Chapter 182: Licence Problems

POV Eliza

“I’m curious to see if I actually had a D rank license in my past.” Eliza

“Me too. You’re strong enough for it.” Betty

“To be honest, I still find this very surprising. According to my stats—which the Mercenary Guild read—I have better combat stats than you and our two men. And yet I currently feel a strong aversion to unnecessary bloodshed.” Eliza

“I’ve been wondering the whole time why that is. Can you remember anything? After we found you, you were—to be honest—very methodical and consistent in battle. Even against people in the Colosseum.” Betty

“I don’t understand it myself. I believe you, but it’s hard for me to wrap my head around.” Eliza

By then, I could remember a lot about my old life. Especially the last few years of my medical studies at university. Much of it was hazy and unclear, probably because of how much time had passed. But as a medical student, I had a pacifist mindset and avoided unnecessary bloodshed. Likewise, on Earth, it wasn’t necessary to know how to fight. That’s why the stories about my actions in the Colosseum and in the Labyrinth were very hard to process. But there was no denying that my class was combat-oriented—I couldn’t ignore that. The only explanation I could come up with lay in my past on this world. I must have acquired those values and that experience from somewhere. It was therefore very likely that I had a licence of the mercenary guild.

I didn't know yet how I could explain my doubts to Betty. But I had decided not to lie to her, so I thought carefully about what to say next. Before I could say anything, Bishop spoke up.

“You know what, I’m going back downstairs to check out the quests available here. I’m curious. Are you coming with me, Duke? These two will be fine without us.” Bishop

Duke nodded and left the room with Bishop. Betty watched them go and then looked at me.

“Leo, why are you so deep in thought? Did something occur to you?” Betty

“Maybe. But I still don’t know for sure. You already know that I remember parts of my past.” Eliza

Betty nodded.

“But that past was at least a few years ago. I can’t remember the time in between, though. That’s why I don’t know how it came to be that I’m now the person sitting next to you. But before that, I was interested in medicine.” Eliza

“Medicine?” Betty

“The diagnosis and treatment of the sick and injured. Mostly the injured to be fair. Presumably, the desire to heal others contradicts the idea of harming others—that is, fighting. That might explain my current aversion.” Eliza

“So you’re actually a healer? But you’re skilled in Air Magic. I didn’t even know there were healing spells in that element.” Betty

“I have no idea. I still can’t remember a single spell. I guess I’ll have to learn them all over again—or at least get reacquainted with them. But to be honest, I find it hard to imagine that I’ve mastered any healing spells in air magic.” Eliza

“That’s strange. Wait a minute—weren’t you able to use water magic, too? There are definitely healing spells in there.” Betty

“Wait, let me check.” Eliza

I pulled the piece of paper out of my pocket and glanced at it.

“It says ‘Basic Water Magic’ here. Apparently, I learned this magic, but didn’t improve on it. I’m better at ‘Air Magic’—it’s listed as ‘advanced.’ There aren’t any spells listed on the paper. I have no idea what I can do.” Eliza

“We’ll figure it out together, Leo. Right now, it’s not necessary to know all your abilities. We’re not at war, so we have plenty of time.” Betty

Betty smiled at me and placed her hand on mine. Then she squeezed my hand gently. It was very soothing, and I relaxed. Only then did I realize that I’d been tense before. The uncertainty must have been weighing on me more than I thought.

Then the door opened and a woman in her 40s entered the room. She was carrying a sort of file folder under one arm and a glass ball in the other hand. Her uniform identified her as a Guild employee. She sat down across from us and placed the glass ball on the table. She set the file folder down next to it.

“My name is Tally. I’m the deputy guildmaster. I’ll be checking to see if you’re already a member of our guild. To do that, please place your hand on the orb.” Tally

I placed my hand on the orb and waited. I could feel it activate. I could clearly sense the manaflow. It also began to glow. After about a minute, the glow faded. I could no longer sense any mana either. Tally then picked up the orb and looked into it. She activated her own mana. It took a few minutes before she finished her analysis. She seemed confused, as her eyes widened and she shook her head slightly. Thus she looked into her file folder intensively. Betty seemed to have noticed it too.

