Ch.3333. Another Woman

I was able to get back that day without any issues.

Even a noblewoman in love wouldn’t suddenly confess her feelings.

“Adel, have you ever been in a relationship?”

“I haven’t.”

“Oh! Me neither… So would you consider dating…?”

“I haven’t.”

There were several conversations like that, but I somehow managed to put up a wall against them.

“Goodbye, Adel. I hope to see you again as soon as possible.”

Judging by how she smiled and said that before leaving despite my cold responses, it seemed the noblewoman wasn’t ready to give up her feelings.

Clunk, clunk.

I fell into thought as I felt the carriage rocking.

Honestly, I was grateful for the noblewoman’s feelings, and for a brief moment, I was even tempted.

I hadn’t really paid attention before, but she’s quite pretty.

She seems like someone who would receive many marriage proposals from nobles her age, but she said she had rejected them all because she wasn’t interested in romance.

‘Something’s definitely going on here.’

Even her engagement to the baron was apparently forced by her father, and they had absolutely no feelings for each other.

An ultra-beautiful noblewoman who shows no interest in anyone else is being nice only to me?

This would normally be the part where I should bow down and confess my feelings.

But if things worked out that easily in life, I wouldn’t be living like this.

‘The head of the Manis family wants to see me.’

This could mean one of two things:

Either he wants to meet me in person for some kind of formal introduction,

Or he wants to keep me away from his daughter.

I was betting on the latter.

Would he allow his precious daughter to date a barbarian who frequents the Labyrinth? Even my own parents would protest against that.

‘I probably don’t need to worry about it.’

If a count wanted to keep me away, he could easily do so.

He could quickly intervene in the feelings of his daughter who had just come of age.

“Ugh!”

I stretched comfortably and returned to the inn.

What could possibly go wrong?

***

“Oh my, Adel. Your clothes look nice!”

The innkeeper welcomed me as I entered the inn.

Judging by her appearance, “miss” might be more fitting than “ma’am,” but anyway.

“I had an important appointment today, so I’m dressed like this.”

“My daughter told me about it, but seeing you in person, you’re even more handsome. With that face and body, plus cooking skills and good sense. You’re completely husband material, aren’t you?”

“Come on, it’s not like that. Anyway, thank you for the compliment. I’ll head to my room now.”

I said that as I walked away.

After changing clothes and taking a bath in my room, it was nearly 7 o’clock.

The innkeeper’s daughter, Arya, said she would come at 10, so there were more than 3 hours left.

I sat on the bed and stared at the ceiling.

I could see neatly maintained wooden boards.

“Hmm.”

Even with free time, I had nothing to do.

Now I had plenty of money, and my life wasn’t in much danger in the Labyrinth anymore.

It was a feeling I couldn’t have imagined before, but now that my mind was at ease, one emotion began to creep in.

Boredom.

Originally, I would have been worrying about how to save money, how to find the next party, and whether I might be betrayed in the Labyrinth.

Back then, I wanted nothing more than to escape that situation, but now that I had, I felt empty inside.

‘…Am I addicted to dopamine?’

When the crisis disappears and peace approaches, life becomes boring.

Have I already become so crazy that I enjoy being in danger?

I let out a hollow laugh and got up from the bed.

This thought itself was probably because my life had become too peaceful.

Thinking I should get some fresh air, I opened the window and threw myself on the bed.

“Eep!”

“…?”

A strange sound came from under the bed.

Wondering if it might be an assassin sent by Count Manis, I carefully looked under the bed.

“Arya?”

“Ah…”

She was lying face down, clutching a mythril sword.

Judging by her trembling, she seemed nervous.

“Look, I won’t scold you, so please calm down first.”

“Y-yes.”

I sat her down beside me and continued the conversation.

“May I ask why you came into my room? I’m just curious about the reason.”

I spoke with a slight smile so she wouldn’t be startled.

She’s still a young girl, and I didn’t want to frighten her by speaking harshly.

“Well… I was in the room when you returned, and I thought it would be nice to give you a gift.”

“I see. Thank you for thinking of that.”

Okay, I understand.

But I still had one more question.

“Then, why were you holding that mythril sword? Even in its sheath, it’s dangerous for you, Arya.”

“Ah, that’s…”

Arya hesitated for a moment before carefully speaking.

“I was curious about what equipment explorers use… I just wanted to touch it briefly, very briefly, but then I heard footsteps and hid under the bed… I’m sorry, Adel.”

Arya hung her head and looked anxious.

