This Hero is Sleeping!



"There's a new one amongst you."

Watching the group of four as they stepped inside the cafe, the mustached master sighed and stopped wiping his cups.

"Morning to you too," Claude answered and the group got to their seats.

Even now, they kept Tiana in the robe from before as they navigated the different parts of the town. At the master's urging, they took the seat farthest from the door.

The master had asked specifically for this to avoid any loss of business that would occur if someone were to see them at the gate.

Unfortunately, the master was too naive.

The bells chimed as someone entered the cafe only to yelp after seeing the group of four at the back.

"Eeek!" the man screamed and dashed away.

"Ah!!"

The master was left hanging.

"Oh hey, wasn't that the part timer from the adventurer's guild?" Asked Erika, and Tiana nodded.

"It was!" Elric answered. "Should I go and get that guy back? Master, do you want me to go get that guy back?"

"Not really," The master sighed and shook his head.

Three days had passed since the only currently active adventurer group in the town of Siracus had returned after causing a landslide. Thankfully, no one had identified yet that they were the ones who had caused the landslides. And to avoid being identified, they only handed over one core at a time.

Excavation work had already started on the site since some of it was blocking a road, but beyond that, no one was going to bat an eye for it.

They handed over all the golem cores to the receptionist, who definitely had an inkling of their doing and only told them that she would be sending it forward one at a time and that their payment would come accordingly.

All that said and done, whether it came right away or not.

They were now fairly rich!

And today was the day when they believed that they had made the duo of Elric and Tiana normal enough to bring them both together to a cafe, to play it safe, they only came to the person they knew all along.

The last three days had made them fairly familiar with the old man that ran the cafe.

"Usual?" he asked.

"Yup," Claude answered as he pushed the menu in front of the robed Tiana. "Plus whatever this one will have."

"Oh? I get to choose?"

"You make it sound like we never gave you any choice."

Tiana stuck her tongue out and flipped the pages of the menu. She picked out a coffee and some sandwiches and the master got to work.

As the group gathered once more at the table, they shared some small chats.

"What kind of dinosaurs do all of you like?"

"Oh damn it."

Elric's question and Claude's sigh rang out at perhaps the very same moment.

"Dinosaurs?" Tiana asked. "What are those?"

Elric snapped his fingers and the glass of water in front of him emptied out as the water flew into the air. With another snap of his fingers, he made the water look like a clunky, high-poly abomination in the name of a dinosaur.

"It looks like a building," Claude commented and Elric scowled.

"Mine would probably be the Deinonychus," at Erika's words, both Claude and Elric frowned.

"What the fuck is that?"

"It's a dinosaur," Erika answered, leaning on her hands.

"Doesn't count," Claude shot her down right away.

"And why is that?"

"Well it doesn't end with a saurus does it? Then it's only a fake dinosaur."

"It's my favorite because it doesn't end with a saurus."

Elric gasped, his hand on his chest.

"I didn't take you to be of that type, Erika."

"Aw shut up."

It was then that Tiana lightly tapped the table and spoke up herself.

"Mine would be the volcano monsters that live in the Vulcan regions. It can spit lava."

The other three all nodded.

"Ooh, volcano dinosaur is cool."

"Yeah straight out of a fantasy."

"Nice concept, elf."

"Hey! What's the point of robing her if you're gonna call her elf!"

Claude clicked his tongue.

And then all three of them stopped and turned back and stared at Tiana.

"Lives?!"

"Fantasy?"

"Volcanosaurus!"

Even the gods that had personally brought them here would be confused at what they were trying to convey. Thankfully, there was one overlord above even them who could decipher the ramblings of these three.

"That's right. I don't know about fantasy worlds or anything but there are live dino-whatever you called them. They are very tough though, I've never seen one, only read stuff in books."

The three grabbed her arms all at once.

"That's cool as hell."

"I don't even like dinosaurs, but this has me interested too."

"And you said my choice is invalid, Claude. Your opinion shouldn't even count."

"A mentally sound modern human being shouldn't care for dinosaurs."

Erika scowled at Claude's words.

"Oh, there you go always so cynical. I bet you also wanted to go and join a Destiny 500 company and graduate magna cum laude and make a lot of money and make people or all that bullshit."

"Enough of you miss Archmage. I bet I can save the world and whatever."

Elric and Tiana watched the other two fight over dinosaurs and ignored them. The master came over with the dishes and placed them over the tables, the two still going strong.

They ate their meals, paid their tab, and said their byes to the master as well.

Unfortunately, the time hadn't ended even yet and the two idiots still fought some more.

They strolled a bit, went back home, ate a little, and went to sleep.

They left notes for each other through the night and it was only when the next morning came around did the two of them lose all their energy and stopped fighting.

***

"We're… a little low on funds anyway huh?" Claude muttered, counting the cash in all the bags they had.

They had barely started adjusting to life in this new place. And before they actually started to get comfortable, Claude preferred to have made some money. Enough so that they actually could get comfortable and spend relaxed.

To that end, they would have to hit as many quests as they could now itself.

Thankfully, the number of golem cores they had brought along had established them a track record and all that remained was to go ahead and utilize it.

The receptionist had long since agreed to bend some rules and let them take on slightly higher paying quests since there was a lack of people here.

"Let's go and get the second quest," Claude said. "We'll collect about a hundred gold in total and then kick back and think about our future, what do you say?"

"F-future already?!" Tiana, not robed any more, spoke out loud. "Does that mean we'll be disbanding soon? We didn't even get to fight a dragon and Claude didn't get to pull the 'It was fun adventuring with all of you, now this is mah powa of frienship!!'"

"What kind of plotline is that?" Claude commented. "Well, do you want to be an adventurer all your life, Tiana? Don't you want to relax and explore the world maybe? Open a patisserie? Kill some fucking rats that betrayed you? Any bigger goal?"

"I… guess…?"

Tiana crossed her arms and immersed herself in her thoughts. Just how was she supposed to enjoy life? All this time, she had been thinking of survivng.

"We have to survive first. I mean… don't you too?"

And she still had to.

She was sure they were no better. They had to live first, and then they could decide 'how' they wanted to live.

"Hah!" Claude grinned while the other two looked at her with fond smiles. He reached his hand out and lightly patted the top of her head. "Don't look at what's in front of you, Tiana. Look beyond it."

Tiana lowered her gaze as Claude gently rubbed the top of her head.

"Or you'll grow blind to what's next. Consumed in the now. No one would want that, right?"

When Claude moved away, Tiana was left grabbing her head.

"Beyond… huh?"

It seemed everyone had gotten slightly better at communicating.

Just slightly.

***

"A new quest?"

The receptionist of the adventurer guild asked. The part timer that worked here in between of his education all the over to the next mountain.

"Hmm… there's the tough ones," the receptionist said, faced by the four of the only active adventurers in the town of Syracuse. She hopped over to the quest board and picked out a different one, handing it over to Claude. "I'll recommend this though. It's high paying and easy."

"Find a missing person?"

"Two."

On the paper were the figures of two robed figures.

"Last seen in the deepest mountains of the city."

The receptionist nodded at those words.

"The place is rumored… to host the elves."