Volume 4: Bargain Sale on Magic Power

Working Blues

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Prologue

“Haah… Here’s to another day starting with a sigh…”

So Ryner Lute said as he heaved his first sigh of the day. He had messy black hair and a listless demeanor as he sat in the dining hall of the inn they were staying at, across the table from the sort of unreal beauty.

“Hey, Ferris, just to be sure, they’re gonna make my breakfast from now on too, right?”

“They are not,” the unreasonable blonde beauty said in her characteristic monotone, her reply instant.

“…So your logic says that I can’t eat unless I’m looking for a Heroic Relic, right? How long do you plan on making me go without food? Weeks?”

Ferris nodded. “Mm.”

“That. That’s weird, isn’t it?” Ryner argued. “See, there’s something that I just can’t understand. It’s keeping me up at night… well, okay, it’s not. I sleep like a log and take naps on top of it, but still. Something’s bothering me.”

“Hm. What is it?”

“Yeah, so this might just be my imagination. But anyway, I feel like I’m actually working lately? Estella was just fucking with us, but I did look for the item that the legendary beast was supposedly protecting… And also, we found what was maybe an item before too, right?”

“We did.”

“Right? We found one, right? We totally did, right? So how am I still ‘not working?’ That’s what I’ve been worrying about…”

“I worry about how you’re not working daily,” Ferris said, somehow disinterested in his argument.

“How the hell am I not working!”

“In the end, we never sent Sion an item,” Ferris said. “As a result, that treacherous king… He said that he’d destroy my precious dango shop if I don’t work. He is making hostile statements to the eight hundred billion dango fans of this world. We have been bestowed an extremely important mission: to protect the dango shops from that dangerous king. We must work hard without ever even eating breakfast. That’s the current situation.”

“Huh. So the all-important dango is why I have to work without eating?”

“Yes,” Ferris said easily and nodded.

Ryner recoiled. “Um, so… okay, so this conversation won’t get anywhere if I sit here and try to rebuke every single part of what you just said, but I can’t help but feel like making us work is wrong. And it’s super wrong to make us do it without breakfast. But if all that is true, then why are you eating breakfast right now? I’d really like to know.”

They stared at each other for a while as Ferris chewed. Then she answered. “Mm. This is dango.”

“That’s all!? I mean, you just said we have to work without eating, right?”

“Only you.”

“Auuughhh, I knew that was where this was going!” Ryner yelled, on the verge of tears. He had already known that this would happen. It was a foregone conclusion. “So basically, you don’t have to work… right?”

“Mm. We have different roles in our combined dango quest. Men are to protect dango’s destiny while women are to devote themselves to dango at home. That appears to be what an average couple does.”

“What kind of couple!? And just the thought of us as a couple…” Ryner’s voice trailed off. He pressed his hand to his stomach. “Aah… I can’t go on. I’m too hungry. I don’t even care anymore…”

“Mm. Are you dying?”

“……”

He didn’t have the energy to respond.

This was bad. This was seriously bad. Those words kept spinning around in his head on repeat. He could sit here and go back-and-forth on this all day long, and he’d never get breakfast. He didn’t have the energy to do this anymore.

“I only have… one option left,” Ryner said, horribly, horribly tired.

“One option? What do you mean?”

Ryner didn’t respond. He just got up and shuffled away.

“Hm? Where are you going, Ryner?”

Ryner turned back to look at her. His face had been drained of life. He really looked like the walking dead. “Where? Where, you ask. I might not return alive. It’s a dangerous place - one that has definitely caused death before… that’s all I can say on the matter.” With that, he took a few more steps towards his certain death.

“Bring me some dango as a souvenir.”

As if he had any money to buy her something! But he didn’t have the energy to yell. He just raised his hand in a pathetic little wave. “Okay… I’m just gonna be out for a bit…”

“Mm. Be careful.”

“Alrighty…”

---

It was where people went to die.

Nobody there had any hope for life.

Ryner took one step after another towards it.

“Ahh, I can’t believe it’s come to this… This is impossible… and it’s such a pain that I know I’m going to die. I’ll die the next time I fall asleep. But maybe I’ll die because I’m so tired and not even get to fall asleep… either way I’m definitely dying…”

He finally arrived at his destination: a restaurant.

It was conspicuously pink, and its storefront was decorated cutely. Him and Ferris had come here exactly once before. It wasn’t particularly high-class, but it wasn’t so cheap that they could eat there every day, either. It was, no matter how he looked at it, an ordinary restaurant. It was part of a chain of about fifty stores here in the Iyet Republic.

