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nCh. 74: Deciding After Listening

n“I’ve thought about why the jobs always go wrong. Why Loren fails them, even though you have more than enough skill.”

nLoren swallowed the urge to say that since they were a party, his failures was her failures as well.

nThere was no way Lapis didn’t know that.

nIf she put it that way even thought she knew, it meant that she was doing it on purpose.

nLoren didn’t respond and gazed back at Lapis, knowing that she was trying to tease him, and eventually Lapis beaming face started to cloud, and eventually turned into one of disappointment.

n“Umm, I don’t think failing a job is the responsibility of a single party member alone…”

nWhen Klaus tried to interrupt, looking back and forth between Loren, who didn’t respond, and Lapis, whose expression became darker and darker, Lapis glared like him like a guard dog glaring at a stranger.

n“I know that. I’m not looking for a response from you. I’m so disappointed.”

nLapis said angrily, but it didn’t look like she was as angered as she talked, so when Loren nudged her to go on, she changed her expression and started talking about what she had realized like it was something good.

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n“We fail because we accept the job.”

n“What’s that?”

n“If we don’t accept a job, we can’t fail.”

n“Are you drunk already?”

nLoren responded coldly at Lapis, who had a proud look on her face.

nPart of what she had said made sense.

nSuccess and failure came with the job.

nThen if they didn’t go on a job, there wouldn’t be any evaluation, therefore they couldn’t fail.

nIt was a legitimate thought.

nOther than the fact that they wouldn’t be able to work as a result.

nAdventurers received jobs from the adventurer’s guild and made a living off the rewards.

nIf an adventurer were to do as Lapis just suggested and not take jobs, they wouldn’t have any income and go broke.

nAlthough, Loren had been failing job after job, so he hadn’t been able to receive enough rewards, so it was hard to say he was making a living.

nLoren’s mood got darker as he reached that thought.

n“Um, what part of that is a good thought? The only thing I’m hearing is stop being an adventurer.”

nIn his dark mood, Loren didn’t even feel like asking, but Klaus asked Lapis in his place.

nLapis realized that she had tread into dangerous waters as she saw Loren’s mood, so instead of biting at Klaus like she had done before, she answered his question.

n“To put it simply, we should do jobs that aren’t in the form of a quest.”

nLoren wondered what she was even saying at this point, but in front of him, Klaus clapped his hands together, like he had understood what Lapis was trying to say.

nHe realized that he was the only one that didn’t get the direction the conversation was going, so he asked for an explanation, not caring if it was the stuck-up priestess or the nodding swordsman.

n“So what Lapis is trying to suggest is going hunting to receive extermination rewards, right?”

n“Exactly what this womanizer just said.”

nKlaus asked for confirmation, and Lapis nodded with an insult.

nIgnoring Klaus, who sighed, Lapis started explaining to Loren in detail.

nStrictly speaking, it wasn’t a quest.

nAlthough it wasn’t a job that was specifically requested by anyone, the adventurer’s guild had a different set of job that consisted of adventurers exterminating monsters and bringing in parts of them as proof of extermination and getting paid for it.

nThis was paid during normal quests as well, so there were many like Loren who thought they were a set, but in fact they were completely unrelated to quests so the guild would take the parts and pay the rewards regardless of where they were collected from.

nThis was because exterminating monsters contributed to making the area safer, and by paying for adventurers to do so, the guild could say that they were trying to make places safer and it would give them a better image.

nOn top of that, some guilds would receive money from the nation it was in for its efforts, and since materials from monsters were usually brought to it, they could sell those for profit as well.

nThe nations would have safer areas for a low cost, while citizens would have to worry less about monsters, adventurers could get paid even without accepting quests, and the guild would gain both money and reputation, which became a positive system for everyone.

n“So, I would like to suggest following the highway to the north from here and exterminating some monsters in that area.”

nIf they took the highway to the north, the chances of encountering monsters declined drastically.

nThat was why Lapis had suggested travelling a distance away from the highway yet following its path.

nAnd they would be travelling for quite a few days, so they would need to buy food and items to last them the whole trip.

nLoren thought that if he couldn’t defeat enough monsters to compensate for the costs, he would be in the red, which wouldn’t be any different from failing a quest.

nWhen he told that to Lapis, she had an answer even for that.

n“I’m thinking of hunting near the < > which is north of here, and it’s a place that’s abundant in monsters, but even if it ends in an empty swing, if we report the route that we used to the guild, we could receive money for that.”

