Nozomanu Fushi no Boukensha (LN) - Volume 1 - Chapter SS3

Love Among Peers 

“...I want to fall in love, too... Haaah...” 

Hearing such a thing while dining at the tavern would cause anyone to spit out the food they were chewing on in surprise. The lips from which those words escaped hardly belonged to a young woman, but instead a muscle-bound man in his forties. To be precise, they were from the lips of Bronze-class adventurer, Zarid. 

Zarid was an adventurer senior to myself, Rentt Faina (Bronze-class), and Lorraine Vivie (Silver-class). While his abilities were only at the Bronze-class level, the fact that he still had all his limbs, and only a few scars on his face to show, were factors indicative of his abilities and strengths. After all, adventurers of his age were usually a limb or two short, or perhaps even dead. I, for one, hadn take care not to end up as such, so I suppose it would be fine in the long run. 

Taking into consideration the above factors, what Zarid had just said was truly startling. Although I did spit out my food, Lorraine, who was seated next to me, merely continued munching on her meal, eventually swallowing it without a sound. 

“...Did I hear you incorrectly? I am somewhat certain that I just heard you say something most strange,” was what Lorraine had to say. 

Zarid, in response, scrunched up his face, now looking more like a goblin than a human adventurer. 

“Oi, I’m human, too, Lorraine! Is it wrong for me to want to fall in love?” 

Such was Zarid’s swift rebuke, and I suppose he was right. Lorraine, now aware of Zarid’s upset tone, offered a somewhat conciliatory response in kind. 

“Oh, I do apologize. It is just that...a man of your age, to be saying these things... It seems almost fantastical to claim you would like to fall in love. Surely there are other ways of...expressing it?” 

Such was Lorraine’s measured answer. I, in turn, offered my take on the situation. 

“Ah... Yes, Lorraine has a point. Would you not normally say that...you ended up ‘liking this girl,’ or say how you would ‘make her yours’? Something like that, right?” 

Lorraine slapped her thigh in amusement at my response. “Yes! Exactly! But then, there you go... Claiming that you would like to ‘fall in love’ like a blushing maiden! Do you not see? I had valid cause for doubting my ears! Surely that can be forgiven, no?” 

Hearing our justifications, Zarid appeared to understand the cause of our amusement, slowly shaking his head. 

“Huh... Well, that’s my bad, I guess. But I can’t control how I feel, yeah?” 

“Well... I suppose on that point you would be right, Zarid. Well then, tell us—who is it? Is it Nina? Jenny?” 

The two names I raised were a member of the guild and an adventurer respectively, both relatively younger women. If anything, these two individuals were the women that Zarid had the most amount of social interactions with, so it wouldn’t be strange if he ended up liking one of them. 

Zarid, however, shook his head. 

“No...” 

And soon it was our turn to stare at Zarid in shock, for the name that he brought up was one most unexpected. 

“...That...person?” 

“Yeah. That’s her all right...” Zarid said, responding to Lorraine’s query. 

At this point in time, the three of us were on the streets of Maalt, peeking out from behind a corner of one street at a certain storefront. A single woman stood before the store in question, speaking warmly with several customers. It would seem that she was the one who had captured Zarid’s heart, so to speak. Even so, this was something I truly did not expect... 

“The girl at the flower store, huh? Quite the departure from the goblin-like adventurer, eh?” 

While Lorraine’s statement could be interpreted in a definitively negative way, it was worth noting that Lorraine didn’t exactly hate goblins or their faces. In fact, she found them to be very interesting and indicative of a goblin’s character. She even conducted research into them at some point in time, gaining the ability to tell unique goblins apart from each other with a single glance. To me, however, goblins all looked the same, but Lorraine did, as usual, have a point. 

“Why did it have to be the flower girl, of all people? I cannot imagine you going to the florist’s, Zarid...” I asked, unable to wrap my head around the matter. 

