Nice Rest - 59
Juro placed a hand on Marc's head and gently patted him.
"That's good, kid. You can raise your head now."
Marc slowly raised his head.
Juro looked at him with a smile before saying, "As long as you notice your own actions, you can always reflect on them and learn from them."
…
Marc's smile returned to his face as he nodded.
"I will, Teacher Juro."
Juro smiled brightly before ruffling Marc's hair with a chuckle. Marc chuckled along with him, and just in time, the Adventurer staff returned with their rewards.
As Juro was about to take the pouch filled with 150 gold coins, Bell suddenly snatched it before he could get his hands on it.
"Whatttt?" Juro exclaimed in surprise.
"Yeah, no," Bell said. "I'm gonna have this distributed fairly between us."
He then turned toward the counter and asked the staff to give them three separate pouches.
"Ehhhhhh..." Juro let out a disappointed cry.
...
After the whole process was finished, the three of them walked out of the Adventurer Guild.
Marc was still busy admiring the three potions he had received. It was his first time having potions of his own, and he was clearly excited about them, holding onto them tightly.
Meanwhile, Juro walked beside them with his shoulders slumped.
"Huhu... 150 gold.."
Bell looked at him and sighed before handing one pouch to Juro and another to Marc.
Juro sulkingly took his pouch, while Marc briefly hesitated before looking at Bell.
"W…what's this??"
"Your share of the gold," Bell replied. "It's 50 gold coins. Since we won the competition, we received 150 gold coins in total, so I distributed it fairly between the three of us. We each get 50 gold."
"Really???? This is mine???? Are you sure???? But I made a mistake during the battle... shouldn't mine get deducted?" Marc asked nervously.
Bell gave him a confused look.
"What are you talking about? You still won, and you did really well, so you deserve your share. Here, just take it."
Juro smiled and chuckled before placing a hand on Marc's back and giving him a light tap.
"Go on, take it. You deserve it."
Marc looked up at Juro before turning back toward Bell.
They both nodded.
Marc gulped and, with slightly shaking hands, accepted the pouch filled with 50 gold coins.
"Fifty... fifty gold coins... my own... gold coins..."
Marc held the pouch tightly, almost afraid of letting go of it. Then a bright smile spread across his face, his teeth showing as he happily thanked both of them.
Bell and Juro simply smiled back at Marc.
Not long after, Brea, Noria, and the queens met up with them.
"Marc! Bell!"
Marc and Bell turned toward them. Marc immediately smiled.
"Brea! Noria!"
Once they had gathered together, Noria and Brea began complimenting Marc and Bell on their performance during the competition.
"You two did really good!" Brea exclaimed.
"Yeah, and congrats on winning," Noria added.
Marc happily began talking about what he had felt while fighting in the field, telling them how excited he had been and everything that happened from his perspective.
As the kids talked among themselves, Heler and Bray walked over to Juro and congratulated him on their victory.
Juro casually smiled and nodded.
"Let's go back to the castle," Bray said. "The King is going to present you all with a nice victory dinner."
"Ooo, a victory dinner? I'm sure the kids would like that," Juro replied.
Not long after, the royal carriage arrived, and they all climbed inside.
Inside the carriage, Marc was practically hugging his rewards while Bell and Juro had already placed their potions and pouches inside their pockets.
Noria noticed how carefully Marc was holding everything he had received and asked, "What are you planning to do with the 50 gold coins you have? Is there anything in mind you'd like to buy?"
Without hesitation, Marc shook his head. A warm smile appeared on his face before he answered.
"I wanna give some to the orphanage... so the kids there could enjoy yummy food and proper care. I also wanna give some to our friend Alex. Since Bell already gave Alex his gold coin, I wanna help Alex and his family be well too."
For some reason, after Marc answered, the carriage fell quiet.
Yet no one doubted his words. No one even seemed particularly shocked by them.
Everyone inside the carriage simply smiled.
Heler then looked at Marc and said, "We could help you with that. How much are you planning to give the orphanage and your friend Alex?"
Marc thought for a moment before answering.
"Hmm... since I have 50 gold coins, I'd like to give 20 gold coins to the orphanage, and 10 to our friend Alex and his family."
"Then you'll be left with 20 gold coins," Heler said. "Is that fine with you?"
Marc smiled and nodded without the slightest hesitation.
"Mhm!"
Heler smiled back at him.
"Then could you tell me the village name of your friend and the orphanage?"
"Alex is in Lonan Village, right, Teacher Juro?" Marc asked as he looked toward Juro.
Juro nodded.
Marc then continued, "And then the orphanage is at.. uhhh..."
Juro chuckled.
