First Guests - The Orc Mercenaries (3)
Having purchased high-quality grain from the inn in Dragon Canyon, the Orc Mercenary Group had already crossed into the Demon King's Territory before they quite realized it.
Dragon Canyon was a place where the roads were barely maintained and monster attacks came often. An ordinary merchant caravan would have needed at least ten days to fully traverse it. The Orc Mercenary Group, however, was different.
Orcs were undervalued simply because they were dismissed as barbarians with few opportunities open to them. In pure ability, though, they were a band of mercenaries whose strength no one could seriously question.
"Brach Gul? Back in the Demon King's Territory, are you?"
"Mm. It's been a while, Valman."
Valman, a merchant of the Demon King's Territory, spotted the familiar orc and greeted him warmly.
"I heard your tribe had gone west to take mercenary work."
"We did. But it seems we underestimated things. I never imagined humans could be that greedy."
"Haha! Greedier than our guildmaster, the one they call the Demon of Avarice?"
"In a certain sense, greedier than even him."
Which is why we couldn't adapt and simply came back.
"Oh dear. Don't tell me you've come asking me to find you work? One or two people, maybe—but arranging jobs for your entire family is beyond me."
"I know. Today I've only come to sell the grain we bought in the west."
At Brach Gul's words, Valman's expression hardened.
"Listen here. Coming to me to sell grain… I never thought the one they call the Orc Sage would do something so foolish."
You can't possibly be unaware that the Demon King's Territory and the human Empire are at war right now…
"Food like that should go to the army, not to merchants like us, shouldn't it?"
"If it were ordinary provisions, yes."
Brach Gul said this as he opened one of the sacks he had brought.
"……"
Valman peered inside for a moment, then looked back at Brach Gul.
"Who else knows about this grain?"
"At present, only our mercenary group, the seller, and you."
"I see… So that's why you sought me out."
It's your goods, so of course—but still, I should confirm.
"Is everything on the carts and everything your friends are carrying the same?"
"Of course not."
Valman's face twisted slightly at that, but Brach Gul only smiled as if he had expected the reaction.
"What I just showed you is rice. That over there is wheat. That is corn…"
"Wait. You didn't bring just one kind—you brought them by variety?"
Grain this clean?
"Heh heh heh… Do you understand what I want now?"
"Damn… Looks like I'm the one who should be begging."
Quality like this could be presented straight to the Demon King's castle, never mind ordinary nobles.
That was how the merchant Valman saw it. The reason was simple. The same goods sold for more to a noble than to a commoner, and far more still to a king than to a noble. Nobles bought expensive, superior items so no one could accuse them of thrift, and kings—who had to outspend those nobles—bought even better goods at even higher prices. It was simply custom.
"As for the price… mm. This should do."
Valman finished his calculations and handed over gold coins to Brach Gul—at a glance, at least several times the amount Brach Gul had spent buying the grain from the inn.
"Fair enough."
"I have no intention of haggling needlessly with you, after all."
After checking the coins, Brach Gul ordered his fellow orcs to carry the sacks of grain into Valman's warehouse. Then he returned a few of the gold coins to Valman.
"Hm?"
"You still have basilisk meat, don't you?"
"Ah, right. I'll lend you the space—eat and drink as much as you like."
"Pardon the intrusion."
As Brach Gul headed inside, Valman issued a string of orders to his servants: bring out basilisk meat and liquor, and send word to the Demon King's castle that he had goods he wished to sell. Declaring that he would personally entertain Brach Gul, he followed him in.
A short while later…
"Ahhh…! Nothing beats the taste of hometown beer!"
"The beer the humans sell wasn't any good?"
Brach Gul and Valman sat at the same table, drinking and talking. Of course, their conversation was less idle chat than an exchange of information. Brach Gul spoke of the western lands where humans lived; Valman filled him in on everything that had happened in the east during his absence.
"Only the beer they sold us was terrible! Finding strange things in beer is common enough, but those bastards didn't even bother trying to filter out the impurities!"
"Whew… That must have been rough."
"Especially those so-called heroes who treated us like idiots—and like monsters. They were the most irritating of all."
"Heroes, is it…"
An important word had surfaced.
Heroes.
Warriors raised by nations hostile to the Demon King's Territory, centered on the Empire and the Holy Kingdom.
"We hear about them here from time to time too. The ones who pop up on the front lines in party units. Still, they never seemed worth that much caution."
"They've somehow surpassed human limits, and you're saying they're not worth watching?"
"Apparently they only operate in parties, so they don't fit well with armies. I've heard that the heroes and party members who've charged deep into our lines only to die or be captured already number in the hundreds."
"Huh… Well, they look down on their fellow humans just as much as they look down on us. As if they were messengers of the gods or something."
Brach Gul clicked his tongue, wet his dry lips with beer, and continued.
"Speaking of heroes, there was a rumor that bothered me."
"A rumor?"
"Yes. Word that the Empire's heroes had gathered to subjugate one of the Twelve Jewel Dragons. If it's true, they were probably after the title of Dragon Slayer."
