Chapter 110

After meeting up with Maizen, the three of us, including Mea, decided to go into a nearby tavern since neither of us had any major business to attend to .

They seem to have accumulated a lot of stuff about the party, so I’ll at least listen to them complain .

I propped my elbows on the wooden desk and looked around the interior of the restaurant .

A large number of liquor bottles are neatly arranged at the counter .

The desk is shiny, and there are no leftovers on the floor .

It’s one of the cleanest bars around .

However, I’ve never been to a bar before .

Because it was still in the early afternoon, the seats were almost empty .

“I’ll just have a whorup (beer) . What about you two?”

Maizen calls out to me .

“I’m alright with milk . ”

I’ve drunk alcohol at village ceremonies, but I’m not very good at it .

I once threw up and collapsed and had Gizel to care for me .

“Mea will have the same as Abel’s!”

“Oh, yeah, I see…… Well, you know, this store has milk that’s made from crushed eve berries……”

I miss it .

If you’re talking about eve berries, there were also some in the Marren village .

They’re a little sloppy and sweet and tasty .

They taste a bit like strawberries, even though they’re nuts .

“Well then, I’ll have that . ”

“Mea too, Mea too!”

“…… Somehow, I’m kind of feeling very alienated . ”

Maizen had been here a few times before and told the owner to order for all of us .

The waitress immediately brings us two glasses of milk and a whorup .

When I was wondering if I should suddenly start talking about the party, Maizen opened his mouth first .

“…… Come to think of it, you’re the one with the Gaston thing, right?”

Easily, Maizen guessed so .

When I looked next to him, thinking of fooling him, I saw Mea’s face turned pale and frowning .

I decided to speak without hiding it, thinking that Maizen would shut up .

“No, I knew it, or rather I thought it was you anyway . No matter how you think of it, it’s strange, you know . ”

Maizen took a gulp of his whorup and then shook his head from side to side .

“That much, huh? Maybe I should quit before it’s exposed . ”

I take a drink of eve-milk while keeping pace with Maizen .

“…… . . Well, I think it’s okay . The promotion is essentially like a reward for being a good adventurer . Losing an excellent fighting force by poking them poorly is the end of the world . They’ll do everything in their power to pretend they don’t know . Especially since the lord of this place owes you a debt of gratitude, so he won’t be the first to take advantage of it . ”

Besides, Maizen continued saying, keeping his voice low .

“I heard from the survey team that the lord is planning to have Gaston as a hero . If it gets to the point where you can’t back out, I think the city would rather protect you . ”

“Buh! Geho!”

Eve-milk got into my trachea .

Holding my throat, I set the cup down on the table .

“Eh…… you’re kidding, right?”

“Apparently he’s serious about it . If there’s a famous adventurer, the city’s fame will go up a notch, after all . Look, don’t you see the lord’s scholar, Wegener? That man read the report on the defeat and he liked Gaston . I’m sure Gaston will be hearing from him soon . ”

 A combination of a phony scientist and a phony adventurer is about to be born .

So phonies get drawn to other phonies .

“…… But won’t the nobles who heard the rumors and try to get Gaston to serve them get angry?”

“A nobleman wouldn’t bother to visit a place that isn’t even his own territory . They’ll probably send a random underling to check on him and pull him out as soon as they find out what’s going on . Even the examination for joining the lord’s legion here involves an interview and a practical test, so they wouldn’t take an adventurer’s rank alone without even checking your ability . I don’t know if it’s a very stupid nobleman, though . ”

So it’s like that .

No matter how it turns out, it doesn’t seem to be as important as I thought it would be .

“Then, there are quite a few other people besides me who are fooling around?”

“…… I don’t know any other adventurers who would go to such lengths to hide something like you . If you had the time to do all that, you’d want to focus on your own hunting . For me, I want my work to be recognized for what it is, and I don’t understand why you get to celebrate other people’s work . You have your own set of circumstances, though . ”

“Ha, hahaha……”

He stared at me with a still stare, so I looked away and laughed and faked it .

I guess Maizen doesn’t really like this kind of approach .

“C-, come to think of it, how’s the party going?”

Maizen chuckles at me for blatantly changing the subject .

“…… I’m starting to see a way out of this, at least . ”

“Hoh . ”

It seems that it wasn’t just a throwaway that they should be able to handle it .

Honestly, I don’t think there’s anything else to do but keep that Lisha and Tida apart, what kind of a plan does he have in mind?

“Our party, you know, it’s just not going so well . We try to talk to each other, but there are some holes in the party, and we don’t work well together . It wasn’t so bad in the past . ”

Definitely, Lisha and Tida aren’t working well together……

“If you ask me why, I think it’s because of the composition of the members . That’s why they can’t play their roles . ”

I knew that Maizen also realized that he shouldn’t bring those two together .

Either let one of them quit, or let both of them quit . I feel It would be faster if Maizen himself left already, though .

“That’s why I’ve decided to add one more member . I’ve been in a tavern with a guy who knows both magic and swordsmanship . I’m planning to get them both to meet each other in the near future . ”

“What?”

So you’ve gone that way .

I feel like there’s a bigger problem lying around than that .

“The ranks of our members have risen, so we tend to go to areas where the magic beasts are strong . I guess it was too much for the three of us . The search wasn’t going well, so discord spread, and because of that, the search didn’t go well again . ”

…… Maybe I should just say it outright now .

If this is the case, the number of victims of heartache will only increase .

“Hey, maybe it’s because of that Lisha and Tida disagreement . I have a feeling that as long as we’re left with those two, it’s never going to work . ”

“N, no, if that were the case, one of them would have quit a long time ago . Those two are still here, so we should still be able to do something about it…… We-, well, yeah, if one of those two says it, I’ll think about it in that direction too . ”

Maizen uttered that while choking as if it was hard to say .

…… As expected, it’s not like they couldn’t notice it . That’s right, they couldn’t have been this dull .

But I think those two just don’t want to get out of it because Maizen is higher in rank…… I think it would be better to break up sooner rather than later .

It seems that Maizen himself has a lot of feelings for it, so it’s not going to be that easy .

“That’s right, since we’re here let’s ask for something to eat . It’s quite delicious here…”

“Uwaaaa! Run, run!”

As if to interrupt Maizen’s words, screams could be heard from the city .

This was followed by a series of screams .

The shopkeeper in the tavern opens the door to see what’s going on outside .

Through the gap, a crowd of people could be seen rushing down the street in front of the store in front of them .

The clerk turns pale and drops the tray in his hand to the floor . Cups and plates fell to the ground, splattering liquor and food on the floor .

The other customers also seemed to notice the abnormality when they looked out the door and got up hurriedly and left the tavern .

Maizen took out coins from his pocket while standing up and scattered them on the desk .

“…… I don’t know what’s going on, but it looks kind of bad . This should be enough, so let’s get out of here right away and head for the voices . ”

Running away is not an option, apparently .

I guess that’s the spirit of an adventurer for times like these . I honestly admire him for that .