Chapter 122 - Veteran (1)

The next day, Misha woke me early in the morning.

"Get up, get up! How long are you going to sleep, nyah!"

It was 6:30 a.m. Even allowing for our trip to Commelby, that was awfully early.

"Let's eat out today. I got up so early I couldn't pack lunch, nyah."

"Then let's have breakfast downstairs first—"

"The food here isn't any good! Let's eat somewhere else. Please, nyah?"

"But I'm hungry..."

"Come on, I'll buy you something tasty. All right, nyah?"

Misha badgered me into leaving without so much as breakfast. We boarded a carriage as though fleeing, and only ate after reaching the commercial district of Commelby, at a restaurant thirty minutes from the public boarding platform that Misha assured me served great food.

"Well? Tasty, isn't it, nyah?"

"It is...!"

I didn't know what they'd done to the stew, but it had an incredibly familiar savory flavor. I'd have to remember this place and stop by whenever I was nearby.

"Glad to see you looking satisfied. You like it that much, nyah?"

"Aside from how expensive a meal is."

"That's because you ate four bowls, you barbarian oaf, nyah!"

After our late breakfast, we stopped by our usual weapons shop and general store to sell off all our loot.

'Three million Stones, huh...?'

That was what we'd earned from selling all the equipment and consumables belonging to Jenssia and the trio we'd met on the second floor. It wasn't a small sum, but it didn't feel particularly impressive either. If we'd sold the Venomous Viper's Fang and the tier-two leather armor as well, we'd have made several times as much.

'Well, we can always sell those later.'

Next, we left our equipment for repairs at the smithy Hikurod had recommended. My shield and breastplate had taken some serious dents during the troll battle, so I'd been worried about the repair bill...

"Three hundred thousand Stones for everything."

It was cheaper than I'd expected. Then again, hammering out dents probably was easier than fixing something that had melted.

"Do you work with leather too, nyah?"

"I do. Do you have something that needs work?"

"Oh, this is a little too tight around the chest, nyah..."

Since we were there anyway, Misha left her armor for alterations too. I'd wondered whether tampering with leather armor might cause problems, but it turned out to be no trouble.

"This won't even need any extra material. A little softening agent to stretch the tight parts should do it."

The alterations would cost only around fifty thousand Stones. Maybe it was because Hikurod had sent us, but there was no price gouging. The place seemed to be run very honestly.

"Come back together in three days."

After leaving the smithy, we went around buying supplies for our next expedition. I replenished our Witch's Lamp Solution, a consumable for countering Stealth, and stocked up on a few other things that came to mind.

And...

"I'll give you both bottles for two million Stones."

We bought another two Top-tier potions from the general store we'd visited before. I hadn't expected to use one up so quickly. It was a substantial expense, but splitting it as a shared expense made it a little more manageable.

"Fortunately, we didn't have to touch the money in our joint account. Here, three hundred twenty-five thousand Stones."

Misha and I split the remaining money between us. That took care of everything on today's agenda.

"I'll be off, then! Good night, Bjorn, nyah!"

"Good night to you too."

It was already night when we returned to Lavigion. We had a simple meal and parted ways.

And when I got back to my lodgings...

What was this now?

A silver-haired elf was crouched outside my room with her head buried in her arms.

"Erwin...?"

"Oh, you're back?"

She greeted me with a bright smile as soon as she saw me. But her eyes looked tired somehow, and I couldn't help asking.

"... How long have you been waiting here?"

"Not long. Did the two of you go out together?"

"Oh, we had some things to take care of in Commelby."

"I thought so... I see."

"So, what brings you here?"

It was about time to wash up and go to bed, so I asked what she wanted, but Erwin merely pressed her lips together as though gathering her thoughts. Her expression was rather serious, but when she finally spoke, her voice was as lively as ever.

"Mister, I won't be able to visit as often as I used to. That's what I came to tell you."

"Huh? Oh... Well, things are different now."

She was no longer a rookie explorer with only a month's experience. Granted, she hadn't even been at it for a year yet... No, that was all the more reason for her to know this was the time to focus on growing stronger.

"Yes. Starting tomorrow, my sister and I are going to do some special training. So I'll probably only be able to come once a week or so. I'd like to visit more often, but... then it would take too long."

"Too long?"

"... It's just something I need to do."

She trailed off evasively, then flashed a bright smile and left before I could ask anything else.

"Anyway! I'll come next week, so see you then, Mister!"

"Uh, all right..."

... Why did I feel so uneasy?

* * *

At noon the next day, the entire team gathered at a tavern to share a return drink and divide the spoils of our last expedition.

