Chapter 422: Dragon´s drunken interaction
I drink until ten bells, or about eight o’clock, before going home. Apple went to the baron’s mansion with Irina. The four gauntlet knights members and Neia followed me straight home.
“I’m home”
“Ho. You’re home”
Laila was at home, drinking by herself and looking after the house.
“If you’re not busy, why didn’t you come to the bar?”
“Hoho, at home and while traveling, I and Maia will monopolize Owner. It would be unbecoming to intrude on a drinking session with those who have not seen you for a long time or those who are away in the countryside”
Laila showed her eloquence. Naris heard this and waved her hand.
“No, the actual fact is, it’s hard to have a conversation with the same group of people when you’re drinking alcohol because the conversation patterns are so fixed. I mean, I tend to be one-sidedly teased. I welcome every guest who can be the center of the conversation, so don’t hesitate. Ah and you have to pay for the drinks”
“Hohoho. Well, drinking without the owner is also one of the pleasures”
“We must have a wide variety of topics”
“Kuku, you are a funny girl. Even status-conscious elves don’t like to drink with superiors and I’m a fire dragon, which they don’t like”
“No, really, please don’t turn into a dragon all of a sudden!? But you know, I’m pretty easygoing about most things as long as the drink is good. I don’t like superiors, but it’s rare to find one below me in this world”
“I see. The best way to do this is to go to the colony where Jeanne is from. It’s a drink that comes from the earth in Jeanne’s home colony”
“Hahaaa. If it’s free alcohol, I’ll be happy”
Naris, who knelt down in a theatrical motion, immediately sat down next to Laila and began to participate in the companionship.
“……Well, it can’t be helped if you say it can’t be helped because you’re a stray elf. However, if you’re an adventurer, if you’ve entered the Gauntlet Knights, there should be a lot of people below him”
Almeida muttered as she unloaded her luggage and Tetes laughed bitterly.
“Naris-chan, you can easily open up to the underlings of the military and get teased. I don’t know if it’s a good or bad thing that the Red Arms are only considered a high rank and not a command position……”
“It’s not only important for superiors to be aware of their rank and responsibilities, but also for those below them. It’s not a good thing to be too unaware”
“But I can’t imagine Naris-chan being so strict with others and having them respect her”
“………………Indeed”
It was so funny that Almeida turned her sullen face toward the ceiling and said affirmatively, making me burst out laughing. On the other hand, Neia also looked at Sharon.
“I’ve heard that elves are strict about their status, but is it the same in the southern Great Plains?”
“Oh. ……Come to think of it, you weren’t a northern elf or someone from Arcas”
“Yes. Well, I think I’m connected to one or the other, but tracing my……ancestry is next to impossible in my country”
“Yes. But. Either way, the half is more……Master doesn’t like that kind of thing, right?”
“No, don’t worry about it. I don’t like it if you call it a mixture of bad feelings, but I’m not going to meddle when discussing real issues”
When I shook my head at Sharon, who was concerned about me, Sharon smiled with a complicated expression (probably remembering the time when we first met when we made a lot of mistakes) and then turned to face Neia.
“Elves are a closed race with a long lifespan. They often only negotiate with other elves and since many of them know each other’s pasts, they tend to price each other on a clan basis. It’s not a given, but it’s the same in the north and the south……and the fact that lineage is more proof of identity than anything else can only lead to a sense of status that is inescapable in the end. It’s a natural consequence”
“……That’s right. When you think about it……as a result of poverty, our country’s system of treating elves and half elves the same may not be as bad as it sounds”
“Treated the same?”
“There is no difference in terms of longevity and the ability to work without aging, so elvish people are lumped together. Well, if the country lasts more than a thousand years, the story will gradually change, but for now”
“……I thought that the more impoverished you are, the wider the gap between the rich and the poor gets, but I guess not”
“We can’t even afford that in Kalwin. The more you have a good idea of what you want to do, the more you will be able to do it. Even the number of specialists who fight demons is limited and the rest of the population is allocated to production jobs as much as possible”
“……Doesn’t seem to make sense. I understand that farming is inefficient due to the lack of safe land……but if you can produce warriors as good as you are, you should never be outmatched by demons”
“……That’s”
“Then more arable land enclosed like a fortress……should be much better than starving, even if it’s a hassle. Why would they narrow down the number of warriors? It is essential in the long run to increase the number of warriors who can also serve as hunters and let them work as pioneers while surviving on the meat of demons and gradually expand the land……is there any reason why we can’t do that?”
“……The reason why warriors are being squeezed is as I said before. We can’t afford to feed those who don’t farm any more……”
“That’s a funny thing to say in the first place. In a year of natural disasters, how is it possible for a hundred people to take care of a farm that always produces only enough food for a hundred people……”
“……The land gets thin if you keep using it. But you have to grow crops on the same land”
Neia’s voice is getting harder and harder. Sharon did not look at Neia, but kept her hand over her mouth as she thought.
“The magic to adjust the thin land has existed in Arkas for three thousand years, but it has not been transmitted to the six northern countries……? How is that possible?”
“Eh……?”
Neia was taken aback.
