Who Says I’m Not a Legitimate Adventurer?

Nia was half-pushed and half-pulled by Lance into the living room before being gently pressed down into a wooden chair.

“Do you know that when I woke up this morning, I only then found out my uncle had rushed out in the middle of the night yesterday?”

Sitting in the chair, Nia began pouring out her worries.

“My aunt told me what happened over in the forest last night. I was almost scared to death.”

Lance walked to the nearby wooden table and picked up the kettle to pour water for Nia.

Listening to the girl sobbing behind him while talking about her concern for him, a wave of guilt rose within Lance’s heart.

He placed the steaming cup of water on the table before Nia.

“Sorry for making you worry so much.”

“You still know how to apologize?”

Nia wrapped her hands around the warm cup and bit down hard on her lower lip.After confirming that Lance was completely safe, the panic in her heart gradually faded away, replaced instead by a sour feeling.

Her tone suddenly became somewhat jealous, even carrying an obvious trace of complaint.

“Lance, actually I’ve wanted to say this for a long time already.”

“That Cecilia, she’s the eldest daughter of the great noble Rosenthal Family from White River City, right?”

Nia raised her head, dissatisfaction filling her eyes.

“With such a huge background, there’s definitely countless troubles and dangers surrounding her.”

“And she’s even a Half-Elf! Don’t you know how much envy and greed that kind of rare bloodline attracts out there?”

The more she spoke, the more wronged she felt, and her voice rose several degrees.

“Why do you insist on getting involved with her and dragging yourself into something as dangerous as what happened last night?”

In Nia’s imagination, the incident last night had definitely been caused by those students with special identities from the academy.

After all, in her eyes, Lance was merely an ordinary lower-class Adventurer, just a young man struggling through life in a small town.

There was no way any important figure would go through enormous lengths to scheme against him or covet something on his body.

The total value of everything Lance owned probably did not amount to many gold coins anyway. What was there worth scheming over?

So in one breath, she firmly pinned the entire blame directly onto Cecilia.

Lance, who had been listening nearby, suddenly paused his movements.

He turned toward Nia with a puzzled expression.

“Wait a second, Nia.”

A trace of confusion appeared in Lance’s eyes.

“Every time Cecilia goes out, she wraps up her features tightly. She’s never even exposed her Elven ears before, so how did you know she’s a Half-Elf?”

The air suddenly fell silent for a second.

Nia’s heartbeat instantly skipped violently.

Crap.

She had only been too focused on venting her emotions just now and accidentally let slip the secret Judith had secretly told her.

And at this moment, within Nia’s mind, the soul called Judith was laughing wildly without restraint.

“Oh my, little Nia, little Nia. Your jealousy has made your brain stop functioning entirely. Let’s see how you’re going to patch up this lie now.”

“I… I…”

Nia’s face instantly flushed bright red, and her eyes began darting wildly around the living room.

In desperation, she could only grit her teeth and counterattack by shifting the blame onto Lance.

“You told me yourself!”

Nia raised her voice, trying to cover up her guilt through sheer volume.

“You casually mentioned it once before back at the Guild. How is your memory this bad?”

“I said that?”

Lance froze.

Frowning, he carefully thought back. Could it be that when he brought Cecilia to the Guild to accept missions back then, he accidentally let slip her background while introducing her to Nia?

However, this morning his mind was completely occupied by Cecilia’s birthday and last night’s mana restoration incident.

Lance did not dwell too much on this tiny inconsistency.

He simply assumed that he really had accidentally slipped up back then.

“Maybe I really remembered wrong.”

Lance sighed and did not continue questioning her.

He pulled out a chair and sat down across from Nia, his tone becoming extremely serious.

“But, Nia.”

Lance assumed Nia was acting like this because she felt she was being treated differently.

Back when it involved the other three girls, Nia would occasionally become jealous too, all because Lance sometimes overlooked her feelings.

“Cecilia is the intern the old Guildmaster assigned to me, and she’s also a friend I acknowledge.”

“There’s no way I could abandon her during danger simply because I’m afraid of getting dragged into unknown trouble.”

He raised his head and looked into the girl’s eyes, which still carried traces of tears.

“If the person who had ended up in that dangerous situation last night had been you instead—”

Lance’s voice was not loud, but every word was crystal clear.

“I also would have chosen without hesitation to stand in front of you and protect you.”

Every word he spoke carried sincerity.

If this had happened in the past—

Hearing a promise like this from Lance would absolutely have made Nia feel sweet as honey inside.

But at this moment—

She did not feel much comfort from those words at all. Instead, she sharply sensed the strange perfunctory feeling surrounding Lance.

Although the boy opposite her was looking directly at her, the focus in his eyes seemed somewhat scattered, clearly indicating he was thinking about something else.

Nia immediately lowered her head.

At a glance, she noticed Lance’s right index finger rubbing repeatedly against the corner of his clothing.

This was a habitual little action Lance only displayed whenever he encountered difficult problems or was planning something else.

This tiny detail—

Was something Nia had secretly discovered after silently watching him countless times from the Guild reception counter. She had never told this secret to anyone.

Which meant Lance was currently seriously distracted.

It was almost as though although this person sat properly before her—

His heart had already drifted away somewhere far beyond reach along with the chilly morning breeze.

“Lance, what exactly are you thinking about?”

Nia bit down hard on her slightly pale lips and asked in an extremely soft voice.

“Ah?”

When his name was called, Lance instinctively turned his head and glanced at the ticking wall clock.

Without even thinking through it, he directly answered according to the train of thought he had just been following.

“Cecilia accidentally fainted yesterday, and I was just thinking that later I should make a trip to the commercial district.”

“Today happens to be her birthday, so I need to go pick up the customized gift. And I also need to find time to head over to White Oak Manor to check on her…”

Before Lance could even finish this overly honest sentence—

Nia, who had been sitting opposite him, suddenly stood up violently.

She directly stepped forward in one large stride. Her pale little hands suddenly shot out without warning and fiercely grabbed onto the linen collar at Lance’s chest.