Ch.106Eastern Harbor: Gibson’s Port (1)

The Next Day.

“Ohhh… Ughhhh…”

Carrying my wife who was still trembling all over and hadn’t recovered from last night’s passion, I went down to the dining hall prepared below.

With each step down the stairs, her waist arched like a bow, but I suppose that doesn’t matter.

“Is this table available?”

“Uh… yes, sir.”

“Five breakfast sets, please. And wake up my companions in rooms 504 and 505.”

“Yes. Five breakfast sets, correct? Please wait a moment. Brian! Please wake the guests in rooms 504 and 505!”

“Okay!”

I heard the energetic voice of the employee going up the stairs, and I seated my wife, who was still in my arms, in the chair next to me.

She was still not in her right mind, but when I forcibly opened her mouth and poured a little water in, she seemed to regain some consciousness.

Soon, Simon and the elf sisters began coming down, and they gathered at our table, fixing their disheveled hair.

“Good morning.”

“Yeah.”

“Did you order something?”

“Five breakfast sets.”

“Ugh. I hope they serve something good for hangovers. I went too hard yesterday…”

Simon clutched his chest as if his stomach was burning.

I wonder if it’s okay for a sage to like alcohol this much.

“Can’t you do something about hangovers with magic?”

“Lord Logos blocks all such magic…”

“Oh my.”

I wonder why?

Perhaps the God of Wisdom finds it distasteful that those who drink enough to lose their wisdom would try to solve their hangovers with his power?

Hmm. As a Knight of Radiance, I could never understand such things, but it didn’t particularly matter.

“Well, since we ordered the set, we should get some soup or stew, right?”

“I suppose so?”

While Simon was grumbling, the elf sisters had fallen back asleep with their heads on the table, and my wife was still leaning her face against my shoulder with a dazed expression.

After barely soothing his burning stomach with ice water, Simon looked at them and asked incredulously:

“How many times did you go at it?”

“53 times in 3 hours and 21 minutes.”

“…”

“What?”

“You could get skinned doing that.”

“Me? My wife?”

“Both of you.”

Hmm…

It was only natural that surfaces would get damaged with excessive friction.

Even if it’s just body temperature around 36.5 degrees.

I’ll need to pay more attention to lubrication and cooling in the future.

“Here are your five breakfast sets.”

“Ah. More water, please.”

“Yes. I’ll bring it right away.”

Just as I was thinking about this, our breakfast sets arrived.

A bowl of rice that was inexplicably served in a scorching hot metal bowl, two pieces of grilled fish from the sea, and this…

“What’s this? Do they make pickles from cabbage too?”

“Ah… this. This is pao cai.”

“Pao cai?”

“Pickled cabbage.”

“Is it similar to kimchi?”

“You could say that. But there’s a fundamental difference.”

“What’s that?”

Instead of answering, Simon picked up some pao cai from the small bowl with his chopsticks and chewed it.

“Kimchi contains garlic and fermented fish sauce, but pao cai is just pickled in salt water like pickles.”

“Hmm.”

I picked up some pao cai and chewed while mixing my rice into the beef soup that came with it.

By now, the elf sisters had also woken up and were picking at their food with chopsticks, and Raisha was removing meat from the mackerel bones with her chopsticks.

“Rice really is the best.”

I muttered that while bringing the water bottle near Simon, who was soothing his stomach with soup.

*

“Whew. I finally feel a bit better.”

“Shouldn’t a sage know how to exercise some restraint?”

“It’s the alcohol’s fault for being delicious. I’ve done nothing wrong.”

“…”

Is shamelessness a basic quality of sages?

Or do all people just become like that when they get old?

I shook my head and thought again about how it would take four days until the ship arrived.

“Since we have four days left, I think it would be good to take on some work here in Gibson’s Port. We’ll be on a ship for a month, so it would be troublesome if our travel funds run low.”

“A month? Must be a sailing ship.”

I nodded, then rinsed my mouth with water.

Of course, now that I was leading a party, I wasn’t planning to make unreasonable demands like handling multiple requests in a day.

