Vol 7 Chapter 1 (1/2)

Rozenburg The second largest city within the Basherant Dukedom At about two months travel time from the northern border of Asura, it nificance of that position made it one of the most important cities in Basherant Over half of Basherant’s revenue was generated by the exportation ofto Asura

“So we’re finally here”

I survey e Merchants and adventurers can be seenabout under the cloudy sky The caravan I caoods Apparently, exotic goods all the way froh price here

“It’s cold…”

Many are wearing an assort, likely due to the autuets quite cold here during the winter, so I should get soood a tiet some But before that, I need to find a place to stay It’s not like I have e, but every adventurer knows that it’s better to start working after you’ve established some kind of home base With all that in mind, I set off

Surprisingly, there aren’t many outdoor stalls around here Perhaps the caravan entered the town from a different entrance than the one adventurers usually use Actually… Wait It’s alets here, ets too late Before I knew it, I arrived at the Inn District While confirnboards, I pick one that looks suitable and enter According to the sign out front, it was an inn that mostly caters to B-rank adventurers na sense On top of that, there was a picture of a buckler on the sign This place could easily be mistaken for an armor shop Personally, I would’ve been fine with a C, or even a D-ranked inn According to Suzanne though, the cheaper inns do not have proper heating so you’reelse That’s why if you’re going to stay at an inn, it has to be at least B-class or better

To be honest, I didn’t really pay attention to that warrior’s lecture, but I did learn a few things of value Information is important after all

“Hm?”

As I enter the inn a man, who appeared to be the innkeeper, was in theThe moment he saw me, he scowled His expression clearly full of animosity What a rude fellow

“I’d like to rent a room for… ’bout a month”

“Yeah, yeah Sign here Put your thumbprint here Once you’re done with that the furthest room in on the third floor is yours”

His tone was as rude as his expression, but at least he prepared the roo the form and paid him for the room Seems like Asuran currency still works here At soeto that warrior wohly valued even as far out as Rozenburg The innkeeper’s eyes ide the moment he saw the Asuran Silver Coins I’d put on the counter for pay as they’re willing to pay, he’s satisfied, huh?

I still had aled to make on my way to Asura from the Demon Continent All this money was meant to be split between the three of us, but I ended up holding on to ot froee Camp

Lodging fees for a month weren’t exactly what you’d call cheap, but I had h left over Still, I’d need to earn so to worry about my finances, I head to the third floor and enter my room

“Hmm”

Inside the roo special was the fact that it was e fireplace Next to the fireplace was soht it yourself if you get cold I’m not quite sure how to operate the fireplace, but I can ask the innkeeper later

“Haaah…”

With a huge sigh, I thron e and plop down onto the bed As I lean back I catch a gliuess the constant cloudy weather is just an inherent trait of snowy countries The skies were always a pure blue back in Asura Without even a hint of clouds, an endless expanse of blue I’ve been traveling under that kind of sky for as long as I can remember Yeah… Blue really is a pretty color The complete opposite of me

“Ah…!”

Let’s not think about that

Let’s not think about colors

What’s under the sky is et up off my bed and peer out theTo reen I’ on the third floor, or because this is a slightly more expensive inn, but I have a completely unobstructed view of the town outside Countless trees dot the landscape of Basherant Supposedly they were planted so that they could be harvested for firewood if the need arose But because of how neatly they’re all planted it looks as if the whole country is overfloith greenery

Speaking of which, that forest we passed through after leaving Asura was pretty nice too That place was filled with huge, leafy trees that rustled when the wind blew Forests are nice Nature is nice

Looking at nature lets you forget about all of your worldly worries Just traveling through a forest is enough to cleanse your heart

“Eris…”

The moment I muttered that word, I became depressed once more No matter how much you purify a broken heart, it still won’t heal Eris’ departure really cae shock to me

I thought I’d really connected with Eris I thought we both loved each other I thought I’d be able to continue to support Eris–who’d lost her parents–and live together with her in Asura I had been willing to take on that responsibility Callif you want, but she’d been the first person I’d slept with The first girl I’d truly loved I’d been prepared to love her to the very end Even if the Greyrat house was a noble house, no matter ould come after, I’d been prepared to protect her forever Whether it was by fighting or by running away…

But that’s not how she saw it I wasn’t anyone special to her

[Sniff]

I sniffle a little Alright, let’s stop with the depressing talk It’s beendo I have to dwell on it before I’er needs oals Our respective paths leading onwards Isn’t that good enough?

