Chapter 20

-The Day After a Day of Drinking-

I wave a hand at Ness and take the seat next to his.

“Ho, Asagi! Let’s drink!”

“Looks like you’ve had quite a lot already…”

“You idiot! This barely even counts!”

I beg to differ. His eyes couldn’t even focus on anything. But then again, he was talking just fine irritatingly.

“So, Asagi. How have you been?”

“Recently? Well, it was pretty much the worst until recently.”

“Buwahahaha! Sure was!”

I wonder whose fault that was! I don’t say it. I have a rule against arguing while drinking.

“Well, I have a good feeling about what’s to come…”

I say as I swipe Ness’ drink from the side and down the whole thing. It wasn’t very chilled, but it tasted great. Daniela was eating the steamed chicken she had ordered with the most satisfied expression. I suppose she really enjoyed her food.

We kept drinking like this for a while, and I periodically stole whatever Ness was eating. He was pretty much done for. He was half asleep now. I rob him of his last drink and plate and move over to Daniela’s seat. My mug of ale clinks lightly against her mug of fruit water.

“That was a busy day.”

“Aye, Asagi. You did well. Let’s keep this up tomorrow as well.”

“It’s very heartening to have you there with me.”

“Hehe. You know, flattery won’t get you anything with me?”

She smiled as she brushed her short, platinum blonde hair from her face. She was could be quite handsome…

“Does your hair color derive from your race?”

“Hmm? Oh, well, yes. Generally, that is the case with elves.”

“So there are other colors?”

“There are brunettes and those with silver hair.”

So hair color was not a determining factor for light elves. I ran my fingers through my own hair. As I had worked the night s.h.i.+ft for so long and slept through most of the day, I rarely went to the barber. Whenever it reached a certain length, the manager would start touching it from behind, which was my signal to have it cut. The signal was a bit creepy, and I always wished it would stop. Though, I now wondered how he was doing.

“Is your hair derived from your race, Asagi?”

“Well, sort of. I don’t know. But everyone around me had black hair.”

“Hmm… When it comes to black hair, they say that the ogre tribes in the farthest reaches often have black hair. Though the accounts are old and I have never seen them in person.”

She said as she chewed on a mouthful of chicken and steamed vegetables. So there were ogres? Did they wear striped underwear too?

I was imagining what these elusive ogres might look like when I felt someone tap my shoulder. It was Fiona.

“Asagi. Checks finished.”

“You’re not very formal today.”

“Hmph… Why should I be?”

She pouted a little. What was going on? I felt an uncomfortable number of eyes on me. Was this what it was like to be on the receiving end of daggers shot through the eyes? The look coming from right next to me was especially awkward.

“Asagi.”

“Yes.”

“Let’s go.”

“Right…”

Daniela said as she stood up and quickly walked away. I hurriedly chased after her. I did also happen to leave Daniela’s bill on Ness’ table when doing this.

We received the reward at the counter along with a note.

‘Forest wolf fangs……………….160/1 gold piece, 60 silver pieces.’

‘Quest completion reward………30 silver pieces.’

1 gold piece had the value of 100 silver pieces, 1 silver piece had the value of 100 copper pieces. It was written on the counter. So according to this, we needed to split the reward into 95 silver pieces. I had left calculations to the cash register, so it was not my forte.