By Zephyria =======
「Just as you said, the people of Atania look down on Stohl as barbaric. On the other hand, I found it fascinating that I hadn’t considered how Stohl people perceive Atania. Those words just now—they were your own thoughts, Silver, right?」
「Of course they were mine. Who else would they be, the Ice Armor Warrior’s? Why? Does it bother you?」
「No, quite the opposite; I’m impressed by you. If I didn’t know you well, I would have misunderstood and thought you were just repeating something from a book or the words of a wise old man. You have great insight, Silver.」
My cheeks flushed at the sudden praise. Without realizing it, my hand toyed with the hem of my robe, but I shrugged as if it were nothing and walked ahead quickly.
「I don’t know about insight. I just have observation skills.」
Laughter followed from behind.
「Having observation skills is what gives you insight. Painters have great observation skills, after all. I heard many of Atania’s famous painters are also philosophers. There are many philosophers and mathematicians who are skilled at painting, too.」
「Did you read that in a book? Or was it the word of a wise old man?」
「Neither. It’s a story the Prince told me. Hahaha.」
The inn came into view. In the distance, a crowd of riffraff was causing a commotion, grabbing visitors in broad daylight. A brawl broke out in an instant as one visitor collapsed under the blow of a thug’s hammer.
As Silver entered the inn, he spoke.
「Anyway, just worry about your own life. Oh, and rotate your left wrist in a circle frequently. It’s a spell used when asking for the day’s misfortunes to fall away; it might help if you do it.」
「Okay. Thanks.」
Wolf, shaking his left hand following Silver’s lead, met his eyes.
「Silver. Let’s definitely go to Atania together.」
Silver looked at Wolf in silence. This time, he didn’t manage to sneer with a “Are you talking nonsense again?”
* * *
Black Weasel woke up late in the afternoon. Even then, it was only because Red Eagle protested that he “couldn’t wait any longer because he was hungry,” prompting Silver to beat Black Weasel awake.
Black Weasel slowly hauled his upper body up and scratched the back of his head.
“If you’re hungry, why don’t you lot just go down and eat by yourselves?”
“They can’t speak the Stohl language. Get out already, you brat.”
As they stepped into the hallway, the Prince and the Attendant looked back with grim faces. Stomach growls erupted incessantly from their side-by-side clutching bellies. Black Weasel grimaced as he walked down the hall.
「Are you lot toddlers? No matter how pampered you were raised, you can’t even buy a single meal for yourselves, huh?! If you can’t speak Stohl, use hand gestures or something! I was finally getting some sweet sleep for the first time in a while, and you dare interfere—cough, cough!」
Black Weasel coughed and wiped away tears as smoke billowed fiercely from the floor below. If it weren’t for the scent of hallucination herbs, he would have been certain that the warriors, in a drunken stupage, had attempted the unprecedented experiment of holding a public execution of prisoners by burning them inside a wooden building.
The warriors, raving in broad daylight, were all stark naked, without a single thread of clothing. There were guests present who hadn’t been there last night. Amidst the heavy scent of rotting wood, alcohol, and hallucination herb smoke, the warriors were preoccupied with “entertaining” the guests in various peculiar ways.
One warrior forced a guest to sing. Every time he stabbed the guest’s buttocks with a rusty dagger in time with the beat, the singing distorted into a wretched wail. Opposite them, a man with a head as smooth as a greased stone was pouring alcohol in torrents into a guest’s nostrils. In the middle of the tavern, two young men were tangled on the floor, sucking each other’s dicks. The watching warriors doubled over in laughter.
The ‘civilized’ Red Eagle and Wolf looked horrified by the sight. Like frogs frozen before a snake with its maw wide open, their eyes grew wide and they remained motionless.
「Sit down, you brats. Weren’t you hungry?」
Sitting in a chair, Black Weasel tapped the table with the back of his hand. Only then did Red Eagle and Wolf snap their heads up with a gasp. Silver, sitting next to Black Weasel, grabbed a passing tavern employee.
“Bring six servings of the basic meal—”
“No, twelve.”
Black Weasel interrupted and added,
“Give us Signer for the alcohol. Bring the whole bottle! By the way, who are the guests working so hard over there?”
“Who else but prisoners,” the employee replied indifferently.
“They were locked in the stables, but the warriors brought them out saying they were bored. Those guys sucking dicks over there? I heard they hate each other’s guts. The warriors paired them up on purpose to mess with them.”
