"Why am I so unlucky?" the girl scolded herself as she stretched her limbs in the back of a carriage.
Of course I ran into the biggest scoundrel in the entire kingdom! Although I guess I should have thought better before attacking him with magic and running away... She grimaced at the memory.
It wasn't my fault; I mean, who goes near someone like that? Sure, I had to run from the authorities for what I did, but labeling it a capital offense was a bit of a stretch, right? Wait, I could be executed for this! Did I dig my own grave the moment I ended up in Ars? In the carriage was a girl with blue hair and twin pigtails.
She didn't look like much, but just by looking at her, you could tell she was a mage, from her tan cloaked outfit to her large, pointy hat. The biggest giveaway was undoubtedly the cane she carried everywhere, its blue gem at the tip shining almost unnaturally in the sun. This girl is Roxy Migurdia, a demon who ran away from home to see the world and become a adventurer
"Excuse me, miss. Did you need to go somewhere specific?"
Shaking herself out of her thoughts, she looked at the man driving the carriage she was sitting in.
He had seen her running and, worried, offered to give her a ride.
What he didn't know was that she was actually running away from knights; considering her "attacking a noble" situation, she found herself.
The man who tried to buy her off seemed to be a fairly wealthy noble from the Asura Kingdom. Again, bad luck.
What was his name? Darius Silva Ganius? It sounded pretty good.
Not that she wanted to remember that scoundrel's name, but she thought if she did, maybe she could get revenge later.
Blackmail was a terrible thing.
"To Roa, please," she said, her voice as calm as a still lake, but she was still quite scared. After all, it wasn't every day you could run from the authorities.
So far, they'd chased her into the capital, where she'd managed to throw them off using earth magic.
From there, she found a carriage, and the young man driving it asked if she needed a ride somewhere. It wasn't uncommon for a carriage or convoy to ask if she wanted to go with them.
They always required guards, and she'd traveled through quite a few labyrinths in her time, so she wasn't naive when it came to fighting.
For Roxy, it was only natural that someone would want someone like her.
Someone who looked like a teenager in the throes of puberty.
I don't know if I should be grateful or disgusted by that noble thought—that I looked pretty enough to buy... Never mind, it was safer to say disgusted.
"I take it you're a mage, aren't you? Well, you're in luck. If you're looking for work, I'm heading to Buena Village, a region near Roa. It'll take a few days to get there, but I'm sure there'll be plenty of work for a mage in the area. Heck, I heard there's a drought coming, so if you're ever looking for work among the farmers, you can stop by my village. It's relatively close to Roa, and I'm sure everyone there would be happy to see a mage." The man scratched one of his long ears as he spoke.
So he's of the Long-Eared race...no wonder he hasn't mentioned my hair color yet.
It wasn't common to see an elf who didn't live in their forest.
Or a demon who didn't stay on the Demon Continent.
"Perhaps I will." With that, the small talk died down between the two as they headed toward Roa City.
Luckily, there were no magical beasts along the way, but even if there had been, Roxy could have subdued them without much trouble. Any monster from the Central Continent would surely be weaker than any monster from the Demon Continent, and that was where the girl had been raised.
So, the two continued on their way to Roa safely, with hardly any trouble.
As the man had said, a couple of peaceful days later, the fortress city of Roa appeared before their eyes.
Roxy had never seen a city like this, so it was quite a sight for her.
Walls about eight meters high surrounded the citadel.
A solitary, imposing castle stood proudly deep within the walled settlement.
"If I'm not mistaken, this city served as the last bastion during the previous Human-Demon War," Roxy thought.
It certainly meets the requirements of a fortress city.
The man leaned back as he stretched. "Thank you for protecting me. But now I have to sell my cargo." The man spoke in a relaxed tone, gesturing toward the back of the wagon. "If you'd like to come to my village, I'll be here for a while." The man gave her a smile as he turned to face her. It wasn't every day that Roxy Migurdia was sincerely thanked for something.
She had simply stolen this man's ride, and the only thing she could do to repay him was to protect him.
Upon reaching the city and stopping the carriage in a clearing, Roxy grabbed her cane and the small metal briefcase she had on the seat next to her.
Quickly dismounting from the carriage, she turned to the blond man and bowed in gratitude.
"Thank you for the ride, sir. I appreciate it very much." She straightened her back and nodded slightly. "If I don't find a job I like at the guild, I'd gladly accept your offer to help your village."
The man nodded knowingly as he walked to the carriage and began unloading his goods.
"Oh, by the way. My name is Roxy Migurdia. It's a pleasure to meet you." She figured the least she could do was tell him her name.
Roa was like everything she'd heard about. Sure, it was a bustling city, but adventurers dominated it, likely due to the easier jobs for less experienced novices in the area.
Walking a bit, she found herself in front of a prominent building. It was a building she'd grown accustomed to over the years.
The smell of alcohol and cheers echoed even outside the doors.
However, as she opened the swinging doors, everything fell silent. Unfortunately, she'd had to start dealing with this when she left the Demon Continent all those years ago.
"What's a Demon doing here?" A giant man said to his shorter friend across the hall from Migurd.
"Do you think he's trying to start something?" the man replied.
She simply ignored them and continued walking toward the counter.
