## Chapter 101 – (8)
“To readily spend that kind of money, are you perhaps doing something else on the side?”
Lexy, who was following beside me, said those words.
“No, I’m not.”
“Don’t worry and just tell me. I’m pretty good at keeping secrets, you know?”
I looked at the elf beside me, who was chattering non-stop.
She was telling me to confide in her, but looking at her talkative self, I didn’t feel particularly trusting.
In the short story, her character was mainly shown in two ways.
As a mage and an explainer.
And if I had to add another role, it would be representing the elven race?
In reality, if elves heard that Lexy represented them, they would foam at the mouth and object.
That’s because Lexy was known as an oddball even among elves.
Unlike other elves, she showed a friendly attitude towards humans and dwarves, was talkative, and ate meat.
Also, she liked desserts and was quite energetic.
She just seemed like a young woman who happened to be an elf in appearance.
Of course, her actual age… I remembered it was quite far from being considered young.
Anyway.
“You’re buying all sorts of strange things.”
Lexy, who had been following me, blurted out.
It was a slightly strange shopping list.
But the strangest thing of all was herself.
“…Why are you following me?”
Certainly, I had saved Lexy from a difficult situation to increase her favorability, but I never imagined she would follow me while I was shopping.
Shopping with a beautiful elf was a good thing for a man, but it also created a lot more trouble.
Perhaps because she felt indebted.
She tried to haggle over prices even when I didn’t want her to, and as a result, it actually hindered my ability to buy things.
Even in the blacksmith district, where the proportion of dwarves was high, I almost failed to get a custom-made Babel because the dwarves were wary of Lexy, who was an elf.
Apparently, the cliché that the two races don’t get along exists in this world as well.
“Ah… well, I thought I could be of help… Ahaha…”
Lexy avoided my gaze and laughed awkwardly.
It was the laugh of someone who understood very well that they hadn’t been helpful.
Her intentions were good, so I couldn’t bring myself to say anything, and I sighed as I moved to the last place.
“I’m really going back to the inn now, so you don’t have to follow me.”
“Still…”
“…If you feel indebted, then please treat me well when you come to the Black Knights tomorrow.”
Lexy was being kind to me right now, but that was only because I had helped her.
Elves, as a whole, were beings who were very clear about debts and favors.
That’s why other elves remembered grudges even after centuries and hated humans and dwarves.
Lexy didn’t hate humans, but if the Black Knights’ attitude towards her wasn’t to her liking, Lexy would definitely treat the Black Knights just as coldly.
That was actually the case in the original short story.
There was a reason why I had decided to build up her favorability in advance.
“…Okay.”
After some thought, Lexy nodded and replied.
And the two of us parted ways.
Or, at least, that’s what we intended to do.
“…”
“…”
Somehow, judging by the atmosphere and the timing of the conversation, it was the perfect moment for us to separate and walk our own paths.
But for some reason, we were walking side by side again, heading somewhere.
I glanced at Lexy, wondering if she was following me again, but this time it really seemed like we were just going in the same direction.
Lexy also looked at me, bewildered by the situation.
At least she didn’t seem to be following me…
‘Ah.’
Come to think of it, it made sense that our paths would overlap.
I was heading to the adventurer’s district to find an inn because Cecil was lying in my room, and Lexy, who was next to me, had just arrived in the city because of the knights’ support, so she must have been heading to find an inn as well.
The reasons were different, but the destination was the same.
It was awkward to walk in silence like this, so I ended up speaking first.
“…Are you going to find an inn?”
“Ah, well, something like that…?”
Lexy flinched and shuddered, as if she hadn’t expected me to suddenly speak to her, and replied awkwardly.
“Do you happen to know of any good inns?”
“Hmm, it needs to be big, and it needs to have a proper restaurant downstairs, not just a tavern.”
“Oh…”
I wasn’t expecting it, but a pretty useful answer came back.
If I hadn’t asked, I would have naturally chosen an inn with a tavern attached.
That was the image of an adventurer’s inn that I had usually seen and heard about in comics and novels.
As we entered the adventurer’s district, there were countless people on the streets.
It was called the adventurer’s district, but it was really just the main street with the most people passing through.
Most of the merchants and adventurers who had been lined up outside the city walls were heading for this street, and many merchants were setting up shop on the ground and selling their wares.
“Hmm…”
I looked at them, feeling strangely sentimental.
