Chapter 150: I Love a Nightcap

“Viscount Valenzai, look at this carefully before you answer my question.”

When the Viscount’s guards tried to move, I immediately wrapped them in [Whirlwind!] and slammed them into the wall behind.

The Viscount glanced at the identification I had thrust before him and tried to scoff, but instead a bubble of mucus swelled from his nose like a balloon.

“Viscount Valenzai, tell me why you summoned me!”

Still wearing that ridiculous nose bubble, he appeared unable to believe the identification, so I wrapped him in [Whirlwind!] and spun him around.

“St-stop… M-Melbarton, help…”

After spinning him more than ten times, I drained the magic, and he collapsed into a sitting position.

“If you have no intention of answering my question, you’ll keep spinning until you die.”

I floated a [Flame!] before his unfocused eyes, and he desperately backed away.

“Still not going to talk? Fine. I’ll report to Chancellor Brighton that you dragged me into your mansion and assaulted me. Prepare yourself.”

I turned my back, and a frantic voice called after me. “Please wait! I’ll talk, so please—anything but that!”

“Then speak quickly!”

“I heard from Duke Barland that Shams and Golden Goats had been presented to the royal family. Later, the Lynas Adventurers’ Guild auctioned Shams and Golden Goats. During the war with the Kingdom of Holtland, the royal family thanked us, but that was all… So I thought that if I also presented a Sham and a Golden Goat…”

Ah, he must have been thinking he might receive a reward—a newly added territory or some honor from His Majesty.

“So, you knew I came to this city and summoned me for that?”

“My knights reported that you were in the city, so I ordered them to summon you… I truly didn’t know you carried Chancellor Brighton’s identification. Please forgive me!”

What to do with this fool…

Even his eldest son, Fritz, seemed incompetent. I glanced at Melbarton, and he merely shrugged.

“Why?”

“Viscount Valenzai has governed this land wisely for many years. If such a lord were…”

I understood. Even a fool could govern his territory adequately, and the household servants would suffer if he were demoted or transferred. Melbarton’s strained words revealed how difficult it was to call his lord a fool.

Punishment for a foolish noble… the cellar.

“Apologizing isn’t enough. You know the kingdom and Adventurer’s Guild regulations, right?”

“Of course.”

“But you took issue with my guild card, dragged me out, and brought me here. I don’t like what your knights did either, but your poor supervision can’t go unnoticed.”

“Please forgive us. We beg you to keep this from His Majesty and the Chancellor.”

“You want me to keep quiet? I suppose I could endure it, but remembering today’s treatment will undoubtedly make it hard to sleep. So I’d like you to share a little of the medicine I use for a peaceful night’s rest.”

“A sleep-inducing drink? Not a potion?”

“Ah, I don’t know if there’s a potion that lets me sleep peacefully, but this is my sleeping medicine.”

I took a half-empty bottle from my magic bag and shook it for them to see.

“Alcohol…?”

“Don’t you know the term ‘nightcap’? With a mansion like this, there’s a wine cellar too, right? I won’t be greedy, but maybe 200 bottles would suffice.”

Viscount Valenzai made an indescribable face, while Melbarton lowered his head behind him, his shoulders trembling.

Guided by the butler, we descended to the underground wine cellar. The Viscount appeared to be quite a collector; shelves were lined with bottles of every kind.

At times like this, a poor man’s instincts came in handy. Assuming that the rarest and most expensive wines would exist in the smallest quantities, I asked the butler to guide me to them.

I appraised one of the boxed bottles stored apart from the others and difficult to reach. [Appraisal: Poisoned Wine.] There it was. Whether intended for assassination or suicide, perhaps poisoned wine was another noble indulgence.

I appraised bottles stored a little distance from the poisoned wine, confirmed that they were safe, and tossed them into my magic bag.

For varieties with ten bottles or fewer, I left two behind. Where there were more, I took ten to twenty bottles at a time.

Wine cellars are fun. Maybe I’ll make a small one myself when I return.

Satisfied, I returned to Viscount Valenzai. Before taking my leave, I remembered my original purpose and asked about Helnenka.

“Helnenka?”

“Yes. I stopped here to gather medicinal herbs near Helnenka village. Can you tell me the way or direction?”

“Lord Leon, Helnenka is nominally in my territory, but it’s so far I don’t know the details. Adventurers say it’s seven or eight, maybe over ten days south from Elvira.”

