The Fire-type Devoted Son

Edmund Steldian.

Why would someone high up who manages Iushil want to meet us in secret?

I looked at Edmund, curious about what would come from his mouth.

“Ugh, aaargh…”

But contrary to my expectations, what came out of Edmund’s mouth was a groan. As he let out a groan, a maid quickly brought an ice pack and pressed it to Edmund.

“Pathetic!”

Barkal shouted at Edmund like that.

“You’ve only been hit once!”

The problem is, that one hit was from a monster like you.

“Your father would be disappointed in you too!”

“Um… Barkal, brother? Lord Edmund’s father, Lord Lormond, has already passed away.”

This time, it was Serena, who had been watching the situation, who spoke. Hearing her words, I looked at Barkal.

Hey, man.

Don’t you think you owe him an apology?

“So is that why he’s so weak?”

Barbarians really operate on a different set of steps. Instead, he tried to power through it with brute force.

Edmund looked at Barkal with something akin to indignation but just kept his mouth tightly shut and said nothing.

Looks like he didn’t want to be hit again.

To lighten the mood a bit, I asked Edmund a question.

“What’s the reason we have to meet in secret?”

“That’s because I have a request I wish to entrust to you.”

“You could just commission the Adventurer’s Guild.”

The Adventurer’s Guild isn’t just for “dungeon exploration”; you can request all sorts of odd jobs. High-ranked adventurer parties are sometimes asked to protect noble or royal personages.

“… It’s a somewhat sensitive request.”

A sensitive request, huh.

“The reason the Adventurer’s Guild was so cold to you all is also because of this. I wanted to create a pretext and lead you here so we could speak quietly at the mansion.”

But Barkal slapped him in the face before the subject even came up?

Well, you can’t really blame Barkal. He couldn’t have known.

“I think the ‘quiet conversation’ part has already failed.”

“That’s true. There are too many barbarians outside.”

Edmund sighed as he rubbed the ice pack against his face.

“I’m a fool who’s good at nothing. If it were my father, he wouldn’t have come up with such a sloppy plan.”

He gazed at a painting of this Lormond fellow with eyes full of longing.

There was reverence in his eyes.

Seeing that, I felt a little bad about Barkal’s behavior.

“What’s the sensitive request?”

I too have profound feelings about my own family. Because of that, a complex set of emotions began to stir in my chest.

“Even if we do not accept your request, I swear not to reveal it to anyone else.”

Is it camaraderie? Or perhaps empathy? Whatever it was, I wanted to hear Edmund’s story.

“Could you possibly… exhume my father Lormond Steldian’s grave?”

Hey, you son of a—

A curse nearly leaped out of my mouth.

I thought he was a devoted son.

Turns out, he’s a fire-type devoted son.

* * *

Sensitive would be putting it lightly.

It was so sensitive that even my Confucian upbringing deep inside me wanted to flare up and raise its hand.

“That’s why I arranged for this meeting. My father is dearly loved by the citizens and adventurers of Iushil.”

Dearly loved, huh.

If, by any chance, we get caught exhuming the grave, wouldn’t we be in big trouble?

“Why request something like that?”

Apparently, I wasn’t the only bewildered one. Serena looked at Edmund with a dumbfounded expression, and he responded as if he had anticipated it.

“I know it’s a strange request!”

“Not just strange… I just don’t understand.”

“There’s no need for you to understand! How dare you suggest digging up a family member’s grave!”

Barkal started swinging his fists around, seemingly preparing to strike again.

Edmund waved his arms and said to those two.

“There is a reason for it!”

“I’ll listen to your will.”

“A dungeon has appeared at my father Lormond’s grave!”

A dungeon?

This damn dungeon business, again?

I suddenly felt a surge of worry. If this was related to “Abyssification” again, there’s not much value in hearing about it.

Not to mention, didn’t we already learn that not only the “Black Knight”, but also the “White Knight” existed, as revealed by Blaz?

If we wandered into a dungeon in the middle of undergoing “Abyssification” and ended up meeting a knight of every color, it would be dangerous.

There’s no guarantee we’d survive as well as last time.

“The grade is probably below Silver… and I don’t think Abyssification is in progress.”

Maybe sensing my worry, Edmund addressed the risk.

“How did you find that out?”

“I sent two of my most trusted knights.”

“If they’re trustworthy, then entrust it to them.”

Barkal snorted and shook his head. He really didn’t seem to like Edmund.

“Knights are not adventurers, after all… They’re not familiar with dungeons.”

“It’s a family matter. Don’t you intend to handle it yourself?”

“I—I’m doing my best to resolve it myself right now!”

I’d say he was already making the effort himself.

“I mean, do you have no intention of entering the dungeon and resolving it with your own hands?”

