The Adventurers Guild was as packed as ever. There were plenty of new faces. It seemed we’d had an influx of adventurers from other towns. It was hard to believe the place had looked so desolate not long ago. They were there to tackle the Millennium of Midnight Sun, Gray Neighbor’s dungeon. After the stampede, delving into the dungeon had gotten much easier. There was a drastic decrease in the number of monsters, for one thing. The adventurers in town had been talking about it, and the story had spread far and wide, it seemed.
Then again, maybe it was the guild doing the talking. The more adventurers going into the dungeon, the more monster fangs and claws and other such valuable loot were brought out. That led to greater income for the guild. And not just the guild—adventurers eating and drinking brought wealth to the pubs and inns in the area. It meant more visitors to blacksmiths for sharpening and repairs. And, of course, much of that money flowed into the pleasure quarter. They never knew if the next night might be their last, so they spent their cash freely. Wherever they went, gold and jewels followed, and the town flourished.
The rebuilding process still had a long way to go, but the economy was recovering. Since the local builders couldn’t keep up, help was coming in from other towns. The people who’d lost their homes had found temporary housing until the rebuilding was finished. Arwin’s proposal had gone through, it seemed.
For the time being, things were looking up. Aegis was back to dungeon crawling. On their next trip, they were going to attempt to break their previous record of the nineteenth floor. Whatever happened, I just needed them to come back safely.
While Arwin was as beloved as ever, my popularity was in the dumps. Nasty looks were thrown my way from all over the guild. It was withering.
“Ah, perfect timing.”
I wanted to get out before someone decided to drag me into an alley again, but that was when I got caught by the last person I wanted to see: the guildmaster’s granddaughter and a pain in my ass, April.
“Help me out, Matthew. I’m very busy right now.”
“Ask someone else,” I said. Whatever it was, I wasn’t the right guy for the job. “I’m not even a guild staffer. I got fired.”
“Will you ever come back to work?”
“Nope.”
As she pouted, April’s cheeks puffed out as far as they could. “But Dez is also busy.”
“Glad to hear it,” I said. “The more money he’s making, the more I can borrow from him.”
She kicked me in the shin.
“Hey, that hurt.”
It would be one thing if it had been a soft kick, but she had put all her weight into it. She could have seriously hurt someone who didn’t have my physical gifts. But she just huffed and turned away.
“And you’re just going to use that money to drink, gamble, and spend time with other women, aren’t you?”
“Well, sure.”
But that wasn’t the only thing I’d do. I needed money for Arwin’s treatment. The antidote for her Release addiction was finished. But for it to work, she had to take many doses of it over time, and because the materials were so expensive, we were waiting for the next dose.
In the meantime, we had to keep relying on the devilish drug to keep her withdrawal symptoms at bay. It meant going back in the wrong direction after we had just started going the right way.
I needed money. But my financial situation was dire.
One of the reasons was the shrinking of my income. I’d recently been banned from the cockfights in town. Not only had I bet there, but I had even done my own imitation of a betting expert by selling tips. I was good at recognizing which animals were the strongest. Not long ago, there had been a string of lucky winners picking dark horses successfully, and they’d all gotten their tips from me.
There were other rings putting on cockfights, but they were less savory. If the princess knight’s pet man wandered in there, I’d be kidnapped, held for ransom, and probably murdered, in that order. And the other forms of gambling had their pitfalls, too. Cards? Everyone cheated. Even if I could see them cheating, all I’d get in the end was an empty purse and a beating in a back alley.
“Then what are your plans for your future with Arwin?”
“Future, huh?”
It would be easy to say there was no such thing, but the little squirt was honestly worried, and it wouldn’t be wise to make her angry about it.
“What about your future, then?”
“Me?” asked April, blinking.
“You’re not just going to help out around the guild and the orphanage forever, are you? Isn’t there anything else you want to do with your life?”
At the very least, she had the money to make it happen. If she got her grandpop’s fortune, she’d instantly be one of the richest people in town.
“Well…,” she said uncertainly, her head drooping.
“Has your grandpa been against your ideas?”
April shook her head weakly.
Not only was the old man old-fashioned, but he was also stubborn as a goat. He probably had some typical plan in mind of marrying her off to some rich boy and ensuring the family was in good hands. He probably hoped she’d be happy enough for him and his deceased daughter.
From what I’d heard, the old man’s daughter had been a great beauty. After his own wife had passed from illness, she was the greatest treasure he had. He had raised her as delicately as a butterfly or a flower, until she met a scholarly man, fell in love, and had April.
They were a wonderful couple, but when they left on a research trip one day, their ship capsized in a storm. Only their two-year-old daughter survived. April’s grandfather took her in and had raised her since. He probably hoped to keep her properly sheltered this time and make her into the perfect young lady. Unfortunately, the April I knew was a rambunctious little snot who liked to stick her nose into my business.
Children never grew up the way a parent expected or wanted. The harder one tried to clamp down on them, the more they twisted to get out from under one’s thumb.
“Your life belongs to you. Not to him.”
It was a miracle she’d turned out to be honest and good-hearted in a town full of ruffians and bruisers. The old man wouldn’t live forever, either. He probably had ten more years or so. Why would she waste her prospects just to please an old man who didn’t have much time left anyway?
“If the time comes, I’ll lend you a hand.”
“The hand that can’t even beat me in arm-wrestling?”
“I can at least pull you along so you don’t get lost.”
“Matthew…”
April’s eyes glistened with emotion. I flashed her a smile.
“If you end up taking over this guild, then I’d be willing to work a job for you, even. My only conditions are seven-day weekends, working in-office only when I feel like it, and with a salary on the level of your grandpa’s.”
“Dummy!”
April stomped on my foot as hard as she could. Someone needed to teach that squirt about the concepts of moderation and respect for one’s elders.
“If you’re only here to mess with me, then leave!”
I was going to tell her that if she was that busy, then she should just hire someone new, when I saw an unfamiliar face among the staff.
“You’ve got new hires.”
“They’re here from other guilds to help.”