Could You Help Me? (1)
"Dian! Dian, are you in here?!"
The restaurant door burst open as a girl came rushing in.
"Olicia? What's going on?"
I'd just picked up my fork when I turned around. Olicia grabbed my arm without a word and started dragging me toward the door.
"The Perencino thugs are headed this way right now!"
"Perencino? I already taught those guys a lesson once."
"This time the guildmaster came in person! He says he's going to take revenge on you…!"
Revenge? What a joke.
"Alright, let's go. Let me put this down first."
I pried Olicia's hand off my arm and stepped out of the restaurant.
Outside, a clamor of noise washed over me. Things breaking, curses, screams, hurried footsteps—none of it belonged in a peaceful port city.
Beyond the rooftops of the low buildings, masts soared to a dizzying height, flying a riot of yellow and black flags. The merchant ships of the Perencino Merchant Guild.
Against the backdrop of those imposing masts and banners, a crowd of about a hundred people was walking this way. They wore yellow-and-black uniforms to match the flags, and every last one of them was armed.
Let's see. The ones carrying clubs were guild employees, and the man out in front with a sword at his hip would be the guildmaster himself.
"Olicia. You go on home. Oh—she's already gone."
I grinned as I watched Olicia already fleeing down an alley. Meanwhile, the Perencino guildsmen kept drawing closer.
I planted myself in the middle of the street with my hands on my hips. They spotted me too, and their pace gradually slowed.
"Guildmaster! That's him!"
One of the guildsmen jabbed a finger at me. He had a splint on his leg—probably the same one I'd dealt with last time.
The Perencino Merchant Guild was a trading outfit that operated throughout the Brunswell area. They called it trade, but half of it was piracy, plain and simple. In a world where anyone who sailed a ship—navy or merchant marine—turned pirate when the moment was right, that wasn't particularly strange. And as was so often the case with men who did the hard, brutal work of the sea, nearly all of them were ex-convicts or deadbeats, which only fed the guild's ugly reputation.
Not long ago, a crew of them had docked in the harbor, then refused to pay at my usual restaurant and started tearing the place apart. I'd given them a little correction, and now they'd shown up in force like this.
"So you're the bastard who laid hands on my boys!"
The guildmaster drew his sword, pointed it at me, and bellowed in a shrill, ringing voice.
"A dockside bum like you, daring to touch a member of the Great Perencino Guild, and you still—"
"Sorry to cut you off."
I raised a hand and stopped him mid-sentence.
"I was in the middle of lunch, so let's wrap this up quick. You came to get revenge, right? Then hurry up, do what you came for, and go home."
"Th-this crazy son of a bitch!"
"Kill him!"
I sighed as the guildsmen roared and charged.
I hadn't wanted to pull the usual stunt of muttering I just wanted to live quietly while causing chaos everywhere. So I'd actively helped the hero and seen the story through to its ending.
And now I really was trying to live quietly—except noisy business like this kept cropping up from time to time.
"Move it, move it! Faster!"
At the clamor of bells, the city guard scrambled into action. A report had come in that armed sailors had disembarked from a Perencino merchant ship at the docks and were heading into the city.
The men already had a vicious reputation, and they'd been involved in a massive brawl at a city restaurant not long ago, which only made the situation more urgent.
"Damn it all! Of all days! A distinguished guest from the Empire is supposed to arrive today!"
The guard captain ground his teeth and led his men toward the scene at a run.
"What in the world is this…?"
But when the guardsmen arrived, they could do nothing but stare at the scene before them.
The narrow street was littered with people lying on the ground, groaning. The uniforms left no doubt they were Perencino guildsmen, and yet…
"Urgh… Help me…"
A man who'd collapsed with an ornate scabbard at his hip spotted the guard and stretched out a trembling hand.
"What happened here?"
"A monster… there's a monster…!!"
"A monster?"
"Save me! I don't want to die!"
The man seized a guardsman's arm in a death grip and screamed.
"I'm sorry! Forgive me!"
The guardsmen exchanged baffled looks.
"Welcome home, Dian!"
I opened the front door, and Olicia came bustling out to greet me.
"How did it go?"
"I taught them a lesson they won't forget. They won't be coming back."
"You must be tired. I'll bring you something cold."
"Sounds good."
I headed out to the terrace and stretched out on a sun lounger.
