Chapter 13
Chapter 13
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 13
Chapter Title: Once a Big Shot
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"Cheers!"
"Che...ers?"
"..."
After stopping Regen in her tracks, I spread out a mat and successfully scored some booze.
It was worth all the antics I'd pulled in pubs across the world.
Keep the intro simple, crack a silly joke to get a laugh.
"Drink up!"
Before any awkwardness could set in, down the alcohol.
I threw back the booze in a one-use cup made from bound lotus leaves in a single gulp.
A thick heat passed through my chest.
"Ha."
As I exhaled, a refreshing aroma spread from my throat.
A flower bloomed in my throat.
"Whoa."
The best.
Good thing I'd stuck my head in.
"Thud! My nose... cough! Cough...!"
"Fey, what are you doing chugging brandy like beer?"
In the midst of it, Fey pulled off the feat of downing brandy like it was beer.
"Pfft."
Regen burst out laughing at the clowning.
'Nice.'
The initial hurdle was cleared.
'Now start with light chat to build the mood...'
When the booze starts dulling the nerves...
"Drink!"
I sipped from Regen's brandy glass.
'The best, as expected.'
It had this taste like some elementary schooler slapped "just the absolute best liquor" on it. The more you drank, the fresher it got.
"So, how'd you end up here, Regen?"
With the mood nicely ripened, I dove into her story for real.
"Nothing special. Pretty ordinary."
"Ah..."
"When I first got here, there wasn't even an association or anything like that. That's when I..."
"Ooh..."
Huh.
"I was the first elf to leave my forest and go full-time adventurer..."
Whoosh—!
Suddenly, an illusion of a dam bursting flashed before my eyes.
"This..."
A "won't let you go till dawn" development?
*
"...and that's why I do this job."
"I... see."
Regen unleashed a solid five-hour talk marathon after that.
Unlike her cool vibe, she was starving for conversation.
"Sniff, sob..."
Fey was sniffling beside her.
It was warranted.
This story's genre was pure tragedy.
Regen's tale, simplified—she glossed over some parts and local details were fuzzy to me, but the gist was:
'Kicked out of her guild.'
A banishment cliché familiar to modern folks from webnovels.
"So... you got that curse on the left side of your face, lost your mana, and your comrades turned their backs on you?"
It was heartbreaking.
Regen had been a hotshot adventurer back in the day. She'd blown all her earnings trying to fix her shattered mana vessel.
No progress, got scammed left and right in the process.
Lost money, lost people, and now she fetched corpses for bereaved families on commission.
Even that cash went to painkillers for the worsening curse.
They were too pricey back home, so she was stuck here, unable to return.
"Shouldn't have said anything."
Regen glanced at Fey and said bitterly.
"...One more shot?"
Booze is the answer in times like these.
Regen shrugged, and I promptly refilled her cup.
"You hear you're a nice guy a lot, right? Always taking losses."
"Dunno about that. I just like talking with people."
I really do enjoy listening to others.
It was the secret to scraping by as a decent traveler despite my iffy foreign language skills.
Proper reactions showing you're all ears. Timely nods and gasps.
"...This booze is severance pay, actually. It was a time capsule meant for all of us ten years from now. The meaning now is obvious."
"Didn't realize. That's harsh."
"Nah, better to cut toxic ties clean. You did me a favor. Honestly, I've just been a burden for years."
"Aw, still..."
React like their words are the whole world in that moment.
"You really went through it."
"Sigh, no, forget it. It's all my fault."
"Nobody here thinks that."
"Pfft, kid... got a silver tongue."
It might look like cheap flattery, but it's not.
You can tell if someone's truly immersed in your story.
On top of that,
-Gulp gulp gulp,
"Then cheers again! To endless tomorrows!"
"...To that."
The liquor etiquette I'd picked up after high school graduation working factory lines—full liquor mastery.
-Clink.
Land of Morning Calm's K-booze manners still held up in this world.
"...Will, you really have great affinity... in all sorts of ways."
Fey said to me, her sniffling stopped.
"Yeah. Even dwarves aren't this chummy. Especially after I started reeking like rotten fish."
"Aw, rotten? Too harsh. It's all flower scent."
"...You're creepy like from the first sight."
"Oh, admitting it?"
"...Yeah. Total freak."
Regen took a sip as she said it.
"Aw, Regen—no, sis! Can't drink alone! I'll catch up!"
"Sheesh, fine. Hurry up."
A faint smile played on Regen's face.
"More than that, this booze is seriously good, right? The aroma especially."
"Yeah. It's made from World Tree petals, after all."
"...W-World Tree?!"
Fey, who'd been awkwardly sipping nearby, yelped in shock.
World Tree?
Come to think of it, those punks I'd chased from the bar had yapped about the Blade of the World Tree.
