Master’s Smile

C91 – Lucille’s Guild

“GOAAAAAAA!!!”

The scream of the monsterーーーOrc echoed through the forest.

Its dirty and huge body had almost nothing covering it, showing off their stout and ill-looking abdomen.

In one of its hands was a huge club which they had used to kill many of its prey.

The orc was wandering through the forest in search of a prey when they happened to see a group of five humans walking by, and without thinking twice, the orc attacked them.

Only one of them was an adult, and the other four all looked to be children.

Hence, the orc attacked the group without regard to whether they were adventurers or not….

“Uwooohhhh!!!”

The orc swung its club with tremendous power, but one of the children, a red-haired boy, swept it off their feet.

The orc hit the ground so hard that its hand went a little numb from holding the club.

“Lucica!!”

“Yes!”

The boy, who had evaded the orc’s strike, called out someone’s name and soon after, a girl who was also one of the children, ran towards the orc.

She looked very similar to the boy and had long red hair as well.

Despite the resemblance, Lucica had a more androgynous face than the boy’s manly look.

She was small in stature and she didn’t seem to look like an adventurer at all.

“Eei!!”

“GOAAAAAAAA!?!”

But Lucica’s movements were those of a prominent adventurer.

Like the boy, she swung her sword and slashed the orc’s thick leg as she passed them.

It was not a serious wound that would cut its tendon, but the orc screamed at the unexpectedly sharp pain.

“OOOOOOOO!!!”

The orc shrieked in anger and glared at Lucica.

In spite of the injury to their leg, the orc raised their club and attacked her.

Even though she saw what the orc was about to do, Lucica did not show any sign of fear.

She believed that her trusty companions would surely help her.

“Ild!”

“Yeah!”

Just as Lucica had expected, the boy’s voice rang out.

He called out the name of the young adult who was the only grown-up in their party.

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Ild, realizing what they were expecting just from the call, immediately activated his eighteenth magic.

“Gwoo…?”

The orc abruptly slowed down the club that he was about to swing at Lucica.

It was about to attack her with fury and anger, but suddenly looked around as if it had lost sight of her.

Of course, Lucica was still staying where she was, so it was impossible to lose sight of her under normal circumstances.

There was something wrong with the orc.

The true nature of the abnormality was the illusion magic that Ild had activated.

The current state of the orc had its senses manipulated by Ild.

“Lucica, quick! Before it’s too late!”

“Yes! Thank you, Ild-san!”

When Ild called out to her, Lucica brokeaway from the orc’s side while swaying her red hair.

Then, as if to replace her, the boy started running towards the orc.

“Uwoooohhh!!!”

He shouted to raise his spirit and slashed the orc, which was still unable to move.

The fatty stomach of the orc would not take much damage from his sword.

Thus, he aimed for the neck, the weak point of most creatures.

And the boy’s slash successfully beheaded the orc.

“A-Amazing!!!”

As soon as they understood that the orc had fallen and was now dead, the remaining two members of the party who had not participated in the battle rushed over to those three.

Particularly, the kid was looking at the boy, who was about the same age as him yet could defeat the orc, with sparkling eyes.

(TLN: Man, everything is translated to “the boy” (even Ild’s))

“You’re amazing after all, Lucille-san!

“Hey!”

When the kid called the boyーーーLucille by his name, the girl, who was also not participating in the battle, smacked the kid on the head.

Then she puffed out her cheeks and warned him.

“You have to properly call him Guildmaster, you know!?”

“No, it’s fine.”

Lucille gave a wry smile as it felt weird for him to be called a guildmaster.

◆

In conclusion, Lucille’s guild did not disappear.

After losing Apollo, Rieg, and Heroro, Lucille and Lucica were unable to fulfill the guild’s requirement of at least five members.

No matter how much the guild’s strength increased with the addition of Ild, who was able to use powerful illusion magic, it would be meaningless if the guild was not formed.

Normally, adventurers who belong to a guild that had collapsed would join another guild, but Lucille and Lucica had no intention of switching to another.

This guild was an important part of their lives with Apollo and the others, and it could not be replaced.

Even so, it was true that the guild did not meet the requirements.

They were severely troubled about what they should do, but the problem was solved surprisingly quickly.

They happened to find two children being attacked by a monster on the outskirts of the city, and when they helped them, they said they wanted to join their guild.

The two kids were the boy and girl who had just observed the battle between Lucille’s group and the orc.

