“Are you okay?”

The one who came over was a girl from the knight order. She helped Caro to her feet as she introduced herself.

“I’m Hua Fanlin, captain of the Golden Lily Knights.”

The Golden Lily Knights?

Caro had heard of them before. Around here, they were like guardian deities. Problems the town guard couldn’t solve, the Golden Lily Knights definitely could. Still, people like them were rarely ever seen.

So this Miss Hua Fanlin was actually the captain of the Golden Lily Knights.

She looked way too much like someone who got the job through connections. It was a pretty rude thought, but Caro still showed a grateful smile.

“Thank you so much for helping me! For a moment there, I really thought that was the end for me…”

Caro wasn’t lying. In that instant just now, that was exactly how she had felt.

Miss Fanlin looked a little guilty.

“Sorry. Just pretend you didn’t hear what I said earlier... The Sword Saint only said those things to protect you. If we hadn’t done that, and he kept threatening us with you, we might’ve lost our last chance to save you.”

In other words, it was like the strategy of deliberately injuring a hostage so the hostage lost their value, and only then could be rescued.

There were people like that in any world.

Usually, people like that were extremely decisive. From a darker angle, maybe they even thought, If the hostage dies, then we can finally go all out...

Of course, that was just malicious speculation.

Caro shook her head again and again.

“There’s no need. If the knights and the Sword Saint hadn’t come, then I probably would’ve…”

At that moment, the mature silver-haired woman known as the Sword Saint walked over.

“You don’t need to speak for us like that.”

There seemed to be a trace of sadness on her face.

“If we hadn’t been chasing him, you might not have been put in danger at all. So... if you want to resent us, that would be completely understandable.”

The Sword Saint was far more magnanimous than Caro had imagined. She was exactly the kind of lofty figure Caro had pictured.

Her eyes sparkled.

“Th-then! Sword Saint! May I, may I write today’s experience into a poem?”

As she asked, she pointed at her harp.

“As you can see! I’m a Bard!”

The Sword Saint clearly hadn’t expected the girl in front of her to make a request like that. Should she say it was unexpected? Or maybe this really was just an honest, straightforward good girl.

“Sure. My name is Ronatia. I’m the Sword Saint.”

She glanced at the harp.

“With a harp that big, can you even carry it?”

It wasn’t like Ronatia had never seen one before. But instruments like that usually only appeared at grand banquets for royalty and nobles, brought out by full ensembles. The rest of the time...

Caro awkwardly rubbed her right wrist with her left hand.

“T-to be honest, I only became a Bard yesterday. I, um, didn’t know harps were this, this big.”

“Pfft!”

The great captain of the Golden Lily Knights, Miss Hua Fanlin, couldn’t hold back her laughter.

“What kind of nonsense is that? At this rate, the title of Bard is crying for you~”

She teased the girl who had only just chosen her class.

Caro’s face turned bright red. She felt like her dignity had fallen to the ground and been stomped on twice. And the other person was a powerful knight captain, so there was no way she could argue back...

“Well then~ Let me help you out!”

Unexpectedly, Miss Hua Fanlin made that offer.

“Think of it as a little consolation... Mm. Number 6, you’re a priest, right? Give her a hand.”

The knight she had called stepped in front of Caro. White light spread from his palm, and before long, the harp shrank before Caro’s eyes.

“Actually, mages are better at this kind of thing, but mages... never mind. Anyway, this should be much more convenient now, right?”

Caro picked up the harp. Now it was about the size she had imagined, something she could hold in her arms while playing.

“Number 6, what trigger phrase did you set?”

The man called Number 6 answered at once.

‘Sing with me on high.’

“What is that supposed to be? You’ve read way too many biographical novels!”

Captain Fanlin laughed as she slapped the so-called Number 6 on the shoulder. Then she turned and apologized to Caro.

“Sorry about that~ He really likes reading novels written by Bards. That’s why he set the phrase like this... Use that phrase and you can make the harp grow or shrink. Pretty convenient for you, right? Though it won’t last too long. After that, you’ll have to figure something out yourself~”

The human side in this world was unexpectedly pretty decent, huh~

Since the first one she’d met was Arnold, that demon, and after hearing what they said, she’d thought humans were the type to screw over the Chosen Hero.

But weren’t these people all good people?

So by that logic, was Arnold actually the bad guy?

Caro fell into confusion. Still, it didn’t quite feel that way either. She didn’t think everything in this world was simply black or white. But everyone had their own position in things...

