17-1 Part 2
Shinza, Wanna Drop By My Place!?
- Country Knight -
Translator : PolterGlast
With that happening,
we are now here in a rural town in the frontier. The shared carriage's final
stop for tonight just happened to be this small town.
We were made to wait
quite a bit, but the appetizers, ale, and milk we ordered finally arrived.
「Now
then, first we fill our stomachs, let's eat, drink, and make some noise,
wahahaha!」
「Umu,
there is no reason to refuse. I shall specially let you spend a pleasant dinner
time with Wagahai.」
Together with the
Evil Dragon-sama who specifically materializes at every meal, we shoveled the
appetizer roast beef salad into our stomachs. Not enough. Eventually, the food from the unglazed
large platter had disappeared without a trace.
「Oi,
it's already gone, bring the next one quickly! If you don't, I'll deep-fry this
chair and eat it!」
「We'll
pass. You and Zirant eat that yourselves.」
「Kukuku,
to include Wagahai in that. Goodness, there are some Apostles with no
manners...」
「No,
it's hard to hear that while you're slurping the meat juices from the plate...
Eating the plate itself would be more refined...」
The tavern staff
also seemed to faintly begin suspecting that the customer named Sigrun
was a bad one. Ignoring the cold gazes of the other customers, we gorged
ourselves on the local specialties.
It seems beef is
famous in this region, and while it's expensive, it is certainly delicious
here. The local liquor here made from western corn is undistilled, which might
be why it has a rather strong, peculiar taste and is difficult to drink.
Beef and tomato
stew, thick-cut steak, tortillas with meat and vegetables wrapped in corn flour
dough. Corn oil and butter are also local specialties here, so there were many
greasy menu items for one reason or another.
「Phew,
ate, ate, with this my stomach is about half full. Waiter, 5 servings of beef
jerky!」
「Then
order 7 servings for Wagahai.」
Rather than filling
my stomach, the inside of my mouth is already greasy. Thinking I wouldn't be
able to eat deliciously any more than this, I chose prudence, but—it seems
those guys know no limits...
「Urgh,
urp... How much are you going to eat, you two...」
「Yeah,
even I can't keep up with this much longer.」
「Shinza
is just as bad... Being in this gathering makes me feel like a light eater...」
「Perhaps
the physical structure itself is different between Sigrun and us.」
However, Zirant,
7 servings of jerky is overdoing it no matter what. Do you honestly think the world will accept a
punchline where legend of the Evil Dragon Zirant ends due to an excessive intake of
sodium?...
『Kukuku...
No need to worry. If I were to die of a lifestyle disease, I couldn't continue
being a Dragon God. ...By the way, have you noticed? A strange man has been
looking this way for a while now.』
Sorry, I was
distracted by your eating habits and didn't notice at all. When I casually
followed Zirant's sidelong glance, a strange man had indeed taken a seat
at the counter, frequently stealing glances this way.
His age is around
forty, I guess. White hairs float in his lusterless brown hair. There is no
sense of cleanliness on his unkempt bearded face, and yet his attire was also
strange. As far as I know, the buckler and cloak he wears are items permitted
only to the knight class of the Knight Order.
The owner is serving
alcohol to such a dirty knight in a half-flattering manner. He looks
suspicious, but he seems to be highly regarded here.
「Yo,
you guys are quite lively.」
「Wahahaha,
since we just hit the jackpot! Our purse strings are super loose!」
When our eyes met,
that guy stood up from his seat and spoke to us. If he called himself a former
knight who had his knight rank stripped, I would believe it.
「I see,
I see, that's a joyous occasion.」
「Besides,
it was a fierce battle for the first time in a while! To think we'd end up
fighting such a dangerous monster! Hey, what do you think we fought!? Not just
a horde of Abyss Ogres, but a burning giant!」
「Oi, Sigrun.
Your mouth is loose...」
The other party is clad in
knight's equipment. And we did the exact opposite of what the Lord of this land
intended. If the townspeople lose their livelihoods and become refugees, the
ones who profit are those holding slave manors. It's as good as having
interfered with that. It wouldn't be strange to be resented.
「Seriously...
Big sister, did you defeat that...?」
「Not
just me! It's the result of combining strength with Kachua and Shinza
here! Listen to this, these two, even though it was a battlefield, showed me a
way of fighting that inadvertently made my heart burn so much...!」
「Sigrun,
listen to me...」
Sigrun
doesn't listen to anyone's orders. Instead of demanding a hierarchical
relationship from anyone, she doesn't take orders from anyone. That's the kind
of woman she is.
