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59 Night of Return
「Then, kanpai！」
「Kanpai」
「Kanpai!」
The night after we finished the dungeon exploration.
Fran is at the bar. Amanda and Nell are also here. Having heard that Fran was leaving Alessa, they decided to throw a farewell party.
「Aah! Fran-chan is leaving me! Farewells are so sad!」
「Me too! Do you really have to go!?」
「Nn. Going to dungeon」
「Is the dungeon more important than me!」
「Right! It’s just a dungeon! Didn’t you only just meet Amanda, while we have been friends for nearly a month, right?」
「Mou! It’s not about length! I’ve been making friends with Fran-chan on a sleepover!」
They keep talking, about how Clad and The Roar of the Dragon failed the exam, how Donna was dumped by a woman, all the while drinking more and more.
The two gradually got drunk and the skinship increased. Urushi eventually retreated to Fran’s shadow after being stroked too much.
「I am also concerned about Fran-chan～」
「The orphanage?」
「Ara? Fran-chan knew? But it’ll be all right. There is no problem if I leave taking care of the children to the director, right?Isn’t it better if I go out and earn a lot of money for the orphanage? So, I’ll go Dungeon Diving with Fran!」
「Nn. I don’t mind」
「E? Really? Yahoo!」
「That’s no good!」
「Eeh? Why, Nell?」
「You, did you forget the contract?」
「Ah, that one. Ngh, I’ve signed a troublesome one!」
「You’re bad with the Guild Master’s sweet words, right」
「Uuuuh…」
「Contract?」
「That’s right! I can’t leave Alessa」
「Why?」
「Ehm, you see…」
「Hey, Amanda! There are too many people here!」
「Ah, right. ――Silence!」
Amanda set up a barrier to block sound. It’s a good magic for telling secrets, but maybe because she’s drunk her control was not too good.
Not just our own table was affected, but several of the surrounding tables got affected as well. Suddenly the sound disappeared and I could see a customer with a look of confusion on his face.
「Didn’t we enter a dungeon? That’s pretty important over there. After all, it’s a place where we can mass produce magic ore. It’s a place where it can be supplied steadier than with a mine, right?」
That is true. Looking at it from a military standpoint, it would be quite important. It may be natural to hide the existence using Oath Magic.
「But, the dungeon is under the jurisdiction of the guild, right? Even for a country it’s not something they can just obtain. But, the country wants the dungeon in Alessa no matter what!」
「Nn」
「And, Alessa is quite close to the border of the Raidos Kingdom, right?」
「Is that so?」
「Yes. Our relationship with Raidos is quite bad. That country is expanding pretty aggressively. At worst, there is the possibility of Alessa being targeted」
「It’s impossible to keep the magic ore a secret forever. Some day it’ll be known」
「And the country has been trying to obtain jurisdiction of the dungeon on the basis of this fact!」
「However, I do not want Alessa’s guild to lose this jurisdiction to the country! Because there is nothing else around Alessa than that dungeon, so if that dungeon is taken Alessas income with sharply decline, right?」
「And, our salaries would be cut too!!」
「So, the guild needs to guarantee that there is enough strength to protect Alessa even if we’re attacked by a neighboring country. By making Rank A adventurers be residents」
So for that reason Amanda cannot leave Alessa, huh?
「Because the country is eyeing us, the knight order here is kept weak. Commander Urs is a graduate of Alessa so he refused to leave though. The knights used to be a lot more serious in the past!」
It was not just because of bribes, but also for reasons such at Auguste becoming Vice-Commander, and perhaps there was also an element of harrasment.
「And so, that’s why I can’t leave this town～」
「I see」
「Even though I wanted to take care of Fran-chanー!」
「I said, it’s impossible!!」
「Well then, I’ll cherish today at least!」
「Yay. Truly Amanda!」
「Ara, not you, Nell. Only Fran-chan～」
「Stingyー!」
「Good stuff! Fran-chan～! Don’t forget me even though you’re leaving!!」
「Nn! Won’t forget」
Well, she was beaten up many times. Of course she won’t forget that.
「What!? Fran, you’re leaving Alessa!?」
「Wh-What did you say!?」
Somehow, it seems like the surrounding adventurers had been listening in. It seems the effects of Silence had ended without me noticing.
It’s a dwarf. Sitting there with a huge ale mug it certainly matches the atmosphere of a dwarf.
Who is he? I feel like I’ve seen him somewhere but…. Ah! He was one of the rank D adventurers who came after we had first fought the goblin army! I think his name was Hellbent.
「Hey, you serious!?」
「Shit, and we wanted to let her enter our party」
「What! We were going to invite her!」
「Fran-chaaan!!」
「Hey, don’t try to steal a march, guys!」
Heyhey, where did all these guys come from!? Somehow, it seems like everyone at the surrounding tables were adventurers. Besides that, even more adventurers have gathered!
