A Quest Not Yet Begun
The moment I heard the short name, a memory flashed through my mind. It was the one players had instinctively called the "Emily quest." After handing over the boots, I watched her retreating figure with wide eyes. She looked a little younger than the image that had surfaced with her name, but it was definitely someone I remembered seeing. It was the quest that started by buying a certain pair of shoes from the workshop, wasn't it?
"But…"
No matter how much I looked around the shop, the item that would trigger it was nowhere to be found. Just like the request in Selindale, it seemed the timing only came after graduation. There were quite a few requests and quests still locked at this point. Well, everyone had their own lives to live…
"The brooch was just good luck."
I lifted the edge of my combat uniform slightly and glanced at the brooch I'd obtained in Windren. If that person hadn't been there at the time, I might've ended up wandering the entertainment district searching for an item that didn't exist.
"Wait a second."
That meant even if I hadn't bought the brooch there, that person would still have been wandering the back alleys of the entertainment district after graduating from the academy. So she'd spent three whole years roaming those shady alleys just to sell a single brooch… What kind of person was she, anyway? And what about this brooch that hadn't sold in three years?
"Don't tell me it's some weird item that gives penalties."
A sudden, ominous premonition crossed my mind. The brooch dangling from my chest suddenly seemed to radiate an eerie aura. Still, I didn't recall any strange items like that in the early-to-mid game…
After leaving the boots at the shop for repairs, I sat waiting on one of the backless chairs inside. From the steady sound of thick thread being pulled through leather came another voice.
"Wouldn't it be wise to buy a spare pair of boots for emergencies?"
"…I'm fine."
She was recommending new boots to someone who was literally getting theirs repaired right in front of her. There was a saying about not feeding a fish you'd already caught, but this woman took it a step further. Was she trying to gut and clean a customer who'd already been hooked?
"Emily! Stop talking nonsense and go practice inside!"
"Tch, yeees."
After I rejected her sales pitch, the woman who'd been focused on the boots yanked out the thick thread and barked at her. Emily clicked her tongue in response and disappeared through the side door of the shop. Silence settled over the workshop once more, broken only by the rough scraping sound of thick thread piercing leather.
After some time had passed, a dull thud came from the direction of the counter—boots striking the insole. I lifted my head to see my boots sitting alone on the counter.
"There we are. All done."
"Ah, yes… How much is it?"
At the words "all done," I stood up immediately and approached the counter in just my socks to ask the price. The boots looked better than improved—they looked brand new. It was as if they'd returned to a state even earlier than when I'd first found them in the trash. Could repairs really achieve something like this?
"It feels like time went backward."
"Including the leather, that'll be twenty silver coins."
While I was staring at the boots in amazement, the price was finally quoted. It was a bit steep for ordinary boot repairs, but it made sense that rarer items would cost more to fix. Unlike ordinary shoes you could buy at any workshop, I quietly counted out the coins from my pocket and placed them on the counter.
"…Where did you get those boots?"
"Huh? Why?"
While I was sitting on the chair putting the boots back on, the woman suddenly asked about their origin. I tilted my head at the unexpected question and reflexively asked one of my own. She didn't even look at me as she continued, rubbing her thumb and forefinger together as if feeling the texture that remained.
"I've never felt leather like that before. I couldn't find anything to replace it, so I just patched it. I'd like to know what kind it is."
"Ah, I got it from some old man, so I don't really…"
The lie slipped out without any hesitation now. I tapped the soles of the boots against the floor a few times to settle them properly, then stood up.
"…Is that so? Tch, what a shame."
She accepted the lie without suspicion and clicked her tongue in resignation. Had my acting skills improved that much? Either way, I left Margaret's Leather Workshop behind. It seemed I'd have to come back after graduating from the academy if I wanted to get anything here. Swallowing my disappointment, I walked through the streets of Caldera.
"I wonder what those two are doing right now."