「I see,
it really was you guys. Then, this is my treat.」
「Wahahaha,
my policy is to not refuse treats! Ooh~~, you're a good guy!」
It seems he had an
arrangement with the shop staff. When the knight signaled, a staff member
brought over a small keg of ale.
The only one who
rejoices at such a gift is Sigrun. The horned woman hugged the keg with
a smile from ear to ear. Now for this development. What do you think, Zirant?
『Sigrun
isn't stupid either. Let her swim for a while. As far as Wagahai has
sniffed, it doesn't seem like there's anything strange mixed into the alcohol.』
The keg was opened
immediately, and ale was poured into large mugs. Zirant shrewdly held
out her own mug and had the bitter, alcohol-smelling ale poured for her.
「You're
not cautious, huh...」
「Yeah,
'cause there's no need to be! Gulp gulp gulp... Puhaaah, delicious!!」
「Kukuku...
This makes the jerky go down well.」
When you drink alcohol looking like that, it
makes me feel like I’m doing something wrong. Shifting my gaze away from Zirant, I saw that the middle-aged knight
and Sigrun were
already starting to hit it off.
「You
brother-and-sister don't hold back either and drink up. This is like a token of
gratitude.」
「...Understood,
I'll have a little.」
With this physical
body forged by the Book of the Evil Dragon, even if slightly poisoned,
it would probably just end with a stomachache. I downed the bitter, smooth
liquid in one go.
「Yo, Shinza!
The best drinking style in the Empire!」
「Now
drink, drink more, drink heavily and pass out, and let me take you home!」
But that seems to
have been a mistake. When I tapped the table with the wooden cup, new ale was
poured until it overflowed...
「Well, you see, no matter how
much I proposed the subjugation of that to the higher-ups, they wouldn't
take me seriously at all... I was also troubled 'cause I couldn't lay a hand on
it.」
「Kukuku...
It was the right answer not to lay a hand on it. Even if you defeated the Abyss
Ogres, facing that burning giant, retreat would have been certain.」
「Umu!
If Shinza wasn't there, even I would have been hard-pressed to handle
that!」
Is that so, the
knight turned curious eyes toward me. I'm not conceited enough to answer 'yes,
that's right' to that. Without Sigrun's brute strength and combat sense,
it would have been difficult to push that thing into the water.
「Well!
With this, those guys' plan to expand the slave manors is delayed. It's thanks
to you guys.」
「Are
you against that law?」
This knight looks
dirty, but his mind seems sharp. Such a man with two sides, drinking ale
vigorously with Sigrun, laughing seemingly very happily.
「Against
it or whatever, there's no future in that. Local manors getting bigger means
the nobles and the State Church holding the manors get stronger. The people
aren't so patient as to be content with being treated like slaves forever... If
handled poorly, it's a bad law that could blow this Empire away.」
Puis and Aniue
said something similar. If that's the case, ideologically, does it mean this
man is closer to our side? That being said, it doesn't change the fact that
he's in a position on Yord's side, which controls the Knight Order.
「You
think quite a lot. If you say so, I'm sure that's how it is.」
「Hahaha,
Sigrun is a weirdo too, but you're a bit strange yourself, bro... Oh,
right, if you'd like, won't you stay over at my place? Let me hear the details.」
He's friendly, but
if this man is a spy for Yord, it would be troublesome. I can't
carelessly leak information. That being said, if he specifically put on
knight's equipment to come spy on us, he's a massive idiot.
Zirant, what
do you think?
『It
looks like it would be more comfortable to sleep there than a tavern-inn.』
That's not what I'm
talking about... I'm asking your opinion on whether he can be trusted or not.
「Bro,
just like the Imperial army ain't a monolith, the Knight Order ain't
necessarily one either. It can't be helped that the relationship between the Imperial
army and the Knight Order is bad due to both sides' positions, though...」
「What, Shinza,
are you still doubting him~?」
「That's
right. There is nothing better than being cautious.」
When I stated my unvarnished reply, rather than taking offense, the middle-aged knight laughed. Showing his goodwill toward us exactly as it is in his expression, he's saying 'you're cold, bro' with a laughing face.
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