TERNLF Vol. 1 Chapter 2 Part 1

Full title: The Exiled Reincarnated Noble Lives Freely

Note: If you found any typos/mistakes, pls write them in the comment. Thanks.

Translator: Canon

____________________________________________

◆ Chapter 2 ◆

“All of us passed, huh…”

At the reception desk of the newly established temporary Guild Home—formed after the closure of the Guild Home in the royal capital of the Kingdom of Preasole—I muttered quietly while holding a small wooden plaque in my hand.

Nearly twenty novice adventurers, including myself, had taken the entrance exam that day. Originally, the results should have been announced immediately afterward, but due to the chaos that followed, the announcement was delayed. When it finally came, it declared that everyone had passed.

Alongside the announcement came a notice: the royal capital’s Guild would suspend new adventurer registrations for the time being.

It was only speculation, but I figured the official responsible for grading the exams had disappeared during the commotion. Someone higher up, unwilling to deal with the aftermath, probably just gave the order to pass everyone indiscriminately.

From their perspective, it didn’t matter how many of us would struggle later. Even if a few underqualified adventurers slipped through, it wouldn’t inconvenience them in the slightest.

“Well, it worked out in my favor, at least.”

I lowered my gaze to the name written on my guild card.

“Since it only says ‘Toa’ without a surname, I guess that means my origins were completely erased from the kingdom’s registry.”

This country kept fairly meticulous family records, and the information on a guild card was based directly on those official documents.

Considering how quickly this had been processed, Glaas must have removed me from the Kashit family registry before declaring my exile.

Without the Kashit name, I wasn’t a noble anymore. So even if I disappeared or died nameless in some gutter, the family could pretend it had nothing to do with them.

That was the nature of nobility in this kingdom.

“Let’s see… this must be my rank and membership number.”

On the card—commonly referred to as a guild card—my face was printed alongside the designation: “F–1024.”

Naturally, I started at the bottom: F rank.

I found it strange that my member number was as low as 1024. The reason, I learned, was simple. Adventurers who retired or went missing for five years had their numbers purged from the registry and reassigned. I’d just been given one of those vacant numbers.

Now that I thought about it, I remembered being surprised to see the alphabet used in this world. But apparently, the person who had created the guild system had been a reincarnator like me.

Records of that person were vague, no one even knew their gender.

Some called them a Great Sage, others a Grand Sorcerer, or even a genius magical artificer. Only a few documents remained scattered across places like the royal capital’s library and the frontier fortress.

From all the accounts I’d heard, I could only surmise they had been a reincarnated individual.

Thanks to them, I hadn’t struggled with units of measurement since childhood.

The calendar wasn’t exactly the same as my previous life’s, but each month still had thirty days, and each day still lasted twenty-four hours.

However, the planet’s rotation seemed different, since one hour here wasn’t sixty minutes—but sixty-five.

“I think if you register a party, your party’s rank and ID get added under your member number, right?”

An adventurer party, huh?

“Still… forming a party’s easier said than done.”

As I walked through the temporary Guild Home, I looked around the interior.

The Guild Home in the capital was supposed to serve as the administrative hub for all guilds across the kingdom.

That meant it was quite large in scale, but this was the royal capital.

There weren’t any monsters or vicious beasts prowling nearby.

As a result, the quest board didn’t list the kinds of requests I imagined; no monster exterminations or bandit hunts.

Most of the postings were for missing persons, minor disputes, simple errands, or temporary job listings.

“More like day labor and grunt work than real adventuring…”

Naturally, the only adventurers looking for work here were either rookies or old veterans nearing retirement.

The only other type would have been people who didn’t want danger but also didn’t want a regular job.

“There’s no way I could team up with anyone here for an actual adventure…”

According to the receptionist, most skilled adventurers based themselves outside the capital, in regions plagued by monsters.

That made sense. On my journey from the frontier fortress, I had passed through several mid-sized towns and seen adventurers who clearly gave off an aura of strength.

Then again, compared to the warriors at the fortress, they didn’t seem that remarkable. But that was only because my reference point was extreme, most adventurers at the fortress would have ranked A or higher.

“Well, I’m still only F-rank myself. Besides, my mentors told me not to judge people by strength alone. ‘Find companions you can truly trust,’ they said.”

But when it came to finding such people, I didn’t know a single soul in the capital.

My former family and the household servants were technically still around, but they didn’t count.

“Come to think of it, my exam wasn’t even in the same room as the others… or rather, mine turned out to be an assassination attempt tailored just for me. So I hardly knew any of the other rookies.”

The only one I’d spoken with was that healer girl—Nikka, I think—who I met before the exam.

I wondered how she was doing now.

We hadn’t run into each other since then.

Still, since everyone passed, she and the friend she mentioned must have passed too.

If so, they might have already joined a party together.

She had the rare ability to use healing magic. No way anyone would overlook that.

