The Need for Entertainment (1)
After washing my face and heading downstairs, I found that everyone except me was already up.
Grace seemed to be preparing breakfast, Eliona was hauling barrels of liquor out of the tavern storeroom… and Riaen was cleaning the floors and tables.
Meanwhile, Rain and Silver had settled into convenient seats and were laying something out while chatting.
I wondered if they were slacking off, but…
"Isn't this a bit too soft?"
"Tsk… Guess cutting the carbon content that much was always going to make it weak."
The two of them were examining iron ingots Silver had apparently brought up from the forge basement, testing their hardness.
"…? Sniff sniff."
A familiar smell hung in the air.
"Did you guys grill meat last night?"
"Hup…"
"Ah…"
Rain and Silver both reacted with obvious guilt to my question.
"…What's wrong?"
"W-well…"
"…Last night we secretly grilled pork belly. And drank that soju liquor as well."
Silver spoke as if she were bracing for punishment.
Hmm…
"That so?"
Well, if you get hungry, grilling some meat is fair enough.
"…Y-you're not angry?"
"If the inn were short on food it might be different, but everything restocks at midnight every day. No reason to get mad."
Of course, the average person in this world would never allow a slave to sneak food in the middle of the night.
"More importantly, I've got a question. Do you know anything about the dream I had last night?"
"Ah, about Restwin entering Master's dream last night?"
Rain answered right away, as if she already knew.
Through the Dragon's Contract, she must have learned that I had dreamed of the god Restwin.
"Yeah. In the dream, Restwin clearly said I'd lose my memories, but my memories are perfectly fine."
"That's because of me and Grace."
"Hm?"
The fact that Rain mentioned only herself and Grace—not Silver or the other dragons—meant it was due to the Dragon's Contract.
"The Dragon's Contract has that kind of effect too?"
"More precisely, it's because of the effect that shares thoughts and knowledge. Everything Master experienced in the dream was transmitted to us as-is. When Master woke up and lost those memories, you immediately received the knowledge of what happened in the dream back from us."
In other words, I hadn't kept my memories—I'd lost them and then instantly regained them.
"Is meeting a god in a dream going to cause any problems?"
"It shouldn't. If you'd seen the god's true form it might be different, but you entered the dream through the god's symbol and only spoke through an object that represents the god, right?"
"…?"
Entering the dream through the god's symbol I understood.
That had actually happened.
But I'd spoken through an object that symbolizes the god?
Me?
I don't remember anything like that.
I looked at Rain with that thought, and she supplied the answer.
"Restwin is the god of rest. And the places where people most easily feel rest are their own homes or an inn. The inn space itself that Master saw in the dream is the object that symbolizes Restwin."
So that was it.
That was why I couldn't tell exactly which direction the voice had come from.
"Next question. I'm not even a follower of Restwin. Dreaming something like that won't cause trouble, will it?"
"Of course not."
This time Silver answered.
She was looking at me as if I were adorable.
"Having a dream like that already means you've been chosen by the god. What could the followers possibly say?"
Even if you hadn't exchanged any special conversation, the fact that you remember the contents so clearly means ordinary followers of a god would try to elevate you to saint without it seeming strange at all.
"Ah, of course Restwin's followers aren't that extreme, so it won't actually happen."
I only remembered it thanks to the Dragon's Contract with Grace and Rain, not my own power, and it still counted?
"Hmm…"
Rain, who had been quietly listening to the exchange between Silver and me, seemed to ponder something before speaking.
"It might even turn out to be a good thing."
Silver and I both looked at her, asking what she meant.
Rain met my eyes and continued.
"Master, you don't have a name right now."
"…Ah, right. Master is a transmigrator."
Now that she mentioned it, that was true.
And Grace had said it would be a good thing.
If, instead of the name erased by transmigration, I received a name from a god…
"You said it would… evolve me or something?"
"That's only one example among many. Still, receiving a name directly from a god is certain to let you transcend humanity."
Somehow I felt that would pull me far away from the category of "human."
I wanted to stay human.
"Anyway, with any other god it might be different, but with Restwin it should be fine."
That was a relief, then.
"Everyone, come eat breakfast first."
While I was thinking that, Grace arrived carrying a tray loaded with plates of steak and salad and bowls of soup.
"Looks luxurious."
"It was worth cooking for over an hour."
…Over an hour?
Ah, she must have cooked a lot to take advantage of the function that raises the quality of dishes by probability.
