Absolutely Do Not Touch Eldmia Egga – Chapter 61

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Yuziro
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Despite having returned to the capital early in the morning, our party continued until evening.

Truly.

The expression “drinking until you pass out” would be appropriate to describe how much we endured.

Gaendal didn’t know when to stop, despite being drunk, Gin didn’t get drunk, and Yekaterina was a true born drinker.

Even if I combined my past life, I had never seen anyone drink as well as her, except for Gin sitting right next to her.

“Bleeeaargh…”

Fortunately, unlike Gaendal who was vomiting over there, I didn’t throw up, but it was hard to deny that the world was spinning, and I couldn’t control myself unless I moved my hands and feet as if manipulating them.

When I accidentally stumbled once, a sturdy arm supported me.

As I turned my head, there was Yekaterina, smiling brightly with a face flushed from alcohol.

“Haha! Unlike your ghost-like fighting, you have a cute side, Eldmia! Already staggering?”

“Rellie… please tell her that drinking this much is good. This person doesn’t understand.”

Except for the fact that I nearly fell, only stopping thanks to her being so dependable, I was somehow able to barely pull myself together with her help.

Rellie, who had drunk the least among the group, and Gin, who looked perfectly fine despite drinking the most, laughed at our condition in good spirits.

“Really… Kasha! You’re drunk too! Get a hold of yourself!”

“Huh? I’m quite alright though?”

“What do you mean alright!”

Rellie, who had approached calling Yekaterina by an unidentified nickname, perhaps because she was somewhat drunk herself, pulled Yekaterina away from me.

In the process, since she didn’t let go of the hand that was supporting me, I almost fell, causing Yekaterina and me to burst into laughter.

Why was that funny?

I don’t know.

Yekaterina was laughing, so I just laughed too.

“Haah. Anyway. Good job, everyone. We’ll see each other again because of the rewards, but that’s no reason to delay saying well done.”

Gaendal, who seemed to have sobered up considerably after throwing up once, said this while wiping his tears.

“Mm. It was truly a pleasant request that ended well. Let’s work together again if we have the chance, everyone.”

“Hahaha!”

“Shut up! Stop laughing!”

In the end, it took a bit more time before we parted ways, but we were able to say goodbye with smiles.

“Phew. Now I can finally breathe.”

If I didn’t have things to do, I would have actively wanted to build friendships with them, as they were such good people.

Thanks to that, my steps heading towards the mansion were light for the first time in a while.

“You seem to be coming in quite cheerfully.”

But for some reason, as soon as I passed through the garden, I had to become a crouching Eldmia.

It’s unfair.

Wasn’t I just returning after finishing work?

Why did I end up in a situation where I had to kneel in front of Cheryl, who was standing there with a sharp edge, and bow my head as if I had committed a crime?

“I heard you returned to the guild early in the morning?”

“That’s… right?”

“Then why are you coming in now?”

It was like being scolded for not coming home right after work.

Despite having no reason to receive such treatment, I couldn’t help but speak in a shrinking voice.

“Well… you see… the party members were really good people… and it was also for long-term friendship building…”

“And?”

“It wasn’t just an ordinary after-party… the guild treated us so well for our hard work… it felt a bit awkward to just leave…”

“…Hmm.”

After my mumbling answer, the cold radish eyebrows seemed to soften a little.

“We have to go to the capital with Lagnis in four days, so rest well and take care of your body until then.”

Although she was clearly telling me to rest, Cheryl’s noble tone was so authoritative that it felt like sitting on a thorny cushion.

Seriously, why does this kid use three different speech patterns to make people uncomfortable?

Anyway, Cheryl stood up from her seat and entered the mansion as if delivering that message was her purpose.

But how did she know I would come at this time and was waiting here?

“……”

Ah, maybe a servant informed her.

With the help of the alcohol, I deliberately ignored reality and returned to my lodgings, organized my clothes and equipment, and lay down on the bed to sleep.

Thanks to the bathhouse provided by the guild, which even took care of laundry with magic, I was able to fall into a sweet sleep without any worries about washing.

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After that, time passed surprisingly without much incident.

It wasn’t until the second day, today, that there was a call from the guild for all of us to gather, but that was just to receive the remaining one gold coin we were supposed to get as usual.

“There will definitely be additional rewards… but it seems to be taking some time.”

I wasn’t particularly curious about why it was taking so long.

It was our common opinion that if there was an explosion of that magnitude, it would have been observed in some form, so if we waited, the reward would naturally come.

As a result, since we had gathered after a few days, we just rented the training ground behind the guild and had some friendly sparring before parting ways.

Inevitably, Rellie, being a mage, just watched, but she seemed to enjoy it thoroughly.

“Well then, shall we go?”

“I look forward to your help.”

Unlike the others who had parted ways, Gin was heading towards the adventurers’ district with me.

I had asked for his dwarven keen eye to help me acquire a new sword, and even though the conversation came up suddenly in the middle of sparring, Gin readily offered to help.

