Chapter 403:
His Son!
NALGATH’S PARTY led us to the captain’s home.
“Does the captain have any family in the house with him?” I asked.
“He has family, but he lives alone,” Juggy said, glancing back as he spoke. I turned and looked behind me out of curiosity, but all I saw were Arly and Piarre. Nothing out of the ordinary. I gave Juggy an inquisitive look, and he smiled. “Oh, yeah, he does have two nurses with him right now, though.”
Nurses, huh? So first we’ll need to get them away from the captain.
“Nalgath, how are we going to get the nurses away from him?”
“Let’s split into two groups once we get to his house. Arly and I will distract the nurses while you give him the potion.”
Yeah, it won’t take long for us to do that, so we won’t rouse suspicion.
“What is the captain like? Think he’ll hear us out?” my father asked.
Arly frowned. Noticing this, Juggy smiled.
“What is it, sir? Is there a problem?”
“Arly is the captain’s son.”
“What?!” my father and I gasped and turned to Arly, who looked very upset. Did they not get along?
“So…what’s he like?” my father asked again.
Nalgath chuckled. “He’s a funny guy. The way he messes with people is a little hard to put up with at times, though.”
So maybe he’s like my father’s mentor? I looked at my father, who had a slightly sour look on his face. He was probably thinking the same thing. Our eyes met, and he sighed.
“Is something wrong?”
“No, it’s just that I know somebody who makes messing with people a way of life.”
Hey, I don’t think he’s that horrible! I looked at my dad in shock. His eyes were earnest. Oh dear, Mr. Mentor, you really do need to reel it in.
“Yeah, every town and village has at least a dozen guys like that.”
Wow, that many? I think one man like my father’s mentor is more than enough for the world.
“The house is over there.”
I wonder if we’ll be able to handle the nurses? If they’re our enemies, they might figure out what we’re trying to do.
“Hey, Dad, I’m just gonna ask Sora to judge the nurses for us.”
“Ah, good idea. Please do.”
“What’s she talking about, sir?” Piarre cut into our conversation with a bewildered look in his eyes.
“Sora has the ability to judge whether or not a person is safe for me, so I’m going to have it do that with the nurses. But in this case, Sora will tell us if they’re our enemies.”
“Oh…wow.”
“Here you go, Sora.”
I gave my slime bag a gentle pat and felt a faint jiggle in reply.
“We’re about to meet with the nurses looking after the captain of Hataka’s village watch. If they’re our enemies, give us a jiggle to let me know.”
The jiggling got a little more intense. I took my hand off of the bag and nodded at Piarre.
“Ha ha ha! Well, I’m getting even more doubtful about all this, but I’ll just concentrate on saving the captain first.”
“Huh?!”
“It’s nothing.”
“Whether the answers come a little at a time or all at once, I always regret asking her things.”
“Me, too. It all seems normal to her, but she has no idea just how impossible it all is. Argh… Let’s just focus on curing the captain first. Distract those nurses good for us.”
“I will.”
Piarre and Nalgath were whispering back and forth. I heard the word “captain,” so I assumed they were going over the battle plan. Then I wanted to be included! Ah, they just finished. Wait a minute, was that a sigh? Is the captain so strong that we need to come up with an extra strategy to overpower him?
“Is the captain really that hard to deal with, sir?” I asked.
“Heh?”
“Huh?”
“Er, weren’t you talking about the captain just now? I couldn’t hear you very well, but I heard you say captain, so I assumed…”
I looked from Nalgath to Piarre. For some reason, they both gave my head a pat.
“Don’t worry. If Arly’s there, the captain will definitely go after him first.”
“That’s for sure. Arly is the captain’s biggest target, after all. He told us once that Arly’s reactions are so cute he just can’t stop teasing him. If he had him around at home, that would probably spare everyone else his abuse.”
Err…but wouldn’t that be terrible for Arly? I sneaked closer to get a look at him. Eeek, what an expression. He has the same look my father gets whenever his mentor torments him. I tactfully looked away. It seemed the poor man had suffered quite a lot.
“Is everyone okay?” Nalgath asked us all as we stood in front of the captain’s house. Our eyes met, so I nodded, and he gave my head a pat.
Nalgath knocked at the door. “Good afternoon.”
“Coming!” came a shrill voice from inside the house. It sounded like a middle-aged woman.
“Oh, why hello there, Nalgath and Arly. And, um, who might you be?”
The nurse looked happy to see Arly, but when she saw me and my father, she looked to Nalgath for an explanation.
“Pardon my manners. I am Druid. I’m doing some work with Nalgath’s party at the moment. And this is my daughter Ivy.”
“Nice to meet you, ma’am.” I bowed at the nurse, then got a good look at her. She was in her late forties, but she was slender and very pretty.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Melisa.”
Even after she properly introduced herself, the slime bag didn’t budge a bit. That meant Sora had decided she was not an enemy.
“Hello, Melisa. Pardon me for asking, but isn’t there another nurse with you? We’d like to meet them, too, if we can.”
“Yes, I’ll just fetch her now. Eche? Could you come here for a moment?”
“Just a minute…”
I heard another woman’s voice from inside the house. Judging from the tone of her voice, she was about the same age as Melisa. After a while, Eche emerged. She was a little younger and stouter than Melisa.
“Oh, why, Arly, so good to see you again! So glad you’re here.” Eche looked happy to see Arly, who looked uncomfortable while Nalgath smiled.
“This is Mr. Druid and his daughter Miss Ivy. He’s doing some work with Arly and his party right now.”
“It’s so good to meet you. I do hope you’re getting along well with our Arly. He can be a bit stubborn, but he’s a good boy.”
Arly put a hand on his forehead when he heard this. Based on the redness in his ears, he seemed embarrassed. As I watched everyone, I put my hand on the bag. And just like with Melisa, the bag didn’t even twitch.
“Ms. Melisa, Ms. Eche, it is a pleasure to meet you both.” I made a point to say both of their names so the team could hear them. We had agreed that this would be the signal if they were both safe, and I could sense the relief in the air around me.
“Ms. Melisa, Ms. Eche, do pardon me, but we need to have a word with you. Do you have a minute?” Nalgath approached them with a grave look in his eyes. The nurses sensed it was serious, so they escorted Nalgath and Arly into the next room. Meanwhile, Piarre and Juggy said they wanted to visit with the captain, so they went a different way. I felt a little conflicted tricking the nurses like this, but we would just have to explain everything afterward and hope they forgave us.
“This is the place.” Piarre opened the door to the room where the captain was resting in bed. It was filled with the stench of disinfectant and medicine, and the table was covered with potions.
“How horrible…” Juggy muttered.
I looked over to the captain’s bed and saw a frail man asleep in it. From his rough skin and dry hair, I would have assumed he was dead at first glance. I sighed softly and pulled Flame’s potion out of my bag. I was about to hand it to my father when Sora’s bag began to rustle.
“Huh? What’s wrong, Sora?” I nervously opened the bag, and Flame shot out of it, right onto the captain’s bed. Then it swallowed the captain whole.
Um…what about the potion?
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