Chapter 11 (1/2)

A Transparent Lie

I left Chief’s smithy and made my way to the guild house. You just needed to follow the road in front of the smithy towards the north in a straight line and you’d get there. My feet felt a bit heavy knowing the kind of atmosphere that would await me once there, but I couldn’t hold onto these herbs forever. Their freshness was important.

“Ahhh…I’m tired…I hate this time of day…”

I grumbled without thinking. But this life as an adventurer was how I supported myself, it was necessary in order to live.

And more than anything, this whole deal about moving to another world had been something I had dreamed of.

Of course, there were things concerning killing that gave me pause. My life had been quite peaceful back in j.a.pan. And so it wasn’t too surprising that there would be a resistance to fighting. But after having to survive in the forest without civilization and then the plains, I realized that it was important to be rational in terms of where you were. Or so I told myself. But that was why I had no intention of changing the way I lived. Though, it still made my heart feel a little heavier.

I stand in front of the guild. You could hear the drunken clamor of the bar from outside. I force a lid over my heart and walk inside.

“Ho, Asagi. So you’re back then.”

“Gardo. I didn’t know you were back.”

My luck seemed pretty good today. Gardo was here. The adventurers around us glared at me viciously but that was easily ignored. Apparently, they didn’t like how frankly I spoke to Gardo.

“Just a minute ago, really. You too?”

“Yeah. I picked some herbs.”

“Hehe. What a liar you are.”

“It’s a not a lie. I have the herbs right here.”

“I’m sure you do.”

s.h.i.+t. Even Gardo knew now. Oh, well. This was necessary.

For instance, had I only been picking herbs and raising my rank, my level wouldn’t match my rank. If I went out to the forests or plains in that state, I’d just get trampled. In that case, I didn’t see any harm in raising my level and learning how to fight in advance. I had speculated that this sort of thinking was what would separate the ‘Rocks’ from the ‘Gemstones.’

After Gardo waved his hand and left, I went over to ‘Rewards’ and untied the sack that was attached to my waist and placed it on top of the counter.