NOVEL NEXT Eguchi Ren: I had a terrible experience yesterday. Please have this chapter as a replacement for the previous chapter 616. Someone mentioned that I had put up the wrong chapter… I fixed it in a hurry…
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Yesterday was just… awful.
We all did our best to try and calm Sui down, eventually managing to [1] convince her to go outside by throwing Cream Puffs out the door and getting the many small Suis to run after them.
It was dark when Sui finally calmed down enough to fall asleep.
As for the rest of us… although we suffered no major damage, we were all super exhausted.
How tired, you ask?
Well, the Gluttonous Fer and his friends went to bed without dinner, claiming ‘I’m tired’ and ‘I’m going to bed now’.
Still, I’m happy(?) to report that the tremendous amount of food I made for breakfast was quickly devoured. That was fine, but then they were still hungry so I had to take out most of my pre-made food too.
Well, since I did mess up yesterday…
Here I thought that the alcohol had completely evaporated during cooking, but it looked like there was enough left to make poor Sui drunk. I had no idea that Slimes could get drunk? But then again, Sui can’t eat spicy food so…
Wait, Sui has the Blessing of the Water Goddess. Didn’t Fer say something about Blessings being able to nullify poisons and diseases as well as all sorts of status-related ailments like ‘paralyse’ etc?
Hold it.
[2] It was a rather vague recollection because I was suffering from a terrible headache that day thanks to a horrible hangover… I think, after seeing me and my friends enjoy a drinking party, the Drunkard Duo pestered me for all kinds of drinks and then…
“Oi, what is this headache?!”
“How dare you poison us-!! Aughh…”
“Ughh, don’t be so loud…”
“Um, excuse me, are you drunk?” I asked tentatively.
“What do you think?!”
That was the day I learned that Blessings can’t protect against ‘Otherworld influences’. Does that mean that Sui got drunk because she has zero tolerance for otherworld liquor?
What about the citizens of this world? Is that why the Dwarves like my alcohol so much? The gods too?
“… let’s not think about it any more. I just have to be careful about giving Sui anything with alcohol in it. Especially desserts.”
I looked around the house. [1] The furniture had been pushed all the way to the side, the carpets skewed and… I think one of the pillars is cracked?
“I could really lose my house for real…”
“… let’s not make any alcoholic desserts, ever.”
“Speaking of desserts…”
It was that time again.
What a pain.
[3] “Eh, let’s leave that for later. Let’s see, everyone’s leaving before noon, so I have to get the gifts ready~”
There’s Jorgen, Adela, Moira-sama and Ugor-san. Oh, and the escorts who chased after Elland-san at the gate. Moira-sama had sounded especially gleeful when she told me about how much two teams of A-ranked Adventurer escort parties cost.
“Not to mention, since this was an emergency dispatch, the cost of hiring them is significantly more. It would be interesting to see how much a certain someone’s debt ends up being,” she smirked.
What a scary person.
Ah well, time to give everyone their souvenirs.
Knock- knock-
“Hm? Is no one in?”
I checked the door again, making sure that I had the right one. Yep, I had the right house and the right door. So…
Knock- knock- knock-
“Jorgen, Adela, are you there~?”
A faint rattling sound followed by a groan from behind the door.
Eh?
Could it be-?
[4] Willem-san’s warning about High Elves being kidnapped by the droves suddenly flashed through my head.
A little panicked now, I banged on the door.
Bang- bang- bang!
“Hey! Is anyone in-”
The door suddenly flew open and a pale, bleary-eyed Jorgen winced at me. “Aughh, oh, it’s Mukouda…”
“Oi, what’s wrong? Did something happen? You look terrible.”
By terrible, I mean he had shadows under his bloodshot eyes and a decidedly scruffy air. However, his good looks somehow managed to mitigate all the negative traits and turned him into some kind of wild beauty…
Tch.
“Ah~ no, nothing in particular happened…” Jorgen rubbed his tiredly, as though he was not quite awake. I had never seen the High Elf so listless before.
I felt a little troubled about bringing this up, but, “Aren’t you guys leaving soon?”
“Leaving?” for a moment, Jorgen looked confused. Then, a dawning look of horror spread across his face and he started shrieking, “Ah! The Royal Capital! That stupid kid! Adela! Adelaaaaarrrggghhh!!”
