Old Men Drinking
I thought for a while on whether or not I should reveal my ident.i.ty.
In general, I did not like hiding it from people close to me.
Because if I did, it would feel like I didn’t trust them.
That being said, doing it unnecessarily could cause a lot of problems.
But if he already knew that I had killed a High Lord by myself, then I didn’t see how there could be a problem.
Besides, he was Shia and Nia’s father.
“By the way, Lord Danton. There is something I haven’t told you yet…”
“Oh? Is it the secret to your strength?”
Danton said jokingly.
“You’re not entirely wrong.”
“Oh, well, I would like to know that.”
Danton looked at me seriously. He had a curiosity when it came to strength.
“The thing is…”
And so I told him that I was the hero Ruck.
And I told him why I was keeping this a secret.
Danton was silent the whole time as I explained this.
“I see…”
“I’m sorry for not telling you sooner.”
“No, it’s an important secret, after all. If anything, I am very grateful that you trusted me enough with it.”
Goran laughed and said,
“Lord Woolcott. Are you very surprised to hear about this?”
“A little… But to be honest, it makes a lot of sense to me.”
“Sense?”
“Yes. Your relationship to the king and Lord Morton. And of course, your strength. It makes sense that you are none other than Ruck.”
“Indeed…”
Then Goran looked at us seriously.
“Well, now that Locke has told you… I think we can now consider ourselves close friends.”
“Yes, but why do you bring that up?”
I asked. Goran looked exasperated.
“We can drop the formalities and expressions when we talk, that’s what I’m saying.”
“Oh, I see. Lord Danton. What do you think?”
“Yes, um, yes. I think that would be more pleasant.”
“Then it’s decided!”
Goran said with a boisterous laugh.
We poured ourselves another round of drinks and made a toast.
Goran drained his cup and said,
“Still, I understand that Eric had to report about the High Lord…
The king and the chiefs shared their information about the vampires.
And that was important information.
They would lose their trust if they kept things hidden, and the whole arrangement would be meaningless.
“But I don’t know why he had to report that it was you who did it.”
As we were all friends, Goran didn’t call Eric ‘His Majesty.’
“But if he didn’t say who did it, then that question will arise anyway.”
“That might be true…”
Even if it was a secret, people would want to know who this warrior was.
And the beastkin wolf chiefs were there with us during the ceremony where we were rewarded for fighting the High Lords.
So they would have likely figured it out soon enough anyway.
“I’m sure they’d want to ask me about how I did it.”
“Yes, of course they would.”
Danton agreed.
“Do you want to know?”
“Of course, I do. Even if His Majesty did not tell us, I would have realized who did it.”
“Yes, you would have. The only other people who could have done it are Eric or Goran.”
Had it been a team of more men, the beastkin wolves would have known about it.
After all, there were a number of their warriors serving in the palace now.
And it would not make much sense to form a vampire hunting party without them.
So the chiefs would have known that the High Lord was killed by a very small number of people at the most.
“I see. But Eric and I have no reason to hide such a thing, so that only leaves Locke.”
Party members during the High Lord hunt included Eric, Goran, Shia and me.
So us four would have been suspected first.
Shia would not lie to her people about that. It was the same with Eric and Goran.
So then I would be the most likely candidate.
Danton said,
“Yes, I would have definitely visited you and asked some questions.”
“I’m sure you would.”
“You don’t have to… But it would be very helpful if you could tell me about it.”
Danton asked. And so I thought about it.
“How much did Eric tell you?”
“Hmm…His Majesty…”
Eric’s report said that I had killed the High Lord.
And that there was a chance that more were working behind the scenes.
They were probably inside of the royal capital.
And that he should not kill any vampire thralls immediately.
He must find out where they lived and what they are doing first.
“That is what His Majesty said.”
“…I see.”
And then I said,
“Shia already knows about this…”
“Oh?”
“Well, she was quite involved. She helped me a lot on this mission to kill the High Lord.”
“My daughter was actually useful?”
“Yes, very much so.”
“I am glad to hear that.”
Danton said with a mixture of happiness and pride.
And so I decided to tell him all about the incident with the High Lord.