Sherin responded proudly to her younger sister, who’d whispered in her ear.

“Oh, right—Miss Pochi, Miss Tama. I only got to see my daughter again because you beat those big strong monsters. I thank you and honor your bravery.”

“Tee-hee.”

“I’m blushing, sir.”

The pair of them wriggled shyly.

“It was Hikaru who finished off the really big monster, sir,” Pochi added.

“Hikaru…is that Duchess Mitsukuni?”

I nodded, a little surprised that he knew about her.

“Don’t worry, I already thanked Her Excellency.”

Tama and Pochi nodded at this.

Hikaru had apparently come to visit the day after the incident.

While we were chatting about Hikaru, Miss Sherin, and so on, the supervisor of the villa eventually directed us to take our leave.

“Hey, Satou, if you get the chance…look out for Lady Somienna, too, yeah?”

Somienna was Duke Vistall’s youngest daughter and had personally prevented Gouen from killing his master Duke Vistall at the risk of her own life. He must have felt deeply grateful to her since he wasn’t doing the deed of his own free will.

“Of course. I can’t promise I’ll be of much help, but I’ll certainly listen to her troubles, at the very least.”

“That’s more than enough. Thank you, Satou.”

Ignoring the persistent supervisor, I shook hands with Mr. Gouen, waved to the rest of his family, and left the villa.

“Now that we’ve received our recompense from His Majesty, let’s decide who should use the Gift Orbs, shall we?”

Since our plans for today were highly confidential, we gathered at our secret base. Nana’s sisters and Hikaru were there, too, of course.

“You got ‘Paralysis Resistance’ and ‘Water Magic’ at the auction, right?”

“That’s right.”

Lulu had already used the “Analyze Goods” orb we got from our floormaster spoils and acquired the skill.

“Why not just stick with what we talked about before? We’ll have either our tank Nana or our healer Mia take ‘Paralysis Resistance,’ and Nana or Lulu take ‘Water Magic.’”

“Okay, which one would use ‘Paralysis Resistance’?”

“Nana,” Mia responded immediately.

“True, it might be best for our shield user to have it.”

Since no one else had any objections, the “Paralysis Resistance” skill went to Nana.

“What about ‘Water Magic’?”

“I will withdraw, I declare.”

“I’ll hold off, too. I can technically use skill level one spells without having the right magic skill, as long as I don’t mind a little headache, so I don’t really need it. What about you and the other sisters, Adin? You don’t have anyone who knows Healing Magic, right?”

As a compromise, Arisa offered the orb to the eldest of the sisters, Adin, also known as Number 1.

“Is it really all right for us to take such a valuable item? None of us can use Healing Magic, but we are all capable of foundation techniques to stop bleeding and accelerate regeneration…”

“Me! Me, me, me! Huit wishes to try Healing Magic, I declare.”

Adin’s attempted show of restraint was interrupted by Number 8, Huit.

“Request denied.”

Number 2, Ithnani, immediately rejected Huit’s request.

“Why? I inquire.”

“Because you would forget to heal us, I reply.”

“Agreed. The reliable Vier would be a better fit, I propose.”

Number 5, Fünf, agreed with Ithnani’s assessment, while Number 6, Seis, suggested Number 4.

“Tria too! Tria is also interested in Healing Magic!”

Tria hopped up and down with excitement until Adin shut her down.

“You are not a suitable choice. You are often away from the rest of us scouting or setting traps.”

“Boo-hoo. Tria is disappointed.”

“What do you think, Mito…I mean, Hikaru?”

“I think Vier is a good fit, too. Do you want to do it, though?”

When Adin asked Hikaru, she turned to Vier for her opinion.

“…I don’t mind,” Vier mumbled.

She was the quietest of the sisters.

“Master, is it all right if Vier uses ‘Water Magic’?”

“Sure. Whoever you all choose is fine with me.”

I nodded at Nana’s sisters.

Thus, Nana acquired the “Paralysis Resistance” skill, and Vier acquired “Water Magic.”

“Vier, I’ll give you some Water Magic spellbooks. These three books contain the standard spells used in the Shiga Kingdom. This one is military-use ‘Water Magic,’ and this last one is original spells that I created. Make sure you don’t use those in front of anyone else.”

“Yes, Master.”

Vier nodded and stored the spellbooks in her Fairy Pack.

The sisters had each gotten their own when they finished training in Bolenan Forest.

When Lulu went back to our home to prepare for dinner, I gave everyone permission to do as they pleased for a while.

The beastfolk girls went to get some exercise before dinner, while Nana and her sisters went to support Vier’s “Water Magic” training.

“Master, are those the scrolls we got in the auction?”

“Yeah, I figured I might as well use them now.”

I headed for an open area while I talked with Arisa. Mia and Hikaru came along, too.

We acquired three scrolls in the auction.

The Space Magic spell Material Transfer could move nonliving things. The basic version could only transport things about as large as a pebble, but from my magic menu, it could transport boulders, too. Maybe I could use it for a “Mini Meteor” attack.

“Wow.”

“Turning ‘Material Transfer’ into ‘Meteor’…”

“You’re like a one-man siege machine.”

Mia, Arisa, and Hikaru all commented from the sidelines. Honestly, I’ve had enough skills to do a one-man siege for ages now.

Next, I tried the Summoning Magic spell Summon Pigeon.

This spell summons a carrier pigeon and sends a letter to a chosen person or location. Sadly, using it from the magic menu didn’t change the effects.

“Eh, kinda boring.”

“I was hoping you’d at least be able to summon an Elder Pigeon.”

“Cute.”

While Arisa and Hikaru were unimpressed, Mia was happy to cuddle the friendly pigeon.

The next spell, a combination of Water Magic and Wind Magic from the Overgrown Labyrinth, was a lot crazier.

From the scroll, it only produced a vaguely unpleasant smell. From my menu, however, it was as powerful as a tear-gas bomb. When I turned its strength up to the max, it started killing demi-goblins left and right. I’d have to be especially careful with this one.

“It’s like a biological weapon.”

“Yeah, I actually feel bad for the demi-goblins.”

“Mean.”

The crowd didn’t like this one.

With its strength reduced to the minimum, it might be useful for distracting people. The demi-goblins of the labyrinth would have to put up with my experiments until I got the hang of controlling it.

“Is that all? Didn’t you get some sketchy scroll from Viscount Siemmen?”

I’d forgotten about the mysterious scroll until Arisa reminded me. Now was as good a time as any to use that, too.

“What kind of spell is it?”

“It’s a Shadow Magic spell called Shadow Mirror. I’m not sure what it does.”

This spell wasn’t in the Undead King Zen’s Shadow Magic spellbook I found in Trazayuya’s Cradle.

“Do you know it, Hikaru?” Arisa asked.

“Yeah, I had a minor run-in with some folks who specialized in it in the Flue Empire.”

Hikaru explained that there had been an annoying group of people called the Phantom Peach Orchard, and she was getting riled up as she reflected on the past.

“So what does the spell do?”

“It uses one shadow to display something that’s visible from another shadow. You can hear voices, too, but it goes both ways, so it’s not great for secret surveillance. If anything, it’s sort of like a video call version of Telephone.”

Most users of the spell were limited to a distance of a few miles; a few were able to use it within the range of a single city at best.

“But since there aren’t many spells that let you see someone and speak to them directly, powerful people in the Flue Empire had their own hired Shadow Mirror users. That’s what gave those Phantom Peach Orchard jerks free rein to cause trouble, though.”

Hikaru looked bitter as she finished this statement.

This group must have given her a lot of grief.

Lulu came to get us before I could get into really testing it out, putting an end to the day’s magic experiments once I added the new spell to my magic menu. I also used the other scrolls I’d gotten with the prime minister’s help, like the military Earth Magic spell Iron Toss and the Wind Magic spells Turbulence and Fallen Hammer.

Since the other scrolls I ordered from Viscount Siemmen probably wouldn’t be ready before we left the royal capital, I would have to find a good time to go pick them up as Akindoh, Viscount Pendragon’s personal merchant.

The day after we visited the villa, I went with the beastfolk girls to the mansion of the military minister, Marquis Kelten.

Beyond the imposing gate that suited the home of a military man was a gorgeous garden full of beautifully blossoming flowers.

“Pochi! Tama!”

“Bestie, sir!”

“And our henchmen, tooo?”

A garden party was in full swing. In addition to Viscount Kelten’s granddaughter and Pochi and Tama’s best friend Miss Cyna, their apprentice-like “henchmen” were also present, as well as other young boys and girls.

Pochi and Tama looked up at me for permission, and I nodded to indicate that they could go play.

“Why, hello, Satou.”

As I watched the pair run off, a sultry voice summoned me.

Turning around, I found Mrs. Rayuna Raffol, a marquis’s wife with a perpetually sensual air about her.

Behind her was her close friend Mrs. Ema Litton, a count’s wife who held a great deal of influence in the royal capital’s noble society.

“Hello there, Lady Rayuna, Lady Ema.”

When I greeted them, a murmur arose from the nearby nobles.

Judging by my experiences at previous tea parties, they were probably shocked that I addressed the ladies by their first names.

“How unusual to see you at His Excellency Kelten’s home. Are you trying to make connections in the military now, even though you’ve just been made Vice-Minister of Tourism?”

As usual, Count Litton’s wife was on top of the latest news.

“Since you’ve so many friends in the Shiga Eight, I would suggest you aim to get in with high-ranking officers and imperial knights next.”

I thanked them for their advice before clarifying that I wasn’t here to network.

“I’ve come today because young Lady Cyna kindly befriended a few of my kids during the spring class at the preschool, you see.”

“Oh my, is that so? Well, more importantly, you must look at this necklace.”

“And my earrings, too.”

Mrs. Litton and Mrs. Raffol showed me their spoils from the auction.

The Echigoya Company produced this jewelry for the auction using magic gemstones.

After a round of compliments for the jewelry as well as for the ladies themselves, I explained that I would soon be leaving the royal capital to travel around to various nations.

“What a shame. Just as we were getting to be such good friends.”

“How long will you be traveling?”

“My apologies. I plan to return to the royal capital by the time the items you both requested arrive.”

Since the jewels with their family crests that they’d requested by way of Satou were supposedly being made by a jeweler in a southern island country, I’d told them it would be at least six months.

While we lamented our parting, I asked the well-informed ladies to tell me about any interesting places they knew of in the surrounding nations.

As we were wrapping up our conversation, I heard cheers from the direction of the garden party.

“What’s all the fuss about?”

“Well, these are military folks. Perhaps a Shiga Eight member has arrived?”

Brimming with curiosity, we headed toward the source of the commotion.

“Incredible, Marquis Kelten!”

“Truly the work of a master! That iron armor’s been sliced in twain!”

The military nobles were all clamoring around Marquis Kelten, who had a Magic Sword in hand.

“Marquis Kelten? Really?”

“Is he really all that special of a swordsman?”

The two noble wives whispered to one another.

“Your Excellency! One more time, please!”

“Oh yes, do let us see as well!”

“Hmph. If you insist.”

Marquis Kelten channeled magic power into the sword.

The magic blade glowed dimly, creating a faint outline of red light around it.

“Why, it’s ‘Spellblade.’”

“He must have won that at the auction.”

Mrs. Litton and Mrs. Raffol correctly identified the red blade of light.

“Oh, Grandfather, you’re at it again?”

A little girl appeared next to us, crossing her arms.

Her facial features bore a strong resemblance to Miss Cyna’s. According to my AR display’s information, she was a daughter of the Kelten family by the name of Dumolina.

“Masterrr?”

“It’s Master, sir.”

Tama and Pochi popped up behind me and latched onto my legs. Cyna had come along with them, too.

Always minding her manners, Miss Cyna gave me a polite, ladylike greeting.

“Would you believe it, Cyna? Grandfather’s already getting carried away again, even though he only just ran out of magic and collapsed the other day from using ‘Spellblade’ too much. I must say, I can scarcely believe that he’s the head of the military!”

In spite of her cherubic appearance, Cyna’s elder sister Dumolina was evidently quite harsh.

“Ha-ha-ha. Show a little mercy, Dumolina.”

Cyna’s and Dumolina’s father, the honorary Viscount Kelten, strode over with a chuckle. The second son of Marquis Kelten, he headed up the budget bureau of the royal military. He was the spitting image of his father.

“Father, this is Viscount Pendragon.”

“Oh-ho, the one I’ve heard so much about? Why, you’re much younger than I expected.”

After we exchanged greetings, Cyna’s father gave me his thanks that Pochi and Tama had saved his daughter.

He had already thanked the two of them directly.

“Look at this, sir!”

“We got a giiift?”

Grinning delightedly, Tama and Pochi held up the decorative gift basket they’d gotten from Cyna’s father.

It contained an assortment of carefully wrapped high-quality ham, sausage, and so on. I’m sure their “bestie” Cyna had some input on the gift selection.

“I’ve already sent a formal gift of thanks to your mansion. Please don’t hesitate to accept it. I assure you there’s no underlying meaning of any sort.”

After whispering in my ear, Cyna’s father went to collect the Marquis and bring him over.

“Were you watching, by any chance, Sir Pendragon?”

“Yes, I saw your magnificent ‘Spellblade’ from over here, Your Excellency.”

Marquis Kelten was in a smashing good mood.

“Pochi can do it, too, sir!”

“Tama tooo?”

Before I could stop them, the girls pulled out sausages from the gift basket and used them to create ‘Spellblade.’

“‘S-spellblade’ on something other than a Magic Sword?!”

The marquis looked shocked.

But true to his seasoned position as the military minister, he quickly recovered.

“No wonder you’re mithril explorers! Such mastery at such a young age.”

With that, Marquis Kelten patted Tama and Pochi on the head.

“Viscount Pendragon, I must thank you and your vassals for rescuing my granddaughter from grave peril. If the Kelten family can do anything to assist you, you need only ask me.”

Another wave of commotion ran through the nearby crowd of military nobles at the marquis’s generous offer.

Using my “Poker Face” skill to the fullest, I responded with a simple “Thank you, you are much too kind.”

“Although the Shiga Eight Swordsmen candidates have been chosen, the final round of selection will take place from the second squadron being sent to suppress the rebellion in Vistall Duchy.”

Oh, right. I read in a newspaper extra that the first squadron sent to stop the rebellion took back one city in Vistall Duchy only to be wiped out.

“They leave tomorrow. If you like, Sir Pendragon, I can put in a recommendation for you to join up?”

“No, thank you. With my lack of experience, I would only hold them back.”

“Nonsense. Everyone’s a beginner at first. Why, I could even get you signed up as an officer in the royal knights and…”

Uh-oh. Marquis Kelten was getting a little pushy.

“All right, that’s enough of that!”

“Hear, hear! It would be unthinkable to let our Sir Satou’s talents go to waste in military service!”

The gourmet-loving noble pair from the old capital came to my rescue.

“Marquis Lloyd and Count Hohen, eh? Seeing the two of you get along so swimmingly makes me fear that hellfire might rain down from the sky next.”

Marquis Kelten turned to the duo with an unreadable expression.

“Hmph. No feud is worth fighting over in the face of shrimp tempura.”

“Indeed, I see no purpose in clashing with a fellow appreciator of the greatness of red pickled ginger tempura.”

What does that even mean?