The Sword Saint and the knights left soon after. Clearly, they hadn’t actually intended to arrest Arnold, the Dragon Slayer. From their conversation, they might not even have had the strength to defeat him.

A Heroic Rank squad was this strong?

That Miss Ronatia had just been called the Sword Saint. And even with that level of strength, they still couldn’t say they could beat Arnold?

Though, to be fair, someone who could slay dragons really was incredible...

Their goal had been to drive him off, not capture him.

That conclusion came easily. This knight squad had never planned to kill Arnold, who had already been branded a False Hero. From the very beginning, they had intended to expel him.

What a situation where everyone wanted a piece of him. If the Dragon Slayer hadn’t been strong enough, getting casually killed along the way would’ve been perfectly normal.

Caro smelled a story in all this.

It was only her first day as a Bard, but she had admired the profession for a long time. She had confidence in her storyteller’s instincts.

Should she... investigate Arnold?

Her expression darkened a little. The whole thing felt dangerous.

After all, if she had to put it bluntly, someone on that level could probably kill her with a single hair. She liked stories, sure, but there was no need to throw her life away.

A Bard was a romantic profession.

Even if she basically hadn’t mastered a single skill yet...

She looked at her skill panel. It said:

“Acting lv.”

“...”

Is that because I was acting earlier?

Wait.

Her understanding of this panel might’ve been wrong. It didn’t seem to be something that let you learn skills. It was more like, once you had a panel, you could finally know what skills you already had, and how developed they were.

Rather than a tool for learning skills, it really was just a panel. A thing that showed you what you could do.

Because she hadn’t awakened before, the skill list had been blank. So if she used a skill, it would then appear?

Was that how it worked?

If so, then the Bard’s passive shock resistance was level 1. Did that already count as having resistance? Then again, ordinary people really didn’t have resistance in that area.

Which meant her acting had already been above that level to begin with?

Maybe I really do have what it takes to become a superstar!

Caro shamelessly started fantasizing.

Feeling much lighter now, she slung the harp onto her back. It was time to leave Carwen Town.

After all, there weren’t any stories in Carwen Town worth her attention anymore.

She had already lived in this town for a long time.

Though if she really wanted to dig deep, it wasn’t like there were no stories to tell. For example, the headmistress granny probably had a story worth uncovering. But... somehow, summoning up a headmistress granny as a story subject felt weird.

Travel, training, that sort of thing—even if the scenery looked similar to home, the feeling was completely different.

She could say that with certainty, as someone who had passed through countless cities.

Even if it was just the next town over, the feeling would still be different.

Maybe it was a bit harsh to say, but humans were creatures that liked novelty in the end. Whether it was games or cute girls... you’d always get tired of the same thing eventually. You had to see something different.

That was the romance of being a Bard.

Across thousands of years of history in her original world, there had only been one or two plain, grounded poets. Most of them were drifters. At the end of the day, that was just what this group was like.

Caro didn’t feel embarrassed about that in the slightest. She had been in this world for two years and still hadn’t even gone to the neighboring town. Every day had been packed. Cooking for the children at the orphanage, learning the written language—she had genuinely worked hard for two full years.

And now, the time had finally come to set out.

The farewell dinner that should’ve happened at the orphanage had been canceled because of Arnold. No one even knew what the demon attack had been for. And really, the fact that the Golden Lily Knights and the Sword Saint had appeared in Carwen Town at all was already unbelievable.

Those were big shots. Absolute top-tier big shots.

Caro had a very bad feeling about this. A feeling that something huge was about to happen in Carwen Town. She didn’t want her Bard’s story to end before it had even begun, so getting out fast was obviously the right choice.

Better yet, she should run far away.

Then she could first look into a couple of small stories. Nothing too dangerous, but still “interesting.” She could build up a little Bard ability for herself that way.

As for music and performance, she’d just have to figure those out on her own for now. Once she had a bit of spare money, she could see if she could find a teacher.

She made a rough plan for herself.

In the end, she decided to head south, toward wherever the sea was. She’d stop after passing through three towns.

As for what exactly lay beyond those three towns, she had no idea. She only vaguely knew the ring of towns around her. Two more beyond that was already too far. If Carwen Town was the center of a circle, then that was already beyond the edge of her map.

In town, the girl used the little money she had left to buy some travel rations, a waterskin, two sets of clothes, and a backpack.

Then she set out on her journey.

This was the moment the journey of the Bard named Caro began.