Takami no Kago – Chapter 5

After the night went by, we first headed towards the Equipments Shop to buy equipments .

“Now then, collar is it . Which one do you want?”

Several collars are lining up before us .

“Err, um, I can not decide one so could you pick one for me, Master?”

“Is that alright?”

“Y-Yes . Beside, I want to wear collar that you like, Master . ”

What a good girl . For now, I’ll choose collars that raises some defensive power and ask Ayla’s opinion .

“Is this one alright?”

“Yes, thank you very much . ”

“Then, let’s put it on here . ”

After having Ayla’s confirmation, it seems it’s no good if I only buy the collar .
It seems the master have to put it on the slave’s neck himself .
And so I put the red [Leather Collar] on Ayla’s neck .
After that, it shrinks to fit Ayla’s neck automatically . That’s [Equipments] for you .
Checking the status, the [Leather Collar] changed to [Ayla’s Collar] .

“With this, I am all Master’s . ”

Hearing Ayla says so cheerfully, honestly I think she’s too easy,
however, it might be because she has no one to relied upon beside her parents .
Beside, I honestly feel glad that she opens her heart to me .
I’m also alone in this world . So I can understand how it relieving to have someone you can trust .

For defensive gear, they’re [Leather Armor], [Leather Shoes], and [Leather Gauntlet]; the same as me .
As for sword and shield, we pick the typical [Silver Sword] and [Wood Shield]; yet the same as me .

I pay 5 big silver coins for the complete set of defensive gear and weapon we buy .
Ayla look at me anxiously .

“Um, Master . Is it alright not to confirm it in the guild first?”

She nervously worried about that .
It seems she worries about her [curse] .

“It’s okay . Then, we’ll go to the guild next . ”

After I said so, we left the Equipments Shop .

“By the way, have you ever fight monsters before?”

Realizing that I never heard of it before, I tried to ask her .

“Yes, since monsters from the forest often came to the village . ”

Well, how could she leveled up if she haven’t fight before, then .

“Um, I will try my hardest not to be a burden!”

Whatever, maybe it’ll be okay .
If I go by her status, she probably stronger than me .

“Ah, there’s no need to force yourself, okay . ”

While we were talking about that, we arrived at the Adventurer’s Guild .

“Welcome . Why, if it isn’t Hibiki . Huh? Who is that girl?”

I was asked by the quite-beautiful-receptionist who was on the guild’s counter .
She introduces herself as Lily, the one who has looking after me since I register myself in this guild .

“Yo, Lily-san . This girl’s Ayla . She’s going to be my party member .
Ayla, this is Lily-san . If you want to survive in this guild, you better not making her angry . ”

While approaching the reception desk, I introduce each other .

“Y-Yes . I hope we will get along well . ”

Here come Ayla’s greeting polite version .

“Yup, hope we’ll get along~”

Lily-san replies so while waving her hand lightly . After that, she glared at me for a while . Yup, she’s scary when gets angry .

“For the time being, I want to register Ayla . ”

While handing in the registration fee of 1 big silver coins, I ask for Ayla’s registration .

“Yes, yes . If she wear collar then that means Ayla-chan is Hibiki’s slave, right? Then, you just have to fill the name and owner column . ”

Lily glances at Ayla’s collar and replies so .
Is she not talking about it because it’s not unusual for adventurers to have slave in their party?
They are usually use as meat-shield to buy time to escape; disarm dangerous traps; or carrying luggage .
And so, the registration completed after about 30 minutes .

“Here, this will be your Guild Card . ”

“Th-Thank you very much . ”

Ayla straighten herself as she received her Guild Card . She look over her Guild Card timidly .
Guild Card is a card created by using some metal with magic involved .
Beside displaying the owner’s status, it also displays the records of monster you’ve subjugate, status of missions you accepted, and also various information .
And then, as though finally consented after confirming many times that there’s no [Curse] inscribe anywhere on the card, Ayla look at me .
I answer her by a nod .

“Now then, it’s your first mission . What do you wanna pick?”

I want to get subjugation-type mission, but if it scares Ayla then there’s no choice but to wait her gradually accustomed .
However, even though she looks nervous, she shows a firm determination .

“I would like to pick this, Sharp Wolves’ subjugation mission . ”

Hearing Sharp Wolves, Lily’s grinning as she look at me . Stop looking at me .
And Alya who noticed that tilts her head .

“Now, that’s Hibiki’s party member for you, huh . ”

“Nah, she knows nothing . ”

“My, is that so?”

“???”

Lily who saw Ayla’s curious expression consented, and started to talked .

“His first mission was also Sharp Wolves’ subjugation, you know . ”

“Is that so?”

However, adventurer who take that as a first mission is not unusual . Sharp Wolf’s like a monster to reach gateway-to-success for novice adventurer . [1]
Then, are you asking why Lily’s grinning?

“Yup, and I was surprised when he came back by evening of the same day with raw materials worth of 50 Sharp Wolves . ”

“50?!”

“Nah, I was happened to find a whole bunch of them . ”

I frantically make an excuse .

“Normally, even a mid-tier adventurer would stand no chance against a whole group of 50 . ”

Even Ayla nods in agreement .
Just which side are you on .

“Well, that happened perchance . ”

With a status enhanced by [Divine Protection], it’s one-hit-kill with sword for a mere Sharp Wolf .
I spent not even 1 hour to hunt 50 monsters; however, it seems that abilities are too abnormal for a novice adventurer .
Recalling what an outrageous-uproar it caused back then, I grimace .

“As expected, Master is awesome!”

Ayla turn towards me with eyes brimming with respect .

“Yeah, as long as he’s with you, Sharp Wolf’s nothing . Good luck, okay . ”

“Yes, I will do my best . ”
Thus, my first mission with Ayla was started .

Translator notes and references
[1] 登竜門 (とうりゅうもん) : it says ‘gateway to success’ in dictionary . I don’t know what it really means in RPG . I don’t play many MMORPG, let alone the Japanese one . Does PSO2 count?