After finishing a fruitless round of farming, I headed toward the lake in the center of the city and thought to myself. It was a retrospective conclusion, but Caldera was a bust at this point in time. The bloodstained gloves were too unsettling to use, and the shoes that would trigger the quest weren't even for sale yet. It was disappointing, but it also reminded me that this was a living, breathing reality. Sometimes I wondered if these memories were actually a very long-term future prediction. Things I'd thought were unrealistic now felt completely reversed.
"What am I even saying?"
Even I found the self-question ridiculous. I stopped walking near the vast lake. In the middle of a summer day, citizens sat along the lakeshore casting fishing rods despite the sweat trickling down their faces. The lake had swollen considerably from the rain, so the rocks that would've made good fishing seats were all submerged. Even so, the citizens with fishing rods seemed perfectly accustomed to it, using the lake's edge as their seats and lounging comfortably.
Fishermen here, fishermen there. There were even people fishing from small rowboats floating on the calm lake. It was a lake right in the middle of the city that could easily be called a fisherman's paradise.
"For someone who likes fishing, this place must be better than the royal capital."
With that thought, I walked along the lakeshore, my gaze sweeping the area. I searched for white and brown hair, my eyes moving busily. White, brown, white, brown… I had no idea where they were fishing, but the two people were nowhere to be seen. After staring at hundreds of heads, I eventually made a full circle. Only after returning to where I'd started did I stop and think.
"Did they go back to the inn?"
There was no sign of either of them. Rein was one thing, but Reina had seemed ready to fish until the next day. Maybe she'd gotten bored surprisingly quickly. When you satisfy a long-pent-up desire all at once, emptiness tends to follow. Once that thought occurred to me, I uncrossed my arms and turned around. They'd probably come back on their own… Just as I was about to head toward the inn—
"…Hey!"
A faint shout came from somewhere. The voice echoed from quite a distance, and I kept walking, thinking someone was just calling out to someone else. Then came a heavy splash of water. Had someone jumped into the lake? Even if it was none of my business, the sound was impossible to ignore, so I turned my head.
A white-haired woman on a rowboat and a brown-haired woman creating ripples in the once-calm lake after falling in. Even from the colors alone, I could tell the two figures were the very people I'd been searching for—Rein and Reina.
"…What are you doing over there?"
A moment later, the two of them reached the shore in the rowboat. Well, one of them was more accurately described as hanging off the side. I strode over to where the boat was heading and looked back and forth between them with a cold, incredulous expression. Rein, who was soaked but laughing as if she found it funny. Reina, on the other hand, wore a satisfied look as she stepped off the boat carrying two fishing rods and a basket. The two of them had clearly been enjoying a summer's worth of leisure.
"What were you two doing…?"
"I called for you, but you didn't hear me…!"
At my calm question, Rein's wet palm slapped against my skin with a wet smack. Of course, I'd assumed they'd be holding fishing rods by the lakeshore. Who would've guessed they'd be out in the middle of the lake on a boat? And how was I supposed to know that voice was calling for me?
"I figured you'd be around here holding fishing rods."
"Pfft."
When I pointed at the wide circumference of the lakeshore, Rein chuckled while dripping wet.
"We were holding fishing rods, all right. Look at this."
Reina continued with a bright expression I'd never seen before. Inside the deep basket she held out for me to see, fish were still lively, flopping about. With a splash, the struggling fish sent small droplets flying onto my face.
"Whoa, you caught a lot…"
"Tonight's dinner is this. Heh."
Reina proudly showed off the basket. She seemed so excited that she was even humming an incomprehensible tune as she walked ahead… According to Rein, there was someone by the lakeshore who rented out rowboats for a fee.
After that, we stayed in Caldera a few more days at the insistence of the fishing enthusiast Reina. By the time the smell of fish no longer left my mouth… After hunting some of the now-easier monsters near Caldera a few times, we were able to return to Reina's house via carriage bound for Karsion.
And what awaited me upon finally arriving home was…
"Aaaah, I don't wanna go…"
Right before the new semester started, I was met with a level of lethargy that was almost alarming.