Chapter 169 - An Escort Request

‘Not really though’ thought Loren, the one who spread the rumor, thought while flinging a small cloth bag on the table. This small cloth bag was a representative for his wallet, which had become significantly lighter.

It all started with a remark from Gula, the so-called Evil God of Gluttony and a member of Loren’s party. It wasn’t even spoken very loudly.

“That reminds me, Loren, you said I can eat all the delicious things once we return to Kapha, right?”

That was quite a shameless remark, Loren couldn’t help but think.

He did say such a thing when they were working on their previous job. That job did end up to be quite a success, but they encountered one of Gula’s buddies halfway through: Mammon, the Evil God of Greed, who had the appearance of a young boy. Loren was one strike short of killing him but stayed his hand because Gula begged for his life and Mammon himself showed some remorse. So he let Gula have custody of Mammon instead.

Because of this, Loren thought Gula should have felt some indebtedness to him. But it seemed like in Gula’s point of view, that was that and this was this.

“You’re weakened if you’re full, aren’t you? Starve a bit more.”

“Don’t say such a cruel thing. And it’s still alright even if I’m weakened a little bit, isn’t it? And it’s not like we’ll encounter my kind all the time.”

Saying it like this just made Loren fear that they would suddenly encounter another Evil God.

Anyway, Gula wanted to eat delicious food no matter what, and Loren just gave up. At the end of his rope, Loren agreed to treating Gula to a meal. To have delicious food, they went to a slightly more high-end dining hall, and Loren enjoyed a glass of fine wine for the first time in a long while. Gula, on the other hand, demonstrated her appetite as if her title of Evil God of Gluttony was at stake and proceeded to eat up the dining hall’s stock. Since it was a high-end dining hall, it was more expensive than other ones in the area, and since she consumed everything, it naturally costed a lot.

What’s more, there was already a rumor spreading about a beautiful woman being able to gorge down a ton of food. Naturally, that was because such an unusual scene would gather people’s attention and the more people witnessed such a scene, the worse the rumor got.

“Hey, what are you doing?”

At night, in the dining hall attached to the adventurer’s guild, Loren sipped on some cheap wine he had ordered for himself by candlelight and shrugged at the voice that came from across the table.

The person sitting in front of Loren across the table was none other than Lapis, whose expression was eloquently showcasing her deep-seated dismay.

Lapis, despite being a demon, a race that humans feared and hated, actually did have some semblance of common sense. Yet she could not understand why Loren agreed to pay for Gula’s meal even though he didn’t have much money himself.

“It’s not like I need you to help me pay for it this time. Isn’t this fine?”

“Didn’t you spend most of the money you earned from the previous request as well?”

Lapis lifted the pouch Loren had thrown onto the table and checked its content. Hearing no clink of coins when picking it up, she could already guess the pouch’s content. When she opened it up and looked inside, all she saw was a single golden glow. There was only one coin left at the bottom of the bag.

“Looks like there is some left”

“Don’t you dare tell Gula. Any more of this and I would be suicidal.”

Thankfully, Gula was no longer nearby.

Normally, Loren would be asleep in his room by now, not out here drinking. He was here only because Lapis had summoned him through the adventurer’s guild.

Loren expected Lapis to start complaining about the stupid stunt Gula and him had pulled a few days ago, but she simply closed the pouch and returned it to Loren while muttering under her breath ‘Fine then…’

“I didn’t call you here to talk about that.”

“Really? I thought you were going to for sure.”

“There’s no need for me to talk about what you do with your money… Ah, that reminds me, can I count that remaining gold coin as a payment for your debt with me?”

“…Without it, I’ll have to sleep in the alley tonight.”

But Loren did believe it was better to pay off one’s debt, so he picked up the pouch and passed it. But she pushed his offering pouch back.

“I can’t take it like that.”

“Well, I don’t really mind though?”

“It’s alright. You can pay me back later, so just use what is left for your accommodation and food.”

Since the lender said it was fine to not pay it back right now, the borrower had no reason to disagree. Also, given their relationship, it was uncertain how serious they were about this whole borrowing and paying-back talk.

“So, can we move on to the main topic?”

“Yeah. So, what do you want to talk about?”

Since Lapis requested to see him through the guild, she had to pay a fee.