“What?!”

Even I was taken aback by Barkal’s words.

This barbarian, really.

Does a “Apostle”, or whatever, think everyone else has muscles for brains like he does?

“If you wish, I’ll train you. To the point where you can enter the dungeon!”

To train him personally?

Hearing that, I honestly couldn’t tell if Barkal liked or disliked Edmund.

“Edmund.”

Either way, we had business to take care of, so I called out his name.

“You’re hiding something.”

At my words, Edmund looked at me in surprise. Not only him, but Barkal and Serena too.

No, Barkal’s gaze was starting to burn with anger.

“Not only are you trying to keep things quiet, but you were planning to deceive us again!”

“B-Barkal, brother! Please, calm down! Let’s at least hear his story first!”

“Kraaah! Serena! I think my shoulder is going to break!”

As Barkal tried to rampage again, Serena restrained him.

There might have been some joint locks thrown in, but Barkal could probably take it.

“Lormond—I don’t know who that is, but I understand that exhuming his grave is a sensitive issue.”

However…

“You’re making a fuss. This is something that could have been handled through the Adventurer’s Guild, not by calling us out like this.”

Even so, why did Lormond—or rather, Edmund—go to the trouble of summoning us in this roundabout way?

“The thing you’re hiding is something else. Am I right?”

I pressed him, and Edmund nodded with a strained look.

He really didn’t seem to want to talk about this. I doubted he’d answer even if asked, and more importantly, I wasn’t inclined to accept the request.

A huge sum of money.

Or unless he were to offer some excellent equipment, my mind wouldn’t change.

“I—I’ll pay fifty gold coins.”

Fifty gold coins.

Hearing that, my vision suddenly swam.

Barkal, Serena! We’ve got a job!

But, let’s calm down a bit. Thinking about it, fifty gold coins might not be that much.

It’s only a bit more than what I’ve earned from selling mana stones so far, and after accounting, it’s only about five times what I’d receive in gold coins.

If I recall, even a small building on the outskirts of Iushil cost about twenty gold coins.

Thinking like that, I suddenly wanted to accept the request unconditionally.

I looked at Barkal and Serena. They didn’t seem to have any big objections to accepting the request.

“I will take the request.”

“R-Really!?”

“But we have some conditions of our own.”

“Conditions…?”

At Edmund’s question, I listed the conditions I’d been thinking about.

“First, I’d like to rest for a day before we start on the request.”

“Th-That’s completely fine. Of course.”

“And we’ll bring not just our group, but also our other companions.”

“Other companions…?”

I looked out the window. Out there, a group of barbarian hulks was waiting, glowering at us with determined eyes.

* * *

“Brothers, from this point on, listen carefully to what I say.”

As I stepped outside and raised my voice, the barbarians pricked up their ears.

“Sage!”

“I knew you’d come back in one piece!”

The ‘Barbarian Respect Association’ that had been waiting, including Grunt, began shouting toward the sky.

The Steldian mansion’s guards and butlers, who had been confronting them, frowned, but with Edmund beside me, they kept their complaints to themselves.

“Thank you for waiting for me. If it weren’t for you, this wouldn’t have been such a risky affair!”

“Come on, now! What are you saying!”

“You helped us first! Of course we’ll help you in return!”

Grunt, receiving cheers from the other barbarians, stepped forward. He glared at Edmund and then turned his gaze back to me.

“Have you been treated rudely?”

“No.”

More importantly…

“Grunt!”

“What is it, brother!”

“I need the power of the Barbarian Respect Association. Can you help me?”

At my words, Grunt pounded his chest and answered.

“No need to even ask!”

After answering, Grunt spun around and shouted to the rest of the barbarians.

“Brothers! Does anyone object to helping the Sage?!”

A roaring laughter echoed at Grunt’s words.

“We were born for a moment like this!”

“Sage! We’ll be your hands and feet!”

“Then I’ll be the head!”

“If you’re the head, then Sage isn’t a sage anymore!”

The barbarians laughed uproariously, bantering among themselves.

They say simpletons are happy just to see each other’s faces—maybe that’s what this means.

“Um, will this really be okay?”

Watching the rowdy barbarians, Edmund asked nervously.

“I would appreciate it if you could handle this discreetly.”

“By discreet, you mean you don’t want any rumors spreading?”

Edmund nodded.

In the end, the reason Edmund set up this private meeting was to prevent rumors from spreading.

That Lormond’s revered grave would be dug up, and about the ‘something’ Edmund was still hiding.

“No rumors will be spread.”

“With so many barbarians around, can you promise that?”

Let’s be honest.

“Barbarians are not intelligent enough to spread rumors.”

Believing in rumors from barbarians?

Anyone who does that, I’d consider insane.

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