Episode 247 – Caution
After that, Juno and I continued to talk in the cafe about unrelated, idle talk until the meeting time with Tobias. She had asked me for quite the troublesome favor, but now that I had heard her story, there was no way I could say no. After telling Tobias the entire story, it would be up to him if he still wanted to provide the information. If he didn’t want to, I was fine with it either way.
“Lewin-kun. Sorry about this, but I’m relying on you.” (Juno)
“Yes. If it doesn’t work out, then I’m sorry.” (Lewin)
“If it doesn’t work out you don’t need to worry about it. I already knew that it was an absurd request after all. Well then… I’ll be heading out now.” (Juno)
Juno finished saying her farewells at the entrance of the cafe, and she then waved and headed off in the direction of Main Street. Once the view of her back had disappeared into the distance, I walked briskly back to the Laudungeon Company.
After returning single-mindedly to the Laudungeon Company, I opened the door and saw Tobias standing there by my brewing stand. It still wasn’t our planned meeting time yet, but by the look of it, I made him wait for me.
“Tobias-san. Sorry, did I make you wait?” (Lewin)
“Yo, Lewin. Nah, I just got here. I saw that you had left some potion-making things on top of the brewing stand, so I thought you’d be back soon… So where did you go?” (Tobias)
“Yeah, umm. Well… It also has something to do with what I want to talk to you about, so should we go somewhere else and talk?” (Lewin)
“Hm, what’s up? When you say it like that, it makes me want to hear what you have to say right now, but… oh well. We’ve got the reception room upstairs, so let’s talk there.” (Tobias)
I followed Tobias up to the 2nd floor as he led the way to the usual reception room. Normally, he would go about preparing snacks and tea now, but since I was later than him today, they had already been laid out on the table.
“Alright. What should we talk about first? I wanted to hear what you were going to say earlier―could we start from there?” (Tobias)
“That’s totally fine. But it’s not good news by any means, just so you’re prepared.” (Lewin)
“Hearing you say that is kinda scary. There haven’t been any of those kinds of talks from you before after all. No way, it couldn’t be that… you want to move to another newspaper company, is it?” (Tobias)
“I wouldn’t do something that dishonest. However, the content may not be that far off.” (Lewin)
I could see that he was being more cautious than I had expected, probably because of the way I had said it.
“I really can’t imagine it. Enough with the prefacing; just go ahead and say it.” (Tobias)
“Okay. Actually, I was meeting with Juno-san earlier.” (Lewin)
As soon as I had said that, I saw Tobias’s body relax as he showed a look of relief. Then, he put both his hands on his knees and took a deep breath.
“Phew… What, you were just talking to Juno, is that it? With the way you were putting it, it sounded to me like it was gonna go in a bad direction.” (Tobias)
“No. But it’s a pretty undesirable talk in my opinion.” (Lewin)
“No, no. Go ahead and speak freely. So what did you talk to Juno about?” (Tobias)
With the taut atmosphere having returned to normal, Tobias urged me to continue in the same manner that he always spoke to me with. Seeing his attitude, it made me wonder whether he thought of her as a colleague or not. Based on the way Juno had put it, it sounded like they just worked in the same office but were still business rivals in a sense.
“She requested that I get some information from you. It’s about the attack by the Demon King’s Army that you were briefly telling me about the other day.” (Lewin)
“Ah. Certainly, that’s the top priority with regards to the information I’m gathering right now. All things considered, for her to request that of you… that’s very Juno-like. So what did she want to know?” (Tobias)
“Apparently, Juno-san said that, based on her investigation, it seems that the Demon King’s Army is trying to take over Landaust. And in order to confirm her hypothesis, she said that she wanted to compare information with you.” (Lewin)
“Hahaha! That’s quite the wild thing to say. However, the truth is, it’s not completely baseless.” (Tobias)
“Eh, is that really true?” (Lewin)
After his outburst of laughter, Tobias’s expression returned to normal as he took out a cigarette and lit it. Tobias was always the kind of guy who dressed carelessly in shabby, wrinkled clothes, but when he was smoking a cigarette, it seemed to fit his image quite well.
“Well, I’m not sure if the information I’ve got is reliable. But as a matter of fact, the monsters of the Demon King’s Army that were responsible for the attacks were spotted near the Demon King’s Domain. The news that the vanishing Demon King’s Army had run away and returned to the Demon King’s Domain recently became the hot topic along the kingdom’s border.” (Tobias)
Tobias took a deep draw of his cigarette and then exhaled the smoke, where it rose to the ceiling and dissipated into the air.
“Actually, there’s a small part of the rumors that doesn’t seem to add up.” (Tobias)
“Doesn’t add up? Do you mean the size of the Demon King’s Army? …Couldn’t they have simply overlooked the numbers?” (Lewin)
“There’s certainly that possibility, but it seems that they’re about an entire legion short. Normally, you could just assume that they’d died when they had attacked, so the numbers of their forces had decreased, but… I’ve been secretly thinking that they split up along the way and hid somewhere.” (Tobias)
It had turned into yet another difficult conversation. Even if that legion of monsters were to split up and hide, I had no idea what their intentions were. I didn’t feel like there was much point in asking further about it, as my comprehension of the topic had already reached its limit. But because I was the one who brought it up, I could only sit there resignedly and hear him out until the end.
