Witch – Chapter 47- The Two Witches (27)

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“Nicks has always been talkative since he was little.”

“Yeah… At first, he was really noisy, but now I feel empty without him.”

“Oh~ So, what happened next?”

“N-next?”

What happened next…?

Beryl tried to recall her memories to meet Estelle’s expectant gaze.

It had been three years since Nicks boldly declared his ambitions and quickly disappeared. Beryl’s shop continued to have empty days with no customers.

While sitting idly at the counter, she often found herself lost in random thoughts, and Nicks was one of them.

He must be ten by now, right? I hope he’s doing well.

I gave him a good potion, so he shouldn’t die easily.

If he’s working as a porter for adventurer parties while aiming to become an adventurer, that would be good.

But no adventurer party would hire a ten-year-old kid.

Kids’ dreams change easily, so he might have given up on becoming an adventurer and is now struggling to survive day by day.

Given that he hasn’t shown up in three years, maybe he’s doing well somewhere.

Beryl shook off her thoughts.

Creak.

The shop door, which had never been repaired since it opened, creaked as it swung open.

A customer?

She thought it might be an adventurer visiting Venetia for the first time, curious about her shop.

But it was Nicks, covered in wounds and sticky slime, with a wooden sword strapped to his back.

It had been three years since she last saw him, but he still looked underdeveloped for his age.

There was no way Nicks, who grew up without parents, had been eating properly.

“Nicks, it’s been a while.”

“Shopkeeper, I’m here. How have you been? Still wearing the hood, huh? Not ready yet?”

“N-none of your business.”

Beryl tightened the strings of her hood in response to Nicks’ nosy comment.

It was a kind of signal to mind his own business and a form of self-defense.

“What happened to you? Did you get into a fight?”

His already shabby clothes were stained with dirt and blood.

His lip was split and scabbed over, and one eye was swollen from a bruise.

‘Did he become a brawler instead of an adventurer?’

Beryl sighed inwardly.

I didn’t give him that potion from Estelle for this.

She was disappointed to see Nicks smiling as if nothing was wrong.

“Actually, I fought a goblin and a slime. At first, I only meant to take on the slime, but I didn’t expect the goblin to be hiding there. I guess adventurers really need to be prepared for anything.”

“W-what? Can you say that again?”

Did I hear wrong…?

He fought a slime and a goblin?

Slimes are slow, and you just need to destroy their core, but goblins usually travel in groups and are cunning.

It was a bit much for a ten-year-old like Nicks to handle.

“A goblin and a slime.”

“I’ll forgive you if you tell the truth now.”

“It’s true… Look at this.”

Nicks rummaged through his pocket and carefully placed some monster byproducts on the counter.

A slime core and five pairs of goblin ears….

The cuts were messy, as if they had been hacked apart with a blunt weapon, making it hard to recognize their original shape.

If he had used a wooden sword, it made sense that the byproducts were so mangled.

The sticky slime must be from the slime,

and the wounds all over his body were from the goblin….

Could it be… true?

For Beryl, slimes and goblins would disappear with a wave of her hand,

but for a ten-year-old Nicks without a party, it must have been a life-or-death battle.

“Hehe. Do you believe me now? It’s okay. I’ve gotten used to similar reactions at the Adventurers’ Guild.”

“You didn’t do it alone, right?”

“Well… no one would take me into their party. No party wants a ten-year-old kid.”

I thought he’d at most be working as a porter.

Nicks proudly showed his adventurer registration card, and I wasn’t sure if I should praise him or call him reckless….

Even though the card showed the lowest rank, Bronze, it shone brighter than any other registration card.

Beryl felt ashamed for thinking negatively of Nicks earlier, calling him a brawler.

“W-wait a moment!”

He came back after so long just to surprise her. She couldn’t let him leave like this.

She took out all the potions from the display and placed them on the counter, startling Nicks.

“I don’t have the money to pay for these potions. One potion costs ten gold coins, and with my current rank, I can’t afford it. The reward for monster subjugation quests is only ten silver coins at most.”

Nicks glanced at the price tags on the display and clicked his tongue.

“Do I look like that kind of person? This is… well, an investment. An investment in a future Stella-ranked adventurer.”

And also as an apology for her earlier misunderstanding.

“You gave me potions for free when I hurt my leg too.”

“You said you’d repay me later, right?”

“That’s that, and this is this. If you give away your stock for free, what will happen to your shop?”

Just take it…!

The shop’s storage was full of potions gathering dust with no customers.

Even if she told him the truth, Nicks wouldn’t take the potions without a fuss.

“How much do you have now?”

