[Reminiscence 2] Garnet
Rio, Lilith, and Dominique grew up in the same town.
Rio was the daughter of the town’s lord, Lilith the daughter of a bishop, and Dominique the daughter of a mage. Their parents were close friends, and being the same age and gender, the girls naturally became close as well.
However, the peaceful era came to an end when the girls were thirteen years old.
A demon appeared who had unified the lands overrun by monsters. This demon called himself the Demon King and named the land he ruled the Demon King’s Domain. Then, he began invading human countries.
Unfortunately, the country where Rio and her friends lived was located near the Demon King’s Domain. As a result, it was among the first to be invaded.
Rio’s father was a respectable lord. When he received information about the approaching Demon King’s army, he made the choice to use the few available carriages to prioritize evacuating children. Rio and her friends were among them.
Rio and the others who escaped by carriage survived, but those who tried to flee on foot never made it to the refuge town. The fathers who stayed behind to buy time all died in battle.
The girls fled to a town governed by a lord who was close to Rio’s father. Although they were warmly welcomed, this town soon became a target of the Demon King’s army as well.
In this situation, even though they had been close, the town no longer had the capacity to take care of refugees from other places. Rio and her friends were forced to make their own decisions.
Rio negotiated with a merchant she knew, offering the jewels her father had handed her when they fled in exchange for safe passage to a secure location. Lilith and Dominique joined her. The merchant’s carriage couldn’t accommodate any more people.
The place they escaped to was the town where Blue Ring had its base.
Although they had some travel money, they needed to earn more to survive. That’s when they chose to become adventurers.
Rio had received sword training from her father, Lilith could use healing magic, and Dominique had learned basic attack magic. They thought they might be able to manage as adventurers.
Above all, they wanted revenge against the Demon King’s army that had killed their families.
Thus, the party “Garnet” was formed. The name came from the jewel that symbolized their home country.
However, things don’t go smoothly right away for three young girls. Not only did they struggle to receive quests, but there were also several instances where suspicious adventurers tried to forcibly join their party and give them orders.
This made all three of them overly cautious, to the point where they couldn’t accept kindness from others straightforwardly.
It was then that Trao appeared.
“Are you Garnet?”
The man who approached Rio and her friends in the adventurers’ guild hall had what looked like a forced smile plastered on his face.
“What do you want?”
Rio responded gruffly, putting on her best show of bravado to avoid being looked down upon.
“I was thinking of giving you a request.”
“A request?”
It was the first time they had received a direct request, and Rio became even more wary.
“What kind of request?”
“Just a bit of information gathering. If you’re not interested, that’s the end of it. I won’t speak to you again.”
“What are the details?”
“I’ll tell you if you accept. Even request details can be confidential, you know? The reward is one gold coin.”
One gold coin. It was a reasonable amount for a day’s work.
Rio looked at Lilith and Dominique, who both nodded. After confirming this, Rio answered,
“We’ll do it.”
“Alright then.
Now, look at my hand.”
Written on the man’s palm were a person’s occupation and name.
“I want information about this. Any kind of information will do. But the target must absolutely not know about it.”
“By when?”
“Three days from now.”
“Understood.”
“I’m Trao. I’m a merchant belonging to a party called Blue Ring. I’m counting on you.”
They knew of the famous Blue Ring party but had never met them face to face. They were at the bottom of the adventurer world, while Blue Ring was near the top.
From there, Rio and her friends spent three full days gathering information about the specified man. Although the reward didn’t justify three days of work, being personally chosen motivated the three of them.
The man didn’t seem particularly suspicious, but they meticulously tracked his movements and reported to Trao.
“Hmm. This report is better than I expected.”
Saying this, Trao handed them three gold coins.
“I’m a merchant, so I pay fair compensation. This information was worth that much effort and value.”
Rio and her friends were delighted by the unexpected income. More than that, they were happy that their work had been properly recognized.
“I have another request. Will you take it?”
Of course, Rio and her friends gladly accepted.
This was how the relationship between Trao and Garnet began.
The difficulty of the requests gradually increased, and the content became more dangerous.
Still, the three girls worked hard. Trao provided necessary equipment and items, and taught them various knowledge. They could feel their own abilities improving with each completed request.
Honestly, they weren’t sure if the requests were truly useful, but they knew that Trao was giving them these requests for their sake.
Before they knew it, they started calling Trao “Senpai” with respect.
“Senpai, why did you give us requests?”
Rio asked Trao one day.
