The Leash
Calling myself an adventurer is one thing, but it hardly feels polite to sit like this in front of girls in their prime.
First thing's first — with the money I've earned, I need to rent a room and get properly washed.
I rose from my seat, gave a small bow, and stepped out of the building.
"Lily's here. Ahjussi, where are you going?"
The little mage had asked as we crossed paths at the entrance. Just a single question — but it took me tracing the shape of a house in the empty air with my hand, careful not to hurt her feelings, before I could make myself understood.
To sort out lodging, I went looking for the most expensive, upscale-looking inn I could find.
The pricier the place, the sharper and clearer the glares of disgust I'd have to endure.
But the more expensive the room, the more likely it came with a private bath, so there was no helping it.
The woman who greeted me on the first floor looked modest enough, though the fabric she wore draped over her shoulders seemed fairly costly. Whether it was salesmanship or simple courtesy, she acted welcoming even as I could sense her recoil.
Even so, this much deserved gratitude.
I quietly held out a single gold coin, and she said nothing in return. We simply exchanged coin for key, and I climbed up to my assigned room and washed immediately.
I hadn't thought to pack spare bandages, so I had no choice but to reuse the ones I was wearing — though thanks to the Guild Master changing them for me yesterday, they were practically new. Probably.
Come to think of it, we hadn't discussed meals being included at the inn.
At a place like this, if meals were bundled in, one gold coin might last a month at most — maybe not even half that.
Not that I had any intention of striking up a conversation over it. Better to simply pay more.
After a refreshing bath, I came back down to the first floor to find the crowd had grown a little. Not quite high nobility, but a certain visible affluence — merchants, I supposed.
Every time I see people like that, the same thought occurs to me: even a lightly worn garment carries considerable weight on them. They favor expensive clothes, and the better the material and the more of it used, the higher the price.
Of course, I have no particular interest in such things. It simply catches my eye, and so I think about it.
I'd done my work — was there any real need to linger here? I'd buy some decent clothes, change into them, wander somewhere sparsely populated, and return when night fell.
I left my key with the woman and received a small red wooden coin marked with my room number.
The moment I stepped out of the inn, my destination was obvious: a shop that sold clothes.
It wasn't the kind of place selling women's dresses or anything of the sort, and with a man seated inside, it seemed I'd come to the right spot.
When I opened the door and entered, the tension radiating off the man was unmistakable.
A face this repulsive could inspire outright terror, not just disgust.
I felt sorry that there was nothing I could do about that part of it. Should I have worn a helmet?
Honestly, my face barely shows anyway — being treated like a plague victim just because I'm wrapped in bandages feels unfair.
Though given that I *am* one, in a sense, that only makes it more unfair.
Anything my hand touched, I had to buy. So I grabbed a few large garments at random.
"That'll be two silver."
I had no silver on me, so I set a gold coin down in front of him.
"Ah, one moment, please—"
He seemed to be searching for coins to give back, but I shook my head and simply walked out. Should have grabbed a few more sets while I was at it.
I'd buy more later if I needed to. For now, I should walk somewhere without people around.
I didn't want rough terrain — somewhere flat and open.
Where I stopped walking, when no houses remained in sight, was a plain nearby.
As long as I didn't stray too far, there'd be no dangerous beasts. Not that it would matter much if there were.
No stares, no voices — nothing could be more comfortable than this.
If only the wind would blow a little harder. Maybe that's asking too much.
That water deer bawling off in the distance — is it living a satisfying life, I wonder?
Bored as I was, I broke into a sprint toward it.
"Eeeeek!"
Startled, the deer raised its voice and bolted.
I'd been running for a good while when I spotted a pack of goblins in the distance — fleeing just like the deer, but with far greater desperation. From some familiar faces.
...Eira.
Her marksmanship wasn't bad, but hitting a moving target was no easy feat — and she must have been hunting goblins all over the vicinity, because they were running without even fighting back.
And she supposedly recycles her arrows, so from their perspective it must have been unbearable.
Unlike Eira, who chased them down with the fervor of someone determined to grind the goblins into paste, the other two followed at a leisurely pace.
They must be close, if they didn't feel the need to hurry and catch up.
Well — it's not as if they and I were ever on the same level.
I'd only been watching their cozy little scene for a moment when a wolf appeared in the distance.
...That one.
A Twin-Horned Wolf — a wolf bearing two small horns on its forehead, one on each side.
Even calling them small was a stretch; each was well past the length of a grown man's finger.
Its build fell within the range of an ordinary wolf, though on the larger end of it.
Either way, this was no pleasant situation. The creature mainly lived along riverbanks — what was it doing all the way out here?
I wouldn't go so far as to call it extremely dangerous, but it was certainly more threatening than the smaller wolves.
The beast began charging toward Eira, who was still fixated on the goblins — and I broke into a run, rushing to meet it head-on.
With Eira between us, whether I could outrun the wolf was an open question.
Just then, her companions, who had been scanning their surroundings, spotted the wolf.
"Eira, get back here!"
