My bribe (three whole fowl) had been so effective that not only did the merchants treat us to a fine dinner, but they also agreed to keep vigil for the night. They’d already decided on the night watch among themselves, so they told us we were free to get a good night’s sleep. Maybe they also were doing this out of thanks for the water magic.
After dinner, we were all gathered around the bonfire, even after the sun had long since disappeared below the horizon. There were few threats on an open plain like this, where enemies could be spotted at a long distance, so tonight would probably be restful for the merchants as well.
Wine flowed freely, and Wal and I were invited to partake as well.
Crates were unloaded from the wagons to use as makeshift chairs, and a lively din filled the rest area as people flitted from one another in conversation.
“Hey, you... Don’t you think you might be a transmigrator?”
This question had come from a woman deep in her cups. It was directed not at me but to Prince Wald, who was sitting beside me.
He froze at her unexpected words, and his grip tightened around the cup of wine in his hand.
His lack of response didn’t seem to deter the woman, however, and she continued. “I mean, like, I’ve heard that transmigrators are all gorgeous people, and they can use magic to boot. Hey, Tagh? That’s how it was with your niece, right?”
“Yeah, that’s right.” The older man who was sitting on the opposite side of the bonfire joined our conversation. He had responded with a slightly embarrassed smile.
No one seemed to be surprised by this news. Everyone must’ve already known about this.
“The girl’s the daughter of my little sister. The guild took her in, so now my sister and my niece are living in Raghion,” Tagh explained.
“She was so pretty... As pretty as this little mage here. And I heard she ran into a lot of trouble because of that,” murmured the woman.
“Oh, yeah... But that was a long time ago,” he said. “These days, my sister sends me letters now and then. She’s always talking about how happy they are now.”
“Really? That’s wonderful. I’m happy to hear it.” The woman, who was clearly drunk, nodded to herself as if she’d come to some private conclusion on her own.
The prince and I listened to their exchange in blank astonishment.
Keith, who was sitting on the prince’s other side, had a twinkle in his eye as he told us more. “The boss of this caravan’s known our party for ages. We’re so close that Tagh’s told us all sorts of stories about his niece.”
“I gotta admit, I don’t follow,” I replied. “What’s this business about his niece and transmigrators? Oh, and just to be clear, Al isn’t one.”
Yeah, the transmigrator is me.
“Yeah, figures he wouldn’t be one,” Keith agreed. “It’s not like transmigrators grow on trees. I heard Tagh’s niece didn’t realize she was one until she was around ten years old, going on eleven. They’d lived out in the countryside too, so it was only discovered when the dispatch from the adventurer’s guild made it to their village during their rounds.”
I nodded quietly. “I see. Interesting.”
And now she was living in the city. The countryside was just... Well, I guessed that the patrols had come to Gaelius too, despite how far out of the way it was, but I had never noticed them.
But anyway, I guessed that the existence of transmigrators was pretty common knowledge. Maybe it was because the adventurer’s guild had spent so much time and effort educating people about them.
“After that,” Keith continued, “the man of the house got greedy. Even though the girl was his own daughter, he sold her for cold, hard cash, like she was a slave.”
I didn’t know what to say. I was shocked, of course, but this was starting to sound like a familiar story.
“The buyer was lord of the demesne. But the girl—a magic-user, mind you—bided her time until she managed to escape, and she returned home. Tagh took her and her mother away from the village, brought ’em to the adventurer’s guild in the big city, and the rest is history. But after what went down, Tagh can’t show his face around those parts anymore.”
Somehow, I had an inkling of what had happened to the lord and the niece’s father afterward. When I asked Keith about it, he confirmed my guess.
“Transmigrators look out for their own and all, and that’s the reason he can’t ever go back—the guild’s transmigrators slew his lordship and the father in retaliation. I heard that if a transmigrator’s found, the guild gives their family large sums to help pay for raising the kid. As for why the girl’s father couldn’t be satisfied with that, I wonder...”
After that had happened, Tagh had joined up with this mercantile caravan. He received money and letters from his sister every so often, but the letters brought him far more joy than the coin.
Tagh’s such a good person...
But when I glanced to my side, I could tell that the smile plastered on the prince’s face was somewhat forced. He probably had a lot of things on his mind regarding the story.
