Volume 3 Chapter 72 Quest： Aperitif I
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
’Seventh Dragon’ is a big shop that sits a bit to the left from the main slope of the merchant district──it’s almost half a floor below the slope.
Being in the merchant district, it’s a popular tavern.
They say it runs under the name of a famous shop from the Royal Capital.
The prices are a bit high, but they have a wide variety of good quality drinks, making it especially popular with the many drinking Adventurers.
Behind the shop──hidden by the half-level step of the slope──Eleonora leads the 3 of them toward the left, to the waterway.
Herbs like thyme and lavender, planted for beauty, peek out with green and purple from the flower beds surrounding the plaza above.
The waterway, passing behind the shop, is about 3 meters wide, with colorless and odorless water flowing through it.
Christy’s golem is not set up, and the waterway leads under the plaza above to a dark arch.
There’s a sign from the Adventurer Guild saying entry is forbidden, but no staff is seen nearby.
Maribel wrinkles her nose next to Kian.
It’s no wonder.
From the tunnel under the plaza, a strong smell of iron and rotting flesh wafts through the air.
At the entrance of the tunnel, Eleonora stops and looks back at Maribel.
”Your Excellency will wait here.”
”No, I will also go.”
”But, Princess…”
”I will go.”
”…Understood. Lord Kian, do you need a torch?”
”No. I can see well in the dark.”
Kian replies and steps into the waterway tunnel ahead of the two girls.
It was visible before, but about 5 meters inside the entrance, there are a lot of bloodstains left behind.
Kian quietly passes by the bloodstains and turns his face toward the wall of the tunnel next to him.
The tunnel has 3 deep claw marks, about a meter long, made by a creature’s claws.
They are from a monster’s claws.
But there is no blood on them.
These are not wounds made to catch an Adventurer for food.
After the meal, it seemed like they left claw marks as if they were marking their territory.
(There were no signs of a struggle. The victim, an Adventurer, did not escape here while being chased, nor did he come here in the middle of a fight. He walked in on his own, lured by the monster. But…)
Kian called out to the red-haired Knight who was peering into the waterway behind him.
”When was the victim found?”
”This morning, at dawn. They said it had been hours since he was killed. All the blood was drained from his body. It must have taken time for the meal.”
”There was no crude act of poking and pulling out guts. Considering they lured the victim here, the monster probably has a certain level of intelligence at normal times.”
Kian crouched by the bloodstains and muttered to himself.
It would have been nice if some hair or nails were left, but there was nothing around.
”What a strong smell of alcohol~…”
Maribel came beside Kian and peered at the bloodstains.
She didn’t need a torch like Eleonora.
Pressing down her mini skirt up to her thighs, she knelt beside Kian.
Then, she wrinkled her cute nose and sniffed.
”There is a lot of alcohol mixed with the blood.”
”Is that so?”
Eleonora said with a puzzled voice.
Maribel covered her mouth.
”Yes, strong alcohol~. And, you know~, this smell. Like dried saliva on a pillow…”
”You have quite the unique expression, Your Excellency…. This is honey liquor. And it seems the alcohol was quite strengthened by alchemy──it’s distilled.”
”Honey liquor isn’t very common around here. It’s rare.”
Eleonora held her red curls back and crouched next to Kian.
A clean herb scent wafted from her.
”If Lord Kian’s nose is right, the Adventurer man drank a lot of honey liquor before he died at ‘Seventh Dragon’.”
”No, that’s not right. The man drank just beer. The distilled stuff… must have been added later. If a body was left here, it was probably splashed widely from above.”
”The criminal added it, right~?”
”If only the victim and the criminal were here, perhaps. But what’s odd is there’s no sign of the victim struggling at all. Brought here, thrown to the ground, and then drained of blood without a fight.”
Kian alternated his gaze between Maribel and Eleonora.
”A powerful Bloodsucking Kind might paralyze their prey with a venomous bite or claw. But this Rank 4 Adventurer shows no signs of resistance before being bitten on the neck. Maybe they were lured here while chatting from the tavern.”
