Chapter 247: 247 Holiday

It was around early lunchtime, a bit late for starting the day.

Rin was sprawled across the table with a pained expression.

Tanya and Mika were slumped in their chairs with similar faces.

This was the price of drinking until they collapsed last night, oblivious to their own limits.

“Uuuugh…”

“What were you thinking, drinking so recklessly?”

“It was our first time… we didn’t know it would be like this.”

Rin clutched her throbbing head with both hands.

Her head felt like it was splitting open, but she felt too guilty to show it. Glancing at the current time, Rin quietly checked Ian’s expression.

Today was supposed to be a patrol day.

But between the late hour and their current physical states, going out to fight was out of the question.

“What about the mission…?”

“There’s nothing we can do today.”

Fortunately, the sewer patrol mission was a weekly contract.

As long as they finished patrolling the designated areas by the set date, it wasn’t a breach of contract to miss one day.

Though they had originally planned to go in today… shifting the schedule by a day was no problem.

“We can just finish it tomorrow and the day after, so don’t push yourselves and rest today.”

“We’re sorry…”

Laughter drifted from behind the slumped group.

“You only learn these things by passing out once. Be glad you didn’t cause a bigger mess later on.”

The innkeeper emerged from the kitchen and set bowls down in front of the three. It was a hangover remedy he had prepared as a lunch menu after seeing their condition.

Rin, Tanya, and Mika barely managed to lift their heads and moved their spoons sluggishly.

“Haaaaah…”

By the time the three finally regained some energy, lunch had long since passed. While they felt better than before, it was too late in the day to start any work.

“I’ll count today as a holiday, so go take care of anything you need to do.”

It was an unexpected, sudden holiday.

However, the very people who had flubbed the day’s work couldn’t exactly skip away to play with light hearts after hearing it was a holiday.

They all just stole glances at Ian.

“What about you, Captain?”

“I don’t have anything in particular to do. Go on without me.”

Ian rarely joined the members when they went out to have fun. He figured that if he tagged along, they wouldn’t be able to truly relax.

“Good grief, you’re too stiff with your mercenaries. Here, everyone drink this,” the innkeeper said, placing water cups on the table one by one.

It was honey water.

He’d give the rookies the first glass for free. Once they realized how good it was, they’d start ordering and paying for it on their own next time.

It was the innkeeper’s way of emptying the pockets of rookies, having dealt with countless young mercenaries suffering from hangovers. Since it was a slow hour, the innkeeper, who had overheard the conversation, added a word.

“It’s good to socialize with your members a bit.”

In the eyes of the innkeeper, who had hosted numerous E-rank mercenary groups, their skills seemed quite impressive, but the problem was that the bond between the captain and the members still looked awkward.

From what he had seen over the years, mercenary groups that failed to connect didn’t last long.

Hearing that, Mika and Tanya nodded.

“Yeah! Captain, let’s go out together!”

“Exactly, I was wondering what the Captain does on his days off…”

And so, half-pushed by the momentum, Ian ended up going out with all the members.

…However, because it was a sudden holiday, none of the four had any plans.

Having stepped out onto the street aimlessly, they all glanced at Ian. Usually, on days like this, they would just wander around the shopping district to kill time… but they didn’t think Ian would do that.

“Come to think of it… whenever I see you, you’re always working. What do you do on your holidays?” asked Rin, who hadn’t really thought about it before but was now genuinely curious.

“I…”

…Ian usually just stayed holed up in his room on holidays. It wasn’t for any special reason; there just weren’t any places in this city that particularly interested him.

Of course, there were plenty of facilities mercenaries frequented, like arenas, gambling dens, and theaters… but they were places Ian couldn’t find any joy in visiting. He didn’t even have a smartphone or community galleries to browse.

In the end, he would just think of it as playing the game, spending time planning future goals or character builds. It was actually helpful for the future, and time passed well enough. However…

Ian looked at the three pairs of eyes watching him with curiosity. If he told them he spent his days off making future plans, wouldn’t they think he was some kind of madman?

So, Ian made up a plausible answer.

“I just go to places like cafes.”

“Cafes?”

It was a generic answer he’d improvised, but the three girls from the countryside looked on with sparkling eyes.

