Chapter 34: An Unexpected Promotion

The next day, after a long, satisfying sleep, it was well past lunchtime.

Hay’s face was noticeably swollen, a sensation he could distinctly feel.

Squinting through eyes that barely opened, he glanced towards Renki’s bed. The boy was gone, having apparently risen early, his bed neatly made.

He felt a parching thirst.

Hay reached for the kettle on the shelf, only to find it empty.

Renki must have forgotten to refill it. With no other option, Hay conjured water using a spirit’s power, sipping it slowly to quench his thirst.

As he stretched his stiff body, a sudden burst of flames erupted before his eyes.

Hay gasped, leaping from the bed in surprise. Yet, the fire quickly subsided, transforming into a sheet of paper.

“A Flame Message?”

‘Who could have sent this?’

Puzzled, Hay snatched the fluttering paper out of the air.

[Mr. NEET, we’re heading off now! See you next time!]

Only one person ever called Hay ‘Mr. NEET’.

‘They probably don’t expect a reply.’

Hay tied back his disheveled hair before leaving the room.

He intended to ask Mr. Torres to prepare a bath. Having slept without washing, he felt a distinct, unpleasant odor emanating from his body.

Descending to the first floor, he found Meylin and Rick diligently working.

Upon seeing Hay, Meylin beamed a wide smile and rushed towards him.

“Uncle! Long time no see! Did you sleep well?”

“Ugh!”

She slammed into him with a thudding body check.

Hay winced in pain, his face contorted, as he gently patted Meylin’s shoulder.

“Long time. Renki isn’t around; do you know where he went?”

“He said he felt stifled and went for a run!”

‘I taught him well; he does it without being told.’

‘How commendable.’

“And Mr. Torres?”

“Dad went out to the Merchant Guild for some business!”

“Is there anything to eat? Give Uncle some bread. Let’s all go out for dinner tonight, with Dad and Rick.”

“Rick! Bread! Bring the bread! Tonight is chicken! I said chicken!”

Meylin’s eyes widened, and she declared with a battle-like fervor.

At her words, Rick scurried off to the kitchen.

‘She must really love chicken.’

“I was thinking of having beef tonight.”

Meylin’s expression immediately turned serious.

“No way. Chicken is better.”

Her bluntness made him burst into laughter.

“Alright, alright. Could you prepare my bathwater first? I really want to wash up.”

“Rick! Bathwater first! Uncle stinks!”

This time, Meylin sprinted towards the kitchen herself.

While waiting for his bath, Hay headed to the well in the backyard to wash his greasy face and brush his teeth.

A breeze swept through.

The wind, brushing against his thinly clad collar, felt even colder than the day before.

It was October 7th, the seventh day of the Sky Moon.

Trees had begun to reveal their skeletal branches, signaling the approach of winter.

“Just in case, I should prepare some winter clothes.”

‘After eating, I should go shopping with Renki.’

****

For the past week, Hay had done nothing but eat and sleep.

He had ignored Renki’s attempts to coax him into exercising, thoroughly enjoying his brief period of idleness.

After recalling his past life, he had initially felt restless upon arriving in Nudan. However, four months of relaxed living had now accustomed him to simply doing nothing.

‘Doing nothing is truly the best.’ Thus, for seven days, he had neither trained nor held back, eating, sleeping, and playing to his heart’s content.

Two days before their departure, he had even shared drinks with Kisen, as promised.

Yulid and Mr. Torres had also joined them for drinks.

It turned out that Mr. Torres had once been a mercenary with the Kranze Mercenary Group, having served under its first captain.

Respecting his wife’s wish for him to quit the dangerous mercenary life, he had left the group just six months after their marriage and opened an inn.

Yulid was the first to succumb to the alcohol. Despite looking like someone who could chug dew by the bottle, he was out after just one drink.

Mr. Torres was the second to fall. His mistake had been drinking too quickly at the start, without enough food.

Hay was the third, though he hadn’t completely collapsed.

He had attempted to be the last one standing, but Kisen remained stubbornly sober.

