Chapter 215: 114. A Minor Connection -1 (Part Two)
“Cheers!”
We were currently in the inn called the ‘Abundant Pitstop’.
This was a shelter for the fiefdom’s citizens to freely chat to each other about the difficult days they had to endure, while a minstrel played a pleasant song in the background.
In this cosy place, I lightly clinked the beer mug as big as my head with Alice’s and Hans’s own mugs.
Gulp! Gulp-!
I flipped open the jaw area of the helm and gulped down the beer without any hesitation.
So goooood!
Sure, its taste fell some way behind the liquor brewed personally by the dwarves in Hilda fiefdom, but it was still perfect to get lightly drunk regardless.
“Hahaha! As expected of Miss Alice. You were so quick back then. All those Orcs were completely out of breath, yet you didn’t even break a sweat!”
Alice seemed to have become embarrassed from Hans’s praise, her face reddening slightly while she scratched the back of her head.
She still glanced in my way. “By the way, Sir Allen. What will we do next?”
Her tone of voice sounded considerably brighter. And that was because she too had been enjoying our adventures. Which didn’t come as all that surprising to me, since life back in the imperial palace must’ve been seriously stuffy for her as well.
A restricted, confined lifestyle where all you did was master etiquette, and was expected to keep up with the refined behaviour befitting an esteemed daughter of a nobility at all times.
She must be feeling liberated now that she no longer had to worry about such things here. Hell, she seemed to have no problem chatting to me lately as well, considering that I used to be the worst villain who tried to harm her in the past.
“Hmm, I wonder. I was thinking of taking it easy from now on.”
We had been resolving one request per week up until now. So I figured that it’d be good to take a break from here onwards.
It was at that time that a new visitor came to the inn. The sound of the doorbell chiming rang out.
I stopped drinking the beer and glanced at the doorway.
A hulking male adventurer was stepping inside. I used [Mind’s Eye] to check out his attributes.
‘Straightforwardness, honest, crude divinity control, and a quick growth rate, is it?’
Was he a trainee Paladin or something?
While I was thinking that to myself, the adventurer looked around the interior of the inn’s dining hall before discovering me, then started walking up to our table.
After reaching us, he spoke up, “Sir Allen Rufus?”
I looked back at him. “What’s up?”
I had never seen him before, but the fact that he could use divinity was making me worry ever so slightly.
The man smiled and replied, “I’d like to have a chat with you if you have some free time. Will it be alright with you?”
“A chat, is it?”
“Yes. It’s because…” The adventurer, Adolf, took out a parchment from inside his vest and pushed it towards me. “We need to discuss this letter sent by the royal court of Aihrance Kingdom.”
We moved up to the first floor of the inn’s tavern and found an isolated spot.
This adventurer – or should he be seen as a mercenary? – named Adolf, was a veteran in his field who had even taken on jobs issued by the royal court in the past.
And that same royal court had issued him another request, which was to investigate me.
“For now, let me introduce myself. My name is Adolf, and I’m originally from the Theocratic Empire. Also…” Adolf glanced at me while continuing on, “I’ve spent about a year in the northern frontier of the empire as a criminal slave.”
That must’ve been another reason why Aihrance’s royal court entrusted the job of investigating my background to him. They probably figured he had a connection to me somehow.
He continued on, “Well, I only stole some loaves of bread, but things escalated from there and that’s how the cookie crumbled for me. Anyways…”
I picked up my beer mug and took another swig of it.
Meanwhile, Adolf went ahead with the reminiscence of his past, “And so, during my ‘tenure’ as a criminal slave up north, I got to witness the feats of a certain Saint. He saved my life when I was at death’s doorstep.”
I tilted my head slightly.
I saved his life? When?
“Back then, my abdomen had been ripped open and the demonic energy had spread to all of my internal organs. I was about to die, but then, Sir Saint, who was wearing a bird-beak mask, used holy water on me.”
Aaah. So this dude was that guy who passed out after his stomach got sliced wide open?
Huh, so he managed to survive? In that case, his lifeforce must’ve been pretty resilient.
I silently listened to Adolf’s story, but noticed that my beer had run out, so I called for a waiter for a refill.
“That Sir Saint fired a musket and used a shovel to hunt down the undead. All the while taking the lead in the frontlines, of course.”
That’s weird. I don’t remember standing in the frontlines, though?
All I did back then was simply firing some holy bullets while standing on top of the fortress walls, set up a hunting ground by the broken-down section of the walls, and then extricated myself from there.
It seemed that this dude named Adolf had put on a pair of heavily rose-tinted glasses here.
