My Roleplay System
Chapter 157: She’s Affecting My Brain Cells Again

Chapter 157: Chapter 157: She’s Affecting My Brain Cells Again

The sun slowly rose from beyond the horizon. Hunters, now geared up and ready to face the day ahead, were prepared to leave the Stronghold. The moment sunlight touched down on the serene fortress, it would mark the beginning of another day out in the Field.

"Huh..?"

"What the..?"

"The hell is that?"

Various surprised voices echoed out from the groups of hunters waiting in the still-dark Stronghold. The sun was set to rise in a few minutes, and they were all prepared to head out at a moment’s notice.

However, before they could exit the Stronghold gates, a large group of people had suddenly appeared, blocking the exit as they all struggled to enter the compound.

Their clothes were seemingly torn and ripped, with blood soaking them as a pungent smell emanated from their bodies. The smell probably wasn’t that bad if you were to stand in front of one of them, but with more than a hundred of them gathered together, the smell was so bad that even these veteran and hardened hunters frowned a little.

A few hunters gathered together to talk about the bloodied group of people that had bottlenecked the gate.

"Did a big guild pass through here last night or something?"

"No, I don’t think so? We would’ve gotten news if something like that had happened?"

"Hold up, I didn’t realize it at first because of all the blood, but don’t you find those guys look a little young?"

"Huh? Now that you mention it, yeah. They do look young."

"Wait! I think I recognize some of them!" One of the hunters suddenly called out, startling the others in the process.

"What the hell? If you know something, spit it out already then!"

"Look, aren’t those the students that came in yesterday?"

"What nonsense are you talking about? How could students possibly..." A middle-aged hunter spoke out, but his voice trailed off towards the end, as if something had suddenly come to his mind.

The middle-aged hunter was one of the regulars who fished from the shore near the grasslands. His catches were usually pretty good, bringing him in a decent amount of money, but yesterday was a bit different.

While he was fishing by the bay, he heard the loud howls of a pack of wolves coming from behind him, causing him and many other hunters to jump up in fright. This sudden movement caused him to slightly shake his rod, chasing away the fish that was about to bite his bait.

Naturally, he was pissed and was more than prepared to teach the bastard that had startled him a lesson. As he approached the source of the howling, ready to throw hands, he was instantly stunned the moment he climbed up the grassy hill.

Over a hundred wolves were hunting down a group of fleeing deer monsters, slowly circling them and blocking off their escape route.

The middle-aged hunter felt cold sweat drip down his spine at that time and was prepared to retreat to safety, in case the large pack of green wolves noticed his presence; but just when he was about to turn around and book it, he spotted a group of students fighting among the pack, completely throwing him off.

His eyes widened in disbelief at what he was seeing, as those five students led a pack of wolves to commit mass genocide on the inhabitants of the grassland, leaving no creature alive.

Naturally, the middle-aged hunter followed the team of bloodthirsty students, picking up a few of the remnant corpses along with the other hunters who started following them.

When that middle-aged hunter remembered yesterday’s event, the way he gazed at the group of students had slightly changed.

The crowd continued to talk quietly until eventually the bloodied students had passed, flooding into the city to sell the corpse they brought back or maybe return to the inn to clean off the blood.

****

I stared at my classmates as they disappeared into the streets of the Stronghold. It had been a long night, so I might as well let them rest before ’phase two’.

As I walked through the gates, a pleasant fluttering echoed out in my ears.

Tilting my head upwards, I saw the appearance of a particularly annoying fairy staring at me with a curious gaze.

Her wings fluttered rapidly behind her before she swooped down and landed in front of me.

A few people around us were startled by her appearance but quickly pretended like they didn’t notice. If I remember correctly, the Academy had exerted their influence along with the might of the Royal Family to keep any hunters within the Stronghold from harassing the students during our stay.

This warning was further reinforced when it came to the group of fairies among them.

