Mushoku Tensei (LN) - Volume 24 - Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

A Sought-After Item

THE BIHEIRIL KINGDOM was on the eastern edge of the Central Continent’s northern region, surrounded by mountains, oceans, and forests. It had three great cities: the capital of Biheiril in the center, the second city of Irelil at the edge of the forest to the south, and the third city of Heirulil on the ocean to the east. 

There was nothing particularly unique about the kingdom. If you had to point to something, its domains were large considering how little influence it wielded with other nations. Despite being twice the size of its neighbor, their militaries were approximately equal in strength—even though the east of the northern lands remained the province of rival warlords to this day. The question was, how did the Biheiril Kingdom, with more land than it had the military strength to defend, avoid an invasion? The answer was the Ogre Tribe.

The Ogre Tribe lived on Ogre Island, a lonely rock sticking up out of the ocean. Their friendship with the Biheiril Kingdom ran deep.

Long, long ago—actually, it was after the end of Laplace’s War and the founding of the Biheiril Kingdom, so fifty to a hundred years ago at most—anyway, back then, the Ogre Tribe on Ogre Island and the Human Clan on the edge of the northern lands kept to themselves. The ogres interacted a little with the humans who lived on the coast, but they definitely weren’t swaggering about in human towns like they belonged there. 

The Ogre Tribe had a problem. They were under attack by the Ocean Tribe. The Ogre Tribe were a warlike people and their pride made them loath to surrender to invaders, but the Ocean Tribe’s strength was too great. The ogres fell one after another; and they were doomed to either be wiped out or become the Ocean Tribe’s slaves. 

That was when a party of adventurers came to their rescue. The adventurers had heard rumors that there was treasure to be found on Ogre Island. I didn’t know anything about them individually, but their leader was a human and there were four of them. Probably a knight, a dog, a monkey, and a pheasant—that’s how the story goes, right?

Anyway, they arrived dreaming of treasure and ready to fight. What they found was the Ogre Tribe in dire straits. The invasion had depleted their numbers and their warriors were covered in fresh wounds. The women lived in fear and the children never smiled.

Seeing this, the adventurers were filled with a burning desire to put an end to it. They pledged then and there to help the Ogre Tribe. Together with the tribe’s warriors, they ventured into the labyrinth where the Ocean Tribe was headquartered. After a brutal, life-or-death struggle, they slew the chief of the Ocean Tribe.

But they paid a great price. All of the human adventurers were killed save the knight who led them. Seeing this human knight mourning his fallen comrades, the Ogre God understood they owed a debt. He swore his lifelong friendship to the knight and pledged that the Ogre Tribe would come to his aid when he needed it.

That was when the shocking truth came to light. The knight was actually a prince from the newly emergent nation across the sea. The prince went home. When he became king, he made a treaty with the Ogre Tribe promising mutual protection. From then on, the Human Clan and the Ogre Tribe lived together in harmony.

At least, that’s the founding myth of the Biheiril Kingdom. Setting aside for now how much of that actually happened, the point is that the Biheiril Kingdom was under the protection of the Ogre Tribe. Despite having more territory than it could defend and infertile lands, it survived without suffering foreign invasions. That’s all there is worth knowing about the place, honestly.

We were headed for one of its cities: the Second City of Irelil. 

There were three of us: Chandle, the self-styled knight of Ariel in his ocher armor; Dohga, his subordinate in his gray armor; and me. I used the magical ring the two of them brought me to alter my appearance and wore the upgraded Magic Armor Version Two with plate armor over that. I also had a magical device Roxy’d developed on the back of the Version Two. If I released magical energy while holding down a button at my waist, the scroll corresponding to that button would automatically activate. I had ten scrolls in total, five for each hand. Not having to get each scroll out one at a time was more convenient, but the scrolls were thick, and I had them folded up and strapped to my back like a schoolbag, ready to be deployed. That added some bulk. It made me look as though I was about to blast off like a rocket, so I’d dubbed it the Scroll Vernier.

