“Ugh...”
I gradually returned to the land of the conscious. Had I been sleeping?
I rubbed my eyes and opened my heavy eyelids. Then, I lifted up my upper body and looked around.
“Where am I?”
I looked outside the window and recognized this place. “Is this...Ishtar?”
Apparently, I was sleeping in a bed. I couldn’t fully remember what happened, but I must have used up all my MP and collapsed. Then, someone must have carried me here to rest.
“That’s right. What happened to Claire?” I looked around once again, but didn’t see her. I tried to get out of bed to make sure she was safe.
That’s when Yui burst into the room. “Ah, Lloyd! You’re awake!”
“Yeah. I just woke up.”
“Thank goodness! Are you feeling all right?” she asked, looking quite worried.
I got out of bed and shook my limbs to test them out. “I think so. Nothing feels off.”
“I see. Really, thank goodness! I was so shocked when you collapsed!” She brought her hand to her chest and sighed.
“Sorry for causing you guys so much trouble.”
“Not at all! We’re really thankful, Lloyd!”
We must have been Daggers and the others. Had I done a good job in Crumb’s place? I really hoped so.
No, but I had ultimately caused so much trouble for them. It was me who needed to be thankful.
“Yui, th—”
“Oh! Wait a sec, Lloyd. And don’t use your detection magic!”
“S-Sure...”
With that, Yui rushed out of the room. Just what was happening?
There really was no reason I shouldn’t use my detection magic, but I decided to follow her instructions anyway. After a few minutes, Yui returned, panting. “S-Sorry...for the wait...”
“No problem. What is it?”
“Oh, I just remembered an errand I had to run.”
“I see.” But you’re clearly out of breath. It must have been urgent.
“But anyway, who cares about that! Follow me, Lloyd!” she said, tugging forcefully on my arm.
“What’s gotten into you all of a sudden?”
“Just follow me!”
Apparently, I was at the Adventurer’s Guild. I had only been here once, but this place really had a unique vibe to it. I had been sleeping on the second floor.
I climbed down the stairs to the first floor.
“Hmm?” That’s when I suddenly realized something. This area had been lively and full of people the last time I had come here, but now there was currently nobody in sight. There was evidence that people had been there just moments before, like pending quest postings left on the reception counter, or bags and other belongings that had been thrown on the ground.
“Agh...!” Damn, was Yui strong. I resisted, yet that didn’t affect her at all. It had to partly be due to her class, but she was almost too strong. She must have trained quite a lot.
“Hey, Yui? Where are we going?”
“You’ll know soon enough! Just follow me!” Why did she look so happy? Had the reward for completing this quest been that good?
Resistance seemed futile, so I followed after her. In fact, resisting would only get me hurt.
“All righty! We’re here!” Yui stopped right before the door and let go of my arm. “Open it!”
“Huh? Why me?”
“Well, is anybody else here?”
I looked around. She was right. We were alone.
“Ugh...” What was she going to do to me? I tried to think that over, but I couldn’t find an answer. My only option was to open it, so I did.
I was met with a crowd of adventurers, knights, and citizens of Ishtar. They were all smiling and looking straight at me. Just what the heck was happening...?
I had no idea what had led to all this, so I decided to close the door as if nothing had happened.
“Phew...” I let out a sigh of relief.
“Lloyd! What the heck are you doing?! Why’d you close the door?!” asked Yui, sounding quite panicked. But why be panicked?
I didn’t have a real answer to her question either. “I just, you know...wanted to close it.”
“You just wanted to?” she asked, seemingly exasperated. Still, I didn’t think I had said anything wrong. Anyone would normally be a bit bewildered to open a door to find a giant crowd of people. Closing the door was the right move. Plus, I wasn’t really good at facing crowds. I might have gotten that from Master Merlin.
“Hey, Yui? What’s happening?” Yui was almost certainly the cause of all this, so I decided to ask her.
“You’ll figure it out once you go outside!”
Go outside? Me? Why...?
Now, I wanted nothing more than to not step foot outside that door. Still, I couldn’t just stand around here either. I was still feeling tired and lethargic, so I wanted to hurry back to the inn and get some sleep.
“That’s right.” I suddenly recalled something, so I headed in the opposite direction of the door. Then, I opened the window and put one foot through it.
“Hey! What the heck are you doing?!”
“Well, there’s a crowd outside the door, so I thought I’d exit through the window...” I said, immediately attempting to make my escape. However, Yui grabbed my foot and stopped me. Then, she dragged me back to the door. “Ow...”
“All right! Open it!” she said, glaring at me. She was serious.
I guess I had no choice. “Fine...”
Being all out of options, I slowly pushed the door open. Once again, countless eyes fell on me. I gulped down some spit. “Um...”
What were you even supposed to do in this situation? I’m sure Allen would have gotten through this perfectly. But unfortunately, I had no experience with public speaking, and growing up in the woods meant I wasn’t even used to standing in front of so many people.
“Th-Thanks.” After a lot of pondering, I decided to give them a slight bow. Once I lifted my head back up, I turned to face the people in front of me. Had I done that right?
Nervousness filled my chest.
After a mere moment, a man spoke. “You’re our savior, Lloyd!!!”
“Huh?” I couldn’t understand what he was saying. I looked behind me to beg for assistance, but Yui was gone. Actually, I found her. She was at the very back of the crowd.
Dang it, Yui! So you escaped from the window alone! And you were so insistent I go through the door!
Afterward, I was dragged to the town square as various people declared me to be “Lloyd the Savior.”