Demon King + Alcohol = ??
We arrived at Penada, the nearest large town, late in the evening.
“……Is this the market?”
After seeing something small, anything big looks enormous. After seeing something big, anything small looks endlessly tiny. The reason Penada’s market looked so insignificant was probably because my standards had been reset by Crownland.
“It might not impress you, but a market is still a market.”
“It’s probably because it’s so late. Looks like most of the merchants have already packed up. In that case, we’ll just have to wait for the market to open again tomorrow.”
“That sounds like a good idea. There isn’t much left to buy right now anyway.”
“Now that I think about it, Mother wrote down a list of things we need to buy. Should we take a look at it?”
I pulled the note Mother had given me from my pocket and unfolded it. The words written there were:
Son, this is your chance. Just go for it!
I crumpled the paper without hesitation.
“Ah, why are you crumpling it?”
“It was completely useless.”
“What did she write that made you react like that? Let me see too.”
“I recommend you don’t.”
“No. Give it here.”
When she demanded it so firmly, I couldn’t refuse. With no other choice, I handed over the crumpled ball of paper.
The moment Ilena took it and snapped her fingers, the wrinkled sheet smoothed out perfectly.
“Let’s see…… huh?”
Ilena blinked after reading the contents. What? I’d expected her to blush, but she looked completely unfazed.
Finally, she turned to me with a calm expression and asked, “Are you and Mother plotting something behind my back?”
“We haven’t plotted anything yet……?”
“But she’s clearly ordering you to ‘just go for it,’ isn’t she?”
Ah, so that’s what she thought. It seemed she still needed more education. It was probably better that she didn’t know.
“It’s nothing important.”
“There’s definitely something! Tell me! Don’t keep it between just you and Mother!”
“I’d like to, but if I told you, you’d be the one who ends up in trouble.”
“I’d be in trouble? In what way?”
“You might end up screaming.”
“Screaming……?”
It was obvious even without looking. I’d already seen her face change color several times whenever she heard something embarrassing.
“Anyway, we should find lodging first.”
“Can’t we just sleep in the carriage?”
“Sleep in the cargo hold……?”
“Why? Is there a problem? It would save money too. I even brought nice bedding on purpose.”
Ilena looked up at me with an expression that said she saw no issue with her suggestion.
“So you’re saying it’s fine to sleep in the same space as me?”
“W-why are you twisting my words like that?”
“Think about it. The cargo hold is literally just a cargo hold. There are no partitions.”
But aside from that, it wasn’t actually a bad idea.
“Now that you mention it, it doesn’t sound so bad. Of course, you and Dipe would sleep on the seats while I take the floor.”
“L-lodging! We should get a room!”
As expected, Ilena’s face was already flushed bright red. But it really was a decent suggestion.
“Why? You came up with a good idea for once. And you said you brought nice bedding on purpose, didn’t you?”
“That was for emergencies in case we had to camp outside! No matter how good the bedding is, staying at an inn is better than sleeping in the cargo hold! Right, Dipe?”
Ilena desperately tried to get Dipe’s agreement. But Dipe, who had slept the entire carriage ride, still seemed lost in dreamland.
“Mmm… I just wanna sleep more.”
“Ugh……”
It was fine with me, but Ilena clearly found it difficult. To be honest, I’d only been half-joking anyway. Besides, if Ilena ended up sleeping in the same space……
[Just go for it!]
I shook my head slightly to shake off Mother’s voice echoing in my mind. Even if the urge did arise, the adorable Dipe would surely help me keep my composure.
“Alright, let’s rent a room. Where did we stay last time we came here?”
“There’s an inn I have in mind. The first floor has a decent restaurant too.”
“Let’s go there. Dipe doesn’t look like she’s doing too well, though.”
“Mmm……”
Dipe was clutching my hand tightly while nodding off. It was honestly impressive that she was still standing upright.
“I could give her some magic power, but there’s no need to do it right now. It’d be better to get her to eat a little something and put her to bed right away.”
“If you say so.”
I crouched down and offered Dipe my back.
“Here, hop on.”
“Yeees……”
Dipe obediently draped herself over my back. Thankfully she didn’t seem uncomfortable; she clung tightly and pressed her body against me.
“Mmm, so warm……”
“Now lead the way. Where is this place?”
The inn Ilena took us to looked quite clean and respectable. Even at this late hour, quite a few people were gathered on the first floor, so it seemed we could get a decent dinner as well.
Perhaps because business was good, the innkeeper who greeted us had a warm, friendly face.
“Welcome. Would you like to eat, or would you like a room?”
“Both, please.”
“Understood. I’ll get you a room first.”
The innkeeper rummaged under the counter and naturally produced a key. Just one.
“The room rate is three silver……”
“Two rooms, please!”
Ilena quickly cut him off.
“Pardon? But aren’t you two a married couple? It would be better to take one large room rather than two small ones.”
“M-married couple? No, that’s……”
Ilena was so flustered by the word “married couple” that I had to step in.
“How much for two small rooms?”
“Two silver each, so four silver total.”
“We’ll take that.”
“Hehe……”
The innkeeper looked back and forth between me and Ilena, then bent down again and pulled out two keys.
“I can guess why you want separate rooms. Once you have a child, married life tends to become inconvenient. Before my son was born, my wife and I burned hot every single night……”
“Honey! Stop talking nonsense and finish the bill! And come help in the kitchen!”
“Got it, I’m coming~!”
The wife’s voice calling from the kitchen was quite sharp. Even so, the innkeeper didn’t seem to mind at all.
“Hehe. Please leave your luggage upstairs and come back down. Will the little one be eating with you?”
“Yes. She will.”
“Understood. I’ll prepare a table. Take your time coming down.”