“I, too, am well aware of Sir Pendragon’s magnificent cooking, you two. Yet is it not the finest honor any master could dream of to be appointed to the Shiga Eight Swordsmen?”

I recognized the military man who came over and addressed the pair.

It was Baron Jeetbert, a noble of Ougoch Duchy who I rescued when he was shipwrecked in the Seadragon Islands.

“It’s good to see you again, Your Excellency Baron Jeetbert.”

“I apologize for not greeting you sooner. Been a while—I mean, it is an honor to see you again, Viscount Pendragon. You need not call me ‘Your Excellency’ or anything of the sort, you know. Congratulations on your well-deserved promotion to viscount.”

Baron Jeetbert corrected his tone to a more formal one partway through.

“I do apologize for my lateness. I know I promised to see you at the kingdom meeting.”

Oh yeah, I guess he did say that when we parted ways in Sutoandell, the trade city in the Ougoch Duchy.

“Though it hardly makes up for my negligence, I’ve collected many fine products from the coastline and peninsulas of the Shiga Kingdom, just as promised. I will deliver them to your manor in the near future.”

What an upright guy.

Baron Jeetbert and Cyna’s father had apparently been classmates at the knights’ school of the royal academy. Soon, they were clearly getting back into their old rhythm, holding an arm-wrestling tournament in a corner of the garden party.

Incidentally, I should note the winner wound up being Liza, who accidentally used her full strength.

“Your Majesty, I have come to report that we will be returning to our territory.”

In one of the smaller audience rooms of the royal capital, Count Leon Muno bowed to the king.

I was there accompanying him and his councillor Nina Lottel.

Uncharacteristically, the prime minister wasn’t by the king’s side. Instead, he was flanked only by Sir Reilus, the Holy Shield and third seat of the Shiga Eight, as well as a few aides.

“Very good. I trust you will work hard to continue developing your nation for the betterment of the Shiga Kingdom and its people.”

The king paused for a moment, gazing at Count Muno, and continued in a softer tone.

“Take good care of Muno County, Leon.”

“O-of course, Your Majesty! Understood.”

Count Muno bowed his head deeply.

I found out later that when Leon was studying heroes in the royal capital as Baronet Donano, it was the current king who appointed him lord of the former Muno Barony. That might be why the king seemed to have a vested interest in Count Muno.

While I was reflecting on all that, the meeting came to an end, and we left the audience room.

“Count Muno, will you be going back home on the next airship, too?”

Count Kuhanou called out to us in the hall.

He was on his way to report his return like Count Muno just had.

“Yes, that’s right. And you, Count Kuhanou?”

“Indeed. I look forward to our journey, then.”

The trip to the northeastern part of the kingdom would be via airship until they reached Ougoch Duchy, then by ship on the great river to the northern edge of the county, and farther north from there by carriage. This meant that Count Kuhanou would be on the same route with them until Muno City.

“Will you be traveling with Count Muno as well, Sir Pendragon?”

“No, I’ll be stopping by Labyrinth City, then traveling to various nations.”

“Oh? Well, it is good to travel while you’re still young. Broaden your horizons, and find new ways to be of help to Count Muno, eh?”

I nodded at his encouragement and thanked him for lending me his sword during the Evil-Cleansing Ceremony incident.

“Oh, not at all. A sword is little more than decoration to a lord. Although, speaking of the sword you returned to me, where in the world did you take it for maintenance?”

“I asked a friend of mine to fix it up. Was there a quality issue?”

“Quite the opposite—I’m amazed at how well they sharpened it up. It cut cleaner than it ever has before when I took it for a test run. I was hoping you’d introduce me to this master craftsman.”

Sorry, I can’t. I did it myself.

“It was the work of a blacksmith known as Hephaistos. He’s very talented, but I’m afraid he is also quite flighty and moves about frequently… I haven’t the faintest idea where he might be at the moment.”

“A wandering master blacksmith, eh…? Your connections never cease to amaze me, Sir Pendragon.”

Thanks to my “Fabrication” skill, Count Kuhanou bought my story.

“Well then, please tell this master blacksmith of yours to come by my castle if ever he finds himself in Kuhanou County. Hmph, er…”

“Hephaistos.”

“…Right, Hephaistos. I’ll let my gatekeepers and viceroys know about him, too, then.”

“I’ll be sure to tell Sir Hephaistos as soon as I can get in touch again.”

Since Count Kuhanou seemed so taken with my work, I would have to make a new disguise mask and pay him a visit if we stopped by Kuhanou County sometime.

It could be fun to check out the capital, Kuhanou City.

After parting ways with Count Kuhanou, I chatted with Ms. Nina as we continued down the hall.

“You said you’ll be traveling to different nations, yes? Is this for your new job as the Vice-Minister of Tourism?”

“Yes, that’s part of it.”

Mostly I just wanted to travel for fun.

“Still, I have to admit, I didn’t think you’d take the gig. As part of the deal, Muno County is getting bumped to the top of the list for a small airship from the kingdom, ten Champion’s Swords and Spears, and a two-year extension of our special tax exemption, to boot.”

She really squeezed the prime minister for all he was worth. I should’ve expected no less from Ms. Nina.

“By the way, if you’re hitting the road, what about Miss Karina? Will you be taking her along?”

“No, Lady Karina was hoping to train in Labyrinth City. Some friends of mine—Nana’s sisters—will be training in the labyrinth there, so I thought she could work alongside them.”

“Miss Nana has sisters, eh? Are they strong?”

“Well, they’ve trained in the elf village. I’d say they’re around as strong as my group was when we arrived in Labyrinth City ourselves. Besides, Lady Karina has Raka to help her.”

Even putting her own strength aside, Miss Karina could probably handle most situations with the support of the Intelligent Item Raka. He provided great protection, too.

“…Hmm. What do you think, Count?”

“As her father, I would prefer to keep her out of danger. But if that is what she wishes, I would like to let her do as she will.”

“You’re way too soft on her.”

Ms. Nina rolled her eyes at Count Muno, then turned back to me.

“I wish she’d just settle down with you and stay at home.”

“If you forced Lady Karina to do such a thing, she would run away from the castle again.”

“…Right. She did go running to the giants for help when I was stuck in jail.”

I had to convince Ms. Nina, given that I’d promised Miss Karina that I would make a case for her going back to Labyrinth City to train.

“Oh, all right. We’ll let her have her way for a year or so. Does that work for you, Count?”

“Yes, of course.”

Count Muno nodded.

Within a year’s time, she’d probably reach around level 50 and get bored of training in the labyrinth, anyway.

“Satou, now that you’re an upper noble, you’ll have to land a wife in the next year, too.”

“Oh, I’m still too young for that.”

“It’s kingdom law, you know. An unmarried head of an upper noble family without a legitimate heir has to have a child within a year. So whether it’s a proper wife or a mistress, you’ll need to get yourself a wife and start making a baby right away.”

“You’re joking…”

“Would I joke about this? For your information, if you don’t have a child within three years, you’re required to get a second wife or a mistress.”

…For real?

Multiple wives, or husbands in the case of a female head of household, are mandatory? I can’t believe they have legally enforced polygamy… The Shiga Kingdom is truly next level.

Well, the stipulation specifies “a legitimate heir,” meaning hopefully all I need is a successor. If they try to force me to get married, I’ll just find some clever kid who wants to be a noble and adopt them into the Viscount Pendragon family.

“Come on, I heard from Ema and Rayuna that all the girls wanted a piece of you at their tea parties and get-togethers. Isn’t there a single girl that interested you? Any maids you might’ve taken home?”

I didn’t realize Nina was friends with Mrs. Litton and Mrs. Raffol. She really does know everyone.

“Unfortunately, no.”

“If you say so. Well, if you don’t find a wife in the next year, you can just marry Miss Karina. Having a wife who’s older than you isn’t so bad, you know.”

I do prefer older women, but from my perspective, Karina is still way too young.

I invoked the classic procrastination password phrase known as “I’ll think about it” to evade the question, and accompanied Count Muno and company to check out the mansion he received from the king.

That evening, after I visited the new Muno manor, I went to the Echigoya Company to finish off some work before we left the royal capital.

“Welcome back, Lord Kuro.”

“Thank you, Miss Manager.”

The blond, beautiful manager Eluterina greeted me with a shining smile.

“Lord Kuro, I’ve gathered all of the various ingots, scrap gemstones, and refinement scraps you requested. The precious metals are in the underground treasury, and the rest had to be kept in a spare storehouse at the factory, due to the sheer amount.”

“You really work fast, Tifaleeza.”

The managing secretary, a lovely silver-haired girl named Tifaleeza, handed me an inventory list.

I mass-purchased the different kinds of ingots for transmutation, magic tool creation, and other assorted uses. The scrap gemstones were for magic jewels, and the refinement scraps were for extracting rare metals. From the looks of it, she’d managed to purchase the latter in bulk at bargain prices.

As I looked over the papers, it took all the power of my “Poker Face” skill to keep a satisfied grin off my face.

“Platinum and iridium are rare finds. Did you make a new business contact?”

“Yes, the Sahbe Company heard we were looking to buy metal ingots and came to strike a deal with us.”

The Sahbe Company was run by the weaselfolk man, Mr. Homimudory.

Since these ingots were difficult to process, they had no interested buyers and were willing to sell them to us for the same price as gold ingots. They’d also tried to sell us three Spirit Magic scrolls, a purchase that the managers put on hold.

“Spirit Magic scrolls? Were they the undead summoning scrolls from the auction?”

“Most likely, yes.”

They’d tried to sell these to me as Satou, too, but I turned them down as well, because Spirit Magic scrolls are considered a morally gray area and might lead to unsavory rumors.

So they tried selling them to the Echigoya Company instead.

“And you put them on hold?”

“Well, purchasing Spirit Magic scrolls is seen as taboo, so we wanted to get your permission first.”

“I see. But did you have a buyer in mind if we purchased them?”

Those certainly weren’t the kind of thing we could use at the company.

“Yes, Viscount Pendragon collects scrolls.”

“So, you’re trying to win his favor?”

“No, if anything, he’s already done plenty of favors for us. I hoped we could return it a little.”

Huh? When did I do the company favors, again?

“I see. I’ll allow the purchase. The final decision is up to you.”

Since I’m really not a fan of horror, I don’t particularly want to get mixed up in controlling the undead with Spirit Magic.

I do get plenty of use from the Spirit Magic spell Bonecraft, though.

“Are the other materials in the storehouses, too?”

“Yes. Anything that requires cold storage is in storehouse number two.”

I had them bulk-purchase a lot of ingredients we were running low on, like grains and seasonings. This sort of thing looks a lot less unusual when a company is making the purchase as opposed to an individual.

I also ordered plenty of supplies that aren’t very widely circulated, like coffee beans from the Saga Empire, and items that aren’t sold in normal stores, like high-quality Ohmi beef. Starting a company really was a great idea.

“As for the mementos Viscount Pendragon requested, we’ve found a home for the last one. It was deemed to belong to a family member of Countess Kageus, so we delivered it to their royal capital estate.”

“Good work.”

The mementos in question were items we found on the sugar route on drifting or sunken ships.

I put in a request as Satou to the Echigoya Company to return them discreetly, since it would’ve been more of a pain to do it myself. Any gifts of thanks from the owners would be used for philanthropic purposes after a handling fee went to the company.

“But did we really have to leave out Viscount Pendragon’s name, I wonder?”

“That was a condition of his request, right?”

“Well, yes… I still feel guilty, though. It’s as if we’ve robbed him of a perfect chance to make positive connections with all manner of nobles and taken all the credit for ourselves.”

“Don’t worry about it, Manager.”

I didn’t want to go making connections that might result in more marriage proposals.

“If he wanted that sort of thing, he wouldn’t have asked us to keep his name private.”

“…Of course.”

While the manager still didn’t look satisfied, Tifaleeza moved onto the next subject with more papers in hand.

“Lord Kuro, His Excellency the Prime Minister has approached us about hiring a few new personnel.”

“What kind of personnel?”

“Well, erm…” Eluterina hesitated.

Tifaleeza supplied the answer. “Phantom Thief Pippin and Shadow Thief Sharururuun.”

I’d had run-ins with Pippin as Kuro, and Sharururuun as Satou. I caught Pippin when he stole the Prayer Ring from the auction house, and apprehended Sharururuun when she tried to steal the Dragon’s Eye in the royal castle. Both were turned over to Shiga Kingdom authorities and ultimately sentenced to be slaves, or so I thought.

“Thieves? How would we use them at the company?”

If anything, I would think the prime minister would have more use for them in his intelligence-gathering agency.

“His Excellency suggested that they could be of use gathering information for Sir Nanashi the Hero or for undertaking various handiwork.”

Fair enough; we were short on that kind of talent. But I didn’t think such strong-willed individuals would be easy to manage. I’d rather just handle things with Space Magic and my stupid amount of skills then take on more unnecessary labor.

“Sir Nanashi has no need for such things.”

“They could help us in other ways, too, like gathering information when we look into opening more branches, or with their connections with criminal guilds.”

“If you have a use for them within the company, fine. But they’re quick on their feet. Don’t let them near any confidential information.”

“Understood, sir. But there was one condition for hiring slaves…”

“A condition?”

“Pippin and Sharururuun each had one request.”

“What is it?”

“They said they would only talk about it when they meet you, Lord Kuro.”

“All right.”

I was a little curious anyway. I could go meet with them once I finished my business at the Echigoya Company and had picked up the materials I purchased.

I checked on the progress of the farming village and mines we were developing and got research reports from the young Japanese reincarnation Aoi and his eccentric master Professor Jahado.

“Leave it to Professor Jahado. He’s already working on a new prototype?”

“Yes, and his assistant Aoi is also developing something called a ‘drone’ using the coaxial skypower engine.”

That wasn’t surprising for a Japanese reincarnation.

However, I hoped he would develop more items for everyday use, like soap dispensers, instead of the kind of technology that might be used for military purposes.

Since I’d already told him about the technologies that the gods forbade in this world, which I heard about from the reincarnations who lived in the labyrinth’s Lower Stratum, I’d hopefully prevented the worst-case scenario. Still, researchers have a tendency to be motivated by curiosity. Maybe I should set up a system of restrictions to keep him in check.

As for the requests of the two thieves, Sharururuun’s was to rescue her younger brother, who’d been taken hostage by a criminal guild, while Pippin wanted vengeance against the villainous noble who abused and then killed his older sister.

I was able to track down both parties in no time using my map search. I rescued the little brother right away, physically destroying the criminal guild while I was at it, then uncovered the noble’s evil deeds and had him destroyed socially.

When I told them as much the next morning, both the thieves and the little brother were a little more grateful than I would have liked. Thanking me for doing a side job is all well and good, but I’d prefer they didn’t swear their undying loyalty to me with such intensely serious expressions.

I told them to obey the Echigoya Company managers in my stead; no doubt Eluterina and Tifaleeza would put the former thieves to work in no time. I designated Manager Eluterina as their official master.

“Why must people fight, I wonder…?”

Standing on the veranda of Duke Vistall’s manor, gazing up at the night sky and giving off a wistful air, was the duke’s youngest daughter Somienna.

“Sucks, doesn’t it?”

“Wh-who’s there?!”

