After hearing my suggestion, Lisbeth silently began to get dressed. Her expression suggested some complicated thoughts.
However, by the time she was dressed, dried her hair, and arrived at the restaurant, a smile had returned to her face. I thought she would agonize over it all day, but she made up her mind so quickly.
"By the way, I heard Ars suggested throwing me a welcome party tonight, did you hear?"
"Really? I was just thinking about what to do to celebrate, this is perfect."
"He said he'd have it in my room tonight."
We discussed what to eat at the party while having sandwiches and other snacks for lunch, then decided to browse the adventurer equipment shops before Ars arrived.
Tomorrow we'll go to Leona's shop to buy some clothes, and that will roughly complete our preparations for living in this other world.
Although I don't know when the 'Destroyer' will reappear, considering that Erebos is a near-failure, I must be fully prepared.
Not only do I need to level up, but my equipment must also be ready.
So, he and Lisbeth browsed through blacksmith shops and similar stores selling armor and weapons, but for some reason, they couldn't distinguish between good and bad.
They'd never really been close to weapons and armor in their lives; how could they possibly tell the difference?
"Shimo, you're so big. It'll be hard to find armor or weapons that fit your size… How about we find a place to customize them?"
"Even weapons and armor need to be customized… I thought the money from the resettlement allowance and the reward for searching the Hero Devourer would be enough, but it seems that's not the case."
Should he have resisted buying a camera?
They only had a little over seven gold coins left… Seeing that even slightly decent weapons and armor were priced in gold coins, it felt like this amount of money was simply not enough.
"Isn't it fine? After all, the Hero Devourer extermination was done by you, Shimo? Originally, all the guilds that participated in the extermination, except for us, were supposed to receive rewards. Since you captured it, shouldn't you get paid? Besides, Mr. Paul hasn't even received his reward for the task he entrusted to us."
Ah.
So, regarding the Hero Devourer incident...
I was the one who ultimately resolved it, right?
I also got the experience points.
Remembering Sera mentioning being summoned to the lord's city for the rewards, it seems like something's bound to drop.
Plus, there's the quest Paul entrusted to me?
I completely forgot about that; suddenly, I feel like a millionaire.
Remembering the unclaimed reward, my mood inexplicably lightened.
With this ease, the impatience of 'I have to get everything, even cheap stuff' vanished, replaced by the thought of 'I'll take my time browsing.'
............ Before I knew it, the sun was setting.
The result of my browsing was that none of the armor pieces fit; I'd have to have them custom-made. Some weapons were usable, but none particularly appealed to me, so I decided to think about it some more.
In truth, looking at weapons felt more like a date with Lisbeth... But with over ten years until the end, a few days of leisure shouldn't hurt, right?
On the way back to the dorm, we stopped by a restaurant to buy food for the party and also picked out some drinks at a liquor store.
"Speaking of which, I'm a little curious, 'Eisendia' doesn't refer to this country, does it? What does it mean then?"
"This world. To be precise, it's the name of the planet we live on."
No wonder it seemed that way; Eisendia is the name of another world.
"Shimo, there's a lot you don't know. When can I take you to the library to read some books?"
"Ah, speaking of which, now that I have hands, I can go to the library? Haha. Having hands is so great. When can you take me there?"
We chatted like this, buying quite a lot of food and drinks before returning to our place.
It might be a bit much for three people, but actually, since transforming into my half-human, half-beast form, I've never felt full, so it should be fine.
I took this opportunity to confirm something.
Neither Lisbeth nor I know much about alcohol, so we just picked out some that looked unusual, about 10 bottles.
Lisbeth said it was too much, but if we couldn't finish them, I would drink them. I paid for everything.
Back in the room with the food and drinks, as I was preparing, Lisbeth saw the used condoms in the trash can, her face turning bright red. She punched me in the back, telling me to throw them away.
Sorry.
I forgot about that… Then Lisbeth brought a suitable-sized table and a few glasses from the room. While she was setting it up, Ars came up with what looked like a bag of food.
There'll be a lot of food left over today.
At the set table, Ars and I sat facing each other.
Lisbeth moved to the inner side and sat in the middle seat. Because there were bottles of alcohol between Ars and Lisbeth, it looked like she was sitting right next to me.
When did she put those bottles there?
Ars seemed completely unconcerned… but for some reason, I felt happy because Lisbeth had become my woman?
And so, the three of us gathered together, and the welcome party for me gaining humanization skills and moving into the dormitory began.
............
"You said you wanted to form a guild yourself?" After a simple toast with beer, I casually mentioned the idea I'd come up with that day.
"Yeah. I thought about it, and it might actually be more fun that way." The two of them looked at me with concern for some reason.
As for that look…
"Are you sure it's okay? We're working incredibly hard right now. We often talk about how great it would have been if we had worked in other guilds for a year or two before starting our own."