nNot encountering monsters proved that the route was relatively safe.

nLapis explained that safe routes had value in themselves.

nLapis avoided answering a value to whom, and Loren decided that there must be or might not be people who couldn’t use the highway due to circumstances.

n“Either way, I think that we would be able to make a bit of money.”

n“As long as we don’t lose the monster parts, yeah.”

nLapis and Klaus both laughed nervously as Loren continued to take the conversation in a bad direction.

nMany times, people would say, always expect the worst, but in Loren’s case, it seemed that he tended to think about things in a bad direction and took it a bit too far.

n“It won’t be that dangerous since we’ll be wandering near the highway, so I think it would be fine.”

n“The guild will evaluate it as contribution to the guild even though it isn’t a quest, so I think it’s a good idea.”

n“To be clear, I don’t want you and your party to come, okay? This is a job between me and Loren.”

n“I know. Of course, I’ll hold back from getting in between the two of you.”

nAs Lapis snarled with her gaze and her tone, not wanting Klaus and his party full of girls to come with them, Klaus backed off easily.

n“We’re not short on money, after all. The two of you should have a good time together on the trip to the Black Forest.”

n“What kind of place is the Black Forest?”

nLapis reddened at the words, have a good time together.

nLoren asked Klaus, trying not to look at her, Klaus looked up, trying to recall what he knew, and started talking about the Black Forest.

n“It’s two days north of Kauffa by foot, and it’s a large forest. The overgrowth is quite thick, and it gets darker the farther in you go, which is where it got its name from, the Black Forest. There are many monsters living in there, and there are species of fairies, elves being one of the most prominent, living there as well.

n“Elves, huh.”

nWhen Klaus mentioned elves, the first thing he thought of was a woman named Nim, who was a member of a silver rank party that he had traveled with before.

nShe was great with a bow and had a slender body, along with all the other characteristics of elves, but most people knew elves as a species with beautiful looks, pointed ears, thin body structure, lived in villages within forests far away from humans, and had their own unique culture.

nThey were a closed society, and only a handful of them left to live with humans or become adventurers like Nim.

n“If you’re planning to lay hands on them you should reconsider. They’re not citizens of the kingdom so our laws don’t apply to them, but apparently, they govern the forest with their own laws. If you get caught there’s no telling what would happen to you. Even if they’re beautiful, it’s not worth it.”

n“I’m not you, you know that?”

nKlaus felt down again at Loren’s immediate cutting response, and Loren knew that laying hands on elves was something only fools or the reckless would do, and he wasn’t either.

n“Let’s ignore this indiscriminate playboy. So, Loren, about this suggestion. It’s not bad, isn’t it?”

n“Yeah…”

nLoren started thinking.

nIf a person repeated failure after failure, he would get frustrated by it and would need to get a breath of fresh air every now and then.

nLooking at Lapis’ suggestion from that stance, he thought of the two of them spending a few days together travelling didn’t seem that bad.

nThe last job, although it was quite rough, ended in success, so he felt like he didn’t need to force himself to get a change of pace, but he decided to ignore or feign ignorance in order to not waste Lapis’ efforts.

n“Alright, let’s go with that this time.”

n“Then it’s settled. We need to go buy food and supplies.”

nLoren left Lapis to decide what they needed.

nIt could be considered as making her do al the work, but the biggest reason for his decision was that since he didn’t have much money, he would have to rely on her wallet.

n“Sorry, but I’ll leave the selection to you.”

n“But you’ll at least carry the stuff, right?”

nLoren nodded immediately.

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nEven if he couldn’t offer money, if he didn’t offer physical labor as well, it would look like Lapis was actually taking care of him.

n“Then let’s get to searching. It’s best to start acting immediately when it comes to these things.”

n“I don’t want to walk with alcohol in my system…well, I guess it’s fine.”

nLoren stood up, accepting Lapis’ invitation, hitting his slightly dizzy head, and called out to Klaus, who was still feeling down.

n“Now that it’s been decided, I’ll see you around.”

n“Y-yeah. Take care.”

nKlaus raised his head and saw Loren off after he had said goodbye.

nSeeing Lapis pull him out into the city, Klaus could only think of them as a guy and girl with a good relationship.

nHe couldn’t help but admire them as he drank the rest of what was in his cup, and started thinking about which party member he should go to comfort him, thoughts which would lower the temperature of Lapis gaze to freezing if she heard them.

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