Isekai Kansha - Chapter 71

Chapter 71: The Requiem Banquet

As the promised time drew near, Jin and the others left the inn and headed for their meeting place—the guild tavern. Of course, they hadn’t forgotten the rule of “arrive ten minutes early,” and they reached the guild more than ten minutes before the appointed time.

However, just as they were about to enter the guild, a familiar face called out to them.

“Yo, you’re early.”

The one who spoke to Jin and the others was Zack. He was alone; none of the other members were with him.

Seeing that Zack had gone out of his way to approach them, Jin figured he must have been waiting for them.

“You too. So, what’s up?”

When Jin asked curiously, Zack answered with an awkward look.

“Well, about that. The guild tavern’s pretty noisy right now—some other folks are celebrating clearing a request. You guys probably don’t want to stand out either, so sorry, but can we change locations?”

“I see. So that’s why you waited for us. Thanks for being considerate.”

Handing over money in the middle of a loud, boisterous atmosphere would indeed draw unnecessary attention. And since today was essentially a wake for Gerd, Jin himself preferred to move somewhere more subdued.

Naturally, Aria and the others had no objections either, and Jin’s group promptly left the area together with Zack.

The place Zack led them to was closer to a restaurant than a tavern. While it wasn’t a completely private room, each table was separated by partitions, with ample space between them, creating a calm and relaxed atmosphere.

“Hey, sorry for making you go out of your way twice.”

Higgins said as he called out to Jin and the others when they arrived. The rest of The Giant’s Twins' Arms, aside from Zack, were already seated.

“No, we should be the ones apologizing for the trouble. This really helps.”

Jin replied with a smile as he took a seat together with Aria and the others.

“Alright then, before we start, I’ll hand over the reward. Half of five large gold coins—that’s two large gold coins and five small gold coins. Check it.”

Five large gold coins amounted to roughly five million yen. That was the bounty placed on Gerd.

“Yeah… looks right. I’ll accept it gratefully.”

Jin firmly received the small pouch from Higgins with both hands, then poured its contents onto his palm to confirm them. Of course, he trusted them, but this wasn’t a matter of trust or distrust. When it came to money, Jin believed it was better for both sides to check things properly right there on the spot.

They had already discussed and agreed on the amount during the carriage ride, so Jin had no intention of complaining now that their share was too large. In a sense, this was the price of Gerd’s life. Jin accepted the money with a solemn mindset.

“Alright! That takes care of business—now let’s eat, drink, and have ourselves a time!”

Once Zack saw Jin tuck the pouch away, he called out cheerfully. Right on cue, drinks for everyone and several dishes were brought in and set out on the table.

“Alright then, let’s have a toast. Let’s see… to our meeting—and our farewell.… Cheers!”

“““Cheers!”””

At Higgins’s call, everyone raised their glasses and echoed him. To an outsider, it might have sounded like a toast given at a farewell party, but of course, the “farewell” here referred not to parting with Jin and the others, but to Gerd. They deliberately avoided saying his name directly, judging that it was better not to mention it in a place where others might overhear.

Even unconsciously, people tend to pick up on words they’re interested in. At least until Gerd’s burial was complete, Zack and the others intended to act cautiously.

For a while after that, they ate and drank as Zack had suggested. It didn’t quite turn into rowdy revelry, but laughter could be heard throughout the gathering. Everyone had their own thoughts about Gerd, yet they still tried to keep smiling.

As the alcohol flowed, laughter and lively voices grew more frequent here and there.

Aria and the others were also deep in conversation with Merry and Ashley from The Giant’s Twins Arms, and the main topic was Jin’s relationship with the three of them. From time to time, glances flicked toward Jin, but he didn’t notice—he was busy talking with Zack and the other men.

In fact, Jin himself was being questioned by Zack and the others about his relationship with Aria and the other girls—“So who’s the main one?” “Don’t tell me it’s all of them, you bastard,” they teased him relentlessly. Jin laughed and skillfully dodged their probing, then turned the tables by asking about the romantic situations within The Giant’s Twins Arms, enjoying the kind of lively conversation that only men could have together after a long time.

Since most of them were in their mid-twenties, the conversation occasionally drifted into talk about adult establishments. In this world, the men Jin had met so far were either older, married types like Greg, or younger youths like Dan and the others. So this sort of foolish banter typical of young men, was something he was experiencing for the first time since coming here. Remembering his own younger days, Jin joined in enthusiastically, and with his spirits feeling youthful again, he found himself having a genuinely great time.

Incidentally, Jin didn’t notice that Aria and the others, seeing him like this, wore expressions of mild surprise mixed with a sense of relief. Nor did he notice how Merry and the others latched onto that reaction, sparking another round of excitement among the women as well.