I looked down at a pitiful-looking Jorgen clutching at his head. He must have aggravated his hangover by shouting so loudly. “Ah, not feeling well?” I said, [4a] trying not to sound too cheerful. Even handsome men like him suffer from hangovers, huh?
“Ah, I was just… well, we were having a little farewell get-together. I mean, we have been together for a long time on that island…”
“I see, I see,” I said generously. [4a] “In short, you guys got carried away and drank too much.”
“Hahhh… it is as you say… how embarrassing…”
I smiled.
“What happened to Adela?”
There was a pause, but then Jorgen reluctantly pushed open the door and I saw a rather… devastating scene.
Five High Elves were strewn across the floor like corpses. Not a single one of them had woken up when Jorgen screamed earlier. Come to think of it, not one of them answered my knocking either.
Oh, and Adela was lying face down on the table like a white-out corpse.
“Oh my goodness,” I whispered. [4a] “It looks like you are in no state to travel anywhere…”
“Apologies…”
“No, no, there’s no need to apologise. Well, I guess this adds to another day of cost for Elland-san,” I said sympathetically.
“Ah, that’s true…”
“Not to worry!” I chirped [4a], “I shall inform Moira-sama and Ugor-san about this. Moira-sama in particular most likely will be… not unhappy to hear about this?”
“Ah, eh? Wait, wha-”
“Hoho, no need to worry about anything. Do spend the rest of the day resting. Tell the others as well. Oh, but please make sure you and Adela are fit to depart by tomorrow, eh?” with a final sympathetic smile, I turned around and left.
I made my way to the Adventurer’s Guild without my familiars. Fer and the rest were still napping away in the garden. All of them were probably exhausted by last night’s ordeal.
At the Adventurer’s Guild, I found Moira-sama and Ugor-san speaking with Willem-san in the lobby. Those two must be here to make their report to the local Guild Master before leaving.
“Oh? Is that you, Mukouda? Did something… happen?” Willem-san had this wary look about him that I was starting to recognise.
“Ah, well, there’s something I need to inform everyone. It’s about Jorgen and Adela…”
A short while later…
“Hahaha! Those two sure know how to have fun!” Willem-san laughed.
“It’s not just them, I’m afraid none of the, ah, Elves staying at my place is fit to come to work,” I said apologetically.
“Eh, that’s fine with me, I guess it’s hard to be apart after having been together for… many, many years, eh?”
Moira-sama and Ugor-san looked a little abashed.
“We may have been in too much of a rush.”
“Apologies.”
“That’s fine,” I said. “Jorgen said that he and Adela should be fit enough to travel by tomorrow.”
“Well, if that’s the case…” said Moira-san thoughtfully. “That’s fine. Too bad the escort cost will now increase. Fufufu~”
I knew it!
“Eh, I’m sure he should be able to pay it up, eventually,” Ugor-san smirked.
“Ah, debt hell, it’s debt hell,” Willem-san muttered.
I’m sorry, Elland-san, there’s really nothing I can do for you here. Just do your best, okay?
Elland.
Bang- bang- bang-
“Hey! Uncle Jogen!”
Bang- bang- bang-
“What the heck, where are they? Aren’t we supposed to go to work at this time? Humph, who cares? They would just make me work non-stop once I’m at the guild anyway. I’ll just take a break-”
Growl~
“Haahhh, but I’m getting hungry… I know Uncle Jorgen is angry at me, but isn’t starving me a bit too much? Also, what’s with all that extreme treatment? I just want to talk to Grandpa Gon and Dora-chan. I have so many questions for them. I’m doing this for the sake of the future generations, you know? Not to mention, it’s not like I’m here for no reason. I have to return the magic sword to my dearest friend Mukouda…”
Growl~
“…Thinking about Mukouda just makes me think about food. Ahh~ that dragon roast you served me~ I could never forget the taste~ Hmm, I think there’s still some dried jerky in my [Item Box]…”
After biting into the tough dried meat, Elland-san lay down on the bed and stared at the ceiling with a sigh.
“I wonder… what is Grandpa Gon and Dora-chan doing right now? I really want to see them…”
[Gumihou: Uhh, I’m kind of sorry for him…]
[1] The ‘calming down’ bit missed a lot of opportunities. Redid it so that it was more exciting.
[2] Redid the ‘recollection’ scene to make it more interesting
[3] Make Mukouda’s flippant attitude towards the pantheon more obvious
[4] Redid the scene to make it more interesting
[4a] Are you sure he won’t feel any glee at all? Not the slightest?