Chapter 39

A few days later…

As usual, I was lounging at the guild’s tavern, lazily sipping my drink.

“And so, Sara-sama—no, I mean, my date, Satchan—I couldn’t protect her, and I’m so frustrated about it!”

“There, there.”

By the way, my drinking buddy was Lua. This guy, who had bounced back quickly, seemed really bothered by the whole Van incident from the other day.

“Well, isn’t it fine? In the end, the girl didn’t get hurt, right? That means you did protect her, after all.”

“R-Really?”

“Yeah. For you, Lua, that’s a pretty cool thing to do, honestly.”

“What do you mean ‘for me’!? What’s that supposed to mean!?”

I chuckled while sipping my drink as my irate friend huffed and puffed. It felt like everyday life was back. The adventurers who’d been beaten by Van had recovered and were laughing it up around us.

“Sigh, I really wanna get stronger…”

“You always say that. Got no trash talk for your opponent?”

“Huh? Sure, I think he’s a scumbag, but we fought fair and square, and I lost. I’m not gonna whine about it behind his back.”

Lua cracked his knuckles and clashed his fists together with intensity.

“I’ll repay the loss in a fair fight with my fists. Honestly, I’m more fired up to train even harder!”

“Haha.”

I couldn’t help but admire that cheerful attitude. You’ve got a sunny disposition, Lua, and I don’t dislike that at all.

“You know, with that attitude, you might get along with my ‘new recruit’ acquaintance.”

“New recruit?”

As my friend tilted his head, the guild door creaked open timidly, and a red-haired man stepped inside.

“Wh-What!?”

Lua’s eyes went wide as he spotted the guy. After all, it was none other than Van, the very guy who caused all the trouble last time. The guy seemed uneasy, fidgeting, as I approached him with a smile.

“Yo, you came. Good job opening the door quietly, well done.”

“Ugh! Y-You only told me to do that…!”

“Alright, alright, we’ll talk more later.”

With that, I grabbed Van’s shoulder—the same ‘Red Dragon’ whose powers I had severely weakened with the flame of conceptual death—and whispered in his ear.

“You remember, don’t you? When you’ve done something bad, what do you need to do? If you can’t do it… well, you know what’ll happen.”

“I-I got it! Jeez…!”

Thus, Van approached the tavern proudly. The adventurers, including Lua, who had been beaten by him before, all cast wary glances at him. Van, face bright red and trembling, suddenly blurted out:

“Uh—I caused a lot of trouble and messed things up! I’m seriously sorry, you bastards!”

The tavern went dead silent for a moment. Then, after a few seconds, the room exploded with laughter and shouts.

“What the heck, coming to apologize like that? You’re way too honest!”

“Hah! I thought you were just some punk, but you’ve got some good points after all!”

“Don’t think you’ve won just ‘cause of last time! Let’s have another duel!”

The adventurers, fueled by alcohol, immediately started causing a ruckus. Some of them, including Lua, were already pulling Van towards a table.

“Hey! Let go of me! You little runt!”

“Shut up, you cocky pretty boy! We’re having a drinking contest now, loser!”

Though Van looked annoyed, his current abilities were almost at a human level. He had no chance to resist and was soon dragged to a drinking table, getting clapped on the shoulder by the adventurers.

“That’s your punishment, Van. Surrounded by humans, live in humiliation and have a great time.”

That was my verdict for the dragon man who had once fearlessly faced down the most terrifying of black dragons.