๐๐ถ๐บ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ล
We managed to sneak back to my room without waking up Freya and Alice and slept till the next day. Waking up early, Freya brings my food to my room and we all ate breakfast there.
I suggested going out for today which the three wanted to deny but I insisted so they reluctantly, agree. I received 1 platinum coin from Freya as my reward against the abyss. It was supposed to be far lower than this but due to the death of adventurers and soldiers with no family or relatives, the rewards were instead given to the rest.
I grab my jacket and we headed out.
I wanted equipment first so we headed to a weapon and armor. There were very few children playing in the snow and now that I noticed it, this once active city has become somewhat bleak, my thoughts were forcefully cut off when we arrive at the shop.
First I wanted actual armor so I bought leather armor with a single shoulder guard for my missing left arm and my right had no protection at all but it's mean that I was less constricted. I only bought leather armor since I wanted to stay fast.
As I inspect the armor, a thought comes to my mind.
'If I was out for three weeks then that means that those three feed and cleaned me.'
The moment I woke up, I could feel how fresh I was so I knew that they must have given me a full body shower. It felt unnecessary was what I thought as I look at the three of them but then quickly turn around.
'D-did they saw it' I asked myself in a wavering calm voice.
My face blushed from embarrassment but I managed to keep it hidden with a poker face.
I quickly stopped thinking about it and decided to shop for a new weapon since my katana, which has been mysteriously fixed was too heavy for me to lift properly with one hand. The longsword was shorter and thin but it is double-edged which may help me vary my attacks, it had a crossguard and overall they had a silver color to them.
I decided to try it on with some new pair of boots and a long-sleeved shirt with a harness, first so I asked the seller if I can wear it which he agreed to and brought me another room, Freya and Alice tried to follow which I refused. I managed to wear it comfortably through as always, it was still hard to put on, and as I was trying to wear it, a thought came. When I think about Alice and Freya's action so far it's all been pointing to one thing in mind.
'Repent for an action that I did to myself.....' I sigh.
'How am I supposed to tell them that I'm fine?'
For some reason, my heart aches to see them go through much trouble for me and I don't even know how to say that I'm fine. We'll probably be leaving for tomorrow after I get another promotion since that's what they told me.
I left the room as I put both of my weapons at the left waist, the adventurer pack at my left waist on my butt since my left arm was out of commission probably for the rest of my life.
I also hang my jacket on my arm as I leave.
"Looking good." Astoria commented while the other two seems to want to say something but still agree with Astoria's opinion, that is of course from the standards of this world because when I look at myself in a mirror, I look like a cosplayer with the most mismatched items poorly made together and the jacket just makes me cringe since when I look at myself as an original character, it strengthens the idea of putting together mismatched equipment to make myself look cool. I keep my poker face up and paid for the equipment. I had about 87 gold left since it was cheap so next, we used the party's fund to buy our supplies for our next destination while also having shopping for various things for ourselves and I catch up with them about what I missed.
Apparently, this so-called "Blessing" apparently put the world on fire due to two things: How Megu measured mana and the Stats.
It took about two weeks or so but the world became somewhat normal though some organizations like the guild are updating their system since this blessing didn't change much of everyone's lives other than keeping track of their health and more, they just refer to this blessing a small one. I probably am the only one who has problems like how terrible the UI is, how the text box is just basic, how the numbers are just crunched together and how it isn't even explained how these numbers are calculated.
We arrived at the adventurers guild next to get my promotion done but this time, it wasn't so simple as just pulling up and getting promoted since this time, I was going to be getting interviewed about my performance when I was a bronze-ranked adventurer but naturally, the war against the abyss made my progress to silver skyrocket because of me killing Dinu practically singlehandedly.
And thus I was promoted to silver, I was also told that from this point on, I will not be allowed to take 2 starred quests and that my next promotion will be far harder.
I nod as I look at the woman which was sweating for a bit, not minding it that much, I took my leave.
"What's wrong?" A muscular man shows himself from the shadows with a worried face.
"That kid, he has quite a tongue."
"Was he lying?" A muscular man inquired.
"No, but since both my lie detection skill and แฆ๊ซt๊ซแฅดt scales off Wisdom that must mean he had either the same or a little less than mine."