It was Roxy’s number two invention, after the Gatling Gun. Wearing the Magic Armor, the Scroll Vernier, and plate armor, with a cloak covering it all, made me look enormous—I was over two meters tall and covered in armor. The perfect disguise. My story went that I was a North God Style warrior, traveling around and taking on work as a bodyguard. I’d come to these parts for no particular reason and just casually asked if there were any strong guys around. Visually, it was supposed to look like Chandle was our leader, with two big guys following him. My cover name was Cray. We’d travel by carriage.

Right now, I was just one of three knights rattling about in the back of a wagon. All three of us were in heavy-duty armor. Sure, it was easy to spot us, but the makeup of our party wasn’t so uncommon we’d garner attention. You didn’t see many people in armor in the Magic City of Sharia, but in the Biheiril Kingdom, we passed quite a few folks in similar getups.

Right. While we’re in transit, let’s reacquaint ourselves with my other two companions, shall we?

First, there’s Chandle von Grandour, captain of the Golden Knights of Asura. He used to be a traveling mercenary. After spending a long time in the conflict zone, he went to Asura for Ariel’s coronation. Enchanted by her voice and her beauty, he tried all kinds of tactics to become her servant until at last she took notice of him, and he got a chance to give her his elevator pitch. That was how he obtained his current position. It sounded like he was just good at sucking up to authority, but Ariel wouldn’t appoint a knight captain whose only talent was flattery. Something else must have caught her eye. 

When I asked her for more information about him, she replied that he was upstanding and trustworthy, but didn’t tell me anything about his true identity. I could practically hear her laughing at me: What, you don’t know? Tee-hee, then I’m not telling!

For now, his claim of being Ariel’s knight wasn’t fraudulent. That was good enough for me. 

For a Golden Knight, his armor sure was dull. It looked sort of like gold in the right light, so maybe it just needed a polish? It was more yellow than golden. How about “The Yellow Knights”? That sounded impressive. Like Yellow 14 or something.

“But was there an order of Golden Knights in Asura?”

I remembered white and black knights, but I didn’t remember gold.

“The order was created after Her Majesty’s coronation,” Chandle explained. “Our official duty is to serve as Queen Ariel’s bodyguards, but we go anywhere and undertake any task Her Majesty gives us. We use the forbidden teleportation circles when we must.”

Basically, they were Ariel’s minions.

“The order’s original purpose, from what I’m told, was ‘to aid our allies,’” he went on.

“You don’t say.”

So Ariel had set them up for us. She had a strong sense of duty. A little frightening! What would she demand from me down the track? It’d be fine so long as Orsted handled it, but still…

“We’re a newly established order and don’t have many members yet, but we’re elite. I might not look it, but I’ve dabbled in North God Style,” Chandle said, smiling.

“In that case, I’d have thought that you’d carry a sword,” I said.

“I thought this would be more effective.” He twirled his golden metal staff. It looked a bit like an iron pipe. A staff fighter, then. Sword fighting was unusually advanced in this world. I think it was the influence of the Superd clan that made martial weapons with reach less popular. I’d never seen a staff fighter in this world until now. If he could handle North God Style, he’d be able to fight anything. There were even warriors a bit like ninja amongst the North God’s followers—they weren’t sword fighters either.

“A longer weapon gives you a great reach, huh?” I said.

“Right. Absolutely. Sword God Style fighters attack from impossible distances, and Water God Style fighters parry attacks from any distance. That’s what makes them strong. Why get hung up on swords? You might as well start off with a long-reaching weapon.”

A simple argument. In the world of my old life, that idea had gone unchallenged. Weapon ranges had extended further and further. This world wasn’t like that, though. If people started buying it, then the sword fighters who made up the majority of the warrior class would lose their respect. The strength of a sword fighter was that, in a world where healing magic could repair wounds instantly and was wielded by the difficult-to-kill creatures who roamed the wilds, they could cut down an enemy in a single blow. 

In other words—and my apologies to Chandle—his argument for his staff was the poorly thought-out logic of a weak man. Maybe it was effective when he fought people, but I wouldn’t give him great odds against a monster with strong regenerative abilities.

“Dohga here is also in the Golden Knights.”

There was a long pause, then Dohga said, “…Uh-huh.”

Dohga didn’t have a surname. He was from the Donati region of the Asura Kingdom. He’d started off as a soldier in the Asuran army, guarding the gates of the capital city. Chandle, by then appointed as captain of the Golden Knights, had seen his potential and recruited him.

