The Blade of the Backstreets (1)
CLICK.
Several tables stood throughout the dim interior, where patrons sat in small groups and drank together.
[Man Behind the Bar]
[Judging by his apron and the way he is wiping a cup with a cloth, he appears to be the innkeeper. The deep scar across the bridge of his nose and the sword at his waist suggest that he is a retired soldier.]
The innkeeper described by the Status Window was not the only one with a rough, imposing appearance. The establishment had precisely the atmosphere one would expect from a rowdy inn in the backstreets.
“I will look around first. If I buy them each a mug of beer and strike up a conversation, someone may let slip a useful piece of information.”
“Very well. You are the one who saw the man in person, after all.”
I answered Hakon while sweeping my gaze over the patrons.
[Menacing Man]
[Judging by the shield and axe with which he is armed, he appears to be a mercenary.]
[Suspicious Man]
[The way he conceals his face beneath a hood gives him a suspicious air.]
[Disreputable Group]
[Judging by their filthy appearance and the daggers at their waists, they appear to be highwaymen.]
They all looked like ruffians at first glance, but that was all. I could not see anything particularly unusual about them.
“I will speak with the innkeeper. Let us meet outside later.”
“Very well.”
Leaving Hakon behind, I approached the bar. The innkeeper continued wiping a cup with a faint SQUEAK, SQUEAK without even turning to look at me.
“Are you ordering something? Ale?”
“Later. I have a few questions first.”
“Questions? I do not care what they are. Order something first. That is the rule in my establishment.”
His cold response made my expression harden. I had expected him to be unfriendly from his severe appearance, but not to this extent.
“Why the long face? You look like a mercenary. Did you not come to my inn in search of work?”
“Work?”
“Was I wrong? If you sit around long enough, someone who needs an extra pair of hands will eventually approach you. That is why everyone comes and goes from this place.”
So that was how it worked.
This inn apparently served as a kind of employment office. Of course, since it stood in the backstreets, the work offered here was unlikely to be as legal or respectable as that found in an ordinary employment office.
“You must be from out of town if you do not even know that… What brings you here?”
The innkeeper narrowed his eyes and stared at me. Judging by the way he emphasized that I was an outsider, he did not seem particularly fond of strangers.
“It is nothing serious. I am merely looking for someone.”
“Then look somewhere else. I have no intention of speaking with outsiders.”
“……”
“I will say this for your sake and that of your tall friend over there. Outsiders are not welcome in this neighborhood. Forget about ordering anything and leave. It will be better for your health.”
The innkeeper looked away and resumed wiping the cup.
His unfriendly attitude was irritating, but more than that, it made me suspicious.
‘How strange. He runs an inn, yet he is this wary of outsiders?’
Most of an inn’s guests would naturally come from elsewhere. His attitude was no different from declaring that he had no interest in doing business.
Moreover, the scent that had reached my nose was suspicious as well. Although faint, it was exceedingly familiar, so I recognized it at once.
[A faint scent of Mersia tea leaves lingers on his body.]
I remembered the fragrance clearly because Mersia had been my father’s favorite variety.
In other words, the owner of an inn in the backstreets carried the scent of tea expensive enough for a duke to enjoy.
‘Such a luxury has no place in a backstreet inn. There cannot be ten people in this entire city capable of enjoying it regularly.’
He did not appear to be an ordinary innkeeper.
If anything, that was fortunate. He might know something about the Wyvern Brotherhood.
“Listen, I have no intention of causing trouble in your establishment. I merely—”
CRASH!
A sudden commotion erupted behind me.
When I turned around, several patrons had risen from their seats and surrounded someone.
“You bastard! Who sent you?”
“Why are you asking so many questions? Are you a rat from the Thieves’ Guild?”
I frowned when I saw Hakon surrounded by them. It seemed an argument had broken out while he was speaking with the patrons.
‘Then again, even at the Main Estate, Hakon was never the sort to resolve matters through conversation.’
A fight was about to erupt.
The innkeeper already regarded us with suspicion. If we caused a disturbance on top of that, our investigation would be finished.