“Have you never been?”

“Our village didn’t have anything like that.”

“There should be plenty in the Labyrinth.”

“It’s scary to go inside…”

Cafes were a part of urban culture. Although they were living in the massive city of the Labyrinth now, such places were still unfamiliar and intimidating to approach.

Seeing someone right in front of them who actually went to the cafes they’d only heard stories about piqued their interest. Since they all seemed interested in his improvised excuse, Ian made a suggestion.

“Then, do you want to try going to one?”

***

A short distance away from the shopping district frequented by mercenaries, Ian headed toward a cafe located at the entrance of the high-end shopping district.

Because of its luxurious exterior, it was the kind of shop that countryside mercenaries would never have the courage to set foot in. Ian walked in as if it were nothing and seated the members at a table by the window.

Perhaps due to the overwhelming atmosphere, everyone except Ian sat frozen in their seats.

“Th-this is a… cafe…?”

“Is it really okay for us to be in here…?”

While the members whispered nervously to one another, Ian took the menu. Ian hadn’t actually been to this specific shop before, but… it was just a cafe. He had used them frequently back when he played the game.

It was a rest facility where characters with traits like [Aristocratic] or [Elegant] received stress relief bonuses. Lower-end facilities like bars or gambling dens occasionally triggered negative events like ’arguments’ or ’brawls.’ In contrast, places like this were better in every way, except for the higher cost.

Rin, peeking at the menu Ian was holding, spoke quietly.

“I’ll… I’ll have the same thing as the Captain.”

“Ah, me too…”

“…I’ll take the cheapest thing.”

Mika tried to pick something, but seeing a menu filled with names she didn’t recognize at all, she eventually gave up. Seeing the flustered trio, Ian called a server and put in the orders himself.

“An apple mint here, and a chocolate latte over there…”

Without much thought, Ian simply ordered drinks with preference tags that matched each of their personalities.

“And two slices each of cheesecake and raspberry tart.”

Not long after Ian finished ordering, the drinks and cakes were placed in front of each person. Seeing the tea and desserts served in elegant cups, everyone let out gasps of wonder.

“Whoa…”

Ian picked up his cup first, and the rest followed suit, hesitating until they saw him. Rin was a bit wary, remembering the taste of the coffee she’d had at the guild, but after seeing the positive reactions from Tanya and Mika, she cautiously brought the cup to her lips.

“Oh, it’s sweet…”

The intense sweetness touching the tip of her tongue seeped into her body. Since drinking that thing called coffee at the guild recently, she had assumed all teas would be like that. This one suited Rin’s taste perfectly.

When Rin stole a glance to see what Ian was drinking, she saw he was drinking that coffee stuff that looked like the tea from before. …Why would he drink something like that? Is there a flavor only smart people can appreciate?

Rin tilted her glass while staring intently at Ian.

A quiet and peaceful time passed, with the conversation pausing for a moment. It was a lazy afternoon with the sun shining down.

“This cafe thing is quite nice…”

“I agree.”

Until now, they had spent their holidays in crowded shopping districts or packed restaurants. But looking at this leisurely scenery made them feel a sense of inner peace. Tanya felt like she finally understood why people spent their holidays in places like this.

Taking a quick look around the shop, Tanya said as if surprised, “I was nervous because I heard this was a place for nobles and the wealthy… but it’s not as difficult as I thought.”

“Other cities might be like that, but here, everyone is a mercenary. No matter where you go, they’re doing business with mercenaries, so there’s no need to worry about that.”

Just as Ian said, the cafe didn’t refuse entry to mercenaries, nor was the process complicated. Of course, the menu was full of names they had never seen before… but they remembered the names of the drinks and desserts Ian had ordered. If they asked for the same thing as today, they felt like they could definitely come back.

The fantasy of a cafe being a place where noble ladies spent their time—the misunderstanding that they shouldn’t dare set foot inside—was cleared up. There was even a strange sense of satisfaction, as if they had become noble ladies themselves.

“Let’s come here again next time.”

“Yeah.”

At Tanya’s whisper, Mika and Rin nodded in satisfaction. And a short while later, when they received the bill. Looking at the amount Ian had paid, the three of them received the most chilling shock of their mercenary lives.

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