I responded to her from the shadows, and Miss Somienna warily put her hand on her dagger.

“Good evening. Lovely sky tonight.”

“Sir Hero…!”

To my relief, she seemed to remember me from my help defending against the attack on their home.

I tried to meet with her as Satou, but my request to meet with her was rejected because Duke Vistall had just departed from the royal capital with the second squadron to quash the rebellion in their duchy.

“What brings you here?”

“Eh, a friend of mine was worried about you. He asked if I could come check in on you, even if you just wanna complain to someone.”

“A friend…? Ah, of course.”

Miss Somienna crossed her arms, thinking in silence.

“Would you be able to stop a war, Sir Hero?”

“I don’t get involved in conflicts between people.”

As much as I would’ve liked to help her out, I didn’t want to stick my nose into a place where even a hardened warrior might develop PTSD. Even with skills like “Psychic Resistance” and “Fear Resistance,” I couldn’t stand to witness such a bloody battle.

“Yes, of course…in that case, could you perhaps deliver a letter to my elder brother, Torriel? Surely a kind soul like him will stop this needless fighting.”

“Sure. That I can definitely handle.”

Personally, I doubted that her gentlehearted wish would get through to someone who was willing to try to take the life of his own father to fulfill his ideals. Still, hopefully it would at least make her feel better.

I waited for Miss Somienna to finish writing her letter, then put it away in my Item Box, complete with her signature ribbon.

“Got it. I’ll make sure this gets to your brother, don’t worry.”

“Thank you, Sir Hero.”

I gently wiped away the tears that quivered at the edges of her eyes, then took off into the night sky with a jaunty wave.

Looking down, I saw her gazing after me even after I was probably out of sight.

Maybe I should make a little effort to help bring an end to this conflict once I took care of my business in Yowork Kingdom.

“Thank you for coming all this way to see us off, Your Highness.”

“It’s the least I can do as your apprentice. I’ll keep researching new subjects until you return to the royal capital.”

On the day of our departure, Princess Sistina came to our royal capital manor to say her farewells, accompanied by her two guardian maids and the Sakura Protector, Miss Athena.

“Misanaria of Bolenan! I swear you won’t beat me again next time.”

“Mm. Okay.”

Mia brushed off Athena’s challenge with a deadpan expression.

“My dear Karina, be sure to win Sir Satou’s favor no matter what.”

“H-he’s already turned me down once, you know…”

“Don’t be so faint of heart! So what if you’ve been turned down a single time?! With that flawless face and body of yours, you should be able to sway any boy his age easily. Keep going after him, and even Sir Satou will fall head over heels sooner or later.”

My “Keen Hearing” skill picked up on Princess Menea’s whispered encouragements to Miss Karina.

Karina’s magical bust certainly is powerful enough to send me head over heels, literally if not figuratively.

We’ve got lots of other visitors, too.

Some sculptors from the studio had come to see Tama off.

“It’s not official yet, but your statue won the judges’ special award in that competition.”

“Oh, très bieeen?”

That was impressive. We’d have to celebrate later.

“Young master, this is from our managers.”

“And this one’s from all of us employees.”

Louna, the noble girl who rode on a stone wolf, and the redheaded Neru had come on behalf of the Echigoya Company.

“Thank you, Miss Louna, Miss Neru. Tell Manager Eluterina and the others that Satou sends his heartfelt thanks.”

“I’ll let them know.”

“You got it!”

I could tell that the wrapped-up package contained the three scrolls I’d discussed with them as Kuro. Maybe I’d keep them in Storage unless I needed them.

Neru also gave me some wrapped-up pastries and deep-fried sakura salmon bones. They’d make a perfect snack for our journey.

Once we’d said most of our good-byes, it was time to for us to pile into the new armored carriage from the Ministry of Tourism and three other borrowed carriages.

“All right, we’re off.”

Noticing that Hikaru looked sad, I called out to her again before I got on board.

“I’ll call you later tonight.”

“Okay. I hope you have a safe journey.”

“Thanks. I hope you’re able to meet your Ichirou Suzuki, too, Hikaru.”

“…Yeah.”

Once I was sure her expression had brightened a little, I got into the carriage.

As hard as it was to leave everyone, we waved and went on our way.

“Miss Miaaa! Miss Arisaaaa!”

The magic school students, teachers, and even the principal who all admired Mia and Arisa were waiting near the south gate of the royal capital to see us off.

Pochi’s and Tama’s bestie and henchmen were there, too.

Once they’d all said their good-byes to each other, we reluctantly set the carriages moving again.

“It’s a departure song.”

Mia closed her eyes and listened to the melody playing from a distance.

Atop a tower on the outer gates, a group of master musicians was playing a farewell tune for Mia and all of us.

This made for a very auspicious exit. Many citizens of the royal capital watched us go by with fascination.

“Miss Luluuu! Miss Nanaaaa!”

“Sherin…!”

“Pupil Sherin, continue training until we meet again, I declare.”

Miss Sherin came running after the trundling carriages, waving frantically. She must have run all the way here to see us off.

“Pochi, Tama!”

“Miss Pochiii! Miss Tamaaa!”

“Bestiiie!”

“Let’s meet again, henchmen, sirs!”

Tama and Pochi leaned out the window, waving to the young henchmen tripping over themselves to chase the carriage, as well as to Miss Cyna, who was being carried by a brawny knight running along beside them.

Finally, the carriage picked up speed, and we left the children behind as we took to the main road.

It’s always hard to part with people you’ve grown close to, but we can come back and visit anytime, and we’ll meet new friends on our travels, too. Rather than mourning a good-bye, I think it’s better to enjoy the journey so you have fun stories to share with them when you meet again.

The gentle spring sunlight warmed our spirits, promising a fun journey ahead.

Return to Labyrinth City

“It’s been a long time since we traveled by carriage like this.”

We had just left the royal capital, divided into four horse-drawn carriages.

“Master, I’ve been wondering why we left through the south gate. I thought we were heading straight to Labyrinth City?”

I guess I didn’t explain this to the others yet.

“We’re going by carriage to a town to the south called Mimani; then we’ll go downstream by boat to the city at the branching part of the river.”

“Traveling downstream, huh? Sounds like fun.”

I was curious to try this method myself after hearing about it at Mrs. Litton’s salon party. We’d mostly traveled by air or teleportation between Labyrinth City and the royal capital thus far.

As we discussed this, our carriages arrived at the lakeside town of Mimani.

We sent the borrowed carriages back toward the capital, and I had Arisa store the golem horses and armored carriage from the ministry in a subdimension created by her Space Magic spell Garage while Karina and company weren’t looking.

“Lake.”

“It’s a wellness resort, sir!”

“Cyna told uuus.”

The town of Mimani was close to the royal capital and served as a resort destination for nobles and other wealthy clientele.

When Pochi and Tama came here on their preschool field trip, Marquis Kelten’s daughter Cyna told them about the resort.

“Wow. You can tell from how nice the town is that it’s a resort.”

“Yes, Arisa. The tiny flowers hanging on the verandas are very cute, I report.”

“The breeze from the waterfront is so nice and cool.”

Arisa, Nana, and Lulu seemed very taken with the town.

“Huit likes the spinny-spin!”

“That is a windmill, I report.”

“I wish to see it up close, I declare.”

Several of Nana’s sisters, led by the youngest, Huit, took off in the direction of the windmill at the center of town.

“Ah! Stop right there, all of you!”

The eldest sister, Adin, hurried off to stop them.

Seems like the sensible member of the group always gets the short end of the stick.

Watching the sisters sprint away, I used the Space Magic spell Telephone to let Adin know there was nothing to worry about.

“Look at all those little boats docked around the edge of the lake.”

“Fishing boooats?”

“They catch lots of fish, sir!”

Tama and Pochi proudly responded to Liza’s observation.

“They must serve delicious seafood in this town, I say.”

“Can’t wait for dinner, huh, Lady Karina?”

Karina and her guardian maid Erina looked eager.

“That’s really all you two have to say about this beautiful scenery…?”

The newbie maid shook her head wryly at the conversation between her master and the senior maid.

I think having a healthy appetite is a good thing, though.

“I’m surprised they served trout, not sakura salmon.”

“Mister Trout was tasty, too, sir!”

“Oui, ouiii?”

“It was delicious, of course,” Arisa reassured the indignant Pochi and Tama.

The restaurant, which I’d been told at the salon was the best in town, lived up to its reputation.

“The grilled fish was delicious, of course, but I especially enjoyed the rich, buttery meunière.”

“Yes, that was exquisite.”

Liza nodded in agreement with Lulu.

“Tria wants to know how to make meunière!”

“Let’s make it together when we get to Labyrinth City.”

“Yes, Lulu. Tria is looking forward to it!”

The third sister, Tria, seemed thrilled about her promise with Lulu.

“Grilled mushroom, yummy.”

“Yes, Mia. The dessert was delicious, too, I report.”

“That grilled apple was on par with Lulu’s or Satou’s cooking, I must say.”

“Mm, agreed.”

“Huit can eat sweets forever, I declare!”

The other sisters all nodded in agreement with the youngest of their number.

The extravagant cuisine here owed much of its deliciousness to fresh ingredients and local specialties like Ohmi butter and Lalagi sugar.

Since everyone seemed to like it so much, I decided to stock up on Lake Mimani’s jasper trout and Ohmi butter before we left town.

“We spent so much time at the market that I thought we weren’t going to make it.”

“Yeah, we did cut it close.”

Still, even if we hadn’t made it in time, we could’ve just stayed in Mimani for a night.

Although the boats technically carried only eight passengers, we were able to fit into two, since the youngest kids were so small.

Nana and her sisters were on the second boat, while the rest of us squeezed into the first.

“Mister Captain, do you fight with that pole, sir?”

“Nah, monsters hardly ever show up in this river. This pole’s for pushing the boat along or changing its direction, like a rudder.”

“Très bieeen?”

Our captain answered Pochi’s questions cheerfully.

In the boat behind us, a younger captain was turning bright red as he answered even more curious questions from Huit and the other sisters.

“I could get used to these relaxing riverboat rides.”

“Mm, elegant.”

Traveling downstream was a good choice. The breeze felt great, too.

“Ah! I see fish, sir!”

“Let’s catch ’eeem?”

“You’re liable to fall in if you lean over the side like that, little missies.”

“We’re fiiine?”

“Exactly, sir! We won’t fall in, sir.”

“You mustn’t stress the captain like that, you two.”

Liza dragged Pochi and Tama back to their seats.

Incidentally, Karina tried to lean over the side, too, but I quickly signaled her maids to stop her. That could only have ended badly.

“We’ll be entering the rapids soon, so grab on to the handrails or the safety ropes, please. You’ll want to hold your little ones tight there, too. There’s waterproof cloth under the benches if you’re worried about getting wet.”

Judging by the captain’s warnings, this riverboat ride was about to get a lot less elegant.

“Mm, hold.”

“Mia, no fair hogging him!”

“Halfsies.”

Uh, I’m pretty sure sitting on either side of me would be safer than both of you squeezing onto my lap…

When Tama tried to join in on the turf war taking place on my legs, Liza held her firmly until she gave up. Her pouty face with her ears pressed down was adorable, though.

“Here come the rapids!”

The captain smoothly guided the boat through the churning white water.

“Eeeeeek!”

Each time the ship veered to one side or the other with a splash of the paddle, the girls shrieked, and delighted screams rang out whenever water splashed over the sides.

I thought about using Wind Magic or Practical Magic to block the splashes, then decided that this was part of the fun of this downstream ride. We could always use magic to dry our clothes off afterward.

“Aaaah, that was fun!”

To my surprise, that exclamation came from Lulu, not Arisa.

Her eyes were sparkling, her cheeks flushed. I bet she’d love a roller coaster or drop tower ride in a modern-day amusement park.

“Again! Pochi wants to ride the rapids again, sir!”

“Tama, toooo, one more tiiiime?”

“I’d love to do that again sometime, too.”

“You’re a tough cookie, newbie.”

“Once was enough for me, thanks. My head is spinning.”

Tama, Pochi, and the newbie seemed to have enjoyed the rapids as much as Lulu.

While Karina looked like she’d had fun, too, she’d gripped the handrail so tightly that she snapped it and nearly went overboard in surprise.

Surprisingly, Erina and Arisa had apparently had their fill.

“There weren’t any monsters on the riverbank, but I did see a fair amount of goats and grizzly bears. There were plenty of fish in the shade, too. It might be fun to travel alongside the river sometime.”

Liza had used her exceptionally sharp vision to observe the local prey animals. I should’ve expected no less.

I had fun, too; it might be nice to invite Hikaru and some other friends from the royal capital on a ride sometime.

About a half hour after the rapids, we reached the wharf, where we split into stagecoaches and headed for the crossroads city, Kelton.

There, we stayed in a nobles’ inn for the night. The next morning, we rode golem horses made with Earth Magic and disguised as regular horses all the way to Labyrinth City. The golem horses were incredibly fast, since they never get tired.

“We’re heeere?”

“It feels like ages since we last saw this place.”

When we arrived at Labyrinth City, we entered through the nobles’ gate in the east.

“You can smell the meat skewers from here, sir!”

“I need to greet the viceroy. The rest of you are free to go wherever you like.”

As Pochi sniffed the air eagerly, I grinned and gave everyone free rein until dinner.

Of course, it would be rude to go greet the viceroy in my dust- and dirt-covered travel clothes. I planned to head to the mansion and get cleaned up before the visit.

“Ah! It’s the young master!”

“Welcome back, young master!”

As we proceeded down the mazelike paths of Labyrinth City, townspeople and fellow explorers spotted us here and there and waved excitedly.

“Welcome home, sir.”

Since I’d sent the newbie ahead to let them know we’d arrived, the head maid, Miss Miteruna, and the gaggle of younger maids of our mansion were all ready to greet us.

“Pochi’s going to say hello to Effie and Rye, sir.”

“Tama will say hi to Runny and Saur?”

Pochi and Tama set off to the stables to see our horses and runosaurs.

“Mister Viscount!”

“Welcome hooome!”

The kids from the orphanage came running over, presumably tipped off by the ones who spotted us when we first arrived, practically tripping over themselves to welcome us back.

“Young masterrr!”

This time, we were waylaid by the Pendra kids, graduates of the explorers’ school. The ones I didn’t recognize must have been current students. Behind them were some of their teachers: Mr. Kajiro, Ayaume, and Iruna and Jena of the Lovely Wings.

“Sir Satou!”

“Knight—no, Viscount Pendragon. Congratulations on your promotion.”

“Oh, yes, I nearly forgot. We must celebrate thy promotion to viscount.”

Princess Meetia of the Nolork Kingdom and Baronet Dyukeli’s daughter Mary-Ann also came to greet us. Behind them was the viceroy’s third son, Gerits; Baron Tokey’s son, Luram; and the other boys.

“Thank you very much. Congratulations on formally coming of age, too, young ladies.”

The two girls smiled, looked slightly shy.

Soon, some of our neighbors and contracted farmers swarmed over to greet us, too. By the time we were caught up, the sun had set.

Greeting the viceroy would have to wait until the next day.

I had Miss Miteruna send a letter to him since it would be rude to show up without an appointment.

While I was hurrying through some work in my study, I heard the kids outside having a barbecue.

