Chapter 17: Conquest Festival VI
As I pondered where to have a meal, I unexpectedly ran into a familiar Guild staff member. After a brief conversation, he offered to lend us a room. So, the three of us headed to the Guild, entered the designated room, and spread out the street food we had bought on the table before taking our seats. I poured the red wine that Saga had recommended into the glasses for Kuroe and myself, while placing the orange juice we had purchased in front of Kuroa.
It was the middle of the day, but I hoped for forgiveness.
“To the safety of the three of us and the complete conquest of the Sealed Labyrinth—”
We raised our glasses.
“Cheers!”
In contrast to Kuroa, who gulped down his drink with a loud swallow, Kuroe tilted his head back and emptied his glass in one go, revealing his white throat.
“Ahh, it’s nice to do this once in a while!”
“Is it really that sudden?”
“I’ve had drinks occasionally for socializing, but this is my first time drinking during the day… I’ve always wanted to try it someday.”
Kuroe smiled, saying, “Daytime drinking has its charm.” It seemed that Kuroa’s recovery had lifted a weight off his shoulders. His smile appeared somewhat youthful. Kuroa stared intently at his brother.
“What’s wrong?”
“Oh, I just thought it looked nice…”
Kuroa murmured shyly. Ah, so he was envious of his brother drinking… But what to do? Kuroa was technically an adult in this world, so he could drink, but considering he had just recently been bedridden… I thought it might be better for him to hold back.
“Since it’s a special day. But just a little, okay?”
Kuroe placed a new glass in front of Kuroa and poured a modest amount of wine into it.
“Yeah… that’s right.”
It was these casual moments of daily life that they had longed for. To stop that would be rather uncouth.
Food and drink made conversation flow smoothly. The Tezoro Brothers, their cheeks flushed from the alcohol, were eager to hear about my experiences in the Sealed Labyrinth.
“Alright then.”
Hehe, their eyes were sparkling with excitement. I feigned reluctance while feeling a bit proud, and began recounting my tales from the Sealed Labyrinth for what felt like the umpteenth time. The Tezoro Brothers listened attentively, nodding enthusiastically as I spoke. And just like that, my stories began to heat up. Why did tales of the labyrinth so easily stir the hearts of people? Anon and Milan loved labyrinth stories, and of course, I did too.
Just then, perhaps having eaten too much street food, Kuroa let out a loud burp. His cheeks flushed, he covered his face with both hands and quickly hid behind his brother’s shoulder.
“Don’t worry about it. It’s no big deal.”
Ah, the trials of being a teenager. Speaking of which, Hikaru had also become shy about various things since entering middle school.
“More importantly, just wait a moment. I’ll get the sorbet and the frozen figs ready.”
I prepared three plates with the icy treats and placed them on the table. As I poured more wine, I took small bites of the sorbet and resumed our conversation.
When I reached the part about my duel with the No-Skill, Kuroe, with his sweet mask, gasped in awe.
“The No-Skill?! You mean that No-Skill?!”
“Yep, that’s the one.”
Kuroe, who usually seemed calm, was now eagerly throwing questions about the battle. I could feel his excitement rising.
“I can’t believe Row fought that No-Skill in a fierce battle and emerged victorious…!!”
Kuroe grabbed both of my hands and shook them vigorously in his excitement.
But I couldn’t tell him that the No-Skill was a pervert and that I had been scolded by him for being a coward. I had to play it cool. Instead, I found myself sharing details about the No-Skill’s sword techniques and habits as Kuroe eagerly listened. I then proudly pulled out the Demon Sword Gram from my magic bag and showed it off.
“Take a look at this.”
“What is this…?”
“This is the Demon Sword Gram.”
“—!”
I could see both of them gasp in surprise.
“The Demon Sword Gram, the one and only…?!”
“Yeah, that’s definitely the Demon Sword Gram.”
They trembled in awe.
“C-Can I see it, Row?”
“Brother, me too!”
