Vol 1 Chapter 9 (1/2)
LEVEL 1: A Whisper, an Aria, a Prayer, an Awakening
Chapter 9: Heavy Resolution
Scattered about Altana’s marketplace were a few shops that sold sundries, but no hest any would pay for a silver coin with a hole in it was thirty capas Haruhiro found it rather incomprehensible that the value of the coin was cut by two-thirds just because it was a little da had been worth one silver
Three species of wolves dwelled in the forested areas of the frontier There were the forest wolves, sorey wolves, there were the white wolves of Eldritch the White Goddess, and finally there were the enemies of the white wolves: the black wolves of the Black God, Rigel Apparently, the fang they found on the ed to a black wolf
It was believed that the fang of a black wolf containedoff evil That brought the total of their day’s earnings to one silver and thirty capas
Twenty capas were paid for their lodging that night while the rest was split evenly ahteen capas per person while Manato held on to the res next time
After each of theot dinner at the marketplace, they e near Nishi+machi For some reason, it felt like they had finally returned home Despite the fact that reserve force soldiers who presented their Crimson Moon contracts could stay for free, the place was empty
The public bath was a single roo into the dirt floor, which acted as the bathtub The boys went in and washed themselves first, then let Yume and shi+horu know that the baths were available to use before returning to their shared room Haruhiro was rather tired, so he laid down on his straw-lined bunk and closed his eyes
The lodge offered two types of rooms; one of them could accommodate up to four people while the other could accommodate up to six Both were the saht, so the sizes of the rooms were probably the same as well The only difference was that the six-person roo it very cramped Not to mention the six-person room beds were smaller than normal
The beds in the four-person room were already on the small end, but the beds in the six-person roozo would definitely not fit into thes except for two straw-lined bunk beds and a single la, the roo, and no one was intending to use it for anything else either
It was going to be yet another early ht The soft crunching of straw could be heard in the bunk next to hi was arranged with Haruhiro on a top bunk and Manato on a bottozo on the bottom and Ranta on the top
“…Manato? Are you still up?” Haruhiro whispered
“Yeah, I’?”
“It’s nothing, really…” But that wasn’t entirely truthful
They had only earned eighteen capas each today Froht had been paid to his guild and he had spent four capas on a kebab That had left hi training course with the Thieves Guild Yesterday, he had spent four capa on lodging, then another ten on food, without earning a single capa Then today, he spent twelve capa and earned eighteen Presently all the ht capa
However, carrying around all those coins had become cumbersome, so he had deposited sixty capa at Yorozu’s Bank, which meant that the deposit fee would eventually be deducted as well
Haruhiro was still okay, but he was concerned for Mogzo His share of the lodging fee was split between everyone and Manato was lending him money for food And perhaps it was because of his size, but he would eat quite a large azo was already in debt
How long would it be before Haruhiro ran out of zo who could borrow ative unless he could find someone to lend him money as well He would just hit zero and be moneyless When that happened, ould he do?
They needed to find a way to increase their earnings Food and lodging per day was about fifteen capas It would be great if he could e they were using was run-down and dirty The straw-lined beds were hard, uncoround that served as toilets sly of human waste and the walls of the bathhouse were so thin that inter ca
He wanted better lodging But even before that, he wanted at least a set of spare underclothes He only had one pair of underwear nohich he washed in the baths and hung up to dry overnight Thatany underwear Neither he, Manato, or Ranta had need to shave very often but Mogzo’s face was starting to look extremely unkempt They had to at least be able to buy a razor, or even a small knife
They needed to earn enough ob they had run across today just happened to be carrying a black wolf fang that sold for one silver, but what if that was just a lucky find? Did that h end? Or was it on the low end?
Even if they were able to find and bring down another uarantee that it would be carrying a daed silvers orth thirty capas, whichthe six of them
Even if they spent the night on the streets, it still wouldn’t be enough to live on When he thought about it, Haruhiro realized how bad of a situation they were all in
He wanted to say exactly that to Manato, but stopped If he opened hisabout it, it couldn’t be left just at that He would have to actually do so about it Today hadn’t exactly been a horrible day and no one knehat the future had in store; toht be even better, so maybe it was better just to leave it as is
“It’s nothing,” Haruhiro concluded
“I see,” came Manato’s reply “If you say so then”
“Alllllright!” Ranta suddenly ju out for bit!”
Haruhiro sat up “What? Where?”
“Yesterday, I decided to pass” A dark sotta do what a otta do!”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Haruhiro said
“Slow, aren’t you? What’s there not to get? The baths, idiot B-A-T-H-S”
“What about the baths?”
“The girls are in there right? Washi+ng their bodies and hair… and co I, as a man, am supposed to do”
“Y-you… You’re not…”
Ranta cackled “Here I go!”
“No way! You can’t do that!” Haruhito climbed down from his top bunk and chased after Ranta
Only at times like this could Ranta move fox-like, quick and nimble Haruhiro wasn’t able to catch up to him until he was already at the baths They were located in a different building than the e, but the tere still attached; it had been built as an annex on the side, so perhaps it was more accurate to call it a bathhouse rather than a bathroom
Ranta crouched low at the entrance and put his ear against door
“Ranta—” Haruhiro started to say, but was cut off by a furious-looking Ranta putting his index finger to his lips
Ranta’s expression clearly said that he would murder Haruhiro if he said another word Inti to do? He quieted his footfalls and approached Ranta
“You can’t,” Haruhiro whispered in Ranta’s ear “This isn’t so would do…”
“I know,” Ranta mouthed the words silently to Haruhiro “I don’t care if I lose oals, I don’t care if I become a demon or an Asura”
“De it Don’t you have any self control?”
“Self-control?” Ranta shrugged “Never heard of the word You gotta use words that are in my dictionary” He suddenly exhaled sharply
“What?”
Ranta pointed at the door “You can hear them, their voices” He chuckled softly
Without thinking, Haruhiro started to put his ear to the door Then he stopped, regaining control of hiht to do thisHe adave in, he would become the same as Ranta
Ranta laughed soundlessly “Now’s not the tiiven in to your baser instincts If you hadn’t, then why aren’t you dragging s at them?”
Ouch Ranta sure kne to hit ho around, and almost yelped in surprise—soht in the darkness Two people And they were co his way
“Hey” The newco It was Manato And behind hizo
Ranta blinked as if his eyes had been lying to hiuys…”
“No, I can expl—” Haruhiro started to say, but was cut off when Manato brought his index finger to his lips to indicate silence
No way Of all people, Manato too?
Yes, Manato too Was this really okay? Haruhiro looked questioningly at Manato, who gave hihed soundlessly They had lost