Chapter 31
Chapter 31
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 31
Chapter Title: Rift (7)
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Pablo walked along skeptically.
Guided by a chicken? Was Lian just messing with him?
Back when Lian was still a slave, they used to bicker and play pranks on each other now and then.
But once their relationship turned into lord and retainer, they both held back to maintain the hierarchy.
Cluck!
"This way?"
Still, he couldn't dismiss it as a mere joke—the chicken was genuinely leading the way.
Every time they passed an alley or fork, it stretched its neck to point the direction.
"Ah. If we keep going this way, we'll probably hit the docks connected to the river estuary."
No way was he going to let a chicken outdo him!
Pablo tried to guess their destination based on the direction the chicken was taking them.
Cluck cluck!
"Huh? That's right? You understood me? Are you really a chicken...?"
Pablo swallowed dryly as he glanced down at the suspicious creature tucked under his arm.
It was definitely just an ordinary chicken raised by an acquaintance.
Since Lian hadn't explained anything, he had no idea a mage was controlling the chicken's mind.
"If you keep talking to the chicken like that, it'll look suspicious."
"Ugh! Sorry, sir."
To make such a rookie mistake while sneaking around...
Pablo turned sheepishly and glanced back.
Sure enough, that young master's refined face didn't suit the shabby clothes at all, especially not while carrying a basket full of potatoes and corn.
"Your walk's too refined, sir. You look like nobility in disguise no matter how you slice it."
"Ah, should I walk more slouchy like this?"
"Exactly that, sir. You picked it up right away—your observation skills are top-notch."
"It's nothing."
Lian loosened his posture and shuffled along with a bow-legged gait.
Just a couple of years ago, he'd walked like this all the time, but now it felt strangely awkward.
Probably because his height had shot up, along with changes to his frame and muscles.
A chuckle escaped him despite himself.
'No one would believe I came from serf stock looking like this.'
More than anything, no one left alive remembered Lian from back then.
Not that he needed to prove it anymore—even if he wanted to, it would be impossible now.
"Look here, sir."
Pablo, leading the way under the chicken's guidance, came to a stop.
It was a ferry landing where boats for transporting goods along the river were moored.
There was no cargo season right now, so it was deserted with no one coming or going.
"We take a boat and head upriver?"
Cluuuck!
The chicken shook its head.
No, that's not it.
But it kept nodding downward, as if telling them to head down to the riverbank.
"Let's check it out for now."
"Yessir."
They descended the stairs and followed the path along the lower riverbank a short way until a fishy stench began to waft toward them.
That meant stagnant water somewhere.
Cluck!
When they reached under the bridge, they finally found the source of the smell.
"Well, I'll be. There's a hidden sewer outlet down here?"
It was a place even Pablo, a local, didn't know about.
From up on the riverbank, it was obscured by the bridge—you wouldn't find it unless you came down specifically.
Lian suddenly recalled Leon mentioning how the underground beneath the castle was a labyrinth.
This was probably one of the paths leading there.
Cluuuck!
"Pablo. What are you doing standing there? Aren't you coming in?"
"Is it safe, sir? The smell here's kinda..."
The sewer outlet reeked not just of fish but also of the foul stench from filth washed down by rainwater.
But to Lian, who'd spent his life sifting through manure piles, it wasn't a big deal.
"If the smell's too much, you can wait here."
"N-no, sir! No problem at all! Back in my patrol days, I even rolled around in shit buckets!"
Fearing he'd lose the guiding role entirely to the chicken, Pablo hurriedly plunged into the sewer.
"Huh? I wasn't nagging—that was a real offer..."
But how could Lian understand the feelings of a subordinate serving an overly competent boss?
Clank—clank—
The footsteps of armed soldiers echoed through the dark, damp tunnel.
"Damn it! How long do we have to patrol this stinking sewer?"
"Tell me about it. Honestly, that mage probably bolted to another country ages ago."
"That's what I think too. The lord's being way too paranoid."
They suffered through the hardships but got no results, just chewed out by their superiors.
It was enough to kill any soldier's motivation.
"......"
"......"
And perhaps because of that, they missed the two figures hiding in the shadows and passed right by.
A moment that made a mockery of their patrol.
Soon, the lantern light faded, and the footsteps died away.
Pablo finally let out the sigh he'd been holding.
"Whew. That's why those rear-line sweethearts are..."
"What's wrong with it? Their carelessness kept us from getting spotted."
"True enough, sir."
Cluuuck!
On the other hand, the mage seemed to have plenty to say.
Like protesting how these idiots were tying up its feet.
"By the way, sir. You're heading to catch the mage now, right? As expected from a mage hunter!"
Flinch!
The chicken under Pablo's arm eyed Lian with tense suspicion.
"Pablo. Don't say unnecessary things. You're giving the wrong idea."
"Huh? Wrong idea about what, sir?"
"Still don't get it? The one guiding us inside that chicken's head is the mage."
"Whaaat? That's what it was?"
