BBYW Vol. 4 Chapter 18 (WN)
Chapter 18 – Night of Lingering Fervor
The dark thoughts filling my mind ruined my appetite, so I pushed the rest of the food to Benamis and stood up.
I picked up the fruit juice bottle on the table and poured its contents down my throat in one shot.
“Pwah! All right then, I’ll head back to the inn.”
“Oh, already? I wanted to talk with you a bit more, Sir Dyngir.”
“We’ll have plenty of chances to chat in the future, assuming we’re both alive…and not on opposite sides.”
“Hahaha, please don’t say such ominous things. What would you do if we really ended up being enemies?”
“I’d fight with all I have, of course. Anyway, the bill…”
“Let me take care of it, please.”
I was going to take out my wallet, but Benamis stopped me.
He waved at me nonchalantly, as usual with a smile on his face.
“I invited you out, after all. It is only proper that I pay tonight.”
“Even if you say so…”
“It’s fine, Sir Dyngir. I feel it’ll be better for me in the future if you owe me one.”
Benamis insisted on covering the bill.
Though he had surely seen better days, he was still the head of House Saverne. The bill of a tavern like this was probably nothing to fret about. I decided to let him uphold his pride and accepted his offer.
“Well, thanks for the meal then.”
“Naturally…please take care, the journey to the west will be dangerous. It would be a pity to lose a friend.”
“Right. You better watch out too, though. Those creatures might invade the central province at any time.”
“I appreciate your concern. Then, farewell.”
“Yeah.”
I returned to my lodging, wiped my body with a wet cloth and slipped under the covers.
After I turned off the lamp, the conversation with Benamis lingered in my mind, not allowing me to fall asleep easily.
(Duke Rosais, the leader of the central nobles, wishes for the western province to fall…could he have had a hand in the breach of the fortress at the border? That would make a more convincing explanation for Valon’s defeat…)
The crisis of the western province might not be just caused by the invasion of a foreign enemy, but instead be the result of a larger conspiracy.
If that was true, once I arrived in the western province I would have to fight the “Terror Armies” in front, and another unseen threat in the back…
“I can’t have a moment of rest, can I? Hell…”
I looked up at the dark ceiling and sighed.
Should I return to the Maxwell residence? For a second, the idea crossed my mind, but it was quickly wiped away by the image of a young girl.
(Right now, Naam is in the place closest to the center of all this treachery. I wouldn’t be a man anymore if I abandoned her.)
I grinned, exposing my fangs, then slowly closed my eyes.
I may have spent too much time engrossed in my thoughts: before I noticed it, it was almost dawn. I had to rest, at least a little, or it would impact my progress the next day.
I closed my eyes, and slowly but surely I felt the temptation of sleep come over me. I let myself go, and fell asleep soon enough.
“All right then…everyone who wants it, will get it…I’m going to swallow you whole, every last one of you. You’ll regret targeting my woman…no, my sort of sweet little sister…”
So I whispered to myself, as I drifted off to sleep.