Tavern

“Huaaam.”

Unable to resist fatigue, I let out a big yawn.

Ugh, I’m exhausted. Feels like I’m dying.

My whole body aches, and though I just arrived at the counseling room, I already feel like leaving work.

“What’s with you, Teach? Why are you yawning like that?”

“Because I’m tired…”

“You just had a break. Nearly ten days of it.”

“You wouldn’t understand, Orca… Adults feel more exhausted after resting…”

“?”

I waved dismissively at Orca, who wore an utterly perplexed expression.

That’s adulthood – even after resting, returning to work feels overwhelmingly tiring.

But I didn’t even rest properly, flying around on planes everywhere. Feels like death. My stamina’s terrible.

The Bright Light Society bastards – I wanted to gather them in one place for hypnosis, but they’re annoyingly scattered worldwide. Headache-inducing.

Flying all over kept me busy. If not for the hotel massage, I might’ve broken down completely.

“Well, not surprising. You’ve always been pathetically weak.”

“Pathetically weak! I’m not that weak!”

“Then wanna try doing push-ups here right now?”

“I’ll take being pathetically weak.”

Push-ups? How could she suggest something so horrifying.

More than ten might actually kill me.

“…So, Orca. Anything happen while I was gone?”

“Nothing special.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

Having been away from the academy over a week, I’d worried about potential issues.

Fortunately, nothing major seemed to have happened.

Even for an academy destined to have incidents exploding constantly throughout the year, imagining something happening within just a week seemed unlikely.

Just as I thought this, someone knocked and entered the counseling room.

“Teacher, long time no see.”

“Ah, Class President. It has been a while.”

“Sorry to bother you right after your vacation, but have you seen Leo?”

“Leo? No, haven’t seen him.”

“I see. Thank you.”

“…Is something wrong?”

A wave of unease washed over me.

No way something happened in such a short time, right?

Even as I thought this, the possibility kept circling my mind – if any academy could make it happen within a year, this one could.

And foreboding feelings exist for a reason.

I had no choice but to clutch my head at the news the Class President delivered.

“Leo hasn’t come to the academy for three days straight. I thought you might know something…”

“…Unauthorized absence?”

“Yes.”

Leo isn’t the type to skip academy without reason.

Not someone pursuing a double major.

He must have gotten caught up in some incident.

“Orca, you said nothing happened?”

“Huh? Maybe he just wanted three days off?”

“…”

I can’t deal with this.

My head began throbbing painfully at Orca’s carefree attitude.

Now that I think about it, Orca never properly attended school…

Without me around, she’d have skipped classes like eating meals.

“I have a place in mind, so I’ll handle the rest.”

“Is that so…? That’s a relief.”

I’d planned to lazily rest by lying on the sofa and giving occasional counseling to students.

But fieldwork right after vacation?

Couldn’t help but sigh deeply.

***

“…So where are we going?”

“A tavern. We’ll arrive if we walk a bit more.”

“Huh? A tavern?”

“Leo works there.”

Normal academy students rest after classes end.

Academy courses aren’t easy, and kids their age should socialize with friends too.

Even commoners often get financial support from families, so even poor students only do weekend part-time jobs for pocket money – they don’t normally work. No, they can’t.

Because attending academy while working nights is unsustainable.

But Leo can’t afford that. Compared to other students, his cost-performance ratio is terrible.

Food expenses alone are substantial, and he has no family to support tuition.

He has no choice but to work hard while attending school.

“So he’ll be there?”

“No. He won’t.”

“Then why go there?”

“Clearly caught up in something, but we don’t know what. Need to check.”

“Tch. That brat’s being troublesome.”

…

Wearing a bitter expression as Orca kicked street pebbles while complaining about people being annoying, I asked:

“…If it’s so bothersome, why not stay back?”

“I’m going.”

Why though…?

Were Orca and Leo that close?

Not that they’re on bad terms. They’re definitely much closer now than during their gaming days.

But I can’t fathom why she’d insist on coming while making such a displeased face.

Even after saying there’s no need, she absolutely demanded to follow. Can’t tell if they’re close or not.

Decided to just assume they’re close.

“Here we are. This is the place.”

“This is really it, Teach? However I look, this doesn’t seem like a tavern…”

Orca surveyed the surroundings with disbelief in her eyes.

Understandable.

Standing before a nearly collapsed building without even a signboard, calling this a tavern?

This reaction is perfectly natural.

“A bit rough, right? Being an illegal establishment, maintenance is somewhat lacking.”

“What? Wait, illegal?”

“Obviously illegal. Does this look legal?”

Opening the dust-covered tavern door produced a sound akin to a ghost wailing, revealing the interior.

Less cozy atmosphere, more bleak darkness.

Inside differed little from the exterior – furniture lay scattered haphazardly.

“Hello. Are you open now?”

“…What do you want?”

“Four Old Fashioneds with lime garnish, no sugar.”

“Got it. Coming right up. Wait.”

“Come, Orca. Don’t just stand there dazed, sit down.”

Guiding the still awkwardly positioned Orca to a seat, she looked at me with uneasy eyes.

“…What is this place? Doesn’t look like a restaurant.”

“What, scared?”

“Obviously scared. Know how dirty lawless bastards play? One wrong move and you are dead.”

“Ah… That kind of meaning…”

Tried teasing her, but her reluctance stemmed from far more practical reasons…

Having seen plenty of bad stuff in back alleys, she’d know how dangerous such places are.

Since strong guys frequent here too, she’s not wrong either.

“It’s a request referral office.”

“…Referral office?”

“In turbulent times like these, people need others to handle certain tasks.”

Frankly, it’s like a private investigation agency. Handling miscellaneous jobs.

“Mercenaries exist?”

“Mercenaries are expensive. They don’t take every request either.”

“…So broke people use this place?”

“That’s the idea.”

“And that brat frequents here?”

“No choice. Mercenary work takes too much time.”

Mercenaries often risk their lives, making them expensive hires.

Thus clients rarely hire them except for truly dangerous jobs. Won’t call them for trivial matters.

And dangerous jobs usually take more than a day or two. Minimum a week.

Though Leo has skills to be a mercenary, he’s still an academy student.

Can’t afford to miss a week, so he takes quick jobs available here.

“Leo’s food expenses and tuition can’t be covered by mere part-time jobs either.”

This place handles dirty work mercenaries won’t touch, plus simple requests.

Pays much better than part-time jobs.

Good money without dirty work makes this Leo’s ideal workplace.

“Came wondering who the new woman placing requests was… You know this place well.”

“Who the hell are you? Didn’t call you, scram.”

“Ah, Orca. Wait. I did call him.”

“…What? You didn’t say anything.”

“I just ordered. That was it.”

Some game developer must love movies.

Speculation arose from frequent unnecessary code-like descriptions in such places.

The drink order was code. Appeared occasionally during Leo’s quests.

Memorable for bad reasons while playing as Leo. Why remove sugar from Old Fashioneds? Not joking.

Follow the damn recipe.

“So what’s your request, client?”

“Ah, not a request… Have something to say.”

“…Something to say?”

The tavern’s furniture lay broken in a corner as if someone rioted, walls cracked everywhere.

But this tavern only gets wrecked like this for one reason.

“Where are you hiding our student? You’ll want to talk now if you dislike pain.”

While I left him to gain experience, these bastards messed with Leo.

I glared at the mercenary thug before me.