Interlude – A Certain E-Rank Party’s Exchange
Another day’s work in the F-class dungeon done, and we were in the inn’s dining hall putting food away.
Rabert and me moved out when we went adventurer, so we’re in this cheap inn. Meribel and Ranan still come in from their folks’ places. Except word is both their brothers are getting married soon, so they’ll have to move out before long. The two of them are at the age where they’d normally be married themselves, only that gets complicated once you’re an adventurer. Meribel I intend to do something about. Haven’t told her yet.
“It’s kind of flat without Soshi-san around.”
Rabert came out with it from nowhere, mouth still going.
Soshi’s the old man adventurer who turned up here about three weeks back. Story goes I was the one who started talking to him, drunk… I don’t remember a second of it.
“He was a rare find, someone who could actually handle you drunk, wasn’t he. You must miss him too, Keim.”
Meribel gives me a look with a bit of needle in it. So that’s how they had me pegged.
“If anything I was the one looking after the old man. He was easy to talk to, mind. I’ll give him that.”
“Honestly, Keim. Soshi-san did say you were looking after him, but only because Soshi-san was steering you so well while you were drunk.”
“Yeah? Well. The old man actually listened when you said something, so maybe that’s where the easy-to-talk-to comes from.”
He was a good listener, true enough, and he paid proper coin for what he got told, which isn’t nothing. Pulled us out of that ‘would-be goblin King’ mess as well.
“He’d be reaching the town of Euron about now, wouldn’t he. Plenty of adventurers over there, so I hope he finds a party.”
“You worry too much, Rabert. As strong as he is, there’ll certainly be someone at his rank who’ll take him.”
Ranan answered, poking at her meat dish.
“Hope so. He can take a ‘goblin King’ head-on by himself, so I hope he keeps at it.”
“Agreed. He got that strong in that little time. If he doesn’t die he’ll be C-rank in no time.”
“I’d rather you left the dying part out of it.”
I get what he means. Thing is, adventurers live next door to dying. Doesn’t matter how much talent the old man has for getting stronger, there’s a hundred ways he could drop dead in a heartbeat.
The mood was heading somewhere dark, so I changed the subject. That’s a leader’s job too. Probably.
“So your big brother’s wedding’s settled, Meribel?”
“Eh? Ah, yeah. Ceremony’s in about two months, looks like.”
“That means you’ll be in this inn too, then?”
“That’s right. My big brother says I can stay on at home, but I can’t very well do that.”
“Figures. Which means we’d better start earning a bit more.”
“My younger brother marries soon as well. And my parents will not stop telling me to marry, so I intend to leave home. Which means I want to earn more, looking ahead.”
“You too, Ranan…”
I’d seen this coming a while back. We’re an E-rank party and there’s no E-class dungeon in this town. Want the rank up, you leave. Except every one of us was born here, and none of us could ever quite take the step.
“…Might be we’ve got to get out of this town soon.”
“Yeah… guess so…”
“It does come to that, doesn’t it.”
By the sound of those two they need a bit longer to get their heads straight. All of us have half-known it all along, though. Has to be.
“That old man’s aiming up. Us sitting in this town not doing it, I dunno. Feels kind of pathetic.”
I said it mostly to myself, and all three of them seemed to nod at it.
Course I’ve always had it in me, wanting to get stronger and go up. Only that puts my life and my party’s lives on the scales, and I can’t move the lot of us out on my say-so. But if it makes things easier for Meribel and Ranan, we ought to sit down and talk it through properly.
Somewhere in all that thinking I’d gone and ordered a drink.
Meribel puts on her angry face. Same as always, so I let it be.
Come to think of it, the old man used to drink with me. I’m the only one in this party who touches it, so that’s one more gap he was filling.
—If he leaves a hole that size after a few weeks, maybe the old man really does end up a famous adventurer.
That’s what I sat there thinking about, over the drink.