(Arc 14 Epilogue 2) 2 Old Men Drinking

There are 3 epilogues to Arc 14.

Time jumps back for a moment, to the day after Emi fought Arcus and Lairine at the quarry near Serelirin.

“Gu, nuaaah......?”

The stubbled man...... the special-grade adventurer ‘Golden’ Arcus, blinked awake on one of the beds lined up in a room that smelled of medicine.

He turned his head and looked all around.

Besides the one he was using, there were more clean beds, lined up in neat rows.

A few men wrapped in bandages were sleeping there.

White walls, white curtains, a clean room.

In other words, this was...... some kind of magic clinic.

“Mu, mumumuuu...... mu!? Owowowowooow!?”

Arcus tried to sit up to find out more, but a sudden pain shooting through his whole body forced him to stop.

His bones!

The way this felt, the bones all over his body were probably broken!

He could barely move his right arm, and his chest area hurt terribly.

He couldn't move his left arm or right leg well, either.

When he shifted and pushed aside the blanket covering him, he saw that they were each wrapped tightly in bandages.

He was badly hurt.

The last time he'd been hurt like this was when he drove off that huge swarm of green dragons...... no, when he slew Destroyer Topopolock.

“Hmm, it seems you're awake?”

Hearing the voice, he looked that way, and there stood a middle-aged man in a white coat with a medical chart tucked under his arm.

Accompanied by a woman who seemed to be his assistant, the man slowly approached Arcus.

“I am a healing mage, Doctor Eascolo. The director of this Serelirin Magic Clinic, and a man who was once even called ‘the Medical Saint of Yoshanka’! Hmhm, how are you feeling, ‘Golden’ Arcus-dono?”

“How I feel...... ain't bad. Though my whole body hurts, y'knooow......”

“That can't be helped. You've got fractures all over! Since I didn't have your consent, I've given you ordinary medical first aid, but no magic treatment yet. Do forgive me...... you.”

“Yes, Doctorrr!”

Eascolo had his assistant bring over a round stool and sat beside Arcus, beginning the examination while flipping through the chart.

Arcus, for his part, asked Eascolo about what was on his mind.

As a result, he learned a few things, and a few things he didn't.

First, it seemed the one who had arranged for him to be carried to this clinic unconscious was that mediator, Oshiras.

And as for where Emi and Lairine were...... Eascolo didn't know.

“......Hmm, no headache, no clouding of memory. From what I hear, you were found with your whole body sunk into the bedrock of a cliff, you know? Taking enough damage to be sunk into rock, and getting off with just fractures. That's a special-grade adventurer for you. Quite something, isn't it, you.”

“Yes, Doctorrr!”

“......But, y'knooow............”

Eascolo praised Arcus's toughness, but Arcus frowned upon hearing it.

Because, in the end, he had lost.

Rejected by the only blood relative he had wanted to protect, and beaten to a pulp by her, young as she still was, it was only natural that a sigh should slip out of him in spite of himself.

He felt pathetic, and frustrated.

He also wondered what had become of Emi after that, and it made him anxious.

“I wanna smoke......”

“Of course you can't. There's no smoking in the clinic, you.”

Eascolo gave Arcus's forehead a little kon with the corner of the chart.

Arcus fell into despair.

◇ ◇ ◇

“How are you feeling?”

A few hours later, Mediator Oshiras came into the hospital room where Arcus lay, his pale yellow robes fluttering, a bag in his arms.

“I wanna smoke......”

“Hahaha, I'm glad to see you're doing well.”

Ignoring the cry of Arcus's soul, Oshiras laughed and sat down in the chair beside the bed.

“Aaah...... I hear arranging my stay here was your doing, huuuh. Thanks, you saved my hide.”

“......No, no.”

Oshiras, modest and sparing with his words, kept smiling, but for some reason his face was pale.

Though that bothered him, Arcus had something else he wanted to ask.

“Heeey, Mediator-saaan...... what happened to Emi-chan, huuuh......?”

“She is to be taken in by Lairine-san. She's no doubt at her home right now.”

“Yeah, weeell...... I guess that figures, huuuh......”

There was no way that Supreme Commander would lose a fight against anyone.

At the time, the blood had rushed to his head and he hadn't noticed, but...... the moment they agreed on a promise like ‘if you win, you get to be her guardian,’ it was already settled that Lairine would become Emi's mother.

What Arcus should have done was not fight Emi, but keep talking.

“You may have your thoughts on the matter, but a promise is a promise. You have no intention of reneging on it, do you?”

“......Of course. That'd go against my pride. Besides, even if I did go back on it, I'm no match for that old hag anywaaay......”

Arcus scratched his cheek with his right hand, looking troubled.

