What Becomes of an Injured Adventurer

When he returned to the dining room with Finn, dinner preparations had just finished.

Azu and Orleans were carrying plates to the table.

Alexia had brought out a stockpot from the kitchen as well.

"Welcome back. Good work today."

"Thanks for getting everything ready."

"It's nothing at all."

Azu, having finished setting the table, eagerly pulled out his chair for him to sit.

The meal consisted of a cream stew loaded with various ingredients, golden-toasted white bread, salad, and beef steak.

Not a bad spread at all.

"I was going to keep it simple, but since you just wrapped up some business, I figured I'd put a bit more effort in. Also, some ingredients were about to go bad, so I threw everything that was left into the stew. We'll need to go shopping tomorrow."

"No wonder there's so much of it… Then it's off to the market tomorrow."

The stockpot was filled to the brim with cream stew.

It looked like something you'd see during prep at an inn's kitchen. He'd seen a sight like this at Kazusa's place before.

Well, Azu and the others could probably finish it all.

He ladled stew into everyone's bowls.

Bread was served on a platter for everyone to help themselves.

Once he confirmed everyone was seated, they began eating.

The cream stew was well-seasoned with salt and pepper. Delicious.

Beyond the chicken, it was packed with vegetables.

Plenty of nutrition in this.

The beef steak had been cooked to perfection, so tender it could have been prepared by a professional chef.

The meat itself hadn't been anything special, but…

Being a fire mage, Alexia probably had an intuitive grasp of heat control.

Elza took a bite and made a satisfied face.

Orleans was silently stuffing her cheeks. It wasn't going to run out even if she didn't rush.

Azu, happy to be seated next to him, kept striking up conversation.

"Mmm, this is so tender and good."

"Even cheap meat can taste great with the right technique. The trick is to score the sinew and let it sit in grated onion. With how many of us there are and how much everyone eats, I need tricks like that to keep everyone satisfied."

Alexia seemed proud of the steak, explaining her technique with a confident look.

"So what was the meeting about? A new job?"

Alexia cut into her steak while directing the question his way.

She'd apparently been curious about it.

If it turned into actual work, Azu and Alexia's group would be the ones doing it, so naturally she'd want to know.

"No, it was an investment offer."

"Huh. Getting offers like that is pretty impressive, isn't it? They must think you've got the money for it."

"I suppose… Working under royalty does tend to attract attention."

"Just accept that. As long as you're involved with those sisters, it's unavoidable. I thought for sure it'd be about taking on more adventurer work."

Currently, Azu's party was one of the most capable adventurer parties in the kingdom.

They had no shortage of commissions, whether named requests or open ones.

He'd been having them complete a moderate number of commissions to keep the Adventurer's Guild off their backs, so what Alexia was suggesting shouldn't be an issue.

"From what I heard, I'd rather you didn't invest much in the Insurance Association… But no, that's your decision to make, Master."

"I understand why you'd feel that way, Elza. But I've decided to invest. If it involves adventurers, it's not exactly unrelated to us. I think it's better to get involved through the investment than to stay on the outside."

"That might be better than ignoring it. Pretending we didn't see anything won't make the problem go away…"

He kept his conversation with Finn to himself for now.

There was no telling which way things would go.

He'd discuss it with everyone when the time came to act.

After the meal, they all cleaned up together and spent a leisurely moment in the living room.

That was when Finn whispered in his ear.

"I'm heading out, then. It's not like anything's happening today or tomorrow, so I'll come back whenever. Seems like you don't want the others to know yet."

"That'd be best. There's a chance nothing comes of it."

"We'll see about that. You might be better off not sticking your hand in too deep, you know."

"… I'll make a proper judgment once the information is in."

"That's the smart move."

He hadn't made any concrete decision to take action against the Insurance Association.

The fact that the Finance Minister was the chairman had shocked him, but… it also made sense.

Cutting the compensation budget for adventurers and broadly expanding the lending business. It was efficient money management, he had to admit. But with that Finance Minister at the helm, it was only natural things had gone this way.

