WeTried Translations
Translator: Abood
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Saviour Embarks on a Nameless Journey
Chapter 46: Alcohol Loosens the Tongue
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At night, I slipped out of the room and drank in the dining hall, which had turned into a slightly upscale tavern. The liquor here was not limited to local varieties. They also had rare bottles brought in from the cold northern regions.
Aquavit, a spirit distilled from potatoes. Perhaps because grapes did not grow there, northern liquor had many unusual varieties. Though from the north’s point of view, I suppose our wine must seem unusual as well. Apparently, the fashion with this drink was to alternate it with low-alcohol beer.
The liquor was good, but my purpose was information gathering. Rare drinks were easy to bring up as a topic between fellow drinkers, and they made for convenient light chatter before steering the conversation toward what I actually wanted to ask. After questioning several patrons, I was now speaking with one of the inn workers, who happened to have a free moment.
During the day, I had asked about things and places connected to what had happened long ago. This time, I asked about the area around that square.
“This month’s auction is already over. It’s only held for the first three days of the month.”
“Was there anything unusual at that auction?”
I know that much.
The town’s auction was famous enough that its location appeared even on a simple map of the town, and many visitors came for it, merchants and otherwise.
“The featured item this month was advertised as a sapphire as large as a fist. It was certainly large, but apparently it was not the sort of thing one could call a gemstone, so there was a bit of a commotion.”
...I asked that poorly.
“Were there any incidents? People disappearing, getting injured, that sort of thing?”
Even I could not very well open with, Did anyone suddenly die?
For that matter, from the information I had gathered during the day, there had been no suspicious deaths in this town over the past several years. Or if there had been, they were the sort where everyone understood the circumstances, had a fair idea who the culprit was, and kept quiet by tacit agreement.
The victim had spent years oppressing the weak, or had stolen another man’s wife, or there had been a feud between ruffians. All of them were matters a passing traveler would be wise not to stick his nose into.
“Recently, whether because they cannot find rooms or because they are trying to save money, I hear many people have been sleeping in their wagons and falling ill. As expected, one ought to secure proper lodgings, as you have done, sir.”
The inn worker said this with a smile.
Hm? Nothing comes out. No, could it be the type that drains vitality little by little from a large number of people? If wagons were being parked somewhere, it would likely be that square. Inns that allowed guests to stay with their wagons would also be limited, and I could hardly imagine that sleeping in wagons was a practice that had only begun recently.
“...Pya!”
I had heard what I needed, and something troublesome had awakened, so I returned to the room. There was rustling and Pya, Pya, Pya all the while, but I ignored it. Ignore it, I say.
When I returned, Marius was alone in the sitting room, drinking wine. I sensed Tain awake in the small chamber I passed through, but everyone seemed to be spending the night as they pleased.
“It seems Tain cannot hold nearly as much liquor as you.”
“Is it fair to compare him to the likes of us?”
When I took the seat opposite him, Marius poured wine into a fresh glass.
It seemed both Marius and I sobered up as quickly as we drank, and unless we guzzled a truly enormous quantity of very strong liquor, we would not get drunk. Thanks to the goddess’s blessing, our wounds healed faster than ordinary people’s, we were resistant to poison, and our metabolism was excellent. Though Shato, who had been weak to alcohol from the start, still got drunk rather quickly.
Marius was the type to drink for the atmosphere, while I was the type to get drunk on the atmosphere itself, so even if our bodies did not become intoxicated, we could enjoy liquor well enough.
As I reached for my glass, Pya crawled along my hand. Showing none of his usual clumsiness, he came darting over and shoved his face into the glass.
“...”
“...”
Marius and I both fell silent without thinking.
“It seems Shinju-sama likes alcohol as well. So, were you able to hear anything?”
“Do not simply let that pass! No matter how one looks at it, that is no deed of a sacred beast! He has half his face buried in the wine and is drinking, you know? How is he breathing, this creature?”
“He is a sacred spirit.”
Marius smiled.
“If you can accept such behavior, I shall hand Pya over, body and all, so take him with you!”
“Shinju-sama decides where he wishes to be. Now then, there are glasses and wine enough.”
As he said this, he placed a new glass in front of me.
“I am not angry because I am worried about my own share of the wine!”
This is a matter of discipline!
After arguing over something utterly foolish for a while, we moved on to the main subject.
“A sapphire?”
When I briefly told him what I had heard at the tavern, Marius latched onto a strange point.
“What of it? Was it not simply a stone too cloudy to be called a gemstone, so lacking in transparency that sunlight could not pass through?”
Even the same mineral could be gem-quality or not.
“If it were being used for fraud, perhaps. But at an auction? One look would make the truth clear, so surely they would not do something that damaged their own reputation so badly. And it was a sapphire, yes? Perhaps it became clouded.”
Marius said this while tilting his wine glass.
“A monster touched it.”
Some gemstones reacted to magic and monsters.
Among sapphires, those blue stones that matched the origin of the name were called the stones of philosophers and saints. Priests often wore sapphire rings to amplify their healing power.
“Or perhaps a monster used some kind of power, and the stone was affected by it.”
“If large numbers of people are falling ill, it may be using some wide-ranging life-drain, perhaps.”
Either way, it seemed certain that the creature was hiding itself and skulking about.
“By the way, is this thing asleep?”
“It appears he is.”
Pya clung to my arm, his face still shoved into the glass, and had gone quiet.
He had been sleepy, yet appetite won out and brought him here. This was the result.
“What even is a sacred beast?”
“A being for whom we are grateful simply because he exists.”
Absolutely not!
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