This really was a bit much.
"Um..."
Eina was just about to look up and ask where these people had come from.
But then.
A figure caught her eye.
Eina's hand froze as she rubbed her brow.
The doors of memory were instantly kicked open.
One month ago.
At this very counter.
With this very person.
He had come to register his familia's divine patron. When he reached the name field, Eina had asked about his divine office and titles, as usual.
In response, he had rattled off a string of terms terrifying enough to make anyone's knees buckle:
[Lord of Arms], [War Calamity], [Maker of Strife], [Father of Ten Thousand Weapons]...
At the time, Eina had assumed he was another newly descended god teasing her for the novelty of it.
After all, Orario had no shortage of gods who enjoyed messing with Guild employees like her.
But afterward.
To be safe, she had checked Heaven's registry of gods and even worked up the courage to privately ask some of Orario's more senior deities.
Every response had been the same-
"Huh? That lunatic came down?"
Every single title had been real.
"L-Lord Haimo?"
"I-it's been a while."
Eina adjusted her glasses, her voice immediately turning reserved.
"It's been a while, Miss Eina."
"I didn't expect you to remember me."
"I was worried your busy work at the Guild might have made you forget me."
"How could I..."
Eina gave a couple of awkward laughs.
Forget?
Who could forget a résumé like that?
"Are these the familia members you've recruited, Lord Haimo?"
Eina hurriedly changed the subject, looking at the girls with mixed feelings.
"That's right."
Haimo nodded.
"As you can see."
"They're all good kids."
"They just have a little personality."
Eina's expression twitched as she watched the little bear trying to gnaw on the corner of the counter.
He called that a little personality?
Still.
Since they were members of a god's familia.
Eina dared not neglect them and immediately took out a thick stack of registration forms.
"Please fill in your basic information, everyone."
With that.
Thanks to Eina's efficient handling, registration was soon underway.
However.
Things hit a snag when it came to Tsukuyo Inaba.
"Miss Tsukuyo... Inaba?"
Eina called out tentatively.
"Are you calling me?"
At those words, Tsukuyo Inaba tilted her head slightly toward Eina.
"Um..."
At the sight, Eina's fingers tightened slightly around the Guild card. She had finally pinpointed the source of the unease she felt.
Ever since entering.
This girl had never once opened her eyes.
Even her steps, though steady, held a subtle, tentative quality that Eina, a Guild employee who had dealt with countless people, knew all too well.
"Forgive me for asking..."
"Your eyes..."
"You can't see, can you?"
A trace of caution crept into Eina's voice.
Tsukuyo Inaba showed no strong reaction.
She merely nodded, a faint, serene smile curving the lips of her exquisite, doll-like face.
"Yes."
"I cannot see."
Eina's gaze fell on Tsukuyo Inaba's blood-red eyes, now open but utterly unfocused.
Delicate and fragile, like a porcelain doll that would shatter at a touch.
"..."
At that thought, Eina couldn't help drawing a deep breath.
Though she had already suspected it, confirming it with her own eyes still left her feeling breathless.
Blind.
In Orario, that was as good as being helpless.
Never mind venturing into a place as fraught with danger as the Dungeon.
Even living an ordinary life in this city would be full of difficulties.
At that thought, Eina knitted her brows, her grip on her pen tightening slightly.
As a Guild employee, she was supposed to remain impartial and refrain from passing judgment on adventurers' physical conditions.
But.
Looking at this weak, helpless blind girl.
Eina simply couldn't bear it.
Then.
"Lord Haimo..."
Before Eina could say, "Tsukuyo can't see. She's so weak, helpless, and pitiful that she really shouldn't enter the Dungeon."
The blind girl, who had already noticed Eina labeling her [weak], [helpless], and [pitiful].
-Tsukuyo Inaba interrupted her first.
"Miss Eina."
"Your heartbeat has changed."
"Huh?"
Eina froze at those words.
All the arguments she had just prepared died before she could voice them.
Then.
Tsukuyo Inaba raised a hand.
She pointed her slender, fair index finger steadily at one corner of the counter.
"Here."
"Under the stack of documents to your left, there's a quill with its tip pointing toward me."
At those words.
Eina instinctively looked down.
There was indeed a quill beneath the documents to her left.
Exactly as described.
Then.
"And..."
Tsukuyo tilted her head slightly.
Her cascading silver hair slipped gently aside, revealing her faintly twitching ears.
As though they were catching imperceptible messages on the wind.
"At seven o'clock in the hall, fifteen meters from here."
"Two people are quietly discussing the dancer at last night's tavern."
"One of them probably has badly worn boot soles. His footsteps drag a little."
Eina turned to look in the seven o'clock direction.
There.
Two adventurers were huddled together, whispering.
When they saw Eina looking over.
They looked utterly baffled.
On the left foot of one tall adventurer-the sole of his boot was indeed worn unevenly, higher on one side than the other.
"As you can see."
"Some things don't require eyes to see."
"As far as I'm concerned."
"My hearing and my sword..."
"Are more useful than my eyes."
With that.