I stepped up to the front of the inn and leaned against the wall. The exhaustion of working for almost 24 hours straight had finally begun to wear on me. I can't imagine how it is for people without my mundane cla.s.s that shall not be named. Despite the fact that I wanted to just walk back to my room and collapse on the bed, I still had business to take care of. I took a moment to collect myself before I reunited with the rest of my party.
"Okay… So I guess the first order of business is reuniting people with their loved ones?" I asked the group as a woman bolted in front of me and grabbed my hands.
"Y-You saved him! You found Innis! I-I…" The woman that was crying before me is Naomi, the woman we questioned earlier. Joining her was another woman that was weeping tears of joy. It seems that they were both reunited with their husbands.
As if someone detected that the atmosphere was too pleasant, Yasri shouted out to the gathering.
"Someone is missing! We cannyot find Eule!"
My party exchanged nervous glances to each other as we fidgeted in place. Erana began to step forward, but I interrupted her. I may as well step forward and take the responsibility. I stood next to Yasri and began to speak up.
"I'm sorry to announce that Eule was killed by a bear. We found his remains earlier."
The mood immediately shifted from positive to negative. It was like a lightswitch had suddenly been flipped.
"Ah… Poor b.a.s.t.a.r.d. Guy was always way too skinny. Why would a bear target him of all people?" A farmer murmured.
Everyone was looking down. Some had removed their hats as a sign or respect.
Yasri decided to step up and break the atmosphere once more.
"While we may have lost Eule, we still have recovered everyone else! We may grieve, but we also can be happy that it was only Eule." Her eyes glowed with determination as she looked over the crowd.
Slowly, the farmers raised their heads upwards to match Yasri's gaze. I suppose this is the pride of a small town.
Yasri placed a hand, or paw, I'm not entirely sure, on my shoulder and pulled me aside.
"You have done good work. To recover 10 out of 11 people is no small feat. I will report this to your guild. You will receive good compensation. In the meantime, I recommend you and your friends go to rest at the inn. I will have a carriage waiting to take you back to your home in the mornying. Alright?"
I was taken aback by her sudden kindness. While logically I agree that 10 out of 11 is a fantastic number, I can't help but still feel defeated in some way.
"What is going to happen to Rena?"
"Renya? Hmm… We will need to report her to the authorities… Perhaps you can escort her with you to Ruks when you leave?"
"Well…" I began. A part of me really wants Rena to face the music for what she did, but another part of me still feels sympathy for her. She was manipulated by a monster into doing what she did. She even helped fix her mistake somewhat at the end…
"Yasri-san, I know this is selfish of me, but can you keep the information about Rena between just you and us?"
Yasri was surprised by my request. She backed up a few steps in response to my question.
"W-Why? Do nyot tell me that she has manyipulated you again!"
"No, it's nothing like that! I just… I dunno. I feel like her spending the rest of her life in a jail cell or getting executed… It just feels like it would be a waste, you know?"
Yasri looked at me for a moment. It felt as if she was trying to peer into my very being to confirm that I was not under some form of mind control. After she finally decided that I was genuinely saying this, she gave a long exasperated sigh.
"You want her to get away with this? After all she did to you?"
"Maybe not get away with it, exactly… Perhaps a slight punishment. I'm just saying that her rotting in a jail cell will do n.o.body any good."
"But she killed Eule!"
"No, she didn't. That was the monster."
"How can you be so certain?"
"Simple. I was controlled by that monster too. When she was controlling me, she told me what she did to cover up for Rena." I lied. Though Mully had never mentioned if she had gotten someone killed or not, I don't see a reason for Rena to have killed anyone. From what I can tell, Rena was just naive. She trusted Mully fully because Mully said she was her first friend.
"Was Rena aware of this?"
"No. If she was aware of it she would have objected. I genuinely believe Rena didn't realize she was doing a bad thing."
Yasri looked to the side for a moment. It appeared as if she was deep in thought. I stayed silent as I awaited her answer to my request.
"...Fine. I understand. What do you propose as an alternyative?"
