Idle Boys’ Talk at the Tavern
“I’ve already won this one, haven’t I, Milko?”
“No, there’s still a chance for a comeback. Can’t you see it? Mongrel… this slender yet glimmering path to hope…”
“Huh? Are you seriously saying that? Sorry, I’m not good at this game so I don’t really get it.”
“…I see, so even from your perspective the outcome is still unclear. Kukuku, you’ve let your guard down. Now the match is back to fifty-fifty. So, if this spot gets hit… what will you do!?”
“Ah! That spot… if that spot gets hit, it’ll be tough, I guess… I don’t know…”
“Kukuku… this move is one that even I can’t read… take your time thinking about it…”
Since there aren’t any good quests available, I’m spending today lounging around the guild tavern from noon onwards.
There’s always a certain number of guildsmen waiting around with the passive hope that some emergency, easy, and profitable job might come in. Even though spring is busy with lots of quests, you need breaks or it gets exhausting, so you can’t call it laziness.
Right now, besides me, there are also men from “Earth’s Shield” and “Sword of Harvest” here, making the tavern unusually lively.
Thanks to that, I’m not lacking opponents for this board game of mine.
“Mongrel… what do you think of this battle situation? Kukuku…”
“Can I be honest? I have no clue.”
“What a coincidence, neither do I…!”
My opponent is Milko, a swordsman from “Earth’s Shield.”
His cool-looking features and suggestive way of speaking are popular with women, but he’s a guy whose head is slightly loose.
The fact that he’s having a heated battle with me, a beginner, at a board game with unclear rules says it all. By the way, I can only have evenly matched games with people other than Milko.
I’d love to go meet someone weaker than me.
“Damn it~ The guys from Basin should do more subjugation too~ Why do we have to go all the way to fields near their side to subjugate small fry~ Aren’t they getting slack~?”
“It can’t be helped, Chuck-san… Recently, more and more guildsmen from various guild branches are relocating their base to Legol, so they’re short-handed…”
“If they’re gonna do personnel changes, they should just decide it decisively~ Don’t make us go on expeditions while being stingy with money~! Because of that, our whole party can’t participate in development quests~!”
“…The Sword of Harvest over there seems to be having a hard time too.”
“How’s it been for you lately, Alex~”
“Well, as you can see. We’d like to make some moves, but there’s no profit in small subjugations… We’re thinking of waiting for the expedition group to return first.”
“You guys are free too~ You’re free, aren’t you~…”
Spring is the season of small fry. However, spring has few jobs that pay big in one go. It’s all quests dealing with multiple small targets.
No matter how much you work, you don’t make money. It’s understandable that guildsmen would get fed up with that.
Right now, the city’s expansion construction is also thriving, and working there would be more profitable. Seeing such local work while going on expeditions for meager earnings – I can understand how that would feel ridiculous.
In that regard, Artemis and Young Wands are doing well. They almost always act as a whole group, so they’re in sync and there’s no waste.
The Earth’s Shield and Sword of Harvest here are also light on their feet, but in terms of having a nose for profitable quests, they seem to be a step or two behind.
“…Hey~ Who’s your favorite among the Young Wands girls?”
“That kind of talk again, Chuck-san… Dick Vault-san isn’t here, you know?”
“Just because that person isn’t here doesn’t mean we can’t have this kind of talk~!? It’s interesting~!”
Apparently, taking advantage of there being no female guildsmen in the tavern, he’s planning to start some boys’ talk.
This guy’s brain is seriously like a middle school boy’s.
“How about this move!”
“…Oof.”
Ah, crap. I’m about to lose. No way? I don’t want to lose to Milko.
“Chuck! Let me join that conversation too!”
“Ah! Mongrel, you’re cheating!”
“Alright~ Let’s talk about it~! Oh, I got some pickles from Grandma Dalia this morning~ Let’s eat those while we talk~!”
Eh- Really?- You have pickles?- Nice- Give me some-.
I’ve become a huge fan of pickled foods since coming to this world. They’re healthy, delicious, and go well with alcohol – perfect food.
“Mongrel’s close with the leader of Young Wands, right~? That Sally person~”
“Ah, Sally. Well, Legol was her old home base, so I’ve known her for a long time. I’m not sure if you’d call us close though.”
“That person’s also hard to read, but her figure isn’t bad~ Creepy though~”
“She has pretty features… but when she covered her ordered ale with her hand, shook it vigorously to remove the carbonation, then started drinking it, I doubted my own eyes…”
“That~ is scary~”
“Sally’s a weirdo.”
“If Mongrel-san says that, it’s really the end…”
“Alex, what’s that? Are you picking a fight with me over a board game?”
“Do you really think you could win at that…?”
“Hey you three… let me join in too…”
Ah, Milko came over too. Now all four of us guys are together. What a lonely table.
Though Milko has a wife, so he’s already the winner among us.
“Milko~ Who among the guild girls are you interested in~”
“Well, Chuck-san… he’s married though…”
“Kukuku… That’s right… Well, I like Natasha-san from Artemis… Those breasts are irresistible…”
“What!? Did he get divorced!?”
“I didn’t.”