“Arisaaa! I learned all my letters!”

“Arisa, I learned my arithmetic, too!”

The older kids from the orphanage were telling Arisa about their accomplishments in the time we’d been away.

“Heh-heh, I even learned how to do chants!”

Now that’s impressive.

This was a different girl, not the boy who’d been using Everyday Magic to flip girls’ skirts when we left Labyrinth City.

Since they were working so hard, maybe I should send the kids with especially good grades to study at the academy in the royal capital.

“Maybe having some kids around would make Hikaru less lonely, too?”

Mumbling to myself, I wrote down some ideas on a random memo pad.

“Masterrrr! Hurry, hurryyyy! We’re running out of meat!”

“Coming,” I called back to Arisa, and left the study.

I sent out a messenger to invite Zena and the rest of the Seiryuu County folks to the barbecue, but I was told they were away on a mission to the labyrinth. That was too bad. I’d have to invite them over another day.

Later, the guildmaster and some of our other drinking buddies showed up with bottles in hand, while General Erthal snuck in incognito, accompanied by the fox officer and his commander. The guildmaster eventually cut a little too loose and started doing party tricks with Fire Magic, forcing her secretary, Miss Ushana, and counselor Cebelkea to stop her; meanwhile, the fox officer misspoke and got bonked on the head repeatedly by his captain. Overall, it was a very lively evening indeed.

“Sir Pendragon, congratulations on your promotion.”

I was visiting the viceroy’s palace, where I was reunited with the former Count Poputema, formerly known as the green-clad noble.

Unlike when he’d been controlled by a demon’s Spirit Magic, he looked like an ordinary noble, and no longer said “indeed” or wore strange green makeup.

“Your recovery is cause for celebration, too, Your Excellency.”

“Indeed, this, too, is thanks to the viceroy and his wife for purchasing the elixir, and in fact to you yourself for acquiring it from the floormaster.”

The last time we met, he’d lost the lower half of his body in the incident with the demonic Ludaman and was being kept alive by a magic contraption in the viceroy’s mansion. Now, thanks to the elixir the viceroy’s wife won in the auction, his health had nearly recovered.

“Why don’t you two have a seat, hmm?”

At the prompting of the smiling viceroy’s wife, Marchioness Ashinen, we sat down in the comfortable sofas of her parlor.

“Perhaps the topic of today’s tea party ought to be your miraculous promotion from honorary knight to viscount, Sir Pendragon?”

“There’s not much I can say, since it was all decided without my involvement…”

Still, I told her everything I knew, after that disclaimer.

“Oh, my. So you were originally meant to be promoted to baron?”

“That’s quite impressive. I suppose His Majesty must have decided that a baronet or baron would be insufficient honors and chose on his own to make you a viscount instead. As far as I know, such a thing has never been done before in all recorded history.”

“I’ve certainly never heard of such a thing.”

If these two well-informed nobles didn’t know of any precedent, this must be an extremely rare case, all right.

They asked me what I had done in front of the king; I told them all I could think of was sparring and training with the Shiga Eight Swordsmen alongside my companions at the Holy Knights’ barracks, helping fend off the monsters that invaded during the Evil-Cleansing Ceremony, and so on.

I left out anything Kuro and Nanashi had done behind the scenes, since those weren’t technically “Satou’s” accomplishments.

“I see. In that case, I suppose it’s natural that the king would have such high hopes for your future after witnessing such things.”

“Why not put your name in the ring for the Shiga Eight candidates? I’d imagine that you and Lady Kishreshigarza would be more than qualified, no?”

I brushed off the viceroy’s wife’s half-joking suggestion with a smile.

A position like being a protector of the Shiga Kingdom would only hinder my dream of traveling around the world.

I’ll leave that kind of thing to people with more patriotism and ambition.

“Besides, the prime minister has appointed me Vice-Minister of Tourism. I’d like to focus on those duties for the time being.”

The viceroy’s wife and Poputema exchanged glances that seemed to say “Ah yes, that.”

“Perhaps that is a better role for you, Sir Pendragon.”

“Given that you have mended the notorious rift between our Marquis Lloyd and Count Hohen, I am sure you’ll be perfectly up to the task.”

“That reminds me, Ema wrote to me in a letter that you also managed to befriend the famously fickle and hard-to-please Prince Smartith of Blybrogha Kingdom. However did you manage a feat like that?”

As entertainingly as I could manage, I related the tale of the treasure of Blybrogha Kingdom that Shadow Thief Sharururuun stole.

The story was mostly well-received, although I noticed they looked askance when I mentioned how much I enjoyed the cuisine of the leprechaun kingdom. I guess it’s a little strange for most people.

“Since you’ve been appointed Vice-Minister of Tourism and all, will you be leaving us for the royal capital again?”

“No, not for the moment. Once I get my new companions all set up for training here, we’ll be traveling around to various nations for a while.”

“Traveling, eh…? Well, if you go to the western part of the continent, be sure to gather up enough information beforehand so that you won’t get caught up in any conflict. The area of Parion Province is especially prone to ongoing strife. They use the authority of Goddess Parion to arbitrate conflicts between their neighbors, but the other nations do not think very highly of their actions. Be extra careful if you choose to visit there.”

I made a note in my memo tab about former Count Poputema’s warning.

Since our current destination was the collection of small nations in the north of Shiga Kingdom, it would probably be a while before we went sightseeing in Parion Province; still, better safe than sorry.

“Will Lady Karina be joining you on your journey?”

“No, she intends to stay in Labyrinth City and continue training.”

While we were on the subject, I asked the viceroy’s wife to look after Miss Karina and Nana’s sisters after we left, to which she readily agreed.

Next, I told her I wanted to invest the same amount of money she’d spent on the elixir into the betterment of Labyrinth City, only for her to scold me for being so distant.

She must have mistaken it as an offer of thanks for her looking after my friends because of the order of the conversation.

Fortunately, she accepted my investment once I cleared up the misunderstanding.

The money I invested would be used for things like expanding the experimental farms and giving loans to up-and-coming artisans and young businesspeople. I was starting to feel like a venture capitalist.

After my morning visit with the viceroy’s wife, I took Nana’s sisters to the west guild.

“We wish to register, I report!”

The youngest sister, Huit, marched up confidently to the counter.

“Are those new members of the young master’s crew?”

“Damn, what a bunch of babes.”

“Are you morons blind or what? They all look exactly like the Shield Princess!”

“That many Shield Princesses? Are they gonna take on a floormaster all by themselves or what?!”

The explorers in the hall all whispered about the sisters.

When the attendant offered their explorers badges on a plate, Huit tilted her head.

“Why not a wooden badge? I inquire.”

“Satou vouched for you gals’ strength at last night’s banquet. So I don’t mind starting you out with bronze badges. The garnet badges you’ll have to earn with regular delivery of cores like anyone else.”

The guildmaster personally gave Huit her bronze badge.

She must have gone out of her way to get them ready after I told her at the barbecue that I was planning to register the sisters as explorers.

“Thank you for your kind consideration, Guildmaster.”

“Huh, this one speaks normally. Well, make sure nobody gets hurt, all right?”

The guildmaster smiled at Adin, the eldest.

Since the homunculi sisters were raring to go into the labyrinth right away, I put Nana and Mia in charge of guiding them. The beastfolk girls had already gone in with Miss Karina and company that morning.

Once we all went into the labyrinth, Arisa and I went off on our own.

“Should we start in area eleven as usual?”

“No, that area’s been crowded lately. Let’s go somewhere less populated, like area nine.”

We were discussing where to set up a teleport mirror. I figured it would allow Nana’s sisters to easily get into the deeper parts of the labyrinth.

“Wow, not a soul in sight! This place sure is unpopular.”

“That’s why I chose it.”

We used Arisa’s Space Magic to take a shortcut straight to the border between area four and area nine. From there, I carried Arisa and traveled via “Skyrunning.”

“Maybe around here?”

“Let’s go a little farther in.”

On my map, I saw a perfect little spot in an upcoming dead-end passage. I could tell it would be perfect for discreetly setting up a teleport mirror.

We got there in no time with my “Skyrunning.”

Then I used the Earth Magic spell Create Stone Object to create a little stairwell invisible from the main path.

“I don’t know how you find these places.”

“You should be able to do the same with your Space Magic, you know.”

“Whaaat? I wouldn’t investigate such a complicated area unless I absolutely had to.”

I took out the teleport mirror as I chatted with Arisa.

“Whoa, it’s huge!”

Arisa exclaimed in surprise at the size of the mirror.

Unlike the more advanced ones I used to connect our royal capital manor to our secret base, this teleport mirror was much larger, and could only connect to specifically set locations. In exchange, it cost less mana to operate, and the large size discouraged thieves from stealing it, handily offsetting the disadvantages.

I made a set of three of these mirrors to connect three different areas of the labyrinth.

In front of the teleport mirror, I used Create Stone Object to make a stone pillar with written instructions for using it. At Arisa’s suggestion, I made the text sort of riddle-like to give the whole thing a very mysterious air.

“How are we going to get to the next teleport point?”

“We can just use Return. It’s a spot I’ve used for hunting before.”

I’d chosen each teleport destination in places with lots of monsters that weren’t too dangerous. They were populated by monsters with levels in the tens, twenties, and thirties, respectively.

We briskly moved from place to place, and Arisa helped me set up more teleport mirrors that would connect to the first one. The mirrors were operated by inserting a core in the slot I’d attached to each one.

“Will anyone else have access to these besides Karina and Nana’s sisters?”

“Yeah, I plan to tell Miss Zena and the Pendra kids about it, too.”

“Even the soldiers from Seiryuu County?”

“Of course. I’m hoping to open it up to any interested explorers in the long run.”

For now, I planned to limit usage to people who carried a particular item.

As long as I registered holders of the item to the list of permissions to operate the teleport mirrors, it could be anything from a blue ribbon to a dancing frog doll.

“You don’t think this third spot will get oversaturated right away?”

“No, it’ll be fine. You can reach a neighboring area easily from here.”

There was a dangerous zone nearby where areamasters sometimes passed through. However, they were all exceptionally large, so it should be easy enough to avoid them as long as people weren’t being completely loud and stupid.

While I told Arisa all this, I went around setting up hunting ground facilities in each teleport destination like the one I made for Zena’s team.

That was enough work for one day. I decided to tell the sisters and Karina about it tomorrow.

The next day, Nana and the beastfolk girls took Nana’s sisters into the labyrinth right away, heading in to explore the areas I’d just set up with the teleport mirrors. Karina and company joined them, too.

Since maze frogs were the mainstay of the level ten area, we’d probably be having deep-fried frog for dinner that night.

Because Zena and friends were still exploring the labyrinth as well, I decided to go visit Hikaru in the royal capital to talk to her about the possibility of the kids studying abroad.

When I teleported to Mitsukuni Manor, Hikaru greeted me with a smile.

I had my hood pulled down over my eyes, since the maids were present, too.

“Ichiroooou!”

For some reason, she’d gone back to calling me “Ichirou” instead of “Satou.”

Once Hikaru sent the maids away, I removed my hood.

“What’s going on? It’s only been a few days—did you miss me that much already?”

“I wanted to bring you some food, plus I’ve got a little idea to discuss.”

“Mimani Lake jasper trout! Oh, this stuff is the best!” Hikaru exclaimed, then paused. “What’s the idea?”

“I told you we’re running an orphanage in Labyrinth City, right? I was hoping some of the kids there with good grades could study abroad at the royal academy. Do you think you’d be able to look after them, maybe even be a dorm mother?”

“Oh yes, absolutely! I’d love to be a dorm mother!”

She seemed very enthusiastic about the idea. If anything, I felt a little bad about leaving her here in the royal capital.

Since she tended to get lonely easily in spite of her seemingly carefree attitude, I bet she was looking forward to taking care of the kids.

“I was thinking of using part of my royal capital manor as the dorm. Maybe I should rent someplace closer to the academy instead, though?”

“Hmm, maybe? The Pendragon house is a little far.”

“I’ll send a letter to the Echigoya Company asking them to make arrangements, then.”

“Oh, I can do that much myself.”

Hikaru made a grabby-hands gesture, so I wrote a quick letter and gave it to her, along with money for the estimated budget.

“I know! I’ll have to get an apron with little chirping chicks on it, and a bamboo broom!”

That’d be a landlady, not a dorm mother.

Keeping my comment to myself, I instead gave her an apron and broom from Storage.

Hikaru has a tendency to make references to famous old manga at the most random times.

I think she said once that she picked it up from her aunt?

“Wow, did you come prepared or what?”

“Nana likes those aprons.”

Since Nana loves anything with baby birds on it, I had several such aprons in Storage.

I stuck around for a little afternoon tea with Hikaru. Then, since she still seemed reluctant to part, I accompanied her on a stroll around the royal capital. I wore a disguise mask, since just a hood wouldn’t be enough to hide my identity, though.

Still, if this was enough to alleviate her loneliness, I’d have to visit more often.

“Master, we will be back, I bravely declare.”

“Tria too! Tria will do her best.”

Huit, Tria, and the other sisters looked resolute.

On the third morning since our return from the royal capital, Nana’s sisters were departing for their labyrinth training adventure under Mr. Kajiro’s guidance.

Karina was supposed to join them, but she wound up staying behind because she got word that a package had arrived for her from Muno County at the viceroy’s residence.

On the upside, this meant that she was able to join us in recreating recipes from the book of legendary court cuisine that Zena gave me when she returned from the labyrinth that day.

Karina seemed especially delighted by the cuisine.

The dishes we made that day included dragon steak, behemoth and mandragora stew, and Phoenix salad, all of which were utterly delicious.

Of course, I also delivered those dishes to Nana’s siblings in the labyrinth, Hikaru, my beloved Miss Aaze of Bolenan Forest, and even Rei and Yuuneia on Paradise Island, all of whom gave them rave reviews.

“Master, the chef we requested to teach the cooking class accepted our offer. Could you look at the recipes for the class later?”

“Yeah, of course.”

“Master, we were contacted about the possibility of offering the woodworking class at the orphanage to retired explorers as well, I report.”

“Fine by me, as long as the teachers are okay with it. Let me know if they need money or a bigger location.”

“Satou, music class.”

“It’s already in the works. I made a soundproof room in the same building as Lulu’s cooking class and put in orders for instruments and sheet music.”

“Young master, Sir Skopi of the Mud Scorpions has sent an inquiry about the job training institution planned for the factory town area.”

“I’ll write a reply right away. Keep the messenger on standby, please.”

I answered one rapid-fire request after another.

There were projects in the labyrinth itself, too, not just in the city.

“Master, Huit wants a runosaur, I declare.”

“What for?”

“To travel within the labyrinth, I report. It would be convenient for scouting, I declare.”

I thought about Huit’s request.

Runosaurs might actually be a good fit for labyrinth use, since they can travel long distances and have strong night vision.

And there aren’t many places to use runosaurs within Labyrinth City, so they’ve only been running around in the fields and such.

“All right. You can try it out. If the runosaur doesn’t want to go in, though, that’s that. Okay?”

“Yes, Master. The runosaur did not seem to mind at all, I report.”

Apparently, she’d already tried it.

I gave permission as long as she made sure to be safe.

With all this going on, our weeklong stay in Labyrinth City went by in a flash.

