd tumbles to the ground after having his legs swept out from under him, and as he rolls the belt holding his trousers up comes loose and they slip off.
“Hahaha! Oi, idiot! Stop flashing your panties at us! Ahahahaha!”
“Mum? I can’t see anything?”
“W-what? What’s going on?”
“You don’t need to see.”
Leia was crying with laughter as she pointed at Cudd. Shirley, meanwhile, covered Tio and Sophie’s eyes with her hands whilst also turning her eyes away from such an unsightly scene.
“Well well, Leia-dono, you seem to be quite free? Why not participate as well?”
“Eh!? No, I’m an archer, so I don’t need to train to fight in the vanguard?”
“Ha ha ha, what are you saying? Someone in the back has just as much reason to learn as someone who fights in the front, in battle the rearguard can become the vanguard in the blink of an eye.”
Leia’s screams were soon added to the cacophony of the training square. Tio watched the adventurers from A-rank veteran and the E-ranked rookies training together and murmured quietly.
“…I just realized, that Minotaur guy is amazing. Swinging his axe that fast, but stopping just before hitting them.”
“Eh? Really?”
As Sophie looked at her, she nodded in response.
She hasn’t had any training herself, but she can realize just how extraordinarily talented he must be to swing around a heavy weapon like an axe and not hurt the rookies.
Shirley can’t help but be proud of Tio, who managed to learn so much from watching in such a short span of time.
Although, deep down, she’s a little worried about how fast she took to understanding something as dangerous as combat.
“Oh? Well well, if it isn’t Shirley-sama?”
“…Hello.”
Asterios, who hasn’t even broken a sweat in contrast to his pupils who were doubled over, noticed Shirley.
“Are these lovely girls your daughters?”
“Yes. You two, say hello.”
“N-nice to meet you! I’m Sophie!”
“…I’m Tio.”
Asterios knelt down to look at the two of them and nodded gently with a smile.
“My name is Asterios. Your mother and I adventured together previously… Though I have to say, you two really have grown.”
“Huh?”
“Um… Have we met somewhere before?”
“Yes. About ten years ago, when Shirley-sama first joined the guild…”
Even if they can’t remember meeting him, flowers seem to be blooming around this unlikely reunion. Although it is a very mismatched scene, with the incredibly muscular and tall Minotaur smiling at the two beautiful young girls.
“By the way, Shirley-sama. This is a good opportunity, so why don’t you participate in training? Those children are going to learn strange habits if they only train with me.”
She looks at Kyle, and his eyes bulge as he shakes his head vigorously.
“No, I…”
She wanted to say that she was spending time with her daughters, but the words didn’t come out.
She felt a gaze on her from below, and she looked down to see the excited faces beloved daughters with their eyes shining as if they were expecting something great.
Shirley sighed, telling herself that she had no choice, and two swords appeared in her hands as her answer to Asterios.
She realizes she should go easy on them since it’s only training, but since she wants to look good in front of her daughters, she’s going to try a little harder than she perhaps should.
After this, the screams of the rookie adventurers increased ten-fold, but that’s a story that need not be told.
Peaceful days… Even though Shirley still took requests, for the most part, she lived quietly.
At the same time, Sophie and Tio were informed about an event that would change everything.
For the first time in three years of school, parents would finally be able to see their child’s day at school first hand… A day where the children could hardly focus because of the tension… A gloomy event called Parent Visitation Day.
The eyes of the Adventurer Guild’s patrons widened when they saw the mother and her two daughters walk through the door.
The only adventurers whose eyes weren’t bulging were the ones who also stayed at the Deficit House. Everyone else turned their heads and stretched their necks to get a look at the similar-looking family with their distinctive snow white hair.
“Oi, did that Sword Demon have younger sisters?”
“No, I’ve heard about this, those are apparently her daughters.”
“They look so similar… Anyways, appearance aside, isn’t she way too young to have daughters that age?”
At first glance, the family looks like a group of sisters, and the adventurers gaze at them as they made their way to the request board.
Unlike Shirley who seems completely unfazed, Sophie and Tio aren’t used to this and seem a little fidgety getting so much attention.
“They’re still staring…”
“Uu… This is my first time in the guild, are kids not allowed in here…?”
