Adventurer Life with Exiled Daughter Chapter 70

Chapter 70

'Longdagger's arms are short, and Pantile has golden eyes.'

Three months after enrolling in the academy in the capital.

A little over a year since becoming an adventurer.

Shin Longdagger, the second son of a shockingly poor viscount family who turned thirteen, was watching adventurers departing to other countries at the capital's gate in Faltarl Kingdom.

It was three in the afternoon on a holiday, after being released from training with his ntor, "Kindhearted Barbara."

Adventurers can be broadly divided into two categories.

Those who don't move from a specific country.

And those who operate across multiple countries.

Due to the unique circumstance that powerful monsters are more likely to appear in Faltarl Kingdom compared to other countries, most adventurers active in Faltarl prefer to stay there.

Or rather, Faltarl Kingdom attracts adventurers who prefer that.

However, naturally, there are those who don't prefer it, and such adventurers beco the type who operate across countries.

Their numbers were curiously small, though.

Thirteen-year-old Shin Longdagger was watching those rare adventurers who worked across multiple countries.

The emotions reflected in his eyes were a faint admiration and an age-appropriate innocent curiosity.

Even Shin, who beca an adventurer at twelve simply because he wanted to, despite being a noble, understood certain things.

Being a noble and becoming an adventurer, and furthermore living as an adventurer in another country, was likely impossible.

So he knew that this faint admiration he felt now stemd from the fact that it was impossible for him to do so.

Though he understood this, when mixed with his innocent curiosity about unseen foreign lands, it still seed quite appealing.

Shin mulled over that possibility in his heart for a while.

There was also an elent of escapism from the training imposed by his adventurer ntor, "Kindhearted Barbara," which quite seriously required him to give it his all, but the imagining was rather enjoyable.

However, after indulging in his imagination for a while, Shin easily discarded it.

If Shin Longdagger were an ordinary boy, even as a mber of the nobility, he might have enjoyed that appealing fantasy a bit longer.

But alas, he was Shin Longdagger, and it was a bit hard to call him ordinary.

In other words, there was no Erika Solnzari in other countries, and just for that reason, he threw away the dazzling, shining fantasy.

*

"I might die, huh."

Shin, walking ho through a side street instead of the main road because he was carrying a weapon, was surprised at the words that ca out of his own mouth.

Had he only just realized this now?

In other words, his ntor was a bit... off.

Had he only just noticed this now? Shin was astonished at himself.

A little over a year since becoming an adventurer.

His ntor was caring and highly skilled, and in fact, Shin was aware that he had beco remarkably stronger in just one year compared to before becoming her apprentice.

However, his ntor, unfortunately, lacked any sense of restraint in certain crucial areas.

Shin, though an eccentric noble child who beca an adventurer simply because he wanted to, was otherwise an naive kid, so at first, he thought that was just how adventurers were.

But after nearly dying more than ten tis, he finally realized—ah, his ntor was... that kind of person.

That sudden realization was what led to the mutter that had just escaped his lips.

For a mont, the thought of changing ntors crossed his mind, but he couldn't think of anyone else who would train soone as below average as him, who could barely use magic, up to an average level.

In the first place, would there even be an eccentric adventurer willing to take a noble child as their apprentice?

The idea that his ntor took him on as an apprentice precisely because she was... that way, seed quite plausible.

After all, the other apprentice taken by his ntor, "Kindhearted Barbara," besides Shin, was a kid his age and also... that way.

Shin, by now, concluded that it was inevitable his ntor was... like that, but he still wondered if it was okay to continue under her tutelage.

The question of whether he might die was, to Shin, quite a serious one.

But Shin shook his head while walking.

No, no, wait. Hold on, .

Isn't his ntor imposing such harsh training on him to raise soone below average to average?

Otherwise, no matter how you look at it, his ntor's head would be too... off, doing such cruel things with a smile to a kid who just learned to use physical enhancent—unless she had a proper mindset, she couldn't do that, Shin convinced himself by arbitrarily assuming his ntor's thoughts.

Shin had a tendency to be quite stubborn in odd ways.

Ultimately, Shin concluded that he had t a good ntor, a conclusion that, to anyone who knew "Kindhearted Barbara," would fall into the realm of a miracle.

It was right after displaying such a miraculous assumption that Shin's eyes caught an unfamiliar, strange magical energy.

*

Jenniferin Pantile was satisfied that she had the composure to acknowledge she was in a bad situation.

She was targeted the mont she sent her bodyguard away after work.

That ant the opponent was thodical and held enough grudge to aim for her life.

Now, which one could it be? Jenniferin thought while looking at the masked assassin.