Before we knew it, the time came for us to depart.

“Sir Satou, this is a safe-travel charm I acquired at Parion Temple.”

“Thank you, Miss Zena.”

Zena came to see us off and gave me a protective charm.

“We plan to be in Labyrinth City for a full year, but we may be sent back to Seiryuu City temporarily next month to give an interim report.”

“Got it. I’ll make sure I stop by the castle or the barracks if we’re near Seiryuu City, then.”

Currently, the plan was to go to Yowork Kingdom, then wander the small central nations for a while, and finally go investigate Hero Summoning circles in the Saga Empire. Still, depending on where Zena’s marker was, it might not be bad to stop by Seiryuu City, too.

We had a lot of friends there, anyway. I’m sure Pochi and Tama would love to see Yuni at the Gatefront Inn, Mia could visit Nadi and the boss at the general store, and Liza probably had old friends she’d like to see, too.

“Satou, take this.”

“Wait…” I looked at the object Karina handed me in surprise. “Isn’t this the demon-sealing bell?”

“Yes, Mr. Raka suggested I should lend it to you in case you run into demons on your journey.”

“You may have no need of it, Sir Satou, but you ought to have a means of dispelling demons if they possess innocent people.”

It certainly would be convenient to have a demon remover.

I’d already taken out all the demons near Labyrinth City, so they probably wouldn’t show up here for a while.

“Thank you very much, Lady Karina. And you, too, Raka.”

I bowed my head appreciatively and reached for the bell.

Suddenly, Karina grabbed my hand and pulled me in.

“Huh…?”

I felt something soft on my skin.

For just a moment, Karina had kissed my cheek.

“Guilty!”

“Hey! What was that all about?!”

The iron-wall duo pulled Karina away.

“I-it is simply a good-luck charm for the journey, I say.”

Miss Karina turned bright red as she made her excuse.

“Tama tooo?”

“Pochi wants one, too, sir.”

Tama and Pochi pressed toward their friend.

“Nice one, Lady Karina!”

“Aww, I didn’t think she’d go through with it.”

“Come on, Erina, don’t sulk. If you’re that jealous, why not give Sir Viscount a hug?”

I overheard Karina’s maids having a hushed argument.

“Go on, Zenacchi! Quit dawdling and kiss him on the other cheek!”

“Yeah! You gotta step up or you’ll fall behind!”

“Hang on a minute, you two…”

“…Right!”

Spurred on by her comrades Lilio and Lou, Zena steeled herself, ran over to me, and actually did plant a kiss on my other cheek.

For a moment, our eyes ended up meeting.

“…It’s a good-luck charm.”

Looking away, she repeated Karina’s excuse with a mumble.

She must have acted on the spur of the moment and gotten embarrassed after.

“All right, let’s get outta here before all the other girls try and join in!”

“Mm, hurry.”

Half-howling, Arisa gave the signal to Lulu in the coachman’s seat.

Mia did the same as she pulled me by the hand into our carriage.

“Have a safe trip, young master!”

“Be careful out there, sir!”

“May fortune favor you, Master!”

As we hurriedly set off, the crowd that had gathered to see us off all called after us cheerfully.

Zena and Karina called out my name just as loudly, waving with the best of them.

We waved back twice as hard so that they could see us even as the carriage trundled away.

Having a lively send-off like this is nice once in a while, too.

When we returned, I’d have to shower them with lots of stories from our travels, along with plenty of delicacies from all over the world.

The Barren Territory

“This area shouldn’t be visible from Labyrinth City or the mountain pass watchtower, right?”

“Yeah, and it’s near a side road. I’d say it’s good, no?”

“All right, then I’ll teleport us now.”

On our way across the mountains surrounding a basin, we put the carriages away in Storage and used the Space Magic spell Return to take a shortcut to a location close to the crossroads city of Kelton. While I generally prefer to enjoy the journey, we’ve gone this way enough times that there probably weren’t any new surprises in store.

The plan was to pass the crossroads city without stopping; take the central royal territory road north to pass through Zetts County, Lessau County, and Kageus County; then finally reach Yowork Kingdom, which had annexed Arisa and Lulu’s homeland, the former Kuvork Kingdom.

“We’re awfully deep in the mountains.”

When we emerged from the teleport point, a partially underground building, Arisa peered around curiously.

“I put the Return slate in an area only accessible by flying so we wouldn’t run into any hunters.”

We were near the peak of the mountain, looking down on the distant crossroads city.

We rode the golem horses (disguised as real horses) to descend from the mountain. On the way down, we secured some mountain birds and greenleaf boar for lunch. I’d heard that the latter tasted like delicious, non-pungent pork.

“Mountain grapes.”

“Sooour?”

Mia pointed out the wild fruit, and Tama popped one into her mouth, immediately puckering up her entire face at the strong sour taste.

“Those purple ones are no good, sir. These red ones are the sweet kind, sir.”

“You’re right. Nice one, Pochi.”

Pochi, the master of sniffing out sweets, easily picked out the ripest mountain grapes.

She always had a nose for tasty treats, just like how she found the thorn licorice back when we first started traveling.

“Let’s pick some for snacks.”

“Yes, let’s! We can dry any leftovers into raisins.”

We all enjoyed picking mountain grapes for a while, then resumed the journey once we’d gathered more than enough.

Since traveling long distances on horseback could be tiring, I pulled out a semi-floating carriage with a simple skypower engine to combat vibration and attached it to the horses. Since it carried six people, two others would remain on horseback in shifts to keep watch.

“These golem horses really are fast,” Arisa remarked.

Since they didn’t need to rest, and still traveled twice as fast as normal horses even while pulling a carriage, we could cover five or even ten times the usual distance in a day.

“Effie and Rye are fast, too, sir.”

“Oui, oooui”

Tama and Pochi spoke up to defend our original carriage horses, who we left at our Labyrinth City mansion.

Just then, Nana approached the carriage with a report.

“Master, there are many exhausted individuals on the road, I declare.”

Sure enough, there was a crowd of skinny, tired-looking individuals walking unsteadily toward the crossroads city.

They must be refugees from Lessau County.

“Master, many of them are sick or injured as well.”

Liza chimed in from the opposite window.

Some of the people resting underneath the trees alongside the road were green in the face or wrapped in bloodied bandages.

“Satou…”

Mia and the others looked at me.

Clearly, they didn’t want to ignore people in need any more than I did.

“Let’s take an early lunch break around here, shall we?”

I stopped the carriage on the side of the road and had Lulu and Liza start preparing lunch.

Of course, we made enough not just for ourselves but also for the nearby travelers, who clearly needed nutrients. In addition to the greenleaf boars and mountain birds we’d hunted earlier, I threw in some of our huge stock of monster meat so we’d have enough for everyone.

“Mia, use magic to heal the injured, please. Nana, you guard Mia. Arisa and I will heal the sick. Pochi and Tama, you head up the road and let people know that we’re giving out food. If there’s anyone too sick or injured to move, I’d appreciate it if you could carry them here.”

Once I finished giving orders, the group all sprang into action.

Realizing that some people might not believe Tama and Pochi alone, I had Nana make announcements, too.

“Attention, highway travelers! Viscount Pendragon, vassal of Muno County, is offering free food and healing. Please gather here if you are interested, I declare.”

Nana amplified her voice as she spoke. Arisa had come up with the phrasing.

It seemed like an obvious PR stunt, but I agreed to it when she explained that it would make the people more likely to accept our reasoning.

“Will we be healing the sick with potions?” Arisa asked.

I nodded. “Most of them only have colds or are sick from exhaustion and malnutrition, so I think the potions we have on hand should be fine.”

A watered-down cure-all should be enough for the handful of exceptions.

“My daughter’s fever won’t go down.”

“Granny can’t stop coughing. Please help her, mister.”

“My son isn’t waking up…”

I handed out magic potions to all comers.

“Master, are you sure we should use so many of these?”

“Yeah, there’s plenty more where that came from.”

This would barely make a dent in my potion stock. I used a giant Transmutation Cauldron in the Ivy Manor in Labyrinth City to mass-produce potions by the barrel.

If we ran out, I could always just go back to the Ivy Manor and make more. No doubt we’d be fully replenished by morning.

“Thank ye so much, sir. My daughter’s fever finally went down. How can I possibly thank ye? All I have are these straw sandals I made to sell in town…”

“Thank you, mister, thank you! Granny stopped coughing. Haven’t seen her lookin’ so lively since I first came to the village!”

“My son opened his eyes! Thank you, sir noble. I’m so, so grateful.”

The kids and parents we’d helped heal thanked us one after another. Their accents varied, depending on where they came from.

Some of them tried to offer what little items they could spare, which I politely and appreciatively declined.

“Mommy, I’m hungry.”

“Oh, my dear child…”

With their health restored, some of the kids’ appetites returned as well.

“Larvae. There is free food this way, I declare.”

“Everyone is welcome. Please eat and restore your spirits for the rest of your journey.”

Nana and Lulu started handing out wooden bowls of stew to the hesitant crowd.

“Mmmm!”

“This is so yummy, isn’t it, Mommy?”

“I’ve never had food this good, not even at the harvest festival.”

Tears rolled down their cheeks as they dug into the stew and meat skewers.

It had probably been a while since they had anything but the most frugal of meals.

“Please take your time and eat slowly, okay? There’s plenty more for seconds.”

“We’ll hand out preserved foods for the road later. Go ahead and clean your plates for now.”

Lulu and Liza went around reassuring the masses.

Thanks to the food-drying magic tools I made, I had tons of monster meat jerky and dried kraken tentacles to go around.

In particular, the squid and octopus sea monsters that I used to make the dried kraken were enormous enough to displace more than ten thousand tons of water. Even now that they were dried out, I still had a comical amount of meat. Honestly, I kind of regretted making so much.

“You’re a compassionate man, sir. If only our own young master would think of his own people more, like you…”

“If he was that nice of a guy, we wouldn’t’a had to leave our village in the first place.”

“Where is this Muno County? We should move there instead.”

“Yessiree. I’d rather have a kindhearted lord, even if the taxes’re twice as high.”

Even if it was overly high praise, it seemed mutually beneficial if people wanted to move to the underpopulated Muno County.

“I ain’t never heard of Muno County, though, eh? It farther off than the royal capital?”

“It’s right on the other side of the Fujisan Mountains.”

“The mountains?!”

“Welp, that ain’t gonna work, what with wyrms and wyverns livin’ in them mountains.”

The brightness that had briefly lit the people’s faces went dark again.

It certainly would be difficult to emigrate from the royal capital or the western part of the Shiga Kingdom to Muno County, I supposed. Maybe I should make a large airship for that purpose?

Once the immigration was done, the Echigoya Company could use it for foreign trade.

I’d have to bring this idea up to the managers next time I went to the Echigoya Company HQ in the royal capital.

“Nothin’ ever comes that easy, eh…?”

Whoops. The mood got pretty grim while I was lost in thought.

“Muno County may be far away, but the Echigoya Company in the royal capital is also looking for immigrants to move into their new farming village.”

“A new village, eh…? My gramps did one o’ them mining villages, but it were real rough work, and folks died over winter when there weren’t enough to eat.”

A few of the older folks repeated stories they’d probably heard countless times.

“Don’t worry. This village is already built and self-sufficient.”

“Already built? What’s the catch, eh?”

Clearly, this sounded too good to be true to most of the crowd.

“There is none. Nanashi the Hero of Shiga Kingdom founded the Echigoya Company, so it does philanthropic work as well.”

“A hero, eh!”

“Well then, that’s another story!”

“Uh-huh, uh-huh.”

Wow, heroes have serious name recognition.

That must be thanks to the previous generations of Saga Empire heroes.

“Say, I’d be a tenant farmer any day if it means we gets to eat.”

“This gives me hope that it’ll be worth it when we get to the royal capital.”

“Mm-hmm. Maybe we can make a brighter future for our kids after all.”

The young and old refugees alike had fresh fire behind their eyes as they spoke.

They’d actually be landowners, not just tenant farmers, but I didn’t correct them on this, since I doubted they’d believe me anyway.

As we continued our journey with similar acts of charity and good deeds along the way, we ultimately reached Zetts County in the northern part of the territory a little later than planned.

They didn’t appear to be taking in refugees here; would-be immigrants were detained outside the town walls.

“We’re not going to give out food here?”

“I don’t want to anger Zetts County. I’ll just donate some funds to the town temples and ask them to offer healing and charity instead.”

With that, we entered the town of Fau.

Our first stop was lunch at a restaurant where Hikaru’s and Nana’s sisters had apparently worked part-time for a while.

The little restaurant had a history that went as far back as the founding of the kingdom. Its signature dish was fried rice, purportedly a favorite of the ancestral king Yamato, with finely shredded mandarin orange rinds. Instead of pork, the protein was provided by small goat giblets.

We ordered the fried rice lunch special, which came with sides of grilled river fish and boiled veggies.

It was fairly delicious, if not quite the same as the fried rice I remembered. The white flesh of the river fish complemented the dish well, and the egg cooked into the rice made it nice and crumbly, with the orange rinds balancing out the goat offal for a pleasant aftertaste.

Once we were good and full, we explored the street markets of Fau.

“Mandarins.”

Mia tugged on my sleeve, leading me toward a cart full of mandarin oranges.

“Let’s buy a lot while we’re here. I’ve heard Zetts County citruses are delicious.”

“Mm, agree.”

In addition to the mandarins, there were several larger varieties that reminded me of Hassaku oranges.

“Citruses seem to be this place’s only special feature.”

“Well, the buildings are a little different from those of the royal capital.”

There were a lot of one- and two-story wooden houses, probably thanks to all the forests in the surrounding area.

As we wandered around, checking out the town, we heard a commotion across the street.

“Thief! Someone stop him!”

A stall owner shook his fist as an unhealthily scrawny boy weaved his way through the crowd.

Though he was already far away from the merchant’s reach, it seemed his escape was not to succeed.

“Got you, you little brat!”

A guard who’d been slacking off at a chicken skewer stall used the butt of his spear to trip the boy, then pinned him down under a boot before he could get up.

“A boy from the slums? Throw him out of the town!”

“Yeah, kick him out!”

The merchant and his fellows all jeered at the youngster, who turned pale.

“N-not outside the town!”

“It’s either that or exile, boy!”

“I’d rather be a slave than die in a ditch outside the town walls.”

Is the outside of the town really that bad…?

“Master, you’re not going to stick your nose into it this time?”

“Well, it’s not like they’re getting violent with him… I’ll wait to meddle until after his punishment.”

I watched as the guard dragged the boy away.

We went around and made donations to the temples of the town, which were happy to agree to offer food and healing to the poor and refugees. I donated plenty of food and potions, too.

To my surprise, several of the temples started giving out food at once. I don’t know if it was because of the size of my donation or because they were already worried about the refugees and poor people, but either way, I was happy to see them taking charitable action so quickly.

“There must be orphanages, right?”

“Apparently, they’re all full to bursting.”

While most of the temples had their own orphanages, they were all very small, leaving many children to live on the streets. Some children were even forced to turn to crime, like the boy we saw before.

“Do you think there’s any work for them?”

“According to the head priestess, there’s an employment agency in the slums that helps hire day laborers.”

However, evidently there wasn’t enough work to go around.

