Working on Something

I laid my eyes on that girl first for a few obvious reasons.

First, she's a priest.

Sasha hadn't done a poor job as a priest, as a matter of fact. It's just that I wanted her to focus on other roles. She can't fully unleash her potential by being a priest. That's how I see it. She'd be better off as a hunter or thief.

With the addition of her as a member of our team, the options we have as a team become much wider and open as a result.

I've personally seen her drinking alone in our inn, Tuera's Inn, and even in this tavern quite often.

Not all the time, of course, but any time I see her, she's always alone.

Does she not have a companion? That's not necessarily the case. It's possible that she's simply in a group entirely devoted to work. If it's not---

"Ah, if I'm not mistaken, your party is only three people, right, Kiyochi? Are you planning to recruit her or something?" Kikkawa guessed my intentions quite easily. "I'll help you, my best friend! You probably still don't know this, but she is what you call a rental priest, alright? Since she is a rental, she didn't stay for long in a party, but I could introduce you to her, if you want. What do you think?"

"Rental priest...?"

'Why?'

It's probably wasn't anything special.

Priests were needed explicitly among the volunteer soldiers. They were the most sought-after role of all. With that, it was only natural to pitch themselves with that ability.

'But a rental, huh?'

'I need a permanent one. '

I could have done something to bring down her reputation as a priest and showed myself at the end as a savior of some sort to give her a place in my party, which she would have no other choice but to accept, forcing her to become a permanent priest for me. But I doubt about the effort equivalent to the usefulness of her that I didn't even know about would be worth it. I'm still new as a volunteer soldier. I still don't know many things. Taking that into consideration, as well, I would be more interested in recruiting the other priestess, Io, who was known for her abilities, to my team. It's more reasonable.

'She had that weird trait of hers, that said...'

Once, I had seen her walking around Alterna looking for someone to join her team. I had no problem with her arrogant attitude. As far as I'm concerned, it's just to hide her weakness. What's at issue is that she's smart enough to use that to take advantage of men who are foolish enough to be fooled by her appearance into protecting her.

That doesn't mean I can't do anything at all, of course. It's simply would be tricky to get her to my team easily.

'Yeah, I really should---'

"My neighbor!"

Kikkawa's sudden exclamation cut off my thoughts. Who was he calling a neighbor? Merry? Apparently yes.

Though the woman in question completely ignored Kikkawa, the expression on her face was enough to say that she was used to Kikkawa's eccentricities.

"Hey, Merry-chan! How's it going? Good? No? Yeah, that figures. Just like usual, yeah? Anyway, I brought someone to you! A ness-busi! In other words, business! Yay!"

"I never---" I began, stopping midway.

"This man?"

The woman reacted this time. She turned to me with a curious look. I quickly noticed that they were abnormally dark.

"Right, my best friend, Kiyotaka! He's capable, you know? He's smart, and he's handsome! Don't you think that's pretty good?!"

"I don't care about the last part..." Merry said that with a bitter expression.

"Yesh, sorry, my fault." He didn't seem that way. "Anyway, he's searching for a member for his party. Not as a rental, though. A permanent member. As a request from your dear neighbor, I'd reaaaally like you to help my friend here. He only has three members from his party, you know? Including him. But don't you worry, he's more than capable!"

'What do you even know about me?' I sighed.

Merry gave me an appraising look. It didn't look like she had a good view of me either.

"As long as I get my share, whatever, I'll do it."

So of course, her answer caught me by surprise.

'What's with her job as a rental priest?'

"Yohoo!"

Kikkawa cheered, probably not even having a single suspiciousness of why.

He brought a mug from the counter and drank it quickly. "Bwah! Don't you think it needs a celebration, Kiyochi?! Let's have a long drink, my dear brother!"

"Where are we going?" Merry completely ignored Kikkawa.

'Yeah, I have to do that too.'

"We'll hunt in the Old City. I plan to move on to the Cyrene Mines before long, though."

Merry's expression clearly darkened the instant she heard the words 'Cyrene Mines'. Only for a moment. She immediately put that neutral expression on her face. After a closer inspection, she had a relatively above-average feature even compared to other good-looking girls. She didn't particularly have any part of her body that was attractive. Or, to be precise, she had it all. Everything was there, all in balance.

Her long silky hair, deep beady eyes, upright nose, and delicate cheeks were all appealing to the eye. Her body in particular had the flawless curves that I found to be ideal for a woman to have. All that combined, she was just a perfect woman.

"Was it a problem?" I asked.

It would be a problem if it was.

"No..." Merry answered after a while.

"I won't force you if you don't want to go to that place, you know? You can refuse the invitation of my new member's request or whatever it is."

She cringed. "I said I don't have a problem."

"Alright, then. Let's meet at the north gate by 8 O'Clock tomorrow morning."

Looking towards the counter beside Merry, I saw Kikkawa asleep with the earthen mug still in his hand—a familiar sight. At the more prominent counter, I also saw Renji drinking alcohol by himself. No one was around him.

Merry suddenly stood up.

Without saying anything to me, she walked out of the bar.

'What a rude girl...'

Not that I actually care.

///|||\\

"You what?" Sasha put on an exaggerated expression.

Moguzo had fallen fast asleep in his room, and in the night time in the living room was Sasha who remained awake.

When I told her what happened at Sherry Tavern, she could understandably be surprised. I hadn't said anything about this to anyone, after all.

"Are you not going to need me anymore?" Her voice cracked.

"Yes,"

'As a priest, that is.'

I wonder what she'd actually do if I brought her to a state of mind where I didn't need her at all.

"I'll do anything!"

'And I have to admit, it's better than I imagined.'

With a clearly depressed expression, Sasha clutched my body tightly. Her lightly revealing clothes meant that I could feel something sublime from her luscious body. Although not comparable to Merry, Sasha had something that only she had with her physique.

"Please, don't throw me from the party..." she run her hands all over my body, all the way down.

Well, that said, there's a limit. I hurriedly stopped her hands.

"What do you mean?" I asked with a slight raise of my eyebrows.

"Eh?" Sasha looked surprised.

"I only meant as a priest. You're still needed in other roles to improve the team's overall abilities. Ah, this one is on me, I guess."

Sasha promptly punched my shoulder.

"Ow,"

"You don't sound like you're in pain at all," she sulked. "And that one certainly wasn't funny."

"I have no idea what you mean..."

Either way, I didn't expect that she would go that far to be with me.

While it could mean that she would always abide by my wishes, it would, nonetheless, be troublesome for her should it affect her usefulness at work.

Sasha spoke after a moment. "Then can I switch to being a thief?"

"Thief?"

Another surprise.

'How many times have I been surprised today?'

I thought she would choose Hunter. At least, considering her personality.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I can do a good job at it better than Hunter."

"I'll leave that up to you to decide, then."

It's in the realm of expectation, at least.

As for myself, I still have no intention of changing my role. For that, I need another member to fill the role of protecting a priest.

'Well, I could do that by becoming a mage, which I would really like to...'

Unfortunately, it would take an inordinate amount of time for me to finally be fully prepared to be a mage and a fighter at the same time. To be more precise, the money required was too much.

'Need to work on that.'