Sword, Magic and Academic Society

Vol. 1 - Ch. 69 - Explorer's Tavern (3)

Just as I was cradling my throbbing head from thinking how much rea the beer these folks were gonna guzzle down was going to cost, the Boss stepped in to give me a rundown.

"Worry not, this store doesn't sell any expensive liquor, at best it would cost around 50,000 rea even if they drank all of the tavern's stored liquor under the table. You know, just think of it as an investment and forget about it. Your skills have long outgrown the current equipment that you're wearing, not vice-versa. I mean, yeah, it's better to focus on one thing than being the master of none but at least buy something that’ll last longer. Right, don't forget to keep checking your equipment, you're someone with wind on your legs when it comes to growth."

Haa, there goes half of my windfall... But, the Boss's words were indeed correct. I would, and by extension <Apple House>, have fewer punks daring to underestimate me. The less trouble there was, the easier it was to work.

Honestly, I had taken a liking to that knife, but at the end of the day its purpose was to help in gathering and it sucked at dismantling. It would be great if I could use it like a sword, so I guess my next choice would be something with a longer reach.

"Alright. I’ll put it in priority and have a talk with the people from the arms store where I’m a regular."

???

"I’ve been meaning to ask you, why haven't you raised your rank yet? Your problem of money can be easily solved by accepting higher rank requests."

"Hmm? I’m surprised you know about my explorer rank situation...... Well, I have two reasons. I wanted to experience the work of an explorer from the ground up, and the second is, well, quite a lot of embellished rumors about me are spreading. I don't want to give any more food to the rumor mill and have them spout things like breaking through the ranks with unprecedented speed or something like that."

"Well, of course, I’ve been keeping an eye on you. I’ve heard things from Satowa. Man, and here I had given the order to rank you up as soon as possible even with simple grass medicinal herb requests just so that I could check your abilities with my own eyes in the nomination request, and here you are, like a bear in hibernation, as if you have swore to not rank up. I thought it was just the knightly work delaying you when I heard you join one, but look at you sneakily letting the kids dismantle the low vultures you hunt in the garden. So that was all just a pretense."

Wait a minute. He sounded like he was one of the association employees and someone in one of those bigwig positions to boot. Oh yeah, he just said Satowa, didn't he?... Damn, so much for the tight-lipped. This made it the second time now.

"Are you an employee at the association, Uncle? You know, Satowa has such a cheap mouth to spread embellished rumors about me. Can you believe it, he said he’ll only tell the president."

"Huh, you still don't know? He’s none other than the President of the Explorer Association."

The Boss, who was listening in on our discussion, suddenly dropped a bomb with a breezy expression.

"E-Ehhh!? You surely jest, Boss. How in the world does this person look like anyone important!? I really wonder how the association is doing with a person as financially inept as him at the head."

"Dahaha! It would flop, of course. I have my excellent Vice-Presidents to deal with pain in the butt work. Me? Call me Mr. Fighting Specialist! Anyway, I received a report from Satowa, and I was the one who issued the rank-up at any achievement order for you!

And you see, I hardly get such amusing stories so the next thing I knew, I talked about it at the tavern. Then some upper-class nobility came to Satowa for intel which he couldn't turn down so he snitched in the end! Hahaha— owww!"

My hand involuntarily decked Uncle's head.

"Aren't you the root of all evil then!? Really, just give me a break!"

I was just getting into an argument with Uncle when Pan-san came pushing an absurdly huge cart loaded with meat. Just a sniff of the rising aroma from the meat was enough to make my mouth water. The meat was as huge as a rice bag, which I believe should be 60kg. Hey, hey, could we really finish it off with just us four?!

"It's grilled! The oval part is the rib roast, the circle is the tail, and on the bone is the belly meat. Regrettably, there’s only that much cheek meat. Who is going to eat it?"

"Well, it's a treat for Ren today, and besides, he was the one who took down the queen as well. We’ve already eaten it many times, so let him have it."

Damn, why was he considerate only at this time? Kuh, I can't even bring myself to complain.

"Sure, sure. It's your first time, right? Here, try out every part."

"Thank you very much."