"Make her perform at the inn some more. She likes doing it and the villagers like it too. A return to form may be a good thing for this place to get back to normal, don't you think?"
Yasri sighed. "Very well. I'll talk to Miris-san. We'll work something out. You should go get some rest."
I let the tension out of my shoulders. It's not as if I want to save Rena. I just felt like it would be wasteful to get rid of a prodigy like her. My reasoning is entirely logic based.
I returned to my party. The crowd of farmers had dispersed at this point. The dawn had arrived, so some people went to work on their fields immediately.
"Man… I could never work that hard." Tael muttered.
"That's because you can't work hard in the first place." Kany replied.
"Kenji-san, what did Yasri-san tell you?"
"She said that we should get some rest. She's going to arrange a carriage to take us back to Ruks."
"What about Rena?" Tael interjected.
"She's going to be punished, but she's not going to jail or anything. I worked something out with Yasri."
"Oh? Did you fight for the girl you love, Onii-san?" Kany held her hand to her mouth as she asked me this. She was fighting back laughter.
I could feel my face turn beet red.
"N-No! No it's not that! I just felt like KILLING her would have been too much, you know?"
"Hahaha! Look at him, getting all fl.u.s.tered. I swear Onii-san, have you ever even had a girlfriend in the first place?"
I slowly approached Kany as I cracked my knuckles. It was time to resume the choking I did to her earlier.
"Ah… Kenji-san, Kany, we shouldn't fight! Let's just… go to our rooms, okay?" Erana threw herself between us.
"Fine!" x2
We went into the inn where Yasri had Rena and the innkeeper together. She was explaining the situation to him. I ignored it and walked up to my room. I did my absolute best to not even look at Rena.
I stepped into my bedroom with Tael as I collapsed onto my bed. Today had been unnecessarily exhausting.
"Well, another adventure completed! I can't believe you got out of this with a girlfriend though, Kenji!"
"SHE IS NOT MY GIRLFRIEND!" I shouted. It felt like the room shook in response to my shout.
Tael was holding his stomach as he laughed. "Whatever you say man! I know a confession scene when I see one!"
I just held my pillow to cover my head in response. I don't think I will ever live this one down.
After some time, I fell asleep.
I awoke at some time in the early afternoon. Tael was still asleep, but I could hear a quiet rapping on the door. I got up to answer it.
Standing on the other side was Yasri.
"Your carriage has arrived. There was one that was already heading here, so they got here early."
I smiled. Though I don't hate this town, I don't exactly like it either. I am happy that I'm going to be returning to civilization soon.
"Alright. Thank you Yasri-san. We'll be out soon."
She nodded her head and left quietly. As I watched her walk away, I suddenly remembered the question I had asked G.o.d.
"I didn't mean this kind." I muttered under my breath.
I went over to Tael and violently shook him awake. This was my form of payback for his teasing earlier.
"Ah! What the h.e.l.l? What is it? Are we under attack or something?"
"Nope. We're leaving. Grab your stuff."
We gathered our supplies as we left the room. I walked over to Erana and Kany's room and informed them of the situation. It didn't take long for all of us to finish packing and head out of the inn.
As we stepped out, we were greeted by a horse drawn carriage that was driven by a man I had seen many times before. I went up to greet him.
"h.e.l.lo Mulok-san! I didn't expect to see you here!"
"Ah! Kenji-san, what are you doing out here? I thought you worked at Biar-san's shop!"
"Nah I quit about a week ago. I'm an adventurer now!"
"I see! Well, hop inside and we'll be off to Ruks."
I walked up to the carriage door. While I was talking to Mulok, the rest of my party had already entered the carriage and taken their places. I was the only one left.
As I approached the door, a girl I really wanted to avoid grabbed my shoulder. I reluctantly turned around to face her.
"S-So… You're leaving?" Rena fidgeted in place as she asked this.
"Yep. See ya." I began to turn back around.
"Ah… So this is when the wanderer returns on his road. How the star crossed lovers could never be together because the adventurer loves adventuring above all else… How romantic." She smiled as she declared this. I could hear snickering come from the interior of the carriage, so I decided to set things straight.