There were a lot of different kinds of desserts, and they were all pretty tasty. The waitresses wore cute uniforms, so a lot of men gathered there, too. It was a pretty popular place, all things considered.

And they had these pamphlets. Ryner picked one up and read through it absentmindedly.

We’re urgently hiring. It’s a fun workplace with lots of young people on staff. Won’t you come and work some exciting days together with us? Hourly pay for the first three months is…

“I don’t want any exciting work,” he grumbled. “I don’t want any work…”

But he was nearing his limit. He needed food!

Ferris wouldn’t give him any of the money that Sion paid them, so if he wanted to get past this, he’d have to work for his own money. What a fucking pain…

Ryner looked back down to the pamphlet and sighed.

“Nothing I can do but this…”

With that, he entered the restaurant.

---

Chapter 1: The Master Interviewee

“How old are you?”

Ryner was sitting in a backroom in the restaurant. A middle-aged man was across from him asking questions.

“How old am I?” Ryner repeated. He was the absolute least motivated job candidate possible, and it showed in his tone. “Umm, nineteen, I think?

The middle-aged man grimaced. “What kind of a response is that? Give me a real answer here.”

“Ah, okay. Nineteen, then.”

“‘Then?’”

“No, um, I mean, I’m nineteen years old, sir.”

“Geez. This is a fast-paced interview, so you need to take it seriously. So you’re… nineteen… are you,” the middle-aged man said as he checked a box off on his paper. “So what kind of work experience do you currently have?”

“What do you mean?”

“This is a restaurant. Have you ever worked in the foodservice industry before?”

“Oh, nope. Is that bad?”

“No, I wouldn’t call it bad, per se… so what industry are you working in now? This is a popular restaurant, so it’s fairly busy and demanding. Will you be okay?”

Ryner took a moment to think about it. What industry was he in?

“……”

“Ah, I don’t recall ever really working,” he finally said.

The examiner’s expression clouded over. “Aah? You’re nineteen with no experience…? Geez, kids these days… I was working to support my family when I was just six years old… Though I don’t know that that’s the way to do things either.”

“Ah if we’re counting when we were six, then I do have work experience. I trained in a special facility and then had to fight on countless battlefields. After that… I was entrusted with assassination, but that was a pain in the ass, so I skipped out on it…”

The middle-aged man shook his head. His expression gave the impression that he was done with this interview. “The Iyet Republic has never gone to war, you know… At least think of a better lie. Either way, well. Basically what you’re trying to say is that you’re going through hard times so you’re willing to work no matter how tough it may be, right?”

“No, I actually want something really easy…”

But, needless to say, the man continued without minding what Ryner had to say. “We’re short-staffed too, so that’s fine. We’ll see how you, a spoiled boy who hasn’t worked a day in his life, do. Show me your best shot. Where do you want to work?”

“Where? What do you mean?”

“Do you want to be a waiter? A cook? A janitor?”

“Ahh, right, right. I get you now. I really want a job that feeds me three times a day, gives me money, and lets me laze around doing nothing all day…”

“That kind of job doesn’t exist! Geez, you’re so spoiled… Alright, we’ll put you to work where we need you. When can you start?”

“I’m hungry, so I can start today.”

And with that, Ryner got himself a job.

---

Chapter 2: Cleaning Like a Pro

“……”

It was a popular business with four locations in the Iyet Republic, so of course the stockhouse was pretty big. There, Ryner was wearing a work uniform and standing around mopping the floor. There were a bunch of other men there too, each mopping vigorously while wearing the same uniform. In addition to mopping, they also had to pick up trash and arrange boxed foodstuffs.

They had to pick up the crates that were brought in, move them around, clean up the mess that made, then clean, and clean, and clean… but it never actually got clean.

Ryner watched the other workers run around. “Wow, you guys have a lot on your plates.”

““You need to work too!””

“You’ve got some nerve being so lazy even though you’re new here,” one of the men said.

“Isn’t there supposed to be some kind of hierarchy here? Shouldn’t new hires do more work than we do?”

The men had nice, muscular builds and definitely seemed to be threatening him. They seemed to be in control around here.

Then a kind man who appeared to be in his forties spoke, a kind expression on his face. “Now, now. Gol, Barla, can’t you go easy on him? He’s only just started and doesn’t know what to do yet. Right? You were thinking that you should help your seniors out too, weren’t you?” he asked to offer Ryner a helping hand. He gave Ryner a clear signal with his eyes: go along with it since he was already doing him a favor.