Despite his foolish stubbornness in trying to get Kisen drunk, the overwhelming sleepiness forced him to surrender first.

Throughout the entire drinking session, Kisen’s complexion hadn’t changed in the slightest.

His words remained clear, and he walked perfectly straight on both legs even when they parted ways.

He even had the composure to support the bulky Yulid and look after both Hay and Mr. Torres.

Amusingly, Kisen apparently remembered nothing the next day and was too hungover to go to the office.

Hay had suffered from a hangover as well. Fortunately, he possessed a secret weapon: Elkinon’s hangover remedy.

Then, the day after that, on the thirteenth of the Sky Moon,

it was time to leave Nudan.

That morning, they ate breakfast at ‘Angel’ and said their goodbyes to Meggy.

“Next time you visit, bring me the recipe for that soy garlic chicken, or whatever it’s called. I’ll make it delicious for you.”

Meggy was as grumpy as ever.

It was her nature, her charm, and Hay felt a slight pang of regret at not seeing that expression again.

As they gathered their belongings and left the inn, they bid farewell to Mr. Torres, Meylin, and Rick.

Hay even had to dissuade Meylin from insisting on accompanying them all the way to the city gate.

“Uncle, why don’t you just live here? If you leave, who will buy me chicken?”

“You can buy it with your allowance.”

“Hmph…”

“Here, take this. It’s nothing much, just something to eat on your journey.”

“Oh, you shouldn’t have…”

Mr. Torres presented Hay with a gift of dried jerky.

“Renki, Meylin and I made these together. This one is Meylin, this is me, and this one is you.”

“Thank you.”

Rick presented Renki with three small wooden figurines he had carved himself. Meylin, meanwhile, puffed out her chest and strutted proudly.

Anyone seeing her would think Meylin had crafted them all herself, but from the skill involved, it was clear Rick was the sole creator.

“When you come back to Nudan, you have to stay at our inn, not any other!”

Meylin insisted.

Leaving them behind, the two travelers headed towards the city gate.

There, a procession of mercenaries and small merchant caravans was lined up.

Hay and Renki joined their ranks.

The route to the capital necessitated passing through another city, so they had taken on the escort duty for a caravan bound for that very destination.

“Everyone is assembled! We’re departing!”

A merchant confirmed the headcount, then climbed onto a carriage and shouted.

With that, the front of the procession began to exit the city gate.

The two sat perched on a cargo wagon, taking one last look at the landscape of Nudan.

Renki remained silent, the three wooden figurines Rick had given him still clutched in his hand.

“Renki, are you perhaps sad to be leaving?”

“Sad? About what?”

Renki looked up, tilting his head in confusion at Hay’s question.

“You were close with those two. I thought you might be sad to part ways, now that you’ve become friends.”

At his words, Renki cocked his head as if he’d heard something utterly strange.

“While it’s true they were kind to me, how could I possibly be friends with them?”

“Huh?”

Hay was speechless, staring intently at Renki.

‘Did Renki perceive the same things Hay had when looking at the three of them?’ As Hay remained silent, Renki’s eyes took on an anxious look.

“Did I perhaps sound presumptuous?”

“No, no. I asked a foolish question.”

Renki was still so young.

He was at an age where he should be learning and growing through interactions with peers.

‘If I were Renki,’

‘could I be friends with those who saw me as livestock?’

The answer was a resounding ‘no’.

“You must be quite lonely, too.”

‘Friends…’

When it came down to it, Hay had no friends either. Han Tae-hyun had been the same.

Hay was a wanderer, belonging nowhere, and Han Tae-hyun, after losing his family, had been too busy simply surviving to find time for old friends or the luxury of making new ones.

‘He was a grown adult, so perhaps it was different for him.’

“It used to be that way, but I’m fine now,” Renki said.

He smiled brightly at Hay.

“Mr. Styles!”

Just then, someone rushed over. It was Mikinza, an employee of the Kranze Mercenary Group.

The rear of the procession, where Hay was, was just about to pass through the city gate.

“Thank goodness. I almost missed you! This is a gift from the Captain!”

