WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Dionysus
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Wizard's Memoir ◈
Chapter 24: Notary
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To humans, death was an ordinary part of nature.
If someone died from an accident, illness, or old age, people would mourn for half a day, then return to their daily lives. They would talk about it at the market and in the taverns for a week or so, then gradually forget. It had happened yesterday, and it would happen again tomorrow. Murder, however, was different.
Even if it happened every day, one person killing another was not natural. Nor should it ever become natural. And now the most honored man in the north had been murdered. This could not simply be brushed aside. The vast majority agreed.
Every gate in Northern Ridge was locked.
As the city could neither produce enough nor support itself, traffic could not be stopped entirely. But people who carried swords, had no clear occupation, were known for bad behavior, or had no respected citizen to vouch for them were forbidden to come and go, leaving them practically under detention. Strangely enough, adventurers fell into most of those categories.
“What did we ever do? This is discrimination against our profession! Against our races!”
Travelers, pilgrims, and traveling merchants faced similar problems, but the greatest suspicion fell on the assorted drifters who called themselves adventurers, or were called that by others. Olivia’s party was no exception.
The branch manager, who also ran the tavern, actively protected them from unjust arrests. The authorities seemed reluctant to interfere with the Guild, which had connections to powerful people in the royal capital, so no one was simply bundled up in ropes and dragged away. Still, they could not avoid being confined to the Guild Pub.
“What would we gain by killing the margrave? They should be looking at his family and vassals! Do they think adventurers are easy targets?”
“When a dungeon has them fearing for their lives, they beg us for help. Then something like this happens, and we’re criminal scum.” Hrrrk, ptui!
“Don’t spit on the floor!”
Being forced to do something never felt good. Tempers were growing short, and the atmosphere in the first-floor hall was ugly.
Those who merely cursed the lord’s family were among the better behaved. Others growled that they would rearrange the bones of anyone who laid a hand on them.
The tavern keeper coaxed and soothed them, barely keeping order, but that would not last long as their anxiety and impatience grew. Then, on the morning of the third day, trouble came.
“There is testimony that the assassin was an elf!”
An administrator from the lord’s castle announced this without warning.
The assassin who had killed the margrave was thin and unusually agile, leaping around three-story buildings with ease. Most importantly, their hood had slipped off for a moment, and someone had seen the long, pointed ears unique to elves.
“Why would an elf kill a human lord?”
“Well, if you’ve found the culprit, it’s got nothing to do with us, right? We can leave now?”
The adventurers murmured and protested. The administrator frowned and held up a palm.
“You cannot. We have yet to establish who was behind the elf assassin or who helped them.”
“What kind of bullshit is that? You’ve already decided to suspect us!”
Adventurers were, by nature, a rough crowd who knew how to use blades. They had dozens of suspicious-looking swords, large and small, as well as longbows and mechanical crossbows normally seen only on battlefields.
Faced with their anger, the administrator stepped back without thinking. It was a bad mistake that exposed a weakness. The adventurers, whose combat instincts had been sharpened by hunting monsters, grew fiercer still.
The mercenary escorts gripped their sword hilts in warning, but they were hopelessly outnumbered. Some adventurers took this as a threat, making the situation even worse.
The tavern keeper vaulted over the bar to intervene, skirts flying, but the ink-stained clerk lost patience and shouted.
“A-are you saying I’m wrong? We already know there’s an elf here!”
In a battle of wills, the most powerful weapon was a fact. No one would have cared if fists or swords were already flying, but in the present situation, pointing out the truth took the wind out of the adventurers’ sails.
“Do you mean Merial?”
“Merial?”
“You know, the young elf lady who likes wine.”
“The branch manager’s mother?”
“What? She’s that old?”
With the balance shifting in the administrator’s favor, confidence returned. The retreating foot moved back into place.
“Despite the circumstances already coming to light, we chose to wait rather than use force, out of special respect for the Guild’s contributions and value! And yet! How dare you threaten and rage at a servant of your lord?”
“N-no, when did we threaten anyone...?”
Eyes darted toward a woman sitting in a corner of the first-floor hall with a staff tucked against her. The administrator decided that, having come this far, there was no point stopping.
“Arrest that elf wench!”
The mercenary escorts stepped forward. Without thinking, the adventurers made way.
All except one.
“You can’t do that!”
The tavern keeper blocked the mercenaries’ path.
One inexperienced mercenary, who had no idea how the Guild worked, raised a hand, thinking this was merely a tavern keeper. Fortunately, another mercenary intervened. Assaulting a Guild branch manager really could get someone killed.
“This is an order from the lord’s representative!”
“On what charge? Being an elf? Then if the culprit were human, would you arrest every human? I won’t allow it without evidence!”
“Don’t be unreasonable! How many elves do you think there are in Northern Ridge? There aren’t even ten, including that woman!”
“Oh, really? So there are as many as ten, and you’re treating them all like criminals? Can you handle the consequences if the elves outside the city hear about this?”
“W-we aren’t calling them criminals! This is merely questioning! Surely we must investigate! If she’s innocent, she’ll be released at once! If you keep acting like this, you’ll only deepen our suspicions!”
Then the elf moved. She struck the wooden floor with the staff she always kept at her side.
Thump!
Something spread out in all directions from the bottom of the staff. Had they not been indoors, it might have been mistaken for an extremely fast mole. Naturally, it was no ordinary creature like a mole.
‘Spirits?’
Etran and the other mages recognized them, some sooner than others. This was spirit magic, something rarely seen in human society.
