Episode 15.7

That night, Lecan's group went to <Jade's Restaurant>.

The door that was broken yesterday has been replaced with a new one.

There's a lot of customers merrily making noise inside.

Which means, <Vega> isn't here today. Thought Lecan, but it turns out they're drinking around two joined round tables like they were yesterday.

Lecan looked around inside the restaurant while finding this situation unexpected, he couldn't find an open seat so he turned around to leave the establishment.

"Lecan!"

Lecan turned back and saw Cozwolth standing up while grandly waving at him.

"Oy! <Willard>'s made their entrance! Open up some seats for these three!"

Other guests jammed themselves together and freed one round table.

"C'mere! C'mere! Lecan! Come over here!"

As Lecan walked toward the seats, he lightly bowed at the guests who crammed together for those seats before sitting on one. This restaurant's chairs are all large. Probably because it's got a lot of big customers, this fact alone is most pleasing to Lecan who finds all other restaurants have small chairs.

"OOY, waiter! Brink these three their drinks! Two glasses of ale and tea. My treat!"

"Sorry for the trouble, Cozwolth."

"That's my line, Lecan. We got way too worked up having fun yesterday, musta been a bother to you."

"Nah. Fights make for a good side dish for your drink."

"UWAHAHAHAHAHA. You got that right!"

"That's this restaurant. They even fixed up the door and chairs in no time at all."

"Got the cheap ones tho'."

"Exactly what makes it all the easier to fool around. Most importantly, they can serve good food for their customers tonight thanks to the speedy fix. That's the best."

"Damn straight. Tell me 'bout it."

The two laughed together.

"I'm shocked, I thought Lecan didn't like talking to others with how curt he usually is."

"Master hits it off really well with these types, doesn't he."

Eda and Arios next to him were talking about something.

"Tonight's a nice night! Alright, waiter! I'm treatin' the whole bunch here a glass of ale each!"

The entire restaurant cheered loudly with Cozwolth's declaration.

"Add another glass from me after that. Guys, as a newcomer here, I offer you my best regards!"

An even louder cheer resounded with Lecan's announcement.

Afterward, it was simply one real huge uproar.

All adventurers inside the restaurant walked up to Lecan one after another, treating and getting treated themselves endlessly.

By the time Lecan dealt with everyone, he had drunk dozens of glasses.

Eda and Arios sneakily went to the waiter and ordered every recommended dish on the menu. Most of it went into Lecan's stomach, but Eda and Arios got their shares as well.

Just as the crowd around Lecan receded, the slender swordsman of <Vega> walked up and took a seat next to him.

"Heya, Lecan."

"You're, <Vega>'s swordsman right."

"Call me Beck. Pleased to meetcha'."

"Same here."

The two shared a toast.

"Pheeew. That was quite a show you did at noon."

"The onlookers were saying something about those old men belonging to Shaman Association or something."

"They are. And that shitty old man is the association's head honcho. Been one since a long time ago."

"Humm."

"That shield y'see"

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"Hum?"

"I said! That shield!"

"Oh, sorry. It's so loud here couldn't catch you for a sec there."

"They've been dangling that shield as bait to lure unwitting participants in."

"Really."

"But that miserable tournament is finally no more."

"What's so miserable about it."

"The winner gets to take that shield. That person then gets cursed. They lose the strength to even stand or lift the shield. And yet the shield won't come off them."

"It's got that kind of curse huh."

"That's when the Shaman Association's leader comes in, he'll tell them he's got just the right spell to undo the curse. But it also just so happens to require a special catalyst."

"Hou. Must be expensive."

"They ask for one <Shield of Wolkan> and two gold coins for it. The association will force the victim to go fetch magic beast mats they want if the victim can't pay."

"That's shitty."

"Right. It's shitty."

"Can you get a cursed shield from a treasure chest?"

"Nah. Never heard of that."

Meaning that curse was put on the shield by the Shaman Association themselves.

Lecan suddenly found it funny and laughed out loud.

Beck the swordsman laughed together with him.

"Beck-san."

Arios called out to Beck.

"Ou. What's up?"

"A party conquered the dungeon here yesterday, right?"

"Yeah, they did."

"Are they not holding a celebration?"

"Pretty sure the town lord invited them in and gave them congratulatory cash reward. Originally they would have dropped by here and partied hard, but probs not this time around."

"Did something happen?"

"One of their party members kicked the bucket. A guy called Doren, a healer. Was quite a tough one, that guy."

"Oh, I had no idea."

"A party with a healer works with the assumption of having one readily available since that's what they're used to. <Jaira>'s probably gonna written out of the top groups now. Well, those guys' got some nice houses in this town, and also lotsa fortune too I'm sure. Might be a good time for 'em to retire from adventuring business."

"What does an adventurer do after they retire?"

"You can find plenty of work here in this town if yer' an ex-adventurer. Or rather, excluding women and the really weak bunch, the vast majority of peeps working here in this town are former adventurers. The guys who found their calling in other line of work would skedaddle out of this town after all."

"Come to think of it, every one of the people behind counters at Adventurer Association seemed very strong."

"No one's dumb enough to go wild there. Place's crawling with former top class adventurers."

"This restaurant's owner seems to be quite skilled himself."

"Ya mean Jade? That one's a real deal, he's a monster. Even now in his retirement. Guy himself looks like some goody two shoes you could find everywhere at a glance, you must be pretty good yerself' if you could see through it."

"Not at all. It was just a hunch of mine."

Meaning it's not uncommon for adventurers to stay in this town long enough until retirement.

That's quite curious.

Thought Lecan as he listened to the two talking.