From a certain point on, Adolf began speaking with the attitude of a man who had been a part of our group from the beginning. “I also got to witness Sir Saint personally step up to hunt the Vampire Count down as well. For the sake of saving the fiefdom’s soldiers, he even took it upon himself to lure that monster away from the battlefield.”
Even though he was talking about me, his stories sure made me squirm uncomfortably in my seat. The truth was, I was going for a sneak attack when I fired that shot, but when that didn’t work, I just high-tailed outta there.
Adolf’s tone of voice gradually crept higher and higher in excitement while he regaled us with his recollections. Alice and Hans were listening intently, looking very much invested in the stories from my past.
It was getting a little too much listening to these tales so I quickly waved my hands and spoke up, “Okay, so. Where are we going with this?”
“…Ah, oops. Forgive me on this one. It seems I’ve ended up digressing.” Adolf sheepishly scratched his head. “I have seen the holy water Sir Saint had created back then. I mean, a lake of holy water was created to stop the undead, so it would’ve been difficult to miss something that big in the first place. And the holy water back then was quite similar to the water now found in the sewer system. No, wait. It actually seems to be stronger by a wide margin.”
A few points regarding the incident of the sewer became a bit of a problem in the end. All I did back then was to setting the holy undead to ‘auto-hunt’ mode, but who could’ve possibly guessed that they even purified the entire sewerage system in the process?
The Imperial Prince of the Theocratic Empire was currently in the kingdom of Aihrance for who knows why. Obviously, the royal court must’ve been pissing themselves right about now. And that’s why this dude had been asked to investigate the situation. Probably.
Adolf didn’t beat around the bush. “I know I’m being insolent here, but I’d like to directly ask you. Could it be that, you, Sir Allen…”
He took a deep breath and stared straight at me. Nervousness could be seen clearly in his eyes.
He then asked me about who I was, “…Are you the Seventh Imperial Prince of the Theocratic Empire, Allen Olfol…”
“Nope.” I smiled deeply and took a hearty swig of the beer before slamming the mug down on the table. “I’m Allen Rufus, an adventurer.”
A look of stupefaction floated up on Adolf’s face. But that didn’t last for long as a wry grin replaced his initial expression. “…I’m sure you have your reasons for replying like that. In that case, I shall relay what you’ve said here to the royal court.”
It seemed that he was now certain of me being the Seventh Imperial Prince. Well, he did sense what my holy water was like, after all. He was in the northern frontier back then, so he should have some clues about what my personality was like.
“I’ll report that you have nothing to do with the Seventh Imperial Prince of the Theocratic…”
“And also, I mainly use a musket rifle and a shovel. You can tell them about that, too.”
Adolf’s eyes opened wider, looking quite confused at the moment. His expression indicated that he couldn’t quite figure out whether I wanted to ‘hide my true identity’ or to ‘tell the truth’.
“You can report exactly what you see to the royal court, that’s all.”
“…Exactly what I see? Will that be fine with you, sir?”
Adolf sounded cautiously worried as if I was his real benefactor. Judging from the air he was giving off right now, he’d have unhesitantly lied to the royal court if I asked him to do so.
Instead of responding, I simply drank some more beer.
“…I see. Understood.” Adolf seemed to have taken that as my tacit approval. He got up from the chair and bowed deeply in my direction. “Ah, and although it’s already quite late, I still would like to express my gratitude, sir. And… If you are indeed investigating the strange events occurring in the fiefdom, then I’d like to offer my help. If you need my assistance, please call on me any time.”
Strange events in the fiefdom?
Hang on a sec, there’s been stuff like that here?
Huh. I think I did hear the adventurer guild receptionist complaining about how it became rather noisy lately around the vicinity of the fiefdom.
“No need to be grateful. Even if I didn’t save your life, someone else would’ve done it, anyways.”
I lightly waved my hand again.
Back then, the Priests were going full throttle trying to save his life despite him being a convict. So yeah, they would’ve eventually saved him by either using healing magic or even resorting to cutting out his internal organs or some such.
Adolf smiled wryly again. “Well, yes, that is true. But what I owe you is something else that I’d never be able to repay even through a lifetime of servitude, you see…”
A debt that couldn’t be repaid even through a lifetime of servitude?
While I stared at him in confusion, he continued on with his explanation, “It’s all thanks to you, Sir Allen.”
Adolf raised his hand up to his chest and smiled brightly.
At the same time, my eyes opened wider.
“Because, even though I was a lowly convict…”
The pure-white aura of divinity…
“…I somehow ended up being able to use divinity, you see.”
…Began rising up from his hand while radiating bright light.
< 114. A Minor Connection -1 (Part One and Two) > Fin.