Seeing him like that, Oshiras seemed slightly relieved and took several sheets of paper from his bag.

“......What's this?”

“The details of this mediation...... and so forth, are set out here. There are 4 identical copies, so I'm sorry to trouble you, but...... I would ask that you read them carefully and sign......”

“Aaah, got it, got it.”

Without even properly checking the contents, Arcus pulled a pen from Oshiras's breast pocket and tried to sign.

“Ah! Wait, please wait! I told you to read them carefully!”

Oshiras hurriedly stopped him.

“Whaaat? It's a document you diligently put together, riiight? Then it's fine, isn't iiit?”

“Yes! That, that is so. It is so, it couldn't be helped...... but, how shall I put it, I feel terrible...... I had no choice but to date it yesterday, and also, um, regarding the treatment costs......”

“Huh?”

Oshiras hunched his shoulders and made himself small.

Only then did Arcus actually read the latter half of the document, which stated that the town of Serelirin would provide no compensation whatsoever for injuries or illnesses resulting from this battle, and that medical expenses would be the individual's own responsibility.

“Aaah, I seee.”

In other words, this official felt guilty about making him pay the medical expenses after the fact.

In Naganahate's administrative terms, it probably wasn't a very proper thing to do.

“Don't let it get to youuu! It was me and the old hag who ran off without waiting for the paperwork, and treatment costs are just pocket chaaange! I'm ‘Golden’ Arcus! I'm loaded, y'knooow!”

Arcus laughed off Oshiras's concerns boisterously.

Oshiras kept bowing, utterly apologetic.

◇ ◇ ◇

(......Now then, what should I do from here......)

1 week later.

Arcus was at a loss, rubbing his stubble jorijori.

Doctor Eascolo's skills were the real thing.

He heard that the doctor had previously opened a clinic in a rural town called Yoshanka, and moved to Serelirin because the town had declined...... but he possessed such advanced techniques that Arcus wondered why he had worked in such a rural town in the first place.

Furthermore, Arcus had used expensive magic potions without sparing any money for his treatment, and since Arcus's own healing power was high to begin with, his injuries had completely healed at a phenomenal speed.

But, naturally, treatment could only heal his body.

“............”

Right now, Arcus was standing in the clinic's storage room.

His precious armor, kept there...... was still smashed to pieces.

“What am I gonna dooooo...... this is bad, isn't iiiiit......”

In the storage room, with no one there but him, Arcus scratched his head and let out a whine in spite of himself.

Arcus's magic armor ‘Shining’ was his trademark.

It was also the origin of his epithet, ‘Golden’.

It was because of this armor that he could exhibit superhuman combat capabilities.

And now it was broken.

Raging on the front lines while drawing all the attention and attacks of monsters, just as he had done until now...... it seemed he could no longer fight like that.

“Since this one's still alive, weeell, my attack power's not that much of a problem, buuut......”

As he spoke, Arcus grabbed the golden sword placed next to the broken armor and held it up to the magic lamp.

This sword was the demon sword ‘Flash’.

Like ‘Shining,’ it was a ‘relic’ from a dungeon; its ability, blinding enemies with a flash of light, was a plain one, but its edge was abnormally sharp.

From the perspective of the highly skilled Arcus, that sharpness was what mattered.

“Buuut, y'knooooow......”

But ‘Shining’ had been lost.

Without the defensive power and 【Body Strengthening】 support ability of that magic armor, and with his age on top of that, it would be difficult for Arcus to continue being a special-grade adventurer in the future.

“............”

Once more, he stared intently at the tattered ‘Shining’.

What welled up in his chest was astonishment, admiration, and awe toward Emi, for having actually destroyed a ‘god-made relic,’ young as she was.

And toward himself, at a loss just because his armor had been broken: bewilderment, scorn, and disappointment.

He really had been, just as Emi said, ‘an adventurer who relies on his armor.’

He had been aware of it.

That was precisely why he never took off that armor.

Because he had always wanted to be his strong self.

This broken armor was, thinking about it now, perhaps a symbol of vanity used to hide his pathetic self.

“......For now.”

There was no point in just standing here.

Arcus gave his own cheek a pan, hung ‘Flash’ at his waist, wrapped ‘Shining’ in a brown dragon's wing membrane done up like a carrying cloth, shouldered it, and left the storage room.

“For now...... it's booooze......!!”

It had been 1 week since he was admitted to this magic clinic.

In other words, it also meant that 1 week had finally gone by since Arcus had been banned from both drinking and smoking.

......He had reached his limit.

Arcus pointlessly put his high-ranking adventurer's physical abilities to use and started running like the wind to the reception desk to finish the discharge procedures...... only for Eascolo to spot him and give him a good scolding.

