Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash vol. 1

12. Which Way?

Ranta's going to leave us, thought Haruhiro, who chased after him. Moguzo went with him. Haruhiro stopped for a moment, turning back to look. Yume was hugging Shihoru around the shoulders. She looked to him, and nodded, or perhaps shook her head, it was hard to tell from a distance, but they would be staying here a little longer, that's what he thought she was trying to tell him.

Is Shihoru gonna be okay? She's in shock, I'll bet. Even more than I am, probably. Because I'm pretty sure Shihoru was in love with Manato.

Ranta looked like he planned to head back to Alterna. Haruhiro was about to ask him where he was going, but stopped short. It didn't really matter.

Before they reached Flower Garden Street in the north quarter, the bell rang seven times.

It's already 6:00 in the evening, little wonder there are so many people out.

Ranta entered a large tavern. There was a sign out front identifying it as Sherry's Tavern. Haruhiro knew the name, and that it was a hangout for volunteer soldiers, but he had only ever seen it from the outside.

Manato came here to gather information sometimes, right? I left it all to him. For anything and everything, it was always Manato. I didn't do a thing. Just followed after Manato, doing whatever he told me to do.

Lamps hanging from the ceiling dimly illuminated the spacious tavern. Sherry's Tavern really was a large place. There was more than just the one floor, it had a second level as well, and there was an open ceiling over about half of the establishment. It wasn't crowded yet, with less than half the tables occupied, but, even so, there were probably over 100 people there. Many voices could be heard talking and laughing at all times, occasionally punctuated by angry shouts, and the spirited voices of the waitresses could be heard all over the room. Ranta found an open table in one corner of the first floor and sat down. Haruhiro and Moguzo sat down with him. When one of the girls came over, Ranta immediately said, "Three beers," ordering for the other two without ever asking them.

"...I don't really want to drink alcohol."

"What do you want then? Milk?" Ranta crossed his arms, kicking the ground. "You sound like an idiot. This is a tavern. If you're gonna drink at a tavern, it's gotta be alcoholic."

"B-But..." Moguzo sat hunched over, shrinking his head into his shoulders. "Should we be drinking at a time like this...?"

"You dolt. Now is exactly when we ought to drink." Ranta sniffled and rubbed his eyes. "...Manato came here to drink a few times, didn't he? But, well, you know what happened to the guy. So, we should drink in his place... No, that isn't what I'm thinking. That's not quite it, but..."

"Yeah..." Haruhiro rested his elbows on the table, hanging his head. "...Yeah. You're right."

Once the beer came and they had paid their waitress, the three shared a toast. Maybe it was just because they were parched, but the bitter beer tasted great. Was this the same beer Manato had drank? Had he liked it?

Probably because of the alcohol, Haruhiro's face grew hot and his thoughts hazy. Ranta and Moguzo were red-faced, too. Ranta slammed down his ceramic beer mug on the table.

"...This is the worst. The worst, I'm telling you. Seriously, seriously, seriously. I can't keep doing this. I've had all I can take. I'm not joking. It's not like I was doing this stuff because I wanted to to begin with. How'm I supposed to keep doing it when it means having to go through this? It's the same for you two, right? To hell with being a warrior, to hell with being a thief, to hell with being a dread knight. To hell... To hell with being a priest. I'm done. It's over. I'm out. I'm done with all of this. From today on, I quit!"