Chapter 90 – Ted's Consultation

Five days had passed since then, and sure enough, the two of us began to rack our brains.

“When should we head back?”

“If we stay like this any longer, we’ll turn into complete failures as human beings.”

“I think so too.”

Ted nodded with a serious look on his face.

Having spent so much time without a care in the world, our heads felt all fuzzy.

In the end, after talking it over, we decided to leave early the next morning.

“Hey, Marie. Got a minute?”

“What’s up?”

“Summer’s almost over, and it’ll be two years since we teamed up, right?”

“Yeah, now that you mention it.”

Ted set down the book he was reading and sat in the chair next to me, his face deep in thought.

I got up to make some tea and filled the pot with hot water.

“I want to take command of your protection detail. What do you think I’m missing?”

“Nothing in particular… I don’t think you’re lacking anything…”

I tilted my head, lost in thought.

“Even compared to Heart?”

“Then the problem’s with me. Because I don’t match your movements.”

“Eh? You match Heart’s?”

Ted suddenly grabbed my arm as I offered him the tea and looked up at me.

I glanced down at his hand, and he muttered, “Sorry,” before gently letting go.

“Yeah. That’s why we held those daily debriefings.”

A nostalgic smile crossed my face, and Ted’s expression suddenly softened.

Ted took the tea, sipped it, and let some of the tension drain from his body.

“Can you give me the specifics?”

“The basics are three rules: ‘Protect yourself,’ ‘Don’t step into an ally’s blind spot,’ and ‘Don’t enter an ally’s attack range.’ Heart fights assuming I’ll stick to those. If I get in his way during battle, he chews me out.”

“I see…”

Ted stared off into empty space, deep in contemplation.

I set my own tea down, took my seat, and clasped my hands together on the table in front of me.

“That’s why. You adjust to my movements, so comparing you isn’t right.”

When I explained that our styles were just different, Ted shook his head.

“Can’t I be like Heart?”

“We’re cooperating as a team, so we can’t be exactly the same.”

Hearing that, Ted rose from his chair, stood there blankly for a moment, then slowly sat back down.

“…You’re right. Cooperating. It feels like the puzzle of why I was spinning my wheels all alone just clicked into place.”

“You didn’t look like you were spinning your wheels at all, though. Ufufu.”

I laughed, and Ted broke into a smile, caught up in it.

His poker face was way too good—I hadn’t noticed a thing.

“I kept trying to become Heart. Even though Sid told me, ‘Figure out a fighting style that makes the best use of Marie.’ What an idiot I was.”

“What the hell is this?”

We hunched our shoulders, eyeing the guild master in stunned silence.

His jaw hung slack as he stared at the mountain of Killer Bees.

“Pff. It was a real ordeal.”

“Heh heh. Could you appraise these Silver Wolf pelts and fangs too?”

His reaction was exactly what we’d expected, so we fought back our laughter with everything we had.

The guild master let out a sigh, shook his head, and beckoned over a guild staffer.

“Haaah. I hadn’t seen you two around for a while, and now you pull this? Holed up in the mountains? What are you, ascetic monks?”

“Pfft heh. No, not at all.”

The summoned guild staffer walked over, gaping at the pile of Killer Bees in disbelief.

“Appraise every last one of these. Split ’em up. And call for reinforcements.”

“You got it.”

The appraiser dude dashed off to round up some help.

The guild master turned back to us, took one more look, and sighed again.

“Haaah. Where the heck were this many Killer Bees hiding?”

“Down below the cliff past the East Forest.”

“Down below the cliff? That trip alone takes five days, doesn’t it? No way you just dropped straight down without detouring…?”

The moment we opened our mouths to reply, he waved both hands frantically to cut us off.

“Never mind. Never mind. If I keep flipping out over every crazy thing you two do, it’ll kill me. You’re promoted to A-rank.”

He tossed out the words carelessly, then trudged back toward the guild hall like it was a huge hassle.

We stared at his retreating back before turning to face each other.

“Promotion?” “Right?”

We’d kinda hoped it might happen—fingers crossed and all that.

A-rank promotion! Woo-hoo!

“Can’t wait to get back and report this.”

“Let’s grab some celebratory booze and snacks on the way home too.”

“Think Gain and the others will be happy for us?”

“Ufufu. Of course they will. We’ll probably get our heads ruffled like crazy.”