Chapter 34

Chapter 34. "The Dark Elf, the Dwarf, and a Single Rose." 14

Even with his collar clenched and his body lifted into the air, Kal kept gritting his teeth and resisting the Lizard Man.

The Lizard Man calmly watched Kal’s knee rise toward his jaw, casually blocked that desperate struggle with his free hand, then immediately drew a shortsword from his waist, set it beneath Kal’s chin, and said,

"Here, they, say, you, must, not, fight. But, you, picked, a, fight, with, me. Lizard Men, do, not, avoid, a, fight. Do, you, wish, to, die, human?"

"It talks?!"

"What is so surprising? Lizard Men have always known how to speak. They are simply as rare a race as elves, so people assumed they could not speak at all.

That aside, gentlemen, that man is my client. Would you mind letting him go? I may not like him much, but if he dies, I do not get paid."

The Lizard Man turned his head toward Jeff, who had risen from his seat and now stood there with his sword hanging lazily from his hand.

He gave Jeff a slow look from top to bottom, and Jeff answered with an easy smile. Just then, three more Lizard Men came in behind him, and the expression on Jeff’s face quickly stiffened.

The Lizard Man holding Kal relaxed his grip and let him go. Kal slid down, collapsed onto the wooden floor, and sat there clutching his throat, coughing harshly as he looked up at them.

The Lizard Man stared down at Kal for a moment, then raised his head and slid the shortsword back into its sheath.

"Human, what, did, you, come, here, to, do?"

"What does it matter to you what we came here for?"

Jeff raised his sword as he spoke, and the Lizard Man tilted his head and pointed at him with one hand.

"You, are, picking, a, fight?"

"Damn it, and what if I am?!"

I tried to stop him, but it was already too late. Jeff dashed forward, dragging his sword across the floor.
Kal, who had been sitting on the ground, saw him move and rolled aside to get away from them. Beside me, Rene watched them with slightly drooping eyes.

"They have no intention of attacking. It seems Mr. Jeff does not realize that."

CLANG!!

"Guaaagh!!"

At Jeff’s scream, which rang out the moment her words ended, I merely shrugged.

"We are not very good at understanding others."

"You bastards!! Mir, Kali!"

At the sound of his voice, the two of us turned our heads again. Kal had gotten to his feet, still rubbing his neck, and was calling to the two golems that had remained pressed against the wall for some time after obeying Narsh’s words and showing no sign of moving.

Beside him, Jeff was wedged between an overturned chair and table, looking half-dazed. Kal glanced down at him once, frowned, then lifted his head and said to the Lizard Man,

"You bastard! That was splendid!!"

The Lizard Man, who had been crouched low with one arm held out to the side and the other stretched forward, slowly relaxed his stance and looked at Kal with a puzzled expression. Jeff, who had been crumpled at Kal’s side, spat out a curse, hauled himself up, and said,

"Look here. What kind of thing is that to say to the fellow who just sent your companion flying?!"

Kal gave him a grin.

"That is why you should have tried acting a little more lovable in everyday life."

"Shut it. Damn it, do something about this, will you? I am a guide, not a warrior."

Kal nodded, then gave an order to the two golems, who at some point had come to stand behind him.

"Drive those bastards out."

The Lizard Men looked up at the golems, who were slowly advancing with heavy thudding steps, and each of them drew a weapon from his waist or leg. Just as they were about to collide head-on, Rene stepped forward and said,

"Mir, Kali? Would you wait a moment? And all of you, please think of the red roses outside the house. There must be no fighting here."

At once, the two golems stopped where they were, and everyone turned toward Rene, who had just come out of the kitchen.

The first to speak, of course, was Kal. Well, seeing the golems obey someone other than himself or Narsh must have come as quite a shock.

"How is this possible?!"

"I am an elf, Mr. Kal."

With that single sentence, Rene swept away every question Kal had in one stroke, and he could only stare at her in a daze.

I watched them for a moment, then noticed the pot of soup boiling over the brazier. I took it off the fire first and only then followed after Rene. One should not let it boil too long, and if we did, we might have to make it all over again. Well, what else was love for one’s wife if not this?

That aside.

When I stepped out, Rene was walking toward Jeff, who was leaning against a table.

"Are you all right? Are you hurt anywhere?"

"I am fine. All I have going for me is my toughness."

So it seemed. It was the first time I had ever seen someone take a Lizard Man’s punch and still look that fine.

In any case, after hearing Jeff’s answer, Rene smiled faintly at him, turned around, then walked up to the two enormous cloak-wrapped giants standing before them.

She lifted her hand high, rose onto her toes, patted them on the back with a series of taps, and said,

"Go back to your places. They are not enemies."

"Grrrr..."

Kal, standing beside her, merely worked his mouth open and closed as he stared at the growling golems obeying Rene’s words. Come to think of it, they only made that sound when Narsh spoke to them.

I watched the golems walk past me for a moment, then slowly moved over and came to stand beside Rene.

"Welcome."

At my words, the Lizard Men grinned and put away the weapons they had been holding, including their shortswords and ropes.

The Lizard Man who had just blocked Jeff’s sword and driven a fist into his stomach stepped forward, looked down at us, pointed at Kal and Jeff behind us, and said,

"Humans, those, two. I, want, to, know, why, they, are, here."

"We would like to know the same thing. Innkeeper, let us ask as well. Why are they here?"

At the words of both the Lizard Man and Jeff, I smiled, and Rene, standing beside me, looked at my face and answered for me.

"This is an inn, and they are guests."

"...Damn it. I have no answer to that."

With that, Jeff righted the chairs and tables strewn across the floor. Rene watched him for a moment, smiling with her lips lightly pursed, then lifted her head and looked up at the Lizard Men.