Ryner nodded… and spoke. “Uh, yeah, so. Cleaning’s a pain in the ass so I don’t wanna.”

“”Then why the hell’d you come!!” the men yelled, including the one who’d tried to help Ryner out.

Ryner clapped for them. “Wow, I was told that this would be a fun and exciting place to work, and listen to you guys yelling in harmony. You guys should use that energy to clean.”

“H-he’s right,” the man who’d tried to help him said. “This is a fun place to work. Gol and Barla can have a bit of a temper, but they’re good guys. Ah, and sorry that I haven’t introduced myself yet. I’m Conner - and don’t worry about me being your senior; we don’t need formalities around here. Let’s start cleaning the same spot. I’ll show you how to do it if you’re struggling with the little things, okay?”

He was so kind… but Ryner shook his head meekly. “Aah, sorry. Thanks for being so nice to me, but it’s nap time. You know what I mean? So you can go ahead and clean on your own.”

“Who the hell do you think you are!” the man called Conner yelled and raised his fist. Gol and Barla before frantically got a hold of him to stop him.

“C-calm down, Conner! They’ll sack you if you hit another worker!”

“Lemme at ’im, Gol! I won’t forgive him! He’s making fun of me even though I went out of my way to help him!”

“W-wait, Conner! You have an eight year old daughter! What will you do if you get fired now? How will you pay for her tuition?”

“Uu, kgh, uuh, but! But still! I won’t forgive him for looking down on me!”

Ryner watched them absentmindedly. “Anyway, I’m gonna nap—”

““Get the hell out!””

And so Ryner’s job as a cleaner came to a close.

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Chapter 3: Lying on the Path of Violence

“Alright, you’re new and don’t know how to do anything, so go wash the dishes for now,” the lead staff in the kitchen, Doren, said as him and Ryner stood before the sink. There were plates piled on plates piled on plates… and Ryner just stood there staring.

The restaurant at lunch time was enough to kill a man. There were so many customers that they had to wait their turn to be seated, and then once they started eating they dirtied dishes like crazy… Then the dishes were haphazardly thrown into a large bucket. Ryner was supposed to wash those dirty dishes, then set them into the clean bucket next to it, clean them again, then wipe them dry…

“No, um, this is way too much for me,” Ryner protested. “Washing all these is gonna make my hands hurt, and I’m already tired, you know?”

So he said, but he hadn’t even touched a plate yet…

“And I mean, it really is nap time. To wash dishes or nap… Ugh, even talking is a pain,” he said. And as he complained, more and more dishes were added to the pile…

“Huh? I need a parfait glass,” someone said to the senior staff. “We’re out of parfait glasses!”

Then someone spoke from the other side. “Boss, we’re out of plates for the kid’s meals!”

“I’m telling you…”

“B-boss, we’re all out! We’re all out of our regular plates!”

“Aah!? What’s going on…?” Doren turned around to the dishwashing corner and its new hire. There was a mountain of dishes, but Ryner wasn’t even standing there anymore. He was sitting leisurely in a nearby chair.

“I’m gonna fucking kill you!” Doren yelled and raised the kitchen knife he was holding without thinking and threw it at Ryner. It flew at him in a perfect, straight line.

But there Ryner was, asleep in the chair.

Doren paled. “Shit, dodge it, new hire!”

But Ryner didn’t wake up.

Life flashed before Doren’s eyes. He saw his wife and daughter’s smiling faces. He saw the moment he was promoted to lead staff in the kitchen. The long-awaited birth of his daughter.

The first time he talked to his wife, who had been working in this very restaurant…

They were all happy memories.

Then he saw himself, convicted of murder, and his wailing wife and child as they heard the news…

“It’s th-the end,” he whispered to himself, stricken by despair.

But Ryner raised his hand and caught the knife between two fingers. “Hmgh? Ah, is my shift over? Did I really sleep for that long?”

“Ngh… I, I’m saved,” Doren whimpered and collapsed to the floor.

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Chapter 4: The Fussy Chef

“Maan, new hire, you were brilliant, catching that knife like that. I see someone who’s experienced with handling knives. You’ve actually used knives before, right?”

Ryner, having just been woken up halfway through his nap, was still half-asleep. “Huh? No, I don’t have that kind of experience. I guess I’m pretty used to being attacked by kitchen knives, swords, and dango skewers though… It happens every single day…”

“Hmm, hmm. Dango skewers, huh. So you do have experience in the kitchen.”

