It was quite late by the time I arrived at the inn . But due to being near the busy streets, it was still fairly loud . And so it wasn’t easy making my way through the drunk men with their mugs of beer and the other guests staying at the inn .
“To think that I’d be the one to return late…”
I sighed as I remembered what I had told Daniela before we parted ways . It was bad to ask people to do things that you were incapable of doing yourself . It brought me back to my early days as a part-time worker . I sighed again .
“Happiness will flee if you sigh too much . ”
I recalled that rediculous saying as I entered the inn . A familiar person stood with their back turned towards me . Short, platinum blonde hair . Daniela .
“Sorry . I know I’m late . ’
“Hm…I just got back myself . ”
Daniela said as she turned around . She was holding skewers of meat .
“I hope you have something other than meat in that bracelet of yours?”
“Hahaha . ”
“It’s not funny . I’m actually worried . ”
There was something a little awkward in the way she laughed . In any case, we left the entrance and walked towards our room . While I had a bad feeling about it, surely, it was nothing .
I grabbed the keys from the counter and followed Daniela up the stairs . She had finished her food it seemed . Did she put the sticks in her bracelet? I hope she wasn’t using it as a trashcan .
“We should get changed and then go out for dinner . ”
“You’ve already eaten, old woman . ”
“Hey, Asagi . That is extremely aggravating . ”
This elf did not like to be reminded of her age .
“So? Where do you want to go? And it better not be meat . ”
We had eaten nothing but meat since coming to this city . We were going to start smelling like it before long .
“Indeed . A quiet bar might be nice for a change?”
“Hmm… I like the sound of that . ”
It was an unusual suggestion from Daniela . She usually preferred meat to drink .
I put down my bag and we both changed into rougher clothing before going back out into the city . Up until now, I had to take a smaller bag out of the hollow bag and use it to carry my wallet . But now, Daniela held the money in her hollow bracelet . We had put half of the money that I used to carry into it . It was incredibly convenient to be able to walk around without carrying anything .
“It’s nice that you don’t even have to carry your weapons anymore . ”
“But you still have your sword belt . ”
“Yeah . ”
While I was empty-handed, I did have the demon armor sword on my belt . It was a relatively safe city, but you never knew what could happen . I was pretty confident in my bare hands these days, but perhaps there would be some other use for it . I just liked to be cautious .
We walked through the night, side by side . This was the busiest, liveliest city we had ever been to . Also, the most populated . But that meant more places to go . While I was expecting Daniela to take a long time deciding…she seemed to be walking with a sense of purpose . Had she heard about this place beforehand? I suppose she was going to escort me . I felt like a lousy date .
“There is a good place just around the corner . ”
“Uhuh . ”
“…What?”
“Hmm? What?”
“…?”
I had been a little distracted as I argued with myself, but I pushed those feelings aside . We turned the corner and entered an ordinary alley . There were doors and small windows on both sides where soft light poured out . There was something foreign about it all . Like we had stumbled into a different county . Well, I was in a whole different world .
Daniela went to the fourth door and knocked . The light behind it seemed to become brighter .
“Why are you standing there? Let us go in . ”
“Yeah . ”
Daniela turned around to call me over . The interior was that of a very chic, atmospheric bar . There was a counter and a few tables . It honestly made me hate the clothes I was wearing . My shirt and trousers may have been made from wind dragon, they were too rough for a place like this . I should be wearing a suit and tie . What was worse, Daniela was wearing rough clothing too, but she somehow pulled it off in a way that I couldn’t . This was the gap between us…
“Welcome . ”
“Two sweet wines . ”
“Certainly . ”
There was a young, handsome man who prepared the drinks . Daniela had already taken a seat down by the counter and patted the one next to hers .
“Hurry up and sit down . ”
“Right . ”
I was nervous from my head to my toes . It was very uncomfortable . Surely it wouldn’t have hurt her to choose a place that was a better fit for me? Well, I suppose this place fitted her quite well . Still, I was a little annoyed . But I was also aware that it was stupid to feel this way . Sometimes humans were just controlled by their emotions .
Here you go . ”
“Thank you . ”
“Thank you very much . It looks wonderful . ”
“Asagi…”
I accepted the glass of red wine with both hands and slowly raised it to my lips . Daniela was looking at me with an exasperated expression . Maybe that was why I couldn’t taste a thing .
“Uh, it’s incredibly delicious . ”
“Good to hear . ”
My nerves were doing a bad job of calming down . Oh, now I was getting dizzy .
“I suppose you were not ready…”
I heard Daniela mutter . And then I blacked out .
Apparently, being incredibly nervous and drinking strong wine were a bad combination . And Daniela had suffered the embarrassment of carrying me back to the inn .
“Well, that is never happening again . I will have to go alone . ”
“Don’t say that… I am sorry…”
I had never been able to go to such a place before . There were some things in this world that just couldn’t be helped .
However, Daniela crossed her arms stubbornly . By the time I was able to placate her, the sun was already high in the sky .
“Should we go to a normal place for lunch?”
“Yeah . I love normal . ”
Daniela touched her forehead and sighed .
We sat down to what was really a brunch and talked about what we would do next .
“…So, how long will it take us to reach this Reserentrible place?”
“It is three days on foot…I believe . But there is a dense forest on the way . ”
Usually, you would discuss your trip in advance and then shop for supplies . But as we had no carry limit, we stocked up first .
“A forest, huh? It’s been a while…”
“Aye . There will be goblins and kobolds there . It is supposed to be very dense and dark . ”
Daniela said as she read from the paper she was holding . I had killed kobolds in a mine once . They liked to dig dark and narrow holes and tunnels . The forest must be pretty dark for them to live there .
“There are also lizards and other smaller monsters… Hmm . Well, nothing I would say is dangerous . ”
“But, don’t you think it’s possible that the dungeon could be having an effect on them now?”
Maybe monsters had crawled out of the dungeon and moved to the forest . It was easy enough to imagine .
“Who knows? This is all the information I was able to get at the guild . But there is nothing about any changes… At least not yet . ”
“Hmm…”
Well, they had just recently found out that it was seventy percent of the dungeon that had been swallowed up, not half . I don’t know how much time it was in between, but the information was constantly updated . I only hoped that Daniela’s information was new and still relevant…
“Well, I guess we won’t know until we go . It should be fine as long as we’re prepared . ”
“Indeed . Food and magic tools are no longer a problem . ”
“Really? I haven’t seen proof of any fish or vegetables being bought yet?”
“Shut up… I told you . I bought them . ”
“You better have…”
Daniela puffed out her cheeks sulkily as she ate her bread . I glared back and chewed on my salad .
“Mmm…gg… Right . We should buy more potions and other medicine . ”
“We have the money . So there is no harm in getting everything that we can . ”
“And not just healing stuff . I want potions for status effects as well . ”
If we wanted to survive, it would be best to be able to deal with as many situations as possible .
“You mean like burns or to fight drowsiness?”
“Yeah . I really don’t know much about them . But are there potions that work against petrification?”
“Yes . But they are very expensive . ”
The reason that I wondered about this, was because I had seen a ‘Petrification Shield’ at the auction . It was a magic shield that turned swords into stone, no matter what they were made of . They had even demonstrated it in front of us . Apparently, it had been made with a monster’s eye .
In other words, there was a monster out there that could turn things into stone .
“Alright, let’s go and buy them after we finish eating . ”
“I do not know where it is . We will have to stop by at the guild . ”
“Right . ”
Now that we had decided on what to do next, I hurriedly cleaned the rest of my plate while still savoring the taste .