"Good afternoon, miss." Before continuing, Roxy offered the adventurer card she'd taken from her briefcase to the taller woman.
The woman quickly noticed the "A" adorning the card and pointed toward the board.
"Nice to meet you, Miss Roxy. You might find some work there that interests you." The woman's face seemed to soften slightly.
Probably because she realized the person in front of her was a skilled adventurer, and not just any old one.
What kind of job did she want to find here? Something as far away from the capital as possible would be ideal. Then, in a remote location? Perhaps as a tutor? Yes, that would work. But a good salary and location are too many requirements. Determined, Roxy opted for the next best thing.
"Have you heard of any tutoring jobs around here?" the blue-haired girl asked, leaning forward to whisper. "Preferably in a more rural location?" Roxy asked.
After nodding quickly, the receptionist's brown eyes seemed to brighten slightly.
"It just so happened that we received a request from Sir Paul Greyrat before he arrived. He's a lower-ranking knight living in Buena Village. It seems he needs a magic tutor with remarkable skill." After finishing her summary, Roxy nodded quickly.
The receptionist quickly left to collect the knight's request.
Buena Village, huh? Who would have thought.
Shortly after Roxy calmed down, the receptionist returned with the letter.
After receiving the small note and reading it, Roxy realized there was nothing special about it.
It simply requested a magic tutor with valuable skills and willing to teach on such short notice. They would even provide room and board.
That's what you can expect from a gentleman... This should finish me off for now.
"Then I accept this job, ma'am." Putting the note in her pocket, Roxy noticed out of the corner of her eye the receptionist's slight nod as she looked down and crossed out a job posting in her ledger.
It was always comforting that every receptionist at the Adventurers' Guild was cordial to all races, including the girl's. It saved Roxy a lot of headaches she would have had otherwise.
"I've noted you down. Thank you for your service, Miss Roxy. Have a nice day." Once their interaction was over, and after a friendly smile and a brief bow from the taller woman, Roxy took her leave.
The other customers didn't even heckle her, so she left the guild without incident and with a job offer in hand.
If I have to go to Buena, I should ask Laws for a ride. I'm sure he wouldn't mind refraining from going to his village if I paid him.
As Roxy thought that, she continued walking, watching the man she was thinking of return to his now-empty carriage.
He was talking to a beastman walking beside him, and after saying their goodbyes, they went their separate ways.
Roxy noticed that instead of the miscellaneous cargo Laws had in his carriage from his trip there, there were now bags of food and some clothes he'd been saving.
Raising her hand, Roxy called out to him, "I found a job, Laws!" The man looked back and saw the girl walking toward him. "Would you mind taking me to a town called Buena?" The question must have piqued the man's interest as he perked his ears and raised his eyebrows.
"Buena? Ha, looks like you're coming home with me." A mischievous smile crossed the man's face.
It made Roxy blush at the thought of her following him home.
If there was one thing the girl was terribly weak at, it was being flirted with. Even if that wasn't the intention of the interaction. Laws must have quickly noticed the significance of his words, so he changed his attitude and intervened in her thoughts.
"Ah, I'm a married man; sorry if I was mistaken, but yes, I live in Buena." He rubbed his neck with an awkward movement.
Well, that cleared up most of the misunderstanding.
"No problem." The slight blush on her cheeks betrayed her statement. "Do you happen to know Sir Paul? I took the job for him; he was looking for a magic tutor," she explained.
"Oh, Paul? Yes, I do. He, I, and some others do a monthly magical beast cleanup in the forest near the village," Laws murmured.
"Okay, then could you take me to him?" she asked, and he nodded with a smile.
With a nod to Roxy, she quickly climbed onto the back of the wagon.
Then, as quickly as they had arrived in Roa, they took off. With that, they left the fortress city behind and headed for Buena Village.
Roxy was almost certain her pursuers had lost interest in her, but it was always safer to move on.
Roxy might have said she expected more from Buena, but since she was presumably a wanted woman, she wasn't in a position to complain about the village's size or the number of people living there.
Laws and Roxy arrived at Buena Village the following afternoon.
The journey usually only took about six or seven hours on horseback, but the sun was just beginning to set when they left Roa, so they camped the night before.
Laws briefly introduced his family to the blue-haired demon when they arrived.
His wife Cecilia was a kind woman, who surprisingly was a quarter-beast person despite sharing little to no traits from that side of his heritage, except for her chest size.
Why does every woman on this continent need to have a busty bust?! Size could be a touchy subject for the demon girl.
On the other hand, her daughter nearly gave Roxy a heart attack just by looking at her.
For a second, Roxy thought that Laws's beautiful daughter, Sylphiette, she'd mentioned on the way there, was actually a Superd.
Luckily for Roxy, it was a fake. She just happened to have the same hair color as them. Not a single jewel was visible on the little girl's prominent and cute forehead.
Poor thing, though. She's going to be a disaster with that hair. That was how Roxy met three of the relatively few villagers living in Buena.
After saying goodbye, Roxy headed to the Greyrat residence.
She greeted the few villagers she met along the way, taking a break from their fieldwork.
They seemed surprised by her appearance, but didn't bother mentioning it to her.
Perhaps people here aren't as rude as they are in the cities.
With that thought in mind, she set her sights on the house where she supposedly gave private lessons.