Pablo finally realized the chicken's true nature and shivered violently.
All the casual ways he'd treated it flashed before his eyes like a montage.
"M-mage, sir! Please don't turn me into a chicken...!"
Cluck! Cluck!
"Says to cut the nonsense and keep moving forward."
"Ah, yessir!"
About an hour of wandering the sewers to reach the mage's hideout.
Cloooock!
At a fork splitting left and right, the chicken shook its head vigorously up and down and stopped.
Drip drip drip—
"Sir. Water sounds from this way."
It was too dark to see well, but a thin stream trickled down the wall at the fork.
Lian examined the wall closely by the faint light leaking from a drain in the ceiling.
The stream flowed from two lion-head carvings slightly above head height.
"No rain, but such a steady flow?"
And constantly, at a consistent rate.
That meant water pooled inside the wall, seeping out through small gaps.
And identically from both matching carvings.
"Super suspicious."
Lian reached into the mouth of one carving.
Clink!
He felt a metal ring inside.
But he couldn't reach the other one.
"Pablo. Check that one over there."
"Like this, sir? Ah, got a ring! How'd you figure it out?"
"Gut feeling? On three, pull together. One, two... three!"
Rattle—clank!
They yanked hard, and chains attached to the rings pulled out of the lions' mouths before catching midway.
Rumble—
A low vibration came from the wall.
Lian subtly sidestepped.
"Sir! Look at this! Something's... glub!"
Cluuuck!
Suddenly, powerful jets of water gushed from the lions' mouths.
Pablo and the chicken, unable to dodge in time, got utterly soaked.
"...Couldn't give a heads-up? Sneaky, dodging alone."
"Think of it as seaweed soup."
Rumble rumble—
Moments later, along with the gushing water, the wall between the carvings slowly descended, revealing a hidden passage.
"I've lived here nigh on twenty years, and I feel like I've wasted my life."
Awakened by boyish romance, Pablo stared in a daze.
"If everyone knew, it wouldn't be a secret door. Hurry before it closes."
"Am I the only one getting excited about this? Everyone dreams of adventure like this once in a while!"
"I'll leave you behind."
"Eek! Coming, sir!"
Watching Lian's calm back, Pablo inwardly admired him.
Born different, huh.
'Gotta install one like this in my office someday.'
But he just wasn't showing it.
Lian harbored the same boyish heart.
Even after the secret door, the labyrinthine forks kept coming.
This passage likely connected secret doors hidden throughout the castle and city.
A true maze.
Oddly, though unlit, it wasn't pitch black.
"Definitely dwarven work. No way humans made this."
"I think so too."
The deep-city sewers absent from the south harbor.
These secret passages too.
The north harbor felt built atop ancient civilization ruins.
Cluuuck!
Clunk! Rattle—
A stone staircase descended from the ceiling at the chicken's stop signal.
Operated from inside.
They'd finally reached the mage's hideout.
"Pablo. Just in case, keep watch here?"
Lian recalled the mage didn't like meeting people.
"Yessir! Leave it to me!"
Maybe from his experience at Delico Farm.
Or some prior bad memory with magic.
Pablo didn't insist on tagging along.
He just cradled the chicken protectively and leaned against the wall.
Lian climbed the stairs alone and looked around.
His antique knowledge was limited to a few books, but stone decorations in an unfamiliar style caught his eye first.
"Tch tch. Must've been rough getting here."
Lian turned toward the voice and unwittingly swallowed.
Still hard to believe it was human.
"It's been a while since we met face-to-face."
"For the record, your guess is wrong."
"Pardon?"
"Dwarves crossed to the Palais Continent seven hundred years ago. But this labyrinth is far older."
An answer to the conversation he'd had with Pablo below.
Not that he'd been curious...
"Was that what you wanted to talk about?"
"Heh heh heh."
As eccentric in personality as in appearance, the old crank.
"Can't call you court mage anymore. Just 'mage' then?"
"Call me whatever, long as I get it."
The old mage wouldn't even share a name.
Social skills tossed out the window.
"So, what's the deal?"
"You guessed it. That damn pup lord tried killing me once a replacement popped up, so I ran."
"Even so, a former court mage—how'd you get caught flat-footed?"
"Nonsense! Mages are sages who lend wisdom, not warriors!"
His magic did lean toward information warfare.
Still, those arms long as his body seemed threatening just swung—physical prowess apparently nil.
"Other court mages shine on battlefields. For me, sacrificing birds to buy time was it."
"So that's why no birds around."
Which meant a blight-plagued poor harvest loomed for north harbor this year.
Lian quickly tapped his mental calculator on skyrocketing food prices.
"You brat. That look—you're scheming profits off others' misery."
"What, mind reading too? Just birds' heads?"
"Live as long as me, you'll pick up that much savvy."
"So how old this year?"
"Dunno! Forgot ages ago what I was counting!"
No lie, no evasion.
Lian was certain.
This old coot absolutely wasn't human.