The atmosphere in the tavern wasn’t very good either.
When I came before, quite a few people were drinking happily, but now a gloomy atmosphere had overflowed.
In this kind of atmosphere, no matter how much I drink, I probably won’t get drunk.
“What do you want to drink?”
“Wine, please.”
“Give me a glass of milk and a glass of whiskey here.”
Talking about wine, are we?
Sowol’s eyebrows twitched slightly, seemingly displeased with my order, but she didn’t whine about wanting to drink alcohol.
She just took a sip of the milk with a dissatisfied expression
After spending some time with her like that, I caught the owner passing by my side.
Perhaps because I had seen him quite often? Seeing me, he sat down with a bitter smile.
“Owner. The atmosphere is too depressing. Is it because of the disappearance cases?”
“Yes. That’s right. Well. And there’s even talk about seeing ghosts a few days ago, so the mood is even worse. I don’t know if you’ve heard, but there are stories about ghosts appearing in the village every night and attacking people.”
Ghost incidents? This seems related to the cult too?
“Tell me more about it in detail.”
“That guy over there knows well. He says he saw the ghost himself.”
Where the owner pointed, there was a man drinking with a pale expression.
I left Sowol at the table and went over there.
He was startled when I sat before him, but he seemed to know my face and just sighed heavily.
“Master Lee, is it?”
“You know me?”
“How could I not know about the hero of Mount Wola…”
“Really? Then this conversation will go faster. I heard you saw a ghost?”
“Yes. That… it was a few days ago. I was on my way home after drinking… There was something whitish on the dark street.”
Something whitish.
Is it a ghost-type monster?
Ghost-type monsters only appear in deep dungeons or ruins, so if ordinary people see them, they might mistake them for ghosts…
No, wait a minute. I don’t think it’s a mistake? If it’s ghost-type, it is a ghost, right?
“That whitish thing was pulling something out of a fallen person and then looked straight at me. Those empty eyes were so terrifying…”
“Empty eyes, you say. Did it look like this? Like a skull…”
I drew one of the ghost-type monsters I knew, ‘Wraith,’ to show him.
After looking at it for a while, he was startled and quickly nodded.
“That’s right! This is it!”
“I see. This is called a Wraith, a ghost-type monster. It’s hard to see one easily.”
“A monster appeared in the territory? Then… is that story true…?”
“What story?”
“Well. This is just a rumor going around in the back alleys. Absolutely, absolutely not something I’m saying…”
“Okay. Go on.”
“There’s a story that these disappearances… are the lord’s doing.”
Huh? The lord?
Why would the lord make his own territory’s people disappear?
“The rumor says that the lord is using them as sacrifices to summon a demon…”
Ah. That’s going too far.
Of course, summoning demons isn’t impossible in this game.
But demons are so expensive. Could they be summoned by sacrificing just a few people?
By the way, a rumor about the lord sacrificing his people…
This must be a rumor spread by the cult.
Are they trying to worsen the public order of the territory and establish the cult’s roots here?
I ordered him another drink and then returned to my seat.
Sowol, who had ordered and drunk another glass of milk while I was gone, silently looked at me.
“Let me tell you what I talked about with that man…”
After I summarized what I had heard earlier, Sowol tilted her head.
She seemed not to understand either.
“I’ve heard about ghost-type monsters too. But they don’t appear in places with many people, right?”
Sowol is right.
Even in the game, ghost-type enemies are monsters you can only encounter in the middle to late game, in places like uninhabited ruins.
They have good basic stats and possess physical attack immunity skills, making them annoying opponents that force you to include at least one magic user in your party from the middle part of the game.
Such a monster appeared before the main game even started and in a city with so many people?
It couldn’t be explained except that someone was up to something.
“And the lord attends church mass every week. For such a person to summon demons…”
“The important thing is that they’re trying to cause confusion. Through these false rumors, they’re trying to worsen public order and spread fear among the people to establish their power base within the territory. It’s an easy-to-spot tactic.”
“Is that so? Then what should we do?”
“First, it would be good to solve the ghost disturbance. This also seems related to the cult. Ghost-type monsters tend to be active at night, so let’s just kill time here until night.”