“I was given a chance in the past too. Until then, I was looked down upon just for being a merchant. It seemed like you girls weren’t getting many chances either, just because you’re a party of young girls.”
“Are our requests actually useful?”
“Of course they are.”
Trao frowned.
“I’m a merchant, you know. I don’t waste money.”
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After Garnet was recognized as a B-rank party, Trao’s requests started to include dangerous, almost criminal tasks.
However, the three silently completed the requests. Trao was a man who never lied. He said he would defeat the Demon King, and the three believed him.
Eventually, Garnet reached A-rank, and the attitudes of those around them changed considerably. It was around this time that they had visitors at their base.
Two knocks, one knock, three knocks – the signal they had arranged with Trao.
Thinking it might be Trao, they checked through the peephole, but standing there were the three members of Blue Ring – Rainer, Ciel, and Louise.
“Would you mind opening up?”
Rainer said cheerfully.
“We’d like to talk.”
Rio didn’t know what to do. They had been working for Blue Ring by taking Trao’s requests, but Trao had told them that “the other three wouldn’t understand.”
“Let’s open it,”
Lilith said.
“I want to hear what Rainer and the others have to say.”
Dominique nodded in agreement with Lilith.
Rio opened the door and let the three in.
As soon as they entered, Ciel gently hugged each of them one by one.
“Thank you,”
she said.
It was an embrace that made them feel human warmth after a long time.
“We’ve had you investigated,”
Rainer began.
“To be honest, we knew Trao was getting information from somewhere, and we thought our activities were going too smoothly. But we had no idea he was using young girls like you. We’re sorry.”
Saying this, Rainer bowed his head. Ciel and Louise bowed as well.
“No! Please stop!”
Rio hurriedly tried to stop them.
“We believe that Blue Ring will defeat the Demon King! We’ll do anything for that! Senpai… I mean, Trao-san has been paying us well and taking good care of us. There’s no need for you to bow!”
“Trao’s probably been good to you. Despite everything, he’s a softy at heart,”
Louise smiled gently.
“That’s right. Trao might be a devilish merchant, but he’s not a bad person. Though the equipment he buys is the worst,”
Ciel smiled too.
Rio felt relieved by the warm atmosphere of the Blue Ring trio, but Rainer’s face turned serious.
“About that Trao… we’re going to expel him from Blue Ring.”
“What?”
Rio and her friends froze.
“…Is it because of us?”
Lilith asked, looking like she was about to cry.
“No, it’s not. It’s because of us. We’re going to betray Trao.”
“What do you mean…?”
Rio couldn’t understand what Rainer was saying.
“We’re joining the Golden Fang’s Demon King subjugation team,”
Louise answered.
They had heard about this from Trao. They also knew how reckless this attempt was.
“We probably won’t come back alive,”
“No… why would you do that when you know…?”
Dominique looked at them in disbelief.
“Our homeland, the Kingdom of Lyuse, is in danger. It will fall if things continue like this. Our fathers, mothers, and friends will die,”
The three members of Garnet were speechless. This was exactly what they had experienced in the past.
“The people of Golden Fang are in the same situation. Many countries are in crisis right now. That’s why we’re all going to defeat the Demon King and stop the invasion.”
“…Trao-san said it wouldn’t work,”
Rio said, looking down.
“We know. But we’ll regret it if we don’t try. Even if we can’t defeat the Demon King, if we can surprise them, we might be able to make the Demon King’s army turn back. It might be a long shot, but…”
Rainer looked at each member of Garnet.
“You understand, don’t you?”
Rio and her friends understood that determination all too well. They also knew it wasn’t something they could dissuade them from.
After a moment of silence, Ciel spoke.
“That’s why we want to entrust Trao to you. Trao has always aimed to defeat the Demon King. According to the plan, he should be able to defeat the Demon King in two years, but this is as far as we go. We’re passing the baton to you.”
In those two years, the Kingdom of Lyuse would fall. Weighing the future of the world against the survival of their homeland, Rainer and the others chose their homeland.
Rio and her friends couldn’t say anything.
“You should be careful, you know? Once he becomes your comrade, he’ll show his true colors. The true nature of a stingy, miserly merchant,”
Louise said in an intentionally cheerful voice.
“Trao might be the only man who can defeat the Demon King. That’s why we can’t involve him in our selfish actions. From now on, I want you to support him. Despite appearances, he’s actually quite lonely,”
Rainer said with a gentle smile.
“Trao will do anything for his goals. He might do terrible things. Even so, we want you to believe in him,”
Ciel said, holding Rio’s hand.
“Let me tell you something good. Trao has one habit…”
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