The evening of the second day.
Perhaps it was because the two of them were already in the same town, but the letter arrived quickly, and Shuna received it that night.
Sitting at the small bar counter of the largest tavern in town, Shuna swung her feet back and forth, happily opening the letter.
“To S:
Thank you for the new information you brought me.
That stone is simply… simply amazing! If it can provide such a buff to the monsters in the dungeon, it might also work for the weapons we use daily!
I’m very interested in this – yes, only in this.
If possible, I’d even like to see the dungeon where you found it in person and explore it. I’m sure there will be new discoveries.
Oh, and about meeting up with you…
I’d be delighted. Rather, I’ve been wanting to meet you, S, for a long time.
As for the time and place, I’ll be in Nov for the foreseeable future, so please set the time and place whenever you’re ready. It will be convenient for me.
W”
“Great! He agreed!”
Shuna’s heart bloomed with joy, and her swinging feet moved even faster.
“Uh… but, at a time like this, why is he talking about that damn stone in the letter? He only mentioned it in the last sentence.”
She happily realized that Will had spent the beginning of the letter talking a lot about his interest in the stone, hoping to investigate it further with Shuna.
On the contrary…
The most important thing…
The meeting…
Was pitifully placed in the last sentence.
—Did he not attach much importance to it, just as she casually mentioned it in the last sentence?
“But…”
“I get to decide the location…?”
“Oh? You’re still corresponding after all these years? I thought you’d stopped.”
Just as Shuna was thinking about where to meet Will—after all, it was the location of their first “date”—
Isaac walked over with a small plate of cappuccino cake, placed it in front of Shuna, and smiled as he looked at her and the letter in her hand.
Isaac actually looked much younger than he did three years ago. Wearing a bartender’s uniform, he looked much more elegant, unlike the guild master who was busy and dusty at the Adventurer’s Guild years ago.
He resigned from his position as guild master after the appearance of the “Green Wilderness Trace” dungeon.
He opened a small tavern called “XXX” nearby, using the bartending skills he had honed over the years, and followed a niche style of offering unique cocktails.
He himself quite liked this job.
After Nov became a Novice Village, with people coming and going, his small tavern, although niche, earned a lot of money all of a sudden.
Shuna had just arrived in this town… where she often came three years ago. She was surprised to see the owner of the tavern was her former guild master.
“Ah… yes. We haven’t stopped, and we’ve communicated quite a bit over the past three years.”
“How is it? Have you met? Is he the Young Master you imagined?”
“I… haven’t met him yet.”
“Little Shuna, are you going to be okay? You’ve been in contact for so many years, you should have rushed over sooner.”
“I was busy with my studies, and I didn’t know if he… if he wanted to see me…”
Shuna’s voice trailed off.
She had always been a super confident person, but when it came to meeting W… she lacked confidence.
She was a little afraid… afraid that the other party didn’t want to see her like this, a recently graduated girl her age.
In reality, she didn’t have as much dungeon experience as he praised in the letter. Much of what she spoke so eloquently about was gained from fighting in dungeons on the spot.
“Mmm…”
Isaac rubbed his chin.
“You’re not afraid of being scammed, are you? Oh, right, I almost forgot you’re a girl, and you’re quite easily tricked.”
“How is that possible!”
“Oh, you’re Shuna. If anyone tries to trick you, you can just punch them.”
“Mainly, I’m a bit worried that there will be too much of a deviation from his imagination. Uh… that’s what I said, but actually… I’m also very worried that the gap between him and my imagination… will be very large.”
This is something that often happens when pen pals meet.
Isaac could see the girl’s thoughts and emotional fluctuations at a glance—rather, she was so easy to understand three years ago, and Isaac was used to it.
She constructed an image in her imagination, but the actual meeting would certainly not fully satisfy it, and might even be completely different.
This child occasionally encountered “universal”① difficulties in her neighborhood.
“Hmph. What, you haven’t told him your true identity in three years…?”
“He didn’t say anything! I’m not going to be the first to speak!”
“You’re quite stubborn about this. So you’re going to meet… you haven’t even told him what you look like, or do you not know what he looks like either?”
“Since it’s anonymous to this extent, let’s remain anonymous until the end and give him a surprise!”
Shuna said, taking a large piece of cake with a fork and putting it in her mouth, chewing it fiercely as if in revenge.
“So, how are you going to meet…”
Isaac looked at her.
“Speaking of which, I still owe you a drink. You haven’t ordered yet, Miss Shuna.”
“Right… right!”
The mention of this suddenly brought them both into silence.
Then, looking at each other, their eyes lit up—
“Let’s just set the meeting place here, at your tavern!”
“Why don’t I lend you a place? If you encounter any problems, I can help you.”
They both made this suggestion almost at the same time.
“Ahem. Since you owe me a drink, there should be no problem with you settling this bill, right?”
“Okay. But… Shuna, have you ever had alcohol before?”
“Th-that… of course I have!”
“…Are you lying to me?”
“Just kidding, my alcohol tolerance is super good!”
Although Isaac didn’t know her actual alcohol tolerance.
However…
From his impression of Shuna, an adventurer who had been active in dungeons for a long time… her alcohol tolerance was unlikely to be poor. She usually smelled high-concentration alcohol at the guild.
“Speaking of which, since it’s at your place, Boss… can I get him drunk?”
“Girl, why are you always taking the wrong path?”
“This is already the right path! Once he’s drunk… hehe, he’ll be at my mercy.”
“You were just worried about your image not matching his expectations…”
However, this style of incorporating boldness into her actions was very “Shuna.”
“Boss, do you have paper and pen? I’ll write the letter now. Maybe it can still make it to the Adventurer’s Guild’s anonymous mail today.”
“You…”
Isaac took out paper and pen and handed it to her.
Under the dim light of the tavern, Shuna wrote diligently on the letter. She was meticulous, first replying to Will’s letter about the mysterious green stone, and then mentioning the meeting place at the tavern.
Isaac watched her profile…
This young girl, after three years, had indeed become even more beautiful than she was three years ago.
But… within this beauty, there was still a hint of wildness, and not much of a student-like demeanor.
He really wondered who the W she was writing to was.
To be so lucky to meet such a fine girl.
It’s just…
What Isaac didn’t expect was that her written language was completely different from her spoken one. Not only was her tone very respectful, but her way of speaking was also very rational and logical. Phosphorus Dream (〔「Seven) Lingaba Wu: Forty-six Ba 〳 Fin Wife
It was the first time he had seen her write a letter in person.
No wonder she was afraid that she would be different from the image her counterpart imagined.
“Okay. Boss… remember to make his drinks stronger then.”
“Control yourself.”
Isaac took back the cake plate that she had finished eating while writing.
“But, little Shuna, be confident.”
“Huh?”
“You are the ‘Heroine’—you always said so yourself three years ago.”
