Nightmare (4)
Er returned to the clearing with a face so cold it seemed it could freeze the very air, and not long after, Ahin followed.
As evening approached and the villagers began to share the food they had prepared, the uneasy atmosphere among them showed no signs of disappearing.
Amid this terrifying tension, one person was desperately struggling alone.
“Wow, this is delicious. Mushroom soup? I should learn how to make that. Ahin, what do you think?”
“Yeah.”
“I’ve never had bear meat before, but it seems rich in fat, and it has a subtle sweetness… Er, is bear meat usually like this?”
“Yeah.”
“Hmm, is this fruit wine? It’s sweet and tasty!”
““Yeah.””
Crash!
Unable to endure any longer, Jina kicked the ground and shouted.
“I can’t eat this! What the hell are you two doing!?”
“Why? What’s the problem?”
“You don’t even know what’s wrong right now?!”
Despite Jina’s face twisted in anger as if she were about to spew fire, the two of them seemed in no hurry to meet each other’s eyes.
“What exactly are you two doing while leaving me out?! This is the dinner table after a couple’s fight?! Am I the third wheel stuck in between?!”
“...Wait a second, Jina.”
“Wait a second? What…!”
Just as she was about to continue, Jina turned her head at the sound of a throat clearing behind her.
Behind her stood a middle-aged man with a prominent scar crossing his face.
Introducing himself as the chief of the pioneer village, Rozo, he spoke with a slightly stern expression.
“It seems I timed my visit poorly. Should I come back later?”
“Ah, no, that’s not it…”
“What’s the matter?”
Unlike Jina, who was taken aback by the unexpected situation, Er set down the dishes she was holding and stood up to face him.
“Did some problem arise with the request?”
“Nothing of the sort. I simply wanted to check our forces before tomorrow’s all-out attack.”
The village chief, who was also the requester, was merely managing the adventurers he had hired for the request.
In fact, he had been trying to stop some adventurers from drinking too much and getting them to bed early.
“Bronze-rank adventurer, Er. Correct? The question surprised me a bit. Adventurers don’t ask much as long as you pay them properly. Especially for extermination requests, most of them are empty-headed.”
“...That’s true.”
Looking at Er as she said this, he chuckled softly.
“These friends here, are they your party members? The list I received only had the party leader’s name and rank.”
“Yes, neither of us has been an adventurer for long, but… our skills are solid.”
“If you say so, I have no reason not to believe you. So, I have something to tell you, Bronze-rank party members.”
“Us?”
After saying that, Er looked around at her companions.
Of course, Ahin and Jina had no idea what Rozo was talking about, and Er confirmed their reaction of tilting their heads.
“What story?”
“It’s about the orc village. Just confirmed information… it seems it’s not an ordinary orc village.”
After saying that, Rozo stared directly into Er’s emerald eyes.
“It seems there are orc warriors there.”
“...Warriors?”
Orcs with strength far exceeding ordinary ones.
What was scary about them was that they had appearances not much different from other orcs and were mixed in with the group.
The only way to distinguish them was their larger size compared to normal orcs.
But unlike that subtle difference, the danger level was that of a strong monster at Silver rank.
“The one who found this information is someone I personally trained, so it’s reliable. That guy wouldn’t make such a big mistake.”
“Wait a second, if it’s Warrior-rank orcs, it’s not something a Bronze-rank adventurer can handle alone, right?”
After saying that, it was Ahin who was listening to Rozo’s story.
“I saw the request was orc extermination and studied it in a hurry. If it’s Warrior-rank, wouldn’t it require at least three Bronze-rank adventurers… or a Silver-rank adventurer?”
“Of course. I don’t want to throw young people into danger either. I’m just here to make a proposal.”
“Proposal?”
Ahin tilted his head at that.
Rozo spoke with a serious voice.
“You, won’t you join the party going to catch the warrior?”
“Insane talk.”
Ahin cut off Rozo’s words sharply.
“What reason do we have to risk our lives? If it’s about money, it would be better to catch more ordinary orcs and collect their magic stones than to catch one warrior.”
“You, unlike your appearance, are quite sharp-witted. You’ll go far.”
“...Is that a compliment?”
“Ugh, you idiot.”
After receiving Jina’s slap, Ahin gave a subtle expression and glared at her.
Receiving that gaze, Rozo smiled faintly.
“I didn’t mean to insult you. But you seem to have a lot of thoughts for someone with such a rough mouth. Like… deliberately acting that way.”
“I’ve never done that.”
Despite the meaningful words from Rozo, Ahin answered nonchalantly.
Rozo, staring at Ahin’s mysterious golden eyes, soon shook his head slightly.
“Well, that doesn’t matter. Yeah, if it’s about money like you say, there’s no need to catch the warrior. If I were in your position, I would have said you were crazy.”
“Yeah, but why…”
“But you two, precisely speaking, aren’t your party leader motivated by money, right?”
At that, the three of them unconsciously held their breath.
Seeing their reaction, Rozo, having gained confidence in his thoughts, spoke.
“You enjoy orc hunting, or you need a report record for the guild, or perhaps some personal reason I don’t know. But I think the reason you joined the request isn’t money?”
“...Yes, that’s right. As the village chief said. The request fee is important, but it’s not a request I joined for that reason.”
After saying that, Er affirmed Rozo’s words.
Since he had seen through everything anyway, hiding the story was pointless, and there was no reason to.
“It’s a promotion exam request. But from what I see, it seems you came with the confidence that I wouldn’t reject it even if I didn’t know the content.”
“Not full confidence, just in case.”