‘Was she a Sorcerer rather than a Wizard?’
The thought had barely formed when she proved that she was a Wizard as well. By the time the spirits burrowing through the floor returned to her staff, a vast magic circle had formed around the entire Guild Pub.
“Quiet.”
That single word really did make everything quiet. The barking administrator, the growling tavern keeper, and the mercenaries and adventurers caught up in the argument all stopped talking.
More precisely, their words disappeared.
They parted their lips, shaped the air, and breathed it out, but the sound vanished the moment it formed. Since it was impossible, there was only one thing to call it: magic.
Startled by the sudden spell, the mercenaries drew their swords. They lacked the courage to swing them, however, and merely stood in awkward fighting stances.
The adventurers were more familiar with this sort of situation, but the power needed to cast such a wide-ranging spell in an instant left them subdued. There was nothing to say except that she was an elf, after all.
“Are you certain that an elf killed the human lord?”
The elf mage, Merial, asked the question. The administrator opened and closed their mouth, then gave up and nodded furiously.
“Then this is not entirely unrelated to me.”
The tavern keeper also mouthed something. No sound came out, of course. It was the sort of perfect silence in which even a falling needle would have rung out loudly.
“I will submit to this questioning. In return, there are things I wish to know as well. I ask for your cooperation.”
The administrator shook their head with a troubled expression. Whether this meant they were unwilling to cooperate or lacked the authority was unclear. Then a new voice joined in.
“I’ll go with you.”
Every eye in the Guild Pub turned toward the speaker. Olivia and the others were the most surprised, since the voice belonged to a member of their own party.
“And you are?”
“Mage Etran.”
Merial regarded the young Mage who had escaped her spell with interest. In truth, the principle behind breaking it was simple. He projected mana back into the magic circle the spirits had drawn on the floor, keeping its interference away from him. It was like shooting one stream of water into another to avoid getting wet.
“Human?”
“Yes. I’m human.”
The principle was nothing surprising, but the power needed to put it into practice was unfamiliar even to a long-lived elf. Judging by his lack of beard or wrinkles, he was an infant who had not even lived thirty years, yet his mana ran too deep to measure. Perhaps he should be called a kind of mutation.
“You intend to accompany me?”
“It would be good to have someone there to protect you.”
“You? Protect me?”
“No matter how great a mage is, they can’t fight alone.”
Etran scratched his head as he spoke. Merial shook hers slightly.
“That is not what I asked. Why do you want to protect me?”
“Hmm... Because we’re both adventurers? Because you’re the branch manager’s mother?”
“Weak reasons.”
“Simply because I can?”
“That is an answer.”
Merial smiled. Doing something simply because they could was one of humanity’s frightening traits. Depending on the situation, it could become either kindness or malice. This time, it had become kindness.
Once he had her permission, Etran approached the administrator. He revealed something about himself that he had never particularly hidden, but had never gone out of his way to boast about either.
“I am Etran Griff, third son of Count Griff. I will act as notary and observe the questioning of Merial, the elf.”
Elven magic really was useful. Olivia shouted, and Dahlia shouted even louder, but neither hurt his ears.
“And, um, if it’s all right, my companions can come too, can’t they?”
Silence meant consent. And so Olivia’s party was to appear at the lord’s castle.
@
It felt as though they ought to board a four-horse carriage and travel under the protection of mounted mercenaries. But the market streets made it difficult for anything larger than a handcart to get through, so everyone went on foot.
Personally, Etran thought this was better, as it made the situation feel less grave or urgent. It was to their advantage to look like visitors arriving on their own feet rather than suspects summoned over the lord’s murder. The rest of the party did not agree.
“Your father’s a count palatine?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Isn’t that an incredibly important noble?”
Ranking noble titles was a ridiculous business, but if one insisted on putting numbers to their power and lining them up, his father would be among the top ten.
“I’m only the third son, though.”
“No, no, no! That’s still amazing! You’re the son of someone important!”
“D-do we have to call you ‘young lord’?”
They should have guessed when he mentioned that none other than the princess had personally invited him to become a court wizard. Surely a princess would not come in person to recruit some country boy just because he had made a little name for himself.
“I don’t have a title or any land. Please just call me Etran.”
“Oh, what? So you’re not a noble?”
“I am a noble.”
“Young lord! Young lord!”
Dahlia’s constant changes of attitude were exhausting. Even Rolf, who was usually as composed as a monk, took an interest in their companion’s background, though the reason was practical and direct.
“As a Guild member and a count palatine’s son, Etran cannot be treated lightly, even by the lord’s representative. If he protects us, our safety can be assured as well.”
“What about the elf, then?”
Their eyes turned toward the elf mage walking ahead.
The lord’s people seemed certain that the assassin was an elf. In a situation like this, she would have to prove her own innocence rather than wait for them to prove her guilt. That was very, very bad.
“All we wanted was to buy a mule and go exploring. How did we end up like this?”
Etran gave them an apologetic look. He felt that he had dragged them deep into the affair. Their leader, however, refused to accept the apology.
“As long as they’re targeting adventurers, we have to settle this with them. And this isn’t just anyone. She’s the Guild branch manager’s mother. It would’ve been hard to stay clear of the fallout.”
Without meaning to, they had become representatives of Northern Ridge’s adventurers. They could add a personal goal to that as well.
“Hee-hee! If we find the real culprit, that representative will give us a big reward, right?”
The three humans sighed softly.
Whatever else could be said, this was a truly serious affair. If the culprit really was an elf, it could create a rift in the Alliance that had supported the kingdom for hundreds of years.
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