Chapter 36
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 36
Chapter Title: It's the Same
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A morning much quieter and more peaceful than usual.
As Ian came down the stairs, he saw his squad members already seated on the first-floor dining hall.
"G-Good morning…."
The members, who had turned at the sound of someone descending the stairs, greeted Ian.
Ian gave a casual wave and sat down in front of the three who had claimed the center table in the otherwise empty dining hall.
The dining hall was completely empty, without a single guest.
Not even the innkeeper who should have been watching the place was there.
Yesterday had been the first day after the monster invasion ended…
Essentially a festival of a night, so everyone must have drunk themselves into oblivion until dawn.
He had planned to eat breakfast and chat like usual, but from the looks of things, this state would last through lunch.
In the end, Ian just gazed at his squad members from the empty table.
Perhaps tormented all night by the two sharing her room, Mika looked utterly exhausted.
As soon as Mika met Ian's eyes, she blushed slightly and looked away.
Rin and Tanya on either side of her awkwardly averted their gazes as well.
"……."
Mika, who had tried to hide yesterday's events out of embarrassment, ended up grabbed by the two and spilling everything.
Thanks to that, Rin and Tanya had heard every single detail of what happened in the room.
Rin and Tanya's faces flushed red as they avoided Ian's gaze.
"…Mika. How's your body?"
"Ah, yes. I'm fine."
Mika lifted her head and answered Ian's question.
Looking back now, it had been quite embarrassing…
But the "treatment method" wasn't a lie—her condition had fully returned to normal.
If anything, she felt more energetic than before.
Mika inadvertently recalled last night, swallowed her rising shame, and spoke up.
"Um… I didn't get to say it yesterday, but thank you."
Mika bowed her head. Before Ian could respond, she vowed with a serious face.
"I'll definitely repay the money!"
"Repay? What?"
"Huh? The treatment fee, of course…."
Did he mention money yesterday…?
As Ian puzzled over their conversation from the day before, Mika tilted her head in confusion, as if it were obvious.
"You lifted the curse for me… So I should pay the treatment fee, right…?"
She had heard how much it cost to treat that curse.
Ian had covered it upfront, so of course he should receive that amount.
That was Mika's common sense… She had even asked Rin and Tanya to lend her the money.
Finally understanding, Ian waved it off dismissively.
Money didn't just appear out of nowhere.
Even if he took it from Mika, it would just come back as her pay, which he'd reinvest in her anyway.
"Forget it. I just didn't want you quitting suddenly on me."
"Ah, y-yes…."
At Ian's casual dismissal, Mika asked hesitantly with a flustered look.
"If, if I'm gone… Would that be troublesome?"
"Wouldn't it?"
"Then, yes… I'll, I'll work hard."
Mika fidgeted with the hem of her robe, her face gradually reddening as she quietly nodded.
With his brief talk with Mika concluded, Ian got to the main point with the squad.
"There won't be any requests for a while."
"None at all?"
"Yeah. City reconstruction work might come up, but… We won't take those, right?"
All resources were now focused on repairing the city.
No monsters left nearby, so no regular expeditions for a while either.
The mercenary corps was on mandatory vacation.
"So, we'll rest during that time too."
Hearing Ian, everyone finally relaxed, late as it was.
Too caught up with Mika's issue yesterday to realize, the grueling monster invasion had truly ended.
The corps' first long vacation.
A few days passed since the vacation began.
In that time, the three members of Ian's Mercenary Corps…
Slept like the dead.
Training, studying, practice, memorization, special training, drills…
They had pushed through such a schedule without a single day off to prepare for the monster invasion.
Like making up for all that lost sleep now that the tension was gone, the three just kept sleeping, rolling around in bed, and passing the time.
…And then, early one morning.
Perhaps from sleeping too much lately,
Rin's eyes opened far earlier than usual.
She closed them to try sleeping again, but sleep wouldn't come, so she quietly got up and headed outside.
"…Captain?"
As Rin yawned her way down the stairs, she caught sight of Ian's back as he exited the inn.
He wasn't one to go out unless there was something specific…
It was an early morning with nothing to do anyway.
Curiosity piqued, Rin quietly followed him out of the inn.
Ian overlooked Labyrinth City from the park atop the hill.
Too vast to take in at a glance, but it was one of the better spots to view the city's scenery.
"Captain."
"Rin?"
Ian turned at the familiar voice calling him.
Rin had somehow come right up beside him.
"How'd you know about this place?"
"Saw you heading out this morning."
On the way, Rin had bought some food from a street cart and offered it to Ian.
