WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
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◈ Ode of the Brave ◈
Chapter 69
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His palm stung. There were faint bloodstains on the bandage, but they had not spread any further.
Ricart thought about Marie. Yet no matter how much he thought about it, he could not understand anything.
Was it compassion? Sympathy? Guilt? Interest? Love?
He did not know.
Would he find the answer if he took his time and thought deeply about it? When it came to love, Ricart could only think that he truly did not understand it.
Love brought joy. Love brought pain. Love brought happiness. Love brought unhappiness.
It was more changeable than fire, and much hotter. To love someone was no different from roasting one’s whole heart over a flame.
That was why Ricart could not understand it.
Smack smack smack smack smack!
The sound of someone eating greedily broke Ricart from his thoughts. He looked up at the person seated across the table.
Ricart had seen Sally eat once before, but it was closer to slaughtering food than having a meal.
Boribori and Delphi stared blankly at her, as though wondering what kind of person she was.
Sally was quite beautiful, but the sight of her stuffing food into both cheeks like a squirrel was somewhat bizarre. She looked possessed by the ghost of someone who had starved to death.
The strangest part was that she still had such a slim figure despite eating like that.
After wolfing food down for a while, Sally drained a bowl of cold soup in one gulp, then leaned back against her chair with a huge burp.
“Buuuuuurp! Whew, that was good.”
“...”
“Right, where was I?”
“You said you became the new Guild Master.”
Delphi answered. Ricart tilted his head.
“What about Dunkel? Is he dead?”
“Yep. I killed that useless bastard. Now I’m the Guild Master.”
It was not true, only a mischievous joke. But with no hint of amusement in her voice, it was not very funny.
Apparently, Sally had been put forward as a figurehead. Dunkel’s identity had been exposed during the war.
They could figure out that much without being told.
“So, is there anything we need to do separately?”
“Yes, there is. After graduating from the Academy, everyone has to take their first commission from the guild. You could call it the first and last test. Anyway, it’s used to roughly determine your rank. But you two already have ranks, so... let’s see.”
Ricart and Boribori were already upper-rank adventurers. While they had been students, they had merely been treated as such, but now that they had graduated, they were officially upper-rank adventurers.
Sally pulled a stack of cards from her pocket. With practiced hands, she rapidly flipped through them one card at a time, shk shk shk, then selected three in an instant.
After moving the empty plates and bowls aside, she placed the three cards face down on the table.
“One is easy, one is difficult, and the last one is dangerous. Which will you choose?”
“What’s the easy one?”
Ricart asked.
“I can’t tell you the details until you accept the commission. That’s why the cards are face down.”
“How difficult is the difficult one?”
“I know how skilled you are. But this isn’t about swordsmanship. It’s more like hard labor. You have to use your body, so it’s difficult.”
“And the dangerous one?”
“A slim chance of success. Certain death if you fail.”
Ricart looked at Boribori, silently asking for an opinion.
“Let’s take the easy one.”
Boribori said.
“Okay.”
But Sally shook her head.
“No. You each have to pick one. You’re not doing this together. You can get help from other people or clans, but since you two graduated together, you can’t work together this time. It is a test, after all.”
Ricart did not hesitate. He picked up the easy card and handed it to Boribori, then took the dangerous card for himself.
“Uh...”
Boribori was a little startled, but Ricart had already turned over the card.
<Special Rank Commission: Eliminate High Vampire Armand von Banshtein
Client: Count Leman von Banshtein>
The moment Ricart read it, Sally snatched the card away and burned it in the candle flame. She did not touch Boribori’s card.
It was only a caravan escort commission.
“What’s the reward?”
Ricart asked calmly.
“They say they’ll pay in kind rather than money.”
“What is it?”
“Illya’s Holy Oil.”
Ricart and Boribori looked at each other at the same time. They had talked about it at the Academy earlier that day.
The story of a hero who had been unable to walk from birth until the age of thirty.
“That sounds like bullshit.”
“Try saying that to the count’s face.”
