Chapter 62
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 62
Chapter Title: Rumor (3)
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Storytellers clutching golden flowers and collecting gold coins began to increase in number, even though fewer than five had shown up in a whole day before.
"At this rate, we can say the rumor has properly spread, right?"
"Of course. It's still morning, and already eight people?"
"Nine."
Dominic's face lit up with a smile at the fact that the stories he wanted were finally starting to trickle in.
"Too early to celebrate. Once the theme is set, people will start fabricating tales."
"Don't worry."
"Hm?"
"Not everyone has the talent for storytelling."
Dominic flipped the hourglass on the table with a clack.
This hourglass, with green sand slowly trickling down, had been bought on their first day here. It took about five minutes for the sand to fully drain.
"Spinning a full story with a proper beginning, middle, climax, and end all by yourself in five minutes isn't as easy as it sounds."
"But for the value of one gold coin, it's certainly worth practicing for."
"Dealing with a wealthy, high-status foreigner trusted by the empire's great nobles—do you really think they'd bother?"
"But..."
"Sure, low-ranking nobles occasionally drop by for fun and spin a yarn before leaving, but the vast majority were commoners. What does that tell you?"
"......"
"The rumors we've already spread about ourselves are subtly weighing on the minds of ordinary folks here. They won't jump to make up false stories so easily. A single gold coin is a big sum, but it's not quite enough to risk the danger."
Dominic's words left Ian at a loss for rebuttal. It was hard to find any counterargument.
Just how far did this man's schemes extend, from start to finish?
At first, it always seemed like some bizarre stunt, but looking back, everything from one to ten felt like it had unfolded according to his plan. This disorienting realization had happened time and again.
'I still have so much to learn.'
Ian ultimately turned the blame inward. He still didn't fully grasp the hearts of the common people.
"Next storyteller."
"Come in!"
The break was over.
Time to collect more stories again.
"Thank you, sir!"
Today's final applicant received a red flower.
"Whew. That's it, then. Guess I'll stick around a few more days and try some new approaches. This is turning out harder than I thought. Maybe there aren't any witnesses after all."
Dominic fidgeted restlessly, as if sitting so long had made him antsy, and let out a grumble.
"No helping it. All we can do is hope more people claim the golden flowers tomorrow than today."
Ian began clearing the table and preparing to head back to the inn.
At that moment, the curtain parted.
"Um, sir. There's one more person who wants to tell a story. What should I do? Send them away?"
The teahouse owner cautiously approached the group, who were wrapping up.
It seemed someone had arrived right at closing time.
"Oh, no, it's fine. Five minutes is all it takes. Let them in."
"Yes, got it! Hey, get ready! Have some water first, yeah, that's it."
Encouraged by the owner, today's true final participant entered—a shabby-looking elderly man.
His skin was lighter than most desert folk, and though hidden behind a unkempt beard, his features resembled those of an imperial.
"Mixed blood, huh."
Dominic murmured softly, and Karim nodded.
Perhaps feeling a sense of kinship, the man's expression brimmed with encouragement and support.
"Alright, go ahead and start."
Clack.
Dominic turned the hourglass to signal the beginning.
"Um... have your esteemed imperial guests ever heard of the secrets of the Inner Sea?"
Anton's interest waned at the man's opening line.
Legends or secrets related to the Inner Sea were already a repertoire he'd heard dozens of times over.
"You must have seen them when you arrived in the capital of the Desert Kingdom. Those enormous death worms."
"Ah, yeah, we did. The bugs pulling the carts. Impressive—way bigger than I'd heard."
He voiced admiration, but he'd heard death worm stories over a dozen times too.
Yet the man's tale began veering in an unexpected direction.
"The desert is full of massive insectoid monsters like death worms. Desert ground dogs that dig holes over ten meters deep and lie in wait for camel caravans, poison scorpions that spew venomous fumes and shred foes with their giant pincers, desert diggers that lurk in the sand and drag prey under to suffocate them..."
"Ahem."
"All of them bigger than two grown men."
"Impressive indeed."
Dominic noted that, unlike at the start, the man's eyes were starting to sparkle.
"But isn't it strange?"
"What's strange?"
"How did the desert's insect monsters grow to such enormous sizes?"
"...Who knows? Only the gods might."
"No, it's definitely odd. Ordinary animals and insects in the desert—not monsters—are generally smaller than their relatives elsewhere."
"Smaller?"
"Yes. Desert days are scorching, nights chilly. Water's scarce, shade hard to find. To survive such harsh conditions, smaller bodies are advantageous. This holds for plants, animals, and even monsters."
"But that contradicts the traits of those desert insect monsters you mentioned."
"In truth, I'm an adventurer who studies and observes monster ecology. I've devoted my life to it."
The man, who looked every bit the beggar, boldly declared himself an adventurer.
'Well, adventurer or beggar—it's all in the naming, I suppose.'