Mikinza handed over a bottle of strong liquor and a sealed letter.

“He said winter would be cold this year, and to have a drink when it gets chilly.”

“How cold could Cheyapel possibly get?”

Though it was a barren and dry land, it was a country where the weather was practically autumn all year round.

It was merely a difference of being slightly hotter or slightly colder.

It was a country where the temperature never dropped below freezing, so why the alcohol?

“Thank you. Please tell Kisen I’ll enjoy it.”

“Yes. Well then, Mr. Styles! Have a safe journey! Oh, and congratulations!”

Mikinza stopped, waving both arms widely as he saw Hay off.

Hay waved back at the steadily receding Mikinza.

‘But what was he congratulating me for?’

“What’s in that sealed envelope?”

“Indeed.”

The sealed emblem indicated it belonged to the Eastern Continent’s Serquets Mercenary Guild.

“Ah, that’s what it is.”

He had completely forgotten.

Hay broke the seal and pulled out the papers. There were two sheets.

Hay’s expression hardened.

“Oh? It’s a mercenary rank renewal certificate, isn’t it?”

This was what Mikinza had been congratulating him about.

“My goodness, Master’s rank is S—”

“Zip it.”

Renki clamped his mouth shut. Hay glared at Renki with trembling eyes before looking back down at the paper.

It felt akin to the exasperation of being suddenly promoted just as you were about to quit, making it impossible to leave. Good because the salary increased, but unsettling nonetheless.

Hay exhaled a deep sigh that seemed to rise from the very depths of his lungs.

“This is crazy.”

Hay picked up the other paper, not the ‘Mercenary Rank Renewal Certificate’. It was a letter from Kisen, exactly four lines long.

[To my dear Hay,

Congratulations on becoming an S-rank mercenary.

Until next time.

—Kisen Ludor]

‘This is insane!’

Unable to shout, Hay groaned, burying his face in the paper. The surrounding porters and mercenaries glanced at him, wondering what was happening.

“Congratulations, Master!”

Renki’s eyes sparkled. Unaware of Hay’s inner turmoil, he was as excited as if it were his own achievement.

Of course, it was something to be congratulated for.

An S-rank mercenary.

His mercenary rank, which he had expected to be frozen at A-rank, had been upgraded. He had planned to renew his Spirit User rank and history, but now his mercenary rank had been renewed as well.

Moreover, the rank bestowed upon him was excessively high compared to Hay’s current abilities.

He would soon become an intermediate Spirit User, but even then, his abilities were still far too insufficient to receive an S-rank.

This was because S-rank was a designation given only to those who were Aura Experts or higher, or, in terms of mages, those who had reached the rank of Archmage.

In terms of Spirit Users, it was a rank that required at least a High-tier Spirit User.

“Why are you like this? Isn’t an upgraded rank something to be happy about?”

Renki tilted his head, completely bewildered. Renki was right. It *was* something to be happy about. Hay let out a heavy sigh.

‘I don’t know.’

“Whatever happens, happens.”

‘Let’s think positively.’

‘Yes, S-rank means my employment fee will skyrocket, which is great. As for my abilities, I can always improve them.’

Hay gave up on thinking.

“Could that liquor really be a celebratory drink from Kisen-nim?”

“I wonder. Is it?”

Hay shrugged and uncorked the bottle.

A whiff of the potent alcohol made his head spin. The scent was dizzyingly strong.

“Ugh, just smelling it makes me feel drunk. It seems a bit excessive for a celebratory drink, doesn’t it?”

“Is it really that strong?”

“Want a smell?”

He offered the bottle to Renki, who nodded. Renki took a sniff, then squeezed his eyes shut, speechless. Hay burst into laughter. Renki, hearing Hay’s laughter, chuckled too.

The cargo wagon carrying the two of them passed through the city gate. Soon, the city receded into the distance, shrinking to the size of a thumbnail.

And two months later,

Hay frequently chugged the alcohol Kisen had gifted him to warm his body. It offered little help.

As it turned out, this winter was Serquets’ year of severe cold, a phenomenon that occurred approximately every 30 years.