Not expecting her to follow, Ian took it with a bewildered expression.
Rin, who had trailed him hoping for something fun, looked around the utterly ordinary surroundings and asked Ian.
It was just a normal park.
"What are you doing here?"
"Just… came out for a bit."
So… it was a walk.
Rin made a face like she was truly done with him.
"Captain, your hobbies are so weird. Play a little."
Coming out early on a rest day just to gaze at the view from a park.
Not like some noble young lady…
Ian just smiled quietly.
In truth, he didn't find much enjoyment in the local amusements like the arena or theater district. To Rin, he probably seemed like an odd person.
Rin stood beside Ian and looked down at the streets below the hill together.
Far off along the main road, carts loaded with monster corpses were being transported.
"Whoa. Isn't that a Minotaur?"
"Looks like it."
Rin pointed at one particularly massive form that stood out.
Dozens of people were straining to pull the cart.
Just seeing the countless monster corpses passing through the streets showed how fierce the battle had been.
The slimes in the underground sewer had been terrifying enough, but outside, hordes of those massive monsters had come.
Rin still couldn't fathom how even those slimes had been held back.
Rin glanced at Ian's face beside her.
No matter how she looked, he seemed lost in thought.
Not sure if hearing the captain's worries would help…
But Rin tried broaching it anyway.
"What are you thinking about?"
"…How to stop the next invasion."
"We stopped it pretty well this time, didn't we?"
Ian looked at Rin and pondered for a moment.
Should he tell her?
It would be sudden for Rin.
But as a future teammate, maybe better she knew in advance.
After a brief hesitation, Ian spoke.
"Rin. How much do you know about the labyrinth?"
"That place?"
Rin pointed to the area beyond Labyrinth City's walls, where the labyrinth lay.
It was the place everyone in the city advised against approaching, a spot that sometimes sent chills just from looking at it.
The very reason Labyrinth City existed.
"Monsters come out from there. A place where monsters keep spawning… Something like that, right?"
That was the extent of common knowledge about the labyrinth.
In truth, ordinary people didn't need to know more.
But what Ian meant was something ordinary folk didn't know…
A tale of the labyrinth's deeper secrets.
"There's a monster beneath the labyrinth."
"A monster?"
Rin glanced at the monster corpses scattered around the city.
Monsters… Of course there were.
Seeing her reaction, Ian shook his head.
"Not your average monsters… Something far more dangerous."
"Like a dragon or demon king?"
"…Something like that."
Even as he said it, Ian wondered why he was telling Rin this.
What difference would it make telling a regular D-rank mercenary?
Maybe he just wanted to tell someone, anyone.
Smoke rose in the distance.
A joint funeral for the mercenaries who died in the battle.
Just a formal procedure for handling bodies in the city, but for mercenaries to even get that much was considered a relatively dignified end.
Watching that scene…
Ian couldn't help thinking that if he had acted more proactively, fewer people might have died.
At the same time, resentment bubbled up at why he, of all people, had to worry about such things.
He was just an ordinary person.
Just an ordinary guy who had played the game a bit longer.
Why did he have to struggle alone to save the world?
It was a vague, aimless frustration with no target.
"If it wakes up, probably… A lot of people will die. Maybe everyone here."
Rin looked down at the city.
If anyone else had said it, she'd dismiss it as nonsense, but Ian's words somehow rang true.
A horrific story, yet faintly in her chest…
A conviction that it would one day become reality.
"You're going to stop it, Captain?"
"Have to. Otherwise, we'll die too."
A demon king-like thing revives.
The captain stops it and saves the world.
…Just like the novels back home.
Rin took a bite of her bread and fell silent for a moment… Then spoke to Ian.
"Captain. I left my village because mercenaries seemed cool. In novels, adventuring and saving the world looked awesome."
Childish, right?
Rin mumbled, a bit embarrassed.
But the mercenary life she started was nothing like her imaginings.
Mercenary work was reality, not dreams.
Thrown into reality, Rin had naturally forgotten her unattainable dreams.
"In a way, you and I became mercenaries for the same reason."
"……?"
"We both wanted to save the world, so it's the same."
"…Yeah. Sure."
Rin giggled beside the slightly bemused Ian.
"Sticking with you means I can save the world too, right? Let's do our best."
Adventuring and saving the world… Easy to say, but what exactly to do? Ian surely had a plan.
And the reward would be huge.
Rin tentatively reached out her hand to Ian.
Well. Once she knew what dangers lurked there… Would she still say that?
Still, having someone to listen felt pretty good.
Ian reached out and lightly bumped fists with Rin.