Chapter 247: 247 Holiday
It was around early lunchti, a bit late for starting the day.
Rin was sprawled across the table with a pained expression.
Tanya and Mika were slumped in their chairs with similar faces.
This was the price of drinking until they collapsed last night, oblivious to their own limits.
"Uuuugh..."
"What were you thinking, drinking so recklessly?"
"It was our first ti... we didn’t know it would be like this."
Rin clutched her throbbing head with both hands.
Her head felt like it was splitting open, but she felt too guilty to show it. Glancing at the current ti, Rin quietly checked Ian’s expression.
Today was supposed to be a patrol day.
But between the late hour and their current physical states, going out to fight was out of the question.
"What about the mission...?"
"There’s nothing we can do today."
Fortunately, the sewer patrol mission was a weekly contract.
As long as they finished patrolling the designated areas by the set date, it wasn’t a breach of contract to miss one day.
Though they had originally planned to go in today... shifting the schedule by a day was no problem.
"We can just finish it tomorrow and the day after, so don’t push yourselves and rest today."
"We’re sorry..."
Laughter drifted from behind the slumped group.
"You only learn these things by passing out once. Be glad you didn’t cause a bigger ss later on."
The innkeeper erged from the kitchen and set bowls down in front of the three. It was a hangover redy he had prepared as a lunch nu after seeing their condition.
Rin, Tanya, and Mika barely managed to lift their heads and moved their spoons sluggishly.
"Haaaaah..."
By the ti the three finally regained so energy, lunch had long since passed. While they felt better than before, it was too late in the day to start any work.
"I’ll count today as a holiday, so go take care of anything you need to do."
It was an unexpected, sudden holiday.
However, the very people who had flubbed the day’s work couldn’t exactly skip away to play with light hearts after hearing it was a holiday.
They all just stole glances at Ian.
"What about you, Captain?"
"I don’t have anything in particular to do. Go on without ."
Ian rarely joined the mbers when they went out to have fun. He figured that if he tagged along, they wouldn’t be able to truly relax.
"Good grief, you’re too stiff with your rcenaries. Here, everyone drink this," the innkeeper said, placing water cups on the table one by one.
It was honey water.
He’d give the rookies the first glass for free. Once they realized how good it was, they’d start ordering and paying for it on their own next ti.
It was the innkeeper’s way of emptying the pockets of rookies, having dealt with countless young rcenaries suffering from hangovers. Since it was a slow hour, the innkeeper, who had overheard the conversation, added a word.
"It’s good to socialize with your mbers a bit."
In the eyes of the innkeeper, who had hosted nurous E-rank rcenary groups, their skills seed quite impressive, but the problem was that the bond between the captain and the mbers still looked awkward.
From what he had seen over the years, rcenary groups that failed to connect didn’t last long.
Hearing that, Mika and Tanya nodded.
"Yeah! Captain, let’s go out together!"
"Exactly, I was wondering what the Captain does on his days off..."
And so, half-pushed by the montum, Ian ended up going out with all the mbers.
...However, because it was a sudden holiday, none of the four had any plans.
Having stepped out onto the street aimlessly, they all glanced at Ian. Usually, on days like this, they would just wander around the shopping district to kill ti... but they didn’t think Ian would do that.
"Co to think of it... whenever I see you, you’re always working. What do you do on your holidays?" asked Rin, who hadn’t really thought about it before but was now genuinely curious.
"I..."
...Ian usually just stayed holed up in his room on holidays. It wasn’t for any special reason; there just weren’t any places in this city that particularly interested him.
Of course, there were plenty of facilities rcenaries frequented, like arenas, gambling dens, and theaters... but they were places Ian couldn’t find any joy in visiting. He didn’t even have a smartphone or community galleries to browse.
In the end, he would just think of it as playing the ga, spending ti planning future goals or character builds. It was actually helpful for the future, and ti passed well enough. However...
Ian looked at the three pairs of eyes watching him with curiosity. If he told them he spent his days off making future plans, wouldn’t they think he was so kind of madman?
So, Ian made up a plausible answer.
"I just go to places like cafes."
"Cafes?"
It was a generic answer he’d improvised, but the three girls from the countryside looked on with sparkling eyes.