"There is no reason. It is only natural for guests to come to an inn. Now then, what about you? What brings you here?"

At her question, the Lizard Man looked once at Jeff and once at Kal, then lowered his head and looked at Rene.

"We, came, because, we, need, something. Is, it, the, same, reason, for, them?"

"Yes. It is."

"Then, good. I, will, overlook, the, fact, that, they, attacked, first. Take, this, human."

As he spoke, one of the companions standing behind him handed him Kal’s Great Bow, and he tossed it toward Kal, who was still staring blankly at the golems. Kal did not notice it, so Jeff caught it instead.

I turned my eyes away from them and looked toward the Lizard Men standing by the door. Before long, I spotted a familiar face(?).

The Lizard Man, a good two meters tall, wearing half plate and standing at ease in the back while watching the others, turned his head and looked at me.

Our eyes met. He stepped forward with what looked like a smile on his face. (When they keep their mouths shut, they always look as if they are smiling.) Then he said,

"It has been, a, long, time, human."

"Ah, so it is. Well? Were the things I gave you useful?"

He tapped the plate armor covering his chest.

Clang, clang~

"They are, good things. Thanks, to them, I, no, longer, worry, about, getting, hurt."

"Really? Come in, then. I cannot greet guests at the door when they have come all the way to the inn."

He slowly stepped inside, and behind him, along with the fellow who had been speaking with us earlier, three more Lizard Men entered as well. A little later, they took over one of the tables and sat down.

Kal and Jeff, having at last recovered from the shock, sat a little distance away and watched them with the faces of men who had just witnessed something exceedingly rare in this world.

"What a strange sight."

"And what do you think of an inn openly doing business in the middle of the Forsaken Forest?"

"That is strange too. What an amusing world. One really ought to live long."

"I was just thinking the same thing."

While I listened to their idle conversation, Rene came out of the kitchen carrying a tray full of beer mugs. I walked over to her and took them from her hands.

"There was no order."

"But they are guests. Should we not serve them something, at least? Besides, beer is about the only thing they would be able to drink. The other liquors and wines are too strong. If they drank them, they probably would not even be able to move. And if you want them to drink those without worry, you would have to drink in front of them again."

"...Sorry. I only said it out of needless worry."

"You are not old enough to talk that way. Needlessly worrying, indeed."

At my words, Rene smiled and gently patted my back. I returned the smile and handed a mug of beer to each of them.

"You know what this is, do you not?"

At my question, they all turned toward the one who lifted his mug first. As if to show them plainly, he raised the beer mug, brought it to his mouth, and drank it down.

Watching that, Kal and Jeff gaped and stared fixedly at the Lizard Man as he drained the beer. A moment later, after setting the now-empty mug back onto the table, he said,

"Muchari. Nak iri mus."

"Nak iri mus?"

At the question from the companion who pointed at the beer mug with one finger, he nodded. Perhaps because they were fellows who had never come here before, they hesitated for a moment, then began drinking their beer as well.

Rene watched them with an amused expression, then turned her head toward Kal and Jeff, who were sitting behind them talking quietly to each other.

"I have prepared lunch. Please eat before it gets cold."

"Ah?! Yes, understood. You bastard, what are you staring at like that? Get up already!"

"Oh? And who was it that was gawking with his mouth hanging wide open just a moment ago?"

"What?! When did I ever stare with my mouth hanging open?!"

"Then did you stare like this? Uu..."

As he said that, Jeff twisted his mouth into a ridiculous shape. At the sight, Kal, his face flaring red, promptly imposed a certain punishment and went into the dining room. Rene watched for a moment as Kal dragged Jeff away by the neck into the dining room, then turned her head toward me and said,

"He is covering what he did with force. Why?"

"Because his dignity is at stake."

"Is that important?"

"Yes. As far as I know, it is."

At my answer, Rene fell into a thoughtful expression. By now, she was probably trying to fit what we had just discussed into her own frame of understanding and think through why people acted that way. But the answer was always the same.

"I do not know. I do not understand why."

Closing her eyes, Rene let out a small sigh. I looked at her and smiled. She looked back at me, then turned her head slightly and said,

"If we are talking about humans, you are the easiest one for me to understand. I can even tell what you are thinking right now."

"And what am I thinking?"

"You are thinking about me. Am I right?"

I grinned and nodded, and Rene answered with a smile in her eyes. Just then, the Lizard Man leader tapped the table with his beer mug to draw our attention, raised a finger, pointed at the fellow beside him who was holding his beer mug in both hands and drinking from it, and spoke.

"This is, why we, came, looking for, you, today. He, is, the, one, who, will, become, the, next, chieftain, of, our, tribe. I, would, like, you, to, remember, his, face."

The moment he finished speaking, the fellow sitting beside him lowered his beer mug. He was the very Lizard Man who had blocked Jeff’s sword earlier and driven his fist into Jeff’s chest, and like the leader, he had a purple pattern around his eyes.

But why were they showing us the heir to their tribe? As I was thinking that, the Lizard Man called Aruma looked at me and said,

"My, name, is, Aruma, human."

"Ah. My name is Han. And this young lady here is my wife. Her name is Rene."

Aruma glanced at Rene and said,

"Elf, incarnation, of, the, forest. Human, destroyer, of, the, forest. It, does, not, suit. Do, you, think, you, suit, one, another?"

I had thought Lizard Men were less intelligent than ordinary humans, but it seemed I had been mistaken.

When Rene heard him, she turned her head and looked steadily at me while still holding the tray. I, too, kept looking at her with one hand in my pocket.

A moment later, the two of us turned our heads at the same time, looked at Aruma, and answered,

"Yeah."

"Yes."