I downed the whiskey in one go and raised my hand.
“Give me another one here!”
I drank at the tavern until nightfall.
Leaving behind the owner who was happy about making good money after a long time, I left the tavern with Sowol, and a brilliant moon was lighting up the dark sky.
“Master. Are you okay?”
“I’m not drunk.”
Yeah. I’m fine. Do you think I’d get drunk just from drinking a few bottles of whiskey?
But Sowol seemed worried and held onto the hem of my clothes tightly, not letting go.
Oh my. My disciple. She cares for her master terribly.
“By the way, why don’t you let go? It’s hard to walk.”
“Master, you’re staggering?”
“Oh ho. This is a preparation procedure for using the drunken sword technique.”
“…Then why are you using formal speech?”
Picking on me for making a little joke.
I roughly patted Sowol’s head. The silky feeling touching my hand feels good.
“Oh my. You pretty thing. I’ll give you another praise sticker for taking such good care of your master.”
I peeled off a praise sticker and stuck it on her cheek.
Although she looked dumbfounded, she didn’t refuse, so it seems praise stickers are indeed an excellent reward.
“Master Lee!”
Then I heard a voice I had heard earlier today.
Turning around, it was An.
Unlike earlier, when she was with the soldiers, this time, she was alone.
But seeing that she was still wearing her armor, it seemed she was patrolling alone.
“I didn’t expect to see you again like this!”
“Me neither.”
I didn’t expect to see you here again either.
“But… have you been drinking too much? Oh my. How about resting a bit at the guard office…”
“No, no. I’m fine…”
It was when I was about to decline her suggestion.
An unpleasant energy was rising from the alley.
“…This is.”
An put her hand on the sword hilt at her waist.
While she was staring at that place tensely, the sound of something slimy walking out was heard.
“Ghoul?!”
An undead-type monster.
It’s a monster created when someone with magical power dies and becomes undead. It can be considered a much higher level than zombies, a fairly strong monster in its own right.
Naturally, it’s not the kind of monster you can see in a village.
“Oh no… Master Lee! Please stay back!”
An drew her sword and rushed forward.
She blocked the ghoul’s attack with the shield on her left arm and slashed the creature’s body while rotating.
But the ghoul is already a dead body. It wasn’t easy to inflict proper damage with just ordinary slashing.
“Haaah!!”
Knowing this, An continuously attacked with her shield while keeping the creature in check with her sword.
That’s right. It’s difficult to inflict damage on ghouls with slashing or stabbing.
So the general way to deal with them is to seal their movements with impact-type attacks using shields or blunt weapons.
“She fights well.”
“Seems she has a lot of experience.”
It was around the time I responded to Sowol’s murmur.
An, who had avoided the sharp claw attack by rotating her body, stuck the edge of her shield into the ghoul’s head.
-Thud!!
It was a strong impact.
As the ghoul that took the hit properly staggered, she rushed in, tackled it with her shoulder to knock it down, mounted it and kept smashing down with her shield.
The ghoul, pinned down by An, struggled but finally stopped moving as its head was completely destroyed. An then stood up and looked at me.
Her face was full of pride.
For a knight of a local territory to take down a ghoul alone is certainly praiseworthy.
“Master Lee! How was that?!”
“It’s excellent, but it’s not over yet.”
“Huh? Uh… Kyaaaah!!”
Something whitish appeared behind An, who was looking puzzled.
Followed by a powerful attack.
She tried to block it with her shield, but the attack passed through it and struck An’s body.
“Th-this is…”
A voice filled with trembling. It was completely different from her voice earlier.
It couldn’t be helped.
The monster in front of her was a powerful monster that could make ghouls look like nothing, the Wraith.
“Ah… Aah…”
Was it because she knew it was an opponent she couldn’t beat?
Fear settled in An’s expression.
Completely intimidated, she was just sitting there, shaking.
This could be big trouble if left alone.
-Aaaaaaaah!!!
I shot a magic bullet towards the creature.
As the Wraith that was hit turned its empty gaze towards us, I smiled and said,
“Sowol. Want to try?”
At my question, she walked forward without hesitation.
Oh. I like this attitude.
If she finishes this well, I should give her a praise sticker.