As these thoughts floated through my mind, I called out to the fairy in front of me.

"Did you enjoy your rest, Sylph?"

"Mhn!" Sylph nodded in response to my question as a smile appeared on her face but only for a moment as the curious gaze of her quickly returned, "I saw everyone returning just now. Did you guys do something last night?"

"No, not particularly. It was just some casual late-night hunting."

"Wow-- Is it normal for hunters to work at night too?"

"Hmm, I’m not sure. Did the people back where you came from hunt at night?" I asked as we both started walking forward.

"Nope." Sylph resolutely shook her head, "Night was a really dangerous time back in my home world."

"Hm? Were there powerful monsters or something roaming the nights?" I said, taking a curious glance at Sylph, who had an uncharacteristically serious expression on her face.

"Not really monsters per se..." Sylph’s voice trailed off as she looked down.

I wasn’t sure if she just didn’t want to talk about it or had become lost in thought, but we both continued walking forward in silence for a while.

The atmosphere reminded me of the last time I asked about her home world. She had previously said a war had engulfed the continent and her people were dragged into it.

Although I wasn’t too sure about the implications of this conflict, it seemed that it had left a deep scar on Sylph, who was normally quite cheerful.

Feeling that it would be bad to continue this silence again, I changed the topic.

"What about Iris and Bramble?"

"Hmm?" Sylph looked up as she tilted her head.

"They’re always next to you and looking after you so I always wondered if there was some special reason behind that?" Since I decided that I was going to try trusting the fairies, if ever so little, I figured it wouldn’t be a bad idea to learn more about them.

"Ah-- That’s a bit complicated to explain..." A frown appeared on Sylph’s face at my question as she seemed to give it some serious thought.

I must say, although I did it intentionally, it really wasn’t that hard to change her mind. She seemed capable of jumping from one topic to the next while seemingly forgetting about whatever she was thinking about previously.

Whether she actually forgot or not, however, I don’t know.

"...If I had to put it into words, they’re like my bodyguards?"

"?"

I momentarily froze at Sylph’s seemingly simple answer. It wasn’t because I was surprised, as I had always expected the situation to be something simpler, it was just that the confirmation caused countless possibilities of its implications to flow through my mind.

One of them being Iris’ seemingly irritated behavior towards me despite having done nothing against her.

I always thought it was strange that she seemed to have such a deep hatred towards me, but when I think of how I acted towards Sylph, the person she was supposed to be protecting, it all started to make sense.

’Of course. If I was someone’s bodyguard and someone was being rude towards my employer, it was only natural that I would respond with some anger.’

At this thought, I cast an apologetic look towards Sylph.

’At least I finally figured that headache out. It should be much easier to deal with in the future considering Sylph and I are on better terms now.’

"So, what’s your status in the fairy race then?" I asked after some consideration, "I mean, I doubt that just anyone would have two bodyguards going around with them if they didn’t hold some status, right?"

"Hm... you keep asking complicated questions..." Sylph’s eyebrows frowned deeply as her face morphed into a scorn.

It seems that she’s really having a hard time answering these questions, even though they all relate to her.

"I told you before, but you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to." I said after thinking that this must be the reason why she felt these matters were so complicated.

Maybe she didn’t or couldn’t reveal these topics to him, an outsider.

"Well... It’s not like I don’t want to... It’s just that I don’t know."

I raised my eyebrows at her surprising answer.

"What do you mean by that?"

"You see, back where I came from, I always had people around me, so I never really paid attention to things like that." Sylph laughed as a sheepish expression covered her face, "It was only recently when I was told that I would be sent to the Academy did I realize that those, people, were actually my protectors. That includes Iris and Bramble too."

Hearing Sylph’s confusing answer, I felt a familiar headache return to me, causing me to wonder where the hell this sense of familiarity was coming from, and that’s when it hit me.

’Fuck, I feel like she’s affecting my brain cells again...’