… The time takes place a little before Nemo became an adventurer…

– Rendal Kingdom, Viscount Barakato Region –

She, who lived separate from the main house, was called out in the middle of the night, however, she responded back to the caller without any complaints.

The noise coming from the main house was unusual, and had already woken her up before.

As a precaution, she wore not the attire she usually wears when sleeping, but the one she uses for hunting that wouldn"t impede her movement, along with a short sword and leather armor she had found lying nearby.

The messenger who called her was a middle aged man with a slight thinning hair, and was someone she was familiar with as he would frequently relay messages to her from the main house… however, the expression he had this time was that of anxiety… it"s clear to her that something wrong had occurred within the household.

She tries to ask the man by her door.

“The house had been noisy, what happened?”

“The situation right now is urgent, so please leave the matter for the time being…… Princess, the ‘head" will meet with you in the room…… please come this way.”

” …… ?”

With a position as an illegitimate daughter of the family, simply being called ‘miss" was enough… There was never a time where she would be called ‘princess" by anyone. Having this person her call her that confused her…

On top of that, the head of the household, Viscount Barakato, directly meeting with her was an even more unusual case.

She was suspicious of it all, but since the person guiding her would give no room to speak up, she quickly followed obediently.

At the main house, Benedetta reached upon the room where the lord was residing.

There, she saw the viscount equipping his armor and helmet with the help of his attendants… she immediately felt the tension when entering the room and looking around.

It was customary for her to refer the viscount the same as a servant, as "his headship" despite being her father, as her status is that of a child from a concubine. Such distinction should have been the case.

“… Your headship. I have brought the Princess!”

“So you have… There"s not enough time. Do not ask questions and listen to me carefully.”

On a normal occasion, there should have been no need for his headship to be speaking to her directly, but she faces his way and listens with great anxiety.

“… Yes.”

“Before long, rebels of the kingdom and an army of devotees will raid this household. As such, you will be sent away from the fight in order to keep the family blood Barakato from disappearing.”

“Devotees… the church"s sect!?”

The sect of the Order Church was a radical group, purging those worshipping G.o.ds other than Dhaka… News of their increasing influence ever since the kingdom"s regicide had already been widespread.

Even she had already been aware of the confrontation between the sect from the Order Church and the many other religions, had been spreading around the north.

However, it"s still difficult to believe they had already reached the outer borders of the north and are attacking at night…

… And also, there"s the matter of when he mentioned the house"s name, "Barakato" …

What he would mean by that, is to escape from here and preserve the blood of the Barakato family.

"Please wait! I wish to remain here!"

"It is enough for me to meet with my ancestors alone… those people would be satisfied with that for the time being… I won"t be able to meet them in the face if I had my daughter die with me…"

For the longest time in her memory, this would be the first time her father ever calls her his daughter. And she was surprised by that.

While still shocked, a nearby attendant handed to her an item wrapped in cloth.

"Take it… I had planned on giving this to you once you become an adventurer, but there won"t be a time like that anymore… That item was what your mother had used before."

Inside the cloth, was a dagger.

The unique decoration of a horse"s head on the handle, was sculpted delicate enough for even an amatuer to notice its value. The blade itself was also decorated well.

… The father watched the girl, still fascinated with the dagger, and spoke slowly to her.

"Yulia… forgive me. Had you been treated equally as my own child, then there would be talk about marriage arrangements with the other n.o.ble families, and your "Blessing from Prudia" would have been revealed… the treatment was rash, and it is inexcusable of me as your father."

It all came on to her all of a sudden, and had confused her a little, but the words she says next were the ones she had never mistaken for.

"Father!"

"So you would still call me that… Despite being a person who could do nothing for his daughter…"

From that, both the father and daughter, who never had the chance to get along, hugged each other… but it wasn"t long until news came interrupted into the room.

"Your headship! Our forces to intercept the intruders are ready!"

A fully armed knight reports by the entrance.

"Alight. I"ll head there immediately."

"Sir!"

The father once more strongly hugged his daughter… and then promptly leaves with the soldier waiting for him.

Before exiting the room, he turned back gave his last words.

"… Yunia! I"ll be off!"

"… Father, be safe!"

She endured back her tears when seeing off her father with her head bowed down.