You mustn't run in places like this.

It's dangerous.

Let's all be careful, okay?

◇ ◇ ◇

“Kaaaaah! Aaaaaaaah......! D, damn, iiiiiit......”

And so, the bar.

After being discharged from the magic clinic, Arcus left all his luggage at the inn and dove straight into a nearby bar.

In broad daylight.

And he had planted himself at one end of the counter and was drinking to his heart's content!

He was even puffing away on his cigarettes!

Puffing away, really puffing away!

What he was drinking was Sakate liquor.

That beautiful golden ‘Adventurer's Liquor.’

It was Arcus's favorite.

Anyway, he grumbled on and on in his cups, and before he knew it, it was 9 at night.

But he was still going to drink!

This was where it really started!

Because, even though he was drinking his favorite liquor, he wasn't having any fun at all.

He wanted to drink and drink until he felt happy.

But no matter how much he drank, Emi's face and the golden armor flickered in the back of his mind, and he couldn't feel happy.

This was a grave situation.

But Arcus, who, unusually for him, could fairly be called dead drunk by now, could find no way at all out of this state.

So, he simply continued to drink out of inertia.

“Aaaaaah! Damn it, damn it, damn iiiiiit!!”

Then, the man drinking next to Arcus began to get angry, hitting the counter with a Dan!

This man seemed to be a lightweight.

He had only sat next to Arcus a short while ago, but after just 2 or 3 glasses, he was in this state.

Though he had been drinking quietly at first, he was now shouting with a bright red face, and his eyes were out of focus.

“Why, why, why is it always meeeeeeeee!!”

“Now now, Oshi-san...... you're rowdier than usual today. You're bothering people, so keep it down.”

This man called Oshi-san seemed to be a regular at this bar; the landlady, looking exasperated, scolded him in a familiar way.

For no particular reason, Arcus peered closely at the man's face.

......He felt like he'd seen him somewhere.

But the inside of the bar was dim, and Arcus, who was completely wasted, couldn't quite tell who it was.

“Aaaaaah? Youuu, what're you lookin' at, huuuh?”

Now, Oshi-san noticed the stubbled man beside him staring at him and, to give the guy the most menacing look he could, scrunched his brow and glared.

Oshi-san had also thought, “Huh, I might've seen him somewhere......” but he was drunk too, so he couldn't tell who the guy was, you see.

Can't be helped, right?

“Meee? Me, I'm! A wandering drinker, I aaam! The name's ‘Al-san’, y'knooooow!!”

Facing the glaring Oshi-san, Arcus announced himself like that.

For the record, he hadn't named himself that to match Oshi-san; at bars, Arcus always went by “Al-san.”

Because he wanted to throw off titles like special-grade adventurer and drink as just plain “Al-san.”

“What the heeell is ‘Al-san’! ‘Al-san’ as in ‘alcohol,’ or whaaat? And you, you reek of cigarettes! Idiot, idiot!!”

Hearing Al-san's introduction, Oshi-san hurled childish insults.

This guy was already pretty drunk.

This was bad.

“What'd you say! Cigarettes are great! Cigarettes are great, riiight!”

“I hate cigarettes! But what I hate even more is smokers who don't follow the rules! Just the other day...... it was no smoking indoors, and yet...... that idiot was puffing away like crazy......”

“What! There's an idiot like that! That's no good at aaall!”

Due to the alcohol, Al-san had completely forgotten his own actions and became indignant toward that idiot.

It was because of smokers who didn't follow the rules that good, honest smokers had to feel so unwelcome!

But that idiot is probably you.

“Y, you understand, Al-san......? I'm, I'm...... a cowardly maaan...... so cowardly that without the help of liquor, I can't even, complain about one cigarette, nooo...... a pathetic, man, that's me......”

“Pathetic, my fooot! You, y'knooow, are doing your best! You're doing your beeest! You're enduring it, aren't youuu!? A man who endures, a man who can endure! As if a man like that could be pathetic, y'knooow!”

“U, uwaaaaaaah! A, Al-saaaan!!”

Al-san went up to Oshi-san and slapped him on the shoulder, banban!

Oshi-san, moved by the momentum of the liquor or something, began to shed manly tears!

After that, the two, who felt they had somehow become friends, talked about their lives while gulping down liquor.

Apparently, Oshi-san had recently been pushed into an incredibly troublesome job, and it seemed he had only just finished dealing with it.

“And yet...... and yet, I tell youuu! Just when I thought the job was finally, finally over, my boss gives me an endless lecture! ‘Did you condone acts of violence,’ and ‘Approval after the fact is unacceptable,’ and on and ooon! Then! From the start! You, do it yourseeelf!! What did you people even do! Ran around dodging it and dumped it all on me! And yet, not only no word of thanks, a reprimand, what's with that!? Screw this, SCREW THIIIIS!!!”

