Carefree Journey of the Fugitive Sage Candidates

Chapter 59, Side Story: Mysterious Emotions

Translator: Barnnn

“Good work today,” Kikuno said to the Guild staff still at their desks, then slipped out through the staff door.

Outside, a boy with teary eyes and a girl sulking beside him stood waiting.

“Kikuno, we–”

She had expected this. Even so, she couldn’t help but sigh, while keeping her face unreadable. The boy flinched at the sound.

“We’re going home,” Kikuno said.

“W-wait…!”

“I’ll listen when we get there.”

“…Okay.”

Kikuno was usually feared, but this evening, the children seemed especially wary of her.

She sighed again, deeper this time, as the weight of the troubles ahead already started piling over her.

◆

Thirteen years had passed since the Deluge in Jasted. She had been twelve then.

The memories were still fresh in her mind: her father and mother reassuring her, their voices steady as they reinforced the house plank by plank. The shelter inside the city walls hadn’t been available until the day before the Deluge, and even then, only a limited number of belongings could be brought inside. Without strict precautions, it would have been impossible to protect everyone.

At the time, she had just begun training as an apprentice adventurer. In Jasted, it was common for children to experience the life of an adventurer, even if they later chose a different path. Kikuno had been no exception.

“Don’t apprentices go into the Dungeon too?” She had asked her father.

“Not this time. They’re releasing the Dragon outside. There’s a chance the hall could collapse.”

“Really? That hall? It’s huge.”

“Even if it’ll be weakened by A-ranked adventurers, it’s still a Dragon. There’s no point in you being there.”

“Okay, I understand.”

She had nodded, passing her father the wooden planks he used to board up the windows.

Kikuno would emerge from this incident unscathed — however, not all children had been so obedient.

◆

“My son…! Has anyone seen my son!?”

A woman’s frantic voice echoed through the shelter. It was the day of the Deluge; the city’s people had taken refuge inside the walls, and the doors had been sealed.

Then, a man’s deep voice boomed through the space. “Barrys! Barrys! Where are you!?”

Kikuno tensed, pressing herself into her father’s side. She knew that name.

“What’s wrong, Kikuno?”

“That’s a boy I know. One of the mean ones.”

“…Ah. I think I know who you’re talking about…”

She remembered what her father had told her the night before.

In a battle, lower-ranked adventurers were expected to follow orders, whether it meant stepping back or retreating entirely. Those who disobeyed became liabilities.

It was essentially an unspoken rule here — almost common knowledge. To protect the city and its people during the Deluge, discipline and cooperation was everything. Kikuno’s non-participation in this battle was for this very reason.

No one had permission to open the shelter doors, not even for a missing child. To do so would endanger everyone inside.

Kikuno shut her eyes and covered her ears, drowning out the woman’s cries. In the corner of her vision, she swore she could see the boy’s mischievous grin.

◆

“Umm, Kikuno…?”

“So, what did you do?”

She already knew the details, but she wanted to hear it from them. Across the table, the boy fidgeted, his face strikingly similar to that boy from long ago — Barrys.

“We stopped someone from walking into the Adventurers’ Guild…”

“And then?”

“Then Tanya shoved him.”

“I didn’t do it on purpose!”

“I’m asking Gado right now. Tanya, be quiet.”

“…When Tanya shoved him,” the boy continued, “he almost fell down the stairs. His brother caught him.”

“Was he hurt?”

“I don’t think so… His brother carried him inside before I could tell.”

“And then?”

“Then the brother got really mad and said the little one was an adventurer.”

“But that’s totally a lie!”

“Tanya.”

Kikuno silenced her with nothing more than her name.

“When we froze up, he yelled at us for not apologizing. I wanted to, but they were already gone…” Gadi’s voice wavered, eyes shining with unshed tears.

Kikuno heaved a sigh. She knew that, while Gado could be impulsive, short-tempered — but at heart, he was a good boy.

“Tanya, it’s your turn,” she said.

“I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Tanya…”

“I didn’t do anything wrong!”

Tanya shot up from her chair and stormed out of the room.

Kikuno rubbed her temples. The girl was stubborn, fiery, impossible — just like someone else she knew far too well.

She sighed again, thinking through her options.

The older brother had been furious, but the younger one, likely sensing the importance of keeping the peace, had stopped him before things escalated. Though he was still a child, his composure had been strikingly mature.