After being handed some money, she headed to the stable to secure a horse for her escape… There she meets the man who had called for her earlier… Unlike before however, he now wears a leather armor and equipped with a bow around his shoulder.

"Princess, please use this horse. All equipment for it had already been finished. There are some travelling expenses inside the bag from the horse"s saddle."

"Thank you so much."

The man had prepared a horse that was slightly smaller in stature, but it was the horse well known for its light feet and speed… most likely instructed from her father.

"Princess, the sword there was also a gift from his headship."

"Eh?"

Where the man pointed to, was not the dagger that she had just received, but the short sword she always had.

… However, this sword had been given to her from her brother… 

"Hahaha… That sword and it"s fine craftsmanship… There is no way the young master could acquire that on his own…"

Somehow, it wasn"t only the brother, but the father also had some help with it it seems.

"… I just wish to tell the princess that."

Those words hurt her somehow, knowing what the man will plan to do next, but she asks anyways.

"Tourei! What do you plan to do now?"

"I will remain by his headships side. All the way until the end."

"……"

From the back of her mind, she had also been thinking if she would do the same, and rush at her father in the battlefield, but the man realising her intentions speaks to her in regret.

"You shouldn"t do such a thing now, Princess."

"… …  I understand."

She had thought of going against such orders, but like as expected… she couldn"t.

"… I give you my thanks for everything."

She jumped onto the back with fluent skill, and turned the horse towards the back gate.

"Safe journeys Princess!"

Riding away from the stables and out of the back gate, the horse gave a much better performance than she had imagined.

Looking back to the household she had once lived in, she thought to herself.

(With the blood from my father and once adventurer mother, I promise to do my best to live…)

"Open the gates! Show these people the power of the Barakato"s central force!"

"Ohhh!"

While listening to the noises of the army from far away, she continues riding in the opposite direction… she does not wish to waste her father"s efforts.

This conflict, was only but one of the many religious disturbances within the northern region…

– Adventurer"s Life Day 50 (Mon) – Night – Comnes Inn – Nessos" Temptation

… This was the first time I"ve heard this story from Benedetta"s past.

Seeing the gloomy expression of hers when speaking about it, tells me a lot of what she thought of it.

After that incident, even though she had escaped to a town further up north from Rendal, there was news of the Church"s investigation in that direction, and so she had broken off from her brother who had stayed to take on the forces.

It was through the inquisition"s interrogation of the captives from their old territory had they been aware of her existence as a holder of "Prudia"s Blessing", and their pursuit for her was more relentless than that of her brother"s.

At that, she had to make a large detour around Rendal, away from signs of the inquisitions, and escaped southwards… By the time she had reached Comnes, she had already hidden her name Yulia to a more southern Benedetta, and had exhausted all her travelling money even after selling the horse…

After that… was things I already heard about.

According to Benedetta, her late father was an extremely faithful va.s.sal of the former king, and as such she had to endure situation of the conspirators against Rendal"s King.

"Even if the house"s recovery cannot be done, I would at least like to achieve in recovering my father"s honor… Of course, this is still nothing but a dream for me with how little power I hold, but…"

"… Sure enough, if they were to attack us right now… even with the two of us, I doubt we"ll be able to do much against them…"

"……"

Rendal isn"t the only country, plagued by an innumerable amount of religious wars.

Adventurers from there had just been escaping south, so it isn"t simply just a rumour anymore.

From what we"ve been hearing, even now Rendal had been proactively fighting against the sect and the rebellious groups in partnership with the current king.

"… But, I don"t think a time like that would ever happen."

"Is that something like a prediction?"

"Yeah."

Well, this really is just wishful thinking on my part, but despite the Church"s sect having enough power to cause trouble on various areas around the north, it doesn"t look like they would have much control over the things other than to fight.

Their actions are too radical, and they"re bound to collapse because of that.

Even so, there"s nothing we could really do now… 

I try racking my head on some things, but no sooner my mind wandered off to something else entirely…

(… Hmm, what was it that she said from the very beginning again?… Ah, that"s right.)

"Hey? … You told me this story was "difficult to tell", but why is that?"

Somehow… the tension in the room just rose by a couple of notches after asking that…

After a brief pause, Benedetta spoke with a somewhat lowered tone.

"You really, haven"t noticed it have you?"

"Eh… ? Noticed what?"