“You’re in charge of recruitment, then,” I said.

“Making the Golden Knights into the perfect knight order is all part of my job as captain. I’m still looking for strong, capable new members to welcome into our ranks.”

Part of the job, huh? I remembered the Blessed Child’s personal guard. Their captain, Therese, had been the weakest of them too. I guessed there was no requirement that the leader of an organization be the strongest. A talent for leadership was more important.

“But considering you’re called the Golden Knights, Dohga’s armor isn’t very golden.”

“Hahaha! Well, what do you expect? What kind of idiots would wear such obvious armor outside of official ceremonies?”

“Both of you stood out in the Asuran Palace.”

“Going to Her Majesty’s chambers is an appropriate occasion for that kind of finery. The Royal Knights are part of the queen’s symbolic authority. If she had some chump in drab armor guarding her chambers, it’d be scandalous. People would whisper that all the pomp and splendor of the Asura Kingdom is just surface level, that behind closed doors we’re just some thugs in rags. Shady characters. It’s imperative that the monarch be surrounded by glamor.”

Quite right. I’d been remiss in always showing up to see the queen in question in shabby robes. Except…what was I supposed to do? Her Majesty might look dazzling, but behind closed doors, she was consorting with shady characters—the rogues’ gallery of the Orsted Corporation.

“I’d better wear my best when I go to see her next, so no one thinks I’m shady,” I said.

“Oh, no, if you showed up in formalwear we’d wonder who died. Outside of official occasions, you should feel free to show up looking like a mess.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I retorted, but Chandle only laughed at me. I’ll admit he didn’t seem like a bad guy, but being a disciple of the Man-God didn’t have anything to do with good or bad. Orsted and Ariel might say he was all right, but I was going to keep an eye on him.

“This area doesn’t get much snow, does it?” Chandle said. I looked around. There was a light dusting of snow on the plains around us, but not enough to even slow down the cart. It seemed it was enough to put a halt to farm work. Around us, the bare earth was dug up and what looked like cultivated fields lay barren. Even from afar, you could tell that these lands were not fertile.

I’d imagined the northern lands as covered in snow at this time of year, but the Biheiril Kingdom got less than I’d expected. The wind was biting cold and the air was dry—there just wasn’t much snow.

“I wonder if it’s because of the mountains.”

“How are the mountains connected?”

“Maybe the clouds stop at the mountains to the west, so the snow doesn’t reach this far.”

“I see… Master Rudeus, you’re very learned.”

“I might be wrong, though.”

The weather in this world didn’t always correspond to what had been common knowledge in my past life. In the Great Forest, rain could fall for three months at a time, and deserts formed on continents that didn’t have any particular factors that led to desertification. It was totally possible that the mountains were unrelated, and there was some magic in the western forest that stopped the snow from falling. 

“My grandfather was obsessed with that sort of thing,” said Chandle.

“Really? Was he studying something?”

“He wanted to know where clouds came from and where they went, what people were before they were born and where we go when we die. That kind of stuff. He’d spend whole days looking up at the sky, thinking.”

He sounded like a philosopher. Understandable. If I made it to old age, I thought I’d like to spend my days like that. Once I passed sixty, I’d sit around with Sylphie and Roxy, slowly going senile. Ah… Except Sylphie had elf blood and Roxy was a Migurd, so I guess they’d still look young. Eris would probably be as fit as she was now, even as a grandma… I supposed I’d have to go senile by myself.

“That’s very philosophical,” I said.

“Philosophical?”

“Philosophy is—oh! There’s a monster.”

“I’ll deal with it.”

We’d been attacked by monsters several times on the road. The Biheiril Kingdom was as forested as people said, and so the road occasionally ran right along the forest edge.

I’d gotten a look at my companions’ abilities on those occasions, and I had to admit I could tell the strongest warriors in the Asura Kingdom had skills. Chandle was nimble with masterful technique, and a single swing from Dohga’s giant axe took down his opponents. They were as strong as they looked, which was a fancy way of saying they weren’t any more than that. Still, they were at least advanced-tier swordsmen. They’d be a liability in a fight against Great Powers, but they wouldn’t get in my way on the road.