After saying that, Er stared at the man’s rough face and fell silent.
Arrogant thoughts flashed through her mind.
What she should think about, what she had thought.
And what she must overcome.
“Okay, let’s join.”
“Er!!!”
After a moment of thought, Er declared her conclusion.
“There’s no reason to refuse. It would be good for my reputation, even if not for actual results.”
“That’s not important!! You, really…!”
Just as Ahin stood up from his seat and shouted something.
“Ahin, as I said earlier, I can handle this problem alone.”
After saying that, Er cut off Ahin’s words and spoke in a low, subdued voice.
“It’s a problem that doesn’t require involving you all. And Ahin, it’s bothersome and troublesome to keep worrying about you, right? So…”
“There’s no way!! How do you see me?!”
Ahin shouted with an agitated voice.
Thinking she was bothersome or troublesome was impossible.
She was—
“Ahin, Er. Stop it. You’re both doing well in front of the requester.”
One of the two was pulled away by Jina, who had been watching the situation from a step back.
It was natural for fights to occur due to differing opinions in a party, and she knew that was nothing strange.
But here, it was the pioneer village that needed to perform the request, and the one watching the fight was the requester.
Only after hearing her words did the two realize that Rozo was watching the situation and fell silent.
The two, whose conversation suddenly stopped and they had nothing to say.
Among the two who couldn’t figure out how to start talking, Er was the first to speak.
“How do we participate in the orc warrior extermination?”
“Er!!”
She chose avoidance.
Without sealing the gap in opinions with Ahin, she had decided to turn away her eyes and spoke ignoring the voice calling her name.
“Is the departure the same as other extermination parties?”
“...Are you really okay? Your party members seem reluctant.”
“It’s fine. I’ll be participating alone. These two are only low-rank, and they won’t die to orcs, so we can act separately.”
“If you say so…”
After saying that, Rozo was checking Ahin’s reaction.
He had vaguely noticed that Ahin and Er’s relationship was more than just party leader and member.
More than that, it was a relationship that was deepening or wanted to deepen.
But for him, there was something more important than improving the relationship between the two young men and women.
“Then Er, come with me for a while. I’m currently making plans for the warrior extermination at my house. Other adventurers who received the proposal are also gathered there.”
“Yes, I’ll do that. Ahin, Jina. You two rest. See you later after the extermination.”
“...If that’s your choice, okay.”
Unlike Jina nodding and answering Er’s words, Ahin stared at Er with his mouth shut.
“Er.”
Just calling her name once.
Er faced Ahin, who was just looking at himself as if not to say more, with eyes mixed with all kinds of emotions and said in a small voice.
“...I’m sorry.”
That was it.
Just as Rozo and Er’s figures completely disappeared towards the inside of the village, and Jina, unable to hold back the suffocating atmosphere, let out a frustrated sigh.
“Damn it, damn it.”
“...Ahin, shouldn’t you follow her now?”
Asking Ahin, who was kicking the floor nervously while cursing, Jina.
“Er looked anxious. If I leave her alone now…”
“She said she’d handle it alone. I have no intention of helping someone who says that by taking my energy.”
After gulping down the contents of the bowl he had placed on the floor due to Rozo’s visit in one go, Ahin lay down on the floor.
His eyes, reflected in the light of the bonfire lit for body heat in each party, sparkled unusually and looked towards the sky.
A hazy moon rose in the cloudless evening sky, and some stars were already shining brightly, showing off their existence.
At some point between dusk and night.
To him staring at the blood-red sky, a cautious voice asked.
“Ahin, you won’t regret it, right?”
“...What regret. Did I do something wrong? Er doesn’t need me.”
“That can’t be it.”
“...Hey, what are you trying to say.”
Ahin, eyes flashing as he looked at Jina, who said nothing.
She was just staring at Ahin with her blue eyes filled only with worry and concern.
How long had they stared at each other like that.
Jina, pulling out the Rosario hanging around her neck and holding it in her hand, closed her eyes and muttered.
“Oh, God, please…”
“...Hah, what God.”
Many people seek God when they are in trouble and pain, but he doesn’t give any answer.
Because he had already experienced it bitterly.
Ahin just closed his eyes.
●
Er following behind Rozo towards the village chief’s house.
She had confidently pushed away the party members who were trying to stop her, but as time passed, all kinds of self-doubt and regret tormented her.
What exactly did she want to do.
Even though she knew Ahin’s feelings towards her were pure goodwill and concern, why was she acting so sensitively.
She was just a bothersome and annoying woman.
She had shouted confidently to Jina earlier that she was Ahin’s partner, and immediately this.
Was there any situation more awkward than this.
Ahin must have been fed up with her and stuck out his tongue.
“...Useless.”
After saying that, the target was Er herself.
She had become like this in no time.
Pessimistic, gloomy, annoying person.
The reason she couldn’t make a fixed party and kept wandering around.
Even though she acted outwardly as if she were bold and strong, if you peeked inside, it was like this, so who would want to be with her.
In the end, this was it.
A foolish woman full of grievances that would pour out at any moment when she got close and showed her weakness.
But she didn’t want to act spoiled in front of him.
Ahin’s goodwill wasn’t towards her.
He was someone who saw her as someone else.
It wasn’t good for Er herself or Ahin.
So, it was right to cut it off.
Instead of getting entangled in meaningless emotions, it was better for each to go their own way rather than becoming shackles for each other.
Let’s talk after this request ends.
After all, it was a fact she had vaguely known.
Ahin was not a person who fit with her.
So, it was no big deal.
The taste of the blood from the torn lip today was even more bitter.