「Fran-chan, I’m glad to have gotten to know you!」
「Damn it! I haven’t repaid the favor yet, ya know～!」
Frion and Clad are there too. It seems they too have been drinking here.
「Where are you going?」
「Ulmut」
「Oh! A dungeon huh!」
「Nice! Some day we want to go too!」
「Wait a second! You should rank up first!」
「Yoosh! A cheers to the young lady’s prospects!」
「Uooohh!!」
「Cheers!!」
「Kanpai!!」
「Kampai!!」
「Bring more booze!」
「Bring a whole barrel!」
「Gahahahaha!!」
「Drink! Drink!」
「Another! Another!」
It’s a real Don Chan fuss. They even want Fran to drink!
「Are ye drinking, Fran-chan?」
「Nn」
「This’s not juice! It’s something better～」
「Hey, Amanda! What the hell are you making her drink!」
「It’s… It’s just wheat juice!」
「I’ll drink」
「No!」
「Eee～! Stingy! Just a bit!」
「Stingy」
「No means NO! I’ll be taking that!」
「Ooooh! Nell is downing it fast!」
「That’s hot!」
「This is fun, Fran-chan～!」
「Nn」
Well, Fran looks like she’s having fun so I guess it’s OK.
In the end everyone drank until they collapsed. Fran and I ended up coming home in the middle of the night. It seems Urushi was sleeping in Fran’s shadown most of the time.
『Are you OK?』
「Nn」
While I couldn’t drink myself I did enjoy the atmosphere. Maybe I got a little drunk from that alone. It seems poison resistance does not fully negate alcohol.
「I’m OK」
『Is that so?』
「Nn」
『Are you hungry now?』
If she’s hungry I’ll just pull something out.
「Bit hungry. Curry?」
『This time it’s not curry. Just a moment! Yosh, the date has changed!』
This inn has clocks in all the rooms. In fact, it seems it’s a fairly cheap magic tool so it’s common.
Most places has a clock on the wall to show the time. However, I have never seen a wristwatch so maybe it’s hard to downsize it.
And, there are calendars. Each month is 30 days but there is a special day every three months. It’s written as a Party Day. It seems like the four seasons are officially separated by this day.
So, one year ends up with 364 days. By the way, today is March 18.
『Well then, try this』
「? What’s this? Smells sweet…」
『It’s a pancake. Actually, I wanted to make a decorated cake but I was lacking in materials and time. So, I settled for this』
「Why? Any celebration?」
『Yupp! Today it had been one month since we first met. How could I not make something?』
It was actually quite hard. I had to be creative to not be noticed. Doppelganger is still lvl 1 so it can only be used 5 minutes a day.
Even if you greatly lower the status of your alter ego and kept pouring magical power excessively with the Sorcery skill, the maximum limit of activity was 15 minutes.
I could only send my Doppel out secretly while Fran was sleeping. But since we had already gotten permission to use the kitchen outside of working hours it’d have been a waste not to use it, right?
I secretly snuck in the material during our shopping and then advanced the preparations for 15 minutes every night; making cream from the milk, cutting fruit for decorations, it was hard work.
I finished the first prototype a few days before we went to the dungeon. I studied how to bake with only 15 minutes to work with every night; it was a fierce challenge!
In addition to that, because my Doppel was so weak the level of Cooking actually sunk to 1!! It was a real challenge to make decent dishes like that!
I tasted it once but due to the quality of my Doppel its sense of taste was really dull. In addition, it seems to use magical power to digest things
eaten in reverse, it is a vicious cycle that the activation limit becomes shorter as you taste it!
Also, when people saw me during the work I could not explain what I was doing, also due to the quality of my Doppel.
Well, because things didn’t work out I ended up cooking while carrying my main body. The more you’re used to a skill, the more you tend to rely on the sensation of it.    //Maaka: Like Small-Fry Vice Commander did
「This cake, for me?」
『Ou!』
It looks like Fran hadn’t noticed anything, Surprise Successful!!
『Please go ahead!』
「Nn. I’ll eat」
On top of the two-tiered pancake, I had put plenty of fresh cream, syrup and fruit. Fran cut the pancake with a fork and started eating.
“Mogyu Mogyu…”
『How is it?』
「Tasty. Super Tasty」
“Mogyu Mogyu Mogyu Mogyu…”
Good! it seems like she liked it. Fran is eating energetically in silence.
『Hey, your mouth is all sticky』
「Nn」
『Yosh, that’s better』
「Thanks」
“Mogyu Mogyu…”
『Oi, you got sticky again!』
「Because the cake is good」
『Yes yes～』
Fran goes silent again. She wouldn’t say another word and just kept eating the pancake.
「Thanks for the food」
『It was nothing』
「Ne, Teacher?」
『Hmm?』
「Thank you」
『Ou!』
That smile is more than enough of a reward.