I couldn’t assume that what was possible for me would be possible for others.

“I’m fine with it. It’s boring to just stay cooped up in an inn, and besides, this elf sister doesn’t do anything except drink…”

“Luciaaaa…”

Casia agreed while pulling Lucia’s cheeks with an irritated face, and Lucia made a strange moan as her cheeks stretched.

My wife would follow me anyway, so there was no need to ask for her opinion, and that left Simon…

“Siiip…. Well. I agree too. On the condition that we leave after washing up and looking like proper humans again.”

“If that’s the condition, I can certainly accommodate it.”

I smiled and then instructed the Iron Walker party members to upgrade their appearance to something resembling humans.

*

Jingle~ Jingle~

This jingling bell was invariably hanging in the Adventurer’s Guild of Gibson’s Port as well.

By this point, I was having the impertinent thought that this bell might be the true icon of the Adventurer’s Guild.

Before heading to the request board, I checked the time.

The hour and minute hands were positioned around 10:20, looking down arrogantly at the diligently rotating second hand.

“Hmm… Perfect time to work.”

By 10 o’clock, unless they were sleeping in, most people would be awake by now, so it was a very appropriate time where we wouldn’t have to wait in vain for clients.

I approached the request board and selected the highest-paying job among those we could take.

“Let’s see…”

The content of the request was very simple.

‘Ocean State,’ a wealthy district located in the highlands of Gibson’s Port.

This Ocean State, with its high-rise apartments and department stores, had been running smoothly until a few weeks ago when they discovered a massive underground cave while clearing land for commercial expansion.

Investigation teams were dispatched three times, and the last team was quite a capable Coal-rank party, but eventually contact was lost. The city defense force and police hastily set up a blockade and even called in priests to create sealing formations just in case.

“A coastal city with… an underground cave… it could be a submarine cave.”

While the entrance might be on land, the exit could be in the sea, making Simon’s role with his various support magic extremely important.

“We have sufficient supplies, and with four days of time, an investigation should be plenty feasible.”

And if it doesn’t work out, we can just catch the next ship.

With that thought, I returned to my party members who were waiting for me.

*

“So you’ve accepted the request. Thank you for coming. I am Police Commissioner Graham of Gibson’s Port.”

“Pleased to meet you. I’m Viktor Walker, a wandering knight and leader of the Iron Walker party.”

“Then I shall call you Sir Viktor. First, this…”

The commissioner handed me a scroll.

It contained detailed information about the investigation teams that had gone missing so far, compiled by the police.

It described what they looked like, how strong they were, and what equipment they had taken in. I passed it to Simon.

“I must ask, apart from these three investigation teams, has anyone else entered?”

“We’ve stopped some drunkards from trying to enter, but other than that, no one.”

“Then our job becomes easier. However, I want to emphasize that our mission is to investigate this cave, not search for the missing persons.”

“I’m well aware of that. Though it’s awkward for me as a commissioner to say this, adventurers are ultimately responsible for themselves.”

“Well, that’s true.”

The police, who were the mayor’s personal guard, and the defense force, the city’s army.

Both had a hostile relationship with adventurers.

It was so bad that they would snicker about their salaries increasing when adventurers were massacred.

But I had no intention of criticizing them for it.

When police or defense forces died in large numbers, request fees would rise, benefiting adventurers.

“Simon, what do you think?”

“I’ve memorized all their faces. Their equipment was good, and they took plenty of supplies, so there’s a possibility they’re still alive.”

When the sage said this, the commissioner’s face brightened.

Since some of the investigation team members were civilians rather than adventurers, from the perspective of the police or defense force, it would be beneficial if the civilians survived even if the adventurers died.

“Good. Then let’s depart. Commissioner, please open the blockade.”

As we prepared to leave, the commissioner ordered his subordinates to open part of the blockade, and we entered through the gap.

Soon I heard the blockade being closed behind us, and I created a sphere of light with Lumines to illuminate the dark cave.

“Wow, that’s impressive.”

Hearing the admiration of ordinary people who couldn’t even use marks, our Iron Walker party began to enter the cave filled with damp moisture.