A Story of a Noble Lady Who Was Ravaged by an Incurable Disease and Covered in Bandages All Over Her Broken Body; After Healing Her, She Turned Into a Stunning Beauty and Started Desperately Courting Me - Chapter 21-22

Chapter 21: Telling Alicia All About My Adventures So Far

After I finally met up with the guild master, Rufus.

I left the guild master’s room, headed back down to the first floor of the adventurer guild, and went to the reception counter. The staff member there handed over the reward for the medicinal herb gathering request.

I took the reward money and then left the adventurer guild.

Right after that, I headed straight to the Elfemina house to help Alicia with her rehab.

knock knock

“Yes?”

“It’s me. Setsuna.”

“Ah, Setsuna-sama! Please come in!”

“Okay, excuse me then.”

click

“Hey, Alicia-san.”

“Yes, hello, Setsuna-sama.”

As soon as I stepped into Alicia’s room I greeted her. Alicia welcomed me back with a gentle, soft smile on her face.

“Hm? Setsuna-sama, your clothes look different from usual today? And you’re holding a big bag too… Did you go somewhere earlier?”

“Yeah, I was out in the forest outside the royal capital since this morning. It’s been a while, so I took an adventurer request and went gathering herbs. That’s why I’m dressed like this—adventure gear and equipment.”

“Ohhh, I see! So the leather chest piece, the short sword at your waist, and that big bag are all adventurer stuff, huh. Oh man, I totally forgot—Setsuna-sama, you’re an adventurer, right? Adventurers are super romantic, y’know. I really respect that!”

When I told her I’d taken a request, Alicia’s eyes started sparkling like crazy as she said that.

“I’m really not amazing enough to be respected or anything. I’ve only been an adventurer for about a year, y’know. I’m still totally a beginner, so I’m not cool at all.”

“No way, no way! Even just doing it for a whole year already makes you a proper adventurer. I mean, adventurers go exploring all kinds of unknown places, hunt for rare items, fight super strong monsters—that sounds like a really tough job, right? The fact that you’ve kept going for a whole year is proof you’re seriously impressive, Setsuna-sama.”

“Haha, it makes me happy when you say it like that… but honestly my adventurer skills are still garbage. Like I told you before, I still struggle a ton even against weak stuff like slimes and goblins.”

“I see, I see. I’ve heard monsters are really dangerous creatures. Setsuna-sama, you haven’t gotten hurt or had any really awful experiences during adventures or fights, right…? That’s the only thing I’m kinda worried about…”

“That part’s totally fine, I promise. I pretty much only go to places where there’s nothing but low-level monsters. Well… yeah, I do end up struggling and having a rough time even against those low-level ones pretty often, but still—I’m having fun every day as an adventurer, so it’s all good. Going into forests and mountains full of nature, digging up valuable herbs or ores, that kind of thing is actually pretty fun too!”

“Oh, really? Then I’m glad. …Still, watching your face light up like that while you talk… hehe, Setsuna-sama, you really love being an adventurer, don’t you?”

“…Huh? Was I smiling that much?”

“Yeah, you were grinning super brightly and looking really alive. Hehe.”

Alicia said that and pointed right at my face. Apparently I’d been smiling like an idiot the whole time. Come to think of it, I might’ve gotten kinda talkative too…

And having Alicia see me blabbing away all proud and happy like that… ugh, it feels kinda childish and embarrassing now…

“Ahaha… I didn’t realize I was grinning that hard. Sorry, I probably look like a little kid…”

“No, not at all! Being able to do something you love as your job is the best thing ever. …Oh, hey. If it’s okay, before we start today’s rehab, could you tell me some of your adventurer stories? I’d love to hear about all the adventures Setsuna-sama has had so far. Would you mind telling me?”

Alicia asked that while giving me another one of her gentle smiles.

Hearing her call me an important friend made me really happy, and hearing that she actually wanted to listen to my stories felt super nice too.

“If you’re gonna put it like that… okay. Sure. I’ll tell you then. But, uh, just so you know, there aren’t really any exciting stories, so don’t get your hopes up too high… Oh, right. Right after I became an adventurer I got a master—Skuld-san—and the first time I went into a dungeon was with him. That was over half a year ago now, but…”

So yeah, for Alicia—who’d just said such kind things to me—I went ahead and told her all about the memories of the adventures I’d had in this other world up until now.

—

Chapter 22: Asking Alicia About Rufus

A little while later.

“…and that’s how the guild master back in my hometown taught me how to tell rare herbs apart. So lately I’ve been using that knowledge a lot when I go gathering in the forest. The request I took today was another herb-gathering one too.”

“Hmm, hmm. So there really are rare kinds of herbs, huh. But from just looking at them quick, they all seem pretty much the same, so telling the rare ones apart sounds super hard.”

