Ai o Ataeru Kemono-tachi

15.
What I want to know

“Then, were you two adventurers until now? Err, I would also want to know what an adventurer does.”
“That’s right, we’ve been adventurers for nearly a decade.
An adventurer receives tasks from the Guild to explore ruins, defeat monsters, and also do things like escort.
Well, it’s like a nandemoya* that uses manual labor.”
“Such a dangerous job for ten years, you two must be strong.”
“Well, decently.
I retired after my arm turned like this, but it was really fun during the days I was an adventurer.”
*T/N: nandemoya – literally “do-anything”, and it means that, someone who does almost anything they are requested.

I have been always wondering if I could touch this topic, but I thought now was the only time for it, so I squeezed my courage to ask them.

“That, if you do not mind, can I ask about Douglas-san’s left arm and Gale-san’s left foot?”
“Oh, this, I guess I didn’t talk about this.
My this and Gale’s foot, we got these about five years ago? We messed up a little bit while we were on a task to kill some monsters.”
“A crazy dragon was supposed to be eliminated by some supporters of the subjugation team, but they were defeated by some unexpected small fries around us.
For us to fight against without supporters, a dragon was surely a bad adversary.
We defeated it somehow, but Doug lost his left arm and my left foot was almost torn off.
My foot recovered at least by appearance with healing magic, but it won’t recover completely, so it left a bit of sequela.”
“Then you retired being an adventurer?”
“Yeah, it’s a pity, but, as it might be expected, being an adventurer with only one arm is…… Well, in that situation, getting out alive was already a great luck.
Then, a lot of things happened and now we’re working at the adventurers’ Guild.”

While saying this, Doug-san’s face when looking at the missing left arm seemed a lit sad.

I turned to Gale-san, but he smiled a little sadly at me.
As expected, wouldn’t the two still want to be adventurers?
Seeing their guild tag, their fighting power was very high.
If somehow that arm and foot could be healed……

“I am sorry for reminding you of your painful memories……”
“No no, don’t care ‘bout this.
Well, I’m enjoying my current situation too.
Moreover, it’s because of this we could meet you, Chika.”

Douglas-san turned and winked at me.
It was really a great scene when someone full of manly pheromones did this…… My heart accelerated a bit.
Certainly my face was red.

“So, Chika, what else do you want to ask?”
“Then, about this world, I know that the country beside this is called Leonida, with the werelions, but I would like to know about other countries as well.”
“Yeah, first, this country we’re in now is called Catalton and it is the country of the werecats.
Only in this country, the slave system remains.
You can’t say it is a very stable country.
The security isn’t good, and there’s no prominent industry.
That’s because the royal family is having an internal fight.”

Saying this, Gale-san and Douglas-san frowned their eyebrows.

“The next is the country Doug and I are from, Leonidas.
It’s to the west of Catalton, and in the middle of the continent.
You can say it’s a pretty rich country.
Its main industries are the trade of ore and gems with other countries and the agriculture.”
“Well, my dad and big brother are doing their best now.”
“To the north of Leonidas, there is Dragonea, a country ruled by the dragon tribe.
Honestly, this country has little diplomatic relations with other nations and it’s in isolation state.
We don’t understand a lot of its situation.
Moreover, the weredragons are few and rare, and they don’t like to interact with different races.
On the contrary, to the south, there is the Fishreed country, where lives creatures that prefer to live in water, reside such as half-fishmen*.
With a constant warm climate, its main industries are food-related, like fisheries and seasonings.
Is it okay until here?”
*T/N: mermaids, maybe?
“Yes, it’s okay.
Are weredragons different from those with scales on their skin?”