I regretted that I couldn’t put candy in the little one’s mouth while holding him, but since he said he didn’t want any, there was nothing I could do.
Varen had refused, but the other child was buzzing with excitement.
“Kare, don’t go too far.”
“Yes!”
Kallen hopping around made me uneasy. Still, seeing her so lively and energetic, appropriate for her age, was satisfying.
The Dravergh Clan’s warehouses were piled high with human gold coins. Neira had prepared generous travel funds for us. Just in case, she had even packed jewels by the handful.
All the gold and jewels were placed in Varen’s inner pocket. Like the pouch the spirit had given us, it was enchanted with spatial magic, so we could take things out whenever we wanted.
And once we reached the city, I gave one gold coin each to Kallen and Margon, who were both excited beyond measure. It was only a single coin, but it was enough to buy anything they wanted.
“Big brother! Is this one pretty, or is this one pretty?”
At that moment, Kallen turned to me with ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ a bright smile. She was holding a hairpin in each hand, pressing them alternately to the left and right sides of her forehead.
But for several reasons, it was hard to answer.
“Well... they’re similar....”
“Look properly! This one’s pink and this one’s yellow!”
“...They’re pretty. Buy both.”
“Geez, big brother! You’re so half-hearted!”
Since Ceryl’s appearance looked to be in his early twenties, we had set Kallen’s relationship to me as a sibling.
Still, uncle might have worked, but being called “big brother” by a nineteen-year-old pricked my conscience.
On top of that, Kallen was more immersed in this roleplay than anyone else.
“Big brother, big brother! What about this necklace? Is it pretty? Does it suit me?”
This time, she held a glittering necklace up to her neck and asked me. It was an elegant accessory that didn’t match her shabby clothes at all, and it felt rather mature for a young girl.
But I snorted softly and nodded.
“Yeah, it’s pretty. Buy everything you want.”
“Wow, big brother, you’re the best!”
Leaving the excited Kallen behind, I shook my head and turned my gaze away.
Across from us, Margon stood tall, his head still sticking out above the crowd. He was rooted in place in front of a glass display, staring inside as if nailed there.
I wondered what had caught his attention and walked over. I looked into the display, then at Margon. His thick beard was damp with drool.
“...Do you want to eat that?”
“Huh—ah, Ceryl, no, Harry.”
Margon hurriedly wiped his mouth as he answered. Inside the glass case, thick sausages were hanging in rows.
He certainly hadn’t gone hungry in Belzena, but Margon couldn’t tear his eyes away from the sausages. I patted his shoulder and nodded.
“Go on, buy it. Buy whatever you want to eat.”
“...Is that really all right?”
“Yeah, yeah. You’ve got to eat a lot to maintain a build like that.”
I had told them to spend freely, but both Kallen and Margon kept asking for my permission before buying anything.
After giving the two of them some free time to shop, I walked down the street holding Varen. My arms felt like they were about to fall off, but the little fists wriggling in my embrace were so cute that I could endure it.
“Ceryl, don’t you want anything?”
“No, not really. I just want to lie down comfortably.”
“Should I buy you a bed?”
“You don’t buy a bed. You go to a place that has one.”
“...Right now?”
The eight-year-old boy answered shyly, his cheeks reddening. I stopped short and scowled as I warned Varen.
“Don’t say things like that in this form. You’ll really get scolded.”
“Why not. My appearance is that of a child, but inside I’m—”
“No, no. Absolutely not. That’s not up for consideration.”
“Consideration?”
I shook my head and started walking again.
Ignoring Varen’s chatter, I kept going, and before I realized it, the streets grew quieter. There were no longer any stalls filling the alleys, and the buildings were spaced far apart.
Only then did I have the leeway to look around. As I glanced about, Varen suddenly grabbed my collar tightly, signaling me.
“Ceryl, wait. Don’t go that way.”
His unchanging blue eyes had sunk low. At his unusual reaction, I tilted my head and asked,
“Why? What’s over there?”
“There’s a monster. I can feel it.”
I followed Varen’s gaze. It looked like an ordinary back alley, but once he said that, it seemed to reek of something foul.
Holding Varen, I turned into the dark alley. Trash and broken liquor bottles were scattered here and there. It definitely wasn’t a place to bring a child.
As we walked deeper in, this time I stopped of my own accord.
