Chapter 10 TRG Vol. 1 Chapter 3 Part 3

Chapter 3 (The Supplementary Story)

“Thorn, I got the information. It’s true—your master was at the guild in this town.”

“Is that right? Looks like we’re on the right path, then. We’ve heard rumors of him in almost every village on the way, so it’s taken us a long time to get here.”

Since Thorn and I had started traveling together, we had finally arrived at a major, large-scale town for this region. It was smaller than the Capital, but it was still surrounded by walls and gates, and the main street was paved with stone. The Adventurer’s Guild here even had multiple mages on staff, all of whom were being sent out to deal with monsters in the area.

“And one other thing. It seems the monster appearances have actually been dropping recently. I knew I wasn’t mistaken; the miasma patch here is definitely smaller than it was before.”

I met up with Thorn at a tavern and shared the intel I’d gathered from the guild. We’d naturally fallen into a rhythm; when we hit a new town, I’d check the guild while Thorn would ask around the markets and merchants for any trace of his master.

As a mage, I find it easy to get on adventurers’ good side and pull information from them. On the other hand, Thorn, with his well-honed body and sword, never gets pushed around or dismissed by the merchants.

“Well, that makes sense, if Master was here,” Thorn said, taking a drink from his wooden tankard. “…all that’s left is to find those village survivors he was supposedly looking after.”

“The ones you heard about from that merchant?”

I sat down across from him and grabbed a sausage from the plate. Thankfully, we’d both gotten our official activity records from the last guild. We could just submit them here and get new adventurer passes for this town. We were fine for money.

“I also heard another rumor, a… ‘concerning’ one,” Thorn said. “I don’t know if it’s connected to those survivors or not.”

With that, he started to share what he’d heard at the market. Apparently, this town has a pair of incredibly skilled adventurers. Twin sisters. Just the two of them, with only swords, had supposedly wiped out all the monsters in the area. It was a rumor almost identical to the one I’d heard about Thorn himself, back when I first arrived in his town.

“They’re probably his disciples,” Thorn said.

“…That’s what I was thinking.” The only person in this entire region with the crazy idea of fighting monsters with only a sword is Thorn’s master.

“I want to try and meet them. Twin sisters, one with rare white hair. I think their names were…”

Thorn’s voice trailed off. Not because he’d forgotten the names.

“White… hair…”

It was because, at that exact moment, a woman with white hair streaming down to her waist walked right past our table. And with her, another woman with black hair, who looked exactly like her. There was no doubt. It was them.

“H-Hey! You two!”

I couldn’t help it. I jumped to my feet and called out to them. The black-and-white twins stopped, realizing I was talking to them, and slowly turned around.

“Do you need something?”

The black-haired one asked, her voice cold, her eyes looking at us with a complete lack of interest. It felt like every word was a blade, stabbing at me and Thorn. A normal person would have been too intimidated to speak. In fact, I could feel a cold sweat on my back, and my mouth had gone dry.

“Sorry to stop you,” Thorn said, completely unfazed. “But are you the twin sisters who are rumored to be killing monsters with only swords?”

“And if we are?” This time, the white-haired one answered, her voice just as cold. “We’re leaving town soon. We’re not taking any requests.”

“I’m looking for someone,” Thorn said. “Your sword style… did someone teach it to you?”

The instant he said that, their expressions changed. The disinterest vanished, replaced by an open, sharp wariness.

“What do you want?”

“I think… you and I were taught by the same person.”

Thorn held his right hand out to them, palm up. His hand was covered in calluses as hard as rock—the result of swinging his sword every single day, whether we were in a town or camped in the wild. The twins’ eyes widened in surprise for a split second, but then they immediately looked away, as if they’d lost interest.

“You’ve trained hard, maybe,” the black-haired one said, holding up her own right hand. “But what does that prove?”

Her palm showed just as much, if not more, training than Thorn’s.

“Anyone can get hands like this if they train,” she said.

“We’ve had plenty of people try to use that line to get close to us,” the other added.

They both sighed, annoyed. And from the depth of that sigh, I could tell this had happened a lot. Thorn hadn’t expected to convince them with just that, and he held up his hands in surrender.

“Alright, alright. Your master… he kills monsters with a single sword. Am I wrong?”

The twins’ eyebrows twitched. Of course they did. A man who can kill monsters with a single sword… around here, the only person that could be is Thorn’s master. Not that I’m even 100% convinced this ‘master’ is a real person…

“He makes you swing with both hands. He made you swing until you thought you’d die, right?”

Again, a micro-expression.

“The only thing he taught you was to swing up, and swing down. And after that… just sparring. Am I wrong?”

As he spoke the last word, I realized the twins were holding their swords, the tips aimed right at Thorn. And Thorn… he had his own sword half-drawn, blocking them.

“…He reacted.”

“Of course,” Thorn said, a small grin on his face. “I’m your senior disciple, aren’t I?”

I had absolutely no idea what had just happened, but clearly, something had passed between them. The three of them sheathed their weapons, and the suffocating tension vanished.

“I’m Arche.”

“Norn.”

“Thorn. Good to meet you.”

They all shook hands. …Hey, am I being left out here?

“H-Hey! I have no idea how you all just became friends, but are you going to introduce me?”

“Ah, sorry, Rimi,” Thorn said. “You two, this is Rimi, a mage. She’s not the Master’s disciple, but she’s my partner. I rely on her. She’s helping me search for him.”

“I see. Rimi. A pleasure,” Norn said, offering me her hand. I shook it. I noticed her hair, white as snow, was rare for this region. White hair… it’s rumored to be an ill-omen, a sign that attracts monsters. For her to wear it so openly, and still be a respected adventurer… just how skilled was she? Arche’s hair was just a little shorter, but also long. It’s hard to maintain hair like that if you’re not a noble… I wonder why they…

“I used to hate it,” Norn said, as if reading my mind, gently touching her hair. “But… Master praised it. I don’t care what anyone else says.”

“He said it was beautiful,” Arche added, touching her own black hair. “He said this color, the same as his… it’s my pride.”

Hearing that, I had a pretty good idea of what this ‘master’ meant to them. I subconsciously touched my own green hair. It was only shoulder-length, not long like theirs, but it was my quiet, secret pride.

“So, he praised it, huh?” Thorn said, nodding. “Then you’ve got to take good care of it.”

…Is it possible their master is actually better at understanding a woman’s heart than this idiot?

“Hm? What’s wrong, Rimi? Why are you glaring at me?”

It’s true that I partnered with him for my own goals at first… but the fact that I’m still here, traveling with him, isn’t just for practical reasons. I haven’t said that out loud, so I can’t really be mad that he doesn’t get it, but…

“So,” I sighed, “your master taught you how to swing a sword, but he never taught you how to read a woman, did he?”

You’ll have to forgive me if my words had a little bit of a sting. I mean, can you blame me? I’m just… a little jealous. To have the person you admire that much praise the one part of you that you’ve always hated…