“What mischievous warriors. Anyway, bring us some delicious food.”
Once the employee left, Black Weasel spoke in a low voice.
「Kids, I’m giving you the operational orders. From now on, the Prince and the Attendant are my sons, and Silver is my slave. Since my sons grew up in Atania from a young age, they can’t speak the Stohl language.」
「You mean we should assign roles like a play? Why all of a sudden…」
At Wolf’s words, Silver gestured with his chin toward Black Weasel.
「As you can see, he has a face that invites punches wherever he goes. Last night, the warriors were so drunk they couldn’t tell if we were people or bottles of liquor, but now it’s different.」
「Ah… so we’re coordinating our stories in case we get into a fight? Wait, if they ask why we grew up in Atania, what should we say?」
「I don’t know. Ice Armor Warrior, what are you going to make up?」
「I don’t know about that stuff.」
At Black Weasel’s response, Wolf and Red Eagle looked speechless. Silver thrust one fist forward.
「Who cares. We have this.」
「You’re going to solve it with your fists? Look, if that’s the case, there’s no reason to bother assigning roles and coordinating stories. Ha, seriously…」
Wolf rubbed his face vigorously with both hands. Red Eagle also spoke in a serious tone.
「Uncle. It’s already dark outside.」
「The sun sets early in winter.」
「That’s not what I mean… Uh, do you plan on rowing all night?」
「In this freezing winter? Let’s stay here one more day.」
「…Uncle. How many days do you expect it’ll take to reach the destination?」
「I don’t know. We’ll just go as we go.」
Black Weasel, having just woken up, was like a talking stone. Unless food and alcohol were shoved into his mouth and his body was soaked in a hot spring, he would never return to being human. The oblivious Prince and Attendant simply looked devastated.
“Enjoy your meal!”
The table was filled with food. Rye bread piled in baskets gave off a savory aroma. Yellow butter slid across the surface of the bread as if dancing, and the smoked fish had a vivid red hue like fresh fruit. Unlike the Prince and Attendant, who picked at their bread, Black Weasel shoved food into his mouth like a beggar who had starved for three days. Now, as long as he was plunged into a hot spring, he would return from being a stone to a human.
「Once we finish eating, we’re going to wash up. It’s an open-air bath; do you guys want to come?」
When Silver asked, the Prince and Attendant’s faces brightened.
「Yes, yes! I want to go! I’ve been wanting to wash up and feel refreshed.」
「An open-air bath, how exciting. Soaking leisurely while admiring the winter forest? How romantic.」
「Indeed, Prince. Since the schedule has been pushed back by a day anyway…」
True to young masters raised in a palace, they were imagining a secluded resort hot spring. Unfortunately, the open-air baths of such third-rate inns were always overflowing with people. Moreover, they were mixed-gender baths.
However, one could not see sexual acts there. While Stohl people did such things casually even in the middle of a village, bathhouses and hot springs were the exception. For some reason, people there focused only on washing their bodies, and no one knew why.
So, there was no need to explicitly tell those brats it was a mixed bath, right?
As soon as he thought that, Wolf asked urgently, as if remembering something.
「Wait, Silver! Is the open-air bath here a mixed-gender bath? It’s not, is it?」
「What do you mean ‘is it not’? It’s mixed.」
Black Weasel snapped curtly. The Prince and Attendant’s faces turned pale, as if they had been splashed with ice water. Seeing this, Silver’s mood soured instantly. These bastards are treating us like savages again?
「You punks, are you scared? Don’t tell me you don’t know what a woman’s body looks like?」
Silver slammed his fist onto the table.
「I heard Atanians are crazy for nude paintings! When the Ice Armor Warrior lived there for a few years, he said there wasn’t a single barbershop or bookstore without nude paintings of women on the walls. They buy nude paintings with money, calling it art, yet they treat Stohl’s mixed baths like a sewer, damn it!」
「Exactly! Exactly!」
Black Weasel chimed in with a flushed face.
「Right, so you’re saying you won’t go? You’re afraid that if you soak in a mixed bath, your blonde hair will turn into lowly red hair? Huh!」
Black Weasel’s beard bristled like an angry hedgehog. The Prince and Attendant immediately straightened their posture.
「We will go.」
「Silver is right. We all know what a human body looks like. We just need to focus on washing indifferently.」
Just then, the door to the inn’s tavern swung open with a bang.
35 – Hell Execution Order