That’s not actually true, they had been in the guild many times back when they were infants, but right now those two girls were feeling a touch overwhelmed by the hustle and bustle of the guild that was very different to that of the Deficit House.
But, those two are secretly aspiring adventurers. They do their best to ignore the eyes on them and put on a brave face.
“Mum, what’s this?”
“The request board… It’s a bulletin board that details all the requests submitted to the guild, today I’m hoping to find a good quest to do tomorrow.”
When adventurers receive a request, they don’t necessarily have to immediately go out into the field to complete it. Depending on the circumstances, it might require some preparation in advance, so it’s quite common to accept requests several days in advance of starting them.
The dragon-slaying expedition she embarked on the other day is more an exception than a rule. Even putting aside the bad bonobos, Shirley is the only person in this remote town who would consider adventuring to a dragon’s lair with so little preparation.
“Hm… There are lots of requests. Um… Hunting smiles and anni… annihilating bandits?” And collecting feathers from a rainbow coloured bird.”
“Mm. Sophie, look.”
As she was looking at one of the requests at the edge of the board so as not to get in the way of the other adventurers, Tio pointed out a request to gather herbs which are often taken by rookies.
“I wonder if we can do this?”
“You’re right. It’s just going out to pick some plants…”
“It’s not as easy as that.”
Shirley gives the two a light smack over the head.
“The reason adventurers are asked to do this is that it is dangerous. Herb gathering outside the city… You have no idea what kind of monsters you might encounter. I don’t want the two of you imitating me, am I clear?”
“D-don’t worry! Mama, you’re such a worrywart!”
“…I’m not going to do something dangerous like that.”
They’re lying. In fact, they’ve been wanting to imitate her for quite some time. Even if she says that the outside world is filled with dangerous monsters, they won’t lose heart.
Those rude adventurers suddenly stopped gossiping out of fear of the Demonic White Sword, who seemed to be exuding a slightly menacing aura, although that adventuring mother took a request from the board as if nothing had happened.
“Mama, what’s that request for?”
“It seems that a bear is snooping around a nearby farm, so I’ll get rid of it tomorrow.”
She only chose the request because she can complete it in a single day. Truth be told, the bear is actually a horned monster known as a Demon Bear, but that makes little difference to Shirley.
Thinking that she’ll be able to blitz the quest if she borrows the riding dragon Rangitz from the guild, she brings the request form to Yumina at reception, who is glaring at her for some reason.
“Exterminating the Monster at the Farm… You’ll be doing this tomorrow, I take it?”
“Is there a problem?”
“Not particularly. I don’t want to be stingy about which adventurers get which requests. But, you know, there’s a request with a much higher reward than this available.”
Yumina leans towards Shirley, and whispers in her ear.
“It’s actually a calamity class request… An Arch Demon has appeared in the Kingdom.”
“Okay.”
“…An S-Ranked party was already dispatched, but they’ve run into serious trouble.”
“I see.”
“…So, I was wanting to ask Shirley-san if perhaps she would go to temporarily join the party to support them in defeating the…”
“I refuse.”
The reply contained no malice, but also absolutely zero interest.
“I’m sure that party will eventually defeat it, and I promised to help out with my daughters’ homework today.”
“…Yes, but… I think this might be a little more important than spending time with your daughters…”
The receptionist gulped and looked down, Sophie and Tio don’t really understand what’s going on but even they feel pity for her.
Yumina knew that Shirley doted heavily on her daughters, but she believes that other things should be a higher priority for her.
“…Ah. Don’t you two want to see Shirley-san do something really amazing?”
“Can you stop trying to get my daughters on your side?”
Yumina clicked her tongue in frustration. Apparently, the pressure on her from the higher ups in the guild is still intense.
“Well, maybe it would be a good opportunity for you to party up again?”
“I already fulfilled that obligation.”
Without even a vague verbal agreement to provide a glimmer of hope of appeasing middle management, Yumina sighed heavily as she accepted she was fated for another tongue lashing.
Curious as they were, there’s no way the twins weren’t going to be drawn to the sound of wooden and steel swords clashing.
On the guild premises, there is a basic training square. Although a dedicated facility will be built sometime next year, for now, the square is filled with training adventurers, from the freshest of rookies to veterans in between requests.
“Hah!”
“Uwaaa!?”
“What!? Are you seriously trying to cut us up!?”
