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nCh. 73: Hearing a Story Without Destruction

nThere wasn’t a rumor about a school that shut down going around.

nThe job that he had accepted for it via the adventurer’s guild, was supposed to have given significant human as well as material casualties, but apparently it wasn’t enough to shake the school’s foundation.

nEither that, or that muscle head of a principal was actually quite good at his job, thought Loren as he was in the guild’s bar with Klaus, who was buying him a drink.

nAs for why, ever since Loren became an adventurer he had been with him quite a bit, and from his standpoint, Loren had helped him many times and was very thankful and it seemed like he felt that he owed him a lot, so he had called him saying that he wanted to buy him a drink.

nAt first Loren wasn’t interested, but as Klaus continued to ask him, he decided that Klaus would leave him alone if he let him, so today was the day that they had decided to meet up.

n“I don’t know about drinking from the middle of the day, though.”

nIt was something he had been doing since he became an adventurer but having someone buy him a drink was a different story, he thought as he swirled the cup in his hand.

nThe drink inside was something a lot more expensive than what he usually drank, and he felt a bit bad.

nSitting in front was Klaus, with a plate of sausages in front of him and drinking the same thing as Loren, looked at him with surprise.

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n“What’s with that face?”

n“I didn’t think you were one to worry about something like that.”

nLoren wondered if he looked like such a rough person.

nHe had never seen someone drink before working, at least, back when he was a mercenary.

nMost of them didn’t because they knew it would cost them their lives.

nBut of course, there were exceptions so there were some who drank regardless, but those were exceptions of exceptions, so they weren’t relevant.

n“Adventurers have some time on their hands when they aren’t on jobs, so it must be different from being a mercenary.”

nKlaus said with a small smile when Loren told him about the times when he was a mercenary.

nThe smile along with his good looks was enough to convince Loren why women couldn’t resist him, but since he was the same gender, all he could do was snort.

n“I think that smacking your lips on expensive drinks when the sun is high isn’t too bad every now and then.”

nLoren dropped his gaze down to the purple liquid swirling inside his cup.

nThe cheap drinks that Loren usually drank was mostly made from grains, but what was in his hand was made from fermented grapes.

nThe cheap alcohol that the bar served was stored in large barrels and was poured from it, but what they were having was inside a bottle, which he guessed raised the price even more.

n“It’s wine from Vargenburg. They say that this year’s batch is exceptional.”

n“Vargenburg? Where’s that?”

nKlaus froze for a second at Loren’s question.

nAfter a moment he gave Loren an unbelievable gaze, but Loren glared back, since he didn’t like it when guys stared at him like that, and he didn’t like the way Klaus was looking at him.

nKlaus saw Loren glaring back and waved his hands in a panic, afraid that he had worsened his mood.

n“Wait a second. You know the name of this city, right?”

n“Kauffa, right?”

n“Kauffa is a city of a nation on the southwestern part of the continent called the Kingdom of Vargenburg, but have you not heard it before?”

nAll Loren thought was, “Oh, okay”.

nHe did think he was a bit too unconcerned, but back in his mercenary days, information such as the name of the nation and what the locals called place where the battlefield was going to be was only needed by the leader or the executives.

nTo mercenaries, who didn’t belong to any one nation, they first thought about who their enemies were and how to defeat them rather than the name of the nation or the land, and that was still the same for Loren.

n“If you start getting more known as an adventurer, you’ll get job offers from the nation as well as nobles so you should really gather some information.”

n“I’m barely making enough to feed myself, so I don’t think such a day will be coming anytime soon.”

nHe didn’t say the it won’t ever come, but if such a day were to come, it would be far into the future.

n“I don’t think it’ll be that long with your skill with your sword.”

n“That’s just my arm strength. Anyone could do what I can if they could swing this around.”

nAs Loren patted the black great sword next to him, Klaus let out a weak laugh with an awkward smile on his face.

nAnyone could tell that Loren’s main weapon, his great sword, was exceedingly heavy just by looking at its gigantic size.

nKlaus couldn’t think of anyone other than Loren who could swing such a weapon around.

nIt was heavy enough that if someone asked him if he could use it like Loren could, he would immediately say no.

n“I did learn normal swordsmanship…but it didn’t really sink in.”

n“I’d like to see it once.”

n“It’s not much. Even my leader told me I wasn’t cut out for it and gave up trying to teach me.”

nLoren felt an indescribable emotion when the word ‘leader’ left his lips.

nWhen he was still a mercenary fighting under his leader, he had never imagined that he would experience his group being destroyed, being separated from his companions, and becoming an adventurer in an unknown place.

nBut in reality he was an adventurer in the city of Kauffa, located within the Kingdom of Vargenburg, with no idea where his companions were or how many of them managed to survive.

nOn top of that, he had a demon priestess that served the Knowledge god that stood as his companion, so he had no idea what other kinds of people he would meet.