And just as everyone was enjoying themselves in their own way, Zack suddenly shouted as if something had just occurred to him.

“Right. I still haven’t apologized to Jin!”

His voice carried more than expected, and Aria and the others stopped their conversation and turned their eyes toward Zack.

“When we first met, I’m sorry for getting all up in your face.”

Zack bowed his head toward Jin, who had been wondering what this was about. Only then did Jin remember—but once he did, as a close companion, he felt he had to say something.

“Was that just a one-time thing back then?”

He asked to confirm it, adding that he vaguely recalled hearing something about how Zack changed when he drank.

“No. Zack has a severe drinking problem. He gets pushy and causes trouble for people pretty often. We keep telling him to knock it off, but…”

“Shut up. That’s why I’m apologizing right now, isn’t it?”

“You always say that. And anyway, you—”

As Jin asked his question, Merry answered, and Zack, having had a sore spot hit, snapped back at her. Merry, of course, wasn’t about to take it lying down and seized the chance to fire back.

The argument went on for a short while before Jin raised one hand to stop them. He had no intention of meddling in the affairs of people he barely knew, but with Zack and the others, now people he was close to, he meant to deal with them properly, like family.

“I think I get the picture. Thanks, Merry.”

After thanking her first, Jin turned his whole body toward Zack and asked,

“So, how long do you plan to keep this up?”

Jin’s words weren’t light. It was a serious question.

“How long… well, uh…”

Just moments ago, they had been laughing over stupid guy talk, but now Jin gave off none of that air. His expression was utterly serious. Pressured by it, Zack stumbled over his words and couldn’t answer right away. Up until now, Zack’s rule had always been: apologize, and that’s the end of it.

“If you were just an acquaintance, I might accept your apology and end it there. But I don’t see you as just an acquaintance. I see you as a companion I’ve shared life and death with. So even if you find this annoying, I’m going to say it anyway.”

With that preface, Jin laid out his thoughts.

“You apologized just now. I think that’s important, and I appreciate it. But is that really the end of it? From the way Merry tells it, you’ve made the same mistake before and apologized each time, right? Are you going to keep repeating it from here on out?”

Alcohol can lift a person’s spirits or dull their grief—it has positive effects. But at times, it can also strip away reason and drive people to violence, bringing negative consequences. People call alcohol ‘the best of medicines,’ but taken too far, it becomes a poison that can take lives—not only your own, but sometimes someone else’s as well.

Through newspapers and TV, Jin had seen and heard of countless tragic incidents and accidents caused by alcohol. The sheer number would be unimaginable to people in this world, where information didn’t travel nearly as far. Because he knew those realities, Jin couldn’t stay silent.

“Well, sure, I do end up apologizing afterward a lot, but it’s not like I’ve caused that much trouble…”

Even while subconsciously realizing he was in the wrong, Zack blurted out that rebuttal. But saying that was the same as admitting he hadn’t truly reflected on his actions. Jin let out a deep sigh.

“…Listen, Zack. Say someone smacks you on the head. Then they say ‘sorry,’ but they do it again. Over and over. And when you finally confront them, they tell you it doesn’t hurt that much, so it’s not really a problem. How would you feel about that?”

“Ah… um… sorry.”

Zack finally realized how shameful what he was saying sounded and apologized to Jin—but of course, that wasn’t the end of it.

“You understand how dangerous alcohol can be, right? Maybe apologizing was enough up until now, but what if your drinking habit gets worse? And what if the person you pick a fight with turns out to be a real problem? Isn’t your drinking already causing trouble not just for you, but for your companions, too? You know as well as I do that when you’re drunk, it’s not just your judgment that goes—you lose control of your body, too. For your own sake, and for your companions’ sake, shouldn’t you seriously think this through?”

Jin paused there, then looked straight at Zack, who had been listening in silence.

“If you’re truly reflecting on this, then aren’t your options pretty limited?”

Jin deliberately used a harsh tone. Zack thought for a while after hearing it—not because he was sulking, but because he was genuinely considering it.

“…Quit drinking.”

After a long silence, Zack gave that answer. His face was full of anguish, yet at the same time, it looked as though he had reached some kind of resolve.

Perhaps because the words were coming from someone who had saved his life, Zack accepted Jin’s words honestly and without resistance.

“Yeah… you’re right. I’ll quit drin—”

“That’s not what I’m saying.”

Zack was about to declare he’d give up alcohol entirely, but Jin cut him off mid-sentence. Jin himself had been saved by alcohol more than once. He had no intention of claiming that all alcohol was evil.

With a wry smile at the dumbfounded Zack, Jin continued.

