“With that said, the school also functions as a place of education for the older sons until they can succeed the family, so you’ll see some of them enrolled as well,” said Azu, adding a mention of the fact that the school also taught more traditional subjects. “You don’t want idiots becoming adventurers, after all. It doesn’t end well.”
“Dealing with a bunch of nobles, huh… I’m getting depressed just thinking about it.”
Renya quickly looked at Rona and waited a bit until she noticed his glance. At first, she seemed confused. Then, after a moment’s contemplation, she grudgingly shook her head. Apparently, the “female nobility who hated the thought of their marriage became adventurers” bit didn’t apply to them.
In hindsight, though, his question was unnecessary. Shion was, on the outside at least, a beautiful young woman. Sure, she destroyed the illusion whenever she opened her mouth, what with her somewhat crude language and birdbrained tendencies, but that didn’t change the fact that she was still the daughter of a noble family. The number of requests asking for her hand in marriage must have been too numerous to count. Even if she managed to run away from her suitors, it was easy to imagine that there should have been — and still would be — tons of people hunting her down to bring her back.
“The fostering of young talent is an important job. It’ll probably be tough, but I’m rooting for you,” said Shion.
She was probably the least injured of the three. Renya had suspected as much based on the perfunctory treatment Emil had performed on her, and indeed, she was the first to be discharged by the doctor in town. A quick examination by Rona confirmed that no restorative gracecraft was needed. His concern about her catching a cold also proved to be unnecessary. She turned out to be one tough cookie. Although, whether said toughness spoke to her mettle as a swordsman — minimizing the damage of Emil’s strike through pure skill — or simply an unreasonably sturdy constitution, he could not say. She did, however, seem to feel ashamed to have been so powerless against the demon, and ever since returning to town, she had spent every day at the guild’s training area, swinging her sword until either mind or body gave out.
“Let me know if there’s anything I can help with. I’ll be happy to. As long as it’s within my capabilities, that is,” said Renya.
“I’ll gladly ask for your help when the time comes, then. Thanks. Come to think of it, though this job has left me none the richer, I’ve come away with a new friend. I’d say getting to know you is a reward in itself,” concluded Azu as he closed the book he was reading and placed it down on the table. There was a smile on his face. It was a good smile, the kind that was leagues removed from his prior image of a gloomy mage. And the kind that turned the corners of Renya’s lip upward, as well.
“Well, enough about me,” Azu said. “What about you three? I assume you all plan to keep adventuring?”
“Yeah. I mean, the whole reason we got into this was to make enough money to have a more permanent place to stay. A base of operations, you know?”
“The reward… this time… wasn’t bad, but… still… not enough…”
Rona could barely manage three words without a labored gasp. The other three at the table all looked at her, somewhat worried that she was about to keel over and die on them right there.
“A place to stay… A home, then. A tantalizing thought indeed, even for adventurers.”
“It wasn’t some grand plan, by the way. It was mostly just going with the flow. Anyway, we’re going to need a fairly big place since we plan to fit all of us in there.”
“Do you? Well, aren’t you a real Casanova of our times. Sharing a roof with two young ladies, huh?” Azu chuckled. There was a silent jibe embedded in the laugh: have fun with that. It earned him a scowl from Renya.
But man, this sure was one dangerous job.
Leaning back against his seat, Renya looked up at the ceiling and withdrew into his thoughts. A single mistake, one wrong step, and Emil would have had eight extra specimens to play around with. That was no exaggeration. In fact, had it been not a whimsical researcher, but a true fighter they ran into, they’d all have been killed. Make no mistake — these were deadly jobs, and they were putting their lives on the line.
Of course, so long as they needed to make money, they had to take risks. Renya was aware of that. But the whole experience left him earnestly wishing he could have been eased into all this, perhaps with a slightly easier mission to start with. This was, after all, his first official job from the guild.
Its results: the death of half the crew and a mutual acquaintance with a demon. Luck had not been on his side.
“He who entrusts himself to Lady Luck is a fool, but he who spurns her is just as stupid. I’d much rather take the middle road. As they say, everything in moderation. I’m fine with living in a way that allows me to keep my promise to that girl, but man, sometimes, I really have to ask… can’t life be just a little easier?”
With the faintest of whispers, Renya directed his question up at the distant sky, where it faded into the empty air, unheeded, unnoticed, and ultimately unheard.