“If only there were some way we could make more jobs…”

“Master, what about making dried mandarin oranges?”

While I was racking my brains over Arisa’s comment, Lulu spoke up with a brilliant idea.

“Dried oranges… I wonder if anyone else is already doing it?”

“I haven’t seen any in the market so far. It looks like everyone just has regular oranges.”

Maybe that was just because fresh oranges were currently in season? Still, dried fruit would keep for a long time, and it was nice and light for travel. I bet the oranges would be really popular with explorers and sailors in Labyrinth City or a trade city, for starters.

“I imagine anyone could make them with magic tools for drying food, right?”

“If we give such expensive tools to kids, I’m afraid some nasty adults might steal them.”

“Good point…”

I looked around, and my eyes fell on a sign for the Echigoya Company.

I’d forgotten that I had the managers preparing to set up branches in various towns and cities around the Shiga Kingdom.

“Let’s get the Echigoya Company involved, since there’ll be buying and selling to do.”

“So you’re gonna leave all the hard work to someone else. Got it.”

Hey, no need to be rude. I’m starting a new venture with my business, that’s all.

“A dried fruit factory?”

“Yes, Zetts County seems to produce a lot of mandarin oranges. It should appeal to explorers and sailors, yes?”

That night, I went to the Echigoya royal capital headquarters and met with Manager Eluterina and Secretary Tifaleeza to propose the dried fruit project.

Since we’d used the food-drying magic tools to mass-produce jerky, dried kraken, and so on, I gave the Echigoya Company blueprints for a cheaper-to-produce version of the tool, as well as several prototypes.

“We’ll bring the blueprints and prototypes to our magic tool providers tomorrow and get an estimate.”

“Lord Kuro, I think we should run a test market somewhere to see if we can make a profit.”

I agreed to Tifaleeza’s proposal, suggesting that we start the trial run in Fau. It was the closest major town to the royal capital, and a major producer of the mandarin oranges.

“Fau? That’s perfect. We’ve just received a report that we secured a building for our branch there. I’ll have the team in charge of setting up the new shop test out the dried fruits there.”

It would probably take about a month to get the trial up and running, but I hoped the branch managers would be able to employ a lot of the poor population in that town.

That should take care of the lack of jobs.

On top of that, I also told the pair that I was considering using a large airship to transport immigrants, with the disclaimer that this wasn’t too urgent a project. I asked them to look into potential problems and lay some basic groundwork for the plan, and also suggested that we could use the airship for trade once it was done.

I feel like their faces might have stiffened a little, but I’m sure that was just my imagination.

When I returned to Fau, still dressed as Kuro, I went to visit the refugees living outside the town.

The refugee camps didn’t have any bonfires or campfires. There were just tents lined up in pitch-black darkness, with refugees huddled together sleeping inside.

“Stop! What business do you have here?!”

A group of men with sticks emerged from the shadows of the tents.

Although they were skinny, they still had strong muscles from farmwork.

“I’m a merchant. I have something I want to sell to you.”

“Ha! What kinda sick joke is that? As you can see, we’re too poor to even get into the town. Our women are too sick and exhausted to even sell their bodies. What the hell do you think you could possibly sell us?”

“Hope for the future.”

These words were borrowed from the people we helped on the highway. I thought it had a nice ring.

“Hope? There’s no place for that here! The future? Half of us are so sick we don’t even know if we’ll live to see tomorrow!”

The man’s voice rose with anger.

His shouting awoke some of the people in the tents, who peered out at us.

“Go to the royal capital. The Echigoya Company there will give you hope. You can sign up to live in their new farming village. That will give you a future.”

I used a little help from my “Persuasion” skill to address the man and the refugees behind him.

“Listen, masked man. My great-granddad worked on one o’ those settlements in Lessau County. I wasn’t alive for all that, but I heard all kinds of awful stories growin’ up. Hacking down mountains and forests to build a village sounds like hell itself. It ain’t just that the work is hard. There’s nothin’ to eat for years until you can finally grow crops, and kids and old folks die every winter of cold and hunger.”

Some of the elderly refugees we helped on the highway had said the same kind of thing.

It seems that breaking ground on a new settlement without magic is even harder than I thought.

“Not in this place. The village is already built. All that’s left is to send in people who will till the fields.”

“Like we’d believe such a wild fantasy!”

“Yeah, right!”

Okay, fair enough.

Since I didn’t start by giving out food and healing this time, I got the feeling just name-dropping the hero wouldn’t be enough to convince them.

“Let me show you, then.”

I looked around and pointed at some boulders and trees not far from the camp.

“Over there. I’ll demonstrate for you.”

I led the men to the clearing, and the other refugees rose from their beds and followed.

Even though they said they didn’t believe my story, there must have been a part of them that hoped it was true.

I stopped near the spot and used magic to create a light source, sweeping away the darkness.

“Farming.”

Pretending to chant in a low voice, I held up a magic gemstone I’d made with Create Stone Object.

After a moment, I used the Earth Magic spell Cultivation from my magic menu.

I set the range to a sixty-five-foot square and activated the spell.

“OOOOOOOH!”

The men murmured in awe, followed by the rest of the crowd.

“A f-field appeared?!”

“Even the rocks and trees turned into farmland!”

“That’s impossible! This must be an illusion! He’s trying to trick us with magic!”

One of the men was still suspicious.

“Touch it and see for yourself.”

“Damn right I will! I’m not gonna fall for your tricks!”

Fuming, he thrust his hand into the ground of the field.

“Damn, that’s soft…and looks real fertile, too,” I heard him mutter as he held up the fistful of dirt.

Hearing this, the other men and refugees followed suit, putting their hands in the earth. They started talking urgently among themselves, inviting those who still doubted to touch the dirt as well.

Finally, most of them seemed to be convinced, and the vocal man from before came over with a crowd of the others.

They all threw themselves down in front of me.

“I’m sorry. It was only me and these two guys here who called you a fraud. The others got nothing to do with it. Please just punish us. Take the rest of ’em to this village you told us about. We’re begging you!”

With that, the three men bowed their heads so deeply, they were almost grinding their foreheads in the dirt.

“I don’t intend to punish anyone. I’m aware that it’s hard to believe.”

I went on to explain that I would make arrangements for all of them to be accepted at the farming village and gave them rucksacks full of preserved food and other tools for the journey to the royal capital. Just to keep my identity secret, I made sure to give them a different lineup of food from what I gave the other people as Satou.

I also gave them a few wagons for transporting the children and elderly, as well as some ox golems made with Create Stone Object and Create Earth Servant. I threw in a stone wolf to protect them, too.

“P-please take me with you!”

The boy we saw get arrested that afternoon ran up to me with a cry. I guess that guard really did throw him out of the town.

“Very well. As long as you’re willing to work hard, I’ll take you on.”

Farming is hard work; I hoped he’d be up for it.

“Bring this letter to the Echigoya Company in the royal capital. If anyone stops you at the city gates or checkpoints, just show them these documents.”

I gave them a letter to the manager and a written guarantee that the Echigoya Company would take responsibility for them.

While I was at it, I told them they could invite any refugees they met on the road to the royal capital to join their number as they saw fit.

“It’ll be a difficult journey, but don’t leave the weak or injured behind. Make sure everyone gets to the royal capital.”

There’s a reason I couldn’t just teleport them to the royal capital.

Namely, I think people are more inclined to value something they earned for themselves than something that was simply given to them.

“Got it… I mean, yes, sir. I swear on my life that I, Motes, will lead everyone to the royal capital. And we will work our hardest in the farming village, that we might repay our debt to you, Lord Kuro.”

This was the first time I’d caught his name; he sounded like he might part the ocean for his people or something.

“Perfect. I’m looking forward to it.”

I left the group still bowing and used Return to teleport back to my friends.

I don’t remember telling any fortunes, but this is far from the first time the title system has given me something weird. I’ll just ignore it.

The next day, I checked in on the refugee camp before we left town and saw that they had already packed up and left.

I’m sure they were already on the road to the royal capital, full of hope for the future.

“So this is the capital at last.”

The capital of Zetts County was also overflowing with refugees outside the city walls.

Most of the towns and cities we’d passed through since Fau were in a similar state, and we’d done the same kind of charity work for all of them. Since most of the refugees had similar problems, I improved on my methods and had the rest of the group help me.

“Generic.”

“Yes, Mia. This area does not have the same kind of local color as other towns and cities.”

“Looks like the restaurants serve royal capital–style cuisine.”

“The architecture is impressive, even if there aren’t many different varieties. I’ve hardly seen any single-story buildings.”

While the construction techniques were the best in the county, I had to agree that there wasn’t much else to write home about.

“Do you think they’ve got any specialties besides mandarin oranges?”

“Zetts County is also famous for its smooth wine, so I’m sure they grow grapes, too.”

Although the wine wasn’t especially delicious, it was very drinkable and ideal for beginners. I visited some liquor stores and bought my favorite kinds by the barrel.

This somewhat unusual behavior seemed to draw attention; when we finished shopping and went back to the inn, I had an invitation to dinner with Count Zetts himself.

“There’s not much time…”

Since it was short notice, I didn’t have enough time to prepare a proper gift.

I picked out a few pieces of jewelry and artwork that an upper noble might like. Then, to keep things interesting, I also chose a handful of the mandarin orange sweets Lulu and I had been developing on our journey. I planned to give the rest to the Echigoya Company, along with the recipes.

“Welcome, Viscount Pendragon.”

The lord of Zetts County was a rather short man.

“Why, he’s only a child. When I heard our visitor was a mithril explorer who’d defeated a dragon, I was expecting a big, burly man.”

This lukewarm appraisal of me came from Count Zetts’s third daughter.

She looked very adult for her seventeen years of age, with the impressive build of a pro wrestler.

“Don’t be rude, Hohruna! He is an honorable swordsman who challenged an enormous wyvern without even wearing armor. Sir Pendragon, I do apologize for my daughter’s rudeness.”

The similar-looking countess pushed her daughter’s head down with one muscular arm, bowing her own head to me as well.

It turned out that the count and countess had attended the Evil-Cleansing Ceremony at the end of the year and saw me defeat a chaos wyvern with Ryouna of the Shiga Eight Swordsmen.

In spite of the initial rockiness, the orange sweets I brought were very well received, and I wound up giving in to the countess’s pleas for a few of the recipes.

The count was so smitten with his wife that, with her help, I was able to persuade him to promise to aid the refugees traveling through Zetts County in exchange for the recipes. This way, there should be less suffering on the road even after we left.

“The state of this place kind of reminds me of the old Muno.”

“It’s understandable, with so many citizens leaving.”

When we moved on from Zetts County to Lessau County, it did indeed remind me of the way Muno had once been, just as Arisa said. It was just as desolate, and just as bone-chillingly cold. The latter was probably because there wasn’t enough power in the City Core to fully adjust the weather.

We saw plenty of villages that were either deserted or only had a handful of elderly inhabitants who’d been left behind, and it seemed like many people had become bandits out of desperation, too.

Up until now, we’d only heard rumors and never actually seen any of these bandits, since we were traveling in a royal carriage. This time, though…

“Leave all yer valuables with us!”

“And yer food, too!”

“A-and yer women!”

Just as I noticed the arrows blocking our way, a group of men stepped into our path, wearing tattered leather armor and armed with swords and spears. There were six men in front of us and five behind us.

“Talk about cliché,” Arisa commented in Tactical Talk, connecting our group.

“There are three archers each at ten and two o’clock, and two more hiding at eight o’clock. Plus five men on either side hiding in the bushes for an ambush. Be careful.”

“Master, the ambushers have casting nets, I report.”

As I relayed the information from my map to the group, Nana added an observation, thanks to her Foundation ability to see through the bushes.

“Left.”

Mia covered her mouth with her sleeve and started the Balloon chant in a whisper.

She was probably saying she’d take the left ambushers.

“I will defend against the net on the right, I declare.”

“Then I’ll fend off the arrows.”

“Let me handle the archers up ahead, then.”

“Tama will take the baaack?”

“Pochi will stompy-stomp the enemies in front, sir!”

“And I’ll take the enemies to the rear.”

The girls quickly divided up the work to take out the bandits.

“Don’t forget to hold back, everyone—these bandits aren’t very strong.”

I gave a warning, just to be safe.

Pochi and Tama turned up their strength limiter bracelets and switched their weapons to wooden Magic Swords imbued with Soft Stun.

“Uh-oh, are you ladies scared?”

“Gya-ha-ha! Don’t worry, we’ll be real nice.”

I saw one of the bandits signal the ambushers.

“Here they come.”

Just as I relayed this information, Mia activated Balloon and sent the ambush on the left flying.

“Dammit! They’re onto us!”

The ambushers on the right threw their nets. Nana blocked them all with her Flexible Shields and kept pressing forward to take them all out with a “Shield Bash.”

“Archers! Kill the mage!”

“As if I’d let that happen.”

Arisa’s Deracinator spell blocked the arrows.

And the archers were next…

“Take this!”

“Shoooom!”

Lulu used the shotgun-size Magic Guns in each of her hands to take out the archers hiding in the trees up ahead, while Tama took out pebbles from her Fairy Pack to pelt at the ones hiding in the bushes behind us.

“Got you.”

“Sir!”

Liza and Pochi took down the attackers to the front and rear.

“Oof…!”

While Pochi’s bracelets and wooden sword kept damage to a minimum, Liza didn’t hold back as much as she probably should have, resulting in some of the bandits taking more serious wounds than she intended.

Normally I wouldn’t be too worried about thieves, but considering the state of their county, I was willing to take extenuating circumstances into account. I decided to use potions to make sure they wouldn’t have any lasting effects, at least.

“Master, I apologize for the trouble.”

“Don’t worry, it was no big deal. Let’s take care of the aftermath for now.”

We took the bandits’ weapons, tied them to a nearby tree, and sent a message to a nearby fort to come collect the criminals. The Summon Pigeon spell was proving handier than I expected.

That should just about do it.

We got back on our horses and carriage and returned to the road.

“Oh, right. Liza, Nana, next time you need to hold back in a battle, try using these.”

I gave Liza and Nana the old style of power-limiting bracelets that Tama and Pochi used to wear.

“Matchyyyy?”

“Matching pair, sir!”

I decided not to point out that it technically wasn’t a pair, since there were four of them.

“I would love a PVP crowd-control spell like Mia’s.”

“With Space Magic? Maybe you could compress the air and send them flying?”

“Good idea. I can probably figure out something like that with one of my current spells.”

Arisa started experimenting with Space Magic, producing popping sound effects.

That was fine, since we were already far away from where we left the robbers, and there was no one else on the road.

“…Got it!”

Arisa stuck out her hand and created a ball of compressed air with Space Magic, striking it into a nearby tree.

Creaking and cracking, the roughly torso-width tree collapsed.

“That is too strong, I appraise.”

“I just messed up a little, that’s all. I’ll have to practice a bit before I use it on any real targets.”

Arisa set about practicing on nearby trees.

The beastfolk girls and Nana started practicing holding back the strength of their attacks, too.

“Master, do we have any Wind Rods that aren’t too strong?”

Lulu timidly made a rare request as she watched the practice. She probably wanted a nonlethal weapon, too.

