Chapter 282

(282) Swear to the mirror stone

Translator: Tseirp

“Doxco, you’re still drinking?”

“Let us join in too . Since we’re already here, we’ve got to drink before leaving . We’ll drink the tavern dry today!”

“Yeah you’re totally right . I’ll have a lager . ”

This time, a trio of hume men entered the tavern and we caught each other’s gazes .

“Ah!”

“““Ah!”””

The trio and I exclaimed at the same time .

It was because we were acquainted .

“It’s been a long time, brother!”

“It’s been a long time! What are you doing at a place like this?”

“Is this meeting fated or guidance from G.o.d?”

The trio were middle-aged Lumberjack-san, Mr . Cut-in-line, and Veteran-san whom I took the mercenary exam with .

“I’m the one who wants to ask what you guys are doing here . Unlike me who failed the exam, didn’t the three of you become mercenaries?”

“Ah, about that . Firstly, the three of us formed a party . ”

Middle-aged Lumberjack-san replied as the representative .

It seemed that the middle-aged man was the leader of the team .

“The three of us went to protest after we heard that we pa.s.sed the mercenary exam but you failed . There was no way we could accept such an outcome . ”

Mr . Cut-in-line continued with an unexpected sentence .

So these guys did something like that for me .

Although there’s a saying that even touching sleeves is fate from another existence, we were only in the same examination group .

“Apparently you were disqualified because you were given a special mission . We were convinced after we heard that . ”

As usual, Veteran-san spoke in a manner that didn’t match his appearance .

Even though they call it a secret mission, it was just a fake mission to distance Shumei from the war .

After that, the three of them went to drink to make fun of me and unexpectedly hit it off .

They prepared to go to war but it ended in no time .

In the end, the three of them chose to take on other jobs as mercenaries .

“Hey, don’t tell me you guys are the ones escorting the special cargo”

“Ah, yeah . Wait, then the skilled Quasi-Baron-sama the guard was talking about is you, brother!?”

Middle-aged Lumberjack-san raised his voice in shock .

“Yeah, that’s true . ”

“But, why would brother – – sorry for my impoliteness . Why would Quasi-Baron-sama from Shiraraki Kingdom take a mercenary exam in Nicplan Kingdom … no, wait . The secret mission and the sudden end to the war – – was it all due to Quasi-Baron-sama … !?”

“Please don’t tell anyone that . And please talk casually as before . I certainly accepted the Quasi-Baron rank but I received it through the course of events and only use it because it is convenient . I’m not anybody great . ”

“As expected … I will respect Ichinojo-san for my whole life . ”

Mr . Cut-in-line looked at me with a look of admiration .

“Yup, I could sense that you were not an ordinary person when I first saw you at the exams . ”

Veteran-san’s words matched his appearance this time .

“Oh, so Ichinojo is a Quasi-Baron?”

Doxco said with a red face . It seemed that he was starting to get drunk .

“Yeah . Sorry, Doxco . For keeping quiet about it . ”

“I don’t mind but do you still have refined sake? Everyone drank it all . ”

“It’s already finished!?”

A barrel of refined sake was downed in the blink of the eye .

After that, the banquet continued with the three mercenaries .

Well, I drank in moderation and focused more on conversing .

Since I would probably get drunk if I matched their pace .

Mr . Cut-in-line boasted that he would drink the tavern dry but after just one cup of lager and one cup of refined sake, he started crying and making a racket before falling asleep .

“Shark sashimi . Do you want to eat?”

I tried making sashimi from the fatty meat portion of the shark .

“You can’t eat that raw . ”

“It’s okay, I used Clean so you don’t have to worry about parasites . It’s nice, you know?”

Clean is truly all-purpose .

I tried adding some salt .

“I’ll have some then … hn – it’s chewy and I don’t really like it . ”

“Is that so? I like it but I guess it doesn’t fit the people’s taste here . In that case, I’ll try frying it . ”

When in Rome, do as the Romans do . I didn’t try to push for j.a.pan cuisine and tried making a dish that the people here liked .

“Oil Creation!”

After creating oil, I coated the thickly-cut shark meat with beaten egg, flour and bread crumbs and fried them .

“Shark cutlet is served!”

“Ichinojo, you can use Oil Create? Could you make oil used for maintaining equipment later? Of course, I’ll pay you . ”

“Ah, I have plenty of oil cans so I’ll sell you those . ”

“That’s a great help – hn! This fry is delicious! By the way, what is this white sauce? It’s so delicious . ”

“It’s called Tartar sauce . I’ll teach you the way to make it . ”

Tartar sauce made with eggs and pickles goes well with fried salmon after all .

“Ichinojo is seriously capable of everything . How about it? Would you like to stay in this village after you are done with your business? I’ll even give you the village leader position . ”

“No thanks, being the village leader is nothing but trouble . ”

“Yeah, it’s really troublesome . Ichinojo, follow me for a bit . ”

” … ? Ah, all right . ”

Doxco asked and I followed him out of the tavern . We drank for quite a long time .

It was already dark outside .

“This way, follow me . ”

Doxco led me to the end of the village — to what was probably a cemetery .

There were a few ornate stones lined up with names carved on them .

We stopped in front of the newest and largest grave .

It was probably a mirror stone but it was polished exquisitely so it reflected the moonlight beautifully .

However, strangely there was no name carved on the grave .

“Is this a grave?”

“Yeah . The grave of my friends . ”

Doxco said and poured refined sake on the grave .

It was friends, in plural .

In addition, it was new and there were no names carved on the tombstone .

I could speculate whose grave it was from those facts .

“Is this perhaps the grave for the Dark-Elves?”

” … Yeah, they came to this village as well . They deserved better . ”

Doxco said and looked toward me .

“Ichinojo . That necklace — belongs to Rarael?”

Doxco asked as he stared at the amber necklace around my neck .

He was right . It was the necklace I received from Rarael .

Doxco continued before I could answer .

“At first, I suspected that you killed Rarael and the others and s.n.a.t.c.hed it . However, I knew I was wrong after talking with you for a while . ”

“Yeah, I received this from Rarael . As proof of our friendship . ”

“I see … that was the first necklace I made when I was an apprentice handicraftsman . She truly treasured it so she probably let go of it after realizing that she was about to die . If she was going to be killed and have it s.n.a.t.c.hed away, she would rather give it to Ichinojo … she probably thought of it that way . ”

” … Perhaps . ”

I looked up into the night sky as I replied to Doxco .

The crescent moon was shining .

I truly wanted to tell him that Rarael and the others were still alive . However, I decided not to . Doxco was probably trustworthy but it was better to have as little risk as possible .

If I told him that the Dark-Elves were still alive, I would have to talk about how they are continuing to protect the Golden Tree .

So I could only reply with that .

“There were no bodies found in the forest, right?”

“Yeah, the forest was burnt down by the mysterious fire monster that the Dark-Elves summoned . The extreme temperatures didn’t leave any dead bodies of animals or monsters . ”

“In that case, there is a possibility that they are still alive . ”

” … Ah, that would be great . Then, this isn’t a grave . It is a mark for where the Dark-Elves can return to . ”

Doxco laughed and drank the remaining wine .

That’s right, if the Dark-Elves ever get accepted back into this world, I’ll invite all of them to drink alcohol here .

I swore to the mirror stone .