“No, I’m telling you, I don’t…”

“Say no more. I understand already. Everyone has a past that they don’t want other people to know. I met my wife back when I was twenty-one. She was fourteen back then… so we went out in secret until she was sixteen.”

“…I don’t want to be lumped in with you,” Ryner said, tired of this shit, as he was brought to the heart of the kitchen.

“I can see why you didn’t want to wash dishes,” Doren said. “You have too much kitchen experience to be stuck doing that. You’ll be my right-hand man from now on. Come cook over here.”

“C-cook?”

Doren nodded. “The recipes are over there, so hurry up and learn the flavor of this restaurant and make things easier on me, alright? Let’s begin.”

And so Ryner became a chef.

Dores immediately took an order for something or other, then began to make it… and once again, Ryner just stood there, knives in both hands.

“Ah, new hire! We have an order for cream soup spaghetti. Let’s do this together!”

“‘Together?’ And soup spaghetti? I’ve never eaten anything like that before…”

Ryner held his head in his hand, a troubled look on his face. He had to look at the recipe first. It’d tell him the ingredients and how much of which ones…

Pasta. Fresh cream. Milk. Olive oil. Fish stock. Salt. Pepper. Vegetables and seafood.

“Okay, well, I shouldn’t have any problems if I just put all this stuff together then. Alright, so where to start… Um, I’ll heat the oil and stir fry the vegetables and seafood…”

There was just one problem. The frying pan and oil were right there, but…

“Umm, where’s the vegetables and seafood?” Ryner asked.

“Huh? They’re in cold storage. They’re restocked on the far shelf daily.”

Ryner turned back to look. Cold storage was on the right side of the kitchen, and the shelf was in the front… it’d be about ten steps from where he stood to get over there.

Ryner shrugged. “Hm. It’s kinda far. Going all the way over there’s a pain. But it’s spaghetti so noodles are the most important thing, right? It should be okay even without the vegetables and seafood and stuff,” he said, totally ridiculous as it was. Then he went back to cooking. “Um, okay, so for the soup I’ll need the fish stock and fresh cream, and milk, and pepper…”

Ryner once again turned to the man next to him. “Hey, do you have a second?”

“What do you want? I’m busy too.”

“No, listen, it’ll only take a sec. Uh, what did I want again? Right. Where’s the cream and milk? And also the fish stock.”

“I’m making a dessert right now so I have the milk and cream right here. The broth is solid bouillon over there in that cupboard.”

“Whaat, it’s all the way over there again…”

“What?”

“Oh, nothing, nothing. It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it, okay…? Anyway, even if I don’t add the fish stock, I think it’ll still taste good with just the cream and milk. Okay, so salt and pepper…”

But when he looked around, he didn’t see any seasoning…

“Um, so…”

“I just told you that I’m busy!” the man said. He was just about fed up with Ryner after needing to raise his voice at him so many times.

“This is the last time,” Ryner said as though to pacify him. “Uh, so what’s that white powder you’re using right now?”

“I swear… I’m making a dessert, so it’s obviously sugar, isn’t it?”

“So is the black one pepper?”

“What? It’s black sesame!”

“Oh, and is that yellow liquid the fish stock?”

“It’s honey! Are you even a chef? No matter how I look at it, this obviously isn’t fish stock!”

“I just wanted to see how you’d answer. Honey, huh… Anyway, where’s the pasta?”

“That’s on the far shelf too! God, talking to you is just extra work for me! I’m leaving that stuff here, so just do it on your own. You can use whatever you want.”

“Really? Sweet!”

The man sighed and ignored Ryner to go get the ingredients.

Then a voice started from the other side of the kitchen again. “The customer is demanding the spaghetti they’ve been waiting for. It’s still not ready?”

“Ah, just tell them to wait a little longer!” Ryner said, flustered. “I’m almost done.”

“Please make it fast! We’re busy enough as is.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Ryner said and looked back to where they were cooking. He looked down at the pan where the cream and milk were boiling…

He stared into it, deep in thought…

Then, as if he’d finally steeled his will, he added the fish stock and seasonings.

Then the honey, sugar, and sesame…

“I mean, they’re the same color, so they probably taste about the same. I read that color’s half the flavor once.”

There was no way that was true. But there was no one there to say that.

After all that, he stared at the pasta on the far shelf… then his eyes moved to the dango that the man had been using with his dessert.

“Well, dango and pasta are both carbs…”

That was possibly the worst of it all. Even so, he sounded confident as could be.

“Alright, one cream soup spaghetti! I’m actually pretty happy with this.”