Apparently, Oshi-san's boss was a shitty boss.

To vent that frustration, Oshi-san had come to drink.

Al-san gently rubbed Oshi-san's back.

“Oshi-san...... yooou are a fine man! Choking back everything you wanted to say! You tried your best! Yooou are amazing!”

“That's...... that's not true at aaall...... I'm...... a pathetic, maaan...... a scrawny maaan...... Al-san, I'm not like youuu......”

Oshi-san spoke enviously, looking at Al-san's sturdy build, which was clearly toned even in the dim room.

“Ha...... no, if anything, I'm the one...... who's a pathetic maaan......”

But, met with that envious gaze, Al-san laughed at himself and knocked back his drink.

“I wanted to protect her...... but that feeling just kept spinning its wheels, y'knooow...... without a thought for, what she, felt, y'knooow...... and in the end, I got rejected, and badly hurt, y'knooow! Pathetiiic! Me, I really am, pathetiiic!!”

Gan!

Saying so, Al-san slammed his glass onto the table with force, and large tears were falling botabota from his eyes......!

“Al-san......!”

Oshi-san gasped at the sight.

Big tears, shed by a man with a back as broad as this......

There was no way a drunkard wouldn't be moved.

Caught up in it, Oshi-san started crying too, tears welling from his eyes!

There's no logic here, it's just the atmosphere, because they're drunks!

“Al-san! Things like ‘pathetic,’ don't...... don't say that, pleeease! You, you're a strong man, I just knooow it. Me, I can teeell!”

“No, I'm weak...... weaker than my niece......”

“Then...... YOU JUST GOTTA GET STRONGER, RIIIGHT!!”

Dan!

Slamming the counter hard with his fist, Oshi-san shouted it!

At that force, Al-san went wide-eyed in spite of himself and caught his breath!

“I can tell! You're a man who can fight. A man who can get strongeeer! Niece...... niece? Weaker than your niece......? I don't really get it, but then, you just gotta get even stronger, riiight! You can dooo it!!”

Oshi-san declared powerfully!

Of course, there was no basis for it!

It was all the momentum of the alcohol!

“Get...... stronger......”

Al-san muttered blankly.

“What, you can't do iiit? Was I wrong about youuu? Aaah?”

Seeing Al-san like that, Oshi-san laughed provocatively.

Of course, there was no way his judgment was wrong!

Because in Al-san's eyes......

Fighting spirit was already burning!

“Gu...... guhaha, guhahahaha!! ‘Get stronger,’ huh! That's right...... that's right! Words I'd forgotten for a while...... I'd gone and decided my own limits all by myself, y'knooow!! Guhahahahaha!!”

Al-san laughed loudly and declared!

“I've decideeed, Oshi-san! From now on, me...... I'll take on ‘the Loimekaide Dungeon’!!”

At that declaration, Oshi-san's eyes widened in surprise.

“The Loimekaide Dungeon!? Isn't that one of the world's largest dungeons on the Fantasy Continent!?”

“That's riiight! There, I'll! Get my hands on a new relic! A treasure on the level of a god-made relic, y'knooow! And with that on...... I'll! Get my hands on more strength than ever befooore!!”

“Wait, Al-san. But isn't it dangerous? I know I'm the one who said it, but why would you want to get stronger badly enough to take such a risk?”

Hearing Al-san's statement, which could be seen as reckless, Oshi-san, who had sobered up slightly, asked that to calm Al-san down.

But though those words did calm Al-san down a little, the fire in his eyes never went out.

Rubbing his stubble jorijori, Al-san thought for a moment and spoke.

From within his spinning mind, he somehow managed to choose the words that could accurately express his feelings.

“Now...... that it's come to this, I can't look after that girl, y'knooow...... nor atone, for my little brother”

Here, he took a deep breath.

And then, exhaling a breath that smelled of alcohol.

Al-san broke into a big grin.

“Even so, someday I want to show her...... the back of an uncle she can rely on, y'knooow!”

Seeing that smile, Oshi-san gave a wry smile in spite of himself.

“......Pride, huh.”

“Guhaha! That's right! It's pride! Me...... I haven't changed a biiit! But that's fine! I've decided that, just nooow!”

“I see.”

Facing the boisterously laughing Al-san, Oshi-san murmured softly and then raised his glass.

“Good luck, strong man!”

Al-san also raised his glass toward Oshi-san.

“You too, strong man!”

““CHEERS!!!””

Incidentally, after this, both of them vomited quite a bit.