Which meant the kitchen was probably full of failed dishes right now.
"With the employee level up to four, the chance of higher dish quality has increased across the board, so it feels easier than before."
Grace set a full set of steak, salad, and soup in front of each of us as she spoke.
"You two come eat as well."
Eliona and Riaen, who had been hanging back and reading the room, carefully took seats at the table.
Once everyone was settled, we ate the breakfast Grace had prepared.
After breakfast, the dragons went out and plundered—no, harvested—timber and stone.
It was for the daily quests.
For reference, until the inn reached level three the only available daily quests had been gathering timber and stone, but things were different now.
With the inn at level four, new quests appeared: crafting items at the forge, and completing commissions.
The former was something Silver would have to work hard on; the latter was impossible at the moment.
Judging by the circumstances, the only people who could place commissions were adventurers or mercenaries who visited the inn.
"……"
"Nngh… Ha!"
Once the daily quests were finished and they had nothing left to do, Grace and Rain flopped into chairs in the dining hall.
"What now…"
With no guests coming, there was nothing to occupy them, and Rain muttered the words under her breath.
Eliona watched her for a moment, hesitated, then asked,
"Miss Rain, do you know how to play Crownfall?"
"Crownfall? Ah, that board game human nobles and royalty play?"
"Yes. Our Riaen is extraordinarily good at Crownfall."
"?!"
Riaen jumped at Eliona's words.
She clearly hadn't expected her name to come up at that moment.
"What's Crownfall?"
"Well… if I had to pick a similar game from Earth, it would be chess. Though the names and shapes of the pieces, and the rules, are quite different."
Grace explained the game called Crownfall.
The more I listened, the more it really did sound like chess, but…
"The rules differ by region?"
"Yes. For example, the king might be completely unable to move, or capturing the king turns the queen into the new king, or the rook is a fortress so it can't move but has a special ability that protects allies within its range, or when a pawn reaches the far side and promotes, the only piece it can become is a knight… The rules change according to each region's culture."
The instant Grace finished, Rain turned to Riaen.
"What rules do you know? I'll match them."
She spoke as if it were only natural for a master to accommodate a lesser player.
Riaen shot Eliona a look that was pure resentment.
But only for a moment…
"First, the king is…"
Riaen began explaining the Crownfall rules she knew.
There was nothing particularly unusual about them.
If you compared it to chess, special rules like castling or en passant seemed absent; the only special mechanic was promotion when a pawn reached the opposite side.
"So that's how they play in your kingdom?"
"Um… no. It's a little different from our kingdom's rules."
Eliona corrected Rain.
Then Riaen spoke.
"…I want to play with the rules closest to the original form I saw in old books."
Apparently the rules Riaen had just described were the ones that existed before the game spread to various regions and evolved to fit each local culture.
"Fine by me."
Rain didn't seem to care either way.
She just wanted something—anything—to fill the idle time.
"Now then… first we need a board and pieces…"
"I already made them, Sister."
Grace was suddenly holding an elegant board and set of pieces.
"What? You carved them from the timber in storage?"
"It piles up every day because of the daily quests anyway."
Treant wood was high-grade lumber.
A board and pieces carved from it were naturally high-quality goods.
Of course, that didn't just mean the material was expensive—Grace had carved them that well.
Looks like Grace is pretty talented at making things.
Incidentally, listening to the description hadn't prepared me, but looking at the shapes of the pieces, I really started to wonder if this wasn't just chess after all.
Clack!
Grace set the board, and Riaen moved first.
Clack!
Rain answered just as quickly.
Clack!
Clack!
Pieces flew across the board under both their hands.
Even someone who knew nothing about Crownfall like me could vaguely sense that neither of them was ordinary.
Playing fast didn't automatically mean you were skilled, of course.
"…Hmm."
Of the two who had been moving so rapidly, Rain was the first to hesitate.
I had no idea what was going on, but…
"Oh…"
"Wow…"
The way Grace and Eliona beside me both murmured in admiration suggested Riaen's move had been quite devastating.
"Ah."
Then Rain seemed to find a brilliant counter and moved a piece.
"?!"
Riaen's eyes went wide.
She clearly hadn't seen it coming at all.
"……"
Clack!
"……"
Clack!
The two of them kept moving pieces for a long while after that.
Watching the players and the two spectators, I thought to myself,
I really wish someone would give me a little commentary on what's happening…
Not that hearing the commentary would mean I could actually understand the match.