I hurried toward them.
“Everyone, calm down. We can settle this by talking—”
“There is nothing left to discuss! Beat him!”
“How dare a Thieves’ Guild bastard show his face here? Kill him!”
The group of seven surged toward Hakon, striking him with their fists and feet. Judging by their mention of the Thieves’ Guild, there had clearly been some misunderstanding.
‘This has gone badly. There is no helping it.’
I released a long “Phew,” charged forward, and punched the first man within reach.
THUD! THUD!
Fists and kicks flew at me from every direction, but none inflicted serious damage. I was wearing leather armor, so bare-handed attacks were easy enough to ignore.
Trusting in my armor, I threw punch after punch, seized a chair and swung it into someone, then hurled another attacker across a table.
“Ugh!”
“Argh!”
“W-What is this bastard, a monster?”
When I glanced to the side, I saw Hakon knocking down one assailant after another with his fists.
Strangely enough, he almost seemed more capable with his bare hands than he was with a greatsword. It appeared that fists and blades suited him far better than words.
“Ugh….”
“Y-You bastards….”
Before long, all seven men had been thoroughly beaten and lay sprawled across the floor.
While the other patrons stared at us in astonishment, I dusted off my hands and returned to the innkeeper.
“I apologize for damaging your establishment. I will compensate you. However, you saw what happened. Those men picked a fight and attacked my companion first.”
“……”
“And we are not members of the Thieves’ Guild. We are merely customers. So—”
“I do not care where you bastards came from.”
The innkeeper spoke with a rigid expression.
He was clearly furious. We had started a brawl in his establishment and destroyed several tables and chairs. It seemed inevitable that he would curse us and throw us out.
However, his next words proved my expectations completely wrong.
“You seem capable in a fight, and that is good enough. Are you interested in some work that requires strength?”
The wariness that had filled the innkeeper’s face had already softened considerably.
Slightly startled by his unexpected response, I asked,
“Work?”
“Yes. Did you not come here looking for work like everyone else? You certainly look like mercenaries.”
“……”
“I do not usually work with outsiders, but you bastards appear reasonably capable, and I urgently need more hands. The pay is ten ducats for one night. Are you interested?”
That was a generous sum for a single night’s work.
Did he truly have that much money to spare?
‘Working under him may allow us to obtain information about the Wyvern Brotherhood.’
This had not been part of our original plan. Nevertheless, I had a strong feeling that it might prove to be an opportunity.
It did not take long to reach a decision.
“Very well. I would be grateful for the work.”
“Then I will hire both you and your friend. Judging by your equipment, you should at least be capable of pulling your weight.”
The innkeeper glanced over my shoulder toward Hakon as he spoke.
The fact that he cared about our equipment suggested that this “work” was far from ordinary. Then again, that was to be expected of any employment offered in the backstreets.
“My name is Selwin. What is yours?”
“Hmm… Doumar.”
“Dou… what? I do not know what region you come from, but that is a peculiar name.”
Perhaps I should have chosen something more common.
“In any case, return here at midnight tonight. Make certain that no one follows you.”
“Understood. What exactly is the job?”
“I will explain when we meet again. I will see you then.”
With that, I concluded my conversation with Selwin and left the inn with Hakon.
“Did I ruin our investigation? They attacked me first, so I had little choice.”
“No, it is fine. In fact, you did well, Hakon. It appears we will have to alter our plan.”
“What?”
I gave the bewildered Hakon a satisfied smile.
Events had begun unfolding in an entirely unexpected direction, so naturally, our plans for what followed would have to change as well.
“Ugh, my back is going to break.”
“Why are these things so heavy? Are tea leaves not merely scraps of dried leaves?”
It was the middle of the night on the road outside the inn.
Selwin’s subordinates sat upon the piles of cargo crates, grumbling and complaining.
I could only agree with them.
What in the world had been placed inside these crates to make them so heavy? I had moved only a few, yet I was already exhausted.
“They are packed tightly with protective material to keep the tea leaves from spoiling. Stop complaining. You have barely moved any crates.”