To think that he could call it spaghetti with a straight face…

This probably went without saying, but he was shooed out of the restaurant before five minutes were up.

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Chapter 5: The Legend of the Legendary Waiter

“Wah, you’re so tall, Ryner!”

“The uniform really suits you! ♡”

“Is it true that you’re a rich boy who’s never cooked or had to carry anything before?”

“Are you dating anyone~?”

And so Ryner stood, doing absolutely nothing, with a flock of cute girls in uniform circling him. He’d been made to carry things, wash dishes, and cook… he had to do all sorts of horrible labor intensive things. He was at his limit…

“I’m sleepy…”

“Ah! Ah! You’re tired? It’s okay if you rest, Ryner! I’ll work hard in your place! So please consider me as a candidate for your trophy wife!”

“Aw, no fair! Ryner’s estate is mine!”

“No, it’s mine…”

Then there was Ryner, unhappy expression and all.

“What the hell is thiiissss!” Yelling suddenly echoed throughout the restaurant. “You guys seriously serve this shit to customers!?”

The restaurant went dead silent as nervousness overtook the atmosphere.

Ryner slowly turned his head towards the source of the voice. It was exactly what he thought it was. Three boorish men were facing off against a waitress.

“See? I never heard anything about this restaurant putting this kind of shit out!” one of the men said as he showed her something on his plate that was probably a bug or something.

The waitress frantically bowed her head over and over. “I am so sorry—”

“‘Sorry’ ain’t gonna cut it! We could’ve eaten bugs! How do you plan on taking responsibility for this!?”

Ryner just stared, a blank look on his face. “I feel like this stuff happens a lot.”

“Those guys come here every so often,” one of the girls around him said. “I knew they’d be trouble someday… What should we do, Ryner…?”

“Huh? I mean, I only just started here, so…”

“But, but at this rate, Anna… Anna will…! Save her, Ryner!”

So she said, but…

“Yeah, but look, I think it’s best if we don’t make a huge deal out of it… It’s best to keep things peaceful…”

The girls shot him a disappointed look and stepped away to put some distance between them. Everyone was silent for a moment.

Ryner’s sleepy expression didn’t budge, though. “Anyway, you guys told me to rest, right? I’m tired, so let me take a break in the back.”

“He’s the worst,” one of the girls whispered. “He’s just running away.”

“He’s reasonably attractive and he has money so I had high hopes, but this is just disappointing.”

“Men who are never there when you need it aren’t worth it. I’m taking back my offer.”

They were ‘whispering,’ but they were doing it loudly to the point where it sounded like it was on purpose. But Ryner nodded to himself, somehow satisfied. “Alright, so I’m napping now. I’ll leave the rest to you g—”

“I just fuckin’ told you it’s not somethin’ that you can apologize away!” one of the men yelled. “You’re actin’ like you’ve never had somethin’ bad happen to you!”

He raised his fist, and—

And a cup came flying from somewhere and slammed into his head.

“What the fuck? Who the hell threw that!?”

“Ah, sorry, I didn’t mean for that to happen,” Ryner said. “I just dropped it by accident.”

“Don’t fuckin’ lie, bastard! You think everything’ll be okay if you just act innocent! Do you know who we are? Huuuh?”

The three men approached Ryner, and the girls screamed and fled.

Ryner sighed. “This is such a pain… I just told you it wasn’t on purpose… I’m so hungry that I’m having trouble moving my body right.”

The men were bursting with anger, a stark difference to Ryner’s tiredness. “We’ll show you what happens when you underestimate us…”

One of the men tried to land a punch, but Ryner side-stepped it, caught his foot, and tripped him.

“Bastard!” the next man yelled, but Ryner did the exact same thing to him: side-step and trip.

“Shit, you even got our bro?” the next one said, and… yeah, the exact same thing.

Ryner sighed again. “How come you guys all fight the exact same?”

None of the men had an answer for him, but one of them did have something to say from his spot on the floor. He glared up at Ryner. “Y-you understand what’s gonna happen next, right? We’re with the Fiurelle Group. We can have this place shut down in seconds!”

Ryner held his head in his hands. Just the words ‘Fiurelle Group’ did that to him. He knew that name. He knew it, no matter how much he wanted to forget it. Their young leader’s name was Vois Fiurelle, and he had wrecked absolute havoc on Ryner’s life ever since he entered the Iyet Republic.

Ryner sighed one last time, then helped the man up. “Listen, when you go back, I need you to give Vois a message.”

