Act 2-24 - New Incident

Chapter 24 : New Incident

Upon arriving at the adventurer guild, I found out that Edda had been waiting for me right at the entrance of the adventurer guild’s building.

She could actually wait for me inside… was what I thought but Edda herself might have dismissed such an idea since she didn’t want her skin to touch the crowds inside the building.

Well, she’s been loitering around the entrance since a while ago while taking a peek inside the building every once in a while.

「Hey, Edda.」

Edda’s back straightened when she heard my greeting.

「Mani is… well, she has a regular meeting with the other blacksmith today…. that’s why I think it’s for the best to spend this day making preparations and choosing the best demon labyrinth. Sorry, I know that you’re itching to move your body but let’s spend the rest of today doing preparations.」

「I see, the blacksmith girl can’t come huh. Nevertheless, I feel restless when I’m having too much free time. But, having this kind of slow life inside a well protected city doesn’t seem too bad for me. Though my skin color is different, I don’t need that kind of sympathy. Having experienced this kind of safety, sleeping without the need to worry about something attacking me in the middle of the night has dulled my instinct.」

From the perspective of the Narc tribe who choose a nomadic lifestyle, entering one danger zone after another, the lifestyle of the people in the kingdom whose safety was guaranteed might feel suffocating for them.

In addition, Edda had already planned to marry into another Narc tribe during the gathering after she got her revenge on the devil who slaughtered her entire tribe.

Maybe she was afraid that the comfortable life in the city would dull her instinct as a Narc tribe warrior.

Thus, she might think that was an extremely serious problem.

「That kind of serious face doesn’t suit you. So stop making a face that doesn’t suit your nature. Anyhow, you seem to be quite serious in that unproductive activity you call as garnishing the food that you’ll eat. If you have a lot of spare time to do that, you should use it for meditation, it’ll at least increase your chance of survival. Effeminate guy.」

Edda spoke with a dumbfounded look on her face.

Honestly I could talk back to her and give her a piece of my mind but seeing that her speech is actually telling me to increase my training time so that I could survive more easily, I choose to keep my silence.

I mean, after receiving personal training from her yesterday, I had no reason to deny the train of thought of the Narc tribe, the warrior tribe whose head was only filled with how to become stronger.

I mean, from their perspective whose raison d’etre was for combat and died in combat, the raison d’etre of the adventurers who fought for treasure, for food, or honor was tepid.

It doesn’t mean that she was looking down on our raison d’etre, in fact, she tried to show her respect to us while doing her best to get used to the lifestyle of this city without being swallowed by it.

Adventurer’s line of work didn’t have the leeway to have some consideration for someone like Edda.

That’s why I, who formed a party with her, would at least try to consider her feelings.

『HOW DARE YOU TO SAY THAT! IT’S BECAUSE OF YOUR MEDDLESOME LAST NIGHT TRAINING THAT DEAN HAD TO GO BACK LATE AND COULD ONLY OFFER COOKED POATTO(poor’s potato) FOR ME!』

Beelzebub’s resentment made 《Demon Eater Sword, Beelzera》 tremble slightly.

「Calm down, please calm down Beelzebub. Poatto is our greatest ally you know.」

I couldn’t deny the fact that poatto was tasteless and lacking in terms of nutrition.

You might even say that eating poatto was equivalent to not eating anything at all, a perfect diet food.

Though it was true that eating poatto will fill your belly but, eating too much of it would cause you to caught poor’s disease, a disasea which would paralyze your body.

On top of that, it tastes like soil. Though I wouldn’t go as far as say that it was equivalent to soil, its taste was infinitely close to soil.

But still, our history has proven that the one that was supporting the kingdom during the famine was none other than those poatto, the only reason why Mani and I could survive for so long despite being so poor was none other than poatto.

Its extremely resilient survival instinct which allowed it to grow by scraping nutrient from any source, including garbage dumb sites made it one strip ahead of the other staple food plants.

Another factor that made poatto stand out amongst the rest was the fact that none of its parts were inedible, its leaves and vines were soft and tender, a perfect match for salad or vegetable dishes.

