“Miss Sophia.”
“Yes, Young Master.”
While spending my usual reading time, Kyle started a conversation with me.
During reading time, we usually just read quietly, so I wondered what was up.
“Could you tell me a story from your adventurer days?”
“You mean from my adventurer days?”
“Yes.”
Adventuring… It was a brief two-year period, but it had a significant impact on me.
Since Kyle’s a boy, I guess he’s curious about the profession of an adventurer.
Though it’s not the best profession, to be honest.
“Young Master, are you perhaps thinking of becoming an adventurer…?”
“No way…!”
Thank goodness for that.
Anyway, about stories from my adventurer days…
They’re not exactly cheerful or hopeful like a fairy tale, but I suppose I need to share some tales upon Young Master’s request.
I’ll try to hide the darker parts as much as possible.
What kind of story would be good?
After a brief moment of thought…
“There was a time I spent a short while in the Southern region of Surpak. For a true granary region, all I could see were vast fields.”
If the northern region of Eristirol is covered in snow, Surpak is just fields as far as the eye can see.
It probably wouldn’t be much different even now.
“And when I was in Surpak, it was autumn. Naturally, there were many farmers harvesting the crops they had grown for a whole year.”
It was quite unfortunate that I arrived in that area during harvest time.
Thanks to that, I had a real struggle.
“It was not only the harvest period but also just before winter, so monsters were on the lookout for food.”
Kyle was listening closely to my story.
Even though it wasn’t all that interesting, he was wide-eyed and paying attention, which I appreciated.
“To prepare for such monster attacks, the lord of Surpak had been employing adventurers for a long time.”
He would even post requests directly to the Adventurer’s Guild to recruit them.
“I accepted the request and was hired by the lord for about three weeks. The following day, along with other adventurers who accepted the request, we were left in shock.”
There were about a hundred adventurers along with me, and we could not help but be stunned by what we saw.
One of them probably even wet himself.
The female mage next to me didn’t pee herself, though.
“On the first day, we were attacked by grasshoppers. And naturally, they weren’t ordinary grasshoppers; they were claw grasshoppers. Young Master, do you know about claw grasshoppers?”
“Umm..?”
“You don’t know.”
Of course not.
There are none around here, and they’re entirely unrelated monsters.
It doesn’t make sense for a monster that lives in a granary region to be found in the north.
“A claw grasshopper isn’t just a regular insect; it’s nearly a meter long with arms that resemble the claws farmers use.”
“Really?”
I wanted to ask him why I would lie to him, but I didn’t.
If I had told Young Master that, he’d have probably said, “P-Pardon me…!”
“Yes, those that were grabbed by their arms still have scars on their backs.”
I wonder if that monster is doing well these days.
I even had a girlfriend back in my adventurer days.
…
Now that I think about it, I hope they’re not doing well.
Some people can’t even get a girlfriend, and it bothers me to think that they’re still together since then.
I was slightly angry inside, but I didn’t show it to Young Master.
“Hundreds, if not thousands, flew into the fields we were in. From that moment on, all adventurers, knights, and mages began teaming up to deal with those pests. In the sky, mages were casting wind and lightning spells, while archers shot arrows and bolts. Meanwhile, folks like me, under the blazing sun, were blocking the falling pests with swords and shields.”
Although a simple fire spell could have ended it all, the lord wouldn’t allow it, fearing it would harm the crops.
Thanks to that, we had to slay those monsters the size of a toddler one by one.
In the meantime, I nearly lost my mind because of that guy flirting with his girlfriend next to me.
That might have been the most I’ve ever cursed while working as an adventurer…
Oh, wait, no, there was that one other time.
“Well… now that I talk about it, it doesn’t seem all that entertaining anymore. Would you like to hear more?”
Telling this old tale made me realize that I have no talent for storytelling.
I feel a bit bad that I’ve never tipped those street storytellers I occasionally came across while walking…
It’s tougher than I thought to spin a yarn.
Seriously.
“Yes!”
However, it seems Kyle found it more interesting than reading, as he wanted to hear more of the not-so-interesting tale.