While Pan-san cut up the meat, Uncle, still glaring at me, said,

"Alright. I’ve already seen your actual skill since that was all there was for the raising rank order so I’ll put a stop to it now. Just ask Lynd and you can contact me anytime. But your skills are already on par with a B-rank explorer, and including that scouting skill of yours, I bet even A-rank parties would want to get you on their team. Listen well, just being strong isn't enough, rank is just as important. There’ll always be pests around to cause problems — the earlier brawl was an example — and if you don't want to stop at every step, C-rank is the minimum. The higher you go in rank, the more respected you are in the Association, so having you playing truant like this is just a waste of time."

In short, ‘Get your rank the hell up!’ was what he was implying. In my case, though, I had taken and completed quite a good amount of low-rank quests ranging from F to D rank in the last month alone. And then, there were also Amur and Loye-aniki as well as Coco and Al whom I made temporary parties with as my cover.

I would have to complete a D-rank quest solo or be a leader of a party who could complete an equivalent level quest if I wanted to be promoted from my current rank E to D. This was something I had learned from that old lady at the eastern branch. I mean, all her excuses came down to 'because it's the rule' so I might as well note down all the rules. There was no way Satowa could do anything if I didn't fulfill all the criteria.

But yeah, I had more or less enjoyed what I wanted to do, if anything, the lack of money was coming back to bite me. There were so many things I wanted to buy but I had no money to buy them.

"Hmm, I think I don't mind raising my rank to C, but I do wish that no strange rumors start flying around again… Don't you have any idea how to avoid that?"

"There is. It's a bit of an obscure rule, but you can register yourself as an explorer using an alias if you have a valid reason. Besides, it's me who approves these things in the end, so I guess you can avoid the ruckus by registering as 'Ren'. Just in case, I’ll put the gag order to hide the fact that 'Ren' and 'Allen Rovenne' are connected. What do you say, isn't it flawless?"

There was such hidden waaaay!? Oh god, that was really a lifesaver. I had been taking precautions to not show my license to anyone besides Saki-san, but it was always like walking on eggshells.

"Fine. I’ll rank up to C-rank. So, what do I have to do?"

A grin crept on Uncle's face as he heard my words.

"I’ll pass my words down so you just need to visit the headquarters with your license. Let's say your effort in dealing with the honey ant's nest was a request, so you’ve basically already completed the requirement. Anyway, that's enough brainy chatter! Come on, drink and dine! Oi, you lot! Who wants a bite of the rock lizard steak grilled with honey ants queen’s honey? Ren took her down with his bow. First come first serve!"

Following Uncle's shout, the other explorers, who had been eagerly eyeing the meat, immediately burst into cheers.

"Hurry up, eat while it's still hot!"

The four types of steak Pan-san served glistened with a glossy glaze reminiscent of teriyaki. I worked my knife first on a rib roast and tried it out.

Delish! Woah, that was really delicious. I think this was pretty much the first time I’ve been so moved by this world's cooking. If anything, it wasn't sugary at all, contrary to the image the ant queen’s honey gave off.

The steak, although grilled with honey, had its sweetness mellowed out by the reddish-brown sauce made of but not limited to pepper — they were spicier than the ones from Earth — and herbs which Pan-san dubbed the 'store-secret sauce.'

Rock lizards usually had beefy muscles which made their meat quite hard, but the one on my plate was extremely soft and chewy. Apparently, the honey ant's honey could dramatically soften the meat when rubbed on it.

I couldn't stop myself from smacking my lips at the blast of flavor from the rib's thin meat, the refined taste, and the punch from the secret sauce that exploded in my mouth with each bite. I was a bit jealous that the Boss and the others ate this on a regular basis.

The tail was more meaty, with only a slight hint of fat. However, it was still so supple and juicy that you could easily poke into it with your finger. It seemed like the tail was Saki-san's favorite part.

The belly meat that accompanied the ribs was slightly stiff but rich with fat. It was definitely the one that packed the densest taste of them all. Uncle had served himself a 10kg portion of it.