"It should come to five hundred fifty thousand Stones each. The frogman Shaman's materials sold for more than I expected."

"Haha! That's all thanks to Rotmiller skinning it so well."

"Ahem. I'm not much help in battle, so I ought to do that much, at least."

I more or less let Rotmiller's modest remark pass while I tallied up my final earnings from the expedition.

Four hundred thousand from the magic crystals acquired in the rupture and on the first and second floors.

Three hundred twenty thousand Stones left from selling the equipment after paying for consumables.

Five hundred fifty thousand Stones from the commission and monster materials.

A total of 1.27 million Stones.

'I spent all that and still earned this much.'

All things considered, I'd earned far more than during the previous two months on the fourth floor. Actually, counting the Essence Misha had absorbed, the leather armor, and the Venomous Viper's Fang, it was fair to say we'd made a killing. There were also the five million Stones I was due from Mister Bear.

'At this rate, I'll reach stage-six engravings in no time.'

I grinned and took a swig of beer.

Misha and I still had two million Stones in cash in our joint account. My personal savings came to around two and a half million. My growth had practically stalled over the past two months, leaving me anxious, but looking at my bank balance made me feel richer in spirit too.

"Bjorn! How could you drink your first glass by yourself!"

"Huh?"

"Let's drink together! We haven't even celebrated properly yet."

"... Fine. Do whatever you like."

"In gratitude for slaying that bastard troll and everyone returning safely! Come on, everyone, bottoms up!"

With the money divided, we shared our return drinks and reminisced about the expedition. Maybe it was because we'd overcome another crisis together, but our team leader, the dwarf, looked to be in an excellent mood.

Still, the gathering ended even sooner than the last one.

"Um... I'd better go now. I need to stop by my family home today, nyah."

Misha left first, followed by Rotmiller.

"I'd better call it a day too. I have some business at the guild."

Perhaps because of their later engagements, both had only sipped their drinks to be sociable before leaving. Rotmiller aside, once Misha was gone, our lively table fell quiet.

I thought the dwarf might sulk if I left too, so I was going to stay and keep drinking... Surprisingly, though, he slipped away to the next table.

"Hahaha! That's what I'm telling you! That bastard troll wasn't much, really! L-Lying? Why would I lie? See that barbarian over there? They call him Little Valcan. Don't know if you've heard of him..."

Abandoning his teammates, the dwarf started clinking glasses and chatting with explorers he'd never met before. I was about to head home myself, but Dwalki stopped me.

"W-Why don't we talk for a little while?"

"What?"

"C-Come to think of it, we've never had a quiet conversation, just the two of us."

Hmm, true enough. I'd often chatted with Rotmiller while everyone else was passed out drunk, but Dwalki had always been one of the ones passed out.

'Does he have something to tell me?'

And that was it. Dwalki merely sipped his drink awkwardly without saying another word.

'Fuck, I should've just left.'

An awkward silence surrounded me, in stark contrast to the noisy tavern. So I spoke first. There was something I'd been wondering about anyway.

"How are you feeling?"

"Oh, I'm fine... To be honest, I was still a little uncomfortable even after the priest healed me, but I've completely recovered now."

"That's good. What about in here?"

I tapped my forehead, and Dwalki tilted his head.

"That must've been your first time getting folded in half. Do you think you can keep going into the Labyrinth?"

Explorers whose spirits had broken were more common than one might think. Sometimes, brutal memories engraved on the body lingered in the mind like scars.

"Oh, well..."

Realizing what I meant, Dwalki hesitated. As I'd expected, it hadn't left him unaffected.

"Whew... I'll be honest. I haven't been able to sleep properly since that day. I thought it was because we were in the Labyrinth, but it's been the same in the city."

Letting out a long, alcohol-laden breath, Dwalki confessed that just thinking about entering the Labyrinth again was enough to make his hands shake.

"But don't worry too much. Everyone goes through this and overcomes it, don't they? I'll be all right before our next expedition."

He could overcome it, huh... Looking into his eyes, I didn't think those were empty words. But there was one thing I wondered.

"Do you have a reason to go that far?"

Most explorers overcame their trauma and kept exploring. After all, they had no other way to make a living. In a city where paying taxes was a condition for staying alive, they had no choice but to overcome it.

But Dwalki was a mage. He was different.

"You could earn enough just working in the city. Why keep being an explorer?"

Dwalki hesitated at my question, then downed a whole glass of beer before answering.

"Because... I enjoy it."

That was an answer I hadn't expected at all.

"Because you enjoy it?"

"Of course, I had a different reason at first. Do you remember what I said when we first met?"

"I do. You said you'd become a great explorer and bring honor to your baronial house."