While Wind Rods weren’t as deadly as Fire Rods, a direct blow would still cause serious injury to the average person and could even be fatal if it struck a bad spot.

I took out a short staff from my Storage, used “Spellblade” the size of a needle to create a thin hole in the middle, and stuck a wind stone inside.

Even without magic circuits, it should still produce wind if you put magic power into the staff.

“How’s this?”

Lulu tested it out. While it produced wind, the effect scattered too quickly to incapacitate anyone.

I was able to produce better effects when I refined it in a few ways, like making the hole spiral-shaped and carving a rune into the wind stone.

“Uh-oh, sir.”

Pochi, who’d been poking at the dust created when I carved the wind stone, accidentally let some magic loose into it and produced a gust of wind that sent her tumbling away.

“Meeew…?”

Tama put the powder on the palm of her hand and looked at it thoughtfully.

“Meeew…!”

Once she tested out the ability to produce wind by putting magic into the powder, she gleefully used it to flap her and Pochi’s clothes around.

“Wind-return jutsuuu?”

Tama proceeded to use the wind stone powder to flip Nana’s and Lulu’s skirts.

“Eek! Stop that, Tama! No snacks for naughty children.”

“Sorryyy.”

Lulu held down her skirt and scolded Tama.

“Ah-ha-ha, that’s called ‘divine wind,’ not ‘wind return.’”

Arisa made a reference to a famous old manga with a pudgy ninja protagonist.

“I bet you could do ‘fire return’ with fire stones, too.”

“I wanna tryyy?”

“Pochi wants to try, too, sir!”

Rather than let a bunch of children play with fire unsupervised, I joined Tama and Pochi to help with their endeavors.

“Firebally jutsuuu?”

Tama used fire stone powder to blow flames at a target golem.

“Pochi uses firebally jutsu, too, si—Waaaaah!”

Sure enough, Pochi nearly set herself on fire with the powder. I used Unit Deployment to pull her away just in time.

“…Silly me, sir. Pochi’s a samurai, not a ninja, sir.”

The incident spooked her so much that she started practicing quick draws with her sword instead.

Maybe I should come up with some more nonlethal ways to knock people out, too?

Smell Field wasn’t very good for the task: It could easily kill people if I wasn’t careful, and it would affect my allies, too, unless they put on masks in advance. It could definitely be useful for getting a mob under control, just not for on-the-spot countermeasures.

Oh, I know.

I knew my new Fallen Hammer spell was strong enough to knock a flying wyvern out of the sky, so it would probably be way too much to use on humans. The Turbulence spell only churned up the air, though; maybe that would work for knocking people out without having to lock on first.

“Might as well give it a try…”

Aiming in the opposite direction from the forest, where everyone else was experimenting, I selected Turbulence from the magic menu.

I turned its power down to the minimum to keep it as weak as possible, and…

Suddenly the trees started creaking and shaking, then snapping ever more loudly, until a storm kicked up that pulled out a whole bundle of trees by the roots.

I quickly stopped the spell, and used other Wind Magic like Secret Field and Air Cushion to cancel out its effects.

“Whoa! What was that all about, Master?!”

“I just thought I might be able to use it to knock people out…”

Cold sweat tricked down my forehead as I looked at the scene in front of my eyes, which looked like the aftermath of a huge typhoon passing through.

“If you’d tried that on those bandits, we’d still be burying the bodies.”

“No kidding…”

So much for just disturbing the air a little bit. That was as powerful as any Wind Attack spell.

I should probably just stick to getting a scroll made for an original spell with a fixed-attack maximum for incapacitating people. In the meantime, I’d just keep using Remote Stun. As annoying as it was to have to lock onto the targets every time, at least it wouldn’t hurt anyone indiscriminately.

Feeling a bit guilty, I did my best to restore the forest to its original state with Magic Hand. Thanks to the help of my “Disguise” skill, it shouldn’t be too noticeable from the road.

Around then, we started seeing other travelers on the road again. I had the group stop their practice, which had strayed from the original intention of control and incapacitation anyway, and we resumed our journey.

“There aren’t as many monsters about as we heard on the road.”

Liza looked around from atop her horse.

“That’s the work of the expedition force headed to Vistall Duchy.”

The royal army must have successfully eliminated most of the monsters on the road, just as they promised in the kingdom meeting.

They had neglected the monsters that were far from the main road, though. Each night when we set up camp, I went around to the nearby villages with “Flashrunning” and used a Remote Arrow barrage to wipe out most of the monsters in the area.

For some reason, they hadn’t yet reclaimed the capital city we passed on the way. Since the Lessau County army was still doing its best to deal with all the monsters there, I decided not to interfere out of respect for their honor.

From what I heard in a nearby village, the royal army had offered to get rid of the monsters in the capital city, yet for some reason the lord of the county stubbornly insisted that his men would handle it alone.

As I thought back on all this while riding my horse, Tama and Pochi, who were riding alongside me, pointed up ahead.

“Sparklyyy?”

“Master, there’s something shiny in the mountains, sir!”

“Looks like we’ve caught up to them already. Not to worry. That’s just the royal army, on their way to Vistall Duchy.”

The army’s weapons and armor were probably catching the light as they crossed the mountains.

Once we warmed ourselves up with a nice hot pot lunch, we put our carriage away and divided onto five golem horses to catch up with the royal army troops.

“Satou.”

“Master, a messenger is coming, I declare.”

Mia and Nana, who’d gone up ahead to scout, returned with a report.

I couldn’t blame them for being on their guard about a group of riders on horseback approaching their army at high speeds.

“My name is Bauen, of the Holy Knights’ eighth battalion, from—Lady Liza!”

The messenger interrupted his introduction to exclaim when he saw Liza.

He must have met her when she was visiting the Holy Knights’ barracks.

“An acquaintance of yours, Liza?”

“Yes, we sparred many times in the royal capital…”

“Then this young man must be Sir Untouchable! My name is Bauen Ganriu. I was born in a remote region of the Saga Empire, but I am a Shiga Eight candidate like yourself, that I am.”

Arisa twitched in reaction to “that I am,” which I completely ignored rather than let her make a scene.

His name was confusingly similar to Gouen Roitall, the former Shiga Eight Swordsman; however, unlike the brawny Gouen, Bauen was a slender swordsman. He also carried a curved longsword instead of a broadsword.

He must be a Saga Empire samurai like Mr. Kajiro, the Zi-Gain-style swordsman who taught at our explorers’ school in Labyrinth City.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Sir Bauen. Are you on your way to Vistall Duchy?”

“Indeed, that I am. Though we Holy Knights are mainly tasked with hunting the monsters along the highway, that we are. I hear tell that the rebel army boasts some skilled knights and mages who we may do battle with as well, that we may.”

The eighth battalion of the Holy Knights was apparently captained by Ms. Ryuona, the Grass Cutter of the Shiga Eight.

“It seems this expedition is also a final test for we Shiga Eight Swordsmen candidates, so I only hope we will encounter worthy opponents, that I do. Have you also come to participate for that purpose?”

As he asked this question, his smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. He appeared to be quite serious about this.

“No, Liza and I have withdrawn our candidacy for the Shiga Eight Swordsmen. And we are heading to the small nations past Kageus County, not to Vistall Duchy.”

“I see…what a shame, that it is. My rematch with Lady Liza, who saw through my ‘Windblade,’ even in our very first match, shall have to wait until another time, that it shall.”

Once I clarified, Mr. Bauen’s smile finally turned genuine.

It also seemed to help when I showed him my Vice-Minister of Tourism medallion. He must have concluded that I was seeking success as a civil official, not as a military officer.

We chatted as we rode along until we eventually caught up to the royal army near the summit.

“Master, some of the carriages amid the ranks appear to be civilian, I observe.”

“Yes, those are merchants traveling along with the army, that they are.”

This way, they didn’t have to worry about monster or bandit attacks.

According to Bauen, they were allowed to join the march as long as they didn’t hinder the army in any way.

Since the army took up the entire width of the road, we rode our horses in the grass on the shoulder instead.

For some reason, Mr. Bauen went back to his home unit only to get his vice-captain’s permission to join us.

“Since you are here, I can introduce you to His Excellency Duke Vistall and the generals, that I can.”

No, thank you.

As much as I wanted to decline, it would be considered rude for me to pass by without greeting the duke and generals, now that I was an upper noble myself.

Left with no other choice, we followed Mr. Bauen to the troop headquarters.

Luckily, since they were traveling, too, it would probably only be a short visit.

“Good to see you, Viscount Pendragon. So you’ve decided to join us and make a name for yourself after all, eh?”

“I wish you the greatest of success on the battlefield, Your Excellency; however, I am afraid I must still refrain from participating myself. My most urgent duty at present is to the work His Majesty assigned me as Vice-Minister of Tourism. Please forgive me for being unable to join your noble cause at this time.”

Remembering my lessons in noble speech, I told Duke Vistall as politely as possible that I had other matters to attend to.

“Hmph. So you’ve chosen to wag your tail for the prime minister instead of the noble path of a Shiga Eight Swordsman… It seems your judgment failed you, Baron Mosaddo.”

Standing near Duke Vistall was Baron Jelil Mosaddo, the Scarlet Nobleman, who lowered his head politely.

When I first arrived, he and the other Shiga Eight candidates viewed me as a rival. Luckily, like Mr. Bauen, he seemed to ease up once he heard my explanation.

“Thanks for the greeting. You may leave now,” Duke Vistall declared, clearly sensing that I wouldn’t be of any benefit to him. Unpleasant as he was personally, I didn’t mind that he made quick judgments, especially since it meant I didn’t have to stick around.

“Satou! You weren’t even going to say hi to your old war buddy?”

Ms. Ryuona, the Grass Cutter, appeared, her six-pack on full display and her trademark battle scythe over her shoulders.

The “war buddy” comment must be referring to when we defeated a chaos wyvern together during the Evil-Cleansing Ceremony.

“Is what the duke said true? You’re really not gonna fight with us?”

“Yes, it’s true.”

Ryuona slung an arm over my shoulders. “You sure you don’t wanna come? We’re fighting a really crazy beast this time, you know?”

“A crazy beast?”

“Yeah, this thing wiped out the two knight squadrons who’d taken down the fortress city, all by itself.”

I’d heard in the royal capital that the first anti-rebellion force was quashed, but not that it was by a single opponent.

As much as I appreciated the free information, she probably shouldn’t go around sharing military secrets so easily.

“Is it a greater demon?”

If so, I’d better go in there as Nanashi to take it out.

“That’s still under investigation. According to the military priests and priestesses, it’s most likely not a demon at all.”

“But what else could defeat two knight squadrons, except…?”

“…a dragon? That’s my best guess, anyway.”

“A fully grown one?”

“Yeah, right. If it was that bad, they’d send old Mr. Juleburg or Reilus in for sure. A young, lesser dragon is more likely to go wild on a human army. Either way, it’s gonna be a hell of a fight for sure.”

Ryuona licked her lips, wearing a rare and wolfish grin. That was the face of a serious battle junky. It was a good thing Liza didn’t come here with me—I’m sure hearing this would make her want to join the fight, too.

“I’m glad to hear it. I’ll be wishing you good fortune on the battlefield from afar.”

“Oh, c’monnn! You’re seriously not gonna come? We’d be able to have another fun fight like against that huge wyvern if you came along…”

For personal reasons, I really don’t want to fight a dragon to the death, thanks.

That being said, I was willing to bet it’d be a demi-dragon like a hydra, since it didn’t sound anything like the lesser dragon that attacked Seiryuu City.

“You don’t need my help when you have the Shiga Eight candidates, right?”

“Oh, those guys? Aside from Jelil and Bauen, they’re all full of hot air, I tell ya.” Still, she sighed and reluctantly acquiesced. “Fiiine, your loss.”

Based on the numbers and injuries of the defeated knight squadrons, she told me their foe was estimated around level 45 or 50. If it was any stronger, there would probably have been more past sightings in surrounding areas.

Since Ms. Ryuona was level 48 herself, and most of the Shiga Eight candidates were at least in the mid- to high 40s, they should be able to handle a level 50-ish dragon without too much trouble.

We parted ways with the royal army and continued through the lengthy Lessau County, eventually reaching the temporary capital of Seus.

“Whoa, this place looks like a defeated country in a war movie.”

While Arisa’s remark was rude, it was admittedly an accurate description of Seus City.

The market was sparse, with few products or people. Pickpockets and robbers were rampant on the streets. The few passersby we saw looked listless, their heads hanging low. Street urchins slumped in the alleyways, and according to the rumors, kidnapping and slave trafficking were widespread, too.

There was an Echigoya Company branch that had recently opened here, but it had very little business thus far.

“Maybe we can help out a little?”

Since we’d come all this way, we decided to visit Count Lessau in Seus Castle.

I was strong-armed into giving a considerable bribe to the receptionist. At least the results were speedy enough that I was able to secure an invitation to the evening’s ball.

“This is a little…hmm.”

In stark contrast with the suffering citizens, the nobles were living in the lap of luxury. Even if it was partly just because of the ball being held there, the castle was like a completely different world from the rest of the city.

“Why, isn’t that gem a Heaven’s Teardrop?”

“But of course. As the first wife of Viscount Doseu, I simply must have nothing but the best.”

“So Sir Jissu’s son has been sent to help liberate the capital?”

“We can hardly let the royal army do as it pleases with our ancestral Lessau City.”

“Well said, indeed. Meanwhile, our lord was utterly hoodwinked by those sly old foxes and wolves in the royal capital into giving up our share of cores.”

“Truly, such a pity. Goodness knows when we’ll be able to reopen our mines and factories.”

“Indeed, such is the struggle when there is no supply of cores.”

“I couldn’t have said it better myself. It’s just as I thought—the experienced Lord Jilgos would have been far better suited to the role of lord than the young Lord Coulmas.”

“You mustn’t speak such blasphemy aloud.”

“Ah, of course. I shall be more careful.”

From the snippets I heard of the nobles’ conversations, they were primarily shallow boasting, complaining about a loss in profits, or smugly disparaging of their young lord.

As if the threat of monsters wasn’t bad enough, it seemed like young Count Lessau had plenty of internal affairs to worry about, too.

I had my own feelings about the former Count Lessau, considering what he’d done to Tifaleeza and Neru, but maybe I could still offer a helping hand to his son.

“Sir Pendragon, thank you for coming all this way from far-off Muno County!”

Evidently, Count Lessau thought I really did travel here straight from Muno County.

I couldn’t blame him, since we didn’t have a chance to talk at any of the royal capital social events.

“Sir, the reception room.”

“I know.”

After a whispered prompting from an elderly consul, Count Lessau led me to the reception room. Evidently, he had some kind of business with me.

I barely even had time to sit before the young lord cut to the chase.

“You want me to…invest?”

“That’s right. Our county is soliciting investments from interested parties.”

It sounded like he was asking for a loan, under the guise of investment, to me.

“Of course, you would be duly compensated.”

The young count seemed to mistake my stunned silence for demanding a reward.

“My cousin has just lost her fiancé in the recent demon attack and is lost in the depths of heartbreak. If you wish, I would be glad to arrange for you to meet her at our next tea party.”

Really? Because it looked to me like she was lost in the depths of the breakfast buffet.

“I’m afraid I am far too young and inexperienced to soothe the sadness in such a noble lady’s heart.”

