Just as I was wondering what to buy as gifts for the bunch back home, someone suddenly grabbed the hem of my clothes from behind.
When I turned around, I found a very short-haired girl.
This unfamiliar little girl wore a khaki-colored coarse cloth shirt and shorts. She looked thin and small, but her expression was exceptionally lively. Her skin was slightly dark, and her large eyes brimmed with irrepressible drive and spirit. Her pale yellow, shoulder-length hair had little glittering metal pieces hanging from the ends. Her unconventional outfit stood out sharply from the surrounding commoners, making me look twice, but no matter how I looked at her... I still didn't know her, of course.
"What is it? Do you need help?" I was certain I didn't know any locals here, and I had tried to make my clothes blend in with the local public as much as possible, so there shouldn't have been anything unusual about me. Maybe this little girl had merely gotten lost and was looking for help?
"You're from out of town, right?" The spirited little girl spoke as crisply as popping beans. Her sparkling eyes swept over me rather brazenly before she nodded and reached her conclusion. "Need a guide? My name is Ai Lu, and I'm a... well, a guide here! I specialize in showing newly arrived adventurers around! I know this place really well, all the taverns and general stores, and I know where the blacksmith is too! Do you need a guide? Only twenty copper coins a day~"
"A guide?" I froze, then looked around in astonishment. This was a small riverside town. If not for the ring of walls around it, I would have thought it was some backwater village. There were only a few hundred households here, yet it