Dominic mused inwardly that both had infinite destinations but no fixed place to sleep, so they weren't so different.
But it was true that this was the first time he'd felt genuine interest in one of the man's words so far.
The immersion level was different from the hundreds of storytellers he'd seen before.
"Right, from the perspective of a monster-specialist adventurer, those desert bugs must seem like mutants."
"Not mutants."
"How can you be sure?"
"It's not one or two—dozens of desert insect monster species are all abnormally large. Can you call a trait shared by so many a mutation?"
"Mm."
This time, Karim let out a low hum.
It was an angle he hadn't considered, but the man was clearly right. This was undeniably strange.
"If you've brought us this tale, you must have a conclusion you want to share, no?"
Karim asked again.
The man continued in his steady tone.
"There are places where insects are unusually large, unlike deserts where sizes shrink overall."
"...Jungles."
"Yes."
The man nodded at Dominic's word.
"But this is a desert. Are you saying it was a jungle long ago, and these bugs inherited that size through generations?"
"Similar, but not quite."
"Not quite?"
"Have you heard the legend of the Inner Sea?"
"...!"
Ian and Dominic's eyes met in midair.
Karim seemed to catch on too.
"At the heart of the endless sands, a vast blue oasis and dense forest lie untouched by man—that's the legend. Every man, woman, and child in the Desert Kingdom knows it."
"We've heard our share. So, you're saying that's the origin of these giant bugs..."
"Yes. The jungle at the Inner Sea's center—home where these massive insect monsters were born and raised."
Dominic cleared his throat.
"Intriguing story. But just a hypothesis."
"You caught a Sentinel Seed, didn't you?"
Instead of answering, the man posed another question.
"I didn't catch it myself, but luck brought it into my hands."
The wyvern had done the catching, after all.
Of course, he didn't voice the latter part.
"Do you know where it was caught?"
"The Great Mountain Range... Wait, are you saying this monster centipede was caught in the desert before reaching the mountains?"
"You'd already suspected as much."
"Hrm."
"Aren't you curious where its mate is now?"
"......!"
Dominic nearly fell for the man's sudden aggressive tack.
"Its mate?"
"Disappointing if you didn't know."
"...You win. I'm curious, so spill it. Where's this one's mate—or rather, who found it?"
Dominic came clean.
He judged now wasn't the time for lies or evasion.
"A group of imperial merchants slipped into the desert under cover of night. Mercenaries joined them from all sides in secret, heading toward the desert's heart. Only about ten returned. But another merchant group linked up with them, and days later, they loaded a cart with a centipede on the verge of pupation, in hibernation."
"Hard to believe if it's eyewitness or legend."
"It's truth."
"Didn't you say they moved to avoid eyes?"
"Adventurers sleep under the desert sands as their blanket."
He'd been camping in the desert's midst and witnessed it.
Whether by luck or persistence, he'd seized the chance.
"Without proof, your words could sow discord between the desert and the empire's south."
Dominic remained cautious.
The man reached into his bosom and pulled out a glass vial.
Inside was a clump of sand stuck together with something black and viscous.
"What's this?"
"Sentinel Seed blood. Left in the air too long, it turns into this black, sticky substance."
"...Where'd you get it?"
"Stole it. From a guy who kept a souvenir of the blood from the mate of the one you got in the empire."
...Stole it, yet why so brazen?
Dominic briefly wondered if theft wasn't a crime in the desert. The man even looked proud.
'This guy's a thief, huh? Jeez, all sorts flock here.'
Truly, anyone truly mad in one area was mad across the board.
Madness knew no bounds.
"Fine, instead of the method, tell me the source. Where'd you steal... take it from?"
"Grayton's inn."
Crash!
The glass in Anton's hand shattered and fell.
Grayton.
The name of a merchant group backed by the marquess house at the center of the imperial capital's noble faction.
"Sir Dominic!"
Anton's voice trembled as much as his hand.
With an imperial marquess house as backing, tension was the natural response.
Everyone else in the room being a bit odd themselves kept the commotion minimal.
"Oh, while sneaking in for proof, I overheard some fun talk too."
"The Inner Sea's secret?"
Otherwise, no reason for the long legend preamble.
And Dominic's guess was spot on.
"Someone's found the desert's heart."
"...Grayton?"
The man slowly shook his head this time.
"The imperial merchants just latched on. The ones who touched the truth are desert folk. But they couldn't find the entrance. Some barrier was up."
"Barrier?"
"That's why the interpreter went to the empire—to break it."
"...It all connects like this?"
The peculiar-speaking interpreter they'd met in the south.
The Inner Sea's secret felt within reach.
'This could lead to a deal.'
He'd uncovered the centipede's source as the capital's noble faction, and unexpectedly grasped part of the desert's secret too.
Dominic's mind raced.
End of Rumor (3)