Episode 247 – Caution
After that, Juno and I continued to talk in the cafe about unrelated, idle talk until the meeting time with Tobias. She had asked me for quite the troublesome favor, but now that I had heard her story, there was no way I could say no. After telling Tobias the entire story, it would be up to him if he still wanted to provide the information. If he didn’t want to, I was fine with it either way.
“Lewin-kun. Sorry about this, but I’m relying on you.” (Juno)
“Yes. If it doesn’t work out, then I’m sorry.” (Lewin)
“If it doesn’t work out you don’t need to worry about it. I already knew that it was an absurd request after all. Well then… I’ll be heading out now.” (Juno)
Juno finished saying her farewells at the entrance of the cafe, and she then waved and headed off in the direction of Main Street. Once the view of her back had disappeared into the distance, I walked briskly back to the Laudungeon Company.
After returning single-mindedly to the Laudungeon Company, I opened the door and saw Tobias standing there by my brewing stand. It still wasn’t our planned meeting time yet, but by the look of it, I made him wait for me.
“Tobias-san. Sorry, did I make you wait?” (Lewin)
“Yo, Lewin. Nah, I just got here. I saw that you had left some potion-making things on top of the brewing stand, so I thought you’d be back soon… So where did you go?” (Tobias)
“Yeah, umm. Well… It also has something to do with what I want to talk to you about, so should we go somewhere else and talk?” (Lewin)
“Hm, what’s up? When you say it like that, it makes me want to hear what you have to say right now, but… oh well. We’ve got the reception room upstairs, so let’s talk there.” (Tobias)
I followed Tobias up to the 2nd floor as he led the way to the usual reception room. Normally, he would go about preparing snacks and tea now, but since I was later than him today, they had already been laid out on the table.
“Alright. What should we talk about first? I wanted to hear what you were going to say earlier―could we start from there?” (Tobias)
“That’s totally fine. But it’s not good news by any means, just so you’re prepared.” (Lewin)
“Hearing you say that is kinda scary. There haven’t been any of those kinds of talks from you before after all. No way, it couldn’t be that… you want to move to another newspaper company, is it?” (Tobias)
“I wouldn’t do something that dishonest. However, the content may not be that far off.” (Lewin)
I could see that he was being more cautious than I had expected, probably because of the way I had said it.
“I really can’t imagine it. Enough with the prefacing; just go ahead and say it.” (Tobias)
“Okay. Actually, I was meeting with Juno-san earlier.” (Lewin)
As soon as I had said that, I saw Tobias’s body relax as he showed a look of relief. Then, he put both his hands on his knees and took a deep breath.
“Phew… What, you were just talking to Juno, is that it? With the way you were putting it, it sounded to me like it was gonna go in a bad direction.” (Tobias)
“No. But it’s a pretty undesirable talk in my opinion.” (Lewin)
“No, no. Go ahead and speak freely. So what did you talk to Juno about?” (Tobias)
With the taut atmosphere having returned to normal, Tobias urged me to continue in the same manner that he always spoke to me with. Seeing his attitude, it made me wonder whether he thought of her as a colleague or not. Based on the way Juno had put it, it sounded like they just worked in the same office but were still business rivals in a sense.
“She requested that I get some information from you. It’s about the attack by the Demon King’s Army that you were briefly telling me about the other day.” (Lewin)
“Ah. Certainly, that’s the top priority with regards to the information I’m gathering right now. All things considered, for her to request that of you… that’s very Juno-like. So what did she want to know?” (Tobias)
“Apparently, Juno-san said that, based on her investigation, it seems that the Demon King’s Army is trying to take over Landaust. And in order to confirm her hypothesis, she said that she wanted to compare information with you.” (Lewin)
“Hahaha! That’s quite the wild thing to say. However, the truth is, it’s not completely baseless.” (Tobias)
“Eh, is that really true?” (Lewin)
After his outburst of laughter, Tobias’s expression returned to normal as he took out a cigarette and lit it. Tobias was always the kind of guy who dressed carelessly in shabby, wrinkled clothes, but when he was smoking a cigarette, it seemed to fit his image quite well.
“Well, I’m not sure if the information I’ve got is reliable. But as a matter of fact, the monsters of the Demon King’s Army that were responsible for the attacks were spotted near the Demon King’s Domain. The news that the vanishing Demon King’s Army had run away and returned to the Demon King’s Domain recently became the hot topic along the kingdom’s border.” (Tobias)
Tobias took a deep draw of his cigarette and then exhaled the smoke, where it rose to the ceiling and dissipated into the air.
“Actually, there’s a small part of the rumors that doesn’t seem to add up.” (Tobias)
“Doesn’t add up? Do you mean the size of the Demon King’s Army? …Couldn’t they have simply overlooked the numbers?” (Lewin)
“There’s certainly that possibility, but it seems that they’re about an entire legion short. Normally, you could just assume that they’d died when they had attacked, so the numbers of their forces had decreased, but… I’ve been secretly thinking that they split up along the way and hid somewhere.” (Tobias)
It had turned into yet another difficult conversation. Even if that legion of monsters were to split up and hide, I had no idea what their intentions were. I didn’t feel like there was much point in asking further about it, as my comprehension of the topic had already reached its limit. But because I was the one who brought it up, I could only sit there resignedly and hear him out until the end.
