419: An Old Friend
There were no people in the village.
Though it was sunny, it was cold, so it was only natural that people would want to stay indoors.
Liz, guided by her thirty-year-old memories, led me to the inn in the center of the village. The road had been cleared of snow, and it was not difficult to walk, leading the skeleton horse.
The inn in this village was of the orthodox type, where the second floor of a tavern was available for lodging. A trap-like structure where, if you got drunk, you could just rest on the second floor, and you would be charged for a room.
It was the largest building in the village. Though the exterior had changed a little, the location was as Liz remembered, and if the interior was also as she remembered, then it was also the only place to eat in the village, and it also had a shop. Basically, all the important facilities of the village were gathered here.
“Hello…”
“Ah, damn the country!”
The moment I entered the tavern and was about to greet the gathered gazes, a shout was heard. The gazes all turned to the source, and I, too, couldn’t help but look.
“To change the lord now, what do they think we are?!”
“But you know… maybe life will get easier…”
“No way! We’re just paying the price for being too dependent on the ‘special crop’!”
The one who was drinking from a large mug and complaining to the next table was a dark elf woman with black hair and dark brown eyes. Her face was already quite red.
Liz muttered, “…Amy.”
“Huh? You know her?”
Liz nodded at my question.
“…Liz?”
The drunken woman blinked. And she slowly beckoned.
“Come here. And sit down.”
“It’s been a while, Amy.”
Liz, as she was invited, sat down in an empty seat. The one who was called Amy clenched her fist and slammed it on the wooden table.
Even though they were acquaintances, what was with this hostile atmosphere?
“—A while? You have some nerve! The last time you came home was thirty years ago! I sent you a letter once a year, you know? And to only get a reply three times… I’m done with you.”
From what I was hearing, Liz was in the wrong.
“…I was busy. With a lot of things.” Liz looked away a little.
“What’s with that polite language… ugh… Liz has been corrupted by the city… she’s probably being deceived by a bad person…”
As the ‘bad person’ in question, my ears were burning. Liz sighed and chuckled.
“I’m sorry, Amy.”
I was startled. Liz, not speaking politely… I had never seen that, even when she was cursing an assassin.
“Master, please check in.”
“Ah, yes…” A familiar, polite language.
“A companion? An undead?”
“I’ll introduce you later.”
Even as I was being stared at, I paid for a day’s lodging and reserved a room for two. While you could pay in full in advance, many inns were of the type where you paid by the day. This was because a journey was often at the mercy of the weather, and the stagecoach service was not as punctual as in modern Japan.
As I returned to Liz, one of the people who had been eating at a nearby table stood up. An old dark elf man.
“It’s been a long time, Lizlit-chan. I was worried, since I hadn’t heard from you since you had joined the army. With Amy, won’t you tell us, too? And that person… who is she?”
I felt a sense of being an outsider, for the first time in a while, with the unabashed stares that were directed at me. But since there was no hostility or murderous intent, it was quite easy.
“Carlo-ojisan. …Everyone, let me introduce you. She is Daisy Finis.”
Daisy Finis. I wasn’t used to being called that, but it was, in a sense, my official name. Though no one who was close to me called me by that name. And those who were not close to me did not call me by my name. …In other words, I was not at all used to being called that.
“Finis?” Amy frowned.
Liz stood up and linked her arm with mine.
“We got married.”
Liz was a woman of few words. But for now, I squeezed the arm that was linked with mine.
Amy’s eyes widened.
“Huh? Married?”
“…Same-sex marriage, which is popular in the capital?”
“Lizlit-chan?”
“Wait, weren’t you in the army?”
“You were after her, weren’t you?”
“Idiot, when was that?”
I could hear whispers, and I squeezed her arm a little tighter.
“…Um, congratulations?”
I was a little relieved, to hear Amy congratulate me, though with some confusion.
“Thank you. Master, please sit. —A meal and a drink for two, something warm!”
Her practiced order was that of a regular. A mix of polite language and the dialect she must have used in this village.
“For two? Her, too?”
“Yes, she’s a little special.”
“I see.”
Thirty years was a long time, and many things must have changed, but in a way—it was only thirty years. The population movement was not so great. Especially in a village.
Amy, to the two of us who had taken our seats, directed a sharp gaze.
“—So, what is your relationship…?”
“Just as I said. We got married.”
“…Liz, you’re a woman of few words. Even when you joined the army, you just said, ‘I’ve decided to volunteer for the army,’ and you just decided everything on your own! …‘Master’? —Where and how did you meet?”
Indeed, that was probably what she wanted to know.
