Chapter 3

Chapter 3

I was briefly stunned by his unexpected appearance. I had thought he must have suffered over the past fifteen years, but I had never imagined he would end up looking like this.

No, calm down. No matter what he looked like, my disciple was still my disciple. Even if my disciple was drooling and staining his beard…….

“Cesare, it is me. Your master, Dane. Do you recognize me?”

“Huuuh?”

Cesare looked at me with foolish…… no, cloudy eyes. Then he abruptly pulled me close and threw an arm around my shoulders.

“Ah, of course. I know you. How could I not recognize my master?”

He grinned, baring his fangs. Even after fifteen years, did he recognize me? Reeking of alcohol, Cesare said.

“I met my master, so we have to have a drink. You are buying, right?”

……Did he really recognize me? For now, it seemed I had to talk to him. I helped Cesare to his feet.

“Stand up first, Cesare. You seem very drunk.”

“Drunk? I am perfectly fine. Come on, come on. Let us go in.”

He staggered as he tried to enter the Horned Whale Inn. Then the man I had mistaken for Cesare blocked the doorway.

“What nerve do you have to crawl back in here? You are banned until you pay off your tab!”

“Ha, fuck.”

He spat out a thick curse and turned to look at me. He was grinning like a madman.

“Master. Pay my tab for me.”

Did this child really recognize me? It was suspicious, but I took out my coin pouch for the time being. I had plenty of money taken from the brothel owner’s room. Looking at the man I had mistaken for Cesare, I asked, “How much is his tab?”

“Three million batz.”

……Had prices risen so much over the past fifteen years?

Three million batz was about the monthly wage of an average person. For now, I emptied out everything I had and gave it to him.

“This is everything I have. I will bring the rest later.”

“Yes, do that.”

The innkeeper looked as though even receiving this much was better than nothing. Cesare threw his arm around my shoulders again, acting close to me.

“Wow, fuck, Master, you have a lot of money.”

“……Stop swearing.”

“All right, all right. Let us go in and have a drink.”

In the middle of the day?

The smell of alcohol coming from him had been alarming for some time……. I was dragged, more or less, into the inn by Cesare.

The first floor seemed to be run as both a restaurant and a tavern. Cesare flopped down in an empty seat and spoke to the owner.

“A large bottle of brandy, and stew.”

The innkeeper stared at Cesare as though looking at garbage. He was not even sober yet, and he was already ordering more alcohol. I stopped Cesare for the moment.

“Cesare, no more alcohol. You still seem to have a hangover.”

“Ah, it is a hangover drink. A hangover drink.”

But why is he speaking so casually?

No, that was not what mattered. First, I had to prove that I was Dane. I showed him the necklace I was wearing.

It was a necklace made of pearls and gold. It had been fashioned in the shape of acorns and leaves.

“Cesare. Do you remember this? The necklace of Valanus.”

“Hm?”

Cesare glanced at my necklace with sleepy eyes. Then, as though he had no interest, he began dozing off again. Drool dripped from his mouth.

How did my disciple end up like this?

A short while later, the owner brought over the bottle of alcohol and the stew. Only then did Cesare’s head snap up.

“Oh, I was hungry after puking everything out.”

As soon as he received the stew, he began shoveling it into his mouth ravenously. Earlier, I had thought he was like a dog, but now that I looked at him, he was closer to a pig.

His hand trembled as he devoured the stew as though drinking it. Did he have tremors?

After finishing off the stew, Cesare immediately began pouring alcohol into his glass. His hand was still trembling, and when the liquor overflowed, he hastily brought his lips to the glass as though it were too precious to waste.

“Kh, sweet. It is sweet.”

He gulped down the alcohol with a blissful expression. At this rate, we would not be able to talk, so I snatched the bottle away. In an instant, Cesare’s eyes changed.

“Ah, fuck. What is your problem?”

“Do not swear.”

“Then hand over the bottle.”

“Let us talk first.”

I moved back to avoid Cesare as he reached out his hand. He glared at me, then sipped the remaining alcohol in annoyance.

“What? What do you want to talk about?”

“You do not believe that I am Dane, do you?”

“You are stating the obvious.”

He snorted and said.

“My master is dead. How could a man who died fifteen years ago come back?”

“Look at my face. I have become a bit younger, but the face is the same, is it not?”

He stared at my face, then ordered another bottle from the innkeeper. While waiting for the alcohol, he answered with indifference.

“You do look a little alike, maybe? So?”

“What do you mean, so?”

“So what are you trying to say? Let us say you are my master. What comes next?”

What came next? What had I wanted to do after finding the children? No, what I wanted was clear.

“I will find the children and rebuild the Valanus Domus.”

What would someone who had lost his family want to do? He would want to gather his family again and rebuild their home. I was the same.

Meanwhile, the owner brought another bottle of alcohol. Pouring it into his glass, Cesare said,

“Ah, I see. Good luck with that.”

“You have to come too, Cesare.”

“Why should I?”

“You are Valanus too. Let us return home.”

At those words, Cesare snorted and drained his drink. Then he looked at me with eyes shining from intoxication and said.

“Valanus? I forgot that name long ago. It was shattered to pieces fifteen years ago, and while I wandered around as an orphan, I forgot it all.”

