Chapter 2

Cutting and slashing, he just kept cutting. It was done.

◆

"It seems we're taking a bit of time at the gate."

"It will be our turn eventually."

"Aye."

Fairod poked his head out of the line to check the front and nodded, confirming what Elrika had said.

Fairod and Elrika had arrived outside the city of Leinard in a carriage, but it seemed that the procedures for the people lined up at the gate of the city wall were not being processed smoothly, causing a crowd to form.

However, the elderly couple, who were about ninety years old, were not going to get irritated by such a minor inconvenience and stood there like stone or wood. If they hadn't been standing, they might have been thought to be dead.

"Next, hmm? Old man, old woman, where are your companions and how many are there?"

"It's just me and the old woman."

After a while, it was Fairod and Elrika's turn, but the gatekeeper, who was puzzled that only the two elderly people had moved forward, asked if they had any companions.

"We came to see a friend before meeting up with someone. We came in a carriage."

"I see."

Fairod's words were truly magical. If they said they came to see a friend before their meeting, most people would believe them.

"You may pass."

"Thank you."

To the gatekeeper, Fairod and Elrika looked like a frail old couple, so he let them through without any particular issues.

"You've changed, haven't you, old man? No, you've returned to your original self..."

"That's right, old woman..."

Elrika and Fairod stepped into the city of Leinard, known for its alcohol, and were stunned by the scene.

This city, famous for its alcohol since before the great war, had become a major production center for medicines and alchemical items during the war. People in suspicious clothing and craftsmen moved about busily with tense expressions.

"Is the Moonless Wine really in stock?"

"Give me the whole barrel!"

"Quickly, move the alcohol!"

This was the same scene as before the great war. Merchants and craftsmen involved in alcohol were shouting everywhere, creating a bustling atmosphere that truly reflected the phrase "business is booming."

Fairod and Elrika knew Leinard as a city that had been brutal during the war and quickly resumed its activities as a city of alcohol after the war. That's why they were stunned by the stark contrast between the past and the present.

But their appearance was unmistakably that of an old couple from the countryside who had come to the city to rely on their children, completely like country bumpkins.

(Well, this is probably for the best. I don't understand the appeal of alcohol, but it's better than creating drugs that drain one's lifespan for temporary power.)

Fairod recalled the potent drugs that were once produced in Leinard and looked around the city while shuffling along.

During the great war, which was a series of advances and retreats, those who had lost their families to the demonic army sought a quick way to strengthen themselves to avenge their loved ones. To meet this demand, the eccentric alchemists produced enhancement drugs, but the side effects were so severe that even they sealed them away.

But that was in the past.

The current Leinard is simply a city of alcohol, not a place where grudges and obsessions take shape.

"Well, where is he?"

"Just leave it to me. Excuse me, have you seen an old man lying down with a bottle of alcohol?"

Fairod, who had been rubbing his chin, wondering where their target was, involuntarily put his hand to his mouth when Elrika spoke to a passing man.

Was it because he thought his wife's description was too much?

"Ah, you know that drunk old man? He's collapsed in the alley over there."

Or was it because it actually worked, making him want to laugh?

◆

"Sure enough, he's drunk again."

"Same as always, or something like that."

Fairod and Elrika's gazes, as if they had expected it, were directed downward, not at a person but at the ground.

"Hic. I must have drunk so much that I'm hearing hallucinations. I can hear Fairod's and Elrika's voices."

Holding a bottle of alcohol in each hand, the old man, who was about the same age as Fairod and Elrika, lay sprawled out in the alley, drunk. His long white hair was tied back, and the smell of alcohol emanated not only from his tattered clothes but also from his skin, making him look like a homeless person.

However, the weapon he carried at his waist was peculiar. A special weapon called a sword, which had drifted from the Eastern countries, was not something a homeless person would typically have.

"If I'm an idiot, then you're a drunkard!"

Fairod leaned close to the homeless man's ear and shouted at the drunkard who had called him an idiot.

"Wha!? Fairod!?"

"I'm here too."

"Elrika too!?"

The homeless man, who hadn't been doused with water, jumped up from the ground, startled by Fairod's loud voice.

"Did you come down from the mountains!"

"You really haven't changed at all..."

Fairod, looking at the homeless man with a wrinkled face like the old couple, had a strange expression that was a mix of exasperation and nostalgia.

"Well, it's been a long time, Sazaki."

The homeless man, who Fairod was looking at, was their target, an old man named Sazaki.

The nickname he bore...