“My boss at work.”
…A woman of few words. But to put it nicely, she might have thought that that was enough to convey her meaning.
“You… are an important person in the army?”
“…Well, yes.” A supreme commander of the Demon King’s army was an ‘important person’ in the army.
“…But that doesn’t mean I’m going to be formal. I’m an ‘Itria survivor.’”
Me too.
“…I’m the only one who has returned to this village. You… where were you, during that battle?”
It was hard to say that I had been a decoy on the front lines. The morale of the volunteers had been high—but for that very reason, the casualties had also been great. Even though they were a strong race, they had not received any proper training. In that battle, the people of this country… many had died.
“Amy, this person, and I, are also ‘Itria survivors.’ …To be precise, she died in that battle and became a wraith. I will not allow you to speak ill of her.”
Liz glared at her. Though it was a light glare. When she was really angry—her expression would disappear. The light would disappear from her eyes, and she would become cold, and a chill would run down my spine. The anger she was showing now was probably just a pose.
“…I’m sorry.” She bowed her head, as if looking down.
“—But why? Why have you come back now…?”
“…Was it wrong?”
“…No, it’s not that.”
She stared at me.
“Here you go.”
The food was brought.
“Jeff-san, thank you. The stew here is delicious.”
“What, …I was surprised, but you’re the same as ever.”
“Really? …I’ve changed a lot.”
What had Liz been like—when she had left the village?
I had heard a brief history from Liz. Some of it, in the form of a ‘story.’ While she was training as a soldier in the Second Army, she had been scouted for her aptitude as an assassin and had been used as one. She had accomplished a solo infiltration mission into the Garnalk region, ‘under unreasonable circumstances,’ and had been scouted by the Royal Guard. ‘She had continued to be active after that,’ and had made a name for herself as the Darkling Blade…
And she had been assigned to the Sixth Army, as the vice-commander of the Lord of Disease.
Her rise through the ranks was a far cry from the normal career path. There was also a theory that to have become the vice-commander of a newly established Sixth Army, from an elite assassin of the Royal Guard, had been a demotion.
But considering the role the newly established Sixth Army had played… she was a thorough, self-made elite.
As I thought of her career, I brought a spoonful of the stew to my mouth. Beef stew… though the meat was similar to beef, but not quite. It tasted like Liz’s. Was it the herbs? The way the flavors were constructed… I thought that the roots of her taste were here. Everything about her was rooted in this country. Unlike me, a stranger who had suddenly come to this world.
“…I told you not to join the army, because it was dangerous.”
“What are you talking about, you volunteered yourself. And besides, I’m a rather ‘important person’ now, you know?”
The Sixth Army was, among the six armies, the one where the vice-commander had the most authority. In that sense, too, she was a rather ‘important person.’ The next would probably be the First Army, which had the authority to manage miscellaneous affairs. The Fourth Army might also be on par with the Sixth Army. The Second Army had a certain amount of authority as the vice-commander of the Dark Knights, but the Third and Fifth Armies were more like assistants to the supreme commanders.
It was also said that the Sixth Army, which had delegated almost all of its authority except for the final decision, was an anomaly. But to make the most of the advantages of a small unit, it was better for each member to have a large amount of authority.
Liz and Amy continued to talk, as if it hadn’t been thirty years, and the gazes that had been directed at me were, one by one, averted.
“Wait, Mina?”
“Yes, she got married. To Sean.”
A story about people I didn’t know. I couldn’t interrupt Liz, who was talking with an old friend for the first time in a long time, and I couldn’t interject.
With every bite of the stew, my stomach warmed… and I felt a slight chill in my heart. The stew was gone, too soon. I wiped the bowl clean with the small piece of bread that had been served with it and stood up.
“Liz. …I’m going for a walk.”
“Ah, yes. Take care.”
Her polite language felt strangely distant.
A short while after the Lord of Disease had left, the door to the tavern was thrown open.
“—Hey! The guest who came to the village, where is she now?!”
The attention of the entire tavern was drawn to the man, whose face was a mask of panic.
Amy answered.
“Liz’s companion? She went for a walk…”
“Outside the village?”
“…No… I don’t know where… Liz?”
“…I didn’t hear where, either.”
“Didn’t anyone tell her? —It’s dangerous outside the village now. A pack of magical beasts is roaming around.”
“Magical beasts? …That’s… but my person is strong. She’s a wraith.”
“So she really is an undead. This is the worst…”
“What?” Liz frowned.
“—What’s outside is the natural enemy of the undead…!”
She kicked her chair and stood up.
