Chapter 69: In Remembrance of the Deceased
Jin and the others somehow managed to defeat Gerd, but it was truly a razor-thin victory. The damage suffered by the three who had fought on the front line, Jin foremost among them, was by no means light.
The greatsword Gerd had wielded seemed to be an exceptionally fine weapon, and Jin’s glaive, which had clashed with it dozens of times, had chipped along its edge. As for Zack and the other members of The Giant’s Twins Arms, the armor that had taken Gerd’s ferocious blows was badly damaged, leaving them in no condition to continue taking on requests as they were.
For those reasons, Jin’s party changed their original plan and decided to make a U-turn back to the city of Tron together with Zack’s group.
Fortunately, Tron was not that far away by carriage, and they were expected to arrive by evening at the latest.
A total of nine people rode in the carriage, proceeding at a leisurely pace toward Tron. Sitting on the driver’s bench were Aria and the others who had not been injured, taking full responsibility for keeping watch on their surroundings. Meanwhile, in the cargo bed, Jin and the members of The Giant’s Twins Arms rested their exhausted bodies.
There was one more thing loaded onto the back of the carriage along with them.
Gerd’s corpse.
Gerd, who had been on the guild’s wanted list, carried a bounty. This time, the guild card found among his belongings alone would have been sufficient proof of subjugation, and there was no real necessity to transport the body itself.
But it was not a question of necessity. They carried the body because they felt they wanted to—because they thought they should. That feeling was shared by both Jin and the members of The Giant’s Twins Arms.
“Thank you. Thank you so much.”
Zack and the others bowed their heads again, repeating their thanks for what had to be the umpteenth time.
Of course, this gratitude was for having their lives saved, but it was also thanks to the fact that Gerd’s body was being carried like this, and for the smile he had worn at the very end.
Gerd’s body was wrapped in a large cloth that Jin had once purchased on a whim, thinking it might be useful someday, and had stored away in his Infinite Storage.
The expressions on Zack and the others as they gazed at the body were heavy with sorrow. Even after nearly being killed by him, the respect they still felt toward Gerd was plainly visible on their faces.
That said, it was not as though they harbored any resentment toward Jin for having killed him. They understood all too well, down to their very bones, that without Jin they would certainly have been killed—and that Gerd himself had changed.
Though they felt a sense of inadequacy at not having been the ones to release Gerd themselves, the feelings Zack and the others held toward Jin were nothing but gratitude.
As for Jin, the one receiving their thanks, the smile he wore lacked its usual strength. There was joy in having saved Zack and the others, but there was no way the fact that he had killed someone would leave his mind untouched.
Even so, Jin did not regret what he had done. In that desperate, knife-edge situation, he was convinced that if he had not acted as he did, it would have been they who died. Even if he could turn back time, Jin knew he would make the same choice again. The lives at stake had not been only his own, but those of all his companions.
Still, even without regret, it was also true that Jin was not unaffected.
“Could you tell me about the Gerd-san you all knew?”
When Jin asked this after accepting their thanks, it was neither out of idle curiosity nor an attempt to make Zack and the others suffer by dredging up the past.
He felt that remembering the deceased was itself a form of offering, and at the same time, Jin believed it was his responsibility, having taken Gerd’s life, to know what kind of person he had been before he changed.
“…Yeah. I’ll tell you.”
Higgins, the leader, spoke up on behalf of the group.
Under normal circumstances, learning what kind of person someone you killed had been would hardly be something you would want to hear. Jin’s willingness to ask was not unpleasant to them in the slightest.
“The first time we met Gerd-san and his party was…”
The image of Gerd that emerged from their story was indeed that of an adventurer worthy of respect.
Higgins and Gaston, leaders of The Giant’s Twins Arms, along with Zack, were all from the same village, so-called childhood friends. After coming to the city of Tron, they met Merry and Ashley, formed a party, and that became the beginning of what would later be known as The Giant’s Twin Arms.