The organization wouldn't change unless the person at the top did.

This was undoubtedly not an opponent Yohane could take on alone.

While Finn gathered information, he'd use his connections to ask around.

He'd really wanted to just enjoy the meal Alexia had put her heart into without a care in the world.

Starting the next day, Finn got to work.

He told the others she was gathering various information.

Specifically, who was investing in the Insurance Association, and where the collected money was flowing.

Whether it was a legitimate operation or not.

He was indignant about the abandonment of compensation in favor of pure lending, but if the operations themselves were legitimate, it would ultimately benefit adventurers too. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

Having committed to investing, he at the very least wanted to make absolutely sure of that.

… For now, the priority was grocery shopping.

Everyone except Finn headed to the market.

It was smaller than the Royal Capital's, but Kassad's market was bustling enough in its own right.

For everyday shopping, it was more than sufficient.

While picking up food and daily necessities, he spotted an unfamiliar shop and stopped by.

A young man was minding the store.

He noticed them and called out right away.

"Welcome! Take a look around, folks."

"Is this… dried fruit and jerky?"

"That's right. I make it all myself. The taste is pretty good, if I do say so. Feel free to try one."

He sampled some, and it was quite good.

Dried fruit and jerky were standard adventurer rations, but making them taste good was surprisingly difficult.

Azu and the others seemed to like it too.

"This is great. Good enough to snack on."

"Right? Plus it won't make you gain weight, so it's perfect for the ladies to munch on."

Hmph. Shrewd salesman.

He was appealing directly to the women.

Elza and Alexia both reacted for a split second to the phrase "won't make you gain weight."

"Then I'll take two bags of each. How much?"

"Five silver coins, but since you're buying in bulk, I'll do four."

"That's cheap."

"Heh, that's the perk of making it yourself. If I had to source it from someone else, it'd be too expensive to sell."

He handed over the silver coins.

That was when he noticed the young man was missing fingers.

There was scar tissue, so something had clearly happened.

"Oh, sorry about the unsightly hand."

"No, it's fine. An injury?"

"Yeah. Believe it or not, I used to be an adventurer. Lost them fighting a monster on an escort job. Couldn't grip a sword anymore, so I retired."

"I see… Did the Adventurer's Guild compensate you at all?"

"Just a 'good job' for completing the commission. But isn't that how it works? The client gave me a consolation payment, so I used that to start selling jerky and dried fruit. My party members always said mine was the best. You know how the store-bought stuff is never quite right."

"So you're confident in the quality. How's business?"

"Just getting started, so not great. I can't set up a shop in the Royal Capital, so I figured I'd try Kassad instead, but it's not easy."

He laughed it off, but things clearly weren't going well.

"If you're interested, how about making regular deliveries to us? I run a shop. I think the customers would enjoy this."

"Wait, really?!"

"Yeah. I'll let my employees know. The product's solid."

"Thank you so much!"

The young man bowed deeply.

But Yohane clapped him on the shoulder and told him to lift his head.

He had a sturdy build, as you'd expect from a former adventurer.

If he hadn't lost those fingers, he could have kept going for a long time.

And if the Insurance Association's compensation had been there, things would have been far easier for him.

"Don't be so formal. I just wanted to stock it because it tastes good. Keep at it."

"Yes, sir!"

He asked about the young man's daily production capacity and settled on a delivery amount.

Then they left the shop.

The young man kept bowing toward them long after they'd walked away.

"Feel sorry for him?"

"Not at all. I just thought the customers would like it. A new shop has no name recognition, so we're better off carrying it ourselves."

"Hmm."

Alexia watched him with a knowing grin.

Honestly, if she had something to say, she should just say it.

Elza was giving him a warm look too.

It was embarrassing. He didn't think of himself as soft enough to act on sympathy alone.

He ate a piece of dried fruit to hide his embarrassment.

It was gently sweet.

To make sure they didn't miss each other, he'd had Orleans head back first to pass along the message to the shop.

She was in and out of the shop regularly, so the staff there knew her well.