Zig felt an odd sense of fulfillment that he couldn’t quite explain. He still didn’t know where it was coming from.
The two headed to the restaurant Urbas showed them last time.
The town was more restless and bustling than usual, probably owing to the incident at the guild. Pharmacies were out of medicine due to the influx of injuries, and craftsmen were placing orders for materials to repair damaged adventurer equipment.
Fortunately, Zig’s gear was spared during the rescue operation. His boots were in need of work, but everything else was in good shape.
Siasha’s hair bounced as she looked about at the state of the town. She turned to Zig.
“It’s good that you got a lot of money from that.”
“Yeah. I can get by for a while.”
Although he seemed nonchalant, Zig was internally massaging his chest in relief.
No money meant no food, and no funds for equipment maintenance. Taking on jobs in less-than-optimal conditions would lead to mistakes and eventually injuries, resulting in even more expenses. Being broke was a universal problem, both for mercenaries in his homeland and the adventurers of this continent.
Fortunately, the unexpected windfall would tide him over until his next assignment. His worries were settled for now.
“Good thing I didn’t break anything during all that running.”
“I was just being carried around all day… But all that spell casting did wear out my throat.”
Siasha made some random sounds to check its condition. An ordinary mage would run out of mana long before their throat would start hurting. “I’m still impressed you managed to carry two people and run at the same time. What amazing stamina.”
“As the saying goes: ‘A soldier’s job is to run and dig holes.’ Soldiers carry materials before a battle starts, carry the injured during a battle, and carry corpses after the battle is over. We didn’t have time to be bothered by the weight of our own equipment.”
Which was why running was demanded of soldiers. Swinging a sword and defeating the enemy came after that. A new recruit would be made to keep running until he passed out.
“Even if you couldn’t swing a sword, you could beat anyone if you kept running and threw rocks at them.”
Siasha nodded, recalling the events of the rescue operation. “When you put it that way, that doesn’t sound too different from what we did today.” Since she used magic, she couldn’t completely agree with Zig’s meathead philosophy, but she couldn’t deny the violence that sheer numbers could do. If a bunch of humans swarmed me like those blade bees, I would be easily done in, she thought.
Siasha turned to the mercenary and smiled fondly at him, grateful that he defeated her before she was swarmed to death.
“Still, carrying two people and running at full speed wore me out. Let’s get some rest after we eat.”
“Of course.”
Zig’s legs felt like lead, still feeling the aftereffects of the morning. He had every intention of carrying out the investigation, but rest and nutrition were still important. Most importantly, he was starving.
It was time for dinner by the time they arrived at the restaurant.
Zig couldn’t help but recall the trouble he ran into the last time he came here. Ironically, the circumstances surrounding his current visit weren’t peaceful either.
When they entered, the waiter bowed apologetically.
“I’m sorry, sir, but we’re full at the moment…”
“No problem. You still have tables upstairs, don’t you?” Zig motioned with his chin when the waiter was about to suggest another restaurant.
The restaurant was indeed filled with adventurers, but that only applied to the humans on the first floor. There weren’t enough people to fill the second floor, which was reserved mainly for demi-humans.
“In that case, come on in. I’ll come to get your order later, so take any table you want.”
The waiter had worked here for a long time, so meeting a customer like Zig wasn’t a first. He led him upstairs, mistakenly thinking that Zig had demi-human acquaintances.
Zig scanned the second floor, full of dining demi-humans. Spotting the ones he was looking for, he motioned to Siasha and headed over to them.
The four demi-humans put their guards up when they sensed the humans approaching. The others looked on with interest at what was unfolding.
The two continued approaching, ignoring the stares, and stood in front of the party. Their description matched the one that was on the list—furry demi-humans with wolflike heads.
“You the Forestfangs?”
“What’s it to you, human?” a demi-human spat back.
His tail was standing on end and his legs were tense, ready to pounce at a moment’s notice. Meanwhile, Siasha stared at his tail intently.
Zig chose his words carefully so as not to escalate the situation.
“I wanted to ask you something. It’s about the blade bee incident today.”
The three demi-humans looked at the one sitting in the back.
This demi-human was bigger than his peers and had gray fur. A scar ran diagonally across one of his eyes and he carried himself differently from the others.
He looked at Zig with his one eye and spoke with a low growl.
“Why us?”
His gaze had enough menace to make an average person cower in fear. However, Zig answered him casually despite the threat-laced tone.
“You seem to have better ears and noses than the rest of us.”
The wolf demi-human bared his fangs, his mouth stretching from ear to ear. Although it was a terrifying display, the shaking of his shoulders and the sound of his voice revealed it to be a laugh.
“What’s your name?”
“Zig. I’m a mercenary.”
“Mercenary… Yeah, I’ve heard about you.”
The one-eyed demi-human nodded, not at Zig’s name but at the word “mercenary.” He looked at Zig as if appraising him.
“A giant merc wielding a twinblade…”
His eyes shifted to Siasha. She was unfazed despite the wildness of the demi-human’s gaze.
“A foreigner who brought a menacing girl along with him. Just like the rumors.”
“Chief, who is this guy?” the younger demi-human asked, not taking his eyes off of the two humans. He looked like a young wolf determined to protect his pack from outsiders.
“Bare your fangs against that man and they’ll be broken,” the older wolf rebuked the young wolf who looked like he was ready to pounce. “Stand down if you want to protect your comrades.”
“What do you… Ack!”
The young demi-human yelped before he could finish his question. Startled, they turned around to discover that Siasha was holding his tail.
“Wow, it’s so fluffy!”
“Wh-what’s this lady’s problem?!”
The demi-human looked thrown off by the excited Siasha. He turned to his chief for help, frozen to what appeared to be a young girl gripping his tail with a force not befitting her looks.
The elder took one look at Siasha’s azure eyes and quietly turned away.
“The adults are talking. Be quiet.”
“Huh?!”
“Siasha, go over there for a second,” Zig said.
“Okay!”
The demi-human, abandoned by his comrades, was dragged away by Siasha by his tail. Although they all felt bad for him, they knew that the conversation would go smoother without him.
“Sorry about her,” Zig apologized.
“My runt was being rude too,” the chief said.
The two began with a mutual apology and then pretended the whole thing never happened.
“The name’s Balto. I’m head of the Forestfangs. These are Leif and Rolf.”
The gray wolf nodded as he introduced himself. The other two followed suit.
“The one with the tail in your girl’s hands is Seb.”
Balto jabbed his thumb at the young wolf who now had a blank look on his face.
“So, you wanted to talk about the blade bee incident?” he continued.
“Did you notice anything odd when it happened?” Zig asked.
While the average person might have overlooked some oddities, perhaps the demi-humans noticed something.
Balto’s nose twitched slightly.