Chapter 4: The Old Man Remembers the Past

I gave a bitter smile and shook my head.

No way a divine beast… a Fenrir… was in that group.

No matter how good I am at running away, there’s no way I could face a divine beast and come back in one piece like this.

Sigh… I need to stop dreaming about stupid things and think about reality.

I have something pressing I need to do right now.

That’s right… I have the important job of finding a place to sleep tonight…

I walked alone through the streets at night, the evening wind blowing against me.

Tonight… I have nowhere to go.

Of course, I don’t own a house or anything.

I usually live day-to-day in the cheapest, most run-down inns.

But now, even the money for a place like that is gone, thanks to that payment for supplies from earlier.

Yep… I am now, quite literally, flat broke.

Which means… well… I guess I have no choice but to sleep outside…

Luckily, the town I’m in isn’t in a cold region.

I won’t freeze to death sleeping outside for one night.

Besides, this kind of thing happens every now and then during my long life as an F-ranker.

So if you asked if I’m used to it, I’d say I am.

Not that it’s anything to be proud of…

And so, for times like these—sleeping outside—I’ve got a little something prepared for comfort.

I took a small flask of liquor out from my coat.

This is the only possession I have left.

If I use this to warm myself up, I should be able to manage.

I couldn’t even drink properly earlier because of that mess with Celesties.

Still… sleeping outdoors is pretty rough on a middle-aged body…

Sigh… even in my old world, I never ended up homeless…

But in this world, days like today are common.

At this rate… being a corporate drone might have been better.

Back then I had no dreams or hopes, but at least I had the basic necessities of life.

Now I don’t even have that.

And I, who barely drank at all in my past life, am now one step away from being a full-blown alcoholic.

After all, drinking is about the only pleasure I have here.

Sighing heavily to myself, I sat down in a back alley.

Just then… a guard on his night rounds came into view.

Sigh… the guards have gotten pretty strict lately…

If they find me drinking and sleeping on the street, they’ll definitely have something to say about it.

I reluctantly got to my feet, walked down the street, and headed out of town.

When I say “out of town,” it’s a small town to begin with. There isn’t a wall separating the inside from the outside. So while there’s a token guard at the entrance, they don’t stop folks like me—adventurers—from leaving.

It’s loose, in a way, but you could also say that’s just how peaceful this town is.

In reality, while this town is on the frontier, it’s separated from the neighboring kingdoms by the great forest. The magical beasts that show up nearby are all low-rank ones, just the weaklings that have been driven out by the stronger beasts living deeper in the forest.

That’s why a lot of people start their adventuring careers in this relatively safe town.

And once they get skilled enough, most of them move on to bigger cities or the royal capital.

Of course, I can’t even beat those weak magical beasts, so here I am, a perennial F-ranker, still stuck in this place after ten years…

…Oops… shouldn’t have gone there… I just reminded myself of my unpleasant reality again.

To escape a worthless reality like this, I’ve got to rely on the power of alcohol.

I moved a little ways off the main road and plopped myself down.

Then, I brought the small flask to my lips and started sipping at the liquor.

Better not drink too much…

Even though I’m close to town, I’m still outside.

There’s always a chance I could… run into a magical beast.

With that in mind, I was trying to pace myself with the drinking at first, but…

A lot of bad stuff happened today.

The faces of Celesties and the other adventurers from earlier floated into my mind. Every time they did, I took another drink, and before I knew it, I was drinking heavily.

Despite that, maybe because I was sleeping outside, my nerves were still on edge. I wasn’t getting sleepy at all. And since I had nothing but time, I started getting lost in thought about the future and all sorts of things.

Sigh… to think I’d come to another world just to end up living like a homeless person…

What’s going to happen to me now…?

If this keeps up, I’ll end up dying miserably in a ditch somewhere…

I looked up at the sky and shook my head violently.

Thinking about the future just bums me out.

Especially when I’m trying to enjoy a drink.

So, I started thinking about the past instead. I was trying to think of better times, just to lift my spirits a little.

That’s right… even in this other world, there were times when things weren’t so bad.

Even if it was just for a moment…

There were, albeit only a few, adventurers who actually appreciated my skills.

That was… about seven years ago now, huh…

I was remembering the time I’d partied up with adventurers like that—the Moon Maidens, they were called…

The three of them… the Moon Maidens… were all young girls. To be blunt, they were young enough to be called children. In fact, when I first met them, they all seemed so inexperienced. So I couldn’t help but worry about them. And of all things, when the Guild… when Emma-san… requested I join their party, I ended up accepting the job for free.

Back then, I had more money than I do now, but I was still pretty broke. So I was in no position to be worrying about other people…

Well… it would sound cool if I’d done it purely out of goodwill…

But unfortunately, I’m not that good of a person.

Thinking back on it now, I think I probably just wanted to look cool in front of them.

Or maybe I just wanted to be needed by someone.

But my worrying was completely unnecessary. After all, they were all very capable and mature for their age. And they were also incredibly brave and talented. Best of all, it wasn’t just their skills; they had great personalities, too. It feels weird for a guy like me to be saying it, but they were truly humble and well-raised kids.

A whole lot different from the rookie girls I partied with today…

They even called me “Mikami-sensei” and looked up to me. And for one reason or another, they let me stay in their party for a long time. Thanks to them, for that period, I was able to live like a normal person.

To be honest, they became far stronger than me in no time at all. So they no longer needed to use ‘Escape’ against the monsters around here. So, naturally, I thought I’d be made redundant pretty quickly, but…

Maybe it was because of their good nature, or maybe it was just pity… In any case, I ended up partying with them for nearly two years.

Though in the end, I did end up leaving their party…

After all, they shot up through the ranks in a very short time. They became famous adventurers, and their reputation spread beyond just this town. One day, they got an offer from the Guild in the royal capital and left.

They really were… good kids… I wonder if they’re doing okay…

Even when they were leaving town, they were still worried about me.

“We… we still want to stay in this town. We haven’t been able to repay you yet, Mikami-sensei… We want to stay… by your side, always. Is that… not okay…?”