“Let’s go to the adventurer guild tomorrow. I’m tired, so I want to have a nice sleep in an inn.”
Mars and I agree with Lela, so we go to an inn, and say goodbye right after. Although since Lela and Mars are a couple, they’re staying in the same room.
Are they going to do dirty things in there tonight? Dirty things with an elf, the number one race I’d want as a girlfriend. I’m jealous of you despite you being sixteen.
And after being shown up by someone younger than me, I pick a room for myself.
I feel a strange sense of defeat. I want a girlfriend more than I want to become an adventurer and go up in rank.
But now, I enter my room all by my lonesome.
“Ahh…”
I silently sit down on the fur bed, and settle down.
Tomorrow is when I’m really going to start working as an adventurer, but I have a trauma with work, because of the power harassment I received from my boss in my previous job.
Those two think highly of me as a mage, but my success as an adventurer is definitely not set in stone.
Strength doesn’t equal success. For example, if you’re lacking in power but your life is going well, you’re succeeding.
Even I, someone who reached the highest mage rank that is master rank, was labeled an incompetent mage in my old job.
I feel bad for my teacher who deemed me worthy of the master rank, but I’m probably just not a master rank as a person.
I let out a small sigh. This is no good. The moment I have no one to talk to, my mood starts sinking. It really makes me see that it was their cheerfulness that made me feel optimistic.
But thinking about negative things all the time isn’t going to make things go well for me, so let’s think of fun things.
Tomorrow, I’m going to have a look at the adventurer guild and register there.
I also get to check out the town, and expand my connections as an adventurer.
I want to become the kind of adventurer that even if Ruby does come here, I can tell her ‘I’ve made lots of friends, so now what?’.
How many friends did I have when I was an exclusive mage? Zero, you idiot. I was a loner in the capital, but I’m really going to try in Minerva!
So let’s just go to sleep.
A mage’s body is his capital, so let’s give it a good rest.
Sweet dreams.
◇ ◇ ◇
A knock on the door wakes me up.
I feel like I was asleep for about six hours, and sure enough, it’s completely dark outside.
But still, there are faint lights throughout the whole town. That’s thanks to the magic light stones. They’re useful items that soak up light during the day, and release it at night.
These were invented by the great alchemist Hecate. Ruby admired this alchemist, who was around a hundred years ago, but became a chronicle rank alchemist.
Chronicle is a word people use to describe alchemists that go above even the master rank. Incredible people who leave their mark in history. Come to think of it, once Ruby dies, she’s going to be hailed as a chronicle rank alchemist.
I hear another knock, louder than the first.
Sorry, sorry. I got lost in thought and didn’t respond.
I open the door, and see Mars and Lela.
“Excuse us. Good morning! It’s Mars! Sensei! It’s almost dinner time. Let’s go eat too!”
“Yes. Did you two sleep well?”
“Yes! Slept like a log thanks to you! What about you sensei?”
“Perfectly fine, thanks to you.”
“That’s our sensei! This short amount of time was enough for you to feel perfect! Let me write down those wonderful words!”
I really didn’t see anything worth writing down in that back and forth. What’s he getting out of this?
“Pupu…!”
It looks like what Mars is saying hit Lela in her funny bone, because her shoulders are trembling and she’s holding back laughter.
I feel like anything would make her laugh right now.
“Mars, I have a command for you.”
“Yes, what is it?”
“Don’t take notes about what I say. Carve them into your heart.”
“Understood! That really resonates with me, sensei!”
“Yes, good (serious face). Mars, keep at it.”
“Bufuh, fufufu… Loyd, that weird face when I’m barely containing myself isn’t fair…!”
“Hn? What is it Lela? You’re holding your stomach and your face is bright red. Are you feeling ill?”
Mars tries to grab her shoulders out of concern, but Lela brushes him away. He looks disappointed, but this is just an extension of them being an idiot couple, so I don’t mind it and head to the first floor.
There’s a dining hall here, with a lot of food served buffet style.
There’s the typical bread and stew, roast beef, white fish meunière, among other things that all look delicious.
There’s plenty of dessert too, like almond jelly and cake.
“It’s pretty fancy. I don’t stay in an inn this fancy too often. The rumors were true, the feudal lord really is supporting the adventurer business, Mars.”
“Whatever, I’m hungry! I wanna eat lots of meat!”
One gives her thoughts on the interior design, and the other sounds like he has a low IQ. People’s thoughts tend to diverge when it’s time to eat.
I join the line along with the other guests of the inn, and take the food I want.
Among the soup, there’s stew, but also pot-au-feu. I love pot-au-feu, so I’m very happy with that.
“Loyd, there’s curry too. Do you like curry?”
“It’s all right, I guess.”
“So you like it. Well, I don’t think a lot of people dislike curry.”
Curry was Ruby’s favorite. When she was mad, curry was always the right option.
Looking at curry now makes me think back to her happy face for a moment.
In the end, our food is like this.
Lela:
She brought a lot of fruit and vegetables, because she has her nutritional balance in mind. I was thinking maybe I was being prejudiced, thinking she liked apples and stuff, but then she brought just that. Apparently she loves curry too, so that’s her main dish.
Mars:
A skewed meal with a lot of meat. An assortment of stuff, like I imagined. He didn’t take any vegetables at first, but he reluctantly added them because of Lela. What is this, a mother and child?
Me:
I’m very conscious of this sort of thing, so my nutritional balance is perfect. I made sure to serve myself expensive looking fresh vegetables to get my money’s worth (death flag).
Curry would be filling, but it wouldn’t help me recoup the cost, so I wasn’t planning to take it. But then I saw it was cutlet curry, and took it. And they put freshly cooked minced meat and a freshly baked pie just as I was passing, and as a result…
“I got carried away and took too much.”
I’m definitely not eating all this.
There’s a lot of food in front of me. I was so preoccupied with recouping the cost, that I didn’t think about the essential point that is my stomach.
“S-sensei, you’re gonna eat all that? If you can’t, I’ll help you.”
I’m moved by Mars’ kindness. I might fall for him despite him being a guy.
“No Mars. Don’t be so soft on Loyd. It would be rude to the people who cooked the food, so he needs to take responsibility and eat everything.”
Sniff.
Lela, you bully.
But I know she’s absolutely right.
Thank the living beings, thank the cooks. These two concepts also work for alchemy.
The path from picking materials to transmutation isn’t that different from cooking.
If the smile of the person putting out the request is happiness for an alchemist, the smile of a customer who cleaned their plate is happiness for a cook.
As someone in a similar position, I have to show good faith.
“Thanks for the meal.”
It takes some time, but I eat it all. It was very tasty. That’s all.
I’m not a gourmet reporter, so I can’t describe the taste, but I tasted it properly and ate it with grateful feelings.
I have a lot to reconsider, about how I took food this time, but I managed to really learn the gratefulness of eating.
It’s like they say, experiencing failure is a step forward.
“Good job Loyd. I was thinking about helping if it came to it, but you ate it all on your own. My respect for you has gone up.”
“Of course I did. The cooks worked hard on this. It’d be rude to leave anything on the plate.”
“That’s our sensei!! I’m moved too! I want to sleep in the same bed as you today if I can!!”
Do I look sad enough to sleep with a guy?
Of course, I politely decline.
After eating, they go back to their room, and I go out to practice my magic.