“…She really was pretty cute, too.”

With the girl from a few days ago still lingering in my thoughts, I stepped out of the temporary Guild Home.

I hadn’t eaten since morning, so I decided to grab a light meal at a nearby shop and think about what to do next.

—

However—

“You lying fraud! You’re fired!”

The shout echoed through the entire eatery the moment I opened the door to a modest diner I had spotted just outside.

The furious voice struck my ears like a whip, and my gaze naturally followed the source.

“N-No… I wasn’t lying, I swear…”

There, cowering before a burly man built like a veteran adventurer, stood a petite girl on the verge of tears.

“That girl is…"

There was no doubt about it: she was Nikka, the healer I had met before the exam.

Standing over her with an overbearing presence was the large man, and behind him were three others who seemed to be his party members. Unlike him, they weren’t yelling, but each wore a grim expression.

The oppressive air surrounding them was enough to make nearby patrons frown. A few even got up and moved to other seats to avoid getting dragged into the commotion.

“You know being an adventurer means your life is always at risk, right?”

“O-Of course I know that.”

“No, you clearly don’t. If you did, you wouldn’t lie about knowing healing magic just to join a party when you can’t even cast a basic recovery spell!”

The man continued berating her as Nikka stood trembling, her face pale.

“Healers are our lifeline. If I hadn’t tested your skills before our first outing, we might’ve all died out there. Do you get that?!”

As he spoke, the man thrust his thick left arm forward.

A shallow cut, likely from a knife or similar weapon, ran across it. Though not gushing, blood still dripped from the wound.

From what I could gather, he had deliberately injured himself to test Nikka’s ability, and she had failed to heal it.

They had hired her as a healer claiming to use recovery magic, yet she couldn’t even mend a simple wound.

That’s why he was angry.

At first, I had assumed he was being unreasonably aggressive, but in truth, his frustration made sense. Adventuring was a life-threatening profession, and as the party’s leader, his concern was valid.

Still, I couldn’t bring myself to believe that Nikka had lied.

It made no sense for someone to claim they could use healing magic when they couldn’t, especially when that lie would be exposed almost immediately.

“I’m telling the truth… I really can use healing magic. I even—during the exam—”

“The exam? Didn’t all the rookies get a free pass this time because of that incident?”

“Well, yes, but still—”

Her desperate plea, laced with sobs, sounded far too sincere to be a fabrication.

There had to be a reason behind all this.

“Well, I haven’t decided what I’m doing next anyway. Might as well stick my nose in a little.”

That phrase—might as well stick my nose in—slipped from my lips without thinking.

It was the trademark saying of Gilly, one of the mentors I respected most at the fortress who had trained me.

He wasn’t particularly strong or gifted with any rare skill. But he had a talent for resolving interpersonal disputes and always maintained a cheerful demeanor.

In such a brutal place like the fortress, his attitude had initially seemed bizarre.

But after spending time there, I came to understand that it was thanks to his unwavering nature that the atmosphere never turned suffocating.

It was likely because of Gilly that even those eccentric and headstrong warriors at the frontier fortress still managed to fight side by side.

In both my past and current life, I had always struggled with social interaction—borderline socially inept, even. The reason I had been welcomed and taught so much at the fortress, including techniques and knowledge others would normally keep secret, was because Gilly had first shown me how to connect with others.

Remembering all that, I deliberately ignored the tense air around me and approached Nikka with a smile.

“Mind if I ask what’s going on here?”

I addressed the furious adventurers directly.

“…Who the hell are you?”

The man who had been waving his wounded arm at Nikka turned toward me.

His eyes clearly conveyed one thing: stay out of this.

But backing off now would render my words meaningless.

“T-Toa…?”

It seemed Nikka remembered me as well.

Even though we had exchanged only a few words before the exam, the fact that she recalled me made me genuinely happy.

As she looked up at me with wide, confused eyes, I offered a slight smile before answering the man’s question.

“I’m Toa, an adventurer.”

With a bit of flair, I pulled out my guild card from my pocket and showed it to them.

“She and I took the guild entrance exam together. That’s the connection.”

“The exam? So you’re a rookie too?”

“Yeah. I just got this card earlier, fresh out of the oven.”

I dangled the brand-new guild card as I replied.

“Fresh out of the oven? What does that mean?”

“…Ah, I mean I’m a complete beginner.”

My joke hadn’t landed. Slightly embarrassed, I tucked the card away and cleared my throat to shift the conversation.

“Ahem. So what exactly did she do? Is it really enough to call her a fraud?”

I knew why they were angry, of course, but I asked anyway just to confirm.

“…Didn’t you already know?”

“I just walked in, actually.”

“…Fine. I’ll explain. This rookie claimed she was a healer who could use recovery magic, and she tried to join our party under that pretense.”

At the man’s accusation, Nikka raised her voice instinctively.

