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Volume 2 Chapter 28 - Three People Joint Request

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Iseria looked at the two as if she was ready to unleash magic at any time, but Rebecca immediately understood the situation and released her stance with a beaming smile on her face and threw the axe in her hand to the ground.

Iseria's wariness diminished a little at that, and sensing that, Rebecca launched a peaceful offensive.

“I'm sorry. The two of us were just fooling around for a bit, so I'd appreciate it if you could stop trying to attack me. Isn’t that right, Len-nii?” (Rebecca)

“Is that true? Dear Sir in the back, I am a gold class adventurer. Even if you are threatened, I can save you, so please tell me the truth.” (Iseria)

Perhaps to show that she was not at all alarmed, Rebecca said that and turned her back to Allen, exposing her defenseless back to Iseria.

Rebecca's smile deepened at Iseria's words that followed, and she tightened her fists so as not to be seen, as if she was thinking ‘How lucky,’ Allen had a bad feeling when he watched her do that. Because he had somehow guessed what Rebecca was thinking.

Nevertheless, Allen decided to clear up Iseria's misunderstanding, as it would be even more troublesome if he didn't do what he needed to do now.

“Yeah, sorry. This guy and I are siblings. I wasn't being attacked or threatened. Sorry for being misleading.” (Allen)

Iseria widened her eyes and froze when she saw Allen suddenly turn up and say that. Because Iseria herself had never expected to meet Allen in a place like this.

‘Oya,’ Allen felt something out of place in this situation, but he couldn't think of what it was.

Then, as Iseria lowered her hand she had been pointing at them and became less wary, Rebecca approached her while talking to her in a friendly manner.

“I'm Rebecca, an iron class adventurer and peddler, and this is my brother Allen. I'm sorry for causing a misunderstanding. Um...” (Rebecca)

“Ah, my name is Iseria.” (Iseria)

“So it’s Iseria-sama. How amazing, a gold class at such a young age. Could Iseria-sama be a member of a famous party?” (Rebecca)

“No, I'm basically alone...” (Iseria)

“Isn't that even more amazing? Being gold class while solo is proof of your masterful ability. Besides, Iseria-sama, you're so beautiful while being so strong, it’s too amazing.” (Rebecca)

“That’s not...” (Iseria)

Rebecca's rave review made Iseria’s cheeks turn red despite her modesty. Already there was not the slightest hint of wariness between the two of them.

Allen marveled at Rebecca's ability to slip into Iseria’s heart and start talking to her as if they were acquaintances.

At the same time, he was remembering how, in the old days, ‘Come to think of it, Rebecca had a lot of random acquaintances, didn’t she?’

As two of them began to chat boisterously and happily, Allen watched over them and left the place. In order to take down the treant who was cut halfway through and left as is in the back.

And the expression on the treant's face that was about to be cut down soon by Allen, was not its usual expression filled with hate, contempt, or other bad emotions, but rather a somewhat peaceful one.

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When Allen returned to the two after processing the defeated treant into building materials, he found Iseria and Rebecca there, laughing and talking as if they were old friends.

“But I'm really sorry.” (Iseria)

“No, no. We were also at fault for doing something misleading, and Iseria-san has already apologized many times, so please don't worry about it.” (Rebecca)

While watching Rebecca respond to Iseria's apologies in a casual tone, Allen noticed that she had changed ‘sama’ into ‘san’ before he knew it.

It didn't take that long for Allen to defeat and finish processing the treant, yet Rebecca managed to close the distance so much in such a short time, Allen was honestly impressed.

“I’m done here.” (Allen)

“Ah, Len-nii, thank you for your hard work.” (Rebecca)

“Thank you for your hard work. Allen-sa, n, I'm also really sorry.” (Iseria)

Iseria stuttered in a strange place, and guessing the reason, Allen pretended not to notice and waved his hand to indicate that there was no problem.

“It's our fault for doing something that could be misunderstood. Or rather, it's because Rebecca was fooling around.” (Allen)

“Eeh, Len-nii was also laughing, so you’re also an accomplice.” (Rebecca)

“No, isn't that strange? I just laughed and that made me an accomplice? Are you some kind of tyrant?” (Allen)

“Eh, I’m Len-nii's little sister-kun obviously.” (Rebecca)

“Of course I know!” (Allen)

Rebecca declared that to play dumb and Allen retorted. Perhaps thinking the interaction between the two was funny, Iseria giggled.

Seeing her like that, Rebecca tilted her head slightly, then turned to Allen and began speaking in a voice small enough for Iseria to not hear.

“Len-nii. I'll bring Iseria-san in.” (Rebecca)

“No, as expected, isn’t that bad? She’s a gold class, you know.” (Allen)

“It's okay. She’s such a good person that she tried to stick her neck into trouble on her own, and from talking to her, I can tell she has a good personality. And judging by her equipment, she seems to be rich, yet she doesn’t have the arrogance and stubbornness that are typical of rich people. She was probably some young lady from somewhere. It’s a mystery why someone like that would become an adventurer.” (Rebecca)

Allen tried to gently hide his true feelings and refuse, but that didn't get through to Rebecca.

And hearing Rebecca's evaluation of Iseria, Allen couldn't help but laugh, thinking how well she had come to such a judgment in such a short time.

That was because that evaluation was almost the same as Allen’s, who had some degree of acquaintances with her.

Rebecca turned from Allen to Iseria, and smiled.