Normally, since it’s an expensive item, one might suspect she was trying to steal it, but…

“Are you interested in explorers?”

“Ah, yes. A little… no, I’m very interested.”

I remembered the wooden sign I saw when leaving the inn today.

[Innkeeper’s daughter, aspiring explorer, finally got her explorer license!!!!]

The one her mother had proudly displayed at the lobby counter.

“Really? Would you like to see other equipment too? I recently acquired some new gear.”

“Y-yes! I’d love to.”

Her eyes lit up as she nodded vigorously.

Well, she’s still young, so she can make mistakes.

She didn’t really do anything wrong, and there seemed to be no ill intent, so I decided to be nice.

“This is a mythril helmet. You know the properties of mythril, right?”

“Yes, it returns to its original state even after some damage. But… this has the face area exposed?”

She seemed intrigued by the T-shaped opening in the face area.

If you’re not an explorer, you probably wouldn’t see equipment in the commoner’s district. Knights’ helmets cover the entire face, and explorers usually don’t wear helmets outside the Labyrinth.

“Wow, so the breastplate is like this… and these arm guards? They’re really interesting. They must be very useful in battle.”

“That’s right. That’s why warriors usually prioritize their equipment in this order: sword, shield, helmet, arm guards.”

“Oh… I can understand why just from hearing it.”

Looking at Arya’s eyes, she seemed genuinely interested in explorer work.

Just from seeing the equipment setup, she asked about how to fight, what countermeasures were needed against different types of monsters.

As she continued with practical questions, I was quite surprised.

“Have you ever entered the Labyrinth?”

“Not yet, but I’m planning to when I become an adult next year. I need to train hard until then.”

“I see. Where do you train? By yourself?”

“Yes, since there’s no one to teach me…”

I see.

“Would you like me to teach you? I’m not particularly talented with swordsmanship, but I could give you some basic Labyrinth tips.”

“Really? You’ll teach me yourself?”

“Yes. I have a lot of free time lately and nothing to do. Teaching you would be good for me too.”

Arya’s face brightened at my words.

“Then, j-just a moment.”

Saying that, she crawled under the bed and searched for something.

“Nngh—”

“What are you doing…?”

“Got it! Here. This is the gift I wanted to give you.”

She pulled out a long bottle from a brown paper bag and handed it to me.

“…It’s alcohol?”

And not just any alcohol, but wine from Rio’s shop.

“Ah, yes. It’s from a bar a bit far from here, where I g-go. Very occasionally. Ahaha… please keep this a secret from my mother. She doesn’t like me drinking.”

She seemed restricted from drinking because she hadn’t yet had her coming-of-age ceremony.

‘But I’m 18?’

Arya just said she would have her coming-of-age ceremony next year, which means she’s 19 now.

A 19-year-old giving alcohol as a gift to me, an 18-year-old.

People in this world stop growing at 17, but with my Confucian mindset still intact, something felt off.

“Thank you. But… receiving such expensive alcohol makes me a bit uncomfortable.”

“Ah… I’m sorry.”

It must have cost at least tens of thousands of ars.

I couldn’t accept such a gift from a 19-year-old who didn’t even have a proper job yet.

“No, don’t be sorry. I’ll just return the money.”

I took out my wallet and gave Arya 50,000 ars.

“W-what? This cost 40,000 ars. If you give me this much…”

“Just take it. And since you bought it yourself, would you like to have a drink before you go?”

“If you do this much for me, I’ll feel too guilty…”

Arya tried to refuse both the alcohol and the money, but after my insistence, I eventually took out two wine glasses that Rio had once forced me to buy.

“The wine has a nice aroma. You seem to have good taste in wine.”

“Th-thank you.”

Just as we were about to sit on the bed and drink the wine,

Knock, knock.

“Adel, are you in there?”

Shiro’s voice came from outside.

“Arya, please wait a moment.”

When I opened the door, Shiro was indeed standing there in a white dress.

“It’s quite far, what brings you here?”

“After what happened last time, I thought we needed to talk—”

Shiro’s words cut off abruptly as she looked inside the room.

After a long silence,

“…I seem to be interrupting. Adel, I’m sorry.”

Shiro’s eyes became moist.

‘…Hmm.’

I carefully considered the situation from Shiro’s perspective.

Recently, I had tried to distance myself from her, and she came to my room to mend our awkward relationship.

But here I was, drinking wine with some blonde woman.

…Sigh.

The situation had become quite troublesome.