Yances’ longsword was beyond repair no matter what we tried, so it ended up being sold for scrap metal price.

“It wasn’t a bad sword, but it was a bit lacking for someone who uses aura. I recommend buying a better one, even if it’s a bit more expensive.”

“Since that’s the only proper sword I’ve ever handled, is there really a difference?”

“Now that’s impressive in its own way. Of course there’s a difference. If there wasn’t, all dwarves would be swindlers, wouldn’t they? Kekeke.”

Gin, who laughed heartily, took me to the dwarf district, a place I had never visited before.

It was quite large, being near to where skilled dwarf craftsmen lived while training human apprentices.

It was a place that was difficult to visit casually, as they dealt not only with adventuring gear but also with precious metals.

You could say it gave a feeling similar to a luxury store?

Looking around, most of the items on display seemed unconditionally expensive.

As we passed by those displayed items and entered the entrance of the forge inside, a dwarf who was watching the apprentices work while munching on something like dried fruit brightened up and shouted.

“Hey! Isn’t it Gin! It’s been a while! About 20 years?”

As expected of a dwarf, he talks about 20 years as if it were 2 weeks.

But the fact that Gin confidently came here means he knew this person had been working here for over 20 years?

It’s unlikely that all dwarves know each other inside out, so Gin might unexpectedly have a wide network.

“Has it been that long already? Then I guess I didn’t tell you I’ve become an adventurer?”

“What? Really? Since when?”

“It’s only been a few months. I’m a Blue-rank adventurer now.”

I was surprised along with the dwarf craftsman, as this was the first time I had heard about it too.

What on earth had this person been doing to be able to talk about becoming an adventurer as if it were just a hobby?

I wondered if all dwarves were like this, but seeing that person’s reaction, it didn’t seem to be the case.

“Well, well. I thought you’d been quiet for a while, but at your age, suddenly becoming an adventurer?”

“It’s been quite fun seeing many interesting things because of it. Anyway. Get my friend a sword, will you? It’s hard to find someone as good as you at making swords suitable for humans.”

The dwarf craftsman, who looked at me sympathetically as I staggered from Gin’s thick hand patting my back, smiled and greeted me.

“Oh? I see, a companion. I was so happy to see an old friend that I became rude. I’m Balkun Dmalli. Just call me Balkun.”

“I’m Eldmia Egga. Nice to meet you, Mr. Balkun.”

Balkun, who started looking at me with great interest from the simple handshake, burst into laughter and said to Gin.

“You’ve brought quite an unusual friend. He looks young, but how long has he been wielding a sword?”

I’m not sure what exactly he had figured out, but Balkun and Gin just chuckled and stroked their beards without exchanging words.

What is it? Let me laugh along too.

“You really do have something that gets you involved with people like this.”

“I thought so too, so I tried doing adventurer work, and it seems to be true.”

Balkun, who had an ambiguous conversation that only they understood while leaving me confused, thought for a moment and then went into the forge.

“I’m not doubting you, Gin or Mr. Balkun, but what kind of conversation was that?”

“It’s not easy to be that strong at your age, is it? My friend’s hobby is making sure promising warriors don’t die because of their weapons. He just measured your potential.”

“That’s quite an elaborate and grand hobby.”

“Kekeke. That’s what I’m saying.”

I couldn’t bring myself to ask about the success rate of that hobby, so I just spaced out for a while next to Gin, who had taken out his pipe and started smoking.

After a short time, Balkun came out again holding a longsword in one hand.

Unlike the items displayed outside, it was a simple sword without any decorations, to the point where I wondered if they even made such things here.

But isn’t that similar in length to the one I used to use?

“Draw it. It should be similar to the weapon you used to use.”

“Oh my goodness? How on earth did you know?”

“I’ve been doing this for years, if I didn’t know this much, I’d be a fool, not a dwarf.”

Unlike him, who was chuckling, I couldn’t help but be amazed as if I had seen some kind of magic.

Is this the power of experience?

“If nothing else, it’s sturdy. I’ll take just one gold coin.”

When I took out a gold coin from my pocket and handed it to him without the slightest hesitation, Balkun, rather surprised, asked back.

“Don’t you haggle?”

“I’m not an ill-mannered person who would haggle over an item handed directly by a dwarf.”

“Hohoho! What an interesting fellow! I like you!”

Dwarves have an interesting custom.

When selling items to others, they never hand over items they didn’t make themselves directly.

If they’re even slightly dissatisfied with the quality, they don’t hand it over directly.

They just put it on the display for people to take.

But being able to buy a sword directly handed over by a dwarf for one gold coin?

I dare say that among the one-gold-coin weapons out there, not a single one would be of a quality that a dwarf would hand over directly.

This was an incredibly cheap purchase, beyond what could be explained by a friend’s discount, so why would I hesitate?

After all, the reason I save money is to secure my safety by obtaining good equipment.

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