The Second Guest — The Wyvern Hunter (1)
Having secured lumber from Trent and stone from the Stone Golem through a round of involuntary donations, I set the materials against the bathroom wall.
Just as when the inn upgrades, the area was screened off for construction, and the sounds of sawing and hammering began at once.
Leave it alone and it would finish itself.
"Well then…"
Next on the agenda was settling Rain's position.
If I left her on cleaning duty, I had a strong feeling she would keep expanding her workload the way she had this time.
"The positions I can assign Rain to right now are the tavern and the guard post."
"Then the tavern—"
"Let's make her a guard."
Just as Rain was about to say she wanted the tavern, Grace cut her off and proposed the guard assignment instead.
"…Why?"
"Why else? You're terrible with alcohol, sis."
A vein stood out on Rain's forehead again.
Ah. So that's another sore spot.
"I'm weak with alcohol…?"
"Yeah. You're a dragon, so you shouldn't get drunk easily. But you keep drinking until you're drunk — no, even after you're drunk, you keep going as long as the alcohol doesn't run out."
"……"
Oh. She shut her mouth.
Apparently Rain herself knew she drank that way.
"Besides, at this inn the alcohol never runs out."
"If she keeps drinking as long as the alcohol doesn't run out, then at this inn she could drink until she literally dies…"
"Yes."
"……"
Grace nodded, and Rain had nothing left to say.
Looks like assigning Rain as a guard was settled.
I headed to the counter and worked the interface, dragging Rain from the cleaner slot into the guard assignment…
"?!"
The moment the reassignment finished, Rain seemed to sense something. Her eyes went wide, and she looked toward the inn's door.
"What's wrong, sis?"
"No… it feels like I can see the outside of the inn as if I'm looking at it directly."
"Huh? Isn't that normal?"
"It's not through a dragon's senses… how do I put this… I feel like I could immediately identify and drive out anyone who approaches the inn with malice."
Aha. So that's how it works.
"And… that human is pretty strong."
"What?"
"Huh?"
Human?
The human Rain was talking about didn't seem to be me…
Creeeak…
Before the thought finished, the inn's door opened.
A guest?
Grrrind…
But the guest's appearance was a little strange.
Leaves clung to him — not as if they had snagged by accident, but as if they had been deliberately attached.
Is that what they call a ghillie suit?
And the weapon on his back… a massive crossbow dragged along the floor, scraping with an unpleasant sound.
Grrrind… grrrind…
The guest in the ghillie suit approached without the slightest concern that his crossbow was scraping the floor.
"Pardon the intrusion."
A low, gentle voice.
Only after hearing it could I finally see the face hidden beneath the ghillie suit.
An old man you might pass anywhere.
And at the same time, a presence only someone who had weathered every storm could carry.
He sat in the chair in front of my counter, carefully unshouldered the crossbow, and set it down.
"Never expected an inn to appear in a place like this."
"…What can I get you?"
I decided to fulfill an innkeeper's duty first.
"A bowl of hot stew. And water."
A simple order — but his voice carried weight.
"The wind was a bit fierce today."
Being a canyon, the wind did blow hard.
But somehow… the wind he spoke of felt like something other than the wind that blew through the canyon.
"Here's your water. The stew is boiling now, so please wait a moment."
"Thank you."
Grace poured clean water into a cup and handed it to the old man, then headed for the kitchen — presumably to fetch the stew.
"……"
Watching her go, the old man looked at the clean water in the cup and asked me,
"You're a curious young man."
"Is that so?"
"Indeed. To think…"
That there could be a being who has contracted not one dragon, but two.
"……"
"……"
"……"
Not just me — Grace in the kitchen and Rain, observing the old man from a short distance, all fell silent.
"If it was meant to be a secret, I'll keep it as one."
"Human…"
When the old man spoke as if it were nothing, Rain narrowed her eyes and addressed him.
"You're a Dragon Slayer, aren't you?"
Dragon Slayer.
A title given to those who have killed a dragon.
The title the heroes and hero parties who tried to kill Grace had sought.
"A human with the Dragon Slayer title walks into an inn that has dragons? You must have sensed our presence before you even entered…"
Do you want to die?
Rain said it as she transformed her hands. Her body remained human, but her hands had become a dragon's.
"……"
Grace wordlessly set the stew before the old man and unfurled her wings. Not only her wings — scales were rising across half her face.
"……"
The old man paid no mind to the killing intent rolling off the two of them and put the stew in his mouth.