Since turning twelve and getting permission from her parents to conduct business freely, she was aware she had "caused quite a stir."

But even so, an opponent who suffered enough damage to send an assassin wouldn't be soone engaged in legitimate business.

The opponents she went all out against were almost always involved in borderline illegal or completely illegal dealings, so naturally, she had taken precautions for situations like this.

"Hmm, was I a bit careless?"

Jenniferin muttered that and activated a magic tool to recall her bodyguard.

It would take a few minutes for them to return.

People of the Pantile family were often targeted, so Jenniferin had been taught magic and combat skills for self-defense since before entering the academy.

So she thought that even if she was separated from her bodyguard, she could buy ti until they returned if sothing happened.

No, this opponent is impossible.

Jenniferin's eyes accurately assessed the masked man's strength and reached that conclusion.

The appraisal skill, which occasionally appeared among mbers of the Pantile family, was incredibly useful and frustratingly accurate.

The rarely used warehouse district of the Adventurer's Guild was deserted, and no matter how much she scread or resisted with all her might, she would likely be killed before anyone arrived.

In the middle of a narrow crossroad in the warehouse district, Jenniferin's eyes accurately predicted her future.

Being satisfied with not panicking in the face of certain death was, to Jenniferin, a way of dying that suited her, and she let out a faint smile.

That's probably why, when she saw a man—also masked and completely unknown to her—fly over her head, spinning round and round, accompanied by a short scream of "gya" from behind her.

She couldn't help but let out a scream of "kya" herself and blushed at her reaction.

In truth, she wasn't at all prepared to die, and her calmness and composure were just a facade, which she felt had been exposed.

Thus, to the boy who appeared, inserting himself between her and the remaining masked man in front.

Before she could even register when he appeared or question whether he was friend or foe.

Jenniferin directed a resentful gaze at the boy.

*

Shin spotted a strange magical energy in the warehouse district owned by the Adventurer's Guild.

Whether it was a skill or a trait, Shin had the ability to see magical energy.

He couldn't see all magical energy, but from experience, Shin knew he couldn't see magical energy just floating in space, only the kind with intent or will, or that which had just left a living being.

The magical energy Shin saw clearly had intent, and based on a simple gut feeling that it was sohow hard, he judged it to be from a magic tool.

Tracking the source of that magical energy was half out of curiosity, but also because he sensed a desperate urgency in it.

And so, Shin found a girl surrounded from the front and back at a crossroad in the deserted warehouse district.

She was a girl with short, dark brown hair, dressed in fine clothes.

Her attention was entirely on the front, seemingly unaware of the masked man behind her.

The man behind her held a dagger in his hand.

There was no ti; Shin hesitated for just a mont before deciding to follow his ntor's teachings.

As his ntor Barbara said, he used physical enhancent magic, which he had finally beco able to use at the level of a low-rank adventurer.

Shin thought he was lucky.

If the opponent had been a proper adventurer, as his ntor would say, even a surprise attack with his half-baked physical enhancent wouldn't have worked.

Shin was grateful that the masked man he kicked and sent flying had only enough skill for a surprise attack to succeed.

Without losing the montum of his kick, he positioned himself between the girl and the other masked man.

Feeling a slight doubt about why the girl was looking at him with accusing eyes, Shin spoke.

"If a woman and a man are in trouble, first beat up the man—that's what my ntor taught . If the villain turns out to be the woman, I can beat her up later, so forgive if I'm wrong."

Shin said this to the masked man, then glanced at the girl.

"Though the chances of that seem low."

If a well-dressed girl and a masked man were having a dispute in a back alley, and the girl turned out to be the villain, Shin felt he'd lose faith in humanity.

A voice of protest interrupted Shin's common-sense thinking.

"Wait just a minute. So you're saying that I, a delicate girl, am less villainous than a petty crook who has to hide their face with a mask just to deal with soone like ? Are you saying that I, Jenniferin Pantile, am losing in terms of villainy?"

Shin was startled by the girl's voice, clearly laced with anger.

"Sorry, judging villainy by appearance was rude to villains."

Jenniferin nodded with a satisfied smile at Shin's sincere apology, while the masked man responded with a thrust of his dagger.

Fast, but.

I can handle it. Shin swiftly swung his sword at the point of magical energy in the masked man's gaze.

He's not a master of skill like my ntor, whose gaze is impossible to read.

Shin could see the masked man's eyes widen as his sword was deflected.

Then, he parried all three thrusts with his sword.

"It's too fast to see."

Jenniferin said in exasperation.

Hearing her words clearly, Shin realized she must have so level of physical enhancent.

"Regardless of who's the bigger villain, did I interrupt sothing?"

