Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash vol. 1

6. Lost and Found Warrior

Well, what was done was done and they'd have to live with it. Haruhiro could have left the thieves' guild to join the warriors' guild, but, realistically, that wasn't going to be possible. He couldn't make the others wait seven days. Besides which, he didn't have the money. Volunteer soldier trainees were given ten silver for joining. And eight of that silver was earmarked for joining a guild, so, in the end, trainees only had two silver to spend freely.

Even then, "freely" was only so free. Once the seven days of introductory lessons and the room and board that came with them ended, they had to deal with the daily costs of living. If they were frugal, they could feed themselves on ten copper a day. But, unless they felt like roughing it, they were going to have to find rooms to rent. They hadn't properly researched the market price for rooms yet, but it looked like it ordinarily cost forty to fifty copper per room per day.

Basically, that meant that, even if they did decide to camp out to save money, they would need to spend ten copper per day. Two silver was 200 copper, so they could only keep themselves fed for twenty days.

Haruhiro and the others needed to make money. Before they could buy their badges from Bri-chan and become fully fledged volunteer soldiers, they would first need to figure out how to survive until then.

How could they make money?

They had to work for it.

They were still trainees, but Haruhiro and the others left through the north gate to go work as volunteer soldiers. Not far outside, there was a big man wearing chain mail, crouching in the brush to the side of the road.

"...Moguzo?"

When Haruhiro called out to him, the big guy languidly turned towards them and blinked a few times. He was mumbling, as if trying to say something, but the words weren't coming out. Haruhiro looked to Manato.

"Huh?" Yume said, looking up to the sky full of fluffy clouds. "Moguzo-kun got taken away by Kuzuyama, didn't he?"

Haruhiro said "Not Kuzuyama, Kuzuoka," correcting her off-handedly before walking over to Moguzo. "What's up, Moguzo? What are you doing here? And, wait, why are you by yourself?"

Moguzo furrowed his eyebrows, nodding slowly.

"I know," Ranta said, with an attempted snap of his fingers that failed to produce a sound. "Kuzuoka threw you out, I'll bet. He was fine letting you in the party, but then you proved yourself such a slow-witted dunce that he decided he was better off without you."

"Ranta..." Haruhiro was about to tell him off, but decided against it. Telling Ranta anything was an exercise in futility.

"...My money," Moguzo said, hanging his head. "...They took all of it. Told me they'd taught me enough, so to pay up..."

"That's terrible..." Shihoru said quietly.

"See? Told you so," Ranta said with a snort, looking pleased with himself. "That's why I tried to stop you back then. I mean, it's Kuzuoka. The guy had 'scumbag' written all over him."

"You act pretty scummy yourself, though..."

"Oh, shove it, Haruhiro! How am I scummy? Give me one concrete example!

"Can I? Well, let's see, for starters—"

"Stop! Come on, are you keeping a mental list of people's scummy points or something? That's scummy! The act of a scummy person! You, sir, are a bona-fide scumbag!"

"Whoa... When a scummy guy starts trying to call you scummy, it really kills the mood..."

"Moguzo-kun," Manato crouched down next to Moguzo and put a hand on his shoulder. "You joined the warriors' guild, right?"

Looking closer, Moguzo wasn't just wearing chain mail armor, he also had leather gloves and boots, and a bastard sword in a sheathe slung diagonally over his back. They were all secondhand, no doubt, but he looked every bit the part of a warrior. It all suited him pretty well, especially with his large body.

"I did at least..." Moguzo peeked in Manato's direction. "...manage to become a warrior, yeah..."

"Oh, you did?" Haruhiro clapped. "Well, thanks to a certain scumbag, our party doesn't have a warrior at the moment, so—"

"By a scumbag's fault, you must mean your fault, right, Haruhiro?"

Haruhiro ignored Ranta, looking to Yume and Shihoru. "What do you two think?"

"Oh..." Shihoru nodded. "I think that would be good."

"What'd be good?" said Yume, failing to understand.

"Well, we're short a warrior, aren't we? So, Moguzo's a warrior and currently, how shall I put it, free? He's perfect for us, is what I was thinking."

Yume was impressed by the idea, letting out an "Ohh" and leaning in to peek at Moguzo's face. "Moguzo, do you want to join Yume and her friends' party?"

"...Are you sure? Is it okay if I join?"

"I want you to join," Manato said to Moguzo with a smile. "That's only if you're all right with it, of course."

Haruhiro glanced sideways at Ranta. If anyone was going to complain, it would be him. What happened surprised him. Ranta playfully threw his arms around Moguzo's neck from behind.

"You're hopeless, you know that? I'll take good care of you, so be my shield, Moguzo! Do it like you're ready to die for me!"

"...Ah, now it makes sense."

"What, Haruhiro? I haven't said anything wrong, you know? A warrior's job is to fight furiously on the front line in battle, isn't it? That means standing up front and drawing the enemy's fire. That's why they wear hard chain mail and other metal armors with high defense to protect themselves, got it?"

"Ranta's got it right," Manato looked at Moguzo with a serious expression. "I'm not trying to scare you off here, but I think warriors have the hardest job of all. Still, we'll all support you the best we can, and if anything happens, I'll heal you up with my light magic right away, so you don't need to worry about that.

"Y-Yeah... I'll do my best. But..." Moguzo rubbed his belly. "I have no money..."

"I'll lend you what you need. I think we can scrape by for now. And once we're earning, we may not need to worry about it anymore."

"Let me tell you, though!" Ranta said, mussing Moguzo's hair with a big grin on his face. "I won't lend him one red cent. I'm a firm believer in borrowing money but never returning or lending it!"

"Honestly," Haruhiro was taken aback. "You're a real natural when it comes to being the worst, you know that..."

Ranta tut-tutted him, waving a finger. "Haruhiro."

"What?"

"What happens when you multiply a negative by a negative? It becomes a positive, right?"

"So what?"

"That's me!"

"I don't get it..."

"Moron. I chose to be a dread knight instead of a warrior, yeah? That's why Moguzo the warrior is able to join our party, yeah? It worked out perfectly, yeah? Everyone should be thanking me, yeah?"

"I envy you," Manato laughed. "Being able to see it all in such a positive light. That's not something you can do just because you try to. It's a talent."

"I know, right?! That's my man, Manato! I knew I kept you around for some reason. Now this scumbag, Haruhiro, on the other hand..."

"Whatever..." Haruhiro would have liked to argue back, but knew it would just wear him out more. He extended a hand to Moguzo. "Let's go, Moguzo. To make some money!"

"...Y-Yeah." Moguzo took Haruhiro's hand.

Haruhiro pulled his hand, trying to get him up on his feet, but he didn't budge an inch.

"...Uh, Moguzo, you're gonna have to stand on your own. It's a little too much for me..."

Moguzo said, "Oh, s-sorry," and languidly rose to his feet.

Is this really going to work out? Haruhiro wondered for a second.