Most of our luggage was stored and sealed inside the carriage, so there wasn’t really anything to bring up to the room. Still, it seemed like a good idea to check the room before coming back down. If it wasn’t satisfactory, we could switch immediately.
As we climbed the stairs, Ilena spoke in a slightly nervous voice.
“We must look like a married couple.”
“I suppose we do. Unless they’re mercenaries or merchants, it’s rare to see a man and woman traveling together. Plus we have Dipe with us right now.”
The room was better than I’d expected. It wasn’t overly extravagant, nor was it lacking for a single night’s stay.
“It’s a nice place. Good find.”
To make sure, I gently set Dipe down on the bed. She immediately curled up and made herself comfortable, her face showing pure bliss.
“The bed passes inspection too.”
“I’m glad you like it.”
“The only thing that worries me is the poor soundproofing. I can hear people eating and drinking downstairs quite clearly. It might disturb Dipe while she sleeps.”
“No need to worry about that.”
Ilena raised both hands, grabbed my head, and pulled it down. Then she gently covered both my ears with her hands.
The moment her cool, soft palms touched my ears, I nearly lost myself for a second. But feeling the flow of magic brought me back to my senses.
When she finally removed her hands, almost no sound from the surroundings could be heard.
“Oh……”
She must have used a sound-blocking spell.
“With this, Dipe won’t have any trouble sleeping.”
Ilena smiled brightly and touched my ears again. For a moment they felt warm and cozy, then the sound returned.
“No worries now, right?”
“Yeah. By the way……”
Since she had touched my ears freely, I didn’t hesitate to grab her hand.
“Wah……? Why are you suddenly holding my hand?”
“Why are you surprised? You touched my ears first.”
“Y-yeah, I guess I did.”
She flinched in surprise, but fair was fair. And the sensation really was the same.
“Cool and soft.”
“Is that a compliment?”
“Let’s head down. Dipe, let’s eat and then sleep.”
“Mmm……”
Instead of getting up herself, Dipe simply lay there and spread her arms toward me. With no other choice, I had to pick her up.
“She’s being quite demanding. Is this what it feels like to have a daughter?”
“This is just my personal opinion, but I think you’d make a wonderful father.”
“Really? I wonder……”
When we came downstairs, the innkeeper had prepared the menu for the dishes they served and guided us to our table. Since it was an inn rather than a proper restaurant, the selection wasn’t very large. After we ordered some simple items, the innkeeper asked casually,
“Would you like anything to drink? We just got in some excellent beer.”
“Beer, huh……”
Noticing my hesitation, Ilena asked, “Do you want to drink?”
“Hmm. I thought I wouldn’t be drinking for a while, but good beer does sound tempting.”
Although the smell of the hydra’s poison was still vivid in my memory, that didn’t mean I’d come to hate alcohol entirely. Besides, while I’d only drunk expensive liquor in Crownland, it had been quite a while since I’d enjoyed a cold, generous glass of beer.
“How much for one glass?”
“Just twenty gares, please.”
“That’s definitely cheap.”
Considering one silver was worth a hundred gares, twenty gares per glass was quite a bargain. Even the small room had only cost two silver, and now beer was only twenty gares? It really drove home how different prices were in the countryside compared to the big city.
“Then I’ll have one glass.”
“Only one glass?”
The innkeeper looked slightly disappointed. After confirming no staff were nearby, he whispered,
“For our guests, I’ll give you two glasses for the price of one. It’s a special service because your little girl is so adorable.”
“No, it’s fine. One glass is enough……”
“No, no! Please don’t refuse. It’s a special favor from me!”
The innkeeper waved his hands, refusing my refusal, and before the food even arrived, he brought over two large glasses filled to the brim with beer.
“Here you go. Beer tastes best before the meal. Drink up! The food will be right out!”
This was troublesome. The amount was one thing, but with Ilena and Dipe here, drinking too much by myself……
Glug.
“Hm?”
While I was still hesitating, Ilena took a sip of the beer. Then she tilted her head with a serious expression.
“This has a unique flavor. It’s different from what we make in the village.”
“Now that you mention it, we did say the village was making alcohol too.”
“Yeah. Ours is distilled liquor. But this beer tastes pretty good too?”
As she spoke, Ilena began savoring the beer one sip at a time. It looked like I wouldn’t have to finish both glasses by myself after all.
“Cheers.”
“Huh? Ahaha……!”
When I raised my glass, Ilena smiled brightly and lifted hers as well. The clink of the beer mugs was surprisingly cheerful.
“I didn’t know you enjoyed drinking.”
“It’s less that I enjoy it and more that I’m very interested. After all, I need to drink a lot to learn how to make something truly good.”
While I took one sip, Ilena took two, then three. The rate at which her glass was emptying was definitely concerning.
“Ilena, aren’t you drinking too fast? Be careful. No matter how low the alcohol content is, alcohol is still alcohol.”
“Hehe. It’s fine, it’s fine! To make even better alcohol, I have to drink even more! Right? Uhehe……”
Her speech was gradually getting thicker. Come to think of it, even if it was weak beer, she was drinking on an empty stomach.
“Ilena, hold on. At least wait until the food comes out……”
Thud.
Before I knew it, Ilena had slammed her empty mug onto the table. She took a deep breath and shouted so loudly the entire floor rang.
“Mister!”
Every customer stopped talking and looked at us. Ilena, completely unaware of their stares, lifted her empty mug toward the startled innkeeper and yelled,
“Another one!”
The moment the words “another one” left her mouth, the customers burst into laughter and applauded Ilena. But I couldn’t bring myself to clap along with them.
I had a terrible feeling that it was already too late.
‘Oh no… we’re in trouble…….’