I Wanted a Cute Girl to Cast Healing Magic on Me, So I Kept Protecting My Allies—and Ended Up with an Overprotective Party - 3

Chapter 3: And Then Comes the Blonde Beauty

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I was finally able to receive a healing spell from a beautiful girl. To put it mildly, it was the best.

【My Impure Isekai Adventure Tale – The End】

No, no, it’s way too soon to call this the end. There’s still something bothering me.

“Thank you for the healing. My name’s Rikuto.”

“You’re welcome. I’m Emil.”

Seeing her face up close again, I noticed her neat features: silver hair flowing down to her waist, clear blue eyes, and porcelain-white skin. She was a beautiful girl who didn’t look Japanese at all, supposedly sixteen and a year younger than me. She was about fifteen centimeters shorter than I was. 

So, this is the kind of girl that protagonists in isekai anime travel with, huh?

“If you don’t mind, could you tell me what happened?”

“It’s a long story, is that okay with you?”

And so, the beautiful girl told me what had happened. Apparently, her younger sister had fallen ill, and the only way to cure her was with a rare potion called an Elixir. 

Yeah, the one that shows up all the time in games.

But even the ingredients for it were considered rare, and the only place to find them was a high-difficulty dungeon called the 【Dragon’s Nest】. She had tried to hire high-ranking adventurers as escorts, but things ended up like what I had witnessed earlier.

So basically, she got scammed…

Uncharacteristically, I clenched my fist in anger. That was when I remembered the hard object I was holding. Oh right—there was a single copper coin. That blonde jerk in blue armor had panicked at the sight of me bleeding from the mouth and tossed it at me.

“Sorry, this is all I managed to get back.”

“No, this is more than enough! I’ll treasure it!”

She accepted the coin with genuine joy. A copper coin was worth about 100 yen—not much in this world either. And yet she was this happy. She could heal hearts too, it seemed.

“What do you plan to do now?”

“I’m going to the Adventurer’s Guild to look for someone who can escort me.”

Apparently, Emil wasn’t an adventurer herself. Being a healer didn’t mean you had to become one, I guess.

“I’m planning to become an adventurer. If you want, want to go to the guild together?”

“If it’s not too much trouble, I’d love to.”

The first town I’d be arriving at was now visible. Even from afar, I could tell it was surrounded by walls—it had to be a big city. Once we reached the town, I was surprised to see the walls were even taller than I’d expected—several times my height.

At the entrance were two people wearing heavy armor and holding swords—probably gatekeepers. I was secretly nervous about being stopped, but we entered the town without any issues.

The streets truly resembled medieval Europe. I couldn’t help but laugh. It felt a bit like being on a trip abroad. Apparently, this was the great city of Galiano. Not only was it my first time here, it was Emil’s as well.

Since we had no idea where anything was, we decided to head for the biggest and most eye-catching building around. We arrived at a grand mansion with a distinctive red roof. The sign read: “Adventurer’s Guild, Galiano Branch.”

Inside, it was bustling with people. Given the city’s size, I figured that this many people was only natural. Near the entrance were several wooden tables and chairs, set up as a free space.

Nearby was a large bulletin board covered with sheets of paper. Upon closer inspection, they seemed to be request forms. This must be where you look for jobs. Straight ahead from the entrance were several reception desks, each manned by a beautiful lady handling inquiries.

We approached one of them to ask about hiring an escort for Emil. Naturally, we found out it would cost an incredible amount of money to hire one.

“Hiring an escort costs that much!?”

I couldn’t help but raise my voice.

“Y-Yes… The fee includes both the guild’s commission and the adventurer’s reward. The reward part can be set by the client, but the more dangerous the job, the more expensive it gets. Especially for the ‘Dragon’s Nest’—only S-rank or A-rank adventurers would be accepted by the guild.”

The place Emil wanted to go was a high-level dungeon called the Dragon’s Nest. It was essentially asking someone to risk their life for money. Even if the reward was high, it’d be hard to find a taker.

“What’s the going rate for this kind of job?”

When I asked, the receptionist pulled out something like a calculator and showed us the result. It was a ridiculous sum—far beyond what Emil, who had just been swindled, could afford.

Even I, with no understanding of local prices, could tell it was outrageously high. When I asked Emil, she replied.

“I don’t have any money left…”

Of course not. She’d basically just been scammed. Normally, this would be game over. Save up money and come back later. But there was one way to solve this immediately.

I could use my own money. Surprisingly, the goddess gave me some funds when I was reincarnated. Unlike those stories with terrible goddesses, I’d apparently gotten lucky.

“As long as you don’t live extravagantly, this should last you a while without income!” 

The goddess said while handing me a pouch full of gold coins. If I used that, I could cover the escort fee. I made my decision instantly. I placed the amount the receptionist quoted onto the counter.

“Understood. Please post the escort request with this.”

“Wha—!? Rikuto-san!?”

Now it was Emil’s turn to raise her voice. Of course she would—using that much money for someone you just met would be terrifying.

“Ah—actually, I need to go to the Dragon’s Nest too, so I was planning to hire an escort anyway.”

A clumsy lie, but better than saying nothing.

“But…”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s also to thank you for healing me earlier.”

I somehow convinced Emil, and officially submitted the escort request.

“Request accepted. Recently, we’ve had some malicious parties who take escort jobs but abandon them mid-mission without returning the payment. So please make sure to go through the guild for all requests.”

Upon hearing that, Emil and I exchanged glances. Apparently, Emil came from a small village far from any guild. And I, of course, was a reincarnated outsider.

That blonde guy in blue armor and his party had just happened to pass through Emil’s village. They offered to act as her escort, and the trusting Emil went along with it.

She didn’t know the proper protocol or that such scams happened. Blaming the victim was just wrong! I told the receptionist about what had happened and described the blonde, blue-armored party in detail. I could only hope they’d get caught.

With the request posted, all we could do was wait. Since it was still midday, Emil and I decided to hang out in the guild’s free space. However, no one picked up our request even by nightfall. The receptionist had mentioned that A-rank or higher adventurers were hard to come by.

Just as we were about to call it a day, a young woman with a blonde ponytail clad in heavy silver armor tore our request off the board and took it to the reception desk. Seeing it happen before our eyes filled me with unexpected joy. The receptionist gestured toward us, and the blonde woman approached.

“This escort request.. Would you let us handle this escort request?”

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