“Well, no...” As if steeling his resolve, Zarid started telling the two of us about why he had been to the florist’s in the first place. 

While Zarid was frequently partied with a warrior by the name of Ryude at this point, they both used to be a part of a four-man team. Of those members, one of them had lost their life while adventuring, and the other had left the adventuring life behind altogether. This adventurer’s death wasn’t exactly anyone’s fault. In fact, they spent their last moments talking about how they had enjoyed adventuring with their party and wished for their peers to continue their work as they passed on. 

Zarid, concluding his tale with a bitter smile, looked away momentarily. Although he had attempted to hide it, I could see the regret and unbridled sadness in his eyes. 

Zarid had of course noticed recently that the anniversary of his party member’s death was near. Twenty years had passed without so much as a visit to their grave, and Zarid had thought now would be a good time as any to perform such a visit. One would, in turn, need flowers when visiting the grave of a fallen comrade, hence the rare trip to the florist’s, and it was there that Zarid had met the flower girl in question. 

“But then...how did you end up liking her?” 

Zarid was not a fickle man; there was no way he would have fallen for this woman simply by purchasing some flowers. Zarid, however, was quick to offer an explanation. 

“Yeah, see... I was troubled about what kind of flowers to bring... So I told her about the reason for me buying flowers as well. That girl, she’s called Phi, she started crying when she heard about it, see. Even I started crying, too, damn it. So before I knew it...I asked her out for a meal, and she asked to hear more about Latt...” 

Latt—I suppose that was the name of Zarid’s fallen companion. 

According to Zarid, Phi agreed to go with him for a meal. In fact, they had shared many meals since. If they indeed shared such a bond, I suppose it was not out of the question for the two of them to get married, but he had no idea how to ask her out, and was now consulting the two of us for advice. 

Having heard his story up to this point, however, Lorraine and I felt somewhat silly for having made fun of him, and we decided to make ourselves scarce. 

“...Let’s go home, Lorraine...” 

“...Ah. Yes. Of course...” 

We both were of one mind, having turned to face each other at the same time. 

As we moved to leave, Zarid panicked, pleading with us to stay. 

“W-wait, you two! Advice! Give me some advice. Help me out here!” 

Upon hearing his plea, Lorraine stopped, looking slightly up at the sky as she did so. 

“...You. Haah... If you are that smitten with her, all that is left is to bravely go forth and pop the proverbial question, no? Simply tell her that you love her, that you would like to go out with her, that you would like to get married. It’s not such a difficult thing.” 

With that, Lorraine left in a huff, walking quickly down the street. 

“I mean if I could, I wouldn’t be in such a tight spot...!” Zarid had a pathetic expression on his goblin-esque face. 

I, however, could not help but agree with Lorraine, and as such decided to give my old friend some encouragement. 

“Just draw out your courage, like when you’re fighting monsters in the dungeon. If you get rejected, I’ll treat you to a meal. Work hard, Zarid! If you succeed, you’re treating me, you hear?” 

Without waiting for his response, I took off, attempting to catch up with Lorraine. What happened next would be completely up to Zarid. I, for one, didn’t think he was a man to back down from such a situation. 

The good news came a few days later: Zarid and Phi were now officially dating. They were happily married a year later. Zarid, in turn, retired from adventuring and now ran a tavern with his wife. 

Although it was always a sad occasion when my peers retired from adventuring, at the very least I could be happy for him as he deserved at least that much. Lorraine and I, of course, pooled some coin together and treated Zarid and Phi to a lavish meal, in addition to being present for their wedding. 

“When you two tie the not, I’ll treat you to something big, too! Make sure you tell me when, you hear?” That was what Zarid had told us at his own wedding ceremony. Lorraine and I turned to face each other, not saying a word. 

Of course we understood what Zarid meant, but right now, we did not want to put it into words. Instead, the both of us simply smiled somewhat awkwardly, both playing dumb as we stared up at the blue sky.