Shortly after I’d come to that conclusion, we arrived in the Second City of Irelil.

***

At first glance, the Second City of Irelil looked like any other city. It was surrounded by a wall, with merchant stalls lined up around its entrance. This world’s favorite layout. I suppose it was notable that there were more wooden buildings here than in the Magic City of Sharia. The wooden structures, with their sharply angled roofs, were built to leave gaps between each building in case of fire. It made sense for a country surrounded by forests to be awash in timber.

We left the cart at a stable and walked along the street that led to our lodgings. I noticed that there weren’t as many merchant stalls as I’d expected. Maybe there weren’t enough customers to draw merchants. That would be the most logical explanation, but there were plenty of adventurers around to sell to. We’d passed plenty of armored warriors and robed magicians. The number of merchant stalls didn’t match the number of adventurers. Was there a reason for that, or was it just ordinary deviation?

“Oops…” I’d been looking around me as I walked and almost crashed into another passerby. “Whoa…” The guy was big. Close to three meters tall. Even bundled up in my armor, I had to look up at him. If this world had half-giants, I’d bet they looked exactly like this.

His skin was a reddish brown, and his hair was reddish black. He was heavily muscled, and his arms, legs, and neck were thick as tree trunks. Of particular note was his head. It was enormous. His unusually large lower jaw jutted out, with two fangs protruding up from it. Two horns sprouted up from his messy hair. This must be an ogre.

“Watch yerself,” the ogre said as we almost collided. He continued on his way with barely a glance. He was carrying a massive load on his back, but it looked light compared with the bulk of its bearer. I’d never seen an ogre up close before. Formidable guys.

Here in the Biheiril Kingdom, ogres were free to roam as they pleased. The people of the kingdom didn’t seem to find it unusual. People treating another race as accepted countrymen wasn’t something I’d seen much in other places.

“Cray, don’t stare so much. You’re not some hick.”

“Huh? Oh, right…”

Chandle spoke in a sharp tone, totally different from how he’d talked during our journey. Part of the disguise, I guessed.

“There’s no one around here worth bothering with. You’re wasting your time looking.”

“If you say so.”

Right, we were North God warriors. I should only be showing interest in people who looked strong. Otherwise, our cover was for nothing.

“Let’s get rooms. Cray, Dohga? We good?”

“Yeah.”

“…Uh-huh.”

Dohga was the same as he’d been in the cart, but Chandle was in full role-play mode, as we’d discussed. Having Chandle act as leader also helped to conceal my presence. 

Okay. I’m his sidekick, Cray. Occupation: soldier.

“A drink to our arrival, Chandle? Once lodging’s sorted, what do you say we head to the tavern and cut loose?”

“Ha! Just when I think you’re a real good-for-nothing, you come up with some damn fine ideas. You could learn from him, Dohga.”

“…Uh-huh.”

We headed for the inn.

It hit me the moment we entered the tavern. Something felt wrong.

“…Huh?”

The atmosphere was off. It wasn’t like any other tavern I’d been to. As far as I could see, there was nothing unusual about it. There were a lot of adventurers, and quite a few townsfolk too. About one in five customers was an ogre, but that wasn’t the source of my unease. It was less unusual for various races to mingle at a tavern than at other places in town.

So what was it?

People weren’t staring. There weren’t any suspicious types around or peculiar objects. Yet something was amiss.

“Something wrong, Cray?” Chandle asked.

“You don’t feel something off about this place?” I asked. Chandle looked around, but he didn’t seem to notice it.

“No,” he whispered. “Should we leave?”

“I want to know what’s behind it.”

“Very well.” With that, Chandle strode into the bar with an almost reckless air and sat down at an empty table. I followed, half pushed along by Dohga. When Dohga sat down, the chair groaned under him. This despite how unusually large and sturdy the chairs in this tavern were. I usually had to take care when sitting down in the Magic Armor, but these looked like they’d hold up fine. Was that what I’d noticed? No, that’d be ridiculous.