While keeping his eyes on the masked man, Shin asked Jenniferin, who was now behind him in a protective stance.

If I get attacked from behind now, I'll look like a complete fool, he thought.

"No, I'm grateful to you."

The self-proclaid greater villain, the girl, said.

"Unfortunately, my skills aren't enough to win. I won't lose in a verbal fight, though. So, I'm glad for the help, Longdagger, was it?"

"You know ?"

"Rather, it's impressive that you don't know , classmate."

After parrying five thrusts, Shin glanced at the girl for just a mont.

No good, I can't rember.

Shin quickly gave up on trying to recall.

Though Shin was confident he could rember every pore on Erika Solnzari's face, he couldn't recall Jenniferin's.

Perhaps sensing through his deanor that he didn't rember her, Jenniferin shrugged.

"Well, fine. Expecting a classmate to rember my face after being saved is probably asking too much. I won't call it unfair that I rember you, since you did save ."

Noticing a sarcastic tone in Jenniferin's voice, Shin thought, she's quite the talker.

"If you can hold out for a few more minutes, my bodyguard should arrive. I'll make sure to repay you, so can I count on you?"

As Shin nodded in agreent, the masked man, who had been silent until now, let out a roar and slashed at him with a reckless, wide swing of his dagger.

This is bad.

Shin barely restrained himself from clicking his tongue.

*

Jenniferin Pantile genuinely thanked her luck that the boy who suddenly appeared wasn't her enemy.

His physical enhancent was on a completely different level, his speed practically invisible.

Seeing the boy effortlessly parry the assassin's three thrusts, she couldn't help but say sothing pointless like, it's too fast to see.

It was because she felt an insurmountable gap between herself and this boy, who seed to be her age.

The result of her reflexive appraisal skill made Jenniferin wonder, are you really human?

She felt a sense of relief when the boy responded with human words.

But what surprised her most was the appraisal result indicating she should know this boy, Shin Longdagger.

Pantile's mind went into overdrive.

She considered the fact that the boy before her, with appraisal results that made her question his humanity, was her classmate.

Her first thought was that there's no way she could have overlooked or forgotten a human with such results.

Her appraisal skill was sothing she used reflexively on anyone she t for the first ti.

There's no way she'd forget soone as monstrous as this if she'd seen him before.

Yet, at the sa ti, she did have a mory of a classmate nad Shin Longdagger.

Jenniferin knew the nas and faces of not just her classmates, but everyone at the academy.

The boy before her was indeed Longdagger, and she knew it.

So that's it, this must be what it ans.

A saying passed down in the Pantile family for generations.

Don't drown in your appraisal skill—Jenniferin felt the aning of those words for the first ti in her life.

Indeed, it's true. If she were to drown in a skill that could overlook sothing like this, she'd be unworthy of the Pantile na.

The most Pantile-like girl of the Pantile family, who obsessively, cautiously, passionately, fanatically, and blindly invested in people, objects, land, knowledge, art, valuable things, and even things deed worthless, felt gratitude for her ignorance and her luck.

eting soone who could dispel her ignorance at such a young age was truly a golden opportunity.

If that's the case, she could forgive the fact that he didn't know her.

Precisely because of that.

——Jenniferin Pantile had absolute confidence in her eyes, more than in her appraisal skill.

Even when Shin Longdagger's sword shattered under the assassin's wide swing, she wasn't worried in the slightest.

According to the tutor her family provided, her physical enhancent was at the level of a rank 4 adventurer, a prodigy for her age, they praised. Yet even she could only see Shin's form as a blur, and she thought to herself.

"There are people in this world worth investing in."

And so.

The assassin's figure vanished at an incredible speed, and the next mont, crashed into the warehouse wall and collapsed.

Her appraisal skill confird the assassin was still alive, aning he had the strength to survive that single blow.

She was truly fortunate to have survived and to have made the acquaintance of soone extraordinary.

Feeling her heart race slightly, Jenniferin took a step forward to speak, but stopped herself.

The person she owed thanks to, Shin Longdagger, was on his knees, hands on the ground, head bowed.

She could hear him muttering to himself.

"I've done it, I broke it. Money, more money gone. No, worse, if my ntor finds out, what kind of 'kindness' will they show ..."

Jenniferin let out a wry smile at the content of his muttering.

Does this guy even understand who he's made indebted to him?

"Normally, I should start with thanks, but let say this instead. Are you an idiot? Or are you looking down on ? Do you understand that you've made Jenniferin Pantile, called the once-in-a-century Pantile, the most Pantile-like Pantile, indebted to you?"

While saying this, Jenniferin struggled to hide her inner surprise at Shin's change.

