Not an Exclusive — 2
The atmosphere in the tavern wasn't much better than the streets outside. Last time I'd come here, there had been plenty of people drinking and having a decent time, but now a gloom hung over everything. At this rate, I could drink all night and never feel a buzz.
"What'll you have?"
"Wine, please."
"One milk and one whiskey for us."
Wine, she says. What a comedian.
Sowol's brow twitched at my order, but she didn't whine about wanting alcohol. She simply took a sulky sip of the milk that arrived, and we whiled away some time together until I caught the owner passing by our table. Perhaps because I'd been a fairly regular customer, he gave me a wry smile and sat down across from me.
"Boss, the mood in here is really in the gutter. Is it the disappearances?"
"Aye, that's part of it. And then a few days back, word started going around that folks have seen a ghost, which made things worse. I don't know if you've heard, but the story is that every night a ghost appears in the village and attacks people."
A ghost incident? This smells like the cult too.
"Tell me more."
"My friend over there knows all about it. Says he saw the thing with his own eyes."
The man the owner pointed to was drinking with a face drained bone-white. I left Sowol at the table and went over to him. He flinched when I sat down across from him, but he seemed to recognize my face — all he did was let out a heavy sigh.
"So you're the Master, sir?"
"You know me?"
"Who in these parts wouldn't know the hero of Mount Wol-ah..."
"Good. That'll speed things along. You saw a ghost, right?"
"Aye, sir. It was... it was a few days ago. I'd been drinking, walking home, when I saw something pale and hazy at the edge of the dark road."
Something pale and hazy. A ghost-type monster, maybe? Those things only show up in deep dungeons or ruins — no wonder a regular person would mistake one for a spirit...
Wait, hold on. It's not a mistake, is it? If it's a ghost-type, then it literally is a ghost.
"That pale thing pulled something out of a man lying on the ground, then looked straight at me, sir. Those empty eyes... I've never seen anything so terrifying."
"Empty eyes, huh? Did it look something like this? A skull shape, sort of..."
I sketched out one of the ghost-type monsters I knew — a Wraith. He stared at the drawing for a long moment, then recoiled in horror and nodded frantically.
"That's it! That's the thing, sir!"
"Thought so. That's called a Wraith — a ghost-type monster. Not something you see every day."
"A monster, here in the territory? Then... then is it true, what they say...?"
"What's that?"
"Well, sir, it's just back-alley talk, mind you. Absolutely — ab-so-lute-ly — not something I came up with myself..."
"Sure, sure. Out with it."
"They're saying the disappearances... are the lord's doing, sir."
Huh? The lord? What could the lord possibly lack that he'd need to make his own subjects vanish?
"The rumor goes that the lord's been offering them up as sacrifices to summon a demon, sir..."
Come on. That's going too far. Sure, demon summoning isn't technically impossible in this game. But demons are absurdly expensive. You think a handful of sacrificed villagers is going to cover that bill?
Still, a rumor that the lord is sacrificing his own people... This had to be the cult's doing. Were they trying to wreck public order in the territory so they could sink their roots in here?
I ordered the man a drink and headed back to my table. While I'd been gone, Sowol had ordered herself another milk, and she watched me in silence as I sat down.
"If you're wondering what that man and I talked about..."
I gave her a summarized version of what I'd heard, and Sowol tilted her head. She didn't seem to follow it either.
"I've heard of ghost-type monsters too. But they never appear in places with lots of people, do they?"
She had a point. In the game, ghost-type enemies only showed up past the mid-game, and only in remote, uninhabited regions like old ruins. Their base stats were solid, and they came with a physical-immunity skill — the annoying reason every party from the mid-game onward absolutely needed at least one magic user.
And that thing had appeared before the game even began, in a city this crowded? There was no explanation except that someone had been tampering with things.
"Besides, the lord attends Mass at the Church every week. A man like that, summoning a demon..."
"The point is to sow chaos. They spread these baseless rumors to degrade public order and stoke fear among the people, so they can build a power base inside the territory. A pretty standard trick."
"I see. Then what should we do?"
"For now, let's deal with the ghost incident first. This one smells like the cult too. Ghost-types are nocturnal, so let's kill time here until nightfall."