While I was occupied with the chairs, Chandle caught a server’s attention. “I’ll order, all right?” he declared. Then he added, “Get us food and beer, and find us someone who knows the goings-on in these parts. Make it snappy. We’ve had a long journey and we’re dog-tired. Ah, hold it, bring something weaker for the big guy. Fruit juice or milk—or water’ll do, if that’s all you have.” He tossed the server four copper coins.

“Coming right up, sirs!”’ The server was an ogre woman. Maybe that was why she was slimmer than the men. She was tall and big-breasted…but overall, she looked more humanlike. Maybe she was half. Was she…? No. She wasn’t the source, either.

“Cray, come on! How many times do I have to tell you not to stare?”

“Sorry,” I said as Chandle’s finger jabbed my skull. “What was that for?”

“What’s that? You’re talking back to me now?” Though his tone was rough, there was no threat in Chandle’s eyes. He was just warning me that I was acting suspiciously.

“I’m not, I just… I’m all jittery.”

“Jittery? You feel like something bad’s about to happen?”

“Not…not bad…” It wasn’t unpleasant, what I was feeling. On the contrary, it felt like coming across something I’d been seeking for a long time… Surely I wasn’t going to find Geese or Ruijerd here, was I?

Jeez, thinking that only made me want to stare more. I wanted to get to the bottom of this already. The tavern was packed and rowdy, like any tavern anywhere, full of people laughing and quarreling with one another. Most were drinking and eating heartily. The food wasn’t anything out of the ordinary either, just a standard stew of fish from the river. Yet something niggled. There was something here they didn’t have in other taverns.

“I hear you three are looking for information.” While I was looking around, another man joined our table. He was human, with a narrow, ratlike face. 

“You’re well informed about these parts?” Chandle asked.

“You want to know about this town, I’m your guy. I know how many adventuring parties are here, how the merchants get their wares. I could even tell you who the owner of the weapons shop is having an affair with.”

“Well then, tell us all of it. We’ve just arrived, and we don’t want trouble.” Chandle put a few copper coins in the man’s hand.

“That won’t buy you anything much worth knowing,” he said.

“Right now, I’m not asking for anything big. But once you show me you really are well connected around here…well, I might have work for you as a go-between down the line. Isn’t that right?” Chandle directed the last question at me, so I assumed a devil-may-care grin. I was wearing the face of a fearsome Ruquag mercenary, so it should have been pretty menacing.

“Oof, that’s a fright,” the informant muttered, leaning away from me. He turned back to Chandle and said, “All right, what do you wanna know?”

“I want to know what the customs are around here. Territory, geography, who I shouldn’t make an enemy of… Oh, and if there’s anything happening that might lead to work.”

“All right.”

We didn’t ask about Geese right away. It wouldn’t do to be too eager. We were just warriors—vagabonds passing ourselves off as mercenaries. Some demon small-timer was nothing to do with us.

“So far as customs go, there’s no hard rules. You can live in this town so long as you follow the law. Ah, only thing is, there are a lot of ogres. Best to watch how you act around them. Humans in this country are friendly with them, so even if you’re devout followers of Millis or something, you’d best keep any insults to the Ogre Tribe to yourselves.”

“What’d happen if I insulted them?”

“People won’t sell to you, inns won’t give you rooms. The landlady at this place is an ogre. You might get banned from the premises or served rotten food.”

The Ogre Tribe were cherished neighbors. Any insult to the Ogre Tribe was felt more keenly by the humans than by the ogres themselves. Even in Sharia, there was a lot of tolerance for other races, but they were still segregated. People didn’t live mingled together like they did here.

“As for geography… To give you a general idea, to the north you’ve got the capital, then there’s one village to the south. It’s tiny—doesn’t even have a name—but a few woodcutters live there, and they can hold their own against monsters. To the southeast, there’s a labyrinth. If you want its exact location…it’ll cost you.”

“Tell me.” Chandle held out another few copper coins and got the location of the labyrinth. We weren’t going to go, but there was no harm in knowing. 

The man returned to Chandle’s other questions. “The ones you shouldn’t make enemies of are the ogres, like I said before. In this country, ogres and humans are treated the same. Apart from that… Right, yeah. It’s not a person, but there’s a place you should avoid. The Earthwyrm Ravine.”