Meanwhile, Loren did not know where Lapis lived.

Whenever they were in Kapha city, she just appeared wherever he was at. This felt like she was always there when needed. Loren had already spent a substantial amount of time with her but he still had no clue what she did during her spare time.

Loren knew that Lapis would not have summoned him in such a manner for some foolish rhetoric. So, the topic at hand must be serious. She glanced at the hilt of his greatsword and spoke.

“I need to discuss with you about your sword”

Once she said those words, Loren took a glance at the weapon on his back.

The sword he used when he was a mercenary was broken, and he ‘happened’ to have bought a random replacement.

When in fact, Lapis was the one who had masterminded the whole thing in secret. She had set it up in such a way that made it questionable whether she wanted to hide what she did or not. She made it such that the trader would have only sold the weapon to Loren.

During the last job, the Evil God of Greed, Mammon, broke the sword, and it turned out that there was another blade inside the destroyed one. Loren was able to defeat him thanks to the unusual sharpness hidden within his weapon.

“I think it’s dangerous to use a weapon from an unknown origin.”

“I agree with you… But are you seriously telling me that you don’t know where it came from?”

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

Lapis asked as if she found what he just uttered as completely strange, to which Loren could only silently shake his head.

He knew that one’s thoughts might sometimes deviate from what one says. So, he pretended like he didn’t know anything.

Even if he wanted her to confess, he did not want to force her.

“It’s true, I really don’t know where it’s from. No one told me what it is. It was just one of those things that was kept in the warehouse,”

Lapis muttered, taking her eyes off Loren. It was a dangerous weapon but the man wielding it himself seems to be nonchalant as he took another sip and placed his drink back on the table.

“So, this is something you took from your house?”

He asked, as he thought this girl had taken out something dangerous.

However, so far, there have been no problems with it. Rather, Loren would have to say that the weapon had proved quite handy.

But since Lapis had brought it from home, it might change things.

After all, she is a demon.

Demons could keep items in their warehouse that could be a few dozen times more dangerous than what he would expect.

“Please don’t ask,”

Lapis moodily said, turning away. Though from Loren’s point of view this was a life-threatening issue. Not something that can be so easily dismissed.

“I don’t mean it that way. I mean, since it is from your warehouse, it’s dangerous right?”

“There is nothing dangerous in my family’s warehouse!”

“Well, that maybe so…”

It was logical to assume that demons keep something dangerous in their warehouses, though that was a rude thought.

What’s more important, it was Lapis’ home. The same Lapis who he has been with for so long.

Loren was sure she wouldn’t hand him an item without making sure it wasn’t life-threatening but soon noticed the girl’s wandering gaze.

“Lapis?”

“N-no… It might not sound convincing but… I checked everything thoroughly. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have placed something so dangerous in a town store.”

“Were you selling something?”

“That’s not the point. How do I put it…”

For a while Lapis seemed to want to say something. But, each time she wanted to speak up, she closed her mouth again and scratched her head. To Loren, it seems as though she was trying to think up a story, trying to hide that she was the original owner of the sword. When she finally settled on her story, she turned to Loren and looked at him.

“If it was entirely made of magic iron, then there would be no problems. I never thought that there would be something inside it…”

“So you admit it’s your fault?”

“I’m just saying what has happened!”

Loren believes that they would uncover the solution if Lapis would share more but, since she continued to hide it, Loren decided that it would be impossible to probe further. Therefore, he just let it go and asked.

“All right. So, what do we do?”

When Loren asked ‘what to do’ when the owner herself was uncertain, Lapis seemed a little hesitant to answer.

“We need to ask someone who knows.”

“Someone who knows…? Who?”

Loren did not believe that this weapon could be appraised.

Lapis could appraise herself, and Loren did not believe anyone could do a better job than her.

If there was anyone who knew anything about this weapon, it would be the original owner. So, Loren stared at Lapis.

“Do you mean…”

“Yeah, I don’t know who originally owns it… But, there is someone I know who knows more about this sword than I do,”

Leaning on the table, the girl spoke in a low voice to Loren, who was staring at her in bewilderment.

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“Loren, I need you to come to my house.”

Not knowing what to say, the man just looked at the girl who wore a serious expression.