The drinks had been brought in, and the soldiers in the place began to drink down at once.
I was probably the only one worried whether it was alright for the army and public security to be so lenient towards drinking alcohol. When I noticed it, even my guards were drinking a bit.
Still, everyone in the base couldn't just gather at one place, so they were drinking together while chatting cheerfully at their respective posts. The lower ranked soldiers were distributing barrels of alcohol to the establishments and lodging houses within the army base.
This scene, drinking at their workplace during the day, made me remember the last work day of the year back when I was a salaryman in my previous life.
I walked aimlessly around the base and spoke to the soldiers who were drinking.
「… That being the case, the adventurers are scheduled to be released for the time being. But, we'll continue observing their movements.」
「Hmm.」
I listened to the soldier in charge of the torture—I mean, the soldier in charge of the interrogation. The adventurers seemed to have been judged as innocent for the time being.
The five members apparently passed everything to their leader, and there was nothing significant obtained even after interrogating them. Due to that, the leader of their group had been put under a thorough interrogation.
After one night of rigorous interrogation, they judged that the adventurers were really only wandering around the city without knowing the permitted number of adventurers that could group up.
「We'll continue the investigation for a bit more, but the leader is also scheduled to be released tomorrow morning. The other five have already been released ahead.」
「I see.」
「But, I'm surprised. Does Captain have an interest in adventurers?」
This interrogation supervisor was apparently also a soldier under my command, and he referred to me as captain.
There were many young nobles who admired adventurers. Being able to live, fight, and travel the land as they wished. There were many young nobles who dreamed that kind of unrestrained lifestyle.
It would've been interesting if they had something like a system of using letters to rank the adventurers or a guild system around the world. Unfortunately, those things didn't exist in this world, so I wasn't really interested. Even though adventurers had an unrestrained lifestyle, it was risky and unstable. I'd rather play with cute girls as a noble from a marquis house.
「Not at all. I only want to try entering the field once.」
「Field? I've entered the field once as part of the army's clean-up operation, but it wasn't that interesting inside.」
Quordentz house would occationally lead an army and enter inside the field, a world of fog nested by monsters, to slay magical beasts. The field located near Nyuneri was a large scale type, and entering deep inside would require carriages packed with essential things such as food and weapon. He apparently accompanied them as the person in charge of the logistics.
「Regarding the arrested adventurers, I heard that they've come here from the royal capital to enter the field near Nyuneri City. They look like a capable group. There are occasionally adventurers fans among the soldiers, and they recognized the leader of that party. They seem to be a well known group in the royal capital.」
「Hoh. They have six magic users in one party, so its not strange that they are well known.」
「No. Apparently, their group originally had only two members. I heard that four members joined them recently, becoming a party of six. Looks like they've done well in pulling in the four rookies who were attracted by the official notice in the royal capital.」
I wasn't sure if it was last year, but several policies that supported the adventurers in slaying magical beasts were implemented within the territory of the Levios royal family, including the royal capital. I'd heard that many people were attracted by that, and they wished to become adventurers.
Since they were originally a party of two, perhaps they didn't even think much about the permitted number of magic users that could group up inside the city.
「I've asked them about the route they've taken to come here from the royal capital, and they said that they passed through small towns and villages. That explains how they've been able to come here without encountering any problem.」
「That makes sense.」
There weren't many places with a magic detection formation set around the whole place like the one in Nyuneri City due to the expensive cost. A small town or a village naturally wouldn't have one.
Finishing my conversation with the interrogation supervisor, I walked around the base again. I briefly showed myself to the soldiers who were drinking together here and there and praised them for their great work.
After I finished going around the base, I considered sitting somewhere to rest for a while, but I noticed a pair of eyes looking here.
She had an indigo blue hair which looked as though dyed by the night sky. Her face was beautiful enough that it gave a cold feeling, and she had a short stature that completely didn't suit her appearance.
It was the female adventurer who got pointed at with a spear. She should've been released from the interrogation already, so why was she still in here?
「Young Master, please be careful.」
The guards drew their swords with a clang. Even though they heartily drank so much alcohol, their voices and movements were perfectly steady. They displayed the work of a professional.
Seeing that she'd been noticed and we were on alert against her, the female adventurer fell into a panic.
「What? Don't you need something?」
Since she didn't approach or run away, I called out to her.
Then, perhaps she thought that I was granting her the permission to move closer, the female adventurer slowly approached and kneeled down right before me with her fingers except her thumb placed on the ground.
「Sir, please release Mergin. We are not plotting anything. We are innocent.」
I let out a breath, and spoke.
「Who?」
That single word was aimed to ask 'Who are you?' and 'Who's Mergin?', but it seemed that she only understood the former.
「I'm Lupetta, an adventurer.」
After introducing herself, her face looked as though she'd already said everything that was needed to be said. If my guards at the side didn't interrupt, I felt like we would've ended up staring at each other the whole time.
Hurriedly, Lupetta continued.
「Mergin is an adventurer and my companion… He's still being interrogated.」
Their party leader was apparently called Mergin. Lupetta probably hadn't been informed yet that their leader was scheduled for release tomorrow morning. When I asked her why she directly appeal to me, she seemed to have considered me as an understanding high-rank officer after seeing that I stopped the soldier from hitting her earlier. She didn't seem aware that I was the eldest son of the Quordentz house.
A capable magic user, even if the person was a commoner or a twelve-year-old boy, was most likely to hold an important post in the army. Lupetta probably thought that I was a magic user of common birth. Come to think of it, Anna had mistaken me for a mercenary leader back in Nambonan when I entered the bar for the first time. In short, misunderstandings like that happened often.
「Mergin is a very nice person. He won't rebel.」
Lupetta was talking about their leader's good points in a matter-of-fact way. Even though she was speaking in a barely audible voice, I could clearly tell from her tone that she was very much in love with the leader.
I see, she was deeply worried about her darling leader…
「If you want to speak so fondly of him, why don't you do it at the gallows?」
I couldn't help but make a light joke after being affected by her love love aura. But, Lupetta seemed to have taken my words seriously, and her face immediately paled. Well, I guess being told "Please, to the gallows" by a higher up in the army was no laughing matter.
「...W-what about Mergin?!」
「Let's end this conversation here. Wait for the judgement.」
I was about to walk past her side, but Lupetta hastily stood up and moved right in front of me before kneeling down again. Then, she prostrated.
「Sir… I beg you, please spare Mergin. Without him, I… 」
Down on her knees, Lupetta took a deep breath, and stared at me with her beautiful silver eyes.
「Please release Mergin. I'll do anything I can.」
The tears on her eyes fell down her face.
I felt like my body had started producing semen at a rapid pace. Somehow, I had the feeling that I would recover enough to shoot out a lot by tonight.
I'd go with this scenario: After partying at the army base, I didn't feel like going back to the castle anymore, so I decided to spend the night at my residence.
I told Lupetta to visit my residence tonight. She looked like she understood the meaning behind my words, and she quietly agreed.
