CH 3

A little while after that, the door opened with a loud thud. It never had any sort of key from the start, so there was not the slightest form of privacy.

“Jeed, come!”

The one who showed up wasn’t one of my coworkers here to wake me up as usual but Rande, the First Division captain.

It’s not the first time I saw him but seeing him at work is not that usual. Even more so going out of his way to wake me up… Is today’s mission the conquest of the whole continent?

“What might it be?”

“Just come! Don’t dawdle!”

“…Yes!”

How long did I sleep for? An hour? …No! Judging from the light leaking through the window, I should have slept for three hours.

Due to the constant fear of death back in the forest, I couldn’t really have a good sleep. So that was a good practice. Well, there’s a need to reconsider whether to call it good practice, though.

What kind of job will it be?… I still want to sleep some more… while thinking that, I followed after him and arrived at a room I’ve never been at before.

“This is?”

“…..”

Rande didn’t answer. He seems to be in a very bad mood.

But there’s a sign above the door saying “lounge”. It’s a place for discussing things. Why was I called here? I entered the room with that thought in mind.

There was two sofas facing each other inside and an expensive-looking black coffee table.

Sitting on one of the sofas was a familiar cute little girl… –uh~ it’s the self-proclaimed guild master who entered my room out of nowhere, Riff.

“Sit!”

Rande said while looking at Riff’s side. Is he telling me to sit beside her?

….Wait, what?

Is it really okay for me to sit? We’ve always been given the hellish order to stand with our feet at shoulders’ width all day long.

I checked the sofa for any magic formation but it doesn’t seem to be trapped so I sat down. Fully prepared of being asked the unreasonable question “who gave you the permission to sit?”.

But Rande also sat, next to Sheila, and gave a glare at Riff. Doesn’t seem like he’ll be talking to me.

Or rather, how can you give such eyes to a tender little girl like that? It even felt like they could kill a someone. But Riff acted like it was nothing and glanced at me with a satisfied smile on her face.

“Hi, Jeed!”

I’m still practically half-asleep so my memory is fuzzy but I remember meeting her and the contents of our conversation. I carefully analyzed the situation. …this can’t be.

“So is it okay for Jeed to leave the Knights Order?”

Riff said all of a sudden.

With a vein on his forehead, Rande slapped the table with all of his might. All the while scattering spits everywhere, he said in a loud voice.

“Let’s hear what Jeed says first!!”

Whoa!

“Hmm, so Jeed! You don’t have any intention of leaving the Order for the Guild, right?”

“…. Um-”

That’s right! That’s about to be what I discussed with Riff.

And then the contract money, an advanced payment, that amounts to one hundred gold coins. While the salary for your living expenses in the Knight Order is ten copper coins. So quite frankly, it feels kind of suspicious.

Even now I still can’t believe it.

“That contract money is here, you know. Here!”

Did it show on my face?

Riff took out a linen from her extremely thin breast pocket and put it on the table.

Where did that come from? Did she use a spacial magic? I couldn’t really tell since I’m so sleepy.

The cloth certainly was packed with gold coins. I’m couldn’t really count one hundred of coins but there surely are dozens.

I made a loud gulp.

I never really spent much money.

There isn’t much chance to begin with, nor do I have much money either.

But I do remember buying food. There’s no forgetting that oil dripping steak and that Umami soup.

I could own a house… hire people to do the chores…. and, naturally, I could eat whatever I want… .

My dream is… expanding.

“Hey, Jeed! What’s your purpose? Say it! ‘offering my body and soul to protect the country’ and that jiggling money to your face wouldn’t change that!”

“Actually, I’m leaving the Order for the Guild.”

“What!?”

Rande’s face distorted as he glared at me.

He then opened his mouth and started his abuse

“And you call yourself one of the proud Knights? One of the First Division? So far, you’ve only worked to protect this country. Someone dangle money to your face and you wag your tail? That’s beyond foolish. You deserve nothing but contempt.”

Is what he said but quite frankly, I couldn’t care less anymore. None of what he said even entered my ears.

Plus, my eyes were already glued to the glittering golds.

“Heeheehee! Can Jeed leave the Order now?”

“…. No, not quite! Jeed still has to work for the Order!”

“Huh? That’s funny! Does the Knights Order have a rule to force someone to work for them unlike the Guild?”

“Nothing of the sort! But, Jeed’s nasty character needs some reshaping! Some correction!”

Rande rushes to grab me but is stopped by Sheila who only watched up to now.

“Fahter, please refrain from doing any more thing!”

“What are you doing, Sheila? I’m going to beat this guy’s character straight!”

“Isn’t this what they call a waste of talent? He already said he wanted to quit. Forcing him is… !”

“Grrr….! Sheila! I made you Vice-Captain so that you can straighten your sense. Don’t you understand that yet? This country needs fighting power. That’s why using force like this is… !”

And that echoed throughout the room.

Meanwhile, I ask Riff.

“When can I give my resignation to the Order?”

“We’ll take care of that. You can already leave if you want.”

“… I see!”

I think about it for a bit.

What if I left the Knights Order? I would be throwing away the bed and food I was once given. Is that really wise?

Even if it’s a work where death is commonplace, it’s still ‘work’–

Nah! Well, I still leave my seat in a second.

I mean, anywhere worse than here would be Hell. Since the Order is Hell, there’s nowhere worse than here.

Rather, let’s just be happily grateful that I came across something I couldn’t even imagine.

Thinking that, I gave a side glance to the figure restraining Rande then left the place.