Somehow, Kikuno knew she had to get Tanya to apologize. But on the other hand, she had a sinking feeling that wouldn’t go well.

And so, once again, she sighed.

“Oh, you’re home early today, Kikuno,” came a man’s voice, interrupting her thoughts.

Gado flinched. “D-Dad…!”

Kikuno turned to the man. “Listen, Barrys — Gado and Tanya caused some trouble.”

“Oh?” Barrys walked in, his usual grin in place. “What happened, son? Did ya make a girl cry, hmm?”

Gado yelped as Barrys playfully pinched his tear-streaked cheeks.

Kikuno shot him a glare. “Tanya pushed an apprentice adventurer down the stairs. If his brother hadn’t caught him, he would’ve been hurt.”

“Gah,” Barrys let out a grumble. “So she finally crossed the line, huh…” He released Gado, rubbing his chin with a wry smile. “She can be so damn stubborn, just like someone else I know sooo well. Heh… Well, all right, I’ll go talk to her.”

With a slight limp in his left leg, Barrys headed toward the children’s room, where Tanya had no doubt locked herself away.

Kikuno watched him go. Then, once again, she stifled a sigh.

◆

The day after the Deluge, they had found Barrys collapsed in an alleyway.

He had survived thanks to magic and Potions, but his leg — crushed beyond repair — was never the same again.

And in what felt like a cruel joke, the following year, at his Coming-of-Age Ceremony, he had been granted skills suited for a baker.

He had fought against it, determined to keep adventuring despite his injury. But without combat skills, he couldn’t compensate for his disability. In the end, he gave up his dream and turned to baking — where, unexpectedly, he fell in love.

The bakery owner’s daughter had been stubborn, fiery, impossible — and she was none other than Kikuno’s two-year-older sister.

“…I really didn’t need to be reminded of that right now…” Kikuno grumbled to herself.

“Umm, Kikuno?”

She turned to see Chez, Barrys’s youngest, running toward her. He must have been kicked out of the children’s room.

“Why’s Tanya crying?”

“…She is?”

Tanya was just like her mother — every bit strong-willed, passionate, ruled by emotion. If she was crying, then she must have realized, deep down, that she had done something wrong.

Barrys had always been the one to handle her sister’s temper. Hopefully, he could do the same for their daughter.

◆

A few days later, Chez came home in tears. Tanya, unwilling to apologize herself, had sent her younger brother in her place. The result: the older of the two adventurers had flatly rejected him — harshly, even.

“Oh, Tanya, what the hell were you thinking…”

Kikuno’s sister pressed a hand to her forehead, exasperated.

Chez, his face streaked with tears and snot, sniffled as he recounted the encounter — the older adventurer had said they wouldn’t accept Tanya’s apology even if she went herself.

“Well, of course he’s mad,” Barrys said with a sigh. “I caught a glimpse of them in town, actually. Those kids are obviously from a well-off family. Their clothes looked like something a noble’s son would wear. It’d be no surprise if they felt insulted.”

Beside her sobbing brother, Tanya had gone pale.

“Should we go apologize ourselves?” Kikuno’s sister suggested.

Barrys frowned. “If she doesn’t go herself, what’s the point? First, she sends her brother — and now we’re going in her stead? Who knows how they’ll take it?”

“But if they really are nobles, things could escalate…”

“I dunno. They’re adventurers — surely they’re not the type to fuss about their status.”

The weight of her actions weighed heavily on Tanya’s chest as the awful realization struck — her parents, too, might be pulled into this mess. The word “noble” surfaced again and again in the conversation, each repetition tightening the knot in her stomach. Her fingers curled into the fabric of her skirt, her hands trembling with a fear she struggled to contain.

◆

Kikuno listened in silence, arms crossed, eyes flicking between her sister and Barrys. Tanya sat frozen, her face drained of color.

Barrys had a point — those two didn’t feel like ordinary adventurers.

Maybe they were merchants looking to purchase rare materials. Or mages conducting research. Or — perhaps — someone even higher. A noble visiting the Guild on official business.

There had been something distant in the way they looked at others, like people from a wildly foreign place, accustomed to being the “different” ones.

The older brother, at least, seemed the type who wouldn’t hesitate to take ruthless measures if it meant protecting his younger sibling.

As for the younger brother… he was more of a mystery. He claimed he hadn’t reached adulthood yet, but the way he carried himself, the way he supposedly never slowed his brother down in the Dungeon — there was something off about it. The higher-ups of the Guild had even speculated that he already possessed some skills.

