After the girl's self-introduction, Tsukasa learned that the other party's name was—Arsye Eve Rile Field. Since this name was too long, she would just call her Arsye for short. According to the customs of this world, Arsye was the girl's name, and the parts following it were Arsye's surname and some titles.
The Miss Astrea in her memory didn't know much about these things either. After all, the Astrea Family was an outlier among nobles; they were honorary nobles, and one shouldn't expect a bunch of brutes to study such things.
After learning about Tsukasa's difficulties, Arsye took the initiative to bring Tsukasa to find her Adventurer team, and then they all helped find tools to clean up the villa.
When those teammates heard that Arsye wanted to invite this eldest Miss Astrea to join the team, the enthusiasm they showed made her feel a bit afraid.
Because she didn't remember Miss Astrea ever having such great personal charisma. Speaking of which, could it be her demonic beauty at work?
Because she temporarily couldn't use skills, she had no way to hide her beauty now; basically, wherever she went, she was the one being stared at.
"Haa, finally finished cleaning. A big house really is
inconvenient to clean." The man named Herculean threw down the rag in his hand and sat on the floor he had just cleaned without any regard for his image.
From the previous introductions, Tsukasa knew he was a warrior whose weapon was a sword.
Furthermore, the other party very clearly expressed a great yearning for the swordsmanship of the Sword Saint Astrea Family.
Although she might be overthinking it, could this guy be approaching her because he wanted to obtain the Astrea Family's swordsmanship heritage?
However, the Astrea Family didn't have such a thing, because the Astrea Family's swordsmanship was passed down through bloodline, very similar to the inheritance method of the Dragon Race; it wasn't something that could be taught to outsiders.
Furthermore, to learn the Astrea Family's swordsmanship, one would at least need to possess the monster-like physical stats of the Astrea Family first.
How should one describe the Astrea Family's heritage? In its setting, they were born Sword Saints; every descendant of the Astrea Family had a natural talent for swordsmanship. Moreover, because of the physical stats brought by the Astrea bloodline, basically every generation's successor had their own unique style of swordsmanship. It could be said that the swordsmanship of every generation's Sword Saint was different, with only one common point: they were strong!
When Tsukasa saw this setting, she always felt that this thing was very similar to the family setting of a certain overpowered character in an anime she had once watched, and even the family name was the same—Astrea.
But she was very sure this world was not the world from that anime, because in that anime, the status of humans was not at a disadvantage. However, in this world, according to the information she knew from her memory, the human race was just a weak species.
Furthermore, there was no country there that worshipped the Dragon God, so she could be certain that this was indeed not that anime's world, but an otherworld she didn't know about.
"Thank you." Although she suspected Herculean's goal was the Astrea Family's swordsmanship legacy, Tsukasa did not show her suspicion. Instead, she very seriously expressed her gratitude for their help in cleaning the villa, even though she couldn't even offer them a cup of water to entertain them at the moment.
Because she wasn't sure if the water in the well was still drinkable, Arsye and the elf named Imena were currently responsible for cleaning the courtyard, as magic would be more convenient for cleaning the outside.
Speaking of which, some might wonder why Miss Astrea, as the senior, wasn't cleaning the courtyard and instead let her junior, Arsye, do it. The reason was simple: perhaps considering that Tsukasa couldn't release skills when she first arrived in this world, Astrea's character setting was that of an eccentric genius who possessed strong theoretical magic knowledge but was very clumsy at spellcasting. It seemed that because the mana in her bloodline was too powerful, she always had trouble controlling it.
According to Miss Astrea's previous character setting, if she were allowed to clean the courtyard, even if she could release magic, the result would likely be sending the villa sky-high. So, of course, she couldn't be allowed to do that work.
Herculean acted a bit unnaturally in front of Tsukasa, which was something men understood. This young lady's beauty was even more exaggerated than the rumors suggested. Even if he was devoted to Imena, he could barely suppress his primal masculine instincts. Thus, he basically didn't dare to look at the young lady's face and acted very restrained.
His behavior was one of the reasons Tsukasa suspected he had designs on her yet didn't dislike him. After all, as a swordsman, it was normal to long for a powerful swordsmanship legacy. The fact that this man could maintain his willpower in the face of her beauty showed that he was a good person.
As for the priest Ropatik, there was even less to say. He seemed to be a priest who adhered to asceticism and was the heavy-armored tank of this team. Even in the face of Tsukasa's enchanting beauty, he was able to maintain his state of mind.
Herculean rubbed his head, looking elsewhere as he said with a smile, "Haha, no need for thanks. Since you are Arsye's senior, you are a friend of the Four Sages. Besides, this little thing is nothing."
"Is that so? Still, I feel a bit embarrassed." Although Tsukasa said this, she also knew she had no reward to give them. The Astrea Family's swordsmanship legacy? Uh, do you really think she knows that Astrea swordsmanship stuff?
"If you really feel embarrassed and insist on thanking us, just find an opportunity to treat us to a meal at a tavern later," Herculean said. Obviously, he could also see that this young lady currently had nothing to entertain them with.
The Astrea Family was known to almost everyone in the Empire because they were the Founding Grand Dukes of the Empire, and every generation's Sword Saint was the strongest in the Empire. However, the previous Sword Saint and his wife went missing during an adventure exploring ancient ruins and were eventually presumed dead, leaving the underage Miss Astrea all alone. This young lady refused all financial aid at the time and determinedly entered the Magic Academy to study magic, an event that shocked the entire Empire.
Even the iron-blooded Blood Emperor couldn't help but rush to the Magic Academy to try and persuade the young lady to return to the right path. But the Blood Emperor did not succeed. Subsequently, the annoyed Blood Emperor declared a cut-off of all support for Miss Astrea, hoping to force her to give up.
It has been two years since then.
The young lady still hasn't given up.
"By the way, regarding what Arsye just said, Miss Astrea, do you really plan to join the Four Sages?" Herculean said, feeling a bit awk-
-ward, "Arsye might not have explained it clearly to you, but our team isn't actually official Adventurers. We're just Workers who take jobs from the Adventurers Guild, because our goal is to earn money."
Workers: a collective term for those who engage in Adventurer work but have not joined the Adventurers Guild.
Since they are not governed by the Guild, the nature of their work often wanders into gray or even illegal areas, and members often join for profit without a strong sense of camaraderie.
Simply put.
They are mercenaries who work for money.
The reputation of Workers is not very good.
Because generally speaking, an Adventurer's income is quite enough to live on, while Workers are those who want to gain even more income through adventuring. The nature of such people is basically understood without saying.
But one shouldn't paint them all with the same brush, because there are also Workers who earn money through legitimate means. They don't do illegal things, but instead accept more dangerous jobs to earn more money.
Although Tsukasa didn't know the Four Sages well yet, she could basically judge that they were this kind of Worker. They likely had their own difficulties that led them to choose this profession.
To this, Tsukasa replied, "Yes, if possible, I would like to join you, because I urgently need to earn money for next semester's tuition. If I register as an Adventurer, there might not be enough time."
"I see," Herculean expressed his understanding.
Although he felt that if this young lady would just relent, go apologize to the Blood Emperor, and pick up swordsmanship again instead of magic, she would probably receive the Blood Emperor's full support immediately. But the young lady surely understood this as well, and he believed that her personal will should be respected, rather than stubbornly insisting that the young lady of the Astrea Family must learn swordsmanship.
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