“Did you hear that just now?”
“I did.”
It was a door set into the back of a building. Unlike the old structure around it, the door itself looked sturdy and new.
And beyond it, faint but unmistakable, came the cry of a monster.
Varen hopped down from my arms and took the lead without hesitation. The sight of a little one barely half my height striding forward so boldly almost made me laugh.
I wiped my face, composed my expression, and followed after him. He placed his hand on the door, staring at it as if trying to see through it.
I focused on grasping what was happening inside. When I closed my eyes and concentrated on my hearing, I caught the rough voices of men thoroughly soaked in alcohol.
“Damn, the booze tastes incredible today! If only we had some Erni powder right now, it’d be perfect!”
“Hey, I told you to ration it. We don’t even have enough to sell to the nobles.”
“I know, but what am I supposed to do when I’m already addicted!”
“Tsk, tsk. Keep that up and you’ll end up dead.”
“Hahaha! That wouldn’t be so bad either!”
I opened my eyes slowly and frowned. Varen looked up at me with an expression that said he didn’t understand.
“Erni is a winged monster. It releases a powder that causes hallucinations.”
At Varen’s explanation, I let out a groan and rubbed my face dryly.
“Ah... you human bastards.”
I had more or less guessed, but hearing that it was a hallucinogenic powder confirmed it.
Alcohol and drugs. Back-alley secret trades.
Even in a different world, humans were the same. I wanted to kick the door in on the spot, beat the drug-soaked bastards senseless, and free the captured monsters.
But before I could act, someone grabbed both Varen and me by the backs of our necks.
“Eek....”
“Shh.”
Unable even to scream, I turned my head to see a man with an unfamiliar face standing there. He was tall and dressed as a guard.
“I believe I told you not to act rashly.”
He spoke in a voice that sounded like it was holding irritation in check.
***
Morpha brought Varen and me to a shabby inn. Before long, Kallen and Margon also returned, each with their arms full of shopping bags, as if they had known where to find us.
This time, Morpha had transformed into a man in his late twenties. They flung off the uniform cap they had been wearing and roughly ruffled their flattened dark-blue hair.
“I can’t believe this. How could you take Varen and go somewhere so dangerous?”
“...I’m sorry.”
“Was I unclear? Was it hard to understand when I said not to move rashly?”
“...I was wrong.”
Perhaps because of the guard uniform, Morpha’s presence was overwhelming, and I felt like a criminal standing in front of them.
They weren’t wrong. When we left Belzena, what Neira had impressed upon me over and over was Varen’s safety.
Even if Varen had suggested it first, taking him into a place that reeked of danger was ultimately my fault. I had nothing to say, even with ten mouths.
“That’s enough, Morpha. Ceryl needs to rest now.”
“.......”
“Ceryl, go somewhere with a bed. Come here.”
Everyone’s gaze turned to little Varen. The unbearably adorable eight-year-old lifted his chin, acting like a prince on a white horse.
The taut silence, stretched tight as a bowstring, was broken by Kallen’s clear laughter.
“Hahaha! Oh my, he’s cute! He’s way too cute!”
“Hahaha, truly adorable!”
Clueless, Margon joined in with a hearty laugh. Varen then looked at the two of them with his unchanged blue eyes.
He hadn’t used any dragon power in particular, but the two of them gradually quieted down. Soon they averted their gazes, pretending to rummage through the shopping bags they had brought.
At the small commotion, Morpha let out a deep sigh. True to the inn’s shabby nature, they sat down on a worn chair and crossed their long legs.
“We still haven’t found the Rebels’ base. However, we did manage to catch a trail of what they’ve been doing.”
“Really?”
My eyes lit up as I straightened my posture. Among everyone there, I was the only one fully focused on Morpha’s words.
Looking tired, Morpha pressed at their eyelids as they continued.
“The place you saw earlier is a black market. It’s where monster parts are traded in secret.”
I had thought there was only one monster being held, but a black market meant the scale was larger than expected.
“The Rebels are planning to raid that place. At the earliest, it’ll be tomorrow night. At the latest, sometime this week.”
Varen, who had been listening with his arms crossed, nodded. Then he lifted his chin again.
“The Rebels, hm. I like them.”
Since Varen had no intention of adapting to the appearance of a child, it seemed I would have to adapt to the mismatch between his looks and his manner of speech.