Back then, before they had even settled on a party name, they were brimming with baseless confidence born of youth. It was sadly not uncommon for such recklessness to land them in situations where total annihilation loomed. Ordinarily, that would have been the end—but they were fortunate enough to be saved. And the fact that their saviors were The Raging Giants, led by Gerd, made that fortune all the greater.
Having only just reached C-rank, Gerd and his companions didn’t simply save Zack’s group—they looked after them for some time afterward. What motivated them to do so was unclear, but the fact remained that they continued to take care of Zack and the others right up until the day they left the city of Tron.
Those days of being beaten back into shape—sometimes literally, with Gerd’s fists—were harsh, yet irreplaceable to them. Having not even undergone beginner training, it was there that they first truly learned what it meant to be an adventurer.
Everything they acquired during that time became the foundation of who Zack and the others are today. They believed that their ability to grow into B-rank adventurers at such a young age was thanks to Gerd and the rest of The Raging Giants.
It wasn’t only Higgins who spoke. The other members chimed in as well, adding details and sharing their own memories as the conversation unfolded.
At first, the mood was subdued and somber, but little by little, they began to speak with smiles on their faces.
“After training or a job, we always ended up having a party at the tavern.”
Gaston said, sounding nostalgic.
“Right, right. Back then, Zack wasn’t good with alcohol at all, and Gerd-san really put him through his paces,”
Merry added with a mischievous smile.
“Yeah. And then Gerd-san would get scolded by Jessie for forcing him to drink,”
“And before you knew it, those two would start flirting, and Logos-san and the others would be like, ‘To hell with this,’ and start complaining that they wanted girlfriends,”
Higgins piled on to Zack’s reply, recalling the noisy, laughter-filled scenes of those days.
“Fufu… but that was always how it went, and it really was fun…”
Ashley said with a smile, though at the end she wiped away tears that had welled up at the corners of her eyes.
Those joyful days would never return.
“Gerd-san, Jessie-san, Logos-san, Garros-san, Mike-san—they were all wonderful people. We admired them, wanted to catch up to them someday, and hoped to repay our debt to them. That’s why we named our party The Giant’s Twins Arms, after The Raging Giants.”
The time they had spent with Gerd and the others amounted to less than a month.
After sensing Zack and the others’ growth, Gerd’s group soon set off for new lands, and they never met again after that. Their reunion after all that time had been the battle just moments ago.
Having told their whole story, Zack and the others wore faint smiles, yet the atmosphere once again grew subdued.
Jin thanked them for sharing, then spoke honestly about what he had been thinking.
“Perhaps… Gerd-san wanted to see you all.”
“““Eh?”””
Several voices overlapped in surprise.
“Listening to your story, I could tell how close The Raging Giants and The Giant’s Twins Arms were. And just as you all felt that bond even after parting, I think Gerd-san and his party members may have felt the same. After all, Gerd-san recited all of your names without hesitation. Given how things turned out, I think it was unconscious on his part. Still, I can’t think of any other reason why Gerd-san would have gone out of his way to come so close to the city of Tron.”
Jin paused, then lowered his gaze to Gerd-san’s body and murmured quietly.
“Maybe… Gerd-san wanted to return, too. To the days when everyone in The Raging Giants and The Giant’s Twins Arms was alive and laughing together.”
“““…!”””
Those words became the trigger. Unable to hold back any longer, Zack and the others began to cry.
Their sobs echoed inside the carriage.
After some time passed and they had regained their composure, Higgins spoke again.
“Sorry about that. We showed you something ugly.”
“Not at all. If anything, I may have been insensitive. I’m very sorry,”
Jin said, bowing his head in reflection. He had never meant to make them sad.
“No, no. Honestly, I was glad you said that. Even if it was unconscious—even if it was just a tiny part—it means the old Gerd-san was still there,” Higgins replied, and the others nodded in agreement.
What Gerd had done after becoming a bandit was unforgivable. With a bounty on his head, it was only a matter of time before he met his end somewhere.
Even though they themselves had nearly been killed, the fact that Gerd had come to see them—even unconsciously—meant they were able to witness his release with their own eyes at the very end.
