Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash vol. 1

10. Damuro

They confessed their sins to Yume and Shihoru, prostrating themselves on the ground as they apologized profusely.

Haruhiro, Manato, and Moguzo did, that is.

Ranta said, "I didn't see nothing, so quit your whining!" disgusting everyone with his aggressive lack of contrition. It went further than that, though. Yume and Shihoru began to resolutely ignore Ranta's existence.

Haruhiro couldn't say for certain if that had made their teamwork any worse or not, but it probably had no real effect.

The following day, the day after that, and the day after that, Haruhiro and the others earned basically nothing. And by "basically nothing," that meant their income was close to zero. Okay, let's be blunt, it was zero.

Haruhiro couldn't bring himself to ask his comrades about their pocketbooks, so he didn't have a full grasp of their finances. His own however, he knew in meticulous detail.

Over the three days, he'd been 14 copper in the red, 13 copper in the red, and 12 copper in the red, for a total of 39 copper in the red. If he didn't include the less-than-one-copper he owed in deposit fees, Haruhiro's total assets included one silver and 49 copper.

His hopes to buy daily necessities from the market, or to buy a new pair of underwear, were long since dashed. Of course, when it came to his hope of moving somewhere better than the volunteer soldier lodging house, it would be presumptuous to even dream of something that far beyond his means. He had been cutting his food expenses down one copper a day, but how low could he get them? That was the biggest concern for him right now.

The shock of going three days without income was big, so incredibly big that since coming back to the lodging house and bathing today, no one had spoken a word.

All of the others were lying on their beds. Maybe they were asleep already.

No, probably not. None of them could possibly be so dense as to be able to sleep soundly under current conditions. Well, or so he thought, but Ranta was snoring.

Wow. Haruhiro was so disgusted, it went all the way back around to a sort of admiration. Well, me too. I ought to get some shut-eye. All this thinking isn't doing me any good. Something good might happen tomorrow, anyway. Today's over now. I can't do anything about that. Tomorrow's what's important now. What will I do tomorrow? Give it my all and go hunting for prey. I have to earn something, even if it's just one copper. I guess one's not enough. Yeah, that's no good. I'll earn a lot. As much as I can. Gotta do something before the money runs out.

As he tossed and turned, he heard someone getting up in the bunk below him.

"...Manato?"

"Yeah."

"You're up? It's still night. Or rather, the night just started. Running to the washroom or something?"

"Nah," Manato had gotten out of bed, it seemed. "I'm going out for a bit. I probably don't need to say this, but I'll be coming back, so don't worry."

"Huh. You're going out... at this time of night?"

"The night's just getting started," Manato smiled slightly. "See you later. You must be tired. Don't wait up for me. Go ahead and sleep."

"Oh, okay." Haruhiro nodded, then it occurred to him that maybe he shouldn't let Manato go alone. But, by the time it did, Manato had left the room.

To assuage his anxiety, he struck up a conversation with Moguzo, who hadn't gotten to sleep yet, talking about this and that, but at some point, Haruhiro nodded off. When he woke up, Manato was back. He'd even gotten out of bed earlier than him.