At night, the pub that specializes in beers, Villa De Edge.
I came here alone.
There are times when I would come here by myself to enjoy in peace because of how busy I am everyday, so once in a while itās good to come here alone.
Thinking so, I came here by myself.
The usual waitress led me to my usual spot, and I would order theĀ Coffee BeerĀ that Iāve been obsessed with recently.
Thus, I was looking forward to it.
[Hahā¦..]
Someone sighed at the table beside me.
A pubāāor more like a sigh that you would usually hear in an Izakaya.
[Eh? Well if it isnātĀ Leon?]Ā (Ryouta)
[Eh? Ah.] (Leon)
The person was surprised when he saw me.
And that person over there was indeedĀ Leon.
He ordered a pretty orthodox menu of beer and yakitori, but there was a puddle of water on the tableā¦..the water that spilled out from a few of the glasses with 5~6 glasses being drunk, and the yakitori was never touched as well.
He only drank the beers, it was that sort of circumstances.
[Whatās wrong, having such a long sigh.]Ā (Ryouta)
[Ahh noā¦..Uhh, Iām thankful for what you did before.] (Leon)
[The tone of your voice doesnāt indicate that you just wanted to thank me, so what really happened?]Ā (Ryouta)
[Eehā¦..itās true that what you did really helped us, theĀ clientĀ was extremely satisfied, and he even asked us to continue from now on, thatās what happened.] (Leon)
[Aināt that great?]Ā (Ryouta)
[About thatā¦..all the merit went into theĀ bossĀ alone.] (Leon)
[Un?]Ā (Ryouta)
[Bossā¦..Joel-san was the only one who gained the achievement. Well, sheĀ isĀ theĀ bossĀ of theĀ family, so I guess it canāt be helped.]
ThenĀ LeonĀ continued chugging his beer.
[So the higher ups gained the merits huhā¦.]Ā (Ryouta)
Leon nodded, and I caught a glimpse of his sight.
A boss that does nothing, and only when aĀ projectĀ is completed they would pop out of nowhere, claiming that they did everything and getting the praise and achievements all by themselves.
In my previous world, the company that I worked for had a common occurence like this too.
[Well it canāt be help, itās theĀ boss. But still.] (Leon)
Bam! He strongly slammed the cup on the table.
His face was beetroot red, and his eyes were staring on the ground.
[And I wonder how weāll gonna handle any future jobs. Whatās more, the otherĀ familiesĀ donāt wanna take such a non profit job.] (Leon)
[Aahā¦..]Ā (Ryouta)
I understand what you mean.
They donāt think of the consequences, whether the job makes a profit or not, without even thinking they just accept it.
And the one doing everything would always be the lower employeesā¦..
Leon who was hit by such underlying techniques, came to the pub to vent his feelings, I completely understood how he feels.
I moved to sit beside him, looking at the waitress that was bringing my beer over, I gestured over to ask her to bring it over here.
Afterwards, I asked Leon.
[How about being independent? Instead of being stuck in such aĀ family, isnāt it better to solo it? Iām sure you could still do your job as an adventurer.]Ā (Ryouta)
[I canātā¦..Within theĀ family, IāmĀ numberĀ 2, if I were to quit now, itāll cause trouble to my other teammates. The younger members havenāt been taught yet, so they wouldnāt know how to operate in the family.] (Leon)
[If they even depend on youā¦.then the more you should quit.]Ā (Ryouta)
[Un?] (Leon)
[Why not just have all of your teammates leave and be independent?]Ā (Ryouta)
[Even if Iām not around, the youngins would be in debt. The debt for their equipments.] (Leon)
[Their equipments debt?]Ā (Ryouta)
He furrowed his eyebrows! As he did that I finally understood.
