Joining Trundle Guild

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“Ojou-chan, one don’t just give their name to this guild to join. You’re going to fight against the guild’s designated person and show us your ability. Is that good?”

The old man, the Guild Master, raised his index finger and placed it on his lips. He seems to have noticed my identity.

Yeah. If names or titles come first, there would be prejudices, and it may be suspected that they had given special treatment to the applicant. After thinking twice, I realise that I am pretty much a granddaughter of the Guild Master. And my pride won’t allow me to obtain my plate that way.

I nodded silently and followed the Guild Master to the door leading to the back of the building. It is a building like an elementary school gym. Apparently, my abilities will be tested here.

A red-haired man with a scar on his cheek and jaw stood at the bar in front of me. He looked me up and down (actually just down) and decided on my opponent carefully.

“Your opponent is Kodak, a B-rank plate holder of this guild. Do your best. I myself stand witness, with the Guild Master, C-rank Matt, and A-rank Gilbert.”

The rank of adventurers starts from E at the bottom and it goes up to D → C → B → A → S. Trundle Guild’s ranks are more difficult to climb than other guilds. Kodak-san would be an A-rank in guilds elsewhere. I can’t look down on them. Matt-san is the skin head. So that leaves the one-eyed as Gilbert-san? He’s A-rank, that means S-rank elsewhere. Amazing! Oh, I can see only one eye, but… I look at me very miserably. Do I look so weak he felt pity?

“Duration of the test is unlimited. Are you ready?”

Kodak-san holds a two-handed sword. It looks heavy.

I take off my cloak, put it by my side, and hold my dagger in my right hand.

“Lu, I’m going!”

「Sera, this is the first step. Go!」

“Begin!”

Kodak-san jumps and swings his two-handed sword. I received it with my dagger and deflected it to the side. It’s heavy after all. I turn my left foot and aim to hit his vacant left armpit with my heel, but he retreats one step and avoided it. Well, the height difference is awful. But can’t I not make use of the height differences? I quickly return the dagger to its holder.

I jump high above his head and throw five shurikens hidden in both wrists. A total of ten files towards Kodak-san’s heads. I once again take the knife out as I fell from above, meanwhile, Kodak-san deflects the shurikens with his sword. After he finished deflecting them with his sword, he quickly turned around and drew his sword towards me, but I slipped between his legs and took out another dagger, aiming at his throat and heart from the front.

“Stop!”

The voice of the Guild Master resounds.

“Did you just use <Shuriken>…?”

Kodak-san asked that and sat down while looking at me with an unsatisfied face. His reaction to the shuriken probably has something to do with Grandmother or Older Brother.

The Guild Master asks Matt-san and Gilbert-san.

“I declare the challenger’s victory in this match.”

“No objection!”

“No objection!”

“Was there any unfairness in the current match?”

“No unfairness!”

“No unfairness!”

“Okay then. I assign the challenger to be a conditional C-rank.”

“She won against the B-ranked Kodak, so isn’t B-rank appropriate for her?”

“I think it’s appropriate for her to be a conditional C-rank.”

“Thus, the challenger of this time is recognized as a conditional C-rank. Congratulations. Hime-sama.”

“Hooray! C-rank Get!!”

「Sera, congratulations! Congratulations!」

When I was jumping, I suddenly was lifted up by Muscle-uncles! Waaa―!

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We moved to the Guild Master’s room at the back of the reception. Me and the Guild Master are sitting in front, and other guild members are leaning against the walls or on chairs they brought from the bar. Miss receptionist… Lara-san brought me tea, but her hand is shaking, spilling the tea.

“Lara-san, I’m sorry for my rude conduct earlier.”

I apologized while worried that I might not be able to keep the application paper on the table from getting wet any longer.

“N-no, it was a big blunder on my part. That is, despite all the receptionists having been instructed… If a <Black-eyed Fairy> comes, we should try to silently judge her, no matter how cute they might look. I’m disqualified to be a receptionist. -gusu-“

「She called you <Black-eyed Fairy>! Sera.」

“…………”

Even if you’re a sacred beast, your face will look detestable if you laugh like that! This alias only gives me a bad premonition that an unwanted flag has been raised.

“Well, new adventurer, can you introduce yourself?”

“Yes. My name is Serafiona Granzeus. I’m pleased to make your acquaintance.”

“Wow! It’s the Granzeus after all! What’s your relationship with Lalouza?”

“Lalouza is my older brother.”

“I knew it… the shuriken was really something. Ah, your faces are quite similar. Why didn’t I notice it earlier?”

Kodak-san says while looking somehow uneasy.

“Serafiona is… the daughter of Rurifiona?”

“Yes, Gilbert-san. She is my mother. I have no memory of her though.”

“Similar in nature… both your faces and sword styles…”

So that’s it… Gilbert-san sees my Mother through me. Sometimes Grandmother looks at me with a similar sad glance. Stop it! I’m not Mother! Look at me!!!

What can I say? Being an Arafō inside, I have learned enough to care for others’ lives. Please look at me and not the image you project on me! …And I will hopefully get to become like Father. My Mother’s life was certainly short, but… she must have been happy.

By the way,

“What is this <Black-eyed Fairy>?”

I asked the Guild Master, Matomon Sieg-san.

“Hime-sama, the thing is, here in Trundle Guild, once in about every twenty years, pretty children like you that we called <Black-eyed Fairies> appear. It’s a story that has been passed down within the guild for generations so that their examination will be proceeded with promptly without reluctance.”

Hey, Sieg-old-man, what is this ‘Hime’ thingy you’ve been calling me with from a while ago? While getting caught there,

“That means… last time, it was Mother?”

I asked Gilbert-san and he quietly nodded.

“The ones with black eyes coming to this guild… they are direct descendants of Trundle. A few years after the young princess of the Trundle was born, she came for a trial to test her power. That’s how it was.”

“T-that means, this Ojou-chan is one too?”

Matt-san points at me with a shaky hand.

Sieg-old-man laughs cheerfully.

“She is the granddaughter of the Lord, Elsa Trundle-sama, the only successor of the legitimate Trundle bloodline that inherits the signature dark eyes of Trundle. Elsa-sama trained Hime who had studied the art of war from her, and our future Lord, Serafiona-hime. The former Lord Rurifiona-hime retired over ten years… Hime-sama, we have been waiting for you.”

Sieg-san laughs with a radiant smile…… and even shed tears.

I, I, I haven’t heard about this at all――――――!!!

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