Adventurers.
If it weren’t for the quest, I would have wanted to become an adventurer myself.
That feeling of freely adventuring with a party.
It felt romantic and full of dreams.
Of course, that was something you could only feel when you had the skills to back it up.
Would it be possible for me now?
I’m sure I could find something on the quest board.
I should definitely look for it sometime.
“There are quite a few knights who admire adventurers.”
“…Was it that obvious?”
“I can tell just by looking.”
I guess you can’t ignore the experience that comes with age.
I couldn’t say this out loud, but I had that thought because Lexy was an elf.
“In reality, adventurers want to become knights.”
“Huh? …Why?”
“Um… stable income and work-life balance?”
Hearing it like that, I understood.
Was it like freelancers looking at civil servants?
It certainly seemed to be the case.
Even just yesterday and today, the intensity of the work aside, there were quite a few breaks, so I was able to come out to buy things in the early evening like this.
The work-life balance was definitely good.
The income wasn’t high, but that was only by my standards, and it didn’t seem low compared to a typical job.
Above all, it was consistent, and I didn’t seem to have to worry much about getting fired.
As long as I didn’t get on the bad side of Dana, the captain of the knights…
Adventurers and knights.
Were they in a position where they envied each other?
Looking for an inn based on the criteria Lexy had given me, the candidates were narrowed down to one or two places.
And in the end, our footsteps led to the same inn.
“We ended up coming together.”
“That’s right, it’s a good thing. I’ll buy you a meal.”
Lexy said she would buy me a meal, as if she really didn’t want to accumulate any more debts.
This time, I accepted her offer and sat down.
Then, a man who appeared to be an employee ran out and took our order.
Lexy skillfully took the menu and naturally ordered a few dishes.
Honestly, I was worried that she would only order salads and such, since she was an elf, but then I remembered that Lexy liked meat in the original story.
I was glad that she wasn’t following the elf cliché.
She ordered dishes that looked greasy and even ordered alcohol.
That’s right, Lexy even liked alcohol.
A lot.
[Sexual Preference: Rough men, men who don’t care about age, young men, drunken state.]
It was a strangely hysterical sexual preference.
It felt like an incongruous sexual preference, perhaps because she was a young woman in appearance.
Lexy liked alcohol so much that even her sexual preference included a drunken state.
Before the food came out, the employee first brought out the alcohol that was prepared.
I thought they would only bring a little because the price of the alcohol was cheap, but they brought a jug that looked like it contained almost two liters of alcohol.
My mouth dropped open at the amount of alcohol.
“Isn’t that too much?”
“Hey, this is nothing.”
Lexy seemed confident in her alcohol tolerance and even scoffed at me.
“Can’t you even drink this much?”
She asked provocatively.
I honestly didn’t enjoy drinking, so I didn’t know how much I could handle, but looking at my current physical condition, I didn’t think I couldn’t drink it.
Besides, it was an opportunity to drink alcohol from this world, a fantasy world.
I accepted the challenge, and Lexy handed me a glass with a satisfied expression.
***
“One room, please.”
“Yes, is your companion… alright?”
“Ugh…”
Lexy was currently being carried on my back.
She was showing me with her whole body what it looked like to be so drunk that you wouldn’t even know you were being carried.
In the meantime, she kept groaning, saying that she had a headache.
So much so that the employee, who was a complete stranger, asked worriedly as I was booking the inn.
“Yes, well. She’s fine.”
Judging by how much she liked alcohol, it didn’t seem like it was a one-time thing, and she herself had said in a drunken stupor that she would be fine if she took a nap.
I received the key and went up to the upper floor of the inn.
Was it because she was an elf?
I was surprised at how much lighter Lexy was than I had expected when I carried her on my back, and I was surprised by the unknown refreshing scent.
Arriving in front of the room door, I opened the door and put Lexy down on the bed.
She was defenseless.
An elf.
They looked similar to humans, but when you looked at them slowly like this, they had a completely different kind of beauty.
Her face was small, her ears were long, and her skin was smooth like porcelain.
“…Hoo.”
Perhaps because of the alcohol, my head quickly became hot.
I opened the window and slowly breathed in the night air, and my head seemed to clear.
I was going to just let it pass.
Until that thing I hadn’t seen in a while appeared.
[Hidden Quest: Bring Lexy to Climax.]