n“Any news about your mercenary companions since then?”

n“No idea. Not going to search, either. I won’t find much even if I try, anyway. Unlike citizens, mercenaries like us have no information regarding our identities and backgrounds. It’ll be a waste of time.”

nIt sounded good when put has being a rootless wanderer, but mercenaries were existences without guaranteed identity or status.

nThe only thing that sort of did was the group itself, but if it disbanded, like Loren’s did, even that disappeared.

n“Well, fortune’s already given me so many strange meetings. Maybe I’ll run into them one day.”

n“Hopefully you do.”

n“Well, even if I did, I don’t intend on going back to being a mercenary. I don’t feel like making a living off lives at this point. I made some promises as well.”

n“Okay, enough of the annoying talk. Who would want to watch two men facing each other in the corner of a bar, drinking during the middle of the day?”

nA girl with black hair pulled up into a ponytail, wearing priest’s clothes, interrupted their conversation and sat down next to Loren.

nAs she sat down, with an annoyed look on her pretty face, she pointed at Loren’s cup and ordered the same thing to a passing waitress.

n“Lapis, did you find any good jobs?”

nWhen Loren asked the girl sitting next to him, Lapis shrugged.

nShe had caught wind that Klaus was going to buy Loren a drink, came with him, and while the two of them were drinking, she went to the receptionist to see if there were any good jobs, but from her response it seemed that the results weren’t satisfying.

n“There weren’t any that came to me. Well, there are those kinds of days, I guess.”

nWhen the waitress returned with a tray with a cup on it, Lapis took it, thanked her, and gulped down half of the contents.

nWine tasted nice and was easier to drink than other alcohol, but it was still alcohol, so Loren was worried that Lapis would get drunk quickly, but since she was no ordinary girl, but instead was demon kind, which had powerful abilities, so he guessed that she would be fine and didn’t say anything.

n“I can pay for yours as well, you know?”

nKlaus said to her since he had seen her pay when she ordered, but Lapis wiped her lips with the back of her hand, put her cup on the table, and snorted.

n“I would gladly accept if Loren were buying, but I’ll never accept anything from you.”

n“No way I could buy you anything…”

nStrangely, Loren didn’t end up in the red after the last job.

nBut even though he had some money on him, his wallet was still very light.

n“It’s just a metaphor. I don’t want anything from someone who leads a harem party, with a bunch of mistresses on top of a wife.”

n“Looks like I’m quite hated.”

n“I hate snakes, but they’re still better than you.”

nLapis’ view of Klaus was very low.

nBut it was something Loren could understand, so he didn’t say anything and watched Lapis flame Klaus.

nKlaus’ personality seemed to have gotten a lot softer since Loren had met him, but it didn’t seem like his quickness to lay a hand on women didn’t change, and it didn’t seem like he was going to change it either.

nBut he thought that it was a problem for Klaus and those around him, and didn’t concern him at all, so he decided not to worry about it.

nBut of course, he knew that Klaus’ personality was one of an enemy towards women, so he didn’t feel like stopping Lapis insulting him.

n“I’m only here since I followed Loren, so don’t mind me.”

n“That’s…well, okay.”

n“Oh, I do acknowledge your < > ability, so I’ll be sure to make use of it when something happens.”

n“A-ahahaha…”

nIn a previous job, Klaus had been tied to the back of a horse and was forced to use < > to increase the limits of the horse in order to escape from an enemy, and Lapis had whipped Klaus through the whole night to do so.

nKlaus seemed to have recalled that experience, as he averted his eyes with a stretched smile, and Lapis turned towards Loren, who was drinking silently.

n“There weren’t any good jobs, but if we don’t work, you’ll be wandering on the streets.”

n“Borrowing money from you again is painful, too.”

nThe promise that Loren had made with Lapis.

nHe would continue being with Lapis until he had paid back his debt to her.

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nThe conditions weren’t bad, as Lapis had said she wouldn’t forcefully collect and he could pay whenever he could, but it was already at an enormous amount, over thirty gold coins, so he didn’t want to increase it any further if he could.

n“I don’t mind but continuing to lend will cause you to be concerned, and I believe that work is precious, after all.”

n“But there wasn’t a good job, right?”

nIf they forcefully accepted a bad job, it wouldn’t end well.

nEven if it wasn’t, all the jobs that Loren went on and the jobs that Lapis brought, which were supposed to be for copper rank adventurers like them, increased in difficulty one way or another.

nIf force was added on top of that, Loren wasn’t sure what sort of dangers would await them, but apparently Lapis was thinking of something completely different.

n“There wasn’t a job, but I’ve thought of something nice.”

nHer eyes sparkled, excited to tell him, but on the other hand, a shadow crossed over Loren’s face.

nLoren was worried that whatever it was, it wasn’t going to end well, but he gave up, knowing that he wouldn’t be able to change her mind, so he gulped down the rest of his drink and prepared himself.

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