"…Have they gone mad? Not just any dragon—a Jewel Dragon?"
Jewel Dragons.
The twelve dragons named after birthstones. The strongest of their kind.
"No, wait. One hero party might be one thing, but several of them together… it might be possible."
"Given the location, it was probably Topaz the Golden Dragon."
"…This is truly insane. Not even a dragon hostile to humans, but that gentle one who wanted to befriend every race—and they attacked him?"
"It's only a rumor. We can only hope it stays a rumor."
If it isn't a rumor—if it's real…
"Then every soul who ever formed a bond with Topaz the Golden Dragon will put a kill order on that hero party."
"No—if it ends with a kill order, they'll be lucky. There might even be a large-scale declaration of war against the Empire."
"Oh… In a certain sense, that would be good news for the Demon King's Territory."
An Empire that had been fighting only the Demon King's Territory might suddenly find itself at war with half a dozen quiet nations at once.
"But what were those heroes thinking, trying to attack Topaz the Golden Dragon? Did they actually believe the Empire would protect them?"
"The pension they give Dragon Slayers might have been taken as a promise of protection. And as I said, it's only a rumor. Surely heroes and the party members who follow them wouldn't be so blinded by the title of Dragon Slayer that they never once considered the consequences."
"Hmm. You have a point."
Heroes are raised by the Church.
Churches that receive divine oracles seek out hero candidates, confirm their talents, and train them so those talents can bloom. Only after they pass a final trial do they truly become heroes. For that reason, a hero's abilities are outstanding by default—yet…
"Huh? Dragons and Jewel Dragons are different things?"
"You may think of Jewel Dragons as the highest-ranking individuals among dragons."
That did not mean they were intelligent.
Of course, some heroes possessed common sense and sharp minds. Many more, however, had spent their lives coddled inside the small world of the Church and came to believe the world revolved around them. The Church, for its part, preferred its heroes to remain conveniently stupid, so it rarely corrected the delusion.
"So if we kill a Jewel Dragon, we still get the Dragon Slayer title?"
"There's no precedent, but I doubt they would withhold it."
Those who followed such heroes were much the same. When a hero was wise and just, people who admired him naturally gathered. When a hero was foolish and arrogant, people who meant to use him naturally gathered instead.
The ones who had goaded the heroes into trying to kill Topaz the Golden Dragon were no different.
As long as we get the Dragon Slayer title…
Topaz the Golden Dragon is a Jewel Dragon, but they say he's grown weaker since his prime. And finding where he lived was easy enough.
All they wanted was the title of Dragon Slayer, the Empire's pension, and a comfortable rest of their lives. Nothing else interested them.
"Then why haven't we received the Dragon Slayer title yet?"
"Right. With wounds that bad, even a dragon shouldn't have lived long."
"Perhaps… that dragon survived?"
And so they grew restless inside.
Among the Jewel Dragons, Topaz the Golden Dragon—symbol of friendship—had long exchanged with many races. If word got out that they had attacked him…
"…Are those the ones?"
"Yes. The mad hero party that dared attack Lord Topaz."
"!"
"!"
The heroes and their party members realized they were surrounded.
"Vengeance for Lord Topaz."
"Those bastards looted a small village just because they were a hero party, then bragged about it."
"Don't leave a single one alive."
Warriors from the village that had worshipped Topaz the Golden Dragon as a god. Elves who had long exchanged with him as a benefactor. And then—
KWAAaa…!
"?!"
A sudden gale roared up and blotted out everyone's vision. Those who had instinctively shut their eyes or thrown up their arms against the wind opened their eyes or lowered their arms and looked to the sky…
"So… you're the ones who dared wound my little brother."
"If it had been big sister in her prime, you wouldn't even have been worth a single punch…"
There stood dragons whose scales shone the same golden hue as Topaz the Golden Dragon's.
"…Haha! Mere ordinary dragons who aren't even Jewel Dragons! We're a hero party that nearly killed a Jewel Dragon!"
One hero who still hadn't grasped the situation drew his sword and shouted. But—
"Guh…!"
"Wha…?"
"Gyaah?!"
The bodies of the heroes and their party members—including that one—were already torn open.
"H-how…?"
"Obviously. Did you think we would fight heroes like you head-on?"
It was not the dragons who had ripped them apart, but the nearby villagers and elves. They had struck while the heroes' attention was fixed on the dragons.
Once the hero parties had been eliminated, an elf stepped forward as representative and bowed to the dragons.
"Superb acting. It must have been a bothersome request—thank you for helping us."
"Think nothing of it. How could we refuse a favor from Grace's friends? Besides…"
Ordinary dragons like us, unlike Jewel Dragons, would struggle to face heroes head-on no matter how much of a dragon we are.
One of the dragons said as much, and a villager carefully asked,
"Um… if I may, how is Lord Topaz…?"
The rest of the question went unspoken, but the dragon understood and answered.
"He lives."
"Then…!"
"But he shows no sign of intending to return here."
The dragon spoke while gazing toward the direction of Dragon Canyon.