"Let me make this clear. I hate you."
"Huh?"
"Yeah. You nearly got myself and a bunch of other people killed. I had to use you like a tool just so you could fix your mess. I'm vouched for you because I felt like you getting arrested or whatever would suck. It was pretty much me just saying that I can't stand seeing a prodigy like yourself get cut down in their prime and all that."
"B-But… You said you loved me…"
"Well, I lied. Sorry about that but I had to do what I had to do. I'm not saying I did a good thing. I've never been concerned about being a great guy or anything after all. I just needed to save everyone and using you was the best option."
"W-Why do you hate me…?" I could see tears forming in Rena's eyes.
"Because you're stupid."
This seemed to not be the response Rena was expecting, so she merely stared at me like a confused animal.
"We're humans. We're the only species that exists that can fight equally with everything else because we're smart. We don't normally get power-ups like natural levels. You're an exception, not the rule. We, as humans, do not have the right to be stupid. Being stupid gets us killed. No do-overs."
Rena fell to her knees. My words seemed to be causing her pain.
"Let me make this clear. I'm stupid too."
"H-Huh?"
"I believe that everyone is born with that one thing that they're capable of. For some, it's lifting heavy weights. For others, it's a certain skill like math. For you, it was being a prodigy. For me it was knowing that I don't know enough. Reflect on yourself and maybe I'll forgive you for what you did to me. Until you do that, I don't want to see you again." I turned around and hopped into the carriage. I indicated to Mulok to begin driving. With a crack of a whip, we were off.
"Jeez Onii-san, talk about a bad breakup…"
"We weren't dating."
"If I were you Kenji, I would have just said 'See you' all mysteriously! Why burn a bridge like that?"
"She's a fanatic person. She's definitely not going to be deterred by just that. Ideally, she'll improve herself and in the future she'll join our party. If I didn't push her then she'd stagnate."
"I think what you did was the right call, Kenji-san. She was definitely not the type to just take a soft rejection. You needed to be harsh."
We all gave awkward smiles to each other as the carriage moved on before I suddenly remembered something.
"Ah! Erana, I'm sorry for causing so many problems. Kany, I'm sorry for choking you earlier!"
"Hey, where's my apology for trying to slice me in half?"
"No worries Onii-san. You were being controlled by a monster anyway."
"You didn't cause many problems, Kenji-san."
"Are you just gonna ignore me?"
"What do you mean I didn't cause many problems? I sang at the bar and made a fool of myself and then I got into that fight with that Gin guy, then I fought all of you while you were under mind control!"
"O-Oh! Well, I was just frustrated with you when it came to the fight."
"What do you mean frustrated?"
"Well, that guy was being a jerk. It would have been best if you just swiftly knocked him out, but instead you dodged his attacks time and time again! You made me have to heal him!"
I blinked in surprise. This was… not what I was expecting.
"W-Well, then I'm sorry about singing so badly. I've never sang like that before."
"Oh, Onii-san, she doesn't care that you sang badly."
"What do you mean?"
"Kany, don't!" Erana was covering her blushing face.
"You see, Erana here really wanted to sing too, but she wasn't called up so it made her a bit sad."
I merely looked at Erana.
"D-Don't look at me like that! I just… I've never been able to sing in front of a crowd like that is all!"
I couldn't hold it back. I began to laugh. Soon, the entire carriage was filled with the sound of our laughing. When we had finally stopped, I decided to check something.
"Status."
My status screen appeared in front of me. Some things had changed since the last time I had checked it.
Kenji Fujima. Level 4. (8)
Strength: 34
Dexterity: 25
Const.i.tution: 30
Mana: 50
Magic Power: 10
Luck: 10
Experience: 1276
"E-Eight levels?" I let out in astonishment.
Quickly, everyone else checked their own status screens.
"Woah, I have 9, Kenji!"
"I have the same here, Tael-san!"
"Boo. I only got 7."
Well, it seems like a mulaplix is worth a lot of experience points.
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