Chapter 73

Ch . 73: Hearing a Story Without Destruction

There wasnt a rumor about a school that shut down going around .

The job that he had accepted for it via the adventurers guild, was supposed to have given significant human as well as material casualties, but apparently it wasnt enough to shake the schools foundation .

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

As 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 .

At first Loren wasnt 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 .

I dont know about drinking from the middle of the day, though .

It 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 .

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

Sitting 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 .

Whats with that face?

I didnt think you were one to worry about something like that .

Loren wondered if he looked like such a rough person .

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

Most of them didnt because they knew it would cost them their lives .

But of course, there were exceptions so there were some who drank regardless, but those were exceptions of exceptions, so they werent relevant .

Adventurers have some time on their hands when they arent on jobs, so it must be different from being a mercenary .

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

The smile along with his good looks was enough to convince Loren why women couldnt resist him, but since he was the same gender, all he could do was snort .

I think that smacking your lips on expensive drinks when the sun is high isnt too bad every now and then .

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

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

The 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 .

Its wine from Vargenburg . They say that this years batch is exceptional .

Vargenburg? Wheres that?

Klaus froze for a second at Lorens question .

After a moment he gave Loren an unbelievable gaze, but Loren glared back, since he didnt like it when guys stared at him like that, and he didnt like the way Klaus was looking at him .

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

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

Kauffa, right?

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?

All Loren thought was, Oh, okay .

He 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 .

To mercenaries, who didnt 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 .

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

Im barely making enough to feed myself, so I dont think such a day will be coming anytime soon .

He didnt say the it wont ever come, but if such a day were to come, it would be far into the future .

I dont think itll be that long with your skill with your sword .

Thats just my arm strength . Anyone could do what I can if they could swing this around .

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

Anyone could tell that Lorens main weapon, his great sword, was exceedingly heavy just by looking at its gigantic size .

Klaus couldnt think of anyone other than Loren who could swing such a weapon around .

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

I did learn normal swordsmanshipbut it didnt really sink in .

Id like to see it once .

Its not much . Even my leader told me I wasnt cut out for it and gave up trying to teach me .

Loren felt an indescribable emotion when the word leader left his lips .

When 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 .

But 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 .

On 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 .

Any news about your mercenary companions since then?

No idea . Not going to search, either . I wont find much even if I try, anyway . Unlike citizens, mercenaries like us have no information regarding our identities and backgrounds . Itll be a waste of time .

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

The only thing that sort of did was the group itself, but if it disbanded, like Lorens did, even that disappeared .

Well, fortunes already given me so many strange meetings . Maybe Ill run into them one day .

Hopefully you do .

Well, even if I did, I dont intend on going back to being a mercenary . I dont feel like making a living off lives at this point . I made some promises as well .

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?

A girl with black hair pulled up into a ponytail, wearing priests clothes, interrupted their conversation and sat down next to Loren .

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

Lapis, did you find any good jobs?

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

She 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 werent satisfying .

There werent any that came to me . Well, there are those kinds of days, I guess .

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

Wine 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 didnt say anything .

I can pay for yours as well, you know?

Klaus 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 .

I would gladly accept if Loren were buying, but Ill never accept anything from you .

No way I could buy you anything

Strangely, Loren didnt end up in the red after the last job .

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

Its just a metaphor . I dont want anything from someone who leads a harem party, with a bunch of mistresses on top of a wife .

Looks like Im quite hated .

I hate snakes, but theyre still better than you .

Lapis view of Klaus was very low .

But it was something Loren could understand, so he didnt say anything and watched Lapis flame Klaus .

Klaus personality seemed to have gotten a lot softer since Loren had met him, but it didnt seem like his quickness to lay a hand on women didnt change, and it didnt seem like he was going to change it either .

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

But of course, he knew that Klaus personality was one of an enemy towards women, so he didnt feel like stopping Lapis insulting him .

Im only here since I followed Loren, so dont mind me .

Thatswell, okay .

Oh, I do acknowledge your ability, so Ill be sure to make use of it when something happens .

A-ahahaha

In 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 .

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

There werent any good jobs, but if we dont work, youll be wandering on the streets .

Borrowing money from you again is painful, too .

The promise that Loren had made with Lapis .

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

The conditions werent bad, as Lapis had said she wouldnt forcefully collect and he could pay whenever he could, but it was already at an enormous amount, over thirty gold coins, so he didnt want to increase it any further if he could .

I dont mind but continuing to lend will cause you to be concerned, and I believe that work is precious, after all .

But there wasnt a good job, right?

If they forcefully accepted a bad job, it wouldnt end well .

Even if it wasnt, 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 .

If force was added on top of that, Loren wasnt sure what sort of dangers would await them, but apparently Lapis was thinking of something completely different .

There wasnt a job, but Ive thought of something nice .

Her eyes sparkled, excited to tell him, but on the other hand, a shadow crossed over Lorens face .

Loren was worried that whatever it was, it wasnt going to end well, but he gave up, knowing that he wouldnt be able to change her mind, so he gulped down the rest of his drink and prepared himself .