All right, time to find lodging for the night—
As she began to leave, another poster caught her eye. One of the mercenaries began talking loudly behind her.
“Whoa, would you look at that bounty?!”
“I see it…”
“They say she was a high elf princess, y’know? Then she ran off to be a knight in some foreign kingdom, somethin’ like that.” The mercenary rubbed his chin. She listened intently.
“She’s an experienced fighter…and an unbelievable beauty to boot! You hear about her? Word is they didn’t even have to pretty up this face when they were making the poster!”
It’s a bounty—of course it has to look like the target.
“Heh heh… What would you do if a beauty like this one fell in your lap?” the mercenary asked with a sneer. “None of the roughnecks around here would hand her in without having a little fun with her first.”
The mercenary looked at her closer now, his head scanning her from head to toe.
“Hey, you ain’t so bad yourself! Not quite on the level of a princess, but not bad!”
Apparently this had been his intention all along.
“How ’bout it? Want some company?”
She turned and walked away without a word. The mercenary gave a bitter laugh.
“Didn’t like being compared to royalty, huh?”
“…”
She turned back for a moment and looked at the poster. The bounty was high, but she wouldn’t be able to claim it. She looked at the name printed in block letters beneath the portrait.
Seras Ashrain.
Without a word, Seras Ashrain walked out of the crowded hall.
Afterword
APOLOGIES FOR THE LONG TITLE—this is Kaoru Shinozaki.
The “Status Effect Skills” I mention throughout this book are an important part of the story, but personally what I’d really like you to focus on are the characters themselves. My goal is to create a story and a world in which my characters can grow and shine in their own ways, and I hope that you fall for them.
I want to thank my editor, O-sama, who put so much passion into this work, and KWKM-sama, who drew the illustrations. Every time he sent me a new picture, it helped me build a stronger image of these characters in my mind, and it was an honor to have him agree to illustrate this volume. Thank you to everyone who has read and followed this work online—your support is what helped us bring it to print. Thank you very much for reading my book—I hope more than anything that it has been a happy experience for you.
—Kaoru Shinozaki
Thank you for reading!
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Failure Frame: I Became the Strongest and Annihilated Everything With Low-Level Spells Vol. 1 Page 19