”The monster looks like a human?”
”Yes, probably.”
”For example, if the monster had a beautiful appearance like Maribel or Eleonora, a drunk adventurer might follow without suspicion,” he pondered.
But the claw marks on the wall are definitely from a creature over 3 meters tall.
’Heh heh. After drinking blood, getting excited, it mutated.’
In his mind, ‘glasses’ cackled with glee.
He wasn’t sure what was so funny.
”Your Excellency, Lady Eleonora, the monster probably likes alcohol. Not just any alcohol, but the kind that’s bad for the insides. It wasn’t satisfied with the alcohol mixed in the victim’s blood last night. Or maybe the smell of meat wasn’t gone as much as it had hoped. The monster filtered the distilled liquor and resumed its feast.”
”The monster was enjoying its meal… is that what you’re saying? But can something on a revenge-driven killing spree have such gourmet preferences?”
”Perhaps we should first change our perception that it’s killing for revenge, Eleonora.”
Maribel stood up abruptly and spoke.
She continued.
”All the victims are Adventurers. They also have one thing in common──they were drinking. The monster seems to like a mix of blood and strong alcohol. It might just be enjoying the hunt. Eleonora, please ask the owner of ‘Seventh Dragon’ about their honey wine distillate. If they have it, check the records for the past week to see who bought it.”
”Huh. They might have bought it from another tavern, so I’ll ask the nearby tavern owners too.”
”No, it’s better to visit the merchant guild. They know everything about the businesses in the fortress.”
”I understand.”
Kian chimed in beside Eleonora.
”The distillate is probably over 70 percent alcohol. It’s hard to make unless you’re an Alchemist or a Shaman. It’s the kind of stuff used for Elixirs.”
”Seventy!? …Are they really selling something that strong in the fortress?”
”Anyway, please confirm. If the Guild says they don’t have it or haven’t sold it, then the alcohol used here must belong to the monster.”
”High-proof honey wine── that’s a drink favored by the Beastmen in the north. If it’s their own, we can narrow down the suspect. If we tell Liam to check travelers at the castle gate, we might catch the culprit.”
Eleonora nodded repeatedly as she spoke.
”It looks like I won’t have a chance to help. By tomorrow morning, Lady Eleonora might have caught the culprit.”
”I hope things go that smoothly… But I’m glad the Sunlightland Knights won’t get labeled as useless.”
”Kian, should we check other sites? Or continue investigating here?”
”Your Excellency, if we take too long, Ms. Priscilla might get hungry and start causing trouble.”
”Ah. Right.”
”Anyway, if Renaud finds out that Priscilla left him alone, he’ll be furious. That man dotes on his daughter.”
”Is Lord Renaud really a doting father?”
Kian blurted out the question, and Maribel and Eleonora exchanged glances.
””…I’d say that’s pretty serious.””
”Is that so?”
So even that brute is soft on his daughter.
Well, Priscilla has her good points.
Just imagining the little Priscilla hugging him with a “Papa!” and a big smile makes it seem like she could break anything.
”I’ll call the guards to continue the investigation.”
”Thank you. Kian, let’s return for now. It would be best to get dressed for dinner~”
”Yes.”
Maribel followed Eleonora out of the waterway tunnel.
Then, she suddenly stopped in her tracks.
”Your Excellency?”
”…I was thinking, Kian.”
A deep wrinkle appeared between her eyebrows as she turned around.
Her dark blue eyes traced the claw marks on the stone wall behind Kian.
”A few weeks ago, the Yelmar faction you encountered in the northeastern mountain village, they were said to be researching something about the Bloodsucking Kind at the lake~”
”Yes.”
By the way, he also encountered a mutated wolfman, a werewolf.
A man, or rather, a boy.
He was the one attacking people in the village.
Maribel was silent for a moment, then shook her head.
”I haven’t seen the criminal’s face yet. But… I have a very bad feeling about this. My instincts like this often turn out to be right.”
Please bookmark this series and rate ☆☆☆☆☆ on here!
Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
Leave a Reply