WIthout this one plant, Mani and I would’ve already starved to death a long time ago.

That’s why even though I couldn’t bring myself to love poatto’s taste until now, it was no exaggeration to say that I love it in one way or another.

Poatto was really great, except for its taste, that’s it.

That’s why developing a recipe to make poatto taste delicious was one of my ultimate goals in my life.

『You’re also the one who caused Dean’s arms to be weakened to the point that he has no power left to do anything! At least, handle MY DEAN with care!』

「Calm down! I mean, aren’t you wolfing down most of the food last night in spite of your complaint!?」

I told her while pinning down 《Demon Eater Sword, Beelzera》 that was already shaking due to Beelzebub’s fury.

I mean, if she starts rattling again in a public place like this, bad people like that man with bitter orange hair from before might start targeting her again.

「Your sword is quite lively huh. I have no idea what caused that though.」

Edda spoke as if this situation has nothing to do with her.

Ditching responsibility huh.

「… Anyway, seeing that you don’t wish to hire stranger as our porter, I think we might be as well as postpone our plan for tomorrow, okay?」

「I’ve no problem even if it’s just the two of us though. I mean, it’s not like you who are still recovering can show your full power in combat. That’s why it’ll be okay if you take the porter role and we can dive into the shallow layer of a nearby demon labyrinth.」

「N-No, that’s also a bad idea… it might be just for few days but, we’re literally eating and sleeping together during that time!」

The chance for a pair of male and female adventurers to cross the line when they dive into demon labyrinths by themself was unexpectedly high.

I mean, seeing that they’re eating and sleeping together in the den of demon beast, they might end up seeking for the other’s warmth due to anxiety and loneliness.

That was the number one reason why a party broke up.

Her character aside, I have to say that Edda was a top beauty, that’s why I might have some sort of misunderstanding if it’s just the two of us.

「What a fool. Rest assured, I’ll make sure to cut off both of your index fingers if you try something funny.」

Edda spoke as if she was looking down on me.

「W-Why index finger…」

I mean, please stop pointing out specific parts like that.

I ended up imagining such a tragic scene.

「In accordance with the Narc tribe’s law, a sinner’s index fingers must be cut off as a proof of their sin. That way, they can only hold their sword with their incomplete fingers. They’ll be spared with that much if that’s the first time they committed the sin.」

Sounds like something that came out from a muscle-brained tribe…

I mean, they only need to wield their weapon with the other hand.

「If they committed another sin, they’ll be excommunicated from the tribe after we chopped off their entire set of fingers. SInce a fingerless person is just useless baggage in our tribe. But, currently, I’ve no one but you to rely on. That’s why don’t force me to do that to you.」

「Spare me please, I promise that I won’t do that…」

I opened the guild’s door while rubbing my forehead.

「… Well, I’m fine with standing like this but, it’ll be more comfortable if we speak inside while treating ourselves with some beverages, even if it’s just plain water. Nonetheless, I can’t agree with your plan to explore with just the two of us. Mani also ask me to wait for her just another day. Despite her kindness, she’s surprisingly the type that would hold a grudge over this kind of thing.」

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When I shifted my gaze toward the inside of the building, I saw a crowd had already formed in front of the receptionist.

Though I already knew that the guild was more noisy than usual from the outside… This situation was clearly unusual.

I mean, it doesn’t seem to be the scenery of the adventurer trading demon core or battle bone to me.

「WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY “WE HAVE NO IDEA WHAT HAPPEN”!」

「THIS MATTER IS CLEARLY RELATED TO THE GREY CULT! A WEIRD DUDE IS ALSO RAMPAGING AT THE MARKET A FEW DAYS AGO! AND THE ARMY IS SERIOUSLY GOING TO LEAVE THOSE GUYS ON THEIR OWN DEVICE!」

… It seems there was another incident related to the grey cult and the army.

Since they didn’t dare storming into the army’s base, they chose to let the adventurer guild who usually act as the middle man for the matter that related with the army to take the brunt of their anger.