18◇ Hero’s Vessel, Force (Revised)

A large man in armor, carrying a wooden barrel mug, approached Kousuke.

As I recall, he’s a visitor I met yesterday when we had that feasting frenzy.

A big man with a Japanese appearance.

He looked like he’d played rugby or otherwise trained in judo.

A chiseled face, and twenty-six years old, or so he said.

He told me his name was Taiga.

Probably his real name.

“I can’t see any reason to say no. As you can see, I’m bored.”

Taiga laughed and then sat down next to him.

“Yesterday, I drank a lot of liquor with your money.”

“And yet you’ve been drinking your Acre all morning.”

Acre is a beer-like drink.

“Over the course of the day, your alcohol-intoxication will dissipate.”

Humans do not have such a useful function.

But I guess that’s just how strong he is against drinks.　　

“I’m jealous of you. I’m not that strong with drinks.”

“At the end, you fell asleep.”

“Oh, I don’t remember that part. Did I embarrass myself?”

“It was okay, probably.”

Laughing, Taiga drinks Acre.

That laugh seems to be a habit.

“So, were you looking for a small-talk partner?”

After exhaling another laugh, Taiga shook his head, “No.”

“I have a request”

“It depends on the content.”

“Have you lost your interest in [Zest] yet?”

“Nope, I’m very interested. But I’m in a pinch.”

“Trouble? What kind of trouble?”

“I just got here yesterday and I don’t know much about this world yet.”

“I don’t know if it matters or not, to know Arkrea.”

”Well, I think it should be an urgent matter. Reincarnating in another world is an unusual phenomenon in itself, so it’s strange to bring up the word normal.”

“Fuu~, true. But we were indeed reincarnated.”

Is Taiga Japanese?

“Oh, I got out of college, got a job, died of overwork.”

For a moment, his eyes seemed to look into the distance.

Immediately they went back to normal.

“That’s just how serious of a person you are, Taiga.”

“Kuro, you’re a good man.”

“You won’t get anything even if you praise me. Ah, I can buy you a drink.”

“Visitors are unfortunate”

“Yeah.”

“Only one chance in life, but still I couldn’t be happy”

“So maybe Arkrea is an exception to the rule. It’s a bailout for those who couldn’t take their one chance.”

“I thought so too.”

“Past tense?”

“A month or so ago, a colleague of mine died.”

“In the labyrinth?”

Taiga nodded, gravely.

“In the [Zest]. We were a party of five. We were hunting in a moderately difficult labyrinth, and one day we decided to take down the [Guardian of Zest].”

Only the magic tool holder and the guardian who hides in the deepest part of the labyrinth are powerful, regardless of the difficulty of the labyrinth.

[Cresen Memeus] in the low difficulty [Zest] is a good example.

If you feel that you have grown as a party, it seems natural that you would want to try to defeat the Guardians.

“But we were being foolish. Mio, Cruz, Hana. They all dead. Only I and a woman named Clara escaped unceremoniously and survived.”

Somehow, he could read what was going on, but Kousuke silently urged him to continue.

“Clara works here. Today, she’s not here. So I am going to the labyrinth alone. But that’s not the problem.”

“So, you thought. That Arkrea isn’t necessarily heaven.”

“Yes. As a visitor, you can play an active role in Arkrea. There’s no doubt about it. We’re stronger than the people of Arkrea. That’s a fact. But visitors will die, too.”

“Yeah, like I said yesterday, I almost died against Cresen Memeus.”

“But Kuro, you won.”

“Yah.”

“A Guardian is stronger than a magic tool holder.”

“Oh, I see. I didn’t know that.”

“I have a request”

“Oh, go on.”

“I want to kill [The Guardian of Zest].”

“So?”

Taiga rose from his seat, put his hands on his knees, and bowed his head.

“Please, Kuro. I need your help. I know this is not something I should be asking you to do after seeing you just yesterday. But I can’t win alone. But I need to defeat him, or I won’t be able to move forward. The gloom never leaves Clara. Please, I beg you, Kuro, please… I beg you… please……”

The giant man looked so small.

“Buy me a drink.”

Kousuke said, and Taiga slowly looked up.

“What do you mean…?”

“With the bounty of today’s capture, buy me a drink. That’s the condition.”

Taiga looks like he’s going to lose it, then says.

”Are you … sure?”

“Originally, I planned to go alone. That’s just one more reason to go. Besides being in the mood, this is a good reason to take revenge for a good neighbor.”

“Good neighbor.”

“I had a lot of fun yesterday. You weren’t the only one, but they were all good guys and they didn’t discriminate against Econa.”

“Econa, the little girl with blue hair and eyes.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“I’m talking about you, Kuro.”

“What?”

“ ‘He got a slave and called it a companion’, Shiro told me. You first wanted to free the baby girl.”

“As a human being, I did the obvious thing.”

“Not obvious. You’re a good man, Kuro.”

“Heh.”

Embarrassed, Kousuke took a sip of milk to disguise it.

“For the time being, give me information on the Guardian.”

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