Chapter 10: A glass of beer for relaxation
“You’re back.”
The soldier guarding the fortress wall glanced at Ivan and averted his eyes.
There are three people who are dirty with all sorts of filth and have a bad complexion.
Five of them went out together and only three returned, but the soldiers did not ask anything. It was common for people to lose their life. Moreover, if you went into the forest these days when there are rumors of its danger.
The soldiers only looked at the fact that the forest became dangerous enough to kill two talented mercenaries. Praying that it will not bring them into misery.
No one thought that a dungeon would have been discovered in that forest, or that a mercenary with a high level of trust in the mercenary guild would betray the party.
So, when he finished reporting all the incidents to the mercenary guild, Billy’s expression changed very subtly.
“Sven and Julia betrayed you and tried to kill all the party members?”
Emin suddenly got angry at Billy, who asked back with an incredible expression.
“Then are you saying that we’re lying right now?”
Billy calmed him down with a bewildered expression when Emin shouted that he would formally propose to the tower and protest.
“No, no. That’s not what I meant. I was just shocked. It’s a bit shocking that Sven betrayed you, and even Julia. Did the two of them work together? Did they have such a close relationship?”
Ralph replied in a strangely subdued voice.
“The two of them have been given the same quests a couple of times. They have very different personalities, so they didn’t get along well, but maybe it was just my thoughts. Well, I said that there were many overlapping requests. It wasn’t just a coincidence.”
It was shocking for Ralph, who thought he had a pretty deep relationship with Sven.
What the hell did he see and what did he not see?
It seems that even a veteran mercenary who has experienced all kinds of events has a wound in his heart that he cannot easily escape.
“Damn, you can’t really tell what’s inside a person. Anyway, you see too many dirty things when you do this work. So, who can you trust?”
Billy spat out abusive language low and fell into anguish.
This was a pretty big loss for a mercenary guild as well. It was also true that two useful mercenaries were lost, but the problem was that the useful mercenaries tried to betray and kill the wizard of the blue tower.
Anyway, the original purpose of the request was to investigate abnormalities in the eastern forest. So to speak, it’s a public mission.
To carry out such a mission, magic tower officially asked the mercenary guild for cooperation and was introduced to reliable mercenarie, and the mercenaries tried to kill the wizard from the tower? In fact, this usually wasn’t serious.
“Damn bastards. If you want to get dirty, why did you spray the dung on the guild?”
Thinking of those who were already dead, Billy grunted his teeth. In his heart, he wanted to tear up even the corpses of those guys.
“…I’ll send an investigation team to the historic site first. That’s the procedure. And if everything turns out to be true, there will be an official apology and compensation for the tower from the guild. Ralph and Ivan, we should give you a proper compensation.”
Billy, who sighed deeply, bowed his head.
“I’m sorry about this. It’s my fault to see the wrong person.”
Billy’s expression of saying so looked solemn.
Of course, it wasn’t just about feeling sorry or responsible. Because of this, he was upset that he would not be able to rise from being “like” mercenary guild branch manager to a “real” branch manager and would fall one step further.
That was the end of Ivan’s job. The clean up, the mercenary guilds will take care of it. Isn’t that why they’re taking that much commission fee?
Normally, they would move and cover it up as it is, but since the client was the blue tower, there was no way to do that. They’ll take care of it quickley. The dead will take all the fault anyway.
‘At this point, all the troublesome things may be handled by blamin them.’
Ivan shook his head while thinking like that. I’ve spent enough time on my brain in the past few days. Since I made a lot of money, I wanted to rest without thinking.
Returning to the Wind Sound Inn, where he had been staying for a long time, he wanted to quickly bathe in hot water, holding out four coppers.
All the worries in the world seemed to disappear as I closed my eyes in hot water.
“Damn, treasure or whatever. This is paradise on earth.”
For days, dirt, bone powder, rotten blood and flesh, also poisonous smoke continued to be washed from Ivan’s body. So he had to add more money and refill hot water several times.
Shh,
Seuk!
After washing off the dirt and cleaning up the messy beard and hair, a clean face that would be called handsome enough appeared. However, it was very unfamiliar to Ivan.
“…Ptt.”
White skin, towering nose, dark eyelids, blonde and blue eyes.
This wasn’t his face. It’s the face of Ivan Esirsson, a Nord adventurer.
His face, his name, his actions, his trivial habits, and his mindset.
Now, very little of what he had originally, had remained. Every time he suddenly realized it like this, he felt strange.
Should I be sad? I didn’t want to.
Should I be happy? I couldn’t do that.
Ignoring his appearance in a small mirror, Ivan took a new outfit from the inventory and went outside.