The boy before her didn't seem like the sa person from monts ago; his appraisal results were utterly ordinary, and to be more precise, there was nothing beyond ordinary to discern.

What a mysterious man.

As Jenniferin thought this, the boy stood up, muttering sothing incomprehensible to her about how his ntor might really kill him with kindness.

"Jenniferin Pantile, was it? Sorry, seems we're classmates, but I don't rember you. By the way, I do at least know the Pantile na as a noble family, so this isn't so noble roundabout insult, okay?"

"Rest assured, anyone who's exchanged words with you would know, even on first eting, that such noble insults or high-level tactics are beyond you."

She felt a strange sense of humor seeing Shin Longdagger's eyes widen at her words.

"You're quite the talker, aren't you?"

"I told you, didn't I? I won't lose in a verbal fight."

She felt a fondness for this extraordinary boy disguised as ordinary, whose attitude didn't change even after learning she was a Pantile.

"Whatever broke, it's thanks for saving my life. I'll buy a replacent. If it's sothing with value, leave it to ."

What kind of sword should I buy for him? Jenniferin Pantile pondered.

A sword made by a famous craftsman? No, why not buy the craftsman themselves? He's bound to keep growing, so I'll have custom weapons and armor made to match his progress.

Imagining it, she found it quite enjoyable.

Jenniferin felt she understood why her ancestors sponsored poets and painters; investing in people was fun.

But Shin's words to Jenniferin betrayed her expectations.

"I don't need that kind of thanks."

As Shin sheathed his broken sword, his face genuinely showed he didn't seek such thanks. There was no hint of trying to raise the stakes, just a plain look of boredom.

That expression irritated Jenniferin quite a bit.

"Oh? Are you looking to negotiate with a Pantile?"

Though she didn't think that was the case, she felt the Pantile blood stirring within her.

Assigning the right value to the right worth was enjoyable, especially since this ti it was her own life.

"But rest assured, Shin Longdagger. This will likely be the easiest negotiation of your life. After all, the one assigning value to my life is , and I'm the one you're dealing with. A town? A castle? Or perhaps a country? A country might take so years, but fine, I'll grant it to you."

The value of her life was, in essence, the sa as asking how much she was capable of achieving.

Jenniferin grew curious about what value Shin would assign to her.

So, how will he answer?

"I don't need anything like that. The thanks you ntioned at the start are enough."

Oh no, I might cry, Jenniferin thought.

Far from a country, it's less than even a town.

"Ah, wait, what do you an by the thanks I ntioned at the start?"

Regaining her composure, she asked Shin.

What did I say at the start? Jenniferin tilted her head inwardly.

"What, you know..."

Shin's exasperated tone made Jenniferin flustered.

Was she overlooking sothing so important?

"You said at the start that you should thank , right? That's good enough."

And yet, Jenniferin Pantile would later recall this mont and blush with laughter.

She greatly perplexed the bodyguard who rushed over, pale with concern.

*

"Let thank you, thank you, Shin Longdagger. Can I call you Shin?"

"Call whatever you like, Jenniferin Pantile. But that's a long na, Jenniferin. My tongue might get tangled. Is Jen okay?"

"Feel free to shorten it as much as you want."

While watching the bodyguard swiftly tie up the unconscious assassins and prepare to hand them over to the knight orders, Jenniferin responded.

"Today is a good day. I got to know you—or rather, since we were already classmates, I suppose I already did—but I made a mark in your mory. It's a good day."

"I don't think knowing holds that much value. Sorry to disappoint you, but my family is a shockingly poor viscount family, and I'm the incompetent second son."

How could a human with such monstrous appraisal results belittle himself so much? Jenniferin wondered as she shook her head.

That's not what it's about.

"Even if you were a business partner, no one in Pantile cares about the shortness of one's reach."

Shortness of reach—a phrase used to mock soone's limited influence or power—but as expected, Shin didn't get it.

Seeing Shin's clearly confused expression, Jenniferin laughed and said,

"Don't worry about it, my friend. We Pantiles are drawn more to interesting stories than profitable deals with our golden eyes."

Even after she said that, Shin still looked like he didn't understand. After a few monts of silence, he said with an exasperated tone,

"What a troubleso clan."

And yet, you, who values a simple thank you over a whole country, are quite troubleso yourself.

Jenniferin muttered this in her heart while nodding at Shin's words.

A smile naturally ford on her face.

At the cost of her life being in danger, she gained the acquaintance of Shin Longdagger.

Today was a huge profit.

It was a great day, one that did a rchant proud.

Jenniferin Pantile thought this to herself, oblivious to the fact that Shin was looking at her with eyes that said, 'Ah, this one's a weird one too.'