"That was all a lie, actually. I merely thought that if I became a famous explorer, my father... no, the late baron might take an interest in me."

Dwalki was the illegitimate son of a noble family. And, as was often the case with illegitimate children, he harbored a deep love-hate relationship with his blood relatives: the contradictory feelings of hating them while wanting their love.

"As you know, the previous baron passed away. And as you saw for yourself... my older brother, who inherited his title, didn't even know I existed."

He said he'd felt empty at first. With his purpose in life lost in an instant, he'd spent his days feeling as though he were adrift on the water. Having described his feelings at the time so poetically, Dwalki looked me straight in the eye.

"But I was able to get through it. I had no fewer than four people around me to lean on."

"You don't mean... u-us?"

"W-Who else would I mean? At first, I didn't know that was what companions could be. More than friends you could trust and rely on... like family. That's how it felt."

"I-Is that so?"

"It is. After my mother died, I felt alone in the world every day... But when I was exploring with all of you, laughing and talking, I didn't feel that way at all."

Perhaps aware of how embarrassing his own words were, Dwalki ordered another beer and emptied it in one go.

"Thank you, Bjorn. Thanks to all of you, I enjoy every day now. So... even though that happened to me this time... I can get through it."

"... I see."

"Yes. So don't worry too much."

"All right. I won't worry about that anymore."

With that, I set my concerns aside. Whatever his motivation, with that much resolve, I probably didn't need to worry about Dwalki's mental state.

"Hehe. The more I see of you, the more I realize you're quite softhearted, despite appearances."

"Enough of that. Let's just drink."

Perhaps thanks to our honest conversation, the awkwardness had disappeared. Dwalki, who'd been so hesitant around me, grew animated and started bringing up all sorts of topics. I listened and responded in kind.

That was when it happened.

"Um, Bjorn... There's something I'd like to ask you."

"Go ahead."

"Are you, by any chance... courting Miss Misha?"

Instead of answering, I stared at Dwalki. His face, flushed with drink, was full of anxiety and tension. Only then did I realize something.

'So that's why he suddenly wanted to talk alone.'

This had been his real objective.

* * *

"Braun Rotmiller. Thirty-four years old, and an explorer for eight years now, I hear?"

A contemptuous gaze greeted Rotmiller the moment he entered the office. Humiliated though he felt, he answered.

"... That's correct."

More than flustered, he was puzzled.

He had received a summons from the Explorer Guild that morning. So, even though he'd been catching up with his companions, he'd arrived at the guild on time. An employee had led him upstairs to this room.

A man sat in a chair, and Rotmiller recognized his face.

'Nile Urbans, the Explorer Guild's seventh district manager. Why would someone like him summon someone like me...?'

Questions rose to his throat, but he restrained himself and waited for the man to continue. There was no telling what trouble a slip of the tongue might bring down on him.

"Hmm. I like you. Especially the way you wait patiently despite your curiosity."

"Then could you tell me what this is about?"

At his request, the district manager nodded with a satisfied smile and explained why he'd summoned him. The more Rotmiller heard, the more outrageous it sounded.

"In other words, you want me to betray my companions?"

"That depends on how you go about it. To be precise, all you need to do is teach that barbarian friend of yours some manners."

Rotmiller gritted his teeth. A district manager—one of only thirteen in this city. Someone who could make life profoundly difficult for an ordinary explorer simply for getting on his nerves.

That made it all the harder to summon his courage.

"That proposal... I'll pretend I never heard it."

He clenched his fists, forcing out the words of refusal. The district manager smiled as though intrigued.

"If we're finished, I'll be leaving now."

Rotmiller hastily turned toward the door before his fear could swallow him. That was when the man spoke.

"It's good to treasure your companions. A truly admirable conviction. But... how long do you think they'll remain your companions?"

At those words, Rotmiller stopped in his tracks despite himself.

"I've read your record. I imagine you must feel rather hard done by. It took you eight whole years just to reach rank seven. Meanwhile, a certain barbarian reached rank six in half a year."

"I've... never felt that way."

"If you say so. But isn't it about time you faced reality?"

"..."

"Your companions will keep climbing higher. They're not ordinary people like you."

Rotmiller pressed his lips together at those brutally blunt words. But he could offer no rebuttal. Not because he feared the man's power, but because he knew all too well that it was true.

"How long do you think you can stay with them? Three months? Four? Hmm, perhaps a little longer. If they pity you, that is."

Refusing to listen any longer, Rotmiller opened the door and left.

"I trust you'll make a wise choice."

Through the narrowing gap of the closing door, the district manager wore a genial smile.