Even I thought it wasn’t that entertaining, but I appreciated his eagerness to listen.
“Then I’ll tell you about the time I got trapped with my party members in a dungeon. It was a party with one guy and four girls, which was a bit of an odd balance, but we spent about two months completing requests without any problems.”
I thought it was just a normal party until those two months.
I had fun around the pretty elf, the female mage, and that crazily delusional noble girl who thought she was a princess.
That noble girl with princess syndrome was particularly hilarious.
She really acted like one of those noble types you see in novels.
“Hoh hoh hoh!! Commoner!!”
“Commoner! Bring me water quickly!”
She always called us commoners, and her last moments were a bit of a headache.
Up until we got trapped, I had been enjoying watching the beautiful female party members, thanks to their looks.
It was a bit disappointing that one party member was a regular-looking guy with dark hair and eyes, but it didn’t ruin my enjoyment of admiring the others.
“However, while exploring the dungeon, the entrance suddenly closed, and we had to survive in there for about a week until the guild came to find us. And during that time, I witnessed something shocking.”
“What is it?”
This world is a mix of modern and medieval aspects.
One proof is polygamy.
But it’s not too common.
Polygamy is generally a privilege reserved for wealthy nobles or extremely good-looking men.
And even then, money was more important.
Ordinary folks usually grew up with their childhood friends, and upon reaching adulthood, realized their feelings and ended up marrying each other in a beautiful pure love tale.
That was the case in my village, too.
I even heard last time that Evan, who broke his arm, was dating some guy from the village.
To sum it up, I had never seen a harem aside from nobles.
“On the first day, there were no problems. We merely organized the surroundings, set up resting spots, and went to sleep together. But… the next day, the members of the party, excluding me, started getting closer.”
I thought it was normal since we had to live within a confined space together.
On the first day, the guy was getting cozy with the elf.
The next day, it was the mage, and the day after that, it was the noble girl.
“On the fourth evening, I woke up to strange noises beside me. So I turned around and…”
“…..”
“Yes, you can probably guess what kind of story it was. Seeing that, I packed my things and quit the party.”
Those crazy people weren’t even thinking of escaping; they were too busy playing around.
It seemed that the reason they were getting closer each day was because of that.
“Though I ended up not getting paid, I couldn’t stay in that party any longer, so I immediately quit and started searching for the dungeon’s exit.”
I really didn’t want to think about what might have happened if I had stayed in that party…
I didn’t want to imagine at all.
“…..”
“Young Master? Are you alright?”
Kyle suddenly flushed red and clamped his mouth shut.
What’s going on…?
“Oh, I’m so sorry for sharing such a story with you, Young Master.”
I might have crossed a line by sharing this story.
Even though I’m just a private tutor, I’m talking to the duke’s Young Master here.
It’s a position so high, he likely never had to hear things like this.
Talking about adventurers playing around, I made a mistake.
“N-No, it’s not that… I’m fine… Maybe we should stop here for today, Miss Sophia?”
“Yes, I will do as you wish, Young Master.”
“Alright.”
Kyle and I left the library and headed to Kyle’s room.
Since Kyle said he wanted to rest for a bit, I usually would follow him into the room.
“Um… No! I just want to take a nap by myself today… How about you step outside and take a rest, Miss Sophia?”
There wasn’t much difference between resting outside and resting in Kyle’s room, but he insisted on resting outside.
Hmm…
Is this what it feels like to see a child trying to have their own room apart from their parents?
During usual nap time or rest periods, my role was to guard him, and I waited quietly by his bed until he fell asleep.
That’s how it had been until now, but Kyle is getting older, so it makes sense that he’d want to sleep alone.
“Okay. Understood. I’ll come to wake you after two hours.”
“Yes…”
After seeing Kyle lie down on the bed, I went outside his bedroom to wander around the mansion.
Now that I think about it, it might be a good idea to get Kyle to exercise too.
He has such a handsome face, but if he keeps eating without exercising, he’s bound to end up as one of those aristocrats with a pot belly.
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