“Yeah, it really is. Back when I first started I messed up the types tons of times. But thanks to guild master Douglas-san patiently explaining everything over and over just for me, now I can spot the differences perfectly. And lately some senior adventurers taught me this thing called ‘compounding’—how to use herbs to make potion medicines—so I’ve been practicing making my own potions too.”

“Wow wow, making your own potion medicines? That’s amazing! I always thought potions were just something you buy at a shop, so the fact that you can make them yourself makes you seriously impressive, Setsuna-sama!”

I kept telling Alicia all about the days I’d spent as an adventurer so far. She listened the whole time looking super happy and interested, so it made talking really easy.

“Thanks. But I literally just started practicing potion-making, so my success rate is still pretty terrible, y’know. That’s why I’m gonna keep studying and practicing a ton so I can eventually make perfect potions!”

“I see—that’s a really great goal! Please do your best. I’m cheering you on too. …Still, it sounds like Setsuna-sama has so many different masters teaching you stuff. Having that many teachers around must mean you’re learning new things every day and your days are super fulfilling, right?”

“Haha, yeah, ever since I became an adventurer it really does feel like my days have been packed and fulfilling. But the reason they’re so good is because everyone I’ve met has been so kind. The nice senior adventurers became my masters and passed all kinds of knowledge and skills down to me, they happily helped me study or train whenever, they’re always there to talk when I’m stuck—honestly, every single one of them has just been kind people. So I’m seriously full of gratitude toward all of them.”

“Hehe, I see. So Setsuna-sama is surrounded by kind people. That’s really nice to hear.”

“Yeah, I’m happy every single day because everyone around me is so nice. Oh, right—that reminds me, since we’re talking adventurer stuff… this morning I met this person named Rufus Scarlet.”

While we were chatting about adventurers, I suddenly remembered meeting Rufus this morning, so I went ahead and told Alicia about it.

I’d heard before that Rufus and Alicia already knew each other, so I figured I might as well let her know.

“Huh? You met big sister Rufus? Oh, right—of course. She’s the guild master at the royal capital adventurer guild, after all. How was big sister Rufus? Did she look healthy?”

“She looked super energetic and fine. And while we were chatting a little, she mentioned that you and her have been close since way back, right?”

“Yeah, that’s right. The Elfemina family and the Scarlet family have been connected for a really long time. And after my mom passed away, big sister Rufus always looked out for me and Estelle. When we were little she came over to the Elfemina house almost every single day and played with us so much.”

“Wow, so you’ve known each other since you were super young. But Rufus-san is a noble too, so she probably has a ton of stuff to do, yet she still came over every day—that’s pretty incredible.”

“Yeah, it really is. The Scarlet family is this famous warrior house, so big sister Rufus was busy training with her sword every day, but even then she still made time to come hang out and play with us a bunch. Sometimes strict, sometimes gentle—she really felt like an actual big sister to us.”

Alicia answered with this really happy look on her face. Just from that expression you could totally tell how much she adored Rufus.

“I see. So yeah, Rufus-san really is a super kind person. Today was my first time meeting her, but I kinda got this gentle vibe from her right away, and it sounds like she’s exactly how I imagined. Good to know. Oh, and she was really happy to hear that your curse—uh, I mean, your illness—got healed.”

“Oh wow. Big sister Rufus was happy about it? That makes me so glad. I really wanna go tell her right now that my body’s better, but… she’s always so busy with work that she can’t come to the Elfemina house very often. So I’ve been thinking—once my rehab’s done and I can walk around outside freely, maybe I should go visit big sister Rufus myself.”

“Ooh, that’s a solid plan. I bet Rufus-san would be thrilled… Oh, hey—wait. How about this? Next time we get invited to Estelle-san’s place for that dinner party, what if we ask Rufus-san to come too? Wanna invite her to the meal?”

“Huh? Big sister Rufus too? But this dinner is supposed to be to thank Setsuna-sama, right? Is it really okay to invite big sister Rufus to a meal that’s meant to show gratitude to you?”

When I suggested inviting Rufus to the dinner, Alicia tilted her head with this cute, surprised look and asked me that.

“Of course it’s okay. I wanna talk to Rufus-san about all kinds of stuff too. Plus this dinner isn’t just to thank me—it’s also to celebrate you being fully healed, right? So it totally makes sense to invite your big-sis figure, Rufus-san. You wanna see her soon anyway, and I’m pretty sure she feels the same way. So yeah, let’s definitely ask Rufus-san to come to the dinner.”

“Setsuna-sama… hehe, thank you so much for saying that. Okay then, I’ll take you up on it and ask Estelle to check with big sister Rufus about coming. It’s been forever since I last saw her… hehe, I’m really happy.”

“Cool, got it. I’m already looking forward to Estelle-san’s dinner party now. Anyway, to make that happen soon, let’s go all out on rehab again today too!”

“Yeah, you’re right. Okay then—please take care of me again today, Setsuna-sama!”

“Yeah, same here—looking forward to it!”

After that we headed out to the mansion’s garden together and went hard at rehab again for the rest of the day.