They were still inexperienced adventurers, so the group was showing them how to fight monsters.

“Thank you for your hard work, Lucica-san!”

“Y-Yes, thank you.”

The girl was jumping up and down, squealing near Lucica, who was not much older than she was.

Still unaccustomed to this kind of reaction, Lucica was a little taken aback.

The girl always praised her like so as she respected Lucica, who was far stronger than her even though they were about the same age.

Lucille thought “it’s about time for Lucica to get used to this, though….”

“No, the most amazing one is Master! I’ve never seen an orc’s head cut that cleanly!”

“I told you to stop calling me that!”

Lucille stopped the boy, who was innocently praising him, while looking embarrassed.

It was nice to be praised for one’s abilities as it would make them feel good, so there was absolutely nothing wrong with doing it.

However, Lucille just couldn’t agree with being called “Master” no matter what.

“You’ve been the guildmaster for quite some time now, so you should get used to this, though….”

“Shut up!”

“Ouch!?”

Ild said exactly what Lucille had thought about Lucica and kicked him in the back in frustration.

It’s fine if he thinks about it, but it’s a different story when someone else says it outloud.

“As expected, I’m not cut out to be a guildmaster….”

Lucille unusually threw out a weak remark, given his normally strong personality.

In his mind, there were two guildmasters.

One was Apollo, the former master of their guild.

He had a bad drinking habit, but he was a good-hearted man who cared for his guild members as if they were his family.

There was a time when Lucille thought of Apollo as a father figure, albeit a trivial one.

And the other was the master of the dark guild “Salvation Army (Yelquchira)”.

He was the man who had helped him lift the curse placed on Lucica.

Furthermore, he easily defeated Rousseld, the guildmaster of “Iron Queen (Inicken)”, who boasted about his tremendous strength, with an overwhelming difference in power.

Both men, despite their differences, were worthy of being guildmasters.

Apollo was kind and caring to his guild members.

Master had the strength to protect his guild members.

These were traits Lucille was lacking in, as he had put other guild members in crisis for Lucica’s sake and had been unable to stand up to Rousseld.

“Onii-chan, are you worried by any chance?”

“I-I’m not worried!”

Lucica smiled mischievously.

Being the younger sister of his, she easily read her brother’s thoughts.

Lucille hurriedly denied it, but Lucica replied with a gentle smile.

“Certainly, you are no match for Doctor-san, but Onii-chan is also doing your best, right?”

“Y-Yeah….”

Whether he was being encouraged or belittled by her,

Lucille could not tell.

“Haaah… Doctor-san….”

Lucica leaked out an emotional sigh, as if she was wallowing in fever.

Ever since Master had saved her, something had gone wrong with Lucica.

Of course, she would feel indebted to him for saving her.

But isn’t it strange that she occasionally acts and behaves a little like… a dangerous maiden in love?

Lucica cried when she heard Apollo and the others died because of her, but after she recently recovered from the curse, she was now looking like this.

Lucille thought that the cause of Lucica going a little crazy might have been after she drank the elixir he received from Master’s guild member, who was a loli with a large flower ornament on her head….

“Leaving Lucica aside, I think Lucille is doing well.”

“Ild….”

Lucille looked at the illusion magic user who had become his companion after that incident.

In the beginning, he was angry and resentful as Ild was a member of Inicken.

But as they worked together, he learned about Ild’s true nature and his other traits which let Lucille finally be able to get over it.

As of now, Ild had been assisting Lucille, the guildmaster, and took on the role of leading the four children, who tend to run amok.

“That’s right! I admire you, Lucille-san!

“I think Master is great, but not as great as Lucica-san, though.”

“You guys….”

The boy’s eyes sparkled, and the girl added a remark that he didn’t need inside her praise.

Hearing this, Lucille changed his mind.

That’s right. It’s not a question of whether I can or can’t do it, but that I have to do it.

I can’t let this guild, which is the proof of Apollo, Rieg, and Heroro’s existences, disappear.

We have to do our best so that they can smile at us in the afterlife.

“Aaaalright! One day, we’ll be able to catch up with Master’s group and become a great guild!!!”

“””Ooooooh!!!”””

Following Lucille, who raised his fist, Lucica and the other three also raised their fists together.

Lucille’s group’s journey was about to begin.

“…No, I don’t think that’s possible.”

Ild’s words did not reach the children.