The man's expression changed into shock.
"Then did that boy, notice me and you're an elf, for a human to be able to make you sweat a bit..." The elven woman shakes her head to stop his thoughts.
"Oh look at the time, our next adventurer should be arriving next."
As she said that, a young arrogant man knocks and enters the room without permission. The muscular man, disappears immediately then he spoke.
'Ohhhhh boy, this is going to be a long day.'
Completely forgetting about Himura, she sighs and dealt with the arrogant adventurer.
*****
I pass by an arrogant-looking adventurer as I come down the stairs and try to find my party. Eventually, I saw them drinking at a nearby table, I drag my tired body and sat with them.
I hear the singing of the bards from a distance about Jin and my battle against the abyss but I care about it much especially the stares that I was getting.
The first round of drinks was on the house apparently because of my actions, I felt weird about it since I just fighting to survive without caring for their lives. Of course, Astoria immediately took half of the drinks to herself leaving us three a mug each.
I chugged mine which I diluted with water to lessen the effect of the alcohol and as I drink, my heart finally calm down.
"Ahhhh, god that interview was scary."
"Don't worry about it Himura, your'll get usded to it." The drunk Astoria rests on my shoulder as she chugs mug after mug of alcohol before looking at me and smiling.
I look outside and it was starting to get dark while the adventurers guild was getting rowdy in these bleak times.
With the added effect of Astoria's contagious smile, I decided to let myself go for today and drank alcohol without any diluting this time.
"Waaah, Ish sho gud to have...you back, I thot that it will take...years before you can, wahhhh."
Freya's and Alice's true feelings came out again after getting heavily drunk. They cried as they tell hos worried they were for me but my drunk-ass was slow to process what they were saying so it took a while for me to respond.
'Ughhh, isn't alcohol a wisdom saving throw? how am I already drunk from this or did I roll a nat 1? fuck it, just say something.'
I drank water first and cleared my mind for a bit but since I was drunk, the hesitation and collectiveness were gone so I responded with something unbecoming of me.
I pat both of them first.
"I'm sorry, It was by my action that this happened so please don't blame yourself."
""But...but!""
Their tears started to come out again and they both hugged me, the crowd started to say "Awww," and some whistling but I ignore it and looked outside again.
It was the dead of night so I chugged a lot of water and immediately sobered myself up but I was still really drunk. I grab my companions and dragged them out of the guild. Freya and Alice and Freya refused to let go of me while Astoria walks around drunkenly while moving in the wrong directions.
"That's cute and all but get back here!" As I grab Astoria at the back of her collar, I see Jin with a woman approaching me, and I immediately sobered up.
"Yo."
"...y-yo," I say awkwardly as Alice and Freya cry a bit more which made this situation even more awkward.
"Hahaha, well you seem to be busy so I'll keep this short." As he said that, he threw me a longsword with a finely made sheath, I drop my grip on Astoria and caught the longsword.
"He-hey isn't this?"
"Yep, I'm giving it to ya."
I recognized it by the handle but it was the finely made longsword that he wielded back at the war against the abyss. "What do you mean, you're giving it to me aren't you gonna use it?"
"I would but I'm retired now and since I was the only swordsman in my party, I had no one to give this to so why give it to you instead since you had quite an affinity for it."
"Affinity?"
I questioned him about it and it was said apparently that this sword changes its weight based on my will and not many can do that apparently so he decided to give it to me.
I wanted to give it back but seeing him intimately hold the woman's hand, I held back those actions and instead spoke again.
"Well uh, thank you, very much." I bow at a 90ยฐ angle but the weight of Alice and Freya made me fall.
"Hahaha."
"Shuddup." I responded angrily.
"Haaah, well, I'll leave it to you then." He said those words briefly before waving his other hand as he leaves.
I sigh as I put my third weapon at my waist and realize that I look like that one guy I've heard about in the anime community while I was dabbling in the art style of anime in the past.
I look back and realized that Astoria was missing from her spot. I look around briefly before seeing her enter an alley.
"Oi, Get back here!."
I screamed as I grab Astoria again from the back of her collar.
It took a long while to put them all in their separate room and I immediately dropped into my bed and fell asleep without even contemplating today's events.