Case Closed

I don’t think anyone would argue with the fact that there are far too many variables in this world for one person to control all of them. Sure, you can do the best you can, but at some point you have to accept that some things won’t go your way. That’s what separates the real world from fiction. A story has limited variables. There are only a handful of characters, and the author doesn’t bother describing every plant or animal that might be affected by the protagonist.

As I already mentioned, the real world isn’t like that. There are more living creatures and moving parts than I could possibly imagine. Even if I don’t describe it, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. The real world doesn’t have an arbitrary overlord to decide what’s important and what’s not.

Everything is important to something.

It takes a mature mind to recognize that. That’s what separates the children from the adults. And I’m obviously an adult. I can walk away from a situation while accepting that it’s impossible for me to completely resolve everything.

In the real world, loose ends are to be expected. No one can be blamed for that. Adults have to accept that some things will remain unresolved.

It should go without saying that all of that was the excuse I planned on giving if anyone asked me about any of the many things I didn’t bother solving. Honestly, this whole operation started so long ago that I’ve already forgotten most of what happened before I went to the desert.

After making a quick stop at the village I went straight back to Ah’Ruh. With the bird helping me navigate, we actually managed to plot a much more direct course than the one I initially took. Even with me being slowed down by my plus one, the whole trip only took around one month.

When you compare that to the three it took me to get there it might seem like I’m a terrible navigator, but don’t be so hasty. I’m being compared to a bird after all. Obviously he’d be a better navigator. It’s not that I was bad at it, he was just the best.

After returning to Ah’Ruh, the first place I needed to visit was the clubhouse. With what I imagined their turnover rate to be, I had been gone long enough that I was honestly worried that they might write me off as dead.

I stood on my tippy toes so I was tall enough to rest my arm on the front counter. The receptionist, I’d long since forgotten her name, gave a surprised look. I gave her an even more surprised look. That poor woman. It had been over half a year and she was still wearing the exact same outfit as the other woman who worked here. I may have been dressed as a child, but at least I had a sense of style. Someone really needed to save this woman.

Don’t worry, Big Sis is finally back.

“I have returned!”

“Yes, I see that. Months ago I received a report that Renzo Village was completely evacuated, so I assumed the worst.”

“Renzo? Don’t worry about it. As you can see, I’m still the picture of health and beauty. Despite how I may be dressed, I am a full grown woman. Based on my best guess, I must be at least 25 years old. Physically speaking, that is. Mentally I’m wise beyond my years.”

“Is that so? And the job that you accepted?”

“Oh? That? Just a loose end in this story we call life. If you focus on every little thing like that you’ll only die young.”

“I see. A failure. I’m once again reminded of the fact that you’re a member of Sanson’s party. Despite it being your first job I shouldn’t have been so surprised that so many people bet on you getting Renzo destroyed.”

Oh, that’s right. I completely forgot about that guy. Eris is an Elf, so time isn’t really an issue, but from Sanson’s perspective I’d been gone for a long time.

“About that, is he still alive?”

Don’t misunderstand. I obviously knew that even for a human he wasn’t old enough to be dead within a year or two. But when it comes to people like Sanson, an early death wouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. I’m not even saying that because he’s a mercenary. He just seems like the type who’d get murdered.

“Last I heard he hasn’t been killed yet.” Based on her reaction, the receptionist felt similarly to me. “You just missed the rest of your party. They left last week for a new job. They asked me to deliver a message to you upon your return.”

“Oh! A secret message, how exciting.”

“No, it’s not really a secret, but first, I need to ask, who is that?” She was pointing to the finely dressed dark skinned guy standing behind me. I had assumed she’d ask about him. We’d confirmed that other people could see and hear him on the way back to Ah’Ruh.

When it came to other people he wasn’t very interested in conversation, so he usually stayed as an invisible ghost haunting my brain. I preferred that as well, but I wanted to at least introduce him to the receptionist.

“This is my new assistant. Don’t worry about him.”