“What’s going on? Is something wrong?” Betty

I wanted to know that too, but Tally didn’t answer right away. Then she spoke hesitantly and uncertainly.

“I’ve never seen this before, and I don’t remember reading about it in the records.” Tally

“Don’t keep us in suspense. What’s wrong with the orb?” Betty

“According to the analysis results, your friend’s manastructure is stored in our database.” Tally

“That’s a good sign. So why are you so confused?” Betty

“The personal data stored with the manastructure doesn’t match your friend’s.” Tally

“How is that possible? Is this a mistake? Or is there a second similar manastructure, and they were just mixed up?” Betty

“I don’t know of a second manastructure. So far, there’s never been a case where two were mixed up.” Tally

“Who does the manastructure that measured the orb belong to?” Eliza

“According to our data, it belongs to a human D-rank Scout named Eliza. She was registered over three years ago in Tyros, in the Empire. The age matches, and her class is a possible advancement from Scout. But neither the name nor her race matches. I’m sorry, but the differences are too great. I can’t issue you a renewed license. Unfortunately, I can’t issue you a new one either, since your mana structure matches that of someone else. That could cause problems in the system, and our branch office isn’t authorized to grant an exception. You’d have to go to headquarters or one of the major branch offices for that.” Tally

Betty and I were very surprised when we heard the employee’s explanation. While Betty began to argue with her, I fell silent and thought deeply. I didn’t know why, but the information triggered a reaction in me. The name Eliza, in particular, sounded familiar to me for reasons I couldn’t yet explain. Yet I was certain I had never heard it before. So why this feeling of familiarity?

“Leo, what’s wrong with you? You seem so pensive and distracted.” Betty

“Hmm, yeah, I am, but that doesn’t matter right now. I need to process this information first. It’s too bad I didn’t get my license, Betty. You really wanted me to get it.” Eliza

“What? Oh, right. The license. You said we have to go to a branch office? Where’s the nearest one?” Betty

“The nearest branch office is in Arcardia City. That’s the city with the big academy in the east.” Tally

“Thanks. We’ll come back to that when we get there.” Betty

“I’m sorry I couldn’t be of more help to you. Please don’t be upset about it. But I can promise you that I’ll forward the case to my supervisor. We’ll look into whether there have been any similar cases.” Tally

“All right. Have a nice day, then. Come on, Leo, let’s go.” Betty

I followed Betty out of the room and back down to the main hall. Duke and Bishop were standing there, waiting for us.

“There you two are again. How did it go? Did Leo get her license?” Bishop

“No, and it was really strange. Apparently, Leo’s manastructure matches that of a human scout from the Empire. I didn’t quite understand it, but because Leo’s data doesn’t match the stored personal data, she’s not allowed to get a license.” Betty

“Have you ever heard of it, Duke? I haven’t. The Church surely had records of it, but I wasn’t high enough up in their hierarchy to find out about it.” Bishop

“No, but most aristocrats have no interest in adventurers. So we didn’t have any records either. I don’t know what the situation is with the Crown, though.” Duke

“In any case, we might still be able to get a license. To do that, we’ll have to go to the Academy City in the east, to one of the guild’s larger branches. Sounds like the perfect next step now that we’ve helped Hattar.” Betty

“I think that’s a good idea. What do you two think?” Bishop

Duke and I nodded. Since we didn’t have any other plans yet, this one was as good as any. After that, we left the guild and headed back to our inn. It was already dark, and we had an early start tomorrow. After dinner, Betty and I went up to our room, while Duke and Bishop went to theirs. There, Betty and I talked again about our visit to the guild.

“It’s strange that you didn’t get a license. What does that mean—that your mana structure matches that of another person? She’s a human and you’re an elf. Just because of this coincidence, they’re denying you your license. Wait a minute—you are an elf, aren’t you?” Betty

Betty leaned over toward me and stroked one of my ears. It tickled, and a shiver ran through my body.

“Stop that—it tickles.” Eliza

I swatted her hand away, and Betty giggled. She was obviously just being silly and wanted to play. I wondered if Cat Beastkin had the same playful streak as normal cats. I hadn’t seen that kind of behavior in her before, but I wanted to find out. So I pounced on her and started tickling her. Of course, she fought back just as hard. It looked like it was going to be a long night.