“Does something like that really exist?”
“I don’t know either.”
It was hard to believe in an item found only in legends.
“Um, do I have to go alone?”
“One trustworthy person should be fine, I think. Anyway, keep this as quiet as possible. I trust you’ll handle it well. But do you know how dangerous this is?”
“You told us to choose.”
“I did, but you’re too calm. I don’t think you understand how serious this is. You should’ve chosen the difficult one.”
She had said it had a slim chance of success and that failure meant certain death, but Sally had not expected Ricart to actually choose it.
Was it confidence in his tremendous ability, or was he simply that bold? He did not seem arrogant, though.
“If that was the case, you should’ve only offered the easy one.”
“Then it wouldn’t be fun.”
“That’s true.”
Ricart was extraordinary, whether it was skill or courage.
But Sally was not exactly a normal person either.
Perhaps because she was not Dunkel, Sally honestly seemed like someone with no sense of restraint. The type to cause trouble simply because something interested her.
In reality, the guild rarely accepted Special Rank commissions. “Special Rank” effectively meant giving up on classifying the difficulty, so such commissions were often left alone.
Simply put, a Special Rank commission was something no person could accomplish.
“So I don’t have to start right away, correct?”
“Right. Talk it over with your clan leader first. Giving up the commission is an option too. Just let us know. If you really decide to carry it out, we’ll support you with an advance payment.”
Either way, they belonged to a clan. An adventurer’s movements were for the clan to decide, and the guild could not order them around.
It was like a feudal system.
Only the first commission after Academy graduation could be assigned directly by the guild. Normally, the commission would be delivered to the clan leader, who would either assign it or discuss it with the adventurer.
After making some light conversation with Sally, Ricart rose from his seat.
“We’ll be going.”
“Congratulations.”
“For what?”
“On becoming adventurers. Just surviving the Academy is impressive.”
Sally seemed to be thinking of the Academy from the days when violence ran wild, students took their own lives, and dangerous missions were assigned.
But the Academy had been different in Sally’s time, when Ricart had first enrolled, and now.
Ricart smiled faintly and shook his head.
“It’s different from the old days now.”
“Hm?”
“We’ll be going. We’ll see Dunkel again someday.”
Ricart left the Beringen Guild building with his friends. Then they went to see Molty and Lara, who had given up becoming adventurers and chosen to start a family.
They had truly congratulatory news.
They had had a baby.
Molty and Lara’s baby came as something of a shock to Ricart. It was hard to believe, somehow. The baby’s very existence seemed strange and astonishing.
Though they did not have much, Molty and Lara looked happy. They were also recognized and accepted as neighbors by the Nord settlers around them.
The five of them gathered in their cozy home and reminisced about the past. Time passed in an instant, and evening came.
Ricart, Boribori, and Delphi had no choice but to return to the guild building to stay the night.
Before leaving, Ricart quietly looked down at the baby sleeping soundly in the cradle.
He still could not believe it.
The baby’s existence itself felt like a miracle.
Marie suddenly came to mind, but he forced himself to look away.
When he tried to sleep at the guild building, sleep would not come for a long time. He tried to calm the inexplicable distress in his heart, but there was nowhere to run.
It would pass.
It had to pass.
Nothing unusual happened on the way to Ernberg. They simply walked slowly and leisurely, enjoying the brown and yellow colors of autumn.
When they arrived at the Ernberg branch, they had only been apart for three or four months. Yet the world was so dangerous that everyone smiled simply because they had reunited safely.
“You look like a real branch chief now, Volka.”
Ricart said with a smile.
It was true. Volka seemed to have gained some weight. As a branch chief, he spent more time sitting at a desk than working in the field.
Naturally, he gained weight because he did not exercise.
Most of his usual work consisted of assigning jobs to adventurers when something came up and keeping accurate accounts.
“You remind me of the Thorweil branch chief.”
Boribori added.
Alter, the Thorweil branch chief, had given them various instructions while they were chasing deserters. He had looked more like an ordinary neighborhood man than an adventurer.