I gently placed my hand on his back, which had stiffened ramrod straight.
He noticed my gaze at last. “Right...” he murmured, finally relaxing a bit.
But just as I was about to give him some small words of comfort, my field of vision was filled by the drunk woman from earlier.
“Hey... ‘Big bro’!” she drawled.
“Excuse me?” I said, taken aback.
“Al’s such a pretty little thing, and he can use magic too! So you be sure to protect him, all right? So he’s not mistaken for a transmigrator and sold off like a slave!”
“Of course,” I replied stiffly.
That’s some crazy drunk reasoning, lady!
She wasn’t wrong, though. The prince was a trifecta of excellence—a spellcaster, pretty, and cute as a button.
“Make sure you protect him from this scruffy redhead too, y’hear? Keith swings that way, now don’t cha, Keith!”
“I’m sorry?” I blinked. I hadn’t expected the conversation to turn in that direction.
“Come on now, ma’am,” Keith sighed, though his voice was still colored by good humor. “I don’t deny it, but I know what I like, and it ain’t teenagers. I’d rather have a partner ’bout my own age.”
But the woman’s interest in Keith was already gone, as she turned back to me and peered into my face. “Oh my, oh my! Now that I have a good look at you, you’re also awfully handsome. Being Al’s brother, it makes sense you’d be a looker!”
Keith laughed at her exclamation, but she wasn’t paying him any attention. Instead, she grasped my face with both hands and brought her head close to mine.
“I knew it! Shave that beard! That nasty beard’s all in the way! You’ll be a whole new you!” She snorted deeply with her declaration and nodded to herself in satisfaction. After that, she hobbled off somewhere with drunken footsteps.
Whew... Freedom.
“Now let’s see here.”
I felt new fingers on my chin, and my head was turned to the side.
Keith was seated next to me. His red hair seemed to glow all the more vibrantly in the flickering light of the fire. He laughed mirthfully. His blue eyes swept over me, but then, for some reason, they shot wide open.
The very next moment, my vision went black.
“Don’t.”
Wal had reached around from behind me and had placed his hands over my face. He’d pulled me back toward him, and I felt Keith’s fingers leave my chin.
The back of my head landed against Wal’s chest with a gentle thump. He must’ve gotten up to kneel behind me.
“Kari— Er, my brother’s mine. I request that you refrain from touching him or giving him such improper looks... Um, speaking as his blood brother.”
“Ah, no... It’s just, that beard—”
“There is no man more suited for a beard than my brother. This I declare as his very own sibling!” Wal exclaimed. Then, he began to plead with me. “Never shave your beard, brother!”
All I could do was sit there, blinking under the darkness of Wal’s impromptu blindfold. His conversation with Keith seemed to come to a conclusion.
When Wal finally released his hands from me, the first thing I saw was the red-haired man. Keith had curled up on himself and was doubled over in laughter. Wal’s comment had hit its mark, and the older man couldn’t say anything else.
Was it because Wal had kept emphasizing the word “beard”? I bet it was. What else could be that funny?
“We need to be up early tomorrow. So let’s turn in, big bro.”
“R-Right,” I said.
We wished the people remaining around the campfire a good night and returned to our tent. When we did, Keith’s grin remained plastered on his face as he kept a lid on his guffawing.
He must’ve really loved to laugh. When I called out to him to wish him a good night, he raised a single hand and waved to me.
We returned to our tent.
Wal looked between the flaps of blue frog leather inside. “Okay,” he began, “Which room should I take?”
“Either one’s fine,” I replied. “Actually, hold on; let’s not use the rooms tonight. We’ll sleep in the main area here instead.”
“Huh?”
“It’s just in case any of the merchants decide to peek in here,” I said. “I’ll have to add a trick to the entrance for next time so that if anyone looks in here, they’ll see an illusion of us sleeping. It only just hit me now that that might be a good idea. I don’t have time to set something up like that tonight, though, so we’ll just sleep here. It might be a little cramped, but we’ll both fit if we lie side by side.”
He was quiet for a moment. “All right,” he said.
Sorry for disappointing you, Wal.
He must’ve been so excited to sleep in his own room, on his own bed. My bad—I should’ve been more thoughtful.