Volume 4 Chapter 6-2 The Exile Drama and the Scent of Lemon
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
Lifia says something worriedly.
”Maybe.”
The image of the girl called Yomi pops into my head.
Her eyes hidden behind a curtain of bangs, a look of humility on her face.
But her voice was confident.
She was the only one among the heroes who thought things through calmly.
Even so, she got called ugly and coldly rejected──
An ugly one, huh.
I remember her appearance.
True, she wasn’t a looker at first glance.
Her bangs were too long, hiding her expression and giving a dark impression.
She had shadows under her eyes, looking unhealthy.
Her slightly hunched posture made her seem more confident than she was.
But my gut tells me:
That girl could be a beauty if she polished herself up.
Hidden under that baggy magician robe, her body’s shape wasn’t bad.
In fact, it might even be pretty well-proportioned.
If she just did something with her bangs, those sharp eyes would make her shine as a cool beauty.
But she doesn’t realize it herself.
She has no confidence.
So now, all she can do is bow her head and apologize.
Such a waste.
Well, it’s none of my business.
I don’t plan on getting involved with her or the other heroes anymore, and I don’t want to.
* * *
We continued exploring the “Magic-Draining Snow Mountain” on the 4th floor of the dungeon.
The temperature stayed low, and blizzards obscured our vision, blocking our path.
The deeper we went, the tougher the monsters got.
But there was a bright side too.
The number of treasure chests increased with the difficulty.
It seems like dungeons really pay off the deeper you go.
Since then, we’ve found 4 chests.
Inside were a water bottle that fills with water when you pour magic into it, a lighter that ignites with magic, and a tent with a camouflage function that blends into the surroundings.
”…Hmmm, they’re all kind of meh.”
Lifia mutters as she looks at the items.
”They’d be handy for normal adventurers, but we don’t need them.”
”I would’ve been happy to use them before coming to Milord…”
Kéa gives a lukewarm assessment too.
Water and fire can be covered by Love Hotel stuff.
The power level is probably on par with magic tool shops in town/street.
Honestly, I don’t think there’s anything super special about it.
It’s kinda like a dud, you know?
Just a dungeon treasure chest doesn’t mean everything in it’s gonna make you rich quick.
Plus, for me who can summon the actual place to stay, a tent is pretty useless.
All that stuff isn’t bad but it’s not what we need right now.
Still, these things are not worthless──
They’re actually pretty handy for normal adventurers.
If we sell ’em at the guild, we might get some decent cash.
But among all that junk, there was one thing I was happy to get──
”Greater Healing Potion. Nice, I’m happy about this one.”
Potions are rare and especially high-level ones can go way up in price.
And you might not even be able to buy one with money, not always.
Getting one here is like, super lucky.
It’s a stroke of luck.
So, I’m just gonna store it in the Love Hotel’s fridge.
Cold helps keep potions working best.
And that’s not all.
Once it’s in the fridge, it gets registered to the Love Hotel, and from then on, I can buy the same Greater Healing Potion using MP.
Open the menu, and it shows “Greater Healing Potion: 1000P.”
And yep, I’m registered.
But damn, that’s expensive.
My max MP now is 1340.
I can buy it, but I can’t just keep buying endlessly.
Well, having even just one’s enough, I guess.
I probably won’t use it all that much anyway.
The fights are only gonna get more intense.
Having it or not makes a huge difference in feeling safe.
We’re clearly making steady progress.
* * *
One day, Tifi comes back looking tired as hell.
”I’m home.”
”Welcome back. Did something happen?”
She usually keeps that big smile, but today she’s definitely not looking so hot.
Did something go wrong?
”An urgent support request came from the castle, from the adventurer guild… from the heroes.”
Tifi sighed and said that.
Turns out, the hero folks are asking for help in a new way after breaking up with Star of the Dawn…
”They want people to show them around without making the heroes mad or anything…”
”What a selfish request.”
”Yeah, really. But the guild can’t ignore it, and the upper guys are scratching their heads.”
Heroes are valuable fighters for the kingdom.
As the royal castle, we probably gotta keep them happy.
But dragging the adventurers’ guild into it is just way too annoying.
”Right now, Mr. Taro and the others are ‘deep inside a dungeon,’ so you aren’t getting requests. But they’re on the list. If you come back to the surface once, you might get asked.”
”Even at Bronze Rank?”
My adventurer rank is still Bronze Rank.
Normally, the royal castle wouldn’t ask us for work.
So, are we really on the candidate list?
”Yeah. There aren’t many adventurers who can reliably operate on the third floor of a dungeon. So, no matter the rank, if someone looks promising, they want to ask them.”
I see, so that’s the situation.
Guess I should avoid showing my face carelessly.
I really don’t want to be stuck guarding the heroes or whatever.
I know Gaedaf and the others have it rough, hearing about their troubles firsthand.
They keep demanding things like guide them, treat them fancy, let them do whatever they want──of course, expecting us to do it.
And if someone gets hurt, it’s always our fault.
I definitely wanna stay out of that mess.
Probably, other adventurers think the same.
Nobody wants to deal with those heroes, so the guild struggles to find reliable people, and that’s why Tifi and everyone else have it hard.
I wanna help somehow, but…
”Well, just rest up today. Let’s get some drinks. Coffee okay?”
”Um, today I’d like lemon tea, please.”
”Huh? That’s unusual.”
Tifi usually dumps a ton of milk and sugar in her coffee.
But today, she’s having tea instead.
”Maybe I’m just tired today, feeling like this. Please make it extra lemony.”
”Got it.”
I pick the lemon tea from the love hotel’s room service menu and place an order.
A steaming teacup shows up real quick.
I also get a big slice of lemon ready and put it in front of Tifi.
”Go ahead.”
”Thank you, Mr. Taro.”
Tifi cheerfully squeezes the lemon into the black tea.
Then she picks up the cup, takes a moment to enjoy the aroma, and takes a sip.
Watching her expression soften, I breathe a sigh of relief for now.
I don’t want to get involved with heroes, and I don’t give a damn what happens to them.
But seeing Tifi’s tired face makes me feel like I should do something.
I don’t want to meet any heroes, but maybe it’s okay to keep an eye on them from afar.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
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