Gukbap. I want to eat hot gukbap. If you want, sprinkle red pepper powder and make it spicy.
Today is the day I want to eat spicy food.
“Hey, Ivan! It’s here! Here!”
Ivan returned to the inn after a bowl of solid rice soup nearby, and Ralph was drinking alcohol while holding a table on the first floor.
Ivan glanced at him and tried to pass by, but Ralph reached out and called him to his seat.
“What’s up?”
“What do you mean, what’s up? Aren’t we colleagues? Colleagues! A colleague who came back from that bloody place! A friend who shared the treasure with me!”
Ralph was already drunk. So, he said random words that he would never say out loud.
Treasure. The moment I heard it, the surrounding area became quiet. People’s eyes have changed strangely.
‘If I leave it like this, he’ll be in trouble.’
Of course, right now, the Mercenary Guild is in a state of disarray, so if you do anything recklessly, you will be caught and your head will be blown away.
If they are quick and thoughtful of rumors, they won’t move easily even if they get greedy.
But there were not only that kind of people in this world. If everyone was wise, there was no reason to cut a person in that dungeon.
“You drank a lot.”
When Ivan looked at him with a scary face, Ralph crouched his neck. He seems to have realized that he made a mistake at the moment.
“Keheum! I’m sorry!””
“No, let’s move on. The rumor will spread soon anyway.”
Ivan, who sat in front of Ralph, ordered beer.
All of these neighborhoods were handmade beer, so each store had a different taste of alcohol, but the beer here was definitely attractive.
Gulp, gulp.
“Keeuha!”
The stinging carbonation stabs the throat and the cold beer goes over. After drinking a glass of it all the way, it felt like the dryness that was stuck in my throat was being washed away.
“Two beers here! More meat and sausages.”
Ivan, who finished his new order, looked forward and Ralph was slicing potatoes. He had no energy.
‘Should I comfort him with something?’
Ivan, who has lived as an outsider all his life, had a hard time dealing with people. After moving on to this ruined world, he had to think about whether or not everyone who came to him should have their necks cut off.
Ivan, who put a hot sausage in his mouth, mumbled and asked the question as casually as possible.
“The skill of using shields was unusual. I don’t think it’s just a technique you learned on the street.”
Then Ralph raised his head and replied.
“Huh, that’s right. I was once aspiring to be a knight. The hard life of a knightly life didn’t fit my constitution, so I went for a few years and threw it away. If I had endured it, I might have became a knight, but now that I think about it, I was stupid. I was young then, too. I thought I knew everything without knowing anything.”
So he said he got close to Sven easily. He had a lot in common because he was from the eastern front Ranger, which is known for its strict discipline.
“What the heck. Maybe he didn’t get out of his Ranger life because he was frustrated, but he stabbed his colleague there and ran away. Damn bastard.”
Ralph, who had been swearing at Sven for a long time, soon recited the story of his days as a knight.
When men drink anywhere, they say it’s sports stories, women’s stories, and military stories, but even in this world, nothing seems to have changed.
“What about you? I heard that Nord is barren, so people have no choice but to be tough. A lot of monsters come out.”
The northern part of the continent was a barren neighborhood full of snow and ice. The people living there are called Norsemen, and in terms of their appearance and life, they were Vikings when they saw that the gods they served were gods of Asgard.
It is said that the Norsemen came here from another world and settled down to avoid the catastrophe where the world was burned down, and it was said that they had crossed the world after Ragnarok.
I don’t know why the gods of Asgard, who would have looked all over, are still alive and protecting them.
There seems to be all kinds of mythical commentary circulating among the Norsemen, but Ivan decided not to think deeply.
Considering that it doesn’t make sense, the current situation that he came into the game also did not make sense. Is it normal to gain experience by beating monsters and learn skills with skill points?
Anyway, there was no way that Ivan, a fake Norse, had memories of the Nord. So he roughly answered randomly, recalling his military life.
“There are only three seasons in the north.”
“Huh? What does that mean? Are you saying there’s no summer because it’s so cold?”
“Summer, winter, ice age. In summer, fairies the size of a forearm fly around, and in winter it freezes all over the place. In the ice age, even breathing is hard work. When you spit, it flies away and freezes.”
“That’s terrible. There are people living in that kind of place?”
“Because people’s lives are tough.”
“But still, a fairy. I want to see it at least once.”
“I don’t recommend it. My colleagues and I called them Tinkerbells, but they were very evil and disgusting. Actually, they are more like monsters than fairies.”
It didn’t look much different from what it was before, but I knew that some customers nearby were busy getting out. And what they’re going to do.
‘Hmm’.
Ivan looked at the ceiling. Exactly toward the space where the room you stay is located.
‘…Damn, I won’t sleep well tonight.’