Welcome to the Special-Grade Guild! ~ The Beloved Elf Poster Girl Soothes Everyone’s Hearts ~
Chapter 143

143. One Day as an Onee-chan

The start of the Special-grade Guild, Part 2!

The first arc will mainly consist of everyday short stories, but it also contains hints for future developments.

If you’d like, please continue to join me!

I hope you enjoy it…!

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“Good morning! Gil-nyan-di-o-shan… Uwaah! I can’t say it! Agh!”

Hi there, it’s Meg!

It’s been 20 years since I reunited with my dad and started living at this guild. It feels like that time has flown by. But my body is growing very slowly. I’m finally about the equivalent of a 5 or 6-year-old human child. Sigh.

But my pronunciation has gotten a lot better! So, taking after Kei-san, I started this plan to call everyone by their full names, but… as you can see, I still have a long way to go.

“If you rush, you’ll just stumble more.”

“I-I know that.”

Gil-san said this with a wry smile. That’s right, my bad habit is that when I stumble once, I get flustered and stumble more. Someday I’ll be able to speak fluently!

There was a certain encounter and event last week that made me start this. It was a very valuable experience, and it made me feel like I need to become a more reliable onee-san! It was an encounter that fired me up.

“Fueh? A baby…?”

One morning, as I was heading to my usual counter at the guild, Saura-san called out to me from the reception desk and asked me to do a job. She said I was perfect for it, so I wondered what it was, but it was an unexpectedly surprising job.

“That’s right! A baby was born in this town a few years ago, remember? The baby’s parents have to go out for the day due to family circumstances, and it’s difficult for them to take the baby with them, so they’ve requested for someone to look after the baby.”

Among demi-humans, who have an extremely low birth rate, the birth of a new life in this city, where many rare species live, is a very auspicious event. I still remember that the whole city held a birth party at the time, and it continued for about a week. I mean, the people of this city really love festivals… They’ll throw a banquet at the drop of a hat. And every time, Juma-kun gets too excited and ends up being punished.

“B-But why me? I don’t think I can take care of a baby.”

That’s my question. I’m still at the age where I need to be taken care of, so I wonder why I’m perfect for this. …Ugh, saying that out loud made me sad.

“Of course, it’s not just you, Meg-chan. I’ve also asked Maryla-chan. But you know, Meg-chan, you’ve never interacted with anyone younger than you, have you?”

I see, it makes sense if it’s with Maryla-chan. And it’s true, I’ve never interacted with anyone younger than me. Even in my previous life, I didn’t have any direct interactions. Huh? At the birth party? At that time, the celebration party got so lively that I didn’t even get to see the baby, let alone interact with it… I mean, a newborn baby can’t participate in such a big fuss. The baby was sleeping peacefully in the maternity ward, which was a little distance away!

“So I thought it would be a good experience for you. What do you say? Meg-chan, do you want to be an onee-chan (big sister) for a day?”

The word “onee-chan” shook my heart with a sweet resonance. Onee-chan… Onee-chan… Onee-chan…!

I reflexively nodded my head several times.

“Fuwaaah…!”

When I headed to the infirmary, Maryla-chan, who had apparently heard about it and was waiting, guided me to a separate room to meet the baby and mother. When I peeked into the baby’s bassinet, there was a baby sleeping peacefully, looking very comfortable. I couldn’t help but let out a strange sound at the sheer cuteness. Of course, I kept the volume down as much as possible!

“Fufu, you look entranced.”

“A baby and Meg-chan, it’s an ultra-cute combination!”

The baby’s mother, who had long light brown hair in a braid hanging over her shoulder, wiggled her fox-like ears that were sticking out of her head as she said this. She had a gentle aura. Maryla-chan was, well, as usual, she couldn’t get enough of cute things.

“I’m sorry for making such a request. I’ll be back by the end of the day. I know taking care of a baby is hard, but… with such an adorable onee-chan here, I’m not worried.”

The fox mother said this with a smile, swishing her tail. The sweet word echoed in my mind again. Onee-chan… Onee-chan… Onee-chan…!

“Yes! I’ll do my besht to take care of her!”

I stumbled. Even though I’m supposed to be an onee-chan! I stamped my feet in frustration. The two of them giggled at me. Grr!

My start as a one-day onee-chan was a bit shaky, but it began like this!

But, despite my enthusiasm.

“Eek, don’t breathe fire, Miina-chan!”

“Uwah!? It’s leaking from the diaper, Maryla-shan!”

“It’s common for species with tails! Eek, she breathed fire again!”

Babies are… a lot of work!? Even after changing her diaper, Miina-chan was crying and screaming, in a bad mood, and we were at a loss.

This child is a Rakudi, a demi-human with a large tail, and apparently she’s the type that can breathe fire, which makes it even more challenging. Rakudi are fairly common demi-humans, but each individual has a different specialty in magic attributes. This child’s is fire. Fire is… troublesome! Judging from the shape and pattern of her tail and ears, she’s a raccoon dog. In this world, it’s not strange for a fox to give birth to a raccoon dog. Even after 20 years, I’m still constantly amazed!

“Mmmm, we need Tioris’s help for this!”

“Huh? Tio-nee?”

“Yes! Tioris is a Rakun demi-human with a fire attribute, so she might be able to give us some tips!”

Ah, now that you mention it, I’ve heard that before. Tioris-san is a Rakun, a raccoon demi-human. She certainly has similarities to Miina-chan, who’s a raccoon dog with a fire attribute. We immediately took the crying and screaming Miina-chan to the cafeteria.

“Ah, I don’t know what to do with babies either!”

However, when we asked Tio-nee in the cafeteria, she waved her hands from side to side, looking puzzled. Tio-nee, who has now become the head chef, is always confident and smiling, so this response is somewhat refreshing.

“We’re not asking you to take care of her! We were wondering if you had any tips or tricks… Eek, she breathed fire again!”

Tio-nee crossed her arms and thought for a bit at Maryla-san’s plea. Then, as if she’d thought of something, she clapped her hands once.

“We Rakun demi-humans have relatively weak bases of our tails. If you pet her there, it might suppress her fire breathing.”

Tioris-san said this with a slight frown, saying she wasn’t sure if it would be the same since Rakudi are different, but this was a good find. I immediately tried gently stroking the base of Miina-chan’s tail as she cried, screamed, and breathed fire.

“Oh, she stopped crying!”

Amazing! It’s like magic, she calmed down and got a sleepy look on her face, as if she hadn’t been throwing a tantrum just a moment ago! I was so happy that I kept petting her.

“That only works when they’re infants, so I didn’t remember right away. But I’m glad it was helpful.”

“Thank you so much, Tioris!”

Maryla-san and I thanked her repeatedly, and she kindly told us that she’d have lunch delivered later, so we could eat in shifts. Alright, let’s do our best!

And so, while we were frantically taking care of her, the day flew by. It was almost evening.

“She’s so cute…”

Taking care of her was hard work, but that all gets blown away by this cuteness. I kind of understand how everyone feels when they dote on me. At the same time, I realized that I need to start acting like an onee-san soon! It was a day when that self-awareness sprouted.

Later, I accidentally fell asleep next to Miina-chan out of exhaustion. Apparently, Maryla-san and others from all over the guild enjoyed watching me sleep and found it healing… but I’d like them to stop looking at my sleeping face, it’s embarrassing! Because of that, Miina-chan and her parents ended up staying at the guild overnight… Everyone, please learn some self-control!?