“Three silver coins. It’s what’s left after buying this wooden sword.”

Nicks took out the coins from his worn-out pouch and showed them to her.

She picked the dirtiest one, covered in mud.

“It’s not free. I’ll collect the rest later. This silver coin is a down payment.”

She had no intention of collecting from a ten-year-old, but if she didn’t do this, he wouldn’t take the potions.

“I’ll definitely pay you back.”

“Sure. First, drink this potion.”

How could he pay back ten gold coins with ten silver coins?

She made Nicks drink a recovery potion, and his wounds began to heal.

“So, how was it?”

“Huh? How was what?”

“Your adventure, of course. You said your dad’s adventures were fun. Was yours fun too?”

She remembered Nicks’ reason for wanting to become an adventurer.

After Nicks disappeared into the city’s darkness three years ago, Beryl had lived a lonely life with no customers. His story piqued her curiosity.

She was also curious about how a ten-year-old with a wooden sword had taken on a slime and a goblin.

“You won’t be surprised, right? Well, it was like this….”

The little adventurer’s story was unimpressive and somewhat ridiculous to Beryl… but Nicks’ eyes shone brighter than ever.

After that, Nicks often visited the shop to tell Beryl about his adventures.

He defeated an orc, met an elf, barely survived a dungeon, and so on.

The stories weren’t particularly interesting to Beryl, but listening to Nicks’ adventures made her days enjoyable.

Enough to forget about the curse.

By the time Nicks turned twelve, he was working with a party and had become a Gold-ranked adventurer.

He also complained about getting scolded by a friend who worked at the Adventurers’ Guild for not knowing that low-ranked adventurers couldn’t work solo.

“…You have no idea how much Emily scolded me.”

“I see….”

“But thanks to Emily, I was able to join a party easily. My teammates are good people too.”

“I see….”

Emily. Emily. Emily.

That damn Emily…!

Every time Nicks mentioned Emily, Beryl’s head hurt.

The whispers of the curse had grown louder in recent years, making her nerves fray.

Kill her, curse her, open your eyes and see that she’s nothing….

Listening to Nicks’ stories usually helped her forget about the curse, but whenever he talked about Emily, the curse seemed to whisper even louder.

Nicks looked happier talking about Emily than about his adventures,

and Beryl didn’t like it one bit.

‘What has Emily ever done for you? Wasn’t it because of me that you became an adventurer? Didn’t you become a Gold-ranked adventurer because of the potions I worked on late into the night? Does it make sense for someone your size to take down an ogre? You should know without me telling you. And that warrior Emily recommended is a fraud who’s just waiting to take advantage of you. Should I kill him now? No. Maybe it’s better if Nicks just quits being an adventurer….’

“Shopkeeper, are you okay?”

“Huh, y-yeah! Where were we!? What did Emily do?”

Beryl snapped out of her thoughts at Nicks’ voice.

Her body was drenched in cold sweat,

and the threads sewing her eyes shut felt loose.

Was I about to open my eyes?

She shuddered.

“You should close early today and rest. You don’t look well.”

How could he tell when her face was hidden under the hood?

Listening to more of his stories might make her open her eyes, so it was better to rest as Nicks suggested, but she still had something to do.

“W-w-wait a moment! Don’t leave!?”

Stammering, she rushed into the storage and brought out a gift she had prepared.

“This is….”

“A gift for reaching Gold rank… I-it’s nothing special. Just something I picked up.”

Nicks easily lifted the greatsword, which was as tall as he was.

It was a sword specialized in hardness and durability, made specifically for Nicks.

She had gone against her past vow to never leave Venetia and sought out a dwarf to specially craft this one-of-a-kind weapon.

She even made it so it could double as a shield.

It might have been a bit too big for Nicks but she wanted to make sure he wouldn’t get hurt….

“It’s really light. And it seems sturdy too. Thank you. I’ll use it well.”

“Use it or not… just don’t get beaten up out there….”

“I’m not weak enough to get beaten up. I even took down an ogre, you know?”

To Beryl, Nicks was still weak.

The best time to die is when you think you’re strong, as Beryl had seen from the countless corpses at her feet.

“Don’t get too close to Emily. Got it? Always be suspicious of those around you. Enemies are closer than you think.”

“Emily’s my friend. I appreciate your concern, but I’ll handle it. Thanks for the gift! I’ll bring you something next time!”

Nicks, clearly not wanting to discuss this further, ran off, leaving Beryl fuming.

Ugh…!

Why won’t he listen?

She was angry at Nicks, but the thought of him bringing her a gift soon melted her anger away.