Point of Contact
Point of Contact
As the guild grew livelier, nearly reaching the level of a banquet, our conversation wound down.
For adventurers who were often strapped for cash, an event like this was a rare chance to eat and drink without worrying about the cost, and the surrounding din only kept growing. At this point, you couldn't have overheard us even if you'd tried.
"That's about everything you need to know. The less conspicuous we are, the better, so let's meet by six."
Engrim looked around as though he'd said everything he needed to and was about to stand. Almost in unison, the rest of us stared at him in confusion. He'd left out the most important part.
"What about the magical restriction?"
At Rellie's question, the rest of us nodded, and Engrim smiled.
"There isn't one."
"Excuse me?"
"Just the fact that you came here knowing a magical restriction might be imposed is enough. Besides, a permanent restriction that only prevents you from talking about this request—that's beyond what we can manage."
That had been a test too, then. The four warriors laughed hollowly, and Rellie clicked her tongue as if annoyed.
"Ha ha! Rellie said a magical restriction that sophisticated would be incredibly advanced magic and was hoping to study it for ages! What a shame!"
"I really feel like I missed out."
Only after hearing Yekaterina say that while thumping the back of Rellie's chair did I understand her reaction. I didn't know whether all wizards were like that, but Rellie's curiosity was certainly impressive.
"Then I will see you tomorrow at the north gate. We will prepare the horses for travel, so you may pack your belongings accordingly."
Engrim rose from his seat, promising a custom service where they'd even lend out the means of transportation.
Though he'd said we were welcome to keep drinking and enjoying ourselves, we had preparations of our own to make, so we decided to call it a night and split up.
And so the gathering ended, with everyone except Rellie and Yekaterina—who normally traveled together—heading separately to their own lodgings. Curiously, none of us were staying in the same place, so I made my way back to the Ogatorf estate without much trouble. Darkness had fallen, and just as I was crossing the deathly quiet estate and garden toward my quarters, a sudden presence stopped me in my tracks.
"You're late."
I always kept my gear ready, so I had nothing special left to prepare. Sheryl's voice shattered my grand plan to wash up and go straight to bed the moment I returned, leaving me genuinely flustered.
"Don't tell me you've been waiting this whole time?"
It felt like it was practically eight by then, but Sheryl, who'd apparently waited I-don't-know-how-many hours, was sitting on a bench in the garden glaring at me.
"Why are you so late?"
"The guild had some circumstances tied up in explaining the request, so we didn't meet until the evening. Before that, like you know, I spent some time catching up with Ragnis."
Nothing much had happened, yet the day had somehow felt unusually long. Feeling the fatigue hit me all over again, I sat beside her. Sheryl, who'd been staring into space for a moment, finally spoke.
"The request. How long do you think it'll take?"
"Roughly three days? Keeping it secret is the important part, not that it looked particularly hard. The others were also people with some genuine skill. Just go smoothly and come back smoothly, I guess?"
"...All right."
With that terse reply, Sheryl dusted herself off and stood. She disappeared into the mansion as coolly as if she'd truly waited all that time just to hear those words, leaving me speechless.
"She's seriously fucking cool."
If she'd been born a man, she'd have been one hell of a man's man.
◈
Anyway, Sheryl left quickly enough that my plan for a good night's sleep went off without a hitch. Even waking at 5 a.m., I felt completely refreshed. I washed, got ready, grabbed my travel gear, and left the estate.
None of the servants reacted to seeing me leave in adventuring gear. They simply greeted me without much interest, apparently assuming I was off to raise my rank again to keep pace with Sheryl. What a wonderful workplace.
Even at this hour, the merchants who sold provisions to adventurers were already at work, so I had no trouble buying some jerky and breakfast bread on the way to the north gate. As I trudged along, munching plain on a baguette so big it wouldn't have been an exaggeration to call it enormous, memories of wandering Ogwen in the early morning came flooding back and sent a sharp shiver through me.
It hadn't even been two years, but it felt like it'd already been a decade.
"You've arrived quite early, Eldmia. Young friend, your sense of time is rather remarkable."