The Earthwyrm Ravine. Important location alert! Ruijerd was supposed to be in a village near that valley.

“The ravine is in the middle of a deep forest called the Forest of No Return. They say that invisible devils have been showing up there since long ago, so it’s forbidden to enter.”

“Invisible devils?”

“Just old wives’ tales to scare children. As you can guess from the name, there are Earth Dragons living in the Earthwyrm Ravine. If some dumb adventurers went into the forest and messed with their dens, we could end up with a whole flock of angry, vicious Earth Dragons razing the country… I reckon that’s why it’s forbidden.” The man frowned, seeming to remember something. “I say that, but not so long ago—well, it was about a year ago now, but there were rumors that devils emerged from the Forest of No Return.”

“Oh?”

“The chief of this town formed a survey team and sent them into the forest. Only, they didn’t come back. Not even after the survey was supposed to have ended. There were all kinds of rumors. Some said the invisible devils got ’em, others said they’d stumbled into the Earth Dragon’s nest. Others said no way, they’d just been eaten by ordinary monsters. It turned out they weren’t all dead. Right when the Chief gave up the first survey team for dead and sent in another team, one of them turned up out of the blue.” Here, the man leaned forward and fixed me with a deadly serious expression. 

Dude, this feels like a horror story, I thought. What’re you looking at me for? Look at Chandle.

“He was out of his mind, poor chump. He must have seen something that really scared him. The chief asked what had happened, but he only stared into space, muttering ‘The devils, the devils…’ They say the chief was so frightened, he gave up on sending any more survey teams. He announced that the survey team was eaten by Earth Dragons and put a gag order on the whole business, so we’re forbidden from speaking about it… The truth’s shrouded in darkness to this day, shelved as an unsolved mystery. That was…about six months back.”

Our breath hitched in our chests as the man continued with his tale. “Well, if only it had ended there. Recently, the story reached the ears of the king. His Majesty was outraged. ‘There’s a village nearby!’ he cried. ‘How can you abandon them without finding out what happened?’ He said he’d send a hunting party. Even as we speak, they’re assembling folks who know how to fight in the capital.” The man looked up. “And it’s no secret why. There’s a special reward of ten Biheiril gold pieces for whoever uncovers the truth about the devils and kills them. Sounds like there might be a job in there for you, doesn’t it?”

Okay, invisible devils. That wasn’t quite the same as what I’d heard about the Ruijerd sighting… Maybe the truth was something like this: first, Ruijerd had gone to the village for some reason, and they’d labeled him as a devil. Someone started saying “A devil appeared near the Forest of No Return,” and that got mixed up with the rumor that invisible devils lived in the Forest of No Return and turned into “Invisible devils came out of the Forest of No Return.” As the rumor picked up embellishments along the way, the original information had gotten twisted. Luckily, the Mercenary Band’s information network had gotten the story before it got jumbled. It probably helped that they’d been on the lookout for something specific.

Of course, it could also have happened in the opposite order. Something like “An invisible devil really appeared.” “Devils? That sounds like the Superd Clan.” “Now that you mention it, the guy who appeared had green hair.”

Actually, never mind. That wouldn’t explain the part about him buying medicine. I mean, there wasn’t any rhyme or reason to how rumors garbled information. Anyway, medicine hadn’t figured in this stranger’s story. Could Ruijerd really have wiped out a whole survey team without arousing suspicions, though? Why would he do such a thing? Was there something in the forest he didn’t want people to see or know about?

“That so…” Chandle said thoughtfully. “A fine story. Right, Cray? Don’t you think?”

“Yeah, devils, huh…? That is interesting. I like the sound of ten gold pieces too.” I answered vaguely, my head full of other things. I needed to go to that forest. With all this information coming out, I couldn’t believe Ruijerd wasn’t involved. “You said whoever kills the devils gets the reward, so that means whoever gets in first wins, right? Everyone’ll be going for it in parties, but we’re not adventurers. We’ll want support if we go for it.” 

“Good point.” Chandle gave me a conspiratorial look. “Maybe he can find us someone… All right, my well-informed friend. Here’s the fee for your next job.” He put another stack of copper coins in front of the man. “Find us a thief. I want someone with a lot of adventuring skills: the more skilled at digging up information, the better. Doesn’t matter if they’re not much of a fighter; we’ve got that covered. The pay… Let’s see. Ah, screw it. If you find someone, send them our way and we’ll hash out the details.”