Volka was not quite there yet, but it seemed his body was changing in that direction.
“Heh heh. Honestly, it was only troublesome at first. I don’t know why anyone wouldn’t do this.”
As though he had no pride at all, Volka only grinned foolishly. Well, perhaps it was good that he looked so happy.
“Ugh, if you have nothing to do, get up and carry some barrels at least.”
Hardworking Delphi began unpacking as soon as they arrived, without even resting. She rolled up her sleeves, wiped down tables, and cleaned cups and dishes.
As she worked, she introduced the children hired by the branch. They were each busy drawing water or carrying laundry, so they did not come over to greet Ricart and Boribori. They only stared blankly from afar as they went about their work.
“I’ll introduce the kids. That’s Rock, that’s Remi, that one is Rona, and Elga must have gone somewhere for a bit.”
They all looked about ten years old.
“What about Benny?”
“Benny is still too young.”
“They look young too.”
“They’re at least over ten.”
“What about Ice?”
“He’s getting a belly like mine too.”
Volka said.
“What?”
“I’m joking. He’s probably in my room doing the accounts. Even though that’s all he does, he hasn’t gotten a belly like mine. Unpack first. Wife! Bring us some alcohol!”
Volka shouted at Delphi.
Had they gotten married?
Only a few months had passed, but it seemed Ricart needed time to adjust.
Ricart unpacked in the room he used to share with Boribori. When he came back out, he knocked on Volka’s door. He opened it and looked inside.
Ice really was sitting at a desk, doing nothing but accounts.
“Oh?”
Ice’s eyes widened. As time passed, Ice seemed to grow more expressive.
“We’re back. Come out. Let’s talk.”
At Ricart’s invitation, Ice smiled faintly and stood up.
There were many other adventurers at the branch, but Ricart’s Viola Clan was the core clan. In other words, they were the true owners of the building. In feudal terms, they were the lordly family of Ernberg.
Ricart, Boribori, Volka, and Ice sat before the fireplace. Delphi came over carrying four wooden cups filled with alcohol at once.
“I’m deducting this from your commission reward?”
“Really?”
Boribori’s eyes widened. Boribori had thought it was free, but Delphi only raised her brows mysteriously and walked away again.
“Hey, I’ll pay, so don’t worry. Drink.”
Volka said.
“So there is a price after all.”
“Nothing in this world is free. When you become a branch chief, you can’t help turning into a cheapskate.”
“Have many adventurers gathered here?”
“More or less. Most are drifters, but a few are decent. At this rate, I might even become a clan master.”
A clan master was someone who commanded several clans. Of course, that did not mean lower clans would always obey. It depended on the clan master’s individual ability.
“The more clans you command, the bigger your belly will get.”
“Heh heh. I don’t care if I get a belly.”
Volka did not seem to have grown lazy. He worked hard in his own way, but he truly seemed satisfied with his current life.
“Didn’t you two receive your ‘first’ commission?”
Ice asked after taking a sip of alcohol.
“Yeah. Mine is fine, but Ricky’s seems to be a problem. Sally gave him a commission, then told him not to do it.”
Boribori said, pointing at Ricart beside him.
At Sally’s name, Volka immediately frowned.
“That gluttonous woman is still pretending to be the master? Damn, she’s ruined the taste of this drink.”
“Why?”
“That woman never thinks anything through. Last time, she assigned the same job to another branch too. It nearly turned into a knife fight. We worked so hard to win the war, so why the hell is she doing this? Why did Uncle Dunkel leave things to that woman and go into hiding?”
“So what is this commission?”
Ice asked.
“I don’t know if I should say, but keep it to yourselves. It’s a Special Rank commission. I have to kill a high vampire.”
At Ricart’s words, Volka froze with his cup tilted toward his mouth. He did not even spit out the alcohol. It simply dribbled from the corner of his mouth.
At the words Special Rank, Ice’s expression began to disappear as it had in the past.
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