Selwin scolded his grumbling men and looked down the street, apparently watching for someone’s arrival.
“Protective material? I thought the crates were filled with lumps of iron.”
“I thought they normally used sawdust for packing. Sawdust would not be this heavy… It is somewhat strange.”
I answered Hakon while sitting on a crate and wiping the sweat from my forehead.
Seven of us were working in total, including Hakon and me.
-Remove all the contraband from the underground storeroom and carry it outside the inn. Then protect me until the customer loads everything onto the wagon and leaves. Do you understand?
That was how Selwin had explained the night’s work.
He was a kind of Storage Broker. He kept contraband inside the inn’s underground storeroom and charged the owners a storage fee.
The inn aboveground was merely a front created to conceal the business. My earlier suspicions had proven at least partially correct.
‘That explains why he was wary of outsiders. He does not care how much the inn earns, and he cannot allow rumors about his true business to spread.’
By keeping the operation secret and bribing the guards, he appeared to have maintained the business without any serious problems.
‘When are these customers supposed to arrive?’
We continued waiting.
After midnight, the street lay beneath a deep darkness. It was so silent that not even the squeaking of a rat could be heard. There was only the chill of the night air and the distinctive stench of the backstreets.
RATTLE. RATTLE.
A short while later, the sound of wheels approached, and everyone rose to their feet.
Six men were driving a donkey-drawn wagon toward us. Every one of them wore the same attire, with cloaks wrapped around their bodies and hoods concealing their faces.
“Selwin.”
“You have arrived, Melvin.”
The man walking at the front strode toward Selwin and greeted him.
A scar crossed his left eye, and a thick golden beard covered the lower half of his face, giving him a rather menacing appearance.
“I brought out the thirty crates of Mersia tea leaves you requested. They were stored safely in a dry place….”
“Excellent. Satisfactory, as always.”
At a gesture from the man called Melvin, his subordinates began loading the crates onto the wagon one by one.
Naturally, since goods such as these had been kept inside Selwin’s warehouse, Melvin was most likely a smuggler.
“Will you be entrusting me with another shipment in approximately ten days, as usual?”
“Yes. On that subject, I have a favor to ask.”
“A favor?”
Selwin tilted his head, and Melvin continued calmly.
“I want to obtain some weapons.”
“Weapons?”
“The smithies in the city sell some fairly respectable arms. However, men like us cannot simply place an order there. That is why I wish to ask my friend for assistance.”
“……”
“Fifteen swords, ten crossbows, and approximately three hundred iron bolts should suffice. That will not be a problem, will it?”
Before Melvin had even finished speaking, discomfort spread across Selwin’s face.
After hesitating for a moment, he answered cautiously.
“That will be difficult, Melvin.”
“Difficult? Why?”
“Listen, I am only a Storage Broker. My business is safely storing goods that my customers bring into the city from outside. Fulfilling other requests is beyond what I do. If the City Guard catches me, this entire business will be finished.”
“Yes, yes. Naturally, you have circumstances of your own. But surely you can do that much for me, considering our relationship. Think of all the kindness I have shown you.”
“T-That is….”
“The storage fees I have paid you over the years amount to a considerable sum, do they not? Will you truly refuse me, Selwin?”
Melvin spoke in an ominous tone as his hand moved toward the dagger at his waist.
It had an unusually long, narrow blade that resembled an awl.
‘That is a stiletto. The same weapon used to attack the guard yesterday….’
The realization startled me, and I quickly examined Melvin from head to toe.
His appearance also closely resembled the description the wounded guard had provided.
Could it be?
“You bastards over there, do not so much as move a finger unless you wish to make an enemy of the Wyvern Brotherhood.”
Melvin growled at Selwin’s approaching subordinates.
Every one of them froze in place.
Now that the organization’s name had come directly from his mouth, there was no longer any room for doubt.
“My lord, did you hear that?”
“Yes. I heard him clearly. It appears we have found our man.”
I answered Hakon in a hushed voice while staring at Melvin.
Our target was standing directly before us.