She pressed her hand onto her forehead… I"m not following at all, but I"m guessing there"s something important I missed…

"Didn"t you noticed people, and especially the female adventurers, were trying to get close to you at all?"

"Eh… did that happen? Why was that?"

"… To put it simply, some adventurer"s with an extremely low of self awareness, would do whatever they can to get people to do most of the work for them."

"Wouldn"t people like that be called "leechers"?"

"Nemo… so you did know of it?"

… Aah, so the term ‘leech" actually got through…

It should function differently in this world, but I immediately remember them back in the game.

I"ve often seen it in MMO"s, where weak characters would party up with strong players and level quickly through that.

It"s usually done in mutual agreement, where the weaker player just want to skip past the early grind, so I never really thought about it too much.

Though this really is only for when the level difference is wide. When both characters have a similar level, it turns into something where just one character would sit about doing nothing, while the other does all the work…

… I wonder, is it even fun to play the game like that?

This is an example that only exists in games, and it"s often easy to spot when it is like that… but… I"m guessing it would be a little more different in reality…

“Sometimes when I"m walking alone, I would get persistent requests like, ‘can I join the party?"… and there are times when they would say things like, ‘it"s not fair how only you get it yourself", to me. You"re a target to many adventurers that wants to take advantage of, you know?”

It doesn"t seem like Benedetta had this sort of encounter with other adventurers only once or twice either… Hold on, if I wasn"t able to recognise they were trying to leech off of me… isn"t that really bad!?

Seeing my stunned face, Benedetta made a long sigh…

“Do you get it…”

“Mm…”

Seems like Benedetta had been preventing dangerous situations like that this entire time without me noticing… Much appreciated.

“But then, what does this have to do with being ‘difficult to say"?… Though I"m not sure if I just missed it.”

“The difference of ability between me and you is really too wide. I don"t want to be seen as if I"m like the rest of those people who try to suck up to you, and focus on getting stronger first!”

It seemed like she was already aware of how lax I am when it comes to the adventurer business, and I wouldn"t be kicking her out any time soon, but she didn"t want to feel like she was just ‘leeching" off of me… She sure has quite a lot of pride huh…

Though, I"m sure I would"ve done the same anyways, along with a lot of other people who have at least an above average level of self awareness.

“Because of that, I didn"t want to tell you since I wouldn"t want you to be sympathetic of me… Though even then, I still don"t get why the reward is split evenly between us…”

She didn"t complain too much at first since I was insistent on it, but with the guilt acc.u.mulating, and with the envious stares from other adventurers, she couldn"t take it anymore and told it to me outright.

“The reason I have difficulty saying it was because of that. The more I came to like you, the harder it became to terms with myself. With you being the type of person who doesn"t notice these sort of things… just makes things worse.”

“I don"t think… there was any moment you acted like that…”

“Even if I were to be hiding it, if you were able to notice it then… no, nevermind.”

I feel like she"s asking something a little unreasonable here… but I won"t say anything. It was my fault to begin with… 

“Another thing, the guild even talks to me like I"ve been parasitizing off of you. That just makes it more and more difficult to speak my feelings… ahh, jeez!”

“Erm… I can somewhat follow along, but… sorry.”

It"s the first time Benedetta acted like this, and it seemed like she had just taken out all the things she had pented up until now… it"s kinda hard to speak up.

“Now then, with that all said, let"s do a do-over with the reward ratio.”

And so, changing the topic to something completely irrelevant to what I wanted to say, she asks to have her portion of the reward greatly reduced.

“This should"ve been done from the beginning, but being given half of the reward is definitely not something normal.”

“… then, how about 30%?”

“That"s still way too high!”

The negotiation continued on for a while. She asked for something less than 10% for herself, but after convincing here about how the two of us are the only real people in the party, we settled for 20% in the end… 

Weren"t we just talking about her dark past a while ago… ?

—- Summoning Memo —-

Centurion Team:
Members: Centurion, Skeleton 1, 2, 3
Equipment: Hatchet, Shield, Armor and helmet

Phillips Team:
Members: Phillips, Skeletons 4, 5, 6
Equipment: Spear, Shield, Armor and helmet

Other Skeletons:
7 – 37: Club, Round shield, Armor and helmet

Stone Golem: 1
Wooden Horse: 1

#Golems can be divided to a maximum of three bodies.