84 - Let's Have A Drink

Soon, they arrived at the merchant guild. The building itself differed from any other in the town. If the Academic Institute was somber and dignified while showing its long history, then the merchant guild displayed a pompous style through various decorations that must have cost a lot of money.

‘Impressive…I wonder if anyone tried to steal these parts.’ Illyan looked at the decorations with intrigue as he entered the guild. With this much, an ordinary family of four would be able to live for hundreds of years. And that was just his ignorant estimate.

Fortunately, as someone who didn’t need anything at this moment, he didn’t feel anything despite seeing this and calmly entered the guild.

Cara and Nord were a little different as they saw those golden flowers wrapped around the inscription of ‘Merchant Guild.’ However, they came to their senses when they saw Illyan enter already and followed after.

After several minutes of asking around, they found Garran, who had black bags under his eyes while holding an abacus as he counted something.

Nord almost laughed, but a glare from Cara made him silent.

“Hey, Garran!”

When he heard a familiar voice, he lifted his head.

“Ah, you guys…”

They talked for some time, and after a while, Cara suggested that they could go for a meal, and Garran readily agreed.

“Sure! But you need to wait until I finish my job.”

“Of course!”

Since everything was arranged, they walked out and then headed towards the barracks where Terren trained.

Fortunately, trainees didn’t need to be disconnected from society and could leave when all their duties and training were done.

And so, the soldiers guarding the barracks from any intruders didn’t show too much surprise after seeing someone visiting one of them. Since the place they visited was only for trainees, there was no harm done. Cara, as a female, could easily communicate with them showing a friendly smile, and it didn’t take too long before they gained access under supervision.

Illyan looked around for anything interesting, but it felt like a barren land with only some accommodations and a place to train.

‘I guess it makes sense… They are soldiers, not scholars, to document their techniques…’

With a sigh of disappointment, he followed others and found Terren.

As a newbie, he had to train even harder than others, so it was not surprising that when they found him, he was sweating like a pig while being shirtless.

He was training with other trainees with a wooden sword, but it was obvious that he wasn’t as skilled as the others. People around cheered and jeered as they laughed at the spectacle.

When they got close, they just watched in silence as both sides fought each other.

They swung their swords, trying to hit each other while parrying, dodging, or at least deflecting the incoming attacks. Terren was in a disadvantageous situation as his stamina was clearly inferior since he had trained just a little over a month.

However, Illyan’s eyes didn’t miss that sometimes his sword got closer to the sparring partner at tricky angles where it would be hard to defend against and would cause devastating damage. But…

Hesitation passed through his eyes as if fearing that he would hurt the other guy.

In the end, after being hit on the shoulder, he sprawled on the ground as his sparring partner just shook his head with a small laugh.

“You need to train more seriously, newbie.”

With this, he left while others could only leave in disappointment as they expected a little more.

“Let’s go, I heard that Favon got some liquor on himself. I was sober for too long to be comfortable.”

“Ha ha ha!”

Leaving the young man breathing with difficulty from the training, they went to do their own things.

This gave the trio an opportunity to get closer to him.

“Hey, why are you sprawled here like this? You will get sick.”

Cara immediately reproached him as he was still without a shirt.

Surprised, Terren looked around and noticed them. With an awkward look, he greeted them despite the difficulty.

“H-hello, haaah…haah…”

“...”

Fortunately, since this was Terren’s last training session that day, they didn’t waste time as they forced him to agree to go with them for a meal. At first, he seemed reluctant but gave in under the pressure of his childhood friends…

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Later on that day.

After everyone finally gathered, the group of five wandered through the town and bought several meat skewers that the wife of a veteran hunter was selling.

The meat was quite expensive as it was forbidden to hunt in the nearby forests since they belonged to the mayor. Only those who got special permission could hunt under conditions of selling over 80% of the game to the mayor under market price.

That was why it could be said to be quite luxurious food for villagers who didn’t have much meat their entire life.

But for Illyan, the meat was of low quality. He didn’t complain, though, as he could eat almost anything.

When they got their food, they went back to the inn where they slept the first night and bought soup. Unfortunately, in such a town, there were no places where they could go to rest. The town was also quite small, and the business was small, so this inn also worked as a tavern.

Once they ordered the food, they sat down at the table in the corner.

“Aaah… Finally, food after a long shift. You don’t know how tired I am these days…” Garran sighed in relief after he sat down and started to eat his skewer.

“No, we can see it just right.” Nord immediately retorted with a roll of his eyes.

“Yeah, you two look like you went through war,” Cara said.

‘One of them is going through soldier training, so it shouldn’t be weird.’ Illyan thought in his mind at Cara’s words.

“Actually, I am not that-”

“”Shut up, idiot!”” Nord and Cara cut off Terren who tried to protest.

As such, they started once again bickering as they waited for the food. Illyan especially waited and didn’t even touch the meat that felt tasteless to him since it was without spices.

Once the old lady brought the soup with bread, he put the meat on the skewer into the soup.

“Oh, that's a good idea!” Garran, who was beside him, saw this and did the same thing.

