The loooong negotiations eventually wound down and ended exactly the way I thought they would. Me, Nagato, and Koizumi ended up shouldering chests absolutely stuffed with gold coins. I was worried we looked less like the hero’s party and more like a couple of particularly brazen burglars—but the chests were so heavy I stopped caring. I was used to being Haruhi’s pack mule, but a wooden chest brimming with gold was far heavier than anything I’d been asked to carry lately. Heavier than Haruhi herself. If weight decided value, the chest easily won.
“An acceptable start. Let’s keep this up the whole way!”
Haruhi strode off ahead, and we panted as we followed in her wake. Technically, only I was out of breath; Nagato and Koizumi seemed to have no trouble with their cargo. Nagato was one thing, but I really didn’t appreciate Koizumi having that much hidden strength. Was he lifting in secret? Thanks for the invite, jerk.
It went without saying that nobody attempted to give Asahina any undue burden. She was carrying a gnarled wooden staff, allegedly a bit of magical equipment. The truth remained unclear. What spells could this Asahina cast? Less a question than a mystery. Though I doubted her magic revolved around the secret to brewing new types of tea.
“And we can’t march on an empty stomach! Order whatever you like! We’ve got plenty of cash, so let’s go all out!”
Haruhi had stopped outside a two-story wooden building with a sign out front calling itself a pub of some sort. There were several horses tied to posts outside giving us exhausted looks. This was clearly not a one-horse town.
“Man, it’s hard to pin down what time period we’re supposed to be in,” I said. My armor clanked as I looked around.
The town beyond the castle walls seemed to me like Europe around the time of the Hundred Years’ War, but it wasn’t like I had exacting anthropological knowledge of the era, so that was just my best guess. The people milling about on the streets were wearing clothes I’d only ever seen in fantasy RPGs, so it was probably safe to assume this was a bog-standard sword and sorcery kinda deal.
If you just imagine that and fill in the blanks, you’ll save me a lot of time on exposition.
While I was busy flexing my powers of description, Haruhi threw open the door of the pub and called, “Helloooo!” causing every single patron to turn and look at her. This establishment didn’t seem to attract a high caliber of clientele. Seeing a bunch of blue-collar men day drinking like proper working lads certainly gave us some insight into the kingdom’s labor conditions. The way their eyes locked onto the chest in my arms was unsettling, and I seriously considered hiding behind Nagato.
And yet…
“It’s your lucky day, people! I’m paying for all your food and drink! Everything’s on me! Don’t worry, it’s on the king’s dime anyway!”
Haruhi immediately put my worries to rest. A roar went up, shaking the shabby wooden rafters, and the pub was engulfed by a party atmosphere.
“Who owns the place? Bring us one of everything on your menu! No, five of everything!”
Haruhi stalked over to the counter at the back, bellowing at the mustachioed proprietor.
“Stop dragging your feet, Kyon! Come on, everybody, sit down! It’s time for the pre-party! We’re celebrating early!”
It was a total mystery to me what we were celebrating, but no one seemed to have any answers, and my questions were quickly lost in the revelry.
“…………”
When I failed to move, thief Nagato held on to her chest in silence and walked past me.
“Wow… Something smells good!” Asahina said, sniffing the air.
She tried to step forward.
“Eep!”
And promptly stepped on her robes.
“Suzumiya certainly is a generous soul. Then again, this money comes from the kingdom’s treasury, so perhaps returning it to the people like this is for the best.”
Koizumi helped Asahina up and flashed me a smile. He was always unflappable. Nagato’s lack of expression and Asahina’s clumsiness were also the same no matter where we were, clubroom or otherwise. Meanwhile, Haruhi was inexplicably getting worked up even more than usual. I was starting to feel a little left out; everyone else was clearly taking this situation in stride.
“Ooh, I like this! What kind of meat is it? Mammoth? Never had anything like it! Give me the recipe later.”
Haruhi was already sampling the parade of dishes that had started coming out of the kitchen.
“What about this is supposed to be heroic?” I muttered, setting my chest down.
We get hired to take down the demon lord, and she hits up the first pub she spots outside the castle, blowing a bunch of our funds on literally anything but gear and supplies. Not exactly hero material.
“Kyon, get your butt over here! This bubbly’s boozy in a good way! Grab some before it’s all gone!”
Haruhi was waving a tankard around, yelling my name. Fine, you talked me into it. She’s the hero we got. There was no menu option to mutiny, so this lowly warrior can’t exactly ditch the party. Dunno where I’d even go on my own.
I headed for the hero’s table.
✦ ✦ ✦
How long had we been there? With no clocks in sight it was hard to tell, but the party was still going strong.
✦ ✦ ✦