"I still find tax filing so difficult… If it weren't for the staff at the guild administration office, I really couldn't do anything. I didn't understand before, but now I understand why some guild leaders of large guilds only do administrative work. Those guild leaders who do the quests themselves are like superheroes." Tax filing is indeed a headache. When my relationship with my parents was better, they said it was a kind of experience, and occasionally let me try it, and I understand it deeply.
But if the guild only has one or two members, given my experience on Earth, I should be able to handle it.
"If there are too many people, just hire employees, or pay the tax bureau some consulting fees for help, right?"
"It's not that I'm not worried at all, it's just that I don't want to make the guild big, and I don't have any grand goals. I just want to live as I please. After all, it's a divine beast, it won't starve, right? If it really doesn't work out, I'll just quit and find another guild."
Hearing her say this, both of them smiled and nodded in agreement.
"That's true... among adventurers, you could basically only consider Zemo a divine beast, right?"
"I heard at magic school that there are less than 10 divine beasts in the whole world right now. And thinking about how Zemo fights, it definitely has the strength, so it shouldn't be a problem."
Wow, less than 10? I'm totally a rare monster.
"But not immediately... I plan to travel with Ars and Liz for a while first, and then create the guild when the time is right."
First, I need to make Lizbet my female and recruit her as a guild member.
"Hmm...why not just join our guild? Considering the shared experience points, joining temporarily might be better."
"I'll join later."
Actually, after deciding to create a guild, I simply didn't want to join someone else's guild.
Ars smiled and said he understood, then congratulated me on creating the guild in advance with another toast.
Ars, you'd be really upset, yet you're congratulating me... After that toast, we finished our beer and decided to try the special drink we picked out at the tavern today.
"Speaking of which... 'White Glen'? I've never seen it in convenience stores because I bought it from a liquor store." Lisbeth said, opening the bottle and sniffing the aroma. Seeing her instantly furrow her brow, it seemed to be a pretty strong drink?
"Wow, it sounds super strong...Ars, you can't hold your liquor, don't drink too much." Lisbeth said, filling our glasses and pouring one for herself as well. She only poured a little for herself, so it definitely wasn't to her taste.
"Hmm...it's definitely strong."
I leaned closer to smell it too. A certain alcoholic and smoky aroma hit me like a ton of bricks—it smelled exactly like strong whiskey...
"Shall we try it first?" The three of us clinked glasses and each took a sip... Ars suddenly flinched, putting down his glass without even swallowing a drop. Lisbeth gulped down her drink, then frowned and picked up some food with her fingers.
Seeing them like that, I took a sip too...Wow, it definitely tastes like whiskey. Strong aroma, and quite high alcohol content...oh, the slightly lingering, mellow aroma at the end is actually quite convincing.
Although we didn't choose a particularly expensive bottle, for this level of strength...not bad. But for two people just over 20, it might be a bit too much.
"It's a bit strong, but considering the price, it's acceptable, right?"
"Shimo thinks it's very strong...I can't handle it at all."
"I didn't really want to specifically seek out this...I'll leave this for Shimo, and we'll move on to the next bottle!" Lisbeth said, opening a bottle and taking a sip.
Some of the drinks were quite good, while others reminded me of ordinary shochu; there were many varieties, but the two didn't seem to particularly like any of them.
"Uh, beer seems to be the best… This green bottle is… 'Lyra Desel'? Oh, not at all…" The drinks were poured for the three of them, and this time Lisbeth and Ars reacted differently. Looking at the pale vermilion color, and smelling the aroma, it wasn't the scent of alcohol, but rather a sweet and floral fragrance.
"Wow… this smells nice?"
"Yeah. The alcohol isn't too strong either. I could drink it at this level."
And so they all toasted and drank… I took one sip and immediately knew. This was what they called 'work drink'.
The sweet taste and fragrant aroma were just a disguise for the alcohol. This stuff was quite strong.
Just as I was hesitating whether to warn them… the two seemed to really like the drink.
"Wow, this is delicious! Absolutely no alcohol taste, just a refreshing, fruity sweetness..."
"Really. Ars should be able to handle this much too; the sweetness suits my taste perfectly."
...Didn't Ars say he had a low alcohol tolerance? Perhaps because he'd been sipping slowly, Ars's face was quite flushed, and Lisbeth seemed slightly tipsy.
I swallowed my own thoughts on the drink, only urging them to continue drinking, and had Lisbeth hand me my favorite first drink from the other bottles.
"Wow, what's so great about that kind of strong liquor... Here." Lisbeth didn't hand me the bottle, but instead moved closer to me, filling my glass, and then refilling Ars's and her own empty glasses with Lyle's Desire.
"At least we salvaged one bottle. Remember this name. Cheers!"
"Cheers!" A moment later, Ars completely collapsed backward.