In the end, all it means is that’s all I amounted to I wasn’t able to become someone special to another Rather than beot to do it once at allMore ioal takes priority Of course, that goal is finding my mother, Zenith Greyrat This isn’t some sentimental journey to heal my heartbreak Not in the least

I didn’t leave Asura to avoid a certain girl’s face fro intomember of my family After all, I promised my father that I would

That being said… I don’t really have a plan infor her, let alone find her

“Haaah…”

All that ever coet what happened that day Just why did she leave after she so happily spent that night with me…?

“No, no I need to stop thinking about this”

Let’s forget about that for now and start thinking of how to find my mother My brain doesn’t really want to work properly, but I need todown the possibilities Quite a bit of time has passed since the metastasis incident so it’s unlikely Zenith is anywhere a lot of people pass through This town is pretty big so it’s still possible that she’s here But if Zenith really is here, so ht yield soo soed to land herself in a place where search parties couldn’t find her, to investigate such places I’d still need to get information Information from somewhere where there’s a lot of people So, basically, I need to start my search from a populated location, but I also need to expand et more information Specifically, I need to find those places where search parties haven’t been able to investigate yet

I don’t think it’s possible for me to search everywhere like this by myself What to do…

“Ideally, it’d be best if she was able to find me”

I roll around on my bed as I ponder this It doesn’t see one person ae world is practically i 10,000 people just isn’t feasible If there was soet a report from those 10,000 people then it’d be a different story If you were able to ask “Would those people who are left-handed please raise their hand?” you could pick theh, it’s quite possible Zenith would hear ofshe still hasn’t been found after this long, it’s also quite possible she’s run into so as I make my name well known, someone’s bound to try and make contact

That’s gotta be it I’ll get famous and have Zenith find me

“But how exactly a to make myself famous…?”

I need to make my name as well known as possible But… How!? I could try and do the saood deeds in his name to increase his popularity and ood person I didn’t really get to see how effective it all was in the end, but I do know it at least had some effect back in the Demon Continent

I guess if I did so similar where I try and proe to become famous Unlike Rujierd, I’o on as usual, I’ll naturally beco for his ionevery tactic at my disposal, I’llaround here Even if Zenith herself can’t, whoever it is that knows about Zenith will at least eventually coet a little troubleso, but I wouldn’tout

“I really don’t want to do this though…”

Running around by uarantee that Zenith will find , the chances of her finding ion search party–which is a pretty huge organization in and of itself noasn’t able to find her, the chances of her not finding out about her I’m certain there’s also a lot of people sroup Far better thaninformation Those people had the means, the will, and the ability to do so much and even they couldn’t find her Is there even any point inThere isn’t much of a point is there? There’s no way I can find her Everything I’ is just useless isn’t it?

“……”

The very thought of it h, but I can’t think of any other ideas, nor can I to keep dawdling either All I can do is try out every idea I come up with, one-by-one It’s quite possible that while I’ht chance upon another idea and then a new set of options will appear before me

“For now let’s just sleep”

I decide to stop thinking there for the night and close ue froht up to my body and I fall asleep instantly

★☆★

I wake up the next day and head towards the Adventurer’s Guild For whatever reason, the Adventurer’s Guild here isn’t anywhere near the entrance to the city or the Inn District I don’t knohy that’s the case, but I also don’t really care

“Ugh”

As I open the ornate double doors and enter the guild, nulares are piercing right throughstared at I had started to get used to it a little bit traveling through the Central Continent, but there were also other people with me back then Rujierd and Eris were both— Let’s not think about that

“Hey look, it’s a kid”

“A newbie, huh?”

“I bet he just came to play around”

The adventurers inside laugh scornfully at ht, but it’s still not pleasant to hear Before, I was able to just ignore such insults, but for soht now ‘Course, it’s not really surprising that I stand out so uild I’d better learn to get used to it quickly though Once I’azes

At any rate, there’s so requests With heavy steps I walk up to the reception counter The lady there wasn’t exceptionally pretty, but she was still wearing clothes that revealed her big bust I swear, there has to be some kind of rule that only busty women can be receptionists in the Adventurer’s Guild I show her my Adventurer’s Card

“Excuse me, I’d like to… disband my party”

My party… The words “Dead End” were still carved into the very bottom part of my card