“Is there such magic……?”
“Of course there is. Magic is the elves’ specialty. And elves are the ones who walk with the forest and the earth. There is no reason why elves should not have the art of healing the trees and soil, even though it is often neglected in modern times. It is said that the spells of the Glory formula were established 3,000 years ago, but there must be countless original indigenous spells from the ancient times for each clan and forest”
“…………”
“……The ruler must be very poor in magic and agriculture? It’s a lifeline. ……?
“That’s……impossible. The king is an elf”
“……Haa?”
Sharon rolled her eyes.
“That’s crazy. ……If he is a stray elf like Naris, but if he claims to be king, that is exactly what he is……”
“The only thing that makes sense is that he’s from the old Kalwin royal family and he’s a venerable elf. The most important thing to remember is that the king is not the only one who can handle the treasures and books in the palace”
“……Absolutely impossible. It’s precisely because elves are of noble blood that they don’t neglect the means and spirit of coexisting with the forest and the earth. And yet, in such a situation……it seems as if they are intentionally setting off a negative cycle”
As Sharon speaks straight, Neia lowers the brim of her hat.
“……I’ve been thinking about it lately……”
“You……”
“I, too, believed it. No, I believe. I want to believe. But the more I learned about the world outside……the more I realized that our country is too strict, too demanding……and at some point I had no choice but to maintain my faith in the king by thinking of it outside as a luxury. My country has no choice, I said. There is no land, no people to spare, no hope, the threat of demons will never go away, so our country has no choice but to be in hell. The king, lacking in everything, could only protect his people through this system”
“Neia-san”
“So I, my companions and the former Grans……my foster mother, who preceded me, fought and died as hard as we could and tried to convince ourselves that it was all right as long as we could pass it onto the next generation, that it was all right”
Sigh.
“But the deeper I thought about it, the more the darkness overflowed. The world confronts me with the reality that I wasn’t right. I’m not a brave man, I’m not a hero, I’m just a misunderstood killer……”
“Neia, you’re wrong”
I raise my voice to interrupt Neia’s sinking voice. And it was surprisingly Laila who affirmed it.
“Hoho. ……Listen, little girl. The name indicates who you were. Whatever name you call yourself, those who know you will only call you as you have lived. If you were called a brave man, even if it was only a title handed down from above, then you were neither a fool nor a madman and the people thought you were brave”
“But I……was just absorbed in it”
“What matters is what comes next”
Laila sipped her wine and set down her cup.
“No one knows who you are from now on”
“……From now?”
“Yes. Neither the people nor I nor anyone else can decide who you are from this moment on. Do not be moved by the name, make a name. Remember, little girl, no one can do anything but live in the now. Who you are from now on is the only thing that matters in the world to you. Look around you. What are they called? And what are you going to be?”
Laila grinned.
“The past is just a snack. If it is your primary function to crush your chest with regret, I won’t bother to stop you, but if not, then do as everyone else is doing and leave the weight of the past on Owner’s chest. You have something you want to do. And”
Laila let Naris pour some alcohol and sipped it again.
“Owner will never return the dead weight again. After the matter is over, you can come back to thank him for giving you the dead weight”
“……Emm, that”
“Kuku, it’s up to you how you thank me, but you don’t have many anyway, do you?”
While holding the small bottle that was poured for the grinning Laila, Naris turned a disgusting look at Laila.
“Laila-san, Laila-san, I’ve always wondered what your pleasure is in having 10-man captain Smithson flirt with you so much. I mean, you’re his partner, aren’t you?”
“Don’t force your narrow-mindedness about flirtation on a dragon”
Laila was cool about it and let it slide.
“When a dragon says it, it sounds like a nice word. Well, what he says is normal”
“Huhu, normal is the most important thing, Tetes. ……Master, shall we drink too? Or shall we go to bed?”
“You guys must be tired too. We just had sex so let’s rest”
“Eh. We’ve just been to the hot spring”
“Only teenagers recover quickly from that!”
“That’s a very old thing to say, Andy”
“I’m talking out of consideration for you guys!?”
I hugged Neia’s shoulder and the three gauntlet knights, except for Naris, went to the bedroom together.
“You guys should go to bed early, okay? I’m sure Dianne will make her move around tomorrow”
“Heeey”
“I know. ……Naris, you can sleep at owner’s place, right?”
“Eh, wait a minute, there are already five people in here, no matter how big the bed is, it’s still a bit small……no, calm down, I’m not!”
Hearing the voice of Naris playing with Laila, we enter the bedroom and the five of us get up on the bed and go to bed. We did it at the hot spring earlier and everyone was probably tired, so I decided not to have sex.
“……Ah, Knight Chief Sharon, why are you undressing?”
“Hey, it’s still cold, so don’t take off your clothes even Tetes”
“Ehehe. When everyone is asleep, you can sneak into my butt”
“Mu……I’ll take mine off too, but I don’t have any ulterior motives”
“Umm, I’m going to sleep elsewhere……or at least put the flash sword in the next room”
The three gauntlet knights are completely naked for some reason, while Neia and I are still in our clothes. It’s a bit surreal.