I Wanted a Cute Girl to Cast Healing Magic on Me, So I Kept Protecting My Allies—and Ended Up with an Overprotective Party - 4

Chapter 4: Silver-Haired Pretty Girl and Blonde-Haired Beautiful Woman

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The one who offered to take on the job of escorting us to the high-difficulty dungeon known as the Dragon’s Nest was a blonde ponytailed onee-san clad in heavy-looking silver armor. 

She looked like what you might call a European in my previous life—pale blue eyes and a sharp, well-defined nose, a real beauty. She looked a little older than me, but even I knew better than to ask a woman her age.

“Would you let us handle this escort mission?”

When she said “us,” I assumed she meant a party. We were lucky to be able to find someone this quickly. The beauty showed us some sort of card. It displayed her name, along with a guild seal proving her rank was A.

“Karinka-san, right? My name is Rikuto.”

“Ah! I’m Emil. Th-thank you so much for accepting our request!”

You could almost call it an aura—Emil was visibly nervous in front of Karinka-san, even though they didn’t seem that far apart in age. Karinka’s dignified presence had that effect. As for me, it wasn’t that I wanted to get close to her just because she was beautiful. My first impression was more along the lines of… 

Wow, she’s cool.

“We also want to help those who need us. But since this involves the Dragon’s Nest, we’ll need time to prepare. We plan to leave the morning after tomorrow—would that be alright? Of course, if you find someone else to take the job before then, feel free to cancel.”

This was a request to cure Emil’s little sister’s illness. Time might be of the essence. I looked to Emil, leaving the decision to her.

“The symptoms are stable for now, so the day after tomorrow is fine. We’re grateful for your help.”

Emil probably felt safer with another woman around too. After all, right now I was the kind of guy who’d start bleeding from the mouth with just one punch from a blonde guy in blue armor. I couldn’t protect Emil if anything happened.

After that, Emil and Karinka-san shook hands, and the request was officially accepted. A handshake between a silver-haired beauty and a blonde bombshell. I didn’t know what it was, but the sight felt so precious it was almost blinding.

But it was already night, so we headed back to the inn I had scouted and reserved in advance. There was only one room left, but no, we weren’t sharing—our rooms were separate, just next to each other.

I wasn’t planning to do anything weird to Emil. It   was not that she lacked charm or anything. I just sincerely wanted to support her. Though… I had to admit it was a little impure of me to think, “I want to be healed by a cute girl’s healing magic!”

We would be departing the day after tomorrow. That meant I had a full day open. And for me, that actually worked out perfectly. I wanted to get the hang of using my cheat skill, 【Damage Adjustment】.

So I planned to take on a request as an adventurer. I had already completed registration earlier that day. Apparently, it was okay to do adventuring as a side job, so Emil ended up registering as an adventurer too, just in case.

This was a world where magic was commonplace. Some people were born able to use magic, and rather than overthink it, I just accepted it as the way things were. Emil had apparently been using her healing magic for free to treat minor injuries in her village—because she could.

She lived with her parents and younger sister, helping with their farming work. That was how she spent her days. To fully cure her sister’s illness, they needed an Elixir, but that would cost a fortune. Still, if they brought the ingredients to an apothecary themselves, they could significantly cut the cost.

I imagined Emil didn’t want to spare any expense when it came to her little sister’s health, but when you didn’t have money, there was really nothing you could do. I didn’t know much about whether loan services existed in this world yet.

I was sure Emil and her family had already done everything they could. As for me, the only reason I even considered being an adventurer was because I could nullify damage using my cheat skill. I could have lived a normal life doing some other job.

But the biggest reason, when it came down to it, was still…

I want to be healed by a cute girl’s healing magic!

The Heal I got from Emil today was the best. I felt like I’d have a great dream tonight.

The next morning. I woke up in the middle of a nonsensical dream where a bunch of girls were fighting over whose turn it was to cast Heal on me.

They say dreams reflect your subconscious. Well, damn. I guess that was the truth. One day, I’ll make it real.

I wondered how Emil was doing, but if she was still sleeping, I didn’t want to wake her, so I went to the inn’s dining room and had breakfast alone. I didn’t run into Emil during that time either, but I had already told her I’d be heading to the guild today, so it should be fine.

Once at the guild, I made a beeline for the request board. The real mission was tomorrow, so I wanted to master【Damage Adjustment】by the end of today. Several adventurers were carefully looking over the request sheets posted on the board. Judging by their clothing and gear, I could vaguely guess their jobs. I wondered how laws on weapon possession even worked here?

Other adventurers were chatting in the entrance hall, and several were waiting their turn at the multiple reception counters. The guild was bustling, even at nine in the morning.

My adventurer rank was F. Out of seven ranks, F was the lowest. S was the highest. Easy enough to understand. F-rank jobs were mostly herb gathering and such. But that wouldn’t give me any combat experience. After a bit more searching, I found a request for a dungeon that allowed F-rank adventurers. A dungeon meant there would definitely be monsters.

I took the request sheet from the board to the reception desk and declared proudly to the beautiful lady there:

“I’ll take this request.”

Now then, this was the real beginning of my impure isekai life.

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