“You’re too extreme. Hey, Zack—how many drinks are you on right now?”

“Huh? Oh, the booze? This is my third.”

“At that level, you’re still perfectly normal, right? So when do you usually start acting weird?”

Zack couldn’t answer on his own and looked to Higgins and Gaston for help.

“It’s after he’s completely drunk… At the earliest, around the seventh or eighth glass, I’d say.”

At Higgins’s words, not only Gaston but also Merry and Ashley nodded.

“Hm. Then why don’t you decide that five drinks is your limit? That’s better than quitting altogether, isn’t it? Well, depending on the type of alcohol, it might need to be less—but either way, if your bad habits only come out once you’re completely drunk, then just stop before you get to that point.”

For Zack, that proposal was far more acceptable than giving up alcohol entirely.

“Are you sure that’s really okay?”

He had been ready to swear off drinking, so Jin’s seemingly gentle suggestion left him visibly unsettled. But Jin wasn’t being soft.

“Don’t get the wrong idea. This is your last chance. If you can’t keep this promise and you repeat the same thing again… you understand, right?”

“Yeah. I understand.”

Pressed by the quiet pressure coming off Jin, Zack answered seriously. Hearing that, Jin nodded, then slightly eased the tension as he spoke again.

“That said, there are days when you just want to get drunk, right? When that happens, drink in your own room where you won’t bother anyone—or get permission from your companions first. And if your bad habits start showing, ask them to stop you, even if that means hitting you.”

Zack and the others looked as though they had already come to terms with what happened to Gerd, but the fact that they had lost their benefactor hadn’t changed. Times like these were exactly when alcohol had its place, and Jin had no intention of telling them not to drink even now.

He turned his gaze away from the deeply contemplative Zack and looked next to Higgins and the others.

“There’s something I want you guys to reflect on, too. When Zack got in my face back then, none of you stopped him, did you? Saying he was just in a bad mood at the time isn’t an excuse. If a companion is doing something wrong, I think a real companion stops them—even if they have to punch them to do it.”

At Jin’s words, the four of them shrugged awkwardly. Of course, they had tried to rein Zack in as much as possible, but it was true that they hadn’t moved when Jin was the one being targeted. And while Merry alone had told Zack to quit drinking, the rest of them had, to some extent, already given up on fixing his bad habit.

“No, Jin, don’t blame them. Merry did tell me to quit drinking. I’m the one at fault.”

Zack, having fully reflected, spoke humbly—but Jin grinned when he heard that.

Now that Zack had properly thought things through and made his decision, the lecture was over. Next came changing the heavy mood.

“Yeah, got it. I won’t say any more. But hmm—so it was Merry, huh~.”

As if getting payback for being teased earlier about his relationship with Aria and the others, Jin grinned slyly as he looked back and forth between Zack and Merry. From the earlier talk about romance within the party, he already knew these two didn’t dislike each other.

Jin didn’t know the details of Aria and the others’ conversation, but since they’d been talking about similar things, they too began to giggle.

“H-hey, what—”

“I-I just said what any companion should say, that’s all…”

Caught off guard by the sudden shift from serious talk, Zack panicked, and Merry—also flustered as she tried to explain—gradually turned red and trailed off.

“Hahahaha.”

Jin laughed heartily at the sight.

“Hahahaahahaha!”

The laughter spread to Higgins and the others, and in the end, even Zack and Merry joined in, everyone laughing together.

After the laughter died down, Jin picked his moment and raised his glass.

“Even if you get drunk today, I’ll take care of you, so relax. A toast—to Zack’s vow!”

“““Cheers!”””

Once again, everyone raised their glasses, and the good times resumed.

Just as Jin had said, Zack drank without worry that day, yet strangely enough, his usual troublesome drunkenness never surfaced. Still, perhaps as a form of retaliation, he persistently tried to pry into Jin’s relationships with women—but that was just part of his charm.

Of course, Jin didn’t mind offering up some material as jokes, but since in this world he hadn’t done anything questionable, all he could share were light topics like his preferences in women or gestures he found attractive. At best, there were a few stories about the kind of establishment he’d once visited with Greg and the others.

Even so, the men got fired up over it, and at least three of the women were clearly straining their ears to listen, so it didn’t seem to be a problem.

Well, one of them was busy thinking about how to put the fear of God into the men who had taken Jin to such a place—but that, too, stayed within the bounds of a good laugh.

And so, despite Jin’s lecture cutting in partway through, the banquet—one that could be called a memorial for Gerd—came to an end with smiles all around.

Afterward, there was no one, Zack included, who needed to be looked after, so they broke up on the spot. And Jin and the others returned to their inn and went to sleep.

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