“I didn’t lie—”

“Didn’t you? You couldn’t even heal a simple wound like this. If you weren’t lying, prove it. Heal it again!”

The man thrust his arm toward her, showing off the wound where the blood had already begun to crust.

His voice boomed louder with every word.

“…All right. I’ll do it.”

Nikka wiped the tears from her eyes with her sleeve, then met the man’s gaze head-on.

In her eyes, I saw a glint of determination, this time, she was ready.

“You sure you’re okay?”

“Yes. If I do it just like I always do… it should work this time. I really did succeed during the exam.”

I stepped back a bit and silently watched as she held both her palms out toward the man’s arm.

As she closed her eyes and focused her mind, I could see the flow of mana emanating from her body; an aura unique to healers casting magic.

“【Low Heal】!”

“Eh—?”

But in the very next moment—

Just before the healing spell could activate and reach the man’s wound, the mana suddenly dissipated into nothing.

No, I couldn’t say for sure what had actually happened… but that’s how it looked to me.

“Why…?”

She must have sensed it too, being the caster.

Just as the healing spell was about to activate, it had vanished inexplicably. The realization sent her into a visible panic.

“Knew it. You were lying.”

Watching the scene unfold, the man and his party members all sighed loudly in unison.

From other tables within the diner, where adventurers had remained to see how things would play out, I heard murmurs: half ridicule, half condemnation.

But they hadn’t noticed it.

They hadn’t seen the bizarre phenomenon that had just taken place before their eyes.

“Mind if I try something?”

Feeling unsettled by what I had just witnessed, I addressed the man.

“Try what, exactly?”

“I’m just curious about something… I’d like to try casting a healing spell myself.”

“You a healer too?”

“I’m not, but I’m fairly confident in my healing magic.”

“Huh. Well, whatever it is you’re trying to test, go ahead. No harm in getting healed.”

With that, the man shifted the arm he had been showing to Nikka and extended it toward me.

I raised my hand toward the wound. There was no need for it, but I mimicked Nikka’s gesture to make it easier to follow.

“【Low Heal】.”

I cast the same spell Nikka had attempted moments ago.

“Huh. So unlike this lying girl, you can actually use healing magic.”

The man spoke with surprise as he watched the wound vanish instantly, leaving behind only a faint trace of blood.

I ignored his commentary and focused instead on the flow of mana I had released.

There had been nothing abnormal about it.

The spell had activated cleanly, and unlike when Nikka cast it, the magic hadn’t dispersed prematurely. His wound had closed without issue, anyone could see that.

I had been half-suspecting the man might have interfered with her spell somehow… but from what I observed, there had been nothing suspicious in his behavior, either during Nikka’s attempt or mine.

“If that’s the case… then maybe—”

A hypothesis came to mind, but I stopped myself before voicing it.

If my theory was correct, then this wasn’t the place to speak openly. Not while all eyes were on us.

“Hey, why don’t you join our party instead? You can take this girl’s place.”

The man’s tone had softened, his earlier fury gone, as he extended the invitation to me.

“Sorry, but I’m already with another party. Can’t do it.”

I had no intention whatsoever of teaming up with someone who had just finished screaming at Nikka.

I gave the excuse without hesitation, and the man only looked mildly disappointed before turning back toward her.

“Guess we’ll have to find someone else. Anyway, you’re out. And just so you know, I’ll be reporting this to the Guild.”

“Reporting… what?”

“That you lied on your registration. Come on, guys, let’s go.”

Leaving those words behind, he and his party members exited the diner.

“No…! Please wait! Let me try again, just once more!”

Nikka pleaded desperately, but they didn’t even look back.

In the end, only Nikka and I remained… along with the unpaid bill they left behind.

“…Wait, they stuck Nikka with the whole tab?”

Maybe they thought of it as consolation money.

Well, judging by the table, they hadn’t actually eaten or drunk that much, so if this was their idea of settling it, I supposed it was generous—relatively speaking.

Still, if they reported her to the Guild, her adventurer registration might be revoked. That wasn’t something we could afford to be casual about.

“Nikka.”

“…Ah—yes? What is it, Toa?”

She looked up at me, her eyes still teary. I bent down a bit to meet her gaze.

“There’s something I want to ask you… about what just happened.”

I whispered this softly, so that only she could hear, then added, “This isn’t the place. Let’s go outside,” as I gently took her hand.

“Eh—uh, okay…”

Even after leaving a large sum behind at the Kashit estate, I still had enough funds to get by for a while. On top of that, I still had the money the Guildmaster had given me.

I quickly settled the bill with that and led Nikka out of the diner by the hand.

“I—I’ll pay you back properly later…”

“Don’t worry about it,” I said as we slipped into a quiet alley between two buildings.

Dragging a depressed girl out of a diner, paying her bill, and then leading her into a deserted alleyway… If this were my previous life, I’d probably be arrested on the spot.

But I decided not to let it bother me. Not in this world.

—

Next→