“…….”

“So, rebuild it? Do it alone if you want. I am not interested.”

When he tried to drink again, I took the bottle from him once more. Cesare slammed his fist onto the tabletop and shouted.

“Ah, fuck! Enough! Some brat came here spouting nonsense first thing in the morning, and I listened because I was being patient, so why do you keep acting like this?”

“Cesare. Sit down.”

“Fuck off.”

He spat on the floor and rose from his seat.

“You are making such a huge show of generosity after buying me one drink. Forget it. I am not drinking!”

Cesare shouted and went up to the second floor. I tried to follow him, but the innkeeper stopped me.

“I do not know what your circumstances are, but talk to that bastard after he sobers up a little. When he drinks, he becomes an absolute wreck, so there is no getting through to him.”

“……Understood.”

As he said that, he set a plate of stew down in front of me as well.

“I do not know what relationship you have with that alcoholic, but if you are looking for a mercenary, find someone else. There are plenty of days when he is too drunk to be in his right mind.”

Alcoholic. I remembered how Cesare’s hands had been trembling earlier. Had that been a symptom of alcoholism? I pressed my lips together, then asked the owner,

“Do you know Cesare well?”

“Well, more or less. He is a resident of the same neighborhood, after all.”

“Could you tell me what happened to Cesare after Valanus fell?”

When I asked, the innkeeper dropped into the seat Cesare had left behind. With a rather apathetic expression, he opened his mouth.

“The story of the Valanus Domus falling is famous. The children scattered here and there at the time, and Cesare joined a mercenary corps.”

Cesare, a mercenary. He had been a child who feared fighting.

“His mana manifested early, and he became famous as a rather impressive mercenary. He left this place and came back a few years ago……. As an alcoholic.”

So that was why he had ended up like this.

I pressed a hand to my forehead. I felt helpless, but I could not add anything to the life Cesare had lived. What right did I, absent for fifteen years, have to say?

For now, I would have to speak to him after Cesare came to his senses. It would be impossible at the moment. I rose from my seat and said,

“Please tell Cesare that once he sobers up, he should come to the Valanus Domus. Tell him I will give him five hundred thousand batz if he comes to see me.”

He seemed short on money, so I cast out some bait. I moved my reluctant feet.

What had Cesare gone through over those fifteen years, and how had he lived? The fifteen years of my absence felt heavy as they settled on my shoulders.

***

“Ha, damn. My head…….”

Cesare staggered up from the bed. Before he knew it, the glow of sunset was coming through the window.

After drinking and passing out, he had slept straight through, and hunger had already returned. He scratched his stomach roughly and headed down to the first floor of the inn. The innkeeper looked at him pitifully.

“Awake?”

“Yeah. Give me anything to eat.”

When he dropped heavily into a seat, the innkeeper tossed him some bread and cheese without much care. Cesare shoved the food into his mouth without any particular complaint. The innkeeper said, “Come to think of it, that person who came this morning.”

“Morning? Ah, that lunatic.”

The lunatic who had come first thing in the morning, claiming he was Dane and that he had died and come back to life.

Plenty of swindlers had approached him, but none had ever used a method this absurd. Since he had gotten a few drinks out of it, he was not especially dissatisfied, though.

“He said he would be staying at the Valanus Domus, and that you should come find him once you sobered up. He said he would give you five hundred thousand batz if you came.”

“Five hundred thousand batz?”

It was a tempting amount, but wrinkles formed between Cesare’s brows. He had to suspect any goodwill that was offered too openly. Chewing the coarse bread, he said,

“He is insane.”

Was he truly acting as if he were his master? No, that was impossible. His face did seem a little similar, but a dead man coming back to life was nonsense. The innkeeper said,

“He says he is from the Valanus Domus too? He must not know you were scammed.”

“Shut up.”

During his life as a mercenary, he had searched for the people of Valanus. He had even paid for information. All of it had been false, but he had not given up on finding his family.

But after a man who had approached him claiming to be from Valanus took his entire fortune, Cesare had grown somewhat numb. The loss had been all the greater because he had truly believed that man was a member of Valanus.

It was around then that he began relying on alcohol.

“Fuck, why do swindler bastards never disappear?”

“Do you have a rag stuffed in your mouth? Anyway, I am relieved that it does not look like you will fall for it again. It is about time you forgot, too. It is a Domus that fell fifteen years ago.”

Fifteen years. Yes, that much time had passed. It was time to forget about Valanus and live his own life.

Then why did the lunatic who had come that morning keep bothering him? Was it because it had been so long since he heard the name Valanus? As he chewed the bread roughly, someone entered the inn.

“Hey, Cesare. Are you somewhat sane now?”

It was one of the mercenaries with whom he had connections. Cesare drank some water and said,

“I am always sane. Do you need something?”

“A big request just came in. Apparently, some thug came by last night and wrecked a brothel.”

A brothel. The Valanus Domus. Come to think of it, had that man not told him to come to the Valanus Domus?

“The brothel owner is gathering mercenaries. For a minor job, the pay is rather good.”

The mercenary raised the corner of his mouth in a grin.

“Are you coming too? You need to earn your drinking money.”