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I still have one delivery quest to do, so I ask Chris if I can do that in the meantime. My destination is on the way to the inn, so I take what needs to be delivered and deliver it.
“Do you always do this?”
“Haven’t you ever done it?”
“I have. In the town where I registered as an adventurer, delivery quests were few and popular.”
Apparently in small towns with a lot of new adventurers, people compete for delivery quests.
Big cities like the capital are the complete opposite. Adventurers that got at least somewhat strong in their hometowns come here in part to test their strength, so they don’t go out of their way to accept delivery quests. It’s not like no one does them, but the city is so big, that the demand is much larger than the offer.
“They’re pretty helpful for me. Even though, if someone asks me if I can live off this alone, I can only answer no.”
Still, with my skill, I have no complaints. If I did these quests without it, I would only do one every day, two at most. In a way, a skill that makes it so I don’t get tired when I walk really is extraordinary in a world without the locomotion power of a place like Earth.
There are horses and carriages, but they are out of the reach of an average person.
We stop by the inn where Chris and Rurika are staying, meet up with Rurika, and head to a cafe.
Apparently they’ve been here a few times, and we’re led to a private room.
Now that I think about it, I’ve never just relaxed in a cafe in this world. Part of it is because I can’t afford to spend money like this, but also because I just don’t have the time. I want to lead a more relaxed life.
“So, I came here like you asked. What’s going on?”
“Ah… I kind of met Chris in the pleasure quarter…?”
“Pleasure quarter… Chris, you were over there?”
Rurika looks at Chris with an accusing stare, but that soon fades away and is replaced by Rurika patting Chris’ head like she’s saying it can’t be helped.
“Fine, then… You explain it, Chris.”
“Yes. We told you we have been accepting quests and walking around the country. That is because we are looking for our friends.”
Chris stops for a second, takes a sip of her juice, and continues.
“The first town attacked by the empire was the one where we lived. We were still young, so when we were told to run away, we all dispersed and ran off without thinking. We managed to reunite with some friends after that, but there were also friends we never saw again… We are traveling to look for said friends.”
“People who weren’t killed back then were enslaved. They called them spoils of war, and when the ceasefire was called, they weren’t liberated. After we became adventurers, we went to the empire first. We look human, so we walked around without any problems, but we didn’t find them there, and so we came here. We heard there’s a slave auction near the capital’s pleasure quarter.”
“And you didn’t find them?”
“Yes. But I figured since we will be leaving this country soon, I would check one last time. And I went to ask something.”
She says she gave them a bribe to contact the guild if they had any information about the people they’re looking for. Showing weakness to slavers might mean getting taken advantage of when it’s time to buy, but Chris figured it was time to stop caring about that.
“Chris has taken a liking to you Sora, so I actually wanted you to stay with us for a bit longer, but we have a goal to accomplish.”
“R-Rurika!”
“Don’t be shy. Ah, And we’re looking for two people, a beast person and an elf.”
“This might be rude, but can I ask something?”
A question pops into my mind as they talk.
“You’re assuming the people you’re looking for are alive, but do you have any proof?”
At the very least, they don’t believe their friends are dead, or they wouldn’t go around the world looking for them.
But if I got separated from someone in a battlefield, would I be certain they weren’t dead?
“We know because of these amulets. We weren’t sure if it was true back then, but it tells us. We would have no answer if you asked us how we know, but we simply do.”
“The old lady said they’re spirit amulets.”
Both hold up similar amulets, and look at them lovingly.
They say this lady was bad-mouthed and got angry a lot, but she loved children from the bottom of her heart, and protected them until the very end. They seem very troubled as they talk about this. It’s like they have mixed memories that stop them from being completely frank with their praise.
“I see… And what about distinctive features… No, I guess that wouldn’t matter since you all grew up. Can you tell me their names at least? I’m planning on walking all over the place, so I might meet them on my travels. And about those amulets’ features… Are there more like them?”
“There are other amulets with the same shape, but this pattern is an original, so I don’t think there are more than four in the whole world. It’s like a set of four.”
The beast person’s name is Sera, and the elf’s name is Eris.
They tell me more about them too.
Sera is an easy-going beast person, and Eris has a strong sense of responsibility, and was basically the big sister in this group of four.
They tell me more about them, seeming very nostalgic, and sounding like they could never forget about their time together.