“I can think of no job more pointless and less rewarding than that. Sorry, just ignore her. I’m her new babysitter.” He gave a slight bow to the receptionist. How fancy.

“I see, I see.” Since she already associated me with Sanson’s party, it would appear nothing that happened around me could get a reaction out of her.

“And who is that?” This time she was pointing to the young girl wearing a completely out of place white robe.

That’s right. Kidnapping, I mean borrowing, or actually, rescuing that brainiac girl was the reason I needed to go visit those villagers after defeating Silvias. Despite what an outdated legal code might say, I did a good deed. She wanted to leave the desert and explore the outside world.

Now I know most people would accept that a hero like me saved her out of nothing more than the kindness of my heart, but there was actually more to it than that. Sometimes I can be surprisingly clever. It’s becoming common knowledge that I can’t read or write, and it should go without saying that the bird can’t read either. I mean, I never asked, but how would a bird know how to write?

But the girl can. I realized that if I brought her with me, she could do all the reading for me. A great idea, right? I doubt anyone could think of a better solution.

Sure, I’d need to keep her alive, but how hard could taking care of one human be? Besides, that girl was smart. One day she might even be smarter than me. As long as I made enough money, she’d be able to handle the rest for both of us. And now that I had someone who could read the expensive mercenary jobs, we’d have more gold than we knew what to do with.

“This is my little sister. I’ll be taking care of her for a while.”

“You don’t look very similar.”

This receptionist was more observant than I gave her credit for.

“Well, we have different fathers.”

“I see.”

“And different mothers.”

“I’m not surprised. And do your babysitter and sister have names?”

“Names? Honestly, I hadn’t thought about that.”

I turned around to face the two of them.

“Do you guys have names?”

“I used to have a title, but I don’t think I should go by that anymore.”

“Too young. Name given to adult.”

“Thanks, you two can go do whatever you want while I finish up here.”

The bird disappeared back into my head while the girl went over to look at the posted requests.

I turned back around toward the receptionist.

“There you have it, neither of them have names, so don’t worry about it. And don’t be surprised with him appearing and disappearing like that. It’s just something he does. Now what was that about you having a top secret message for my eyes only?”

The receptionist was rubbing her temples while making a face I often saw her make around Sanson and Eris.

“Sure, alright. Give me a moment.” She sifted through some papers on a shelf behind the desk before returning with a single piece of paper. “This is the note. Eris made a point of mentioning that you couldn’t read it, so I was supposed to read it to you myself.”

“No need. Feel free to forget everything Eris may have said about me. I can handle a simple task like reading a note on my own.”

“Alright.”

I reached out and grabbed the note. I felt my pride swelling as my second good idea was already going to start paying dividends.

“Hey, can you come back and read this to me?”

Without bothering to even look at it myself, I wasted no time in calling my little sister back to me.

Her robe fluttered as she dashed back over.

“Here!”

Rather than take the note, she was holding out a request.

“I’m glad you’re eager, but I’m not ready to take a new request yet.”

“No. Request finished. Reason for desert.”

I didn’t quite understand what she was getting at, but considering she was my second good idea it was probably worth it to just accept she was right. I grabbed the request and dramatically slammed in on the counter.

“Case closed! Give me the 4-2-2 on this one.”

“I can’t let you take a request that dangerous. It’s from the lord of Ah’Ruh himself. He wants information on the cause of the rapid desertification plaguing Antia, but no one who has gone to investigate has ever come back. The reward money has gotten so high that plenty still try, but for you it would only be suicide.”

“Oh? That’s it? I don’t mean to brag, but I just came back from that desert.”

“Huh?”

“And my sister, she had been living in one of the nomadic villages there.”

“What?”

“I also fought the god that was turning that place into a desert. Out of the goodness of my heart I didn’t kill it, but the request doesn’t say anything about actually solving anything, right? You just want information? That’s perfect. My assistant knows more about that area than anyone else.”