The Skill Collector

The exhaling breath is white.

This year is about to end.

... Well, I spent hundreds of days, and thousands of hours just passed.

It doesn't mean what's new at the end of the year.

But people look forward to that moment when the year ends.

Hopefully the new year to be celebrated will be a great one.

I celebrated the New Year's Eve in various places.

Events celebrating New Year's Eve are unique to different regions. Some bizarre customs and few others impressed me that I should include them.

Among them are customs that still impress me.

There was always a country that would eat white sticky dishes at the beginning of the year, but it sticks and chokes people's throats on a whim. Every year, it was a terrible dish that sent out some of the dead.

Yet every year in that country I prefer to eat it.

I guess this is all a feeling the rest of us don't understand.

The capital of Pile Country, which has been based since last year, said it has a festival to celebrate the New Year, and the city was full of colors.

In the middle of the night, restaurants remain open beyond closing hours, and the brilliant lights are leaking out of the windows of the houses.

I guess there are kids under that light struggling to celebrate the new year with their parents as they battle hard with their sleepers.

Imagine that smiling sight and your mouth will loosen.

A white breath spilled from his mouth ascends to heaven. When I was caught and raised my gaze, there was a starry sky full of heaven.

Beautiful, but bright city makes it harder to see the stars than usual.

"The best time to enjoy the starry sky is when you're lurking like this on the battlefield"

Second, I remember what they said back in the day.

When I wasn't a collector or a merchant yet. Was it the time when you belonged as a mercenary after wondering what you should do in the future?

At the time he was a young man whose body moved before he could think, so he entered the mercenary guild with the cheap idea of being strong first. Besides, I was expecting a lot of people would have owned skills on the battlefield.

Buy combat-based skills from an opponent who is injured on the battlefield and lacks flesh, and sell artisanal skills instead. That will definitely make you a lot of money!... and you were thinking sweet.

In fact, no one listened to what the frigid recruit said about buying skills off the battlefield.

Even if I bought it, there are few 'appraisal' owners on the battlefield, so I can't prove if I really bought it. So there's no way I trust anyone.

But luckily, the unit I belonged to had a high-level appraisal owner who proved that the power of "buying and selling" was real.

So I was going to sell my combat skills instead of just buying them out, and I didn't bring a lot of money into the battlefield, so I promised to pay them late, so I only received and bought the deposit.

I was supposed to belong only for a few days, but I was afraid I'd be trampled down, so I decided to hang out until after work on this battlefield.

It was an elite force to take the lead on dangerous tasks, so we can expect considerable rewards as long as we survive.

"Hold on, you like it, too. What do you like so much about being on the battlefield on New Year's Day?

"I'll give you that word back."

The captain lurks in the woods blending into darkness and turns his face this way.

Though in the dark, I had a 'dark vision' so I could see the other guy's face well.

"That's for the money. I don't think you are."

"Sa Na."

The captain has a nasty skill called 'psychology', and because of that, he reads his thoughts from our tone and expression.

One day I'll try to get 'Psychology', which I swore to my heart at the time.

"You're such a busy kid. I'm gonna take some weird skills."

"Leave me alone"

Back then, the tone fluttered and I was busy.

It was a time of wandering in the midst of a rough wave.

"Dude, are you stubborn? But look at that."

I wanted to ignore the captain's words, which I only recognized as a troublesome adult, but I look up at the night sky caught in the movement of my fingers.

There was a cluster of meteors, where the light of the stars poured down like rain.

"What... ah"

His voice had leaked into its less beauty and he had opened his mouth wide open.

"You finally look like a kid. Isn't it beautiful? The best way to enjoy the starry sky is when you're lurking like this on the battlefield."

Ignore the presence of the captain who speaks in Doya's face.

The beautiful starry sky did not deserve a sneer.

"One day, I want to die under this starry sky..."

Looking slightly at the captain, who was not going to tear it up but grumbled seriously, he narrowed his eyes and looked at the night sky.

I was incomprehensible at the time, but now that I think back, I don't even know how the captain feels.

If I die one day...?

"Collector, what are you doing? It's cold outside, so hurry inside."

I hear voices pulling back into reality.

When I lowered my gaze, there was Sumire waving her voice up from the inn entrance.

The open doors are flooded with hot air and an appetizing scent flows here.

"I'm ready for the party ~"

"It's cold outside, collector, come on!

Then Chaili, with his face out the door, is making the call.

Behind them, I saw the innkeepers, my customers, my friends.

"Excuse me. Sorry to keep you waiting."

He rushes over quickly and steps into the store as prompted by the two of them.

Over the years in a warm room with a familiar face. I've never had such a busy year.

Looks like they were waiting for my arrival, and they all turned to me in unison.

Trying to utter an apology for the delay, the bell of the new year rings in the city as soon as possible.

Then, when the champion who had already started drinking stood up, he put up a jock.

"We'll complain to the collector later, and we'll say hello at the beginning of the year."

Follow the champion and everyone grabs a drink.

And when we looked at each other and nodded small,

"Happy dawn!

All voices aligned.