“When talking about the last faction, you looked at Butler Apel. Was there a reason for that?”
“There’s nothing special enough to call it a reason. It’s just that the Chamberlain is the only one who frequently goes out.”
“. . . I see, Chamberlain.”
“Heh heh, I suppose I need to be more careful. I’ll conduct myself more prudently.”
“No, no. If you start scolding yourself here, we’ll all look ridiculous. Clerk, you did well.” The Duke smiled and lifted the documents I handed over.
“To think you managed this level of analysis in just two hours this afternoon. Clerk. Do you know what crossed my mind as I listened to your report today?”
I silently shook my head and moistened my throat with a sip of tea.
“I thought I could have high expectations for you. Let’s go back to the beginning of your analysis. Why is our duchy in such a mess?”
Pfft.
I almost spat out my tea.
Did the Duke just call his own territory a disaster out loud?
No matter what, isn’t that a bit much to say about your own land?
The Duke looked at my reaction as if he found it amusing.
“With your insight, I thought you’d have started from here.”
The Duke stared at me with eyes full of anticipation.
And I—
I’m doomed. Oh, this is really bad.
I never thought about that.
Without realizing it, I just assumed everyone under the Duke in this duchy had a few screws loose.
All they know is swords, all they think about is fighting Monsters—just a bunch of muscle-brained fools. So I thought that’s why the territory ended up like this…
‘Isn’t it just because the duchy takes after the Duke?’
‘Chamberlain, fire this Clerk with the wicked tongue and drag him out to throw to the beasts in the market square.’
I shouldn’t say that, right?
Ahahaha.
From here on, it’s all improvisation.
I desperately tried to get my brain cells moving.
Or at least, I tried—until the Duke spoke first.
“Go see for yourself.”
“Pardon?”
“Your insight is remarkable, but it’s not perfect. If I had to point out one thing, it would be your report on the tavern. Why are all conflicts resolved at the tavern? You can’t know unless you see it for yourself. So go and see.”
“What should I be looking for?”
What exactly does the Duke want me to do?
I asked again to clarify.
The Duke smiled brightly.
“Butler Apel, who will go with you, will explain the details.”
It truly was a whirlwind of a day.
From organizing documents to a briefing.
Phew. I can’t even tell what’s what anymore.
“Myself and the other retainers all took different types of tests. Only after passing can you truly become a retainer. Of course, Clerk, it seems they have even higher expectations for you.”
From what I can tell, Chamberlain, you’re the one with the highest expectations.
“Are there too many tests? Is it overwhelming?”
“You’re just faster than anyone else. It took me and the Housekeeper a month to prove ourselves, and the Head Chef three months. But you—just one week! That’s the shortest record ever in the Helpion Ducal Family!”
Ugh. If I’d had that much time, I could have been more relaxed.
Then I could have figured out the Duke’s personality and style before being tested.
Sigh.
But it’s not good to dwell too long on things that have already happened.
“So, what kind of place is the tavern?”
Let’s focus more on the task at hand.
“The tavern is a kind of Duel Arena. When there’s a problem, the involved parties meet and duel there.”
Apel explained, and I asked back.
“You’re joking, right?”
“Not at all. Truly, the people of the Duchy resolve their issues cleanly through duels. It’s their unique culture.”
“A duel, seriously? This is the Border Frontier, where waves of Monsters attack. Is it really okay for people to fight and even die so easily?”
At my words, Butler Apel chuckled softly.
“They’re not real life-or-death fights.”
“Then what are they?”
“That’s what you’re going to see. As it happens, two Warriors have challenged each other to a duel today. It’s about dividing up a Relic from a Relic Site. By the time we arrive, they should be right in the middle of it.”
“Tamsin, finish him off!”
“Felix, you can totally win! Get your head together!”
“Tamsin, I’m betting on you!”
“Felix! You’d better bring back that sword you lost!”
