#069
[A Sword of an Explorer Who Now Barely Pulls Their Own Weight]
“……”
I was dumbfounded. I wasn’t hoping for a really fancy name, but isn’t this a bit much? No matter how I looked at it, the word choice seemed to be looking down on me. “Now barely” pulling my own weight.
The original plain naming like ‘Novice Explorer’s Sword’ was actually better. Did they really have to add “now barely”?
It was a bit disheartening, but anyway, the sword was firmly declaring that I would at least pull my own weight in this expedition… so I decided to just be happy about it. What meaning could a name attached to an inanimate object have anyway? It’s not like this is a game where you have to shout “Such and such sword!” while swinging it. (I’m so grateful that’s not the case.)
“Anyway, thanks. I’ll try my best to sweep up as many good resources as possible this time too.”
Seiz nodded.
“There’s Lightmite in the snow mountain. If you get that, I can enhance your sword further. And…”
Seiz hesitated for a moment, then took something out from under the counter and held it out.
“Well… I know you’re working hard for the village in various ways. There’s nothing else I can do for you.”
“What? No. Just the weapons and items you’ve prepared are…”
“That’s all done for payment… This is my sincerity. I couldn’t make something new due to lack of materials, so I fixed something I was using. Since it’s a snow mountain, you’ll probably be able to use it well.”
What Seiz handed over was an item that automatically transformed and operated as ski or skate blades when attached under shoes. It was something really necessary in places with heavy snow, and since it was an item I hadn’t thought of, I gratefully accepted and packed it. I resolved to generously obtain Lightmite to repay him.
Unlike before when Seiz would lower Favorability with a gloomy face, he properly made eye contact and waved as I said farewell.
After leaving Seiz’s workshop, I went straight to Eira’s house. Since the incident at the guild, I felt unnecessarily sorry, embarrassed, and generally uncomfortable, but that made it all the more necessary to meet once. Of course, I also had to receive potions needed for the expedition before sunset.
“Come in.”
As usual, Eira opened the door before I could even knock.
“Uh… um, did you get back safely that day?”
To my cautious question, Eira nodded and answered with an unconcerned expression.
“Yeah. It was comfortable. It’s been a while since I rode in a car with someone else driving.”
“Sorry. You got caught up in unnecessary trouble because of me.”
“Don’t say that. Anyway, Kate ajumma is more than just a neighbor to me too, so I can naturally do that much. And it ended safely anyway. What about you… was there any trouble?”
“Huh?”
“Carlisle, I mean. Didn’t he say anything?”
“Ah… well. I haven’t run into him since that day.”
Eira made an incredulous face.
“It’s Carlisle’s house though?”
“Well… he seems busy. Anyway, unlike me, he’s a local dignitary and city councilman… There seems to be a lot of work with processing this expedition’s harvest and the next expedition too.”
I added stories I’d picked up bit by bit from the butler and Taro, but Eira didn’t seem interested in that direction.
“No, that’s not the problem… He has to come home to sleep. You haven’t run into him since that day?”
“…No.”
Eira crossed her arms and glared at me interrogatively.
“Tell me honestly. You two are getting back together, right?”
“What are you talking about? No.”
I jumped.
“Then what was all that talk about kissing?”
“That was just… somehow while drinking…”
Heat rose to my face, turning it red.
“While drinking, he says. Well, everyone makes that excuse.”
Eira snorted.
“If you’re hiding it because you’re conscious of me, there’s no need. I’ve said this several times, but I have no lingering feelings for you now and no interest in that direction. Even if I did, I wouldn’t. It’s the same for all the other girls. Who would dare think of being a romantic rival to Carlisle Lightinger?”
Eira slowly shook her head.
“Honestly, even before he seemed to have good manners but had some difficult aspects, but back then it could just be dismissed as a personality issue. Can you do that these days? The current Carlisle Lightinger is practically a power holder in a lawless zone, isn’t he? There are laws, but they haven’t functioned properly for a long time. Who knows when or where your head might roll if you carelessly cross him, so who would risk their life for romance? You’re dense so you didn’t know, but even before, Carlisle’s wariness toward people around you was no joke, so how much worse would it be now?”
I was just bewildered by Eira’s lengthy explanation.
“No, you don’t need to go that far… Um, the k-kiss really just happened somehow. Honestly, I’m still puzzled about why that atmosphere developed. There’s no explanation other than alcohol. Because, even though I had no choice but to cling to Carlisle and go on expeditions, honestly Carlisle wouldn’t bat an eye even if I were in mortal danger, and sometimes it even seems like he wants to kill me.”
