Unexpected setback
"EWWWWWWW!"
A girl drenched in blood from head to toe spat out even more blood before growling in disgust and shaking around to get rid of the crimson fluid.
"...filthy piece of crap…!"
She used the chance of being alone to spit out a curse, turning around to the sight of a giant black bear with red markings on its fur and around its paws…
…the dead monster bear that ended up being split apart as its bodily fluids were sprayed across a radius of a dozen feet in all directions.
"Who the hell told you to get in my way suddenly, you stupid bastard…! How was I supposed to react if you just waltzed out from behind a bush, you fuc...!"
"My lady! What happened?! Are you okay?!"
The girl gritted her teeth, staring daggers at the already deceased creature, when another person arrived at the scene - an out of breath brown-haired maid calling out to the one drenched in blood.
"Hey, Adi. I took a step with the intention of running, and it did count as a charge…"
The blood-covered girl greeted the maid with a sigh while spreading her arms to the side to show off the full extent of the staining.
"Oh dear…"
"Ha! Would you look at that!"
While the maid breathed out a troubled sigh and rushed to her master with a handkerchief to at least help her clean her face, a man tall man with black hair with white roots also showed up, instantly making an I-told-you-so expression.
"Zane. Do not. Not right now. Please."
Melinda grumbled at her monstrous servant while Adrianna did her best to clean her up, at least a little bit.
"All I was going to say is that your reflexes will never truly catch up to your strength. Gargantuan is far beyond all other royal-type abilities. Trying to compare it with anything else is almost laughable."
"Zane…!"
The servant pointed out, making Melinda send him a particularly grumpy look.
"You want to finish all the quests today. That's completely fine. I already told you so. It's just either I or Miss Adrianna will have to carry you around to make that possible in a timely manner."
Zane pointed out with a lighthearted shrug.
"Haaaa… yeah... I admit that much now…"
Melinda breathed out and gave a defeated nod.
"Does either of you remember whether Blood-Sigil Bear had an extermination quest?"
She added while moving her gaze from the monstrous servant to the dead monster.
"Level 60 mini-boss, Blood-Sigil Bear? Maybe as a part of some hidden questline…"
"I'll take it as a no."
Zane scoffed, shaking his head and making Melinda grumble.
"It will definitively sell for a lot, though! My lady, please, lean down."
Adrianna pointed out reassuringly while giving up just trying to wipe the monster's blood off Melinda and, instead, taking out a water container and pulling on her master's shoulder before pouring the whole thing on her head.
"True… pfuah…! Z-Zane, take my guild card and cash that thing in the adventurer guild, okay? Take this, too."
Melinda nodded, accidentally choking on the water mixed with blood, and took out the green guild card and the bracelet of the scout, waving them around in Zane's general direction.
"Young Zane. Get our lady a set of clean clothes, while you're at it. And towel. I believe there is some stream or other water source around, we will go there…"
"Understood."
While the monstrous servant took both items, Adrianna added while squinting her eyes and looking to the side, causing Zane to nod before dropping to the ground and cheesing his ability to get much, much taller than he was supposed to.
"I'll probably get myself a guild card, too, just in case, so please be patient."
The giant servant stood up, now able to easily grab and lift both halves of the torn monster.
"Okaaay~"
Melinda, with her head still down and dripping wet, raised her hand and waved to him with approval.
"Adiiii… it feels so groooooss…!"
With Zane gone, Melinda's personality changes slightly. The bloodstained girl became more needy and spoiled, even if only in the way she sounded.
"My lady, in the end there is no reason for you to finish all the quests in one day after all. The money from that bear would surely be enough for a while so you could just focus on the school, and young Zane and I could complete those quests for you, for example."
The brown-haired maid pointed out in a much more carefree voice than what she allowed herself to speak normally around others.
"The opening ceremony is tomorrow. Not to mention, I'm quite confused as to why no delegation of sorts showed up to greet you in the first place. Do they actually intend to show disregard and hostility to an exchange student? Could it be that from the beginning, the whole exchange program was a way for the Emeraldios Empire to reignite conflict between them and the Diamondium kingdom?"
Adrianna furrowed her brows and pouted, letting some of her actual thoughts on the matter slip out.
"I'm curious about that, too. That gatekeeper seemed very casual about everything, besides your peerage. It could be that instead of putting great weight on the whole exchange program, no one in Emeraldios Empire really cares? From what we know, it's our king who is into bridging the gap between our countries, but we know nothing about their Empress."
"Fair point, my lady."
Melinda breathed out and shrugged, making Adrianna nod with a sour expression.
"That said, I believe that all this blood has lured in some monsters."
The maid pointed out while putting aside the bloodied handkerchief and turning towards the glowing eyes of some sort of canine monsters lurking behind the cover of the trees.
"Blood tends to do that. And I believe that we took on an extermination quest with their name on it~"
Melinda nodded and grinned, plucking a few blades of grass and rolling each of them into a tiny little ball.
"Now… as weakly as I can…"
The gold-haired girl muttered to herself while closing one eye and taking aim at the most forward-positioned beast…