Chapter 90
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 90
Chapter Title: Wanderers in the Forest - 2
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Koon's voice was hoarse, as if he had caught a cold.
"Your throat sounds completely clogged. Are you feeling unwell?"
"Yes. I think I drank too much yesterday."
"Must be because it's been a while since you last drank, so you couldn't control yourself."
This wasn't like the Koon I knew.
He was someone who took responsibility for his duties no matter how tired he was, but alcohol was perfect for ruining one's condition.
If I had to find a reasonable excuse, it was the backlash from usually avoiding alcohol.
Since he hadn't gotten drunk for so long, he probably had no sense of how badly the hangover would hit while enjoying the festival.
I was the one who promised to let him enjoy the festival without worry, so I should forgive him for one day of slacking.
"I came to check because you weren't at the entrance. I wondered if something was wrong."
"I'm sorry. I caused you unnecessary trouble."
"Fortunately, Sua's summoned beast was still there guarding it."
I talked about the spirited summoned beast guarding the forest entrance.
That way, he could rest properly even if he took a break.
"Ah, that... The mage must have done as I asked."
"What? So it was something you arranged with Sua?"
"Even if I'm not feeling well, I couldn't just abandon my duties..."
It wasn't that he had forgotten to ask Sua to unsummon it.
Koon was still Koon, even with his mind clouded by the hangover.
He had prepared a substitute for his duties while he couldn't perform them.
He wasn't the type to just slack off and ignore his work because he was tired. As expected.
"But when did you even make the request? Did you go out in the morning and come back already?"
"I brought it up last night toward the end of the festival. I didn't realize it while drinking, but after I finished and saw the empty glasses, I was sure I'd be dead tomorrow."
"Good instincts."
Of course.
Even if Koon had dragged his sick body out, Sua wouldn't have left her room.
I wondered how someone who hated moving around so much had managed to hold the guild master position until now.
I knocked on the door.
"Mmm... I said I'm not going hunting..."
"I've already been and come back ages ago. You still haven't gotten out of bed?"
"I went to sleep late..."
Today, I was having a lot of experiences talking to doors.
It seemed no one except Ellie wanted to face me directly.
"Open up. I have something to ask about the summoned beast."
"Ah, no way! I'm not even properly dressed right now!"
She told me to wait 30 minutes and come back, so I decided to kill time in my room first.
In reality, it took not 30 minutes, but a full hour before Sua finally opened the door.
- Creak!
"Ha, haha. Took a while, huh?"
"I don't believe you're asking because you don't know."
"Hey, come on, how can anyone get ready in just 30 minutes?"
Sua was leaning diagonally against the doorframe, her hair flowing.
Was she showing off her hair?
"I'm just here to ask quickly and go, so no need to go all out. Just open the door."
"I can't just come out like that. When I wake up, my hair's all tangled like a mess, and I was even in pajamas."
"I've seen worse than that. What's the big deal?"
"Wh-what?"
Back when we were fully committed to conquering, rankers like her weren't consumed as celebrities the way they are now.
We only worried about how to clear the current floor; our public image wasn't a consideration.
The individualistic designs of gear that had nothing to do with performance,
the specific class and skill combinations that became synonymous with affiliations,
even abandoning family names and given names for newly earned nicknames.
All of it stemmed from being conscious of outside gazes.
Conversely, in times without such concepts, we ignored outside opinions entirely.
Ignoring the outside was fine, but shutting off internal gazes too was the problem.
It seemed normal back then, but looking back, it was pretty destructive.
"What do you mean you've seen worse?"
"Just what I said. I've seen unwashed appearances countless times."
"M-me? When?"
We could only laugh together on successful clears.
Failed runs meant death.
Dying proudly versus dying pathetically were completely different deaths.
A bigger difference than living versus dying.
If we encountered an overwhelmingly strong monster, we'd draw our swords and fight with our lives.
If the situation to resolve was too complex, we'd move to find even a small clue.
But when the air is stagnant and there's nothing to drink, humans revert to primal states.
And without food, they turn ugly.
There were a few, but definite, runs where we miserably starved to death because we couldn't secure rations in time.
Recalling those memories, unwashed messy hair seems peaceful.
Fortunately, now the atmosphere prioritizes life where progress is visible over pure conquest.
Just because I wasn't participating in conquest at all.
Unintentionally, my observer role had led to beneficial results.
"Ugh... embarrassing."