Overall, the ant honey worked as a binder to keep all the flavor locked in while spicy sauce worked to overpower its sweetness, leaving behind soft, juicy meat packed with flavor. The alcohol was strong, but in my opinion, a refreshing beer with a more crisp flavor went down easily, no matter how much you had.

I left the grilled cheek meat for last. Saki-san told me how a plate of the same cost a ridiculously 3000 rea at a first-class restaurant in the Royal Capital. I mean, yeah, food tasted better when hot but were you really a normal person if you didn't leave the tastiest part for the end?

Just as I was drowning myself in the spectacular combo of the meat and beer, one of the explorers whom I had shot down earlier approached my seat.

"Hey, I’m the C-rank explorer Bert. Still, you sure pack quite a punch for a kid, huh? I was surprised. By the way...... Aren't you going to stop that?"

The 'that' he pointed at was the brawl between the Boss and Uncle. Apparently, Uncle was mad that the Boss didn't inform him about me joining 'Apple House' and grabbed his collar. They had been going at it since then.

"And I’m saying I kept quiet to avoid forming any prejudice because you saaaaid you wanted to see him with your own eyes!"

"And I’m saying then you should have just told me already for damn sake! How many months have gone down the gutter because of that, haaaa!?"

"No joke, I ain't free! No one’s stopping you from coming to visit!"

"So you want to do it, you bastard?"

"Damn, bring it on!"

I just looked at them and shook my head. My body was already screaming for rest, no way was I gonna stick my neck in there and shoot myself in the foot.

"I have no reason to stop them from fighting. See, even Saki-san is focusing on his beer, so just leave them alone. Aaa~~h, delish! I can eat this for days without getting bored, really!"

"...Pat You sure are going to be something big, kid."

Bert-san said while patting my shoulder. He then returned to his seat.

I was about to continue when the Boss, having been tossed by Uncle, crashed on where I was, and took down the apple of my eye, the cheek meat steak, with him. The dish and whatever meat was on it was now eating dust, literally.

"A-AAAAAAAHHHHH!!!"

A despair-filled scream escaped from my mouth. Uncle turned to glance at what it was all about and spouted, "Hnn, what's the big deal? It just fell, it’s not the end of the world. Just give it one or two 'fu-fu' and eat it!"

?!

D-Did he just tell me to 'fu-fu' the food from the floor, the same floor that who knew how many mud-covered shoes have walked on? To me who had been raised in a gourmet superpower and a clean-freak nation that was Japan!? Damn you old fart, now you’ve done it!!

"Y-Y-Y-You dare to say that even after everything that happened?! Fuck you baldie! Boss, let's take him down!!"

Afterward was a tragedy.

He was shit strong when it came to a fistfight. The Boss and I tag-teamed him and managed to put up a good fight at the start, but eventually, we were both overpowered. And when I thought there wasn't enough force on our side, a few people joined in the fray for fun and it eventually turned into a store-wide brawl.

In the end, the owner finally snapped and had it settled with a drinking contest. But we lost even in that, and all the cost of tables and dishes destroyed in the brawl was put on my bill to pay. Yeah, all the 100,000 rea that I hadn't even seen once went down the drain in one night. Down to the last dime.

The following day, I was promoted to B-rank.

It seemed like Uncle only left a half-assed explanation, so when I visited the headquarters with my license the next day, I was directly promoted to B-rank. I protested to the receptionist sister but I was once again told the 'because it's the rule' line. What else could I have done there?

The day after that, I directly protested to Uncle, but he had apparently forgotten it all in the hangover and said to let bygones be bygones. I just couldn’t get through to him at all.

This damn baldie, he surely hid his con-man-like shrewdness behind his muscle-brain appearance. And I walked into his trap. Haa......

E/N - Lots to comment this chapter. I lol’ed at Shell’s proposal for the MC to use his Ren alias as if it wasn’t already known that Ren=Allen based on Jeu’s chapter. Then the meat description made me so hungry I had to buy food while I was editing this ?. Lastly F to the cheek meat

T/N - Only known to very few people, as Jeu mentioned that ‘they have a headstart over others.’ From the next chapter starts the blood bat—I mean Mc’s sister arc. It will touch on that incident as well.