At those words, Eira made an expression like “isn’t that obvious?”
“That’s natural since you put him through such a terrible ordeal, isn’t it? I also made deadly poison to kill you at one point and kept it for a while.”
Eira casually said something terrifying. My mouth fell open. Something I had briefly suspected but dismissed as an impossible delusion had actually happened!
“No, you don’t need to be that scared. I’m saying I vented my anger that way—I’m not a psychopath, and I wouldn’t kill someone over just a dating issue. Isn’t Carlisle the same? A love-hate psychology where he wants to kill you but can’t. The fact that you’re still alive with your skills is proof of that, isn’t it? Would you have survived this long without Carlisle, considering your level?”
“……”
No, Eira. Even if that’s true, do you need to fact-bomb me that much? If words were swords, blood would already be pooled all around me.
“Anyway, try to get along well with Carlisle at least until the expeditions are completely finished. The desert must have been tough, but from what I hear, the snow mountain is worse. You must have developed somewhat, but it’s not a place you can compete with at that level. For now… I made as many stamina and healing potions as possible since you brought back a lot of good medicinal materials.”
The potions Eira brought out with a sigh were truly almost a mountain. They were enough to fill all the slots I’d reserved for potions in my inventory and then some. There were especially many stamina potions, so if I could drink them in time, my stamina bar probably wouldn’t be in danger.
“Don’t get too hurt, just come back alive. If you come back with just your life attached, I’ll manage somehow.”
Good girl.
My heart was touched, but Eira shattered my emotion by coldly saying she would charge an enormous amount as payment.
After finishing my business at Eira’s house and returning to the village, the sun was already setting. Today I only met Eira and Seiz, but it took quite a while to check potions and items one by one, listen to explanations, and memorize usage methods.
I was curious about Kate ajumma’s condition, but being entangled in various bad situations, I ended up avoiding them to prevent causing harm. I decided to be satisfied with hearing from Taro that she was recovering smoothly.
Tomorrow was departure day, but I still hadn’t met Carlisle. I ate dinner alone too. Come to think of it, I’d been eating alone continuously since the first day. At first I thought it was actually good, but by now I was starting to worry.
Taro, whom I met at the town center during the day, said with a smiling face that departure was indeed tomorrow morning and to prepare well… but when morning actually came, wouldn’t Carlisle arrest me and throw me in jail saying “I can’t go on dangerous expeditions with a criminal”?
Anxious thoughts followed one after another. Just when I barely escaped from thinking I might not be able to depart at all, this time the image of me dying horribly in the snow mountain expedition because Carlisle wouldn’t help wouldn’t leave my head. The vivid memories of dying again and again during the tutorial period, which I had forgotten for a while, came back to life.
The vibration of my pounding heart rang in my ears and head. My body was tired from walking around all day, but whenever I closed my eyes, my consciousness became sharply awake. It was like the side effects of excessive caffeine consumption. The reality was just the coffee scent I caught passing by Kevin’s bakery.
‘I need a Tranquility Potion.’
I sighed. Honestly, I didn’t understand why the system was so stingy about providing Tranquility Potions. In the end, aside from the two bottles I received as quest rewards for bringing Halmite to Seiz, I couldn’t obtain any additional ones, so currently I only had two Tranquility Potions. (There weren’t even other additional sub-quests, so I don’t know what I’m supposed to do next time.)
I had no choice but to plan to drink them as late as possible. Probably right before combat.
I should have asked Eira to make some sleep potions too. I didn’t mention it because I didn’t want to reveal that I was afraid of expeditions, but I regretted it belatedly.
Dominated by negative thoughts, I couldn’t sleep even on the clean, soft bed and kept tossing and turning, eventually getting out of bed after about two hours.
I craved alcohol.
‘Signs of alcoholism…’
Actually, I know that even if I drink and fall asleep, I won’t achieve deep sleep and will just wake up at dawn. But it seemed better to sleep even a little and wake up than not being able to sleep at all like this.
‘I think there was wine in the dining room.’
It was when I thought that and dragged myself to open the bedroom door.
‘Gasp!’
I stopped mid-step and unconsciously held my breath. Because there was a large, pitch-black shadow standing in front of the bedroom door. My heart sank with a thud while my entire body froze.
“Where are you going without sleeping?”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