An “Early.”

Those who manifested skills long before the appropriate time — the phenomenon wasn’t well understood, but it was widely believed to be a matter of innate talent.

And behind that harmless smile of his, something lurked. Something that craved strength.

A shudder ran down Kikuno’s spine. She exhaled sharply and furrowed her brows.

“Tanya. You are forbidden from approaching the Adventurers’ Guild for the next two years — until you turn twelve.”

“No way!”

“When you started your pre-registration apprenticeship, you promised not to cause trouble. Not to be a nuisance to me at the Guild. Do you remember?”

“I-I’ll just apologize, then!”

“Tanya…” Kikuno’s eyes narrowed, and her voice dropped lower. “Do you really think an apology would mean anything at this point?” If you do — then you’re being unbelievably naive.”

Tanya didn’t answer. She only clenched the fabric of her skirt tighter.

Her glare remained fixed on Kikuno, but unlike usual, her eyes shone with unshed tears.

Kikuno, however, was unmoved.

“The other children who come to the Guild for apprenticeships do so because they HAVE to. They need the money. You, on the other hand, don’t. If you simply helped out at home like you were supposed to, none of this would have been a problem. But instead, you ran off, caused trouble for adventurers, and dragged Chez into it, too. If you become an adventurer with that attitude, people will despise you. You can’t keep your promises. You refuse to take responsibility for your own actions. You can’t even do your job properly. And worst of all — you won’t even apologize when you’re wrong. An adventurer’s poor judgment gets people killed, Tanya. If you truly want to be an adventurer, then at least have the patience to wait for two years.”

A heavy silence followed. Neither of Tanya’s parents spoke.

Barrys, more than anyone, understood the price of recklessness.

Tanya trembled, biting her lip, until Barrys finally let out a small sigh and ruffled her hair. Then, he pulled up a chair and sat in front of her.

“Tanya,” he said gently, “do you hate helping out at the bakery?”

“…I don’t hate it.”

“But you’d rather be an adventurer?”

“I’m going to be A-rank.”

“A-rank?” His brows lifted slightly. “Why?”

“Because you wanted to be one, Dad.”

Barrys blinked. “…What?”

“I overheard you before,” Tanya muttered. “You wanted to be A-rank, but you couldn’t. Because you got hurt.”

“Well, do you know how I got hurt?”

“A Mystic Beast attacked you.”

“That’s right. During the Deluge, we were warned again and again not to go outside. But I thought I’d be fine. I thought I could handle it. I was reckless. And I paid the price. Honestly, it’s a miracle I survived at all.”

For once, Barrys wasn’t the easygoing, doting father she knew.

For once, he spoke both as a responsible parent and a man who had lived his mistakes.

“I caused trouble for my fellow adventurers. I caused trouble for my parents. And this leg — it’s the price I paid for my own stupidity. I got so caught up in my dreams that I refused to see reality. That’s the kind of fool I was. And you, Tanya — you’re who I used to be. If you think it’s okay to inconvenience others for the sake of your own dreams, then you’re no different from the idiot I was back then. And the only thing people will say about us is that we’re a pair of damn fools.”

Tanya’s breath hitched.

Up until now, she had justified everything — every reckless action, every stubborn decision — by telling herself she was doing it for him. For her father’s dream.

But now, the very man she had admired for it… had called it foolish.

The ground beneath her confidence cracked.

“Tanya,” Barrys continued, “Take responsibility for your actions. For the next two years, you are forbidden from setting foot near the Adventurers’ Guild. Do you understand?”

Tanya opened her mouth. Once, twice, thrice — but no words came. In the end, she only gave a small nod before rising from her seat and leaving the room.

Barrys watched her go, then raked a hand through his short hair.

“Phew… Well. Let’s see how she is after some time. Maybe it’ll be the full two years. Maybe less.”

Then, he turned to Kikuno.

She met his gaze for a moment — then let out a long sigh and averted her eyes.

“…Those two won’t be here for long,” she murmured. “They’re only staying for the winter. Come spring, they’ll likely move on to the next city. If Tanya proves herself trustworthy by then…” She hesitated. “Well, you should make the final call, Barrys.”

Barrys’s lips curved into a satisfied smile.

For a fleeting moment, that smile overlapped with the one she had seen on a boy’s face long ago.

Kikuno furrowed her brows and bit her lip, suppressing the tangle of emotions rising in her chest.