Unlike a typical bar, the tavern looked more like a complex venue.
At the counter bar, a big bulletin board was plastered with all sorts of notices, and it wasn’t just for drinking—busy staff and all sorts of people made the place noisy.
A little further in, there were all kinds of seats, from sofas to benches, where people could rest.
But the real highlight was in the center.
Dozens of people were crowded around a small round table, the kind two people might sit at for a chat, all caught up in the heat of the moment.
They shouted at the top of their lungs, clutching their bets, and sometimes slapped the Warriors on the back.
Soon, someone’s head slumped onto the table.
“Felix wins!”
“Serves Tamsin right for licking someone else’s weapon!”
The victor, Felix, lifted a beer mug as big as his own head high above him.
And the beer inside poured down like a waterfall over Felix’s body.
It must be a victory celebration.
“Is this a Drinking Duel?”
“It’s a battle of wills. It’s safer than force, and it ends with nothing but two people nursing hangovers.”
There was a hint of pride in Butler Apel’s voice for some reason.
Honestly, it’s a pretty good method.
A safe way to settle things among the best fighters in the world.
But still—
“It feels a bit barbaric.”
Well, it is the Helpion Duchy, so maybe that’s only natural…
But maybe I said that too loudly.
“What?! You call our sacred duel barbaric?”
The lively atmosphere suddenly snapped, as if a string had been cut.
All that was left were eyes glaring at me like they wanted to kill me, and harsh breathing.
I really should have been more careful.
“Hey, brat! Never seen you before.”
“Aren’t you with Apel, old man? Old man, is that rat next to you the one you brought?”
Rat…
Correction.
Not barbaric—just plain barbarians.
“Tsk tsk, mind your words. For your information, this is Laward, the new Clerk appointed to the Duchy. He’ll be handling all major affairs from now on.”
Butler, what do you mean “for your information”?
How do I look to you to make you say that?
Don’t you realize you’re the ones who look like muscle-bound pig monsters?
But the mood around me was strange.
The earlier commotion had vanished as if it was a lie.
People stared at me, wide-eyed, as if they couldn’t believe it.
Then the noise exploded.
“Get real! Hey, rat! Do you know what kind of place Helpion is?”
“Not just anywhere—he became a retainer of the Helpion Ducal Family?! Hey, have you ever fought before?”
“Swordsman? Or are you a Warrior or Mage?”
“Guys like you always blabber on about some Beast theory and get dozens of people hurt or killed!”
Enemies everywhere.
The heat from the duel now turned into pure hostility aimed at me.
Crude curses and insults I can’t even repeat flew through the air.
I glanced at Butler Apel, and he looked back at me with sparkling eyes as if he was enjoying the show.
Almost like he wanted to see how I’d respond.
Is this the Duke’s test the Chamberlain mentioned?
That’s when it happened.
A cold beer poured over my head.
“There’s no place for softies in the Helpion Duchy. Get lost.”
Laughter erupted all around.
Ugh, I hate this. It was just like at Delphi Academy.
‘You can’t even sense Mana, yet you’re top of the class just because you know theory—scholarship leech.’
‘A half-wit useless on the battlefield.’
I spent years hiding in the Akashic Record to avoid all the insults and abuse.
Do I have to be treated like this here too?
My insides boiled.
I didn’t hole up in a room for five years just to be treated like this.
I came to learn the truths of the world. To gain power and build my own influence.
To get revenge.
My enemies are Deon Craphy and the Marquis Family.
Nobles of the world’s most powerful Kingdom—powerful and ruthless enough to ruin my entire life.
So I won’t let this kind of mockery get to me.
I shoved aside the burly man who’d just poured beer on his own head, kicked the drunken lump drooling on the table to the floor, and grabbed Tamsin’s beer mug from the table.
It seemed he was already too drunk to drink, since the mug was still full.
I downed it in one go.
Gulp, gulp.