“You on a deadline?”

“Well, so long as we’re in time for the hunting party… That’s still a way off, yeah?”

“A month away.”

“All right, let’s say ten days from now, in this tavern. That work for you?”

“You’ve got yourself a deal.” The man took the coins and quickly emptied them into his pocket. Then he rose abruptly and a moment later he was gone, melted away into the crowded tavern.

Not bad, Chandle. 

We’d learned about the forest and got a lead on hunting for Geese. Okay, we didn’t get to ask about the North God, but it hadn’t fit naturally into the conversation. I’d like to learn how to do that myself a bit more.

“You’re good at this,” I told him.

“My wife has a talent for this sort of negotiation. I picked it up naturally by watching her.”

A married man. I really had to make sure I got him home safe, then.

Crap, stay in character.

I cleared my throat. “So, what now?”

“We have to wait for him to come back, but I don’t just want to sit around for ten days… Shall we go on a little excursion? Oy, Dohga, anywhere you want to go?”

“…Wood cutters.”

“Well, then. Shall we do a little scouting and stop off at the village to the south?” Chandle suggested. We acted like we were deciding here and now, but we’d already decided to go to the village to the south. We had ten days. The village was only a day or so away. Tomorrow morning I’d set up a teleportation circle and a contact tablet, then we’d head to the village. Tomorrow or the next day, we’d go into the forest, then spend five or six days searching. After that, we’d come back, meet our informant, and hear what he had on Geese. Then we’d report back the results of our investigation via the tablet. 

“Here you are. Hope I didn’t keep you waiting!” It was the ogre woman with our order: fish stew and beer. She set down a cup of some dark liquid in front of Dohga, presumably non-alcoholic. It didn’t look very appetizing, but I was curious. I’d ask for a sip in a moment.

Now, we were on an urgent mission so I didn’t plan on getting sloshed, but not drinking in a tavern would draw attention too. I’d have a single drink.

“All right, boys, to our great success!” Chandle toasted.

“Cheers!”

“…Cheers.” 

I raised my cup to theirs, then took a gulp. The drink was rich and it burned as it went down, but the aftertaste was smoo—

“Blegh!” Dohga spat out the black liquid. He was coughing and spluttering.

“Whoa!”

The people around us turned to look as Dohga coughed, face down on the table. Frantically, I put a hand on his back and murmured a detoxification spell. Dogha only stared at the ground, a string of drool dangling from his mouth.

“Hey, hang in there!”

Shit, what did they make him drink?! Poison?! I knew it, I felt something off, I knew there was something wrong! Even if I’m still not totally sure what it is…! Will the detoxification work? Stay calm, the first thing you do in these situations is to stay calm. First, I need to know what kind of poison he drank…

“What the hell did you give him?!” Chandle demanded, rounding on the server.

“I’m so sorry!” she gasped.

Forcing myself to stay cool, I reached for Dohga’s cup and—Huh? Don’t I know that smell?

“Your friend is a human? From his size, I just assumed he was an ogre. I’m very sorry.”

“Just tell me what the hell you gave him!”

I dipped a finger into the liquid, then licked it. Oh yeah, I knew that flavor all right.

“Um, it’s a drink made from beans. Very popular with ogres, but it’s too strong for humans so we water it down for you. I really am so sorry!”

“It’s not poison?!”

“Um, well, it can be, if humans drink too much of it… But not a single mouthful.”

“Damnit! Dohga! Hey, Dohga! Can you hear me?”

Chandle was worked up, but I had fully regained my composure. Now I thought about it, this was the smell that had been hanging about the tavern since we came in. It was probably in the fish stew, too. This was what felt off. I knew what the drink was. It was true, it was poisonous if you drank too much, but Dohga had only had a mouthful, and he’d spat most of it out. He might not feel great afterward, but there wouldn’t be any lasting consequences.

I dipped my finger into the liquid and licked it off again.

Yep. That’s it, for sure. I’d know it anywhere.

This is soy sauce.