Chapter 46
“Hey, Rento. How’ve you been?”
“Y-yes!”
As energetic as ever.
Roger, the leader of the A-rank party 'Meteor Shower,' had arrived.
He thumped me on the shoulder with a strong hand, then sat down beside me without hesitation.
“Rento-chan, it’s been a while.”
And there was one more woman.
Her long hair evoked a pitch-black night, and her golden eyes shone like the full moon hanging in the night sky.
Her sharply slanted eyes, which usually made her seem unapproachable, were now softly narrowed.
“Yes, it’s been a while, Namiria-san.”
She was also a member of 'Meteor Shower': Namiria-san, an enchanter.
As someone in the same support role, she’d taught me things like how to position myself in battle.
She was three years older than me, a bewitchingly beautiful woman.
Namiria-san slid naturally into the seat beside me—on Roger-san’s other side.
Then she moved in close, pressing herself against me.
...S-so close.
Instead of her combat robe, she wore a glossy black dress to match her hair, clinging to her slender figure.
Roger-san was dressed in armor, looking like he’d just come back from the dungeon, so why was Namiria-san dressed like this?
The dress had a plunging neckline, and my eyes kept being drawn to the two round mounds that looked ready to spill out. I forced myself to look away.
Namiria-san brazenly looped her arm through mine and pressed her breasts against me.
The soft, yielding pressure made my thoughts grind to a halt...
“What do you think of this outfit?”
“I-it’s lovely...”
My face flushed hot, and I couldn’t bring myself to look Namiria-san in the eye.
She’d always had me wrapped around her finger.
Since she’d taught me so much as an adventurer, I couldn’t just brush her off, but I had no idea how I was supposed to react.
In the end, things always went at Namiria-san’s pace.
“Hey, that’s enough teasing Rento.”
“Hehehe. I’ve been scolded. Though I’m not teasing him at all—that’s a terrible thing to say.”
Namiria-san let go of my arm and moved away, but she didn’t look the least bit sorry.
Finally free, I started breathing again after having held my breath――but when I took a deep breath, Namiria-san’s scent crept in through my nose, making my head spin.
Seeing me like that, Namiria-san said, “You’re as cute as ever...” and poked my nose with her index finger.
Perhaps satisfied after toying with me for a while, Namiria-san finally let me go.
“All right!”
When Roger-san raised a hand toward the tavern staff, three mugs of ale came over at once.
“First, let’s toast.”
The three mugs clinked together――.
Watching Roger-san empty his mug in one gulp made me feel nostalgic.
Maybe because he’d taken a liking to me, Roger-san used to invite me out all the time, saying, “Come on, let’s go drinking.”
Namiria-san’s mug was empty too.
Despite appearances, Namiria-san could really hold her liquor.
No matter how much she drank, her expression never changed.
There was no shortage of men who tried to get her drunk so they could have their way with her, but I’d seen them get soundly rebuffed time and again.
I wasn’t as strong as either of them, so after a couple of sips, I set my mug down.
“We only got back to this city two weeks ago ourselves.”
“Which means...”
“Yeah, we’re aiming to conquer the eighth floor.”
Conquering the eighth floor of the Melba Great Labyrinth.
That was the highest point an A-rank adventurer could reach.
Many A-rank parties had challenged it—but none had been able to overcome that towering wall.
Roger-san’s straightforward declaration, his eyes shining like a child’s, was cool even to me, a man.
“Looks like you’ve been through a lot too.”
“Yes, well...”
Adventurers can’t keep secrets from one another.
It seemed word had already reached him that I’d been kicked out.
But saying “I was kicked out” myself felt pathetic, so all I could do was give a vague answer.
“I always thought they were idiots, but they turned out to be even bigger idiots than I’d imagined.”
There was a slight trace of anger in his contemptuous words.
Then Roger-san said――.
“Hey, I’ll be straight with you. How about joining our party?”
It was an unexpected offer.