Chapter 90: Chapter 90
The scholarly youth asked as he sat down right in front of Eru. The scholarly youth scrutinized Eru closely before opening his mouth, “Mind if we talked for a little while?” Eru put his empty glass of milk down on the table, then he wiped his mouth with a tissue, “Sure, what do you want to talk about?” Eru smiled. The young man corrected his posture before coughing, clearing his throat. “I apologize beforehand, as what I said may or may not be offensive to you”, the scholarly youth informed, “But, as an outsider or a foreigner in this land of Gale, how do you see the territory?”
Eru sipped his tea, ‘Is this guy alright? Why is he talking about such a thing early in the morning?’ Eru thought. As a person from a modern world, Eru did not understand the fixation this young scholar had for abandoning traditions. How did Eru know that? It’s simple. Previously, this young scholar had an argument with someone, and Eru happened to overhear the conversation.
‘From what I heard before, this young man wanted to move on from tradition. Didn’t he realize that tradition was the foundation of civilizations?’ Eru thought in his head, but he did not want to say it out loud because he knew how stubborn the young man in front of him was, seeing he was willing to be hit just to prove a point. Eru sipped his tea again, taking his time to answer the young scholar. ‘I’ve got two choices here. Option one; just walk away and not be involved in this situation or two; I had to be careful of what I said. Judging the young man in front of me, he wouldn’t give up if I choose option one’, Eru sighed; he looked at the young man that was staring at him intensely before Eru, ‘Option two then.’
“Beautiful”, Eru spoke, “I can’t speak about this city and its people since I literally only been here for a night, but for the territory, beautiful.” The scholarly youth nodded, “Right. I understand that you’ve been to this city only for one night but what do you think of its people so far? I’m sure you did not like it, right? How they stared at you like some sort of a rare animal.” Eru was taken aback at how brazen the young scholarly youth in front of him, ‘What kind of people is this kid? Sure, I’m weird compared to others back in my previous life, but I never met someone this bold’, Eru thought in his head while massaging his glabella.
“What’s your point then?” Eru asked. The young scholarly youth pursed his lips, “Did you not notice? Look at the state of them”, he scoffed, pointing his fingers outside. “They lived their lives in mediocrity. Satisfied with their lives, not knowing that with each passing day, they were being left behind by others”, the young scholarly youth said passionately.
“I have been to many places in the kingdom, seeing their brilliance, seeing their willingness to evolve; I paled when I came back home, realizing that we are going to be left behind in the sands of times,” the young scholarly youth lamented. “When I presented to them this problem, they all laughed at my face, saying I’m delusional, and when I pestered them, they shot me down. They all laughed and mocked me but what they did not realize was that they were digging their own hole,” the scholarly youth said with so much emotion. Meanwhile, Eru just sat there, dumbfounded. ‘Fuck my life. Why did I have to listen to your complaints?’ Eru facepalmed.
The young scholarly youth continued to ramble on while Eru was suffering in misery silently. The former rambled on about the evolution of society then proceeded to talk about justice and government. Eru continued to facepalmed inside, ‘Dude, if any official heard what you’re talking about, you’ll be hanged for treason.’ Eru wanted to stop the scholarly youth, but due to the latter’s persistence, Eru eventually gave up. Until eventually, the waitress, Little Yu, saw what happened.
Little Yu’s expression was ugly as she got up the stairs while stomping her feet. “B.r.o.t.h.e.r L.o.n.g! What are you doing!?” she stood behind the young scholarly youth as the latter had cold sweat all over his back. “Didn’t I tell you to never disturb a customer?” Little Yu asked with a menacing glare. “U-h, that’s all, brother Eru. It has been a good chat. I’m off”, the scholarly youth stutteringly said before swiftly jetting out from the inn. Little Yu heaved a heavy sigh while Eru scratched the back of his head, “Thank you”, the latter said with gratitude.
Little Yu bowed ninety degrees at Eru, “I apologize. Please don’t think bad of him. Despite his view, Brother Long is just trying to help.” Eru extended his hand, stopping Little Yu’s bow, “It’s alright. I get it. But please tell him that saying those kinds of things will eventually get him in trouble.” Little Yu nodded with a beaming smile, “Okay.” Eru watched the waitress leave while shaking his head, “Oh, boy. That was long”, he leaned back before continuing to sip his tea.
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“Oh, freak me a jig, I’m late”, Eru ran hastily through the city. His face was pale, and cold sweat dripped down from his face, “How could I forget about the pilgrimage?” Eru scolded himself, “It’s that guy fault. If he did not take that long, I wouldn’t be this late. Damn it!” Once Eru arrived in front of the Adventurers Guild, he noticed that there was a line of people dripping outside from the building. “Uh, what happened here?” Eru asked one of the people queueing. She scrutinized her eyes, observing Eru from head to toe before answering, “Don’t you know? There’s a lot of people here that wants to become an adventurer.”
“Wait, really?”
The woman shrugged her shoulders, “Yes. I mean, what are we even going to do in this place? Just sit there all day and wait for the day to pass by? At least, by being an adventurer, there’s some excitement to life.”
“Being an adventurer is dangerous, though, no?” Eu asked back. “Oh, we do know that. The amount of people who died by becoming an adventurer is no stranger to us. But, to me, I’d rather go out in a blaze of glory rather than rotting away in this hell hole of a city.”
“Hooh.”
“Well, if you were to ask the others, though, most would probably say for the money, since adventurers made a lot of money here in these parts of the country”, the woman explained. “I-is that so?” Eru awkwardly smiled, “Then, good luck to you”, he said as he walked into the guild’s building. “Wait, don’t cut the line!” the woman tried to stop Eru, but the latter was already inside, “Stupid foreigners, I tried to warn you. Miss Ling did not like people who cut the line”, the woman grumbled.
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“What do you mean we still had to wait!? It’s been two hours already”, complained one of the adventurer’s applicants. “Yeah, yeah. We want to do it now”, said another adventurer applicant. “Yeah, yeah”, all the other adventurer’s applicants echoed the same thing, making Ling very dizzy. Ling massaged her glabella, ‘Urgh, what’s taking him so long?’ she thought in her head. If it were the usual Ling, she would already flip and chase these thugs from the Adventurers Guild building. “Endure, endure. This is for the pilgrimage,” she murmured.
Then, as if her prayer had been answered, Ling’s eyes widened, and her expression turned from frustration to joy. “You’re late!” Ling sternly said towards the newcomer, a young man with raven coloured hair. “Sorry, sorry. I got stuck in something you wouldn’t want to know”, said the young man as he waved his hand. Ling let out a small smile before she faced the group of angry applicants, “I’m sorry it took so long, everyone. Your examinee has now arrived. If you want to blame someone, please blame him”, she pointed at the raven-haired young man, who was, of course, Eru.
As soon as Ling pointed her finger towards Eru, all the adventurer’s applicants turned their bloodshot eyes towards Eru, making the latter flinched, “Wait, what? Nobody told me about this. You mean to tell me, I’m to be an examinee?” Eru asked Ling in a panicked voice. Ling played with her fingers, “It’s your first mission for the pilgrimage. I mean, sure, if you don’t want to do it, consider the pilgrimage a failure then”, she said with a slightly teasing tone. Eru sighed, “Then, what am I supposed to do?” Ling grinned, “Just do what Yuya did in Bora City. I’ll leave it to your judgement, Mr Prodigy.”
Eru shook his head, “Fine, you win.” Eru scratched the back of his head. Eru then turned his attention towards the adventurer’s applicants, “All of you, follow me out”, Eru barked, and the adventurer’s applicants followed behind him.
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