I downed my whiskey in one go and raised my hand.
"Another round over here!"
I drank the tavern dry until night fell. Leaving the delighted owner behind — finally some money coming in, he'd said — Sowol and I stepped outside, where a brilliant moon lit up the black sky.
"Master, are you quite all right?"
"I'm not drunk."
Right. Perfectly fine. Like a few bottles of whiskey could get me drunk.
But Sowol was worried all the same, gripping the hem of my clothes with no intention whatsoever of letting go. Aigoo. My disciple. She takes such good care of her master.
"Mind letting go, though? It's hard to walk."
"You are swaying, Master."
"Ah-ah. This is the preparatory procedure for the Drunken Sword."
"...Then why are you speaking so formally?"
She's really going to nitpick one little joke? I ruffled Sowol's hair thoroughly, savoring the silk-thread feel of it under my palm.
"Aigoo, such a pretty thing. You're taking such good care of your Master — you've earned another Praise Sticker."
I peeled a Praise Sticker off and pressed it to her cheek. Judging by how she looked dumbfounded yet made no move to refuse it, the Praise Sticker really was an excellent reward system.
"Master, sir!"
That was when I heard a voice I recognized from earlier. I turned to find Anne. Unlike before, when she'd been with the soldiers, this time she was alone — though still in full armor, so she was presumably out on a solo patrol.
"I never expected to meet you again so soon!"
"Same here."
I really hadn't expected to run into her here of all places.
"But... have you been overindulging? Goodness. Perhaps you should rest a while at the guard station..."
"No, no, I'm fine—"
It was just as I was about to decline her offer that a foul energy came billowing out of the alley.
"...This is—"
Anne's hand went to the sword hilt at her waist. As she glared down the alley with visible tension, something came shuffling out with a wet, squelching sound.
"A Ghoul?!"
An undead-type monster. When a being with mana dies and rises again as one of the undead, this is what you get — a considerably stronger monster, a clear step above a zombie. Needless to say, not the kind of thing you'd ever see inside a village.
"This is...! Master, sir, please get back!"
Anne drew her sword and charged. She blocked the ghoul's attack with the shield on her left arm, then twisted her body and slashed across its torso. But a ghoul's body is already dead flesh — ordinary slashing alone wouldn't deal it any real damage.
"Haaah!!"
She knew it, too. Anne kept the creature at bay with her blade while pressing the attack with her shield. That's right — ghouls resist cuts and thrusts. The standard counter is to pin them down with impact-based attacks from a shield or blunt weapon.
"She fights well."
"Looks like she's got plenty of experience."
By the time I'd answered Sowol's murmur, Anne had spun clear of a vicious claw swipe and driven the edge of her shield straight into the ghoul's skull.
—Crunch!!
A heavy blow. The ghoul staggered from the direct hit, and Anne charged in, slammed it to the ground with her shoulder, mounted it, and brought the shield down again and again. Only when the ghoul's thrashing finally stopped — its head thoroughly destroyed — did she rise to her feet and look back at me, her face brimming with pride.
A knight of a rural territory taking down a ghoul single-handed? That genuinely deserved some praise.
"Master, sir! How was that?!"
"Impressive, but it's not over yet."
"What? Huh... Kyaah!!"
Behind the bewildered Anne, something pale and hazy revealed itself. Then came the attack — a powerful one. She tried to block with her shield, but the strike passed straight through it and sent her sprawling.
"Th-this is..."
Her voice was trembling — nothing like the confident tone from moments before. Small wonder. The monster before her was powerful enough to make a mere ghoul look like a footnote: a Wraith.
"Ah... aaah..."
Had she realized this was an opponent she couldn't beat? Fear crept into Anne's face. Completely cowed, she simply sat there, shaking. Leave this alone and things were going to get very bad.
—Aaaaargh!!!
As the creature let out a grotesque shriek and moved in for the kill, I fired a mana bolt at it. The Wraith took the hit and turned its empty gaze our way, and I smiled.
"Sowol. Want a turn?"
She stepped forward without a moment's hesitation. Oh, I like that fighting spirit. If she finishes this cleanly, I'll have to cough up another Praise Sticker.