The Fourth Guest - Former Guardian of the Dragon Vein (3)
Brach Gul, the captain of the Orc Mercenary Group, and the warriors who looked to be the core of their ranks set out for the hunt toward the place Sarluk had pointed them to.
According to Sarluk, the canyon that ran from Coreloot all the way to the Demon King's Territory was broken up here and there by massive boulders, splitting the path into forks.
It was not quite a maze; no matter which fork you took, they all eventually met again at a single point.
That was probably why the old wyvern hunter and the adventurer party who had come before never crossed paths—they had simply taken different forks and missed each other.
And there are side paths that leave the canyon entirely and climb up into the mountains, he said.
If you were only trying to pass through the canyon, those little side paths would be hard to find.
But if you found them and climbed carefully, you could walk up onto the cliffs I used to ride Grace or Rain up to.
Right now the elite members of the Orc Mercenary Group, Brach Gul included, were heading exactly there.
Their plan was to take the side path up onto the cliffs and hunt the rare monsters that lived there….
Once the elites left, the remaining orcs started on their own tasks.
Those orcs over there… they’re dressing the monsters they hunted on the way here.
Stripping the fur and flesh from the hides… is that called tanning?
“To be precise, it’s the preparatory work before tanning.”
Silver told me that.
Some orcs worked diligently like that, but others were more interested in the inn itself.
“Hmm… that building looks like it was expanded later.”
“Yeah. And with that structure, it’d be easy to expand again later. Even though the slope isn’t steep, the roof is designed so water runs off naturally.”
Orcs discussing architecture.
Like Brach Gul, there seemed to be more intellectual orcs than I had expected.
Among them was one particularly unusual fellow….
“Crownfall? This is Crownfall, right!”
A young orc, wearing glasses despite being an orc and carrying a thick, tattered book, said that as he looked at the Crownfall board and pieces set up in one corner of the inn.
Crownfall was a game that got played at this inn whenever there was free time.
“That’s right. It’s our inn’s game.”
Riaen, the one most serious about Crownfall among everyone at the inn, said it with open pride.
“So… you’re setting it up northern style?”
The young orc hesitated for a moment.
“…The original form?”
“Yeah. The oldest way.”
Riaen shrugged.
“No special rules or anything. Just the pieces moving the way they’re supposed to.”
The young orc looked down at the Crownfall board and adjusted his glasses.
“…How can you be sure that’s the original form?”
“Huh?”
Riaen’s eyes went round.
“Isn’t it just an old regional rule?”
“…Oh.”
Riaen was briefly at a loss for words, then let out a small laugh.
“You talk just like a properly educated diplomat.”
At that, the young orc adjusted his grip on the thick book he was holding.
It was tattered, but its thickness alone was formidable.
“Lord Brach Gul told me to always verify the basis for anything.”
Riaen stared at the young orc for a moment.
Then she smiled.
“You really do sound like someone from the royal palace.”
“……?”
The young orc tilted his head.
“Someone from the royal palace?”
“Yeah.”
Riaen said it casually.
“The way you talk is exactly like that.”
Then she tapped the Crownfall board.
“Alright. Then let me ask you one thing.”
“Yes.”
“What you just said.”
Riaen folded one finger.
“Is there any basis for being sure it’s the original form?”
Then she folded another finger.
“And conversely.”
Riaen looked down at the young orc with a mischievous glint in her eyes.
“Is there any basis for saying it’s not the original?”
“….”
The young orc was briefly speechless.
Riaen chuckled.
“There isn’t, is there?”
“There isn’t.”
The young orc admitted it honestly.
“Then.”
Riaen shrugged.
“Right now you’re not examining the basis—you’re just being suspicious.”
“…Yes.”
“That’s not bad.”
Riaen spoke very naturally, as if she were testing someone back in the royal palace.
“But if you talk that way at a negotiation table, the other party might counter like this.”
Riaen curled the corner of her mouth.
“Then what’s your basis?”
The young orc thought for a moment, then quietly nodded.
“You’re right.”
“Yeah. Now you sound a bit more like someone from the palace.”
Riaen smiled.
Then she lightly changed the subject.
“So.”
“Yes.”
“What’s different about the northern style?”
After giving the young orc a light lesson of sorts, Riaen launched straight into talking about Crownfall.
I didn’t listen after that.
It was just Riaen excitedly grilling him with questions.
“……”
But as he watched the young orc, Sarluk wore a strange expression.
“What’s wrong?”
“…Seeing a tomb raider putting on a proper merchant-group act and even raising a successor… it makes me feel how much the times have changed.”
I had called them a mercenary group rather than a merchant group, but at this rate they were likely to become something half like a merchant group shuttling between the Demon King’s Territory and our inn.
“…Master of the Dragon Vein. I have a consultation.”
“A consultation? All of a sudden?”
I was surprised; it felt a bit out of the blue.
But there was no reason to refuse.
“Alright, let’s hear it. What’s the matter?”