"Don't worry about it. I'll tell her the details myself later when we're inside the castle."
Heler nodded.
"No rush. Once we confirm their locations, we'll have someone safely deliver the gold coins to them."
Marc trusted her words wholeheartedly and smiled warmly.
...
As they continued heading back to the castle, Marc couldn't help talking about everything he had learned during the fight. He talked about how amazing the adventurers were, each of them having their own unique style of fighting.
Noria and Brea joined the conversation, telling him about how the crowd had reacted to everything that happened.
"So, how was it? Did you have fun?" Juro asked.
Marc looked out the carriage window, watching the stalls and houses pass by.
With a smile, he replied, "Very!.."
Brea then looked toward Juro.
"Mister Juro, how was your fight with that woman? She looked and attacked very fiercely."
Juro confidently smiled.
"She was good, but I'm better. ദ്ദി( • ̀ω•́ )"
Everyone inside the carriage chuckled.
Then they noticed Marc had fallen asleep.
His head rested against the window, and there was still a small smile on his face.
"He's probably drained," Bell commented.
"That would make sense," Juro added. "He poured out a lot of mana earlier. In fact, I think the only reason he didn't immediately fall asleep or lose consciousness was because his adrenaline kept him awake until the very end."
Juro looked toward Marc.
"Now that he's finally calm, his body probably just gave in."
As soon as they noticed Marc had fallen asleep, everyone inside the carriage collectively quieted down for the rest of the ride.
No one needed to say anything.
They simply sat there, occasionally glancing at the sleeping Marc, small smiles appearing on their faces as they enjoyed the peaceful silence.
...
After some time had passed, they finally arrived at the castle.
Bell slowly leaned toward Marc and gently shook him.
"Marc, we've arrived," he said in a light voice.
Marc lightly moved his head.
But he remained asleep.
Bell tried shaking him again.
Nothing.
Marc was still completely out.
"Oh..." Bell muttered.
Juro chuckled.
"Just get his stuff out of his hands first."
Bell grabbed one of Marc's rewards and tried to pull it away.
It didn't move.
Marc was still tightly hugging everything in his arms, even while asleep.
"Hm..." Bell reacted.
Juro leaned closer, amused.
"Hm..."
Neither of them could help reacting to how tightly Marc was holding onto his rewards.
In the end, Juro simply carried Marc out of the carriage while he was still hugging everything against his chest.
Heler and Bray noticed Juro carrying him.
"Oh my," Bray said with a quiet chuckle. "He must really be exhausted."
"I guess so," Juro replied. "He did his best out there."
Noria and Brea then approached Juro and suggested that Marc could sleep in their room.
Juro nodded, and together, they all entered the castle.
The two princesses and the two queens first mentioned that they needed to meet with the King. They suggested that Juro go ahead and take Marc to Noria and Brea's room.
So Juro carried Marc while Bell followed beside him as they made their way through the castle.
While walking through the hallway, Bell looked toward Juro.
"The woman you fought... do you think she'll grow stronger in the future?"
Juro casually replied while carrying Marc.
"No. But that stealthy kid has potential."
Bell looked at him.
"Stealthy kid? You mean the one I knocked out first? The one who tried to sneak up behind me?"
"Yeah. I don't know the story behind why a kid like that is in their party, but I do know one thing. He has the potential to grow stronger than his entire party."
"That's a pretty bold claim," Bell commented.
Juro simply smiled and shrugged.
Before long, they arrived at Noria and Brea's room.
Juro entered while Bell waited outside.
As he stood there, Bell began thinking to himself.
"So he had the same thoughts..."
"I was just testing him to see if he could notice potential in people. Looks like he can."
Bell smiled slightly.
"He's pretty impressive behind all those jokes and that personality of his."
Inside the room, Juro slowly lowered Marc onto the bed, careful not to disturb him. Marc still held his rewards against his chest.
Juro gently pulled a blanket over him.
Marc didn't wake up.
Juro smiled faintly before quietly leaving the room and slowly closing the door behind him.
Once outside, he looked at Bell.
"What about you? Aren't you tired? Don't you wanna rest too?"
Bell simply replied, "I'm fine. I'll just go with you and meet up with the others."
Juro smiled and nodded before they continued walking through the castle.
When they arrived at the room where the princesses and queens had told them to meet, Juro immediately noticed King Brunzel standing nearby, talking with several knights and mages.
The King noticed him as well and quickly called him over.
Meanwhile, Bell went to meet up with Noria and Brea, who were already talking together.
King Brunzel congratulated Juro on his party's victory in the competition. He also told him that he had already instructed the castle's chefs to prepare a high-quality dinner for their celebration.