Chapter 76: A Flashy, Unsolicited Rescue

The moment I stepped into the Aethelgard Adventurer’s Guild, the deafening roar of laughter, clanking armor, and bawdy bard songs screeched to a halt. Every single eye in the room—from hulking barbarians to slender elves—swiveled to stare at me. I was a unicorn that had just wandered into a biker bar.

“Whoa,” Mochi’s voice squeaked in my head. “This place smells like angry cheese and poor life decisions. Do they have any tiny, bunny-sized helmets? I’m feeling… judged.”

“You and me both,” I muttered, my face flushing crimson as I forced my wobbly legs toward the main counter. Behind it, a mountain of a woman with fiery red hair and a scar across her eyebrow was polishing a tankard. A sign on the counter read “Guild Master Gretta.”

“Lost, little one?” she asked, her voice a low rumble.

“N-no!” I stammered, slapping my hands on the counter. “I… I wish to register as an adventurer!”

The entire guild hall erupted in a tidal wave of laughter. Gretta, however, just raised a skeptical, scarred eyebrow. “You? An adventurer? What are your skills, girl? Singing to woodland creatures?”

My cheeks burned. “I… I have magic!” I declared, thrusting my hand forward. “[Sparkle Shot]!”

Poof.

A cloud of iridescent glitter erupted from my palm, drifting gently over the counter and settling on Gretta’s unimpressed face. The hall fell silent again. She blinked slowly, plucked a piece of purple glitter from her nose, and flicked it away. A slow, dangerous smile spread across her face.

“Alright, kid,” she said, an amused glint in her eyes. “I like your nerve. Fill out this paperwork. You’ll be on a probationary F-rank. The lowest of the low. You sneeze wrong, you’re out. Understand?”

I nodded mutely, grabbing the quill. As I started to write ‘Aki Amakawa,’ my eyes drifted to the quest board. And that’s when my heart stopped.

He was there. Natsuki. And he wasn’t alone. Flanking him were three beautiful, competent-looking women: a tall elf with a longbow, a fierce rogue with twin daggers, and a petite mage in dark robes. It was a perfect, infuriatingly attractive adventuring party. It was a harem. He had a harem.

A hot, ugly spike of jealousy shot through me. I had given him the [Beloved by All] skill, but I hadn’t considered the romantic implications! I had inadvertently created my own worst nightmare.

I was so consumed by my crisis that I didn’t notice the commotion until a drunken brute known as Bork the Brute grabbed a bard by his collar. “Think tha’s funny, do ya?” Bork slurred, shaking the smaller man. “Laughin’ at the little doll? Maybe I should show ya what a real adventurer looks like!” He drew back a fist the size of a ham.

My emotions—humiliation, jealousy, fear—coalesced into a single, overwhelming impulse: Do something. I dropped the quill.

“[Sparkle Shot]!” I yelled, aiming not at the brute, but at the ceiling directly above him.

POOF!

This time, it wasn’t a puff. Fueled by my chaotic emotions, the spell went haywire. A massive, concentrated cloud of shimmering amethyst glitter erupted from my hand, exploding outwards with the force of a flashbang grenade. The entire guild hall was consumed by a blinding, shimmering storm of sparkles. Bork yelled in surprise, dropping the bard to shield his eyes.

The glitter began to settle like magical, humiliating snow. And as the haze cleared, I realized my "rescue" had drawn the attention of every single person in the room. Including the four people by the quest board.

Natsuki had turned around, his hand resting on the hilt of his spirit blade, his kind face a mask of surprise and concern. His eyes scanned the room and then landed… directly on me.

Our eyes met across the sparkling, chaotic room. For a heart-stopping second, I thought I saw a flicker of recognition, a ghost of a memory. But it was gone in an instant, replaced by simple, friendly curiosity. He didn’t know me. Of course he didn’t.

He took a step forward, his gaze soft. “Hey,” he called out, his voice cutting through the lingering confusion. “Are you okay?”