At my words, Sarluk hesitated for a moment before opening his mouth.
“As I am now, I am unemployed.”
“…Well, yeah?”
I recalled how he had introduced himself when he first came to this inn—as the former Guardian of the Dragon Vein and currently unemployed.
“But you’re carrying out commissions every day now, aren’t you?”
“That is not work. I am merely moving in order to receive artifacts.”
Even then, after finishing one commission I must wait six hours.
So twice a day is the limit.
“Moreover, this is only possible while I am staying at the inn.”
Once the gems I possess run out, I will have to leave.
When that time comes, I….
“What am I to do?”
“……”
“What have I left behind until now?”
Ah. I see.
Watching the young orc being educated at Brach Gul’s side… he must have felt that he himself had left nothing behind.
Left behind….
What Sarluk was thinking of right now was probably something like a child or a successor, like that young orc.
But my thoughts were different.
Sarluk had something he was leaving behind even now, and would continue to leave from now on.
“Sarluk. The artifacts you’re receiving are essential for your kin, right?”
“That is correct. They are not powerful, but with this much, they should be able to survive even in harsh environments.”
“Then that’s enough.”
Sarluk blinked.
“Thanks to the artifacts you gather and bring, your kin can survive.”
“……”
“That’s not just an object.”
I said it quietly.
“Because of your devotion, your kin remain in this world.”
And I added,
“Of course I understand that you feel empty. You want to see with your own eyes what you’ve left in this world.”
The surest way to see that directly was right in front of him.
Just like Brach Gul was raising that young orc.
“If you desperately want to see that, taking on a successor is also a method.”
Sarluk could do the same.
“You just need to pass on the knowledge you possess to that successor.”
It was not merely handing over techniques to that successor.
It was handing over the time Sarluk had lived.
“Teach that successor how to live for the kin, the way you have.”
It was not forcing that successor to shoulder a burden.
It was teaching that successor how to love the kin.
“So that the successor can carry on your will.”
There was no guarantee that the successor would act exactly like the current Sarluk.
Even so, in their own way, they would carry on Sarluk’s will.
“…Ah, but don’t force it, of course.”
My words ended there.
“…A life for the kin… a successor….”
Sarluk kept his mouth shut for a long while.
He seemed to have a lot to think about.
I decided to step aside so he could finish his thoughts.
And then….
“Master.”
“Hm?”
“That was magnificent.”
Eliona and Riaen looked at me with eyes full of respect.
Well….
Even I think I spoke really well just now.
Though I had just roughly plugged in some modern-sounding words.
Time passed, and evening came.
Various dishes Grace had made in the kitchen and water and beer Eliona had brought out from the pub were set on every table.
Perhaps thanks to the various seasonings the orcs had bought this time, Grace’s cooking looked even richer.
And….
I think this is the first time I’ve seen the tables completely full.
Because only individuals or small groups of guests had visited until now, there had never been a day when all the tables in the first-floor dining hall of the inn were used.
But today, with the Orc Mercenary Group staying, they were using the entire dining hall and all the guest rooms.
“…Khaah! Excellent!”
“Beer this clean and cold! Does this inn have a cellar or something?”
“Here! Another cold beer!”
Moreover, today Brach Gul had told the orcs to drink as much as they liked.
It seemed the grain they had been selling from the inn to the Demon King’s Territory had left them with considerable leeway.
…I feel like water would be better for the kids than alcohol, but….
Watching even the adult orcs drinking beer, I felt a bit uneasy inside but did nothing.
In this world, that was normal.
“Hey, Brach Gul.”
Naturally, among those dining now was Sarluk as well.
He was a guest of the inn too.
That Sarluk suddenly sat down next to Brach Gul and struck up a conversation.
“What is it?”
“How do you raise a successor?”
At those words, Brach Gul looked at Sarluk for a moment.
He was probably gauging what intention lay behind the question.
“…I have no other intention. It’s just that I too… am wondering whether I should raise a successor.”
“……”
Perhaps sensing the sincerity in Sarluk’s words, Brach Gul set down the cup he had been drinking from, turned his chair, and sat so he was facing Sarluk directly.
“Very well. This big brother will teach you properly.”
“Who made you my big brother?”
“Oh…? Then you don’t need this body’s advice?”
“……”
That was not it either, so Sarluk glanced at the young orc with glasses and gritted his teeth.
“Damn it! To think I have to bow my head to a tomb raider!”
It seemed the young orc raised by Brach Gul had grown too well for him to refuse the advice.
“Ahem! Will you not show proper respect to your teacher at once!”
Brach Gul, seeing Sarluk like that, played around as if he had properly seized a weakness.
Well, that only lasted a moment.
Perhaps as repayment for being told about the place where they had caught the cockatrice earlier, Brach Gul kindly told him about the methods he had used to teach the young orc.
If Sarluk properly absorbed that knowledge, when he later returned to where the lizardmen lived, he would be able to raise a clever successor like that young orc.