[Theyāre a lot of those who come in bringing nothing but themselves, at first they would provide a weapon for them, but it usually breaks immediately. Then theyāll have to stomach their own weaponsā¦..and thatās when theyāll have to borrow money to repair it.] (Leon)
[FromĀ Joel?]Ā (Ryouta)
[Not directly from her.Ā BossĀ would usually be the guarantor(mediator(?) middle man(?)) of the Dungeon Association to borrow some cash.] (Leon)
[That Dungeon Associationā¦..They even do these kinds of things huh.]Ā (Ryouta)
[Since itās from the guarantor herselfā¦..to escape from thisĀ family, if you donāt pay off all your debts, itās impossible to leave. Plus we donāt have that kind of moneyā¦.] (Leon)
Leon sighed further, and drank his beer in one go.
Even though he wants to change job, but because of various reasons he canāt, to summarize it in one sentence, itāll be [trouble with money].
With a debt on your shoulder, you would live an unsafe life, and your salary would drop from time to time.
In many cases, [money] is always the cause of it.
I slightly thought about it, and asked Leon.
[Follow me.]Ā (Ryouta)
[Eh? W, where to.] (Leon)
[Just come.]Ā (Ryouta)
Without replying Leon, I went ahead.
The location, Dungeon Association.
ā
In the middle of the night, plus both me and Leon who smelled like booze came and meet up with Clint.
Inside the Chairmanās office, Clint was asked me while hiding his surprised on top of his smile.
[Whatās wrong Satou, coming here so late at night.] (Clint)
[I heard that the Dungeon Association lends money to people.]Ā (Ryouta)
[Itās different from just lending money, Ā Itās a mutual aid for the adventurers. We even offer lower interests than the neigbouring countries. Of course we would like some trust in our adventurers too when lending money to themā¦..] (Clint)
Clint then looked at both me and Leon simultaneously.
[I donāt think Satou would be in need of some cash right?] (Clint)
[No, not me.]Ā (Ryouta)
I shook my head, and talked about what happened to Leon.
One ofĀ Joel FamilyāsĀ member, he wants to be independent but the debt of his teammates were strangling their necks, which made them unable to leave.
[I seeā¦..thatĀ Joelāsā¦.] (Clint)
[That?] (Leon)
[That.] (Clint)
Clint nodded, Leon stared at him, and said.
[Although itās good to offer bad weapons and armors to newcomers for free, but after itās broken, the famous saying āYou better buy a better equipment thenā, and she makes you buy more expensive equipments. Itās technically not ripping somebody off, but if given to newcomers, then theyāll usually get stuck by this loop for a really long time.] (Clint)
[Is that so?]Ā (Ryouta)
[ā¦..] (Leon)
Leon heavily nodded.
[Because it could be used for a long time, and itās not like youāre lying to themā¦..] (Clint)
[But the malice is there.]Ā (Ryouta)
[ā¦..] (Leon)
Leon kept quit, Iām sure the person himself understands the most.
I turned around and looked at Clint.
I could pay, if there is no choice then I could pay for the extent of breaking the loans for any new adventurers.
Though, I thought of something different.
Looking at Clint, I discussed about the idea that I just came up with.
[SinceĀ JoelĀ is the guarantor of this debt, can I instead be the guarantor for them?]Ā (Ryouta)
[Normally itās impossible.] (Clint)
[Normally?]Ā (Ryouta)
[Yeap.] (Clint)
Clint who immediately replied, one could see that Leon was discouraged which was conveyed through his expressions.
After he heard the word [normally] he was discouraged, but I could read between the lines of Clint.
If it really was impossible, he himself wouldnāt have said [normally] to begin with.
[Can you please do something about that.]Ā (Ryouta)
I bowed my head down.
[Wh, what, you donāt have to go that farāā] (Leon)
[I got it.] (Clint)
Clint said, and Leon was like [Eh?] as he was surprised.
He didnāt know that it was just for show, and why we had to make such a roundabout why to agree to such things.
[ā¦..]
When I saw Leonās eyes clouded with deep emotions, I was convinced that he could remove any obstacles in his way.
ā
A few days later, rumours circulated throughout Shikuro town that everyone in the ridiculous leaderās family left.