A sea breeze climbed the hill from below, carrying the harbor's lively, peaceful clamor on its back. Beyond it all, the ocean glittered like a carpet of spilled jewels, rolling out to a horizon that had no end.
This was the port city of Brunswell—the place I'd settled after leaving the Imperial Palace.
After parting ways with the hero, I'd spent a while at an inn in the capital, trying to decide where to go. I hadn't accepted a title or a fief, so I wasn't bound to any one place—but a wandering life didn't appeal to me either. I wanted somewhere quiet and peaceful, where I could spend the rest of my days at my leisure. The question was where.
This region was too backward. That one erupted into war at the drop of a hat. That one sat too close to the Imperial Palace for my taste. After staring at the map for what felt like forever, I found a place that would do.
Brunswell, a small neutral port city in the southeastern reaches of the continent.
No wars to worry about, outstanding natural scenery, developed just enough, and not a soul who knew my name. This would do.
Ten years had already passed since I'd left the capital and come here. I'd bought a little house on the hill, and I'd been loafing around ever since, eating well and doing as I pleased.
Going on and on about wanting a quiet life while stirring up every kind of chaos, dragging the hero down, and showing off? This was far better than that.
The hero and his companions, on the other hand, seemed to be having a pretty hard time of it. I don't mean that unkindly—each of them had been given a post in the Empire, and they were run off their feet.
The hero had become captain of the Imperial Guard, and the priest had become Grand Chancellor of the Church. Both were positions of real power, and both were insanely busy. The mage had gone on to some high post in the Mage Alliance, though I never did catch the exact title.
In the hero's case, the Guard captaincy was a bit of a letdown, honestly, but there were political reasons for it.
The Imperial Palace, protected by the Hero of the Continent. Now that had a ring to it, didn't it? Perfect for the propaganda mill. They'd probably park him there for a few years as a showpiece, then bump him up to something higher.
Which meant that, of everyone, I was the one who'd really landed on his feet. Here I was, living without a single worry in this warm, tranquil place.
"Here, Dian—something cold to drink!"
Olicia handed me a lemonade and sat at an angle on the sun lounger beside mine, looking down at the sea.
"Look over there, Dian. There's an enormous ship coming in."
I followed her pointing finger. Sure enough, a massive ship was gliding into the harbor, drawing slow ripples across the water.
Judging by the lines and the style, it looked like an Imperial warship—but what was it doing here alone? They must have had some business here. Not my problem.
"Olicia. What's for dinner tonight?"
"What would you like?"
"Hmm. I'm getting tired of fish. How about we grill some meat?"
"Then I'll go buy some at the market. I should check if we still have charcoal, too."
Olicia was just getting to her feet when, as if on cue, the Imperial ship docked at the pier. At the same moment, a fanfare burst through the air—ba-ba-bam-bam, ba-ba-bam-bam!
For a neutral port to roll out a welcome like that, someone very important had arrived, whoever they were.
"Could it be the Emperor?"
I let out a short laugh and shook my head.
"If the Emperor were here, it wouldn't stop at that. And the Emperor isn't the kind of man who has time to sail out here on a single ship."
"Hmm, then who could it be…. Anyway, I'll go get the meat!"
"On your way back, stop by that bakery and grab some snacks too."
"Okay!"
Even as Olicia left the house and started down the hill, the fanfare kept going. A truly important person must have arrived.
I was dozing in the warm sunlight when I heard the rapid patter of footsteps. Mixed in with it was the rustle of a paper bag—Olicia, back with the meat.
But why was she running like that? Did she have to pee or something?
A little behind Olicia's footsteps came an entirely different set—several of them. Those weren't ordinary shoes. Those were iron-shod combat boots, along with the clack of scabbards and the creak of leather armor joints.
Don't tell me it's leftover Perencino thugs? But the sound of their gear was nothing like those guys' usual kit.
I opened my eyes and sat up on the lounger. Down below, I could see Olicia running up the hill.
"Dian! Dian!"
And a moment later, a group of armed men emerged from between the buildings.
They wore light leather breastplates over simple kit, but the scabbards at their hips marked them as knights of the Imperial Palace Guard. So these were the ones the harbor had welcomed with fanfare.
But what were they doing here? This hill path didn't lead anywhere except my house. Were they coming here?
I was still frowning in puzzlement when everything became clear.
"Dian!"
At the head of the knights, the hero broke into a bright smile and waved at me.