"J... joke, right? High elves stake their lives guarding it... No way its flowers go into booze..."
"Who knows. Believe what you want. Dismiss it as beggar babble."
Regen brushed it off with a laugh and turned to me.
"What do you think?"
"I believe Regen. Makes for a better story, no?"
No need to doubt and cheapen my rare experience.
Even if fake, you can brag about a one-of-a-kind taste.
"Hahaha, what a freak."
Regen laughed and patted my back.
"Oh, right. You called me pretty last time, yeah?"
"Uh, yeah?"
Then she leaned in close.
Booze-fueled mischief in her eyes.
"So... still think so?"
And then,
Regen yanked down the cloth covering her left arm.
A pink flower covering her left arm glimmered faintly in the moonlight.
"Eek?!"
Fey jolted back in surprise.
Regen's expression shifted subtly at the sight.
Relief? Regret? Hard to say.
"Ah, sorry. Seeing you lie so boldly back then kinda irked me..."
But.
"...Right? Been thinking you're a total beauty since first sight."
Couldn't read her intent.
What?
Showing off her looks?
Some kind of trap? Like, "Bet you think I'm a beauty"?
That'd explain Fey's freakout.
"......Huh?"
For the first time, bewilderment crossed Regen's smug face.
"...Your face is red. Drunk?"
"Ah, uh... no, nothing."
She whipped her face away and wrapped the cloth over her head again.
Drunk?
She's got some enigmatic sides.
"Anyway, whatever. You two aspiring adventurers?"
Topic shifted abruptly.
"Yeah, taking the official adventurer exam."
In this world, official Nether exploration quals came from the guild association.
You could go without, but no access to association facilities dotting the Nether for easy trips.
Hence, do probation quests, get feel, then take exam for official registration.
"Official exam, huh. Memories. Still start at Bronze?"
"No, lowest is Iron now. Then Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum... Dark Iron on top."
Fey answered Regen's question.
"They added weird stuff. Back then, Gold straight to Dark Iron."
"...This system's been around over ten years...?"
"Fetching adventurer corpses for families keeps me out of the loop."
-Oh, hope that one's unchanged.
Regen said to us like she'd just remembered.
"...Since we're fated, want a tip? Exam hack."
"Hack?"
"Yeah. Test site's secret, right?"
"Yes."
"But I can guess it."
"Really?!"
"Selling bodies and sorting relics, I run around and spot association proctors. Their spot hints at the test site."
This was huge.
Like peeking at exam questions beforehand!
"...C-can't teach us?!"
Fey cried out.
Elite or not, she needed test intel.
"Was gonna."
"Ooh!"
But something felt off.
Last time...
"What happened? You tried stopping us from becoming adventurers before."
"What happened."
Regen gave a wry smile.
"Know you stubborn brats won't listen, so tossing you a rice cake to send you off."
"Aha."
"What, bummed the pretty kid said no?"
"No way."
I prefer rice cakes over beatings.
Tasty.
"That was a joke... Brought back old memories. I was stubborn too."
Regen smiled faintly.
She looked like an elder proudly eyeing the next generation.
"...Regen."
"?"
But,
"If we pass, wanna head down to the Nether with us?"
Regen wasn't some old-timer waiting out death in safety.
'We need a veteran right now.'
Combat power could be low. What we needed was a battle-hardened dungeon pro.
On that front, Regen—a vet who knew the exam inside out—would be a massive boon to our journey.
"...Scouting me right now?"
"Yep."
"Got the hots for this beauty elf?"
"Can't say no."
"...Ugh."
Regen, mid-tease, whipped her head away.
"I'll ask too. Just till we're used to the Nether. We'll pay daily wages."
Fey chimed in from the side.
She was thinking the same.
"...You don't seem to have his iron stomach."
"...It's fine. Seen worse in Magic Tower labs. I'll mouth-breathe if it's bad."
"Hmm."
Regen eyed us both in turn.
And,
"Pass."
"Eh."
Shot down flat.
"A-again? Why?!"
Fey panicked.
"Reasons galore... but first, you're underqualified."
"No! I'm the Magic Tower's unprecedented triple-top graduate! With us, you could totally..."
As Fey confidently raised a finger toward Regen—
-Thud!
"Huh."
Crash!
Drunk wobble toppled Regen's nearby luggage.
"Ack, sorry! Lemme pick it up..."
Fey scrambled to gather the spilled items from the cloth.
-Freeze.
She froze in a weird pose midway.
"Huh, this..."
Fey's hand held a black plate-like thing.
Heavy texture suggested metal, ornate carvings on the surface.
Though it had a long knife-gouge crack.
"Da-da-da... Dark Iron?!"
Fey shrieked in shock.
Dark Iron?
The top rank?
"..."
Regen calmly sipped her booze, watching Fey.