The man paled. “Wh-why do you know that name? No one but our members should know the name of our boss… Don’t tell me that you’re acquainted with him…?”

Ryner ignored him. “Got it? You’ll give him my message, right? You’ll really do it, right? Okay, then I’m gonna say it. It’s this: ‘Vois, you asshole, you need to compensate us for our work! It’s your fault that I can’t eat and that Ferris is bullying me! If you don’t pay me back, then I’ll seriously tear the whole Fiurelle Group down! I’m getting all fired up ’cause I’m hungry!’ Okay? Can you remember that?”

The man was shaking. “Y-yes… I apologize, sir. We hadn’t the slightest idea that you were one of our boss’ connections…”

“Ugh, I don’t care, so just tell him that, okay? Also, don’t come back here. And don’t hit women. Got it?”

“U-understood!”

“Then leave.”

““Yessir.””

With that, the men flew out of the restaurant. Silence gripped the establishment once more… before a woman’s voice broke out.

“Amaaaazing! I knew that you were a wonderful person, Ryner!”

“He said he’d tear the Fiurelle Group apart…!”

“I will follow you for the rest of my life, dear!”

Even the owner who interviewed Ryner appeared. “Uh-huh. I knew that you were different from the second we locked eyes. You’re getting a raise after this. So please, join us… as a bodyguard. We’d love to have you.”

“Huh? Bodyguard? Does that mean that I can nap as long as nothing’s happening?”

“Of course.”

“And I get paid for that?”

“Yes, and quite a bit, too. This is a popular restaurant, after all. And you’re paid daily.”

“Are you for real?” Ryner asked, disbelief written all over his face. “That’s awesome. I’ve finally found my calling, and it’s here of all places. I’ll be able to eat, and then after that, I can just sleep… Yeah, I’m not going back to Ferris.”

Ryner got his brief moment of happiness. But after that moment…

After his day in the shop, Ryner went to visit the owner, who was all smiley for some reason.

“Well, Ryner, aren’t you the smooth operator.”

Ryner tilted his head in confusion. “Huh?”

The owner’s smile didn’t waver. “I shouldn’t be surprised since you’re a good man, but even so, I can’t say I wasn’t shocked.”

“What? Actually, I don’t care. More importantly, I need my money. Haah, I’ll finally get to eat.”

“Hmm. So she can cook, too? That’s amazing. I’m jealous like you wouldn’t believe.”

“What are you even… no, never mind. Just give me my money.”

“I already gave it to your bride since she came all this way to pick you up.”

“Haaah!? Bride? Since when!?”

“Huh? That unbelievably beautiful woman—”

Ryner didn’t even hear the rest. He didn’t need to. Everything from here on out was just so… just so obvious…

It was Ferris. Ferris currently had all of his money.

“Y-you’re kidding, right? I worked my ass off today, and it was all… it was all for nothing?”

“Well, you can go home and eat your bride’s cooking. Then you can come back to work again tomorrow.”

“……”

Ryner didn’t even have the energy to respond.

---

Epilogue

Ryner returned to the inn… to where Ferris was eating dango just like always.

“Mm. Thank you for your hard work.”

“I don’t want to hear that from you!”

“What are you mad about?”

“Isn’t that obvious… no, actually, I’m not doing this. I’m tired. Don’t even talk to me,” Ryner said, gloomy. He tried to suppress the hunger inside of him, but it didn’t work.

There was no good left in the world. Society had failed him.

“Ah, something unusual happened,” Ferris said. “A package from Vois came for you. It appears to be compensation…”

“Ah! Finally! It’s finally here! It’s the very last good thing in this world! I guess I haven’t been abandoned yet. I’ll finally be able to eat! So where’d you put the package?”

“In your room.”

“Yess!” Ryner raced up to his room and grabbed the package she’d placed on his bed. He ripped into it.

“……”

Its contents were… a cute waitress uniform from the restaurant he’d just been at, and a small letter.

Wow, I expect no less of you, Mr. Ryner. You have quite the discerning eye. That restaurant’s uniform is great! I know, I know. I know that you are a traveler with a passionate heart who, like me, wanders around daily in search of these things rather than money. So what do you think of these clothes!? The pink fabric. The frills. I think that this is the best compensation possible for a man like you. Please do accept it as payment.

That was all that was written…

Ryner stared down at it, stricken by despair. “Aah, let’s see what Ferris looks like in it this time,” Ryner mumbled as though that was an ordinary thing to say. It wasn’t, though. It was terrifying. But he was already prepared to die. He was just so exhausted by life itself…

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