"Have you never been?"
"Our village didn’t have anything like that."
"There should be plenty in the Labyrinth."
"It’s scary to go inside..."
Cafes were a part of urban culture. Although they were living in the massive city of the Labyrinth now, such places were still unfamiliar and intimidating to approach.
Seeing soone right in front of them who actually went to the cafes they’d only heard stories about piqued their interest. Since they all seed interested in his improvised excuse, Ian made a suggestion.
"Then, do you want to try going to one?"
***
A short distance away from the shopping district frequented by rcenaries, Ian headed toward a cafe located at the entrance of the high-end shopping district.
Because of its luxurious exterior, it was the kind of shop that countryside rcenaries would never have the courage to set foot in. Ian walked in as if it were nothing and seated the mbers at a table by the window.
Perhaps due to the overwhelming atmosphere, everyone except Ian sat frozen in their seats.
"Th-this is a... cafe...?"
"Is it really okay for us to be in here...?"
While the mbers whispered nervously to one another, Ian took the nu. Ian hadn’t actually been to this specific shop before, but... it was just a cafe. He had used them frequently back when he played the ga.
It was a rest facility where characters with traits like [Aristocratic] or [Elegant] received stress relief bonuses. Lower-end facilities like bars or gambling dens occasionally triggered negative events like ’argunts’ or ’brawls.’ In contrast, places like this were better in every way, except for the higher cost.
Rin, peeking at the nu Ian was holding, spoke quietly.
"I’ll... I’ll have the sa thing as the Captain."
"Ah,
too..."
"...I’ll take the cheapest thing."
Mika tried to pick sothing, but seeing a nu filled with nas she didn’t recognize at all, she eventually gave up. Seeing the flustered trio, Ian called a server and put in the orders himself.
"An apple mint here, and a chocolate latte over there..."
Without much thought, Ian simply ordered drinks with preference tags that matched each of their personalities.
"And two slices each of cheesecake and raspberry tart."
Not long after Ian finished ordering, the drinks and cakes were placed in front of each person. Seeing the tea and desserts served in elegant cups, everyone let out gasps of wonder.
"Whoa..."
Ian picked up his cup first, and the rest followed suit, hesitating until they saw him. Rin was a bit wary, rembering the taste of the coffee she’d had at the guild, but after seeing the positive reactions from Tanya and Mika, she cautiously brought the cup to her lips.
"Oh, it’s sweet..."
The intense sweetness touching the tip of her tongue seeped into her body. Since drinking that thing called coffee at the guild recently, she had assud all teas would be like that. This one suited Rin’s taste perfectly.
When Rin stole a glance to see what Ian was drinking, she saw he was drinking that coffee stuff that looked like the tea from before. ...Why would he drink sothing like that? Is there a flavor only smart people can appreciate?
Rin tilted her glass while staring intently at Ian.
A quiet and peaceful ti passed, with the conversation pausing for a mont. It was a lazy afternoon with the sun shining down.
"This cafe thing is quite nice..."
"I agree."
Until now, they had spent their holidays in crowded shopping districts or packed restaurants. But looking at this leisurely scenery made them feel a sense of inner peace. Tanya felt like she finally understood why people spent their holidays in places like this.
Taking a quick look around the shop, Tanya said as if surprised, "I was nervous because I heard this was a place for nobles and the wealthy... but it’s not as difficult as I thought."
"Other cities might be like that, but here, everyone is a rcenary. No matter where you go, they’re doing business with rcenaries, so there’s no need to worry about that."
Just as Ian said, the cafe didn’t refuse entry to rcenaries, nor was the process complicated. Of course, the nu was full of nas they had never seen before... but they rembered the nas of the drinks and desserts Ian had ordered. If they asked for the sa thing as today, they felt like they could definitely co back.
The fantasy of a cafe being a place where noble ladies spent their ti—the misunderstanding that they shouldn’t dare set foot inside—was cleared up. There was even a strange sense of satisfaction, as if they had beco noble ladies themselves.
"Let’s co here again next ti."
"Yeah."
At Tanya’s whisper, Mika and Rin nodded in satisfaction. And a short while later, when they received the bill. Looking at the amount Ian had paid, the three of them received the most chilling shock of their rcenary lives.
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