Semi-retired Adventurer Lives Leisurely

Chapter 17: The Day at the Bear’s Keg Inn

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The Bear’s Keg Inn.

 

I watched the crowds of customers fill in the lunchtime venue as I waited for my food to arrive.

 

Yesterday, I worked extra hard in the Griffin’s territory, so as a reward to myself, I’m chugging down ale while it’s still daytime.

 

And before long, Lana quickly walks over with the bowls and plates.

 

Lana: “Sorry for the wait, Mr.
Henry! I brought your sides to your lunch.”

 

Henry: “Oh, nice.
Thanks for bringing it over.”

 

Lana: “Your main order will take some time, so I added some fried chips as an extra.”

 

Henry: “Thanks.
No worries.
I’m in no hurry today.”

 

At the Bear’s Keg Inn, you can start drinking starting from noontime, but there are lots of people who come here for regular lunch.

 

You can order regular sides which will take more time, or you can order the daily lunch special and its sides and get it faster.
The daily specials change everyday, so it’s a smart way to keep the customers flowing.

 

Today’s lunch is their specialty sausage, fried potatoes, salad, and soup.
And you get your choice of rice or bread.

 

Yup, it’s delicious

 

Henry: “Oh! Ho—, hot!”

 

The sausage was delicious as always.
The combination of this and the ale is a match made in heaven.

 

I clean off the rest of the dishes.

 

The sour and sweet salad dressing, and fried potatoes.
I drink more ale, and after my second serving of ale, I drink down the soup.

 

Lana: “Mr.
Henry, I brought your chicken steak.”

 

Henry: “Thanks.
Can I get a gizzard stew.
And you said you got a shipment of liquor from Rishu, right? Can you warm a *hot one up?”

{{Chonky Notes : basically Japanese saké served warm in a bottle.
The high temperature makes the alcohol circulate faster}}

 

Lana: “I’m always surprised by how much you eat and drink.”

 

Henry: “Aren’t all adventurers healthy eaters?”

 

Lana: “But Mr.
Henry, even in comparison, you’re eating too much.
I don’t mind because it’s great business for us but—“

 

Speaking like a true business woman, Lana heads to the kitchen with my additional orders.

 

… alright, let’s eat this chicken steak before it gets cold.

 

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Teo: “Hello.
…oh…”

 

I heard a familiar voice and look over to the entrance, and I see Cyril and Teo standing at the Bear’s Keg Inn entrance.

 

I was sitting at a table near the entrance, and they quickly notice me and head over to my table.

 

Cyril: “Oh, Henry! Wait, are you already drinking? It’s still day time!”

 

Henry: “Yu—p… Cyril, wanna join me?”

 

Cyril: “Nope.
No thank you.”

 

Cyril came and sat down next to me uninvited as usual.
I asked her if she wanted to join in on the fun, but she refused without hesitation.

 

Teo: “…
I know it’s your off day, but please don’t embarrass yourself too much.
A bad reputation on your part will negatively affect our team’s reputation.”

 

Henry: “It’s fine.
Don’t worry about it.
Alcohol and adventurers go hand in hand.”

 

I get a warning from Teo, but if you think about it, the god, Grandes, is a huge drinker.
They say that he drank by the barrel-full‘s after a battle.
In other words, there’s no issue if the followers of the Grandes church like to drink.

 

Lana: “Oh, Teo, and Ms.
Cyril.
Welcome.”

 

Since I stay at this inn, Cyril got to know Lana.
They have a slight age difference, but they’re good friends now.

 

Cyril: “Hello.
I’ll have the daily special with bread.
What about you, Teo?”

 

Teo: “I’ll have the same.”

 

Lana: “I’ll bring it right out.
Please wait a moment.”

 

Lana heads to the kitchen.

 

Henry: “So why are you two hanging out?”

 

Cyril: “Well, since we made some good money on our last expedition, we decided to go shopping together.
And before we hit the stores, we decided to get something to eat.”

 

I see.
It’s good seeing party members get along.
The biggest reasons a party dissolves is (1) money troubles and (2) relationship drama.

 

Teo: “I said I don’t need new clothes, but Cyril kept insisting.”

 

Cyril: “You’re such a cute girl! It would be a waste if you didn’t dress up a little more! Just leave it to me! As Flowtier’s most famous lead fashion guru, you are in good hands! I’ll coordinate the best outfits this city can offer!”

 

I’m pretty sure that no one knows her by that title, but Cyril does have good taste in clothes.

 

Henry: “In that case, you should take Corden with you.”

 

Cyril: “Who’s Corden?”

 

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Henry: “Dontcha know? Back in the day, Corden-ate bad fashion and became famous.”

 

Cyril slapped me on the shoulder.

 

Cyril: “Could you stop with the terrible dad jokes?”

 

Henry: “Fine, fine.”

 

Sheesh, what’s wrong with a little humor?

 

・・・

 

After we finished eating, Cyril and Teo were resting till the food digested and hung around.

 

I ate and drank a lot, so I was drinking some water to let the buzz wear off.

 

Lana: “Here’s your peach juice.”

 

Cyril: “Thank you Lana—“

 

Cyril got the peach juice she ordered.

 

Cyril: “Oh, Lana! Teo and I were going shopping! Did you wanna come?” We can wait till you’re done working!”