“Iseria-san, if it’s fine with you, won’t you accept our request together? We're a bit short on hands and are in trouble, you see.” (Rebecca)

“Your request, is it?” (Iseria)

Allen thought that the way Rebecca talked, emphasizing just the ‘in trouble’ part a bit, might indeed be an effective method for Iseria.

Because Allen knew that, although the main story of the hero Artigald is about defeating the demon lord, it has many scenes where he helps people in trouble along the way. So, Iseria, who admires him, basically cannot leave people in trouble alone.

This was a bad flow for Allen, who didn't want to get involved with Iseria in his Allen form.

But Allen still had some leeway.

“Yes. It’s the request to deliver treants as building materials. The number is quite large, so we are looking for one more person to defeat the treants.” (Rebecca)

“I see. But I’ve also accepted a different request...” (Iseria)

“Ee─h.” (Rebecca)

“No, isn’t that obvious? That’s why I told you to give up.” (Allen)

Allen's smile deepened at Iseria's expected answer, and he roughly stroked Rebecca's hair and urged her to give up.

Rebecca was growling as if she couldn't give up, but Allen thought that she wouldn't make a mistake on when to quit, so he felt like they were done.

The reason Allen felt some leeway from the beginning was because he had predicted that Iseria was here because she had received some sort of request.

He briefly thought that it might be related to the hanging tree, but since that had settled down, he thought it was unlikely.

In addition to that, Allen had directly heard from Iseria that recently, for her future, she was fighting in the Dragon Dungeon, which she had cleared the entry requirement as a hero egg.

Seeing that Iseria went out of her way to come to this place, Allen could only think that it was the result of accepting some sort of request.

Rebecca, who was looking disappointed, changed her mood and looked up. And just before she could open her mouth to utter words of resignation, Iseria clapped her hand.

“That's right. How about you also help me with my request?” (Iseria)

“Your request, is it?” (Rebecca)

“Yes, the request is to defeat as many treants as possible and report the number, but rather than doing it alone, I could defeat more if I had some help. I will need the treants' magic stones, but no other parts are needed.” (Iseria)

“In other words, we will do the dismantling, the magic stones will go to Iseria-san, while the other materials will go to us. Iseria-san will save time on dismantling on top of increasing the number you defeat. And our side can secure more building materials, right? Very well, then, the negotiation has been concluded.” (Rebecca)

“Eh?” (Allen)

Allen froze as the conversation progressed in an unexpected direction, but Rebecca smiled truly happily as she wrapped her hands around Iseria's. In response, Iseria also turned her gentle smile towards Rebecca.

“And so, Len-nii, I leave the dismantling to you.” (Rebecca)

“Allen-san, please take care of me.” (Iseria)

“Eh? O-ou.” (Allen)

When the two of them said that, Allen couldn’t help but reply instinctively, and Rebecca and Iseria each left the place to defeat treants, leaving Allen behind.

“How did it come to this?” (Allen)

Such words from Allen never reached anyone.

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After that, a period of uncertainty began for Allen. He was dismantling treants that Rebecca and Iseria dragged in, took their magic stones and made building materials out of them.

The pace at which Iseria brought treants was fast. That's natural, since at Iseria's level, she can defeat something like a treant with a single magic attack.

And in addition to that, the pace at which Rebecca was defeating them was also clearly increasing.

“Or rather, why are you faster than when you were with me?” (Allen)

“Hmm, I guess I got used to it. My level has gone up too.” (Iseria)

“Seriously...?” (Allen)

“Then, please take care of this.” (Iseria)

Saying that, Rebecca left cheerfully, and after Allen saw her off, he continued to work hard on the dismantling.

With Allen's stats, increasing his speed was a simple matter.

But that was only for Allen and it didn’t extend to the tools he used. If he forced it too much, they would break and become unusable like Allen's beloved sword.

Even if he didn’t, it's natural for tools to wear out if he uses them, so he needed to maintain them by sharpening their dull blades with a whetstone, adjusting the angle, and so on.

Allen had learned it at Dolban's workshop, so he was able to perform optimal maintenance at the fastest speed, but even then, when combined with the pace of treants being brought in, it was really just barely.

Once Allen finished dismantling a treant, a new one was brought in. After dismantling it, he found some spare time, so he repaired his tools, but during that time, a new treant was brought in and he started dismantling again.

Allen no longer had any awareness that this was a dungeon. In fact, he was no longer even sure why he was doing this.

Once, Rebecca's magic bag was full and Allen was about to regain his senses, but that opportunity was lost when Iseria suggested that they use her own magic bag.

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And before they knew it, the time had turned 10 p.m.

Iseria and Rebecca met up on the way back to Allen, and reported to each other about today's battle results.

The surrounding treants had been completely exterminated, so there was no need to be wary, and the two of them continued walking as if they were taking a normal walk in the forest. They were dragging treants along with them though.

“I knew it, Iseria-san is amazing. You got twice as much as I did.” (Rebecca)

“But isn't Rebecca-san amazing as well? I've seen iron class people fight, but I'm sure they can only defeat half as many as Rebecca-san.” (Iseria)

“I'm trying hard in my own way after all.” (Rebecca)

The two of them complimented each other and gradually shifted  to small talk, their walking pace much slower than when they were carrying treants up until then.

As a result, when they returned to Allen, they both froze with their mouths open, making stupid faces.

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