So nothing beyond the rumors.

“Population?”

“Mostly elves, said to be a thousand or two thousand households…”

If adventurers occasionally reach Helnenka, it’s faster to ask the Adventurer’s Guild.

After thanking Viscount Valenzai for the wine, I left and flew back outside the city gate. This time, the guards let me pass without complaint.

At the Adventurers’ Guild, I asked about Helnenka again. Because it was a remote area visited mainly by high-ranking hunters in search of prey, no one could provide detailed information.

Direction is south. Getting there involves mountains and valleys—quite a challenge.

The village was also said to be more populous than I had expected and enclosed by a high fence.

Flying there directly seemed faster than gathering more vague information, so I left Elvira and camped overnight on the grasslands.

I flew south at an estimated altitude of one hundred meters, watching the forest below more carefully than the horizon ahead.

As the guild had said, the terrain rose and fell sharply, with mountain ridges and sudden valleys. It looked even harsher than the route to Faranka.

Crossing it on foot would be difficult even for adventurers. I was grateful that I could fly, but how many hours would a seven- or eight-day walking distance take by air?

I flew straight south while watching the ground carefully, but saw nothing resembling Helnenka.

After circling the area several times without finding it, I returned to Elvira.

Why couldn’t I find Helnenka? The answer seemed simple: the terrain had distorted what everyone regarded as due south.

The next day, I flew south-southwest and made broad circles around the area I estimated to be a seven- or eight-day walk away. At last, I spotted scattered settlements in irregular clearings.

Before sunset, the lengthening shadows revealed houses clustered around several squares. From above, the settlement had initially appeared sparse.

To confirm the direction and avoid losing my way, I flew north and reached the Blange Highway before the ground became too difficult to see.

At dawn, I ascended and spotted a city to the east. It was Huberry.

Huberry was also part of Viscount Valenzai’s territory. Even if Helnenka belonged to him only nominally, I felt like shouting at him to get his act together.

I turned south again and, after roughly three hours at cruising speed, landed some distance from the village.

Using [Hover!], I approached Helnenka’s entrance.

From the moment I emerged from the forest and saw the settlement’s fence, I felt as though I were being watched. There was no sense of an imminent attack, so I continued forward.

“Stop! Where are you from?”

“From Lynas. I came to see Felicinka, the mother of Betty, who once lived in this village.”

I present my guild card.

“Hmm, Gold Rank First Class… impressive. Leon, was it? There are rumors that you toyed with a dragon in Roxanne.”

“That story? Someone who went shopping must have brought it back. This fellow is far too young, so it must be someone else.”

So the rumors had reached even here. A clumsy explanation would only prolong the conversation, so I played dumb.

“Anyway, where’s the central square?”

“Go straight; you’ll see it on the right.”

I had seen several squares from above, but the inner square presumably meant the one near the settlement’s center.

Number six on the north street from the central square—what’s that about?!

Naming streets based on square names and directions is so confusing.

The house had a thick chimney, and various glass ornaments stood in its display windows.

When I called toward the back, an elf wearing work clothes and an apron appeared.

She resembled my mother but looked only a little older. She certainly didn’t look like my grandmother.

“Hello, is this Felicinka’s house?”

She studied my face, then immediately recognized me. “You’re Betty’s son, aren’t you?”

People often said that I resembled my mother, so perhaps that was how she knew.

“Yes. I’m the third son, Leon. I’ve brought a delivery from my mother to Felicinka…”

“Call me Felica. Is Betty doing well?”

“Yes. I brought something from my mother to Felica…”

“Since you came all this way, are you an adventurer?”

“Yes. I’m the youngest, and I was granted wind magic.”

This grandmother has two spirits attached.

“You said you’re the third son and the youngest. How many siblings do you have?”

“My sister Belinda, and my older brothers Morris and Ralph.”

“Seems she gets along with that boy.”

Of course—she’s still head-over-heels, and she brags about it constantly.

“After returning to town with my mother, he retired from adventuring and now works at the ale brewery.”

“How old now?”

“Twenty.”

“An adventurer with wind magic… came alone?”

“Yes.”

“Then the Wind Magic user called Leon the Breeze is you?”

“Well, I’ve never called myself the Breeze, but people often call me that.”

Oh, come on—she had started giggling.

“Well, well. The mage rumored to have hurled a dragon is Betty’s son.”