Adventures and Paying Off Debts Await

"Are you all right, good sir?" a moustached face appeared above me, blocking my view.

"No," I replied honestly.

"Ah, he is crushed by the sudden departure of his love! Fear not, dear shopkeeper, I shall find your beloved!"

"Really?" I jumped up from the ground.

Perfect! Let that scoundrel pay for it herself!

"Um, no, she won’t." This time it was the dwarf woman who spoke. "She’d need a ton of permits and seals for that."

"Ah, forbidden love is forbidden indeed!" Winry cried and clutched her chest dramatically.

To hell with love—I want my money!

"But why are you looking for Lagata, anyway?" Lay asked.

"Well, because of forbidden lo—"

"Oh, shut up already!"

Silently, I thanked the dwarf and explained my situation. It felt like the least I could do, since they'd helped me.

"Hmm… hm… hmmm… yeah, you're in a tight spot, friend," Lay nodded. "In master Lumir’s shops, those things come with hefty penalties. They’ll probably add it as an amendment to your contract."

"So they’ll keep me here another half a year!"

"If you manage to pay it off quickly, maybe they'd forgive you, but…," the dwarf eyed me doubtfully, "...I really don’t see how you’d gather that kind of money."

Curse you, Lumir! I lamented internally, pondering my fate.

"We offer our sincere condolences, but we really must be going," Lay apologized. "We have another quest today."

A quest? A quest! A brilliant idea suddenly popped into my head.

"Take me with you!" I blurted and dramatically reached out to them like a tortured soul calling out to Dante in purgatory.

The four adventurers looked at each other in confusion.

"And what would you do there?"

"Well, I would… I mean… I really need the money," I admitted sadly.

"No, absolutely not," the elf replied coldly.

"Oh come on, Duru," Winry spoke up. "Just look at this poor thing. He’s begging like an adorable little puppy… I’m sure you can do that, right?" She winked at me. "Come on, beg… come on, beg," she teased me.

I was tempted to punch her right through those stupid glasses but Lay interrupted me.

"We should take this poor man’s situation more seriously. I think… I think we should help him."

They all looked at each other gravely, almost solemnly.

"Let’s vote," Winry suggested. "Who agrees?"

Three hands went up—Lay’s, the dwarf’s, and Winry’s.

"And who’s against?"

Though it was completely pointless—since the vote was already decided—the elf still raised his hand with a look of disgust crossing his face.

"Thank you!" I exclaimed.

"All right, but it won’t be free," Winry warned me with a smile.
"Huh? Then there’s no point going if I’ll just end up deeper in debt!"

Where’s human compassion, you monsters!

"Hey, be grateful we’re even taking you with us. Believe me, this is going to be more trouble than you think."

"So what’s the price?" I sighed, defeated.

"This whetstone, the ribboned hat and… that plushie over there. And everything with a ten percent discount!"

With a heavy heart, like a man whose debts raise blisters on burnt hands, I rang it all up and added another 13 glens to my debt.

"Okay then, but we don’t have much time left, so hurry up and get ready," the dwarf ordered me.

I headed to the office when I suddenly realized I had nothing to prepare.

"Um… do you think it’d be okay if I borrowed that?" I pointed to a sword on a stand priced at a hundred glens.

"No!" came four protesting voices.

"Yeah, that’s what I thought," I sighed. "Well, in that case, I’m ready."

"Why did I agree to this," the dwarf whispered with a sigh.

We headed toward the portal when I suddenly stopped.

"Wait, I can’t even leave this place!"

"We know that. Leave it to me," the sorceress winked at me.

"Winry can enchant you so the portal thinks you're a hero," explained the dwarf, whose name was Zirka, as she had just told me.

"Wait, wait, wait! If you can do that, then just enchant me and I’ll leave this place right now!" My heart jumped with hope.

"It’s not that simple. The spell only lasts for half an hour, so I’d have to constantly renew it—and trust me, chasing after an unemployed shopkeeper isn’t really my dream," Winry explained sarcastically.

"Can’t someone else do it?"

"No, it’s a rare spell and I’d rather not advertise it too much."

"Winry was once a professional in shady business, you know," Zirka winked at me. "This spell isn’t exactly legal."

Strange, why would they go to such lengths to help me? I wondered as I stepped into the portal.
This time, it felt like being chewed up and spit out by an elephant. I was starting to realize portals had flavours—like ice cream. I should make a tier list.

We appeared in a large hall with many balconies and bridges. The ceiling was made of glass, beautifully lighting the entire space. I walked up to the iron railing and looked down. We were on the fifth floor.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"It seems you don’t know much about this world, good sir…" Lay began.

"Call me Seiichi, please," I interrupted him.

"Hmm, doesn’t sound like you’re from around here," Winry agreed thoughtfully. "Oh well, this world is full of weirdos from other worlds."

I didn’t feel like explaining how my life drastically improved since I transmigrated, so I remained silent.

"Anyway, we’re at a sort of crossroads between shops. You can buy almost anything here," Lay continued.

So basically, a shopping mall. At least I didn’t end up in some world where they just invented the wheel.

We passed through the hall and into the city called Ychmay, as I was told. It was a fairly pleasant-looking place. It had a Western medieval vibe, like every proper city from an isekai story. We kept going until we reached the teleportation tower, operating on a similar principle to the shopping center. We stopped at the entrance.

Lay pulled out a cloak from his backpack and unbuckled a dagger from his waist. He handed both to me along with the backpack.

"Put this on and take Zirka’s pack too. We’ll mark you as a volunteer equipment carrier. It’s a common practice, so no one will suspect anything."

"And if we slide a few coppers under the table, you’ll vanish from their minds like memories after a wild Sunday night," the dwarf assured me and handed over her backpack.

"Hey Kuphel," Zirka greeted the receptionist, who looked no more pleasant or enthusiastic than the lady who first sent me to work for Lumir. I was developing a natural distrust of receptionists.

"Ah, Lay’s group. You’ve got a portal reserved for two o’clock."

"Yeah, harpy egg hunt like last time."

Kuphel looked at the paper in front of him.

"Well, there’s been a slight change. Fich’s group took that one. I got word to assign you the sphinx egg hunt instead."

"What?!" Zirka burst out. "That bastard Fich."

"Um… sphinxes lay eggs?" I asked in confusion, as a certified expert in Greek and Egyptian mythology—who was interested in it for two weeks in fifth grade.

"I’ll explain it later, good sir."

"Call me Seiichi. That whole 'good sir' thing freaks me out."

"So are we going or not?" the elf said. "We’ve done this dozens of times—what are we waiting for?"

"I’m not sure this is a good idea," Lay muttered under his breath.

"Oh come on, let’s go?" Winry encouraged them. "As a C-rank group, we can’t turn down such an easy job."

"Fine, we’ll take it." Zirka sighed and handed the pen to Lay, who signed the contract.

"Wait, who’s that?" the receptionist noticed me.

"Equipment carrier."

"Cool, so get out already."

Wow, that was a lot easier than I expected. But hey, that’s good.

We climbed the spiral staircase until we stood before the bubbling orange portal. The adventurers nodded silently at one another and stepped inside. I nervously followed, a strange feeling of anticipation and excitement bubbling in my gut.