 

Lana: “Oh! Um, I appreciate you inviting me but…”

 

She seems to want to go but can’t make up her mind.

 

On any other day, after the lunch rush, the restaurant helpers would leave the restaurant, and Lana would manage by herself until dinner time.

 

“Lana, I’ll take care of the restaurant, so go ahead and go have some fun.”

 

A middle aged, stout lady called out to Lana after wiping down the table next to us.

 

Lana: “Oh! But um, still…”

 

“Don’t worry about a thing.
I’ll tell Nord myself.
But just stick around a little longer till things settle down, and then you can go.”

 

Lana: “Yes ma’am! Thank you, Mrs.
Wendy!”

 

Lana bows her head to Mrs.
Wendy and turns back to Cyril.

 

Lana: “Um, so if it’s not too much trouble, I’d like to join you Ms.
Cyril.

 

Cyril: “Of course! I’m so glad that you decided to go.”

 

Lana seems to be in an even better mood than usual as she goes back to work.

 

Cyril: “Lana is such a good girl.
She works so hard, so I’d hate to see her not stretch her wings every once in a while.”

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Henry: “Yeah, she is.
She said her hobby is studying, and I’ve been here a while, but I have yet to see her take a break.”

 

Cyril: “Shee—sh…”

 

Cyril looks even more impressed.
Yeah, you don’t look like the studious type.

 

Teo: “…Lana has always been really smart.
We went to preschool together, and she always got full marks on every test.”

 

Oh yeah, there was a school nearby here.

 

In the Alvenia Kingdom, you can learn reading, writing, and basic arithmetic at a reasonable rate.
I heard there’s government-run schools where they teach history and law as well.
They have these schools in every major city.
As long as you don’t have any extenuating circumstances, most kids will go to school till they’re about 10 years old in this country.

 

Lana said she wasn’t interested, but higher education is sponsored by the country and is affordable to common citizens.

 

Teo: “The teacher always said that Lana can earn scholarships so she should go to the high school or any colleges and universities.”

 

Henry: “…university?”

 

Teo: “Yes.”

 

That’s the highest learning institution there is in this country! If you can go at the age around 10, how friggin’ smart do you have to be?!

 

Cyril: “Kekeke, no matter how smart she is, she’ll be under my care today.
I’ll dress her and Teo and mold them into beautiful swans…”

 

Henry: “Hey, chill out.
You’re scaring Teo.”

 

Cyril’s opening and closing her hands palms up with some weird ambition firing up inside her eyes.

 

Henry: “Fine, whatever.
I’m going back to my room to rest.”

 

Cyril: “Oh, can we come too? We’re done eating, so I feel bad to stick around and take up one of their tables.”

 

Teo: “That‘s true.”

 

・・・

 

Well, there was no reason to tell them no, so we went back to my room.

 

Cyril: “Oh, it’s tidier than I thought!”

 

Henry: “I mean, it’s an inn, so Lana cleans up the place daily.
She also does my laundry.
I’ll always be in her debt.”

 

I completely gave up on apartments and may just live here.

 

Cyril: “But Henry, you’ve been here a while, but you barely have any furniture or belongings.”

 

Henry: “Hey! Stop being so nosy and looking through my stuff!”

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Thankfully, I don’t have anything here to be embarrassed about, but it’s still embarrassing nonetheless.

 

Henry: “Since I became an adventurer, I’ve been living in inns.
That’s why I travel really light.”

 

As an adventurer, I have a few changes of clothes, toiletries, some notebooks for diaries and note keeping, and a few photos.

 

Oh yeah, almost forgot.

 

Henry: “Hey Teo, lemme show you something.”

 

Teo: “?? Yes, what is it?”

 

Henry: “Here.
It’s a photo with me and Ageha.”

 

That’s right—.
I had a photo with Teo’s cousin, a current Hero of Legend.
At the time, Ageha and I were part of the same party, and this was taken at the farewell party.
We had key members retire, and the party disbanded.

 

Teo: “…wow, you really did know Sister Ageha.”

 

Henry: “Why would I lie about that?”

 

I guess some people do lie about their relation to celebrities.

 

Cyril: “Wow, look at all these pictures! Aren’t photos expensive?”

 

Henry: “Someone I know is a photo hobbyist.
She would make copies and give it to us to keep.”

 

I wonder how she’s doing…

 

Cyril: “On a closer look, Henry, you’re scowling or in a really bad mood in every picture.”

 

Henry: “…it’s the photographer’s fault.”

 

Around the time of the photos, I was not easy to hang around.
I don’t regret those times, but I wish I took it just a bit more easy.

 

…but I guess I can only say that in hindsight.

 

Because of how I was, I was able to accomplish my goal, and now I’m enjoying my life more.
So all in all, it turned out just fine,

 

Henry: (*yawn) “I don’t mind you guys sticking around, but I’m gonna lay down for a bit.
The drinks are making its way around.
You can leave whenever you want.”

 

Cyril: “What about the key?”

 

Henry: “Lana has the master key.
Use that to lock the door behind you.
Good ni—ght…”

 

I stumble into my bed.

 

I think I’m still tired from yesterday, and my consciousness instantly drifts to sleep.