Chapter 111
The application to meet the Lef people living in the Lef Magic Empire was over in no time. I simply wrote down the names of Emma-san, old man Hinga's daughter, and his granddaughter Lulusha-san, submitted it, and that was it. They would contact the Empire on their end; if the person in question wanted to meet, they'd give us a date, and if not, they'd tell us that instead.
They told me to wait for the result to be posted on the bulletin board at seven the next morning.
Incidentally, the clerk at the window was Lef, and the eyes behind the glasses perched on his nose seemed to be sizing us up. Even though he was Lef—as I honestly thought, if you lined up several of them, I wouldn't be able to tell them apart—he gave me a very different impression from Muge-san.
That night, we camped in the plaza. A huge bonfire blazed in the center, and adventurers gradually gathered around it, sleeping wrapped in blankets or drinking together. There was a small inn, but there was no way it could accommodate all these people.
While gnawing on some dried meat roasted over the fire, Dantes-san told us about Leon and the "Golden Brigade."
"Well, it's nothing particularly unusual, though—"
Unable to make a living in the countryside, or seeking to strike it rich, young people came to the cities. But even there, jobs were fiercely contested, and those confident in their physical strength became adventurers.
In Dantes-san's case, he lost his wife to an epidemic when he was still young, left his daughter Non-san in the care of a church, and chose the adventurer's path because it was the quickest way to make money.
"I kept thinking about playing it safe and being prudent... and before I knew it, I'd become a rock-solid Tank."
At the Adventurers Guild, after repeatedly meeting and parting with all kinds of people, he eventually settled into a regular party.
"I focused on protecting the back line, while Leon and the other melee Jobs took the front."
"Yeah, Dantes was already incredibly reliable even back then, wasn't he?"
I suddenly had a question.
"Was the party called the 'Golden Brigade' back then?"
"Yeah... Leon was the leader. He dreamed of striking it rich and becoming the kind of adventurer bards would sing about. So he came up with the name 'Golden Brigade.' Grandiose, isn't it?"
"Just for show."
Mimino-san snorted.
They might have been somewhere in the plaza, but at least I couldn't see them from where we were, and I had no intention of searching for them again.
"You can't deliberately set out to become that kind of person. In fact, there aren't many adventurers with what it takes to become heroes. There aren't many people like you, Reiji-kun."
"...Me?"
Why was I being dragged into this?
"Mimino-san, we agreed not to say anything about that."
"Oh..."
"Wait, Non-san, Mimino-san, what are you talking about?"
Mimino-san covered her mouth with both hands and shook her head, but that performance wasn't going to work.
"Sigh... I'm the one who told them to keep quiet, since I knew Reiji would worry about it."
"You, Dantes-san? What are you talking about?"
"Do you remember when you fought the Giant Serpent, Ouroboros?"
"Of course."
That was how I'd reunited with the members of Silver Balance after so long. There was no way I'd forget it.
"Do you remember what happened when you defeated it?"
Dantes-san rummaged through the backpack beside him and pulled out the Ouroboros orb—the one split cleanly in half. In the end, that was the only thing we'd gotten as our share for defeating it. It was packed with magical power, so it seemed like it might be useful for something, though.
"You mean when I climbed onto Ouroboros's head and drove my shortsword into it? I remember."
The shortsword had been worn out because of that, so I'd sold it to a blacksmith while we were traveling. My current main weapon was the dagger I'd received from the Margrave of Mule (also known as the Berserker). Its sheath stood out, so I kept it wrapped tightly in bandages.
This dagger was an incredible piece of craftsmanship; no matter how hard I used it, it didn't suffer so much as a nick. I wondered how much it would fetch if I sold it. Not that I would. Come to think of it, since it was made with mithril, I might not even be allowed to sell it without permission... Wasn't the distribution of mithril controlled by the countries?
"That's right, that thing. You were glowing at the time."
"The 【Light Magic】 Non-san cast on me, right?"
Non-san nodded. Apparently, it had an effect similar to support magic and was especially effective against evil beings.
"It was so conspicuous... It looked just like a monster being slain by a fairy-tale hero."
"Huh?"