“Right!? Eh… he answered normally… In a way, maybe being able to make such casual remarks is the confidence that comes from being married…”
“Nope? Keep it secret from my wife.”
“You were spilling your true feelings while knowing the risks…”
“Bigger breasts are better, right?”
“Well… I can’t say I don’t understand…”
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT GADGETIZEDPANDA.COM
The sexual preferences of men in this world… or rather in Halperia, tend to lean toward the lower body. There are more guys who think butts are sexier than breasts.
Also, they normally show interest in and hit on girls around their mid-teens – what would be called young girls in my previous life.
While having a preference for young girls isn’t exactly welcomed, they’re not getting the kind of disgusted looks you’d give to someone called a lolicon either.
Men seek high school girls throughout their lives… whose words were those? Nietzsche maybe? I forgot. Might have been my own words.
Anyway, men aren’t judged too harshly for liking young girls. Both coming of age and marriage happen early here. In that sense, maybe the moral standards of the modern world in my previous life were unnatural.
“Me~ I like that Momo girl from Young Wands! That small girl with sleepy-looking eyes! She’s still small, but she’s gonna be a beauty in the future~”
“Ah…”
“Huh? Chuck, didn’t you know? Momo is Sally’s daughter.”
“…What? What!? Sally-san is a married woman~!?”
“Her husband died right after they had the kid though. She’s a widow.”
Sally’s 31 now, I think. Two years older than me. Her daughter Momo was born when Sally was 16, so… she’s 15 now. Time flies fast…
“Eh, how old is Sally-san?”
“That person looked younger than her actual age, didn’t she?”
“Kukuku… Wasn’t she around 30?”
“She’s 31 for sure.”
“Eh~!? She doesn’t look it! I thought she was around 25~! Wait, she had a kid…!”
She doesn’t seem to fuss over her child much, and I’m not sure if she’s attached.
Even a few years ago when she was active in Legol, rather than a parent-child relationship, it felt more dry… like the child was being raised by the party as a group. Even looking at Sally and Momo recently, that relationship doesn’t seem to have changed much.
But according to what I heard from other Young Wands members, Sally often teaches her magic studies.
Honestly, I don’t want to pry too deeply into other people’s parent-child relationships.
As long as the kid doesn’t seem unhappy, isn’t that fine?
“I don’t really have those kinds of feelings toward guild members… or rather, I try not to…”
“…Ah, there was that incident before… the legendary party crasher…”
“Ah, Milko-san, if you bring up that story, my heart palpitations won’t stop, so please…”
“Sorry, let’s not.”
How nostalgic, the party crasher instead of a circle crasher… that legendary woman who devoured and toyed with the men of “Earth’s Shield” before finally marrying into money as the wife of a wealthy merchant in the royal capital…
Because of her, “Earth’s Shield” became kind of misogynistic for a while, which was pitiful.
“Mongrel’s close with the Artemis girls~ Raina’s whatever, but~ to even make moves on Ulrika-chan~”
“Wait, Ulrika… and isn’t saying ‘Raina’s whatever’ a bit harsh toward Raina?”
“Raina~ doesn’t really feel like a woman~”
“I understand. She’s honest and cute.”
“Kuku… She’s a serious good person. No sex appeal though…”
Raina… well, she’s not very curvy and she’s tiny…
But Ulrika’s completely different… he’s a guy…
But saying he’s a guy might be problematic coming from me, so I won’t say it.
“Ulrika-chan also~ has a flat chest but~ has a nice butt~”
“Kukuku… I get it… nice butt…”
“Milko-san, your wife will kill you! …Well, among Artemis’s flawless single group, he’s the only one who treats us casually, so I can understand…”
“Why did Mongrel become friends with them~ Huh~? Introduce me to Ulrika-chan~ This Chuck-sama~”
“Well, they probably know about Chuck too.”
“Eh… did they say anything about me…?”
“They didn’t say anything.”
“Ah~! I want to be popular~!”
“It’s not my place to say this, but… that attitude is why you’re not popular…”
“Also Chuck, you had a thing for Elena the receptionist, right? What happened with Elena?”
“Elena-chan is my main target~? But it’s fine to have side dishes too, right!?”
“Kukuku… I can’t say I don’t understand the feeling…”
“Milko-san, do you have any complaints about married life…?”
“I don’t.”
“Eh…”
“…Hey Chuck, you might think it’s safe to have this kind of talk because Elena isn’t here, but I think Milene-san can normally hear our conversation.”
When I glanced toward the reception desk, I met eyes with Milene-san, who was smiling cheerfully.
When I tried waving lightly, she completely ignored me while still smiling.
“…So you’re saying this conversation might reach Elena-chan through Milene-san~”
“That’s quite a risk.”
“…But that means~ I can indirectly let Elena-chan know that I’m interested in her~!? This might be what they call romantic tactics~!?”
To Chuck, who declared this with inexplicable confidence, the three of us silently drank our alcohol.
While there’s a mystery about why popular men became popular, unpopular men have somehow perceptible reasons for their situation…
Looking at Chuck makes me think about such things.
Milene-san was taking some kind of notes at the reception desk where no one was lined up, with a smile on her face…
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