Bonus – The Everyday Lives of Certain Adventurers
Cabal, Ellen and Gido tottered down the road.
Their faces looked exhausted as they stopped in front of the building they had passed by often. Then they weakly pushed the door open and entered.
It was a cheap inn and bar. As all three were rather poor, they came here often.
After securing their rooms, they met up at the bar.
Once they had let out a series of deep sighs, they opened their mouths in order to let out all of the anger that they had built up inside.
“That’s why I argued against it!”
“Exactly. I remember saying that I had a bad feeling about it!”
“It can’t be helped now! I never would have thought that a Twin Serpent would appear when we were just supposed to hunt some great snakes!”
“But, but we had already hunted four of them…”
“And there was only one left to hunt…”
“We should be thankful that we were at least able to negotiate it so that the quest wasn’t a failure.”
Cabal spat, as if to say there was no point in arguing. Cabal understood why the others wanted to complain. But being the leader meant you had to listen to the complaints of others.
Just then, their beer was brought over to their table. It was the perfect timing.
As if wanting to forget all those bad memories, the three of them immediately tipped the cups into their mouths. While they hadn’t failed the quest, their reward money had been halved and the acidic saliva that the twin serpent had unleashed on them as they ran away, had made it necessary for them to have their equipment repaired. The more they thought about it, the worse their loss seemed. They could not go on without having a drink.
They didn’t have enough money to buy new equipment, and so they had to make do with having it repaired…
“Ahhh. I want dwarf-made armor too. But they cost several pieces of gold even at the lower end…”
“That’s too expensive, Cabal. I would like to buy new robes myself, but I know that I can’t.”
“We’re way too poor… We should just be happy that we’re even alive after what happened.”
“True. We got away from the Twin Serpent. And they sent out a hunting party because of our report. We should just be glad that no civilians were hurt!”
“Yes, yes. Having our savings disappear due to repairs. That’s no big deal!”
Cabal tried to be optimistic like Gido, but Ellen’s words were enough to remind him of how depressing their reality was. Ellen also looked gloomy, and an oppressive air fell over them. Cabal was just about to suggest that they should drown their troubles in drink, go to bed, and start again tomorrow! When–
“Hey, did you hear about it?”
“Ah. You mean the mansion deep in the mountains passed Giena village? They say there is a quest that is offering ten gold pieces as a reward.”
He heard the conversation of two men from the table next to theirs. They were quite drunk, and unable to tell that their voices were loud. The trio became sober at the mention of ten gold pieces, and they perked up their ears with serious expressions.
“So you get paid ten pieces of gold for killing the monster…”
“Hey, hey. That’s ridiculous. Why would they pay you so much?”
“Well, it’s a quest that is not going through the guild. So as there is no commission, you can earn more.”
“But doesn’t that mean that the strength of the monster is uncertain? Surely no one would be so stupid as to accept it?”
“Ten pieces of gold is mighty enticing. But Giena village is far away. I wouldn’t go all the way over there if I wasn’t sure that I could kill it.”
“Exactly. It would be smarter to take smaller jobs.”
The men said with a laugh. They soon forgot about the subject and went to boasting about their personal exploits.
Cabal, Ellen and Gido all looked at each other.
“Well, we just finished the last quest and have nothing to do…”
“Yes… And I hear that mountain vegetables are good this time of year…”
“It might be a good idea to relax and enjoy being in the mountains once in a while.”
With matching opinions, they nodded at each other.
Their eyes were full of greed and it was clear that none of them gave the slightest thought to the danger.
◇◇◇
Cabal, Ellen and Gido ran desperately.
They were so close to the exit when the thing appeared in front of the door.
It was a lesser demon.
The lesser demon was ‘B+’ rank, and so there was no telling whether or not their party, which was ‘B’ rank, could beat it.
According to the guild, you were only supposed to fight monsters that were the same rank as you or lower. As there was no gurantee you could win against a stronger monster, it was considered an act of suicide.
But why had this happened to them in the first place…
The party had stayed one night in Giena village before visiting the mansion in the mountains.
That was where they heard the details of the quest. And as it was late, they were invited to stay for the night.
They did not realize that it was a trap until they sat down for dinner with the master of the house.
“Oh, do you really not mind that we eat all of this food?”
“Everything is so delicious!”
“You just leave this ogre bear to us. We’ll handle it for you!”
“Hahaha. You young people are so reliable. Now eat up. We still have plenty more!”
“Thank you!”
“Yes, it is so good! Could you be fattening us up so you can eat us later on?”
“Hahaha…what? What did you just say?”
“Uh, umm… Could you be fattening us up so you can eat us?”
“…”
“……….”
Ellen’s joke caused the master to laugh uncomfortably.
It was so unnatural that even Ellen forced a smile.
“Uh…are you…actually serious?”
“Hehehe. Ahahaha! Very good, you humans. This isn’t exactly going the way I planned, but I’ll just kill you here and take your flesh.”
The master said. Then he dispelled his disguise, revealing his true form.
The three of them decided to retreat the moment they saw it. And that’s how their desperate escape began.
It was after much running that they finally arrived at the door.
“We should prepare to meet our fate now! Let’s kill it!”
“Lady, that’s easy to say, but… Oh, very well.”
“Hey, hey. I’m the leader here. Alright, let’s do this!”
The two men agreed with Ellen. And so began a battle where they used all their items, fully aware that they would be ruined after this was done.