For a while, they ended up in silence as they took their first mouthful into the mouth.

“So, Terren, what the heck happened there? It looked as if you were bullied there.” Cara, in the end, couldn’t endure anymore and asked.

“Ah, well…”

“You don’t need to lie, it is not like we will laugh at you.” Garran, who noticed the situation, said this with a full mouth as he didn’t stop eating.

“It is nothing as serious. Really. It is just that the training is harsh and the sparring is quite brutal. To be honest, others there are even more ruthless against each other. I just can’t catch up as I started just a month ago and am too wea-”

“You are not weak. You are just being too weak-willed, and they are trying to beat it out of you.” Illyan cut him off.

“Kaoran, I don’t think that this is a really normal way to welcome a new recruit, isn’t it?” Nord frowned at Illyan’s words as he didn’t understand.

But Illyan just shook his head.

“It actually is. If you can’t stand it and give up, then you will at least keep your life. It should be standard procedure. Terren, ask yourself, is the dream you have worth risking your life for? Because once your training is done, you will fight. And you will definitely be injured much more than those few bruises from sparring at some point. Dying for the cause is a soldier's duty. Even if you don’t agree with this, the higher-ups who will send you to death will have a smile on their faces.”

With a casual tone, Illyan explained to Terren the bleak life of a soldier. Becoming a knight was a good dream but only if you were able to survive in one piece. While Illyan wasn't a soldier himself, he thought of himself as a warrior and was taught the ways of warriors by Degres. When he was younger, it was normal to be beaten to a pulp by him while he was laughing. And it was even worse in his case since he would recover too quickly.

The wounds disappeared but the pain and trauma remained. Illyan smiled wryly in his heart when he remembered this.

“Umm… I guess you are right. I need to train more…” Terren and others also understood what Illyan was trying to convey. Terren also wanted to express his gratitude, but Illyan didn’t stop.

“But there was one biggest mistake that you made today. Do you know what it was?” Illyan asked Terren.

“I couldn’t block the seniors’ blows properly, and…”

“No. Not being able to win with technique against your seniors should be normal. The mistake was something else.”

Illyan looked Terren deeply into the eyes.

“You hesitated. I saw that you had at least two chances to hit him. Once in the knee and once in the solar plexus. But you didn’t. You still wouldn’t win in that spar. But you wouldn’t lose that miserably either.”

After saying that, he turned his attention to food and started to eat. Illyan wasn’t used to talking this much but for the sake of his plan he had to.

Others also became silent as they looked at Terren.

He also felt awkward.

“But if I hit them there they would be wounded.”

This time,

Illyan didn’t need to talk again as Nord knitted his brows.

“You mean, just like you are now wounded?! What did you think? That soldiers would just play around?”

As everyone started to berate him, Illyan wiped his mouth.

“If you are hesitant to give bruises, then what about when you are told to kill? I know it is hard, but you need to address this issue as soon as possible.”

Illyan gave his earnest advice while trying to look concerned.

“I see… You are right…” Terren knew that Illyan meant good but felt conflicted.

“You don’t need to look like that. Pain is common in war. Your comrades won’t blame you for a few bruises. If they do, then you have bad people to entrust your back to.”

“You seem to be quite knowledgeable in this topic, Kaoran.” Cara mentioned as she looked at Illyan with curiosity.

“I grew up on the front line as a physician. I saw many wounded youngsters from such basic mistakes.”

‘Basically not a lie.’

After all, while tribe wars didn’t use words as front lines, there were still some places where they fought more often than anywhere else during those hard times. While he acted as a warrior most of the time, he also treated his allies when there was a lack of healers on the battlefield and just one extra help could change the tide of the small-scale skirmishes. And usually, the first ones to be hurt were the young ones who made some stupid mistakes and faced consequences.

“Ohh…” Others nodded in realization.

As the mood fell to the bottom, Illyan’s eyes glinted with a cunning light.

“But this isn’t something you should dwell on. Remembering it, yes but more than that I think you should try to relax first…”

“Yeah, you shouldn’t blame yourself too much, Terren. It is better to have empathy than being an emotionless bastard or maniac who kills for thrill.”

Others also showed agreement at Illyan’s words.

“I think all of us deserve a little rest and relaxation. Terren trained until he bled, we studied while neglecting our sleep while Garran also had his problems…”

“Yeah! Those guys dumped all the boring things on me!” Garran nodded with sad eyes.

“So… Let’s have a drink tonight. What do you think, guys?”

After saying that, the group went into silence as they considered Illyan’s suggestion.

“They sell alcohol here? Great!” Garran, who seemed to be a lover of food and drinks, looked excited.

“I guess, we can.” Nord also didn’t seem to be against it since the mood was really low.

“Ah, you guys…” Cara only shook her head but didn’t dissuade them.

Terren, who saw this, was a little hesitant as he had never had alcohol, but in the end, he agreed too.

“Hey, lady! Five drinks of your ale please!” In the end, Garran shouted out as he was excited at the prospect of forgetting his sorrows.

And in this manner, the long evening began…