It was only because they had all survived, thanks to Jin and his companions, that they could say this—but being present at Gerd’s death had been a form of salvation for them as well.
“Anyway, can you do something about that polite way of talking? You’re the one who saved our lives, and to be honest, you’re stronger than any of us. Hearing you speak so formally just feels… kinda off,” Zack said, trying to shift the lingering awkwardness now that the earlier sorrow had faded.
“True. We might be a bit older, but just talk to us normally.”
“Yeah. I didn’t expect someone that young to be the same B-rank as us, but we’re the same rank, so there’s no need to be so formal, right?”
Higgins and Merry agreed, though their words carried a misunderstanding.
They didn’t think he was A-rank—but seeing how Jin had fought Gerd head-on, they had simply assumed he was the same B-rank as themselves.
“Uh—so, actually, I’m D-rank,”
Jin corrected them, scratching his head and looking a bit awkward.
““““D-rank!?””””
The members of The Giant’s Twins Arms blurted out in unison.
“To be precise, I’m in the middle of my C-rank promotion exam. We’re on our way back from it right now.”
The story was so unbelievable that no one could speak for a moment, but their leader, Higgins, was the first to recover.
“No, even if you’re D-rank, forget the polite speech. The fact that you saved our lives doesn’t change, and neither does the fact that you’re stronger than us.”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“Exactly.”
“Mm, but seriously… D-rank?”
“That’s incredible.”
The others hurried to agree with Higgins, though some were still clearly shaken. Still, it wasn’t just empty words—regardless of Jin being D-rank, they wanted to treat him as an equal.
After being told that much, Jin had no reason to cling to formal speech anymore.
“Got it. Then let me properly introduce myself. My name’s Jin. The beastman warrior over there is Erza, the elf priest is Rachel, and the three of us are D-rank adventurers currently taking our promotion exam. The mage here is Aria—she’s a guild employee acting as our exam proctor. From here on out, we’re fellow adventurers, so I’ll talk normally, no honorifics. Nice to meet you.”
““““Nice to meet you.””””
At Jin’s introduction, Aria and the others turned and bowed as well, and everyone exchanged greetings together at the end.
The sadness hadn’t vanished completely, but the mood inside the carriage softened.
“Man, you’re amazing. You can fight on the front lines like that and still use magic,” Zack muttered in admiration.
“Yeah, and that spell—I’d never seen it before. You even skipped the chant, didn’t you?” Merry added, nodding in agreement. Unfortunately, that was exactly the kind of information Jin wanted to keep hidden.
“About that—I’d really appreciate it if you kept any information about me confidential from now on. I think you all understand why, but for adventurers, personal details are something you’re supposed to keep secret.”
Jin had only managed to defeat Gerd because he’d concealed the fact that he could use magic until the very last moment and caught him off guard. If what happened here spread, he wouldn’t just stand out more—he’d also lose that informational advantage. And since he still very much didn’t want to draw attention yet, that was something he wanted to avoid.
“Sorry. You’re right. I swear on Gerd-san’s name that we won’t tell anyone about this,” Zack said with a serious expression.
“I swear too.”
“So do I.”
One after another, all the members of The Giant’s Twins Arms vowed to keep it secret.
Because that promise had been sworn to Gerd, Jin felt certain it would never be broken.
“Thanks. And there’s one more thing I want to ask. About this incident—I want it framed as The Giant’s Twin Arms being the main force, and us just helping out. We’re not even C-rank yet, and we don’t want to stand out.”
For The Giant’s Twin Arms, that wasn’t an easy request to accept. Insisting on that after being saved by Jin and the others was an act that stabbed straight at their pride.
It took some time before they reached an agreement, but in the end, they settled on at least stating, “We would have lost without Jin and his group.” Even that concession was frustrating for Zack and the others, but since it was the earnest request of the man who had saved their lives, they compromised.
With a few more agreements settled along the way, the carriage continued on, and before evening fell, they safely arrived back in the city of Tron.
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