As Shirley went to take a peek with her daughters, she noticed Asterios leading a rookie party in training.
The Minotaur isn’t going easy on them… Making swings and slashes left and right at Kyle and Cudd, the two of them are twisting and turning this way and that in a desperate attempt to dodge his attacks.
“A-are they going to be okay!? He’s attacking with a big axe!?”
“There’s no problem. They aren’t going to get killed.”
“…I’m not sure…”
From Shirley’s point of view, the swings aren’t fast enough to be killing blows, they are measured attacks… But to an untrained eye, it would seem like he was seriously trying to kill the two of them.
Even if it wasn’t truly a life or death situation, this kind of training would help prepare the two of them for when they did face one.
It’s hard to say whether or not this training will really keep them alive, but if they gain anything from it then it’s not wasted effort.
“There. Your footwork is wrong.”
“Guah!?”
Being far too slow on his feet for a scout, Cudd tumbles to the ground after having his legs swept out from under him, and as he rolls the belt holding his trousers up comes loose and they slip off.
“Hahaha! Oi, idiot! Stop flashing your panties at us! Ahahahaha!”
“Mum? I can’t see anything?”
“W-what? What’s going on?”
“You don’t need to see.”
Leia was crying with laughter as she pointed at Cudd. Shirley, meanwhile, covered Tio and Sophie’s eyes with her hands whilst also turning her eyes away from such an unsightly scene.
“Well well, Leia-dono, you seem to be quite free? Why not participate as well?”
“Eh!? No, I’m an archer, so I don’t need to train to fight in the vanguard?”
“Ha ha ha, what are you saying? Someone in the back has just as much reason to learn as someone who fights in the front, in battle the rearguard can become the vanguard in the blink of an eye.”
Leia’s screams were soon added to the cacophony of the training square. Tio watched the adventurers from A-rank veteran and the E-ranked rookies training together and murmured quietly.
“…I just realized, that Minotaur guy is amazing. Swinging his axe that fast, but stopping just before hitting them.”
“Eh? Really?”
As Sophie looked at her, she nodded in response.
She hasn’t had any training herself, but she can realize just how extraordinarily talented he must be to swing around a heavy weapon like an axe and not hurt the rookies.
Shirley can’t help but be proud of Tio, who managed to learn so much from watching in such a short span of time.
Although, deep down, she’s a little worried about how fast she took to understanding something as dangerous as combat.
“Oh? Well well, if it isn’t Shirley-sama?”
“…Hello.”
Asterios, who hasn’t even broken a sweat in contrast to his pupils who were doubled over, noticed Shirley.
“Are these lovely girls your daughters?”
“Yes. You two, say hello.”
“N-nice to meet you! I’m Sophie!”
“…I’m Tio.”
Asterios knelt down to look at the two of them and nodded gently with a smile.
“My name is Asterios. Your mother and I adventured together previously… Though I have to say, you two really have grown.”
“Huh?”
“Um… Have we met somewhere before?”
“Yes. About ten years ago, when Shirley-sama first joined the guild…”
Even if they can’t remember meeting him, flowers seem to be blooming around this unlikely reunion. Although it is a very mismatched scene, with the incredibly muscular and tall Minotaur smiling at the two beautiful young girls.
“By the way, Shirley-sama. This is a good opportunity, so why don’t you participate in training? Those children are going to learn strange habits if they only train with me.”
She looks at Kyle, and his eyes bulge as he shakes his head vigorously.
“No, I…”
She wanted to say that she was spending time with her daughters, but the words didn’t come out.
She felt a gaze on her from below, and she looked down to see the excited faces beloved daughters with their eyes shining as if they were expecting something great.
Shirley sighed, telling herself that she had no choice, and two swords appeared in her hands as her answer to Asterios.
She realizes she should go easy on them since it’s only training, but since she wants to look good in front of her daughters, she’s going to try a little harder than she perhaps should.
After this, the screams of the rookie adventurers increased ten-fold, but that’s a story that need not be told.
Peaceful days… Even though Shirley still took requests, for the most part, she lived quietly.
At the same time, Sophie and Tio were informed about an event that would change everything.
For the first time in three years of school, parents would finally be able to see their child’s day at school first hand… A day where the children could hardly focus because of the tension… A gloomy event called Parent Visitation Day.