"Sis, look out!"
At their shouts, Eira finally glanced to the side — but it was too late.
"Ah...!"
Startled out of her wits, she dropped the arrow she'd been holding nocked. The instant she fumbled for another, it should have been over — the wolf was terrifyingly fast.
The flames hurled again and again by the little mage never even touched it.
Somehow she managed to draw her second arrow, but by then sharp fangs were already descending upon her.
Her trembling eyelids slid shut over her eyes, and her terrified fingers lost their grip — the second arrow fell from her bow.
Thud!
Her breath should have fallen with it. But with a dull impact, nothing happened at all.
"Grrrr..."
The wolf seemed fine — probably because it hadn't lunged with proper footing.
Still.
"...Did I just live?"
After all, it wasn't only the wolf that had come out unscathed.
"Hic — Eira...!"
The nun clutched the archer to her chest, weeping with relief.
I stepped forward, holding back the mage who was preparing for another fight, and offered the wolf my hand.
I didn't know if its teeth would even break skin on my bare flesh — did it really think it could pierce iron-plated hide?
I seized the wolf's head with my other hand and snapped it straight.
"Gyaaaagh!"
A man sat slumped on the ground before the wolf's severed head, screaming.
"Hold STILL, please!"
A soft golden light wrapped around the hole punched clean through his wrist.
An unplanned battle. A manaless, ordinary beast — and not even a tiger or a lion, just a few wolves at that.
By sheer bad luck, a bite had caught the spot where his flapping clothes had exposed skin, and he bit down on his lip — regretting, of all things, having cast out the troublesome former teammate who would have been useful now.
Fucking hell... if that bandage freak were here right now, he'd have taken the bite for me...
Wallowing in regret and pain, he lashed out for no good reason, blood welling on his bitten lip.
"GRRRAAH!!! Daisy! What is taking you so long!"
And so the healing mage's rebuke came down on him, laced with a sigh.
"It's because the wound is so deep! Just hold still!"
When the wolf had bitten him, it was only thanks to Sasha the swordswoman slicing through its neck in an instant that things hadn't turned truly dangerous.
Daisy, the healing mage, channeled her mana into the deep wound boring into muscle — and she was anxious.
Where the hell did that man even go? Useless bastard can't do anything without me!
Daisy had been born a commoner, but raised in a home that was poor in money and overflowing with love.
Word of her beauty had spread through her village from an early age, and she'd always monopolized everyone's attention.
Then, when her talent for healing magic was discovered, she began to hope — maybe she could become like the noble daughters she'd so admired.
And then the lowborn knight who was supposed to attend to her every need had simply up and vanished somewhere.
...Infuriating. Both of them — this pathetic man, and that man who abandoned his master and left. They're both probably groveling somewhere right now.
"Hmph!"
She cranked her magical output up as if forcing the mana into the pathetic man's wound.
"AAAGH, Daisy! I only yelled because— ow, I'm sorry, okay?! J-just, please, gently—!"
"Shut up!"
So somehow, I'd ended up saving someone's life again.
The mage sat beside me, the archer I'd rescued sat across from me, and the nun was bringing me food yet again.
Up to that point, it was hardly any different from an ordinary day.
"Wow — I honestly thought you were a corpse, and it turns out you were a knight out of a fairy tale!"
The Guild Master's weighty praise, and the murmurs of adventurers all around.
"Hmph, showing off as usual..."
"So that really happened?"
"My axe made that boy what he is today."
"Old man, spouting crap again?"
Thankfully, the crowd was smaller than usual. The attention was getting excessive.
And above all, the biggest problem was—
"Ahjussi, join our party."
The flabbergasting proposal Eira had thrown out.
I shook my head and made my refusal plain, but she would not give up.
Come to think of it, maybe it had never been a proposal in the first place.
"I'm going to hunt nothing but wolves from now on. Are you fine with me getting bitten? Me? Getting bitten? Hmm?"
Her threat that wasn't quite a threat.
"That's true — I suppose the knight will just have to protect you so you don't get bitten."
Even the Master was egging her on. Unbelievable.
As I turned my head away, at a loss for what to do, the Master continued.
"...I looked into that bandit raid from before. If you're willing, I'd like you to look after these kids — and now and then, take on some work as a Fixer."
A Fixer...
Someone who resolves the requests that linger too long unclaimed. I supposed that was the sort of thing I ought to be doing.
BANG!
"Ha — you've got to be kidding me! Some scrub who crawled in from who knows where, a Fixer? Master, have you lost your mind?"
So I'd guessed wrong, it seemed. Someone already nursing a grievance.
A big man with a greatsword slung across his back. He kicked his chair back and strode out of the guild.
That's my fault, I suppose.
I'd forgotten the simple fact that my mere existence was enough to make other people uncomfortable.
"Don't go having any strange ideas. Just nod. Unless you want to get hit."
"If you run, you'll catch an arrow."
"Fire magic."
"...I'll keep treating you, you know."
Right — let's all just conveniently forget that part. First order of business: walk out of here with my body intact.