The Northern Great Bear 2
The people who burst from the underbrush made no attempt to hide who they were.
"Father. As the Grand Duke charged with the North, you ought to have some awareness of—"
"Ah, I said I was sorry!"
The Northern Grand Duke, his daughter, and two escort knights. Engraved on the breastplates of their armor was what looked like a family crest—a crouching wolf—and the swords at their hips, though still sheathed, radiated a chill that suggested blades steeped in mana.
In short: an armed party strolling through a royal Blessed Forest without so much as covering their house seals, weapons and all. The odds of them being impostors or disguised assassins were basically zero. Never mind the armor, the weapons, and the crest—Kayden had flinched so hard at the sight of the woman emerging from the brush that it was practically a confession.
What the hell is going on…?
A runaway princess in disguise was traveling with our party. Mid-quest, the man who was almost certainly her father came crashing out of the woods. Then his daughter and her escort knights popped out and joined the group. On top of that, the newly arrived young lady didn't seem to recognize Kayden at all—she barely even glanced her way.
The situation was so tangled I could barely keep track of it.
I spent a long while walking and piecing together Kayden's family situation while watching Han Se-ah and her viewers play detective. Guiding the Northern Grand Duke's party along as if it were the most natural thing in the world, I eventually saw the green wall of forest fall away, and a cluster of buildings swarming with soldiers came into view.
"You there, who—Grand Duke?!"
The Northern Grand Duke's party made no effort to hide their presence, loud and boisterous as they were. The moment we stepped out of the forest, several soldiers closed in as if to surround us—then froze stiff the instant they recognized him.
The sight of that furry giant locked them into attention as thoroughly as if they'd locked eyes with Medusa. Then again, I seemed to recall that in K-fantasy a Grand Duke meant a ducal house with imperial blood in its veins. That put them somewhere past a private standing before a celebrity.
"Ah—I'll escort you inside at once, sir!!!"
"No need. I'd like to hear a bit about the Tower from these adventurers here."
"In that case—I'll prepare a reception room and refreshments, sir!!!"
One of the soldiers bellowed so hard the veins in his neck looked ready to burst, reeling from the Northern Grand Duke's sudden, disaster-like appearance. Apparently deciding he couldn't leave a personage of that rank standing around at the forest's edge until a knight arrived, he pressed on through the trembling, doggedly finishing his sentences.
The Northern Grand Duke waved a hand at the pitiful, shaking display. He was as easygoing with the soldiers as he was with us adventurers—no fuss about protocol. Of course, when a Grand Duke told you to relax, a common soldier was never actually going to relax.
"F'ckin' idiot, wha' th' hell's he blatherin'…"
Behind the red-faced soldier, another one muttered through clenched teeth. The tendons in his jaw were twitching hard enough to see as he silently chewed out his dazed subordinate.
Mumble all he liked—there was no way the superhumans standing right in front of him wouldn't hear it. At the half-tearful tone, the Northern Grand Duke scratched the back of his head sheepishly and hurried his steps. He knew the layout well enough to head for the guest building without a guide, as if he'd been here a hundred times.
The collective sigh of relief that erupted behind the whole stampeding group was something to behold. And this man was falling into step with us far too naturally.
"You want to hear our stories?"
"Don't make it sound so burdensome. You're staying here for the commission anyway, aren't you? Think of it as keeping a lonely old man company and tell me a few adventure tales."
"Father! Calling yourself an old man—you mustn't put yourself down so—"
Apparently Kayden's ironclad attitude had made him change targets, because now he was coming at me. The young lady startled and tried to rein him in, but he bulldozed right through with a stubbornness that matched his bear-like build.
Sharing the same guest building had somehow become a settled fact. Not that this place was a motel strip with a dozen buildings to choose from.
A status-obsessed noble would have refused to stay under the same roof as adventurers and ridden off in a carriage, but this Grand Duke—who was clearly interested in Kayden—glued himself to me of his own accord. Probably because the rest of the party were all women, so I was the one he talked to.
The rest of the party and the escort knights headed upstairs to sort out rooms. The young lady, sulking over her father's free-and-easy manner, slipped outside as if for a walk. Left behind were the Northern Grand Duke, who dropped heavily into a chair at the table… and Han Se-ah's translucent camera drone, which had quietly drifted over to film.
