Chapter 28 (2/2)
“Do you have an idea of someone who would?”
“Yeah, so help me find him. I know his name and what he looks like, so it won’t take that long.”
Lapis didn’t know who Loren was trying to look for, but if it meant finding out what the guild was keeping from them, there was no reason for her to refuse. She pulled out her arm from Loren’s grasp and put her arms around Loren’s.
“Hey, seriously…”
“I don’t know where we’re going, so please escort me, Loren. Come on, let’s go.”
Loren knew that she wouldn’t let go even if he told her to, so with Lapis still clinging to his arm, he walked about the bar and started talking to an adventurer.
After talking to a few of them and going around a few stores, Loren and Lapis reached a bar located at the edge of the city.
Loren heard that the person he was looking for was here, so he stepped in with Lapis still clinging to his arm and looked around.
It was late in the evening and the sun was going down.
The candles were turned on and there was some light shining inside, but there wasn’t enough to light up the whole place, so it was still quite dark, making it hard to see.
Loren found who he was looking for sitting at a table in the corner, and walked over to him with Lapis.
“It hasn’t been that long, so I guess long time no see isn’t the most proper. You mind if I sit down?”
When Loren said that, the man, who was sitting with a gla.s.s of ale and a plate of sliced cheese, looked up towards him, surprised.
“Oh, it’s you guys. How’d you know I was here?”
“I asked around.”
“The tip cost around thirty copper coins, but I’ll see it as necessary expenses and pay for it. It’s been a while, Mister Jack.”
The person that Lapis bowed her head to as she sat across from him along with Loren was Jack, the silver rank thief they had met on their previous quest.
When Loren and Lapis sat down, a waitress came to take their orders.
Loren tried to dismiss her, but Jack had already put in two additional orders.
“Come on, let me buy you a drink. I owe you one.”
“I don’t think I did something that great though…I ruined your quest if anything, so…”
“Don’t be stupid. It’s true that we didn’t make as much, but that couldn’t be helped in that kind of situation. We’re lucky to have gotten out with our lives. It would be a lie if I said I didn’t have any complaints, but it’s all in the past now. Don’t worry about it.”
“Sorry.”
“Hey, I said don’t worry about so it’s fine. Anyway, you didn’t come all the way here to find me just to say that, right?”
The waitress brought two cups of ale and placed it on the table.
Jack pushed the cups in front of Loren, who was trying to decide how to start, and Lapis, who was sitting silently next to Loren.
“Drink up. We can talk afterwards.”
Loren didn’t want to refuse what was given to him, so he took the cup and felt the refreshing sensation of carbonated liquid go down his throat.
Next to him, Lapis picked up the cup with both hands and started sipping the drink.
“So, what brings you here?”
As Jack pushed the plate of cheese towards him, Loren told him the reason why they were looking for him.
“The thing is, we picked up a girl in a nearby forest two days ago,”
“Huh? You guys were behind that? They said that the quest was only for iron ranks and above. Is that what you want to talk about?”
Loren glanced at Lapis, who started reaching for the cheese as she continued to sip her drink, and Jack sat back in his seat, understanding what Loren was trying to say.
“I understand your situation, but I’m a silver rank, you know? Do I look like I would just tell you everything you want?”
“Not at all. But I couldn’t think of anyone else that might sell us the information we want.”
Still sitting back, Jack crossed his arms and stared at Loren in the face for a while.
Loren had no intention of saying anything until Jack said something, so he continued drinking his ale.
“Just saying. An adventurer who leaks information on a job is third rate. No one like that can become silver rank.”
That was exactly what Loren thought.
There was no way anyone would trust that kind of person, and Loren didn’t think that someone like that would be able to become a high-ranking adventurer.
Despite knowing that, he had still hoped that with the right price, Jack would leak them the information, but apparently Jack was a lot more bound to obligation than he thought.
Loren decided that this wasn’t going to work and was about to give up, but Jack leaned forward across the table and whispered.
“But then again, I owe you one for saving Nim. If you promise that you don’t tell anyone that I told you this, my mouth might just slip.”
Jack remembered that Loren had saved Nim, a female elf that they met along with Jack, from being a.s.saulted by a goblin.
That’s why Jack told them that he’ll bend the adventurer’s code if they kept the fact that he was the one who told them a secret.
“I promise that we won’t cause you any trouble.”
“Same for me.”
As both Loren and Lapis agreed to his terms, Jack looked at both of their faces. He then told them that it was their choice whether to believe the information he told them was true or not, and started talking in a hushed voice.