I'd reached the north gate with that strange rush of nostalgia still lingering when I found Gin sitting there alone, smoking a pipe. His battle axe—perfectly suited to a dwarf—was propped casually against the outer wall, and he sat on his luggage beside it. The whole picture practically screamed adventurer.
"I thought I'd arrived pretty early myself, but when did you get here? Were you so excited to split some Demonfolk-worshipper skulls that you stayed up all night?"
"Heh heh heh. I'm past the age for my heart to pound at things like that. At most, I came about ten minutes early."
It was about a ten-minute walk from the estate, and even accounting for how slowly I'd dragged my feet, it could only just have been past five-thirty. The man was seriously diligent.
Still, sitting there blankly for half an hour didn't sound appealing. I set my luggage down, pulled the pouch of coffee grounds from my pack, and walked over to the north-gate guard post. I rapped on the threshold like a door, and two guards who looked half-dead with sleep—probably fresh off a shift change—turned toward me.
"You're working hard from the crack of dawn!"
"Hah. You're working hard this early too. Here for inspection?"
"I'd like to ask for that a bit later once our group's gathered. It's nothing, just wanted to share some warm coffee—could I borrow a fire?"
"Coffee? We've even got hot water ready!"
"Wow, capital guards really are generous of heart, huh."
I joked my way inside and handed them the pouch, making both guards' faces light up. Commoners' coffee was little more than a bitter stimulant made by steeping ground beans directly in boiling water, but for people with few drinks and fewer diversions, even that counted as a small pleasure.
Even though they'd taken the whole pouch, the guards used the grounds with admirable restraint and handed the rest back. I stepped outside again carrying the cups of hot coffee they'd lent me.
"The early riser gets the coffee."
Gin, who'd just been handed an unexpected cup of coffee, stared at it with wide-eyed delight.
"Huh! You're a smooth talker too. Even most adventurers past twenty are nothing but surly bastards!"
"All just life's wisdom, wouldn't you say?"
"Heh heh heh! Exactly! The trick to life is getting along without rubbing people the wrong way!"
It was funny hearing that from a dwarf, a race hardly famous for being smooth around the edges, but just as elves who became adventurers had their reasons, dwarves would've had theirs too. In any case, the coffee softened the mood enough that we could chat comfortably while waiting for the others.
"Wow. Good grief, I can smell coffee from here this early in the morning. Did the guards share some with you?"
The ones who arrived when it was about 5:50 were Rellie and Yekaterina. Judging by appearances alone, you'd think Yekaterina would be bursting with energy and Rellie would be drunk on sleep, but the pair showed up in the exact opposite state, so Gin and I burst out laughing.
"Yekaterina, open your eyes. Did you sleep badly or something?"
"Ugh. Waking up at dawn is always hard."
In the end, we enlisted the guards' help one more time to get the two of them properly awake. Fortunately, the guards welcomed us as warmly as old friends, and Gaendal appeared just as the women finished their coffee.
"Hm? Cozy atmosphere you've got going this early in the morning."
He approached while expertly leading five horses by himself. We were puzzled for only a moment before understanding at the same time.
"Right. We'd stand out way too much."
"It's really reassuring to party with people who understand without needing everything explained."
He was the guild master, after all. Coming in person would have drawn attention, but having a guild member openly bring over five horses to lend to a group of adventurers would have looked suspicious too. It was almost embarrassing that I hadn't realized it yesterday.
"I didn't realize it until I got back to my lodging either. Once I did, I went over, explained the situation, and said I'd collect the horses myself."
The sunlight reflecting off Gaendal's bald head as he took the initiative flashed like a halo. What a magnificent sight.
"We're off to a good start. We caught something we nearly overlooked, and we've even got coffee to keep our heads clear. If only every request started like this."
"Heh. The most serious request I've ever taken, and it starts this smoothly. How ironic."
This was terribly rude of me, but seeing Yekaterina—who looked like the very embodiment of a barbarian warrior—sip coffee while talking about irony created enough of a mismatch to feel surreal.
Maybe she's actually a civilized warrior?