No way a streaming monster would pass up a chance like this.
I sat down at the table, pretending not to notice the camera, and the bear of a man across from me spoke first.
"We walked the forest together, yet I never properly introduced myself. I'm Arthur—Arthur Wellesley. Grand Duke of the North and of the Frost Wolf Knights… no, better to skip all the tiresome titles."
He started a grand introduction, then stopped mid-sentence, gently scratching the scar on his jaw as he chose his words. One thing was certain: I had genuinely never heard the name Wellesley before.
Most likely the house had only come into existence once Han Se-ah logged into this world and the stars started attaching themselves. Or maybe my head was just… running a little too much like an NPC's. The way NPCs failed to register anything when Han Se-ah talked to her viewers.
While I was turning that over, the man across from me finally managed to speak.
"…I took an interest in this commission, so I looked into a few things. I hear you're an Upper-grade adventurer. And that your party members only recently rose from beginner-grade to Intermediate-grade. Would you tell me why you're leading a group of former beginners?"
It was a courteous request—nothing like a noble talking down to commoner adventurers. Part of me wanted to flat-out ask if this was about Kayden… but the camera overhead was the problem.
I couldn't exactly move like someone who already knew about the Northern Grand Duke, the Sword Princess, Kayden's cross-dressing, and every other secret thanks to Han Se-ah's stream. I had to keep the conversation within what Adventurer Roland could reasonably know.
I had no interest in raising unnecessary suspicion with a player who could watch my private life twenty-four hours a day through a translucent camera drone. Best-case scenario for me was Han Se-ah reaching the game's ending without me drawing a single shred of doubt.
"Well, it all started with meeting Miss Hanna."
"The mage who leads the party, I take it?"
So for now, I planned to spin a flattering yarn and talk Han Se-ah up. If the father-daughter relationship wasn't too bad, we might even land something like a patron.
"As you probably know from your inquiries, I'm an adventurer who stopped at the thirty-seventh floor of the Tower and came back down."
"I heard you took a rather long rest."
"I'd been adventuring for nearly ten years, so I figured I'd take a break. I'd saved up a fair bit, too—enough that I could've retired for good if it came to that."
"A comfortable old age is important no matter where you are."
I carried on with my story at a comfortable pace. The mage Hanna, foisted on me by a receptionist. The archer Grace, met in the Tower during an adventure. The priestess Irene, who'd transferred over from another party. And finally Kayden, the former mercenary who'd joined us last.
Up to that point the man had been laughing along at the entertaining tales—but the moment Rebecca and Kayden entered the picture, his whole demeanor shifted. His fingers started twitching, and the easy slouch left his back as he straightened. He suddenly seemed several times larger.
A glance at the chat confirmed the viewers could see it too. In that case, it wouldn't hurt if I acted like I'd caught on to something. Being able to check in real time thanks to the quest reward was genuinely convenient.
"Kayden joined the party on the recommendation of a mercenary captain I knew from my adventuring days. Since I handle the shield, I figured we could use a more aggressive frontliner."
"Hmm, is that so? Rebecca… the Rebecca Mercenary Company…"
"And that's how the Grand Duke's son came to join our party."
I turned it over in my head, watching the viewers' comments and the Grand Duke's reaction. I could have played completely ignorant, but then I'd walk away with nothing. Adventurers and mercenaries alike were always twisting themselves around for an advantage.
There was a golden honey pot called the Northern Grand Duke sitting right in front of me. I wasn't about to leave without taking a bite.
No need to show off like I knew everything—but no need to play dumb either. Feigning just enough knowledge to look competent and securing the ducal house's support for the party was the best play.
"…You knew?"
"Kayden introduced himself as the heir of a fallen house and commissioned me to repair his magic armor."
"You recognized it from the armor? Sharp eye."
Truth be told, I barely remembered what the armor looked like—I'd learned everything from the system window and Han Se-ah's stream—but what did that matter? What mattered was that the man in front of me and the viewers beyond the camera found it convincing.
How would he react? Would he talk around it and ask me to look after his child, or try to take Kayden away? Curious, I held my silence—and Arthur Wellesley scratched his head hard once more before booming out:
"Ah, damn it! Let's step outside and talk man to man, no holding back."
When a giant that size surged to his feet, the sheer presence was no joke.