"What is?"
"It feels like someone else knows all my embarrassing secrets. Like I have a dark history even I don't know about."
Sua fiddled with her hair, her face flushing hot.
"I'm not exactly thrilled knowing it either."
"Why do you remember me unwashed!"
"You think that's all...? There's plenty I want to forget too."
"How much do you know about me, you crazy regressor?!"
There were runs without Sua, but more where we climbed together, so it was natural.
Her abilities as an adventurer were close to an essential card I had to pick often.
Firepower wasn't something replaceable; more was always better.
I steered the topic back before it veered off.
The original purpose of coming to Sua's room was the summoned beast.
"Ah! That?"
"Koon said he asked you."
"Yeah, he asked yesterday. If I could leave the summoned beast summoned for a while."
"For a while? Not just today?"
"What do you mean just a day?"
Sua tilted her head.
I tilted mine too.
I had thought it was just borrowing her help for today as an exception.
"It wasn't hard, so I said yes. Of course, as I mentioned last time, a week is the limit."
"Not because of mana shortage, but due to command volatility?"
"Right. After a week, it'll forget all my commands, so I have to check and renew it weekly."
No matter how I looked at it, the period Koon requested from Sua wasn't just one day.
Wasn't it simply because he was unwell that he relied on the summoned beast?
"But I still didn't have the courage to apologize first. Maybe because we've known each other too long?"
'Could it be he doesn't want to run into Delion?'
I had definitely heard Koon say his complicated feelings were somewhat sorted out.
Yet he still lacked the courage.
The wound hadn't healed yet.
"What about Delion then?"
"Huh? Why him?"
"If you didn't talk to him separately, unlike Koon, Delion will just work his shift as usual, right?"
"He'll handle his own duties."
"What does the summoned beast do in the meantime?"
"Stand by."
Delion guards the forest entrance for half the day.
A standby command for the summoned beast meant standing quietly next to Delion.
"Now he's enjoying himself like a villager."
Considering the words exchanged during Koon and Delion's argument included the summoned beast's presence, this was absolutely not a good situation.
To begin with, their opposing attitudes toward Sua's magic were the spark that properly ignited the fight between them.
Koon was amazed by the summoned beast.
He'd never seen magic, an adventurer's ability, up close like this, so he bombarded it with questions.
For someone who always saw novice adventurers pass by on the first floor, witnessing grown adventurers was a dream come true.
Delion's gaze toward Sua and her magic wasn't kind.
To be precise, he was heated by Sua, the caster, and by Koon, a fellow guard, who harbored no hostility toward her and just liked her.
He could endure a day for the festival with patience, but if he kept seeing Sua's magic replacing a guard's duties...
"They're going to have a big fight."
"Is there a problem?"
"Yeah. A huge one."
I couldn't drag Koon to his post by force, so I suggested unsummoning it before Delion's shift.
"Hmm... That won't work."
"Can't you unsummon it at the end of Koon's shift and resummon the next day?"
"That'd be too annoying for me. I'd have to reinput commands every summon."
"...Annoying?"
What kind of ridiculous reason was that?
Maybe because it involved Delion, Sua didn't seem inclined to cooperate nicely.
Since he showed hostility toward her, she harbored no small negative feelings toward him either.
"Like you said, I'd have to wake up early, go to the forest entrance, summon the beast, input commands. After 12 hours, eat dinner, then go back to the entrance before returning to unsummon it?"
"Yeah. Every day."
"Have you been treating me like some slave lately? I'm doing this much out of the goodness of my heart, without even compensation!"
"Should I pay you a salary?"
"I have tons of money! Overflowing right now!"
Sua let out a deep sigh.
Her head, bowed for about 2 seconds, snapped back up.
"Ah, that's it. I just had a great idea. Let's do this."
"How?"
"Wrist out."
Then she grabbed my arm.
Sua's mana flowed along my wrist.
"There. Now you manage it."
A strange pattern appeared on my wrist.
'A contract?'
I infused mana into one point.
- Zap!
"Eek? Where'd it go?"
I broke the magic.
"Hey, why'd you destroy it?"
"What was that just now?"
"I was trying to transfer control of the summoned beast, but it broke, so I have to do it again."
"Ah..."
"Don't mess around this time. It's trickier than it looks."
"Sorry. I was startled."
My instincts kicked in.
This time, I obediently let the contract wrap around my wrist.