As the cool liquid slid down my throat, the noise around me gradually faded.
When I slammed the now-empty mug down on the table with a bang,
Dozens of eyes flashed with light.
“If you’ve got a problem, don’t just flap your gums—come out and face me.”
“Puhahahahahaha!”
“Look at this guy, huh?”
“Kukuku, Halo! You lost this one! Yeah! A Warrior shouldn’t just yap!”
“Ah, damn it, shut up!”
The tavern shook with laughter.
Just then, a burly man with a thick pelt grabbed his mug and strode up to the table.
His neck and upper body were flushed bright red—he was already pretty drunk.
“For a brat, you’ve got guts. I hope your drinking matches your guts. So, how about a round with me first?”
Judging by his mocking grin, he was seriously underestimating me.
He must think he can win even in this state.
But there’s something you guys don’t know.
Who do you think are the best drinkers in the world?
Is it the Warriors with strong bodies and stamina?
Or the clever Mages?
No, you’re all wrong.
It’s the artists and writers—people with high ideals and pride but no real way to make money.
With nothing else to do, all they do is drink and complain about the world.
Delphi Academy is full of the best of the arts and literature crowd.
The literature and history majors—who made the least money—spent more time drinking than in class, just a bunch of good-for-nothings. Until the incident with Deon Craphy, I was known there as the Drinking Demon.
I smiled and raised my mug.
“Don’t cry when you lose.”
“What’s with everyone? Why’s the place so dead?”
“You’re here?”
Cain was a rookie Warrior who had joined the Helpion Duchy just a few days ago.
He’d been treated as an S-rank Mercenary in his old Mercenary Band, but he’d come all the way to the edge of human civilization for one reason: money.
His dream was to hunt as many Monsters as possible, collect as many spoils as he could, and retire in style.
Helpion Duchy was a utopia made for someone like him.
Outside the borders, Monsters ran rampant.
After hunting, the tavern was always full of people just like him, so it was always fun.
He enjoyed discussing martial arts, sharing Monster info, all of it.
Today, too, he’d taken down a mid-sized Monster, earned his meal, and come for a good drink to end the day—
But the tavern was more fired up than ever.
“An incredible guy showed up.”
“Who?”
“They say he’s the new Clerk at the Ducal Family. He’s got a slender build, but he took down twelve people in a Drinking Duel this time.”
“Even the drinking demons Pemco and Thales were among them!”
“I’ve never seen anyone drink like that in my life.”
“I’ve totally fallen for the Clerk! It’s crazy! He’s not even human—he’s a barrel with muscles and skin!”
“And at the end, he walked out on two feet, perfectly fine, right?”
“The Clerk is a God!”
Maybe it was because Laward’s performance had been so impressive.
All around the tavern, people’s stories were bursting out in a frenzy.
Cain, listening quietly, nodded as if he understood.
“You guys challenged the Sage, didn’t you?”
“What are you talking about? We had a Drinking Duel with the Clerk!”
“I mean the Sage. I told you on the first day, right? On our way to the Helpion Duchy, we met the Sage.”
“No way… The one who’s an expert in astronomy, geography, Monster info, and could predict the weather perfectly?”
“And didn’t the Sage give you tips on swordsmanship and others’ martial arts, saying the flow was off or something?”
“That all-rounder Sage, could it be?”
“Yeah. I didn’t know he could drink like that, though.”
Cain set his weapon aside and picked up his glass.
Now he understood why everyone was making such a fuss.
‘If the Sage had come, it makes sense.’
Even after years of wandering as an S-rank Mercenary, even he had been amazed by the Sage—unique and mysterious.
And now, to hear he could outdrink everyone, too.
‘Didn’t they say that when conflicts arise in the Helpion Ducal Family, they’re settled by Drinking Duels? Looks like a new power has emerged in the Helpion Duchy.’
Cain decided he’d have to seek out the Clerk soon and make an impression.