Grace had brought it boiling hot, yet he seemed not to feel the heat as he polished the bowl off in an instant.
"Haa… Do as you wish."
This old man had simply found an inn when he wanted to rest, and simply wanted to put some hot stew in his mouth there.
"……"
He was an old man who made no pointless excuses.
And at the same time, I…
"Both of you, stop."
…could read the regret in the old man's eyes.
"……"
"……"
Having read my intent, both returned to human form.
Because they had realized the old man had not killed a dragon because he wanted to.
Or perhaps whether he had wanted to or not didn't matter — they simply obeyed because it was their master's command.
Clack!
Having finished the water after the stew, the old man asked me,
"Young man, what's your name?"
"……"
I couldn't answer.
Because I have no name.
As if seeing through that, the old man said,
"A human without a name… a transmigrator, are you? This is only the second time I've seen one in person."
He can tell that much?
"My name is Oldrich. Oldrich Skybane. It wasn't the name I wanted, but after I killed a dragon, the kingdom started calling me that and gave me a noble title."
But as you've already figured out, I didn't kill a dragon because I wanted to.
"I never received a proper education, so I couldn't tell a dragon from a wyvern. I mistook a young hatchling for a wyvern and killed it."
He said that and showed me his status window.
【Name】 Oldrich Skybane
【Class】 Archer
【Titles】
Leisurely Hunter
Wyvern Massacre
Dragon Slayer
Sinner Who Killed a Dragon
【Traits】
Sniping · Stealth · Tracking
【Skills】
Sure Hit
When I finished reading his status window, he dismissed it and continued.
"Killing a sentient being isn't hunting — it's murder."
That's why I'm a murderer. A sinner.
"So don't stop them from trying to kill me."
They have every right to.
"……"
The old man's words carried a weight I could not bear.
It was too heavy a subject for someone like me, who barely understood this world, to insert myself into.
"…Sinner Who Killed a Dragon."
Looking at the old man, Rain spoke.
"That title appears when a Dragon Slayer truly regrets killing a dragon."
It only appears when they purely consider themselves a sinner.
"That's why humans with that title live their entire lives tormented by guilt."
We have no intention of killing you.
"Because killing you here would free you from that hell."
Rain said that, turned, and headed for the second floor.
Not because she had forgiven the old man — but because she wanted him to suffer longer.
"…Wyvern Massacre means you've hunted that many wyverns, doesn't it? Without touching other monsters — only wyverns."
Keep hunting wyverns that way.
Those creatures that lower the dignity of dragons by being called dragon subspecies.
"If you live like that… someday the day may come when I'll want to kill you with my own hands."
Grace said that and went into the kitchen, as if she did not want to share the same space as the old man.
"……"
The old man silently looked at the empty cup.
"Could I have another glass of water?"
"……"
I took the cup from him and poured another glass.
"Couldn't die today either."
He muttered that and downed the water.
…This man, from the looks of it — not just Grace and Rain…
"Have you met other dragons this way as well?"
"……"
He did not answer my question.
But he did not deny it either.
"Staying the night in this atmosphere would be an imposition."
I nodded.
It wasn't just the atmosphere — the guest rooms hadn't even been unlocked yet, so staying overnight was impossible to begin with.
"Here's payment for the stew and water. And for the damaged floor as well."
He said that, pulled a coin pouch from his coat, and handed it to me — without even properly checking the amount.
But no matter how I looked at it, the money I had received was far too much.
"I'll come again next time."
He shouldered the crossbow he had set beside him and left the inn.
"If the chance arises, I'll treat you to some wyvern meat."
I thought I heard a voice like that.
"Whoa… what is all this?"
A party heading deeper into the Dragon Canyon came upon countless corpses strewn across the ground.
"That's the work of the old wyvern hunter."
"What?"
"Look. The corpses… they're all wyverns."
At those words, everyone's gaze turned to where the bodies lay.
It was hard to tell for certain with scavengers picking through them, but every corpse they could identify was a wyvern's.
"Strange. If this many wyverns died, monsters that smelled the blood should have flocked here… so why are there no corpses of those monsters? He would have had to kill some while escaping through the swarm, wouldn't he?"
"Ah, that? The old man says…"
Using my arrows on monsters other than wyverns would be a waste.
"That's what he said."
"…So he really only hunts wyverns? Why do something so inefficient…"
"That's what I'm saying. He claims he only hunts wyverns because he wants to die…"
I have absolutely no idea what that's supposed to mean.