Kuroe, who had a hobby of collecting swords, and Kuroa, whose engineer blood was boiling, both breathed heavily with excitement.
“Whoa, whoa, calm down.”
I chided them lightly while reaching back into my magic bag. I placed the sword on the table.
“Take a look. What do you think?”
What I placed down was another—
““—Demon Sword Gram.””
The brothers’ voices harmonized.
““Eeeeeeh?!””
They both shouted in unison, their voices the loudest of the day, starting to panic with questions like “How?!” and “Why?!”
Seeing their reactions exceeded my expectations, I felt pleased and began sharing stories about my past encounter with a No-Skill that had no self-awareness, my interactions with the current one, and how I received the Demon Sword Gram after our confrontation, using gestures to emphasize my points.
As I continued, I got even more fired up and found myself talking about the Super Dragon before I knew it.
Kuroa clapped enthusiastically.
Honestly, if you guys were acting, I would just die from the excitement!!
I didn’t talk about Ainika. Discussing him would lead to too many complications. Besides, I felt like I had been monopolizing the conversation. I needed to reflect on that.
“I think it’s about time I heard more about you two instead of just talking about myself.”
I requested of them.
Kuroe shared that since the day after we met, he had been energetically hunting Fog in the Old Capital (Bienetta) with numerous parties. Kuroa, while lamenting his inability to join, had focused on producing Potions and Mana Potions as backup support. It seemed he had also been diligently working on improving Crane’s Guidance.
The stories of our encounters connected to the present and then flowed into their future.
“Now that we’ve settled the matter of the Sealed Labyrinth, and Kuroa is no longer worried, we don’t have any plans for a while. So, we’re thinking of going on a journey together.”
“A journey…?”
“Yeah, we promised to go see the ocean once Kuroa got better.”
“What about the management of the Old Capital (Bienetta)?”
“Oh, that’s fine. I’m currently in the process of handing it over.”
“Handover… wait, what?! Why?! You’re the Clan Master, right?!”
“Why are you so surprised? Our clan’s specialty is nurturing members. There’s no problem with the next generation. The next Clan Master is a person of character and ability, perfectly suited to take over.”
“There’s no need to quit. You could just take a long vacation and rest—”
“Well, about that, Kuroa and I decided together that we want to live our lives the way we want from now on.”
Kuroe turned to his brother.
“We’ve already decided. We want to do all the things we couldn’t do together!”
He gave me the brightest smile. Just that was enough to fill my heart.
“Well, that’s good. That’s how it should be.”
I naturally recalled the image of Kuroa, eyes sparkling as he looked around the festival stalls, and Kuroe watching over him with warmth.
“They’ve held back for so long. From now on, they should do what they want. If they ever want to be Seekers, they can do that anytime.”
My words made them nod in agreement.
“And you know…”
Kuroa began, “We want to repay you, Row.”
Kuroe concluded, “We want to repay you.”
“Repay me? What are you talking about? I don’t need anything more. You’ve already helped me plenty in the Sealed Labyrinth, and just seeing you both healthy is enough. I’m grateful for that. That’s all I need.”
Kuroe looked at me intently.
“You just said, ‘From now on, you should do what you want.’”
Kuroa couldn’t hold back his laughter and chuckled, “You just got logically defeated.”
A perfect rebuttal, or as I’d like to call it, a “gūron” (defeated argument). With my declaration of defeat, the three of us burst into laughter.
The festivities were in full swing. They invited me to dinner, but I politely declined. I needed to show my face to Sensei and return to the Hidden Mountain where Sena was.
“See you later.”
It seemed they would be staying in this town for a while, so we made a promise to meet again to make up for this time, and we parted ways.
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I’ll take a few days to promote this.
First, in the recent notes…
The story of Pulmy and Klein’s training has been released, so if you’re interested…
In the latest update notes, we have various reports including information about the comic adaptation. Please take a moment to check it out!
Additionally, the first and second volumes of the comic adaptation will be released simultaneously in print on November 19th!
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