"When I went to the Adventurers Guild the next day, a bard asked me about it. Apparently, he'd watched the scene from a distance too."
"A bard? I have a really bad feeling about this."
"He told me, all fired up, that he wanted to turn the part where you defeated Ouroboros into a song."
"..."
What did he say?
"N-no, I turned him down. I wasn't adventuring because I wanted attention, you know? But he was so persistent, and when he said, 'Everyone wants to know the hero who saved the city,' I knew he wasn't talking about me, but about you, Reiji, so—"
"In other words, Dantes sold Reiji-kun out, insisted they not sing about himself, and then gave the bard all the details."
"Dantes-san!?"
"Mimino! You said you didn't want them singing about you either, didn't you!?"
"I feel the same way Reiji-kun does. It's not as though that bard asked me and I answered him."
"You were right there beside me!"
The two of them bickered back and forth, while I wanted to writhe around from embarrassment. Actually, I was already doing just that, hiding my face with both hands.
This is too embarrassing!
I left the Holy King's Capital after slamming down what was basically a declaration of severance, and now people in the city were singing about me! Count Silees is definitely going to hear about this and grin, right!? And if we ever meet again, he'll needle me about it!
"'The Hero Who Saved the City'... Pff, pffpffpffpffpff!"
"Jelly-san!?"
When I took my hands away from my face, I found a cat beastkin peering down at me, laughing with an unbearably lewd grin.
"Jelly-san, saying something like that to me—"
Just as I was about to say "debt," several glittering coins reflecting the bonfire's light came raining down onto my stomach.
"Wha, wha..."
"Heeheehee. Young maaaaster... If you think you can keep doing whatever you want with me, your debt slave, night after night, you've got another thing coming—"
"You stupid cat! Where did you steal those from? Take them back!"
"So when I bring money, you treat me like a robber!? That's not it! I got it legally, through gambling!"
Gambling isn't legal. Private gambling was technically illegal in this world too.
And what was that lie about being able to have your way with me night after night? Did she have a compulsion to lie? Non-san, the cleric, was glaring at us with an ominous expression. We'd been together every day up to reaching this place, so Non-san knew I hadn't done anything like that, right?
"There's a gambling den for adventurers over that way, and there was an insolent guy with slicked-back hair in a yellow cloak, so I went over and squeezed him a little."
"Jelly-san..."
I placed a hand on Jelly-san's shoulder—and Jelly-san flinched.
"W-wait, did I mess up again!?"
"—That was a great job."
When I gave her a thumbs-up, Dantes-san, Mimino-san, and Non-san gave her thumbs-up too.
Incidentally, the coins Jelly-san had brought back were all silver, and they didn't amount to even half of her total debt.
The next morning, I woke up in the plaza, used 【Convenient】 to produce some water and wash my face, then prepared a meal with Mimino-san. We'd bought some goat's milk at the general store, so we were having bread porridge. There was no inn, but with the Lef Magic Empire just beyond the wall, the general store had a wide selection of goods.
After we finished eating, I headed alone to the building where applications for meetings were handled.
"...Huh?"
There was a notice with the result of my application.
'Emma: Unable to meet—deceased. Lulusha: Unable to meet by order of the authorities.'
I stood frozen for a while.
The "death" part shocked me, but I had thought it was possible.
But "by order of the authorities"?
What the hell was this...?
Even when I asked the staff at the meeting application office, they gave me no help: "We have no knowledge of that here. The department that handles applications and the department that conducts investigations are separate." They said they didn't even know which office the "authorities" referred to.
I was seething with frustration, but since asking any more questions clearly wouldn't get me anywhere, I returned to the plaza for the time being.
But developments were underway there too. Dantes-san, who had stopped by the Adventurers Guild, told us,
"Actually, Muge-san, who went back inside, submitted a request specifically for us. The job is to help gather materials inside the Empire... So, what do you say? Want to take it?"
Even if I stayed here, I wasn't going to be granted a meeting. I'd considered showing them the "Rinkei Magic Stone" left behind by old man Hinga, but showing it to the department handling meeting applications wouldn't accomplish anything.
If I went inside, maybe I'd find out something.
"I want to do it."
I answered without a moment's hesitation.