The sole reason that most of the donations Souji collected went to Cardinal Gold was to protect this freewheeling lifestyle of his. Souji had no desire for large amounts of money himself. In order to live freely in this city of prudes, he needed a powerful backer.
As Souji was walking down the street, a drunk old man who was drinking in front of one of the shops called out to him.
“Hey there, delinquent bishop. How’s it hanging?”
Souji turned to the old man and waved. “Hey, Pops. Thanks for all the donations.”
“Well, it’s not like I have anyone else relying on me,” the old man said. “If the country’s gonna take it all when I die, I’d rather use it for my drinking buddy.”
“Ha ha ha,” Souji laughed. “Good for you. Let’s drink again sometime.”
He parted ways with the old man, and before he made it another ten steps, an old lady in fine clothing called out to him. “What, you still haven’t been fired yet? I don’t know why Lady Lunaria would go and make someone like you a bishop…”
“Hey, I thought I heard someone being nasty, but it’s just you, Granny,” Souji bantered back. “You’re still kicking? You sure Lady Lunaria isn’t trying to tell you not to stay away from her?”
“Hmph! If I die before you, you’re going to pray for me, right?” she shot back. “If an awful monk like you is the one saying my prayers, I’ll get lost on my way to the realm of the dead! I don’t want that!”
“Ha ha ha. Well, live as long as you can then, you old bag.”
They were saying horrible things to each other, but they were both so animated. It was the sort of conversation they could have because they knew one another so well.
Next, a woman in highly revealing clothes called out to him. “Sou, baby, you haven’t been coming out to play lately. The girls at the shop have missed you, you know?”
“Right, I’ll drop in next time I get the chance,” Souji promised.
“You say that, but I’ve been hearing rumors that you’ve found a special someone.”
“Heh, you think any woman’d come near me with this head of mine?” When he said that and slapped the top of his smooth, tanned head, everyone nearby erupted in laughter.
He was treated as a nuisance in the main church, but here in the pleasure quarter, Souji was a popular guy.
While walking through the pleasure quarter like that, Souji suddenly came to a halt. Then, turning around, he spoke in the direction of a dark alley.
“Why don’t you just come out and show yourself already? I’m not into having guys follow me around.”
When he did, a man who was posing as a pilgrim with his whole body covered by a dirt-covered hooded cape stepped out of the darkness. His face was covered by the hood, but the pointed nose of what looked to be a male beastman was visible from beneath it.
The man bowed to Souji without pulling back his hood. “My pardons for that. When did you notice?”
“You’ve been following me since I entered the pleasure quarter, haven’t you? I’m a former adventurer, and detecting enemies was one of my roles in the party. I’m sensitive to the presences of others.”
“What is a man like you doing as a bishop?” the hooded beastman asked.
“I messed up in a dungeon one time and got hurt badly. It was in this country, and while I was helping out the old bishop who took care of me… It just sort of happened naturally. I built a connection with the believers then, and I’ve kept it up ever since the old man passed away.”
“I see…” The hooded man nodded in satisfaction, then walked toward Souji. Then, putting a hand in his pocket, he tried to pull something out.
Souji readied himself, thinking it was a weapon, but he was less tense once he saw the proffered item. The man held an expensive bottle of wine.
“I would like to share a drink with you. Somewhere quiet, if possible.”
“…Hmm.”
The man didn’t seem to be an assassin sent by one of the higher-ups in the church who wanted to get rid of him, so Souji let his guard down. There weren’t many beastmen in this country. If he wasn’t an assassin hired by the church, this man likely came from another country. What business could a foreigner have with him?
Souji laughed. “Well, you wanna come back to my place, then?”
The hooded man said, “Yes, certainly.”
And so, the two of them walked through the marketplace at night together.
Souji lived in a ramshackle house on the edge of Yumuen.
When they entered the dark room with no one else in it, the hooded man’s nose twitched. “This smell is…”
“Does it stink?” Souji asked with a laugh as he lit the candles. “I’m a man living on my own, so sorry about that. Well, just try to put up with it.”
“No, I think the place is well kept.”
In fact, for someone of Souji’s lighthearted and open-minded personality, the room was meticulously clean. There was no trash left lying about, and no dust piled up in the corners, either. What caught the man’s attention more than that was…
“Is this smell… medicine?”
When the hooded man pointed it out, Souji stopped laughing. He stared at the man for a while, then, as if giving up, he shrugged. “You’ve got a good nose on you.”
“We beastmen do have quite sharp noses when compared with humans, yes.” The man pulled back his hood to reveal the face of a wolf. He bowed his head. “I am known as Inugami. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”
Souji brought a hand to his chin and asked, “I don’t mind us becoming acquainted, but… is that your real name?”
“As you have inferred, the name is an alias.”
“Of course it is. If a guy’s gotta hide his identity to sneak into the country, there’s no way he could honestly give me his real name, now is there?”
Even as he said that, Souji was getting things ready so that they could drink. On a narrow table, he laid out two glasses, along with bread and cheese. The two men sat across from one another at the table, and started with an easygoing toast.
Souji poured the contents of the bottle he’d gotten from Inugami into the glasses, and sipping away at it a little at a time, he asked, “So, where are you from?”
“Elfrieden… though I suppose I should say the Kingdom of Friedonia now.”
“The place with a hero from another world as its king, huh?”
Serving as a bishop in a closed-off environment like the church tended to make one a little ignorant of happening in the outside world, but even Souji had heard rumors about the Hero King of Elfrieden. He had been ceded the throne immediately after he was summoned, then he’d pulled the Elfrieden Kingdom out of its gradual decline, eliminated threats to his rule by both internal and external actors, and now he had even annexed the Principality of Amidonia, turning his country into a powerhouse that could even stand up to the Empire.
Even just hearing this much, they seemed like the accomplishments of a man of many talents, but little was ever actually said about King Souma’s personal contribution to all of it. In other countries, all they heard about were the Silver Captain of the Royal Guard and the Red-haired Strike Force Captain from the military, the Black-robed Prime Minister and Lord Ishizuka the God of Food from the bureaucracy, and all the other people doing great things around him.
If they could have seen the Jewel Voice Broadcasts, things might have been different, but the only achievement of King Souma’s that was spoken of in other countries was his having the wisdom to hire these men. That was why Souji didn’t know how to judge the hero king.