“Then what would you want?”

Wow, he just came out and asked directly.

Apparently, negotiating isn’t this kid’s strong point.

“That depends on the size of the investment you seek.”

“Wha…?”

Caught off guard by my counter-question, the boy count looked to his elderly consul for help.

“Five thousand gold coins…would be ideal. But of course, we cannot expect a foreign noble to take on such a heavy burden. Would one thousand gold coins be acceptable?”

Ah, yes. The typical “open with a ridiculous amount, then name the amount you actually want” strategy.

That wasn’t much money to me personally, but it was probably a lot to most people. It was the same as the budget I’d been given for the year as Vice-Minister of Tourism, and around what Marchioness Ashinen paid for the elixir in the auction, too.

“So something that would befit a thousand gold coin investment…?”

Was there anything I could possibly want from this impoverished Lessau County? Actually, yes, there was.

“Well, a friend’s company asked me to mediate on their behalf…”

I requested the establishment of an orphanage in the city, as well as a building and bankrupt factory the Echigoya Company had been hoping to acquire.

“An orphanage? A bankrupt factory?”

The young lord looked at his consul, confused by my response.

The old consul nodded, and the young count readily agreed to the former; however, the latter apparently belonged to one of his nobles, so he seemed hesitant.

“Just accept his conditions, young master. Leave the persuasion to me.”

“All right, if you say so. I’m counting on you.”

Thanks to the elderly consul’s intervention, my conditions were accepted.

I planned to entrust running the orphanage to the Echigoya Company and offer them the money from selling the building and factory to the company as funds for the first ten years of establishing the orphanage.

I also considered requesting purchasing priority rights to the Lessau’s Lifeblood, made at a nearby winery, but decided against it.

The last thing I needed was to become a greedy noble who kept the wine from being widely circulated. This particular wine was a beloved brand of the vampire progenitor and reincarnation Van, who lived in the Lower Stratum of the Celivera Labyrinth.

“Incidentally, Viscount Pendragon, I have heard tell that you are a renowned explorer yourself.”

Once we made the arrangements and signed the paperwork, the elderly consul brought up a different subject.

“Is it true that you defeated a floormaster in the Celivera Labyrinth?”

“Yes, we received a medal from His Majesty for that feat.”

“Very impressive.”

The young lord was quick to praise my accomplishment.

It was so abrupt that it almost seemed like the whole conversation had been planned in advance.

“It’s all thanks to the hard work of my companions.”

“Splendid. It seems you have truly magnificent companions, then.”

This praise definitely seemed artificial now.

They were probably about to bring up some new proposal.

“Are you aware that the ruins of the former Flue Empire lie just outside Lessau County?”

“No, I didn’t know that.”

Searching the map, I discovered that aside from abandoned villages and mines, there were ancient ruins in an otherwise empty mountain range about half a mile in radius.

Based on the distribution of treasure and guardians in the ruins, most of the rooms seemed to have been explored already, save for the very deepest floor.

The road from the nearest village also stopped in places, indicating that no one had ventured into the ruins for some time.

“We would like to offer you ten years’ exploration rights of those ruins for five hundred gold coins.”

“Five hundred? That seems fairly low. Have the ruins already been explored?”

“No one has entered in these past hundred years.”

“Does that mean they were already explored over a hundred years ago?”

Based on the map information about the abandoned village nearby, it wouldn’t be surprising if that much time had passed already.

“…Hidden doors are an indispensable part of ancient ruins. Surely an explorer as skilled as yourself would be able to find them when others have failed, no?”

“But surely they have been so long abandoned because investigators concluded that there were no more unexplored areas? I cannot imagine that we have any more luck or skill than the explorers of years past.”

“Truly? I should think someone as fortunate as yourself might be able to find something new.”

Well, that was kind of rude.

He seemed to realize that as well, and quickly added, “Though of course that good fortune comes of true skill.”

“Five hundred gold coins is a bit high for a roll of the dice. Besides, if we find anything in the ruins, wouldn’t Lessau County retain rights to first priority?”

I pressed the elderly consul, pointing out that exploring gear isn’t cheap.

“Of course…”

The consul squinted at me, trying to read my intentions. I used my “Poker Face” skill to keep a blank expression.

“…it would be tax-free. We would not enforce first priority, though we do have appearances to uphold. If you find something truly rare, we hope that you would inform us first.”

That was fair. It wouldn’t look good if Count Lessau didn’t even know about a rare item found in Lessau County.

“I admire your fortitude. Still, it goes against a mithril explorer’s pride to pay a great deal of money to go on an archeological dig.”

“Then let us also declare any materials you gain from monsters along the way to be tax-free. Of course, you must still sell us any cores at the market rate.”

Almost there.

“There is an abandoned mine nearby. It was very prosperous until some fifty years ago. We will throw in mining rights for twenty years.”

The elderly consul made a proposal that would put any swindler to shame.

“And your findings will be tax-free for five years, no matter what precious metals or gems you might find. How about that?”

It normally took years to bring an abandoned mine back into mineable shape. And according to Miss Manager at the Echigoya Company, five tax-free years wasn’t much, even if it started from when the mining began.

On top of that, if the mining rights lasted twenty years, that meant they would return to Count Lessau just when the mine was getting back on the right track.

As a bonus, when I searched the map, I discovered that the long-abandoned mine was infested with several hundred demi-goblins.

“As long as the mining is an option and not an obligation.”

“Of course.”

We settled on a single mountain for the area of development, and I agreed to purchase rights to the ruins and mines for five hundred gold coins.

Incidentally, while they seemed to think that the mines were completely dried up, there was actually a gold vein about three times deeper than where they had dug. There were untouched treasures in the ruins, too, and more than a thousand gold coins, albeit of the Flue Empire variety. I would definitely be able to make my money back.

The very next day, my companions and I explored the untouched area of the ruins. Over the next few days, I also collected a huge amount of gold ingots from the mines, and ultimately multiplied my investment by a dozen at least.

The combination of my menu and “Search Entire Map” skill really is ridiculously overpowered.

In exchange for the enormous profit I’d made off his land, I gave the hundreds of cores I got from the demi-goblins in the abandoned mines to Count Lessau. Even low-quality cores still work as fuel for Magic Furnaces and so on.

Hopefully, that would help with the core shortage a little.

“Master, someone’s fighting over there!”

“Battle?”

As we approached the northernmost point of the lengthy Lessau County, Pochi and Tama spotted a far-off battle.

It was in the direction of Vistall Duchy.

Nana peered through a longscope. “It appears to be a fort battle, I report.”

The royal army and rebellion army were clashing. I assumed these weren’t the forces that got wiped out after taking back the capital city.

The attackers were using golems and catapults as well as all kinds of siege engines, while the fort fought back with Magic Cannons.

Neither side had many magic users, though there was evidence that the attackers had used Earth Magic to make trenches and walled encampments. The royal army was the one defending the fort.

“What a remote place to have a battle.”

“Looks like that fort is an important strategic point for the north road of Vistall Duchy.”

I told Arisa what I’d figured out from my map.

Whoever lost control of this fort would have to watch their backs as they fought farther north.

“No wonder it’s such an intense fight.”

Arisa used a longscope to observe the battlefield. She probably chose that instead of her Space Magic spell so she wouldn’t have to see the gory details up close.

The commanding officer of the attacking side didn’t seem very skilled: The soldiers on the front lines were getting mowed down mercilessly by the Magic Cannons.

…Battles between humans are way too gruesome.

Losing all desire to observe, I turned my horse back to the road.

“Wait…that’s the Kuvork crest.”

At Arisa’s words, I swiveled back automatically.

Checking the map information, I saw that one of the attacking squadrons was made up of slaves from the Yowork Kingdom.

I used a longscope to get a closer look, too.

The crest on their shields must be that of Arisa’s destroyed homeland, Kuvork Kingdom. It had been deliberately crossed out in black ink, probably by someone from the Yowork Kingdom.

“Let’s go.”

“You don’t want to save them?”

“It’s not just Kuvork soldiers who are dying.”

Arisa shook her head without looking up.

Before long, the rebel side began retreating, as well as the Yowork army and their slaves.

I made sure of that before I turned my horse and followed Arisa and the others.

“Master, there’s a commotion at the border checkpoint, I report.”

There was a Kageus County fort overlooking the valley path that separated Lessau County and Kageus County.

A large group of soldiers was gathered at the fort, strictly checking all the baggage of the merchants passing through. They seemed to be turning back all refugees, to the point where none were coming this way any longer.

I braced myself as we approached, but once I showed my viscount’s identification and Vice-Minister’s medallion, they let us through quite easily.

Once we crossed the border, I got to use my “Search Entire Map” skill for the first time in a while. Luckily, I didn’t find any dangerous-looking people or demons. Hopefully, we’d be able to spend our visit in peace.

“Meeeat?”

“It’s Mr. Sheep, sir! It makes yummy jingisukan, sir!”

When we passed over the mountain, we emerged onto a plateau where sheep were peacefully grazing.

“Let’s have jingisukan for lunch today, then, shall we?”

“Yaaay!” “Sir!”

We bought mutton at the nearby village and enjoyed jingisukan, a Japanese grilled mutton dish, with a scenic view.

Arisa, who’d been a little quiet since the battle, finally started smiling again. Hopefully, the delicious food and calming view comforted her aching heart.

We continued through the fields and forests and reached the capital, Kageus City, by the time the sun set.

“This place feels familiar, sir.”

“Oui, oooui?”

“Yes, it reminds me of Seiryuu City.”

The beastfolk girls looked nostalgic for their hometown.

Once I took care of things with Arisa and Lulu, maybe we should stop back in Seiryuu City next.

“Satou.”

Mia tugged on my sleeve.

Looking where she was pointing, I saw a bearded man staring at us.

“What’s up?”

Just as Arisa turned to look at him…

“Wh-why, if it ain’t Lady Arisa!”

The man exclaimed her name in a thick accent.

An Unexpected Reunion

“…Ben! It’s you!”

A man had called out to Arisa in the capital of Kageus County.

It seemed they knew each other. According to the AR, the bearded man’s name was Ben Farmar, though he didn’t have a title to go with his family name.

“Lady Arisaaa! Thank the stars, yer alive after all.”

“You too, Ben! I’m so glad you managed to survive.”

Arisa and Ben both burst into tears as they hugged each other.

Judging by the fact that they were both using the language of the lost Kuvork Kingdom, they must be friends from back when Arisa was a princess.

I turned to Lulu, who looked surprised.

“Do you know him?”

“Yes, he was a hereditary knight and one of Arisa’s vassals.”

She explained that this Ben person helped Arisa run experiments for her internal reformation plan, to the point where he could even be called her right-hand man.

His support of Arisa’s reforms started with tilling the fields with leaf mold, and continued into making compost, beekeeping, and creating farming vehicles. He even got his relatives involved in making new tools and farming appliances.

“Is the rest of your family with you?”

“Uh-huh. Thanks to the letter you done sent us through Miss Lulu, we all got out safe and sound.”

“Oh, thank goodness.”

Arisa wiped away her tears and smiled.

“I know! Lady Arisa! I got someone you just gotta meet!”

“Someone I should meet?”

“Uh-huh!”

Ben picked up Arisa and started running so quickly that her wig tumbled off.

I didn’t think he was trying to kidnap her or anything. Still, he should probably slow down a little.

The rest of us hurried after Arisa and Ben.

“Your Highness! You in here?!”

“What is it, Sir Farmar?! How many times have I told you to knock before you—?”

A cold-looking young man started to tell Ben off, then stopped midsentence when he saw Arisa.

“Th-the witch!”

“Lord Pid! T’ain’t right to call Lady Arisa that name!”

Ben reacted wrathfully to the boy’s rude words.

The other people who were gathered in the entrance hall all stared at us, too. Most of their expressions went dark when they spotted Arisa.

I’d almost forgotten that she had titles like “Witch of the Lost Kingdom” and “The Mad Princess.”

“Silence! Ben, how could you bring the witch who destroyed our land to the headquarters of the kingdom’s revival, of all places?! You fool!”

“Lady Arisa didn’t destroy nothin’! It was the second prince and the minister who butted in, I tell ya.”

They should’ve asked Arisa to come back once they resolved that conflict, then.

I gently retrieved the increasingly distressed-looking Arisa from Ben’s arms.

“What is this insolence?! You are in the presence of His Highness!”

A door on the second floor visible from the atrium flew open, and a cranky-looking old gentleman emerged.

Behind him was a chubby young boy around middle school age. He must be the “highness” in question—making him Arisa’s older brother.

From what she’d told me in the past, the rest of her family aside from Lulu had all been either executed or sacrificed to bring back a withered labyrinth. It looked like there might have been other survivors after all, though.

“Brother Eruus!”

“…Huh? Arisa? It’s really you!”

Eruus pushed past the older gentleman, ran down the stairs, and threw his arms around Arisa exultantly.

“Brother, did any of the others make it, too…?”

Eruus’s face clouded. “I’m the only one who survived. Elder Brother Sitam saved me.”

“I see… Brother Sitam…”

Checking in the AR, I saw that Eruus was technically a slave.

He must have been put under a Geist like Arisa and Lulu.

“Arisa! Let’s rebuild Kuvork Kingdom together in their memory!”

Eruus grasped Arisa’s hands.

“Your Highness, no!”

The onlookers all exclaimed in alarm at Eruus’s sudden declaration.

I guess the rude young man who called her a “witch” wasn’t the only one who blamed her for what happened to their kingdom. Only Eruus, Ben, and a few of their friends and family seemed to know otherwise.

“Arisa, let’s find an inn and turn in for today.”

“Yeah, good idea. I’m sure they need time to cool off, too.”

Even someone as stouthearted as Arisa was probably hurt to see so many people from her homeland rejecting her.

I spoke to the elderly gentleman, who seemed relatively reasonable, and told him that we’d go to an inn and send a messenger once we were settled in. Then we left their base behind.

A few people blocked our way, claiming that we might reveal their location, but there wasn’t much they could do to stop mithril explorers like us. Pochi and Tama lightly knocked a few aside, and the rest were quick to clear our path.

“Arisa, I’ll make whatever you want for dinner tonight. You should eat your fill and go straight to bed.”

As tears streamed down Arisa’s cheeks, I pulled her close to me, comforting her ineptly.

“…No, it’s okay. I’m not crying because I’m sad, Master. My big brother Eruus… I’m happy that someone else survived besides Lulu and me, even if it was only one person.”

Arisa looked up at me, smiling through her tears.

“Well, in that case…we should celebrate Eruus’s survival.”

“Thank you.”

Arisa rested her head on my arm.

I pretended not to notice that she was just putting on a brave front, even though it was obvious.

Hopefully, that would soothe her sorrow at least a little.

“Who’s there?”

The elderly consul, who was heading to his desk to do some work, turned around when he heard me knock on the door.

After putting Arisa to bed, I came to speak with the former marquis of Kuvork Kingdom, who was now the guardian to the former fifth prince, Eruus.

“Good evening.”

Since he’d questioned me in Shigan language, I responded in the same.

“You were with Lady Arisa.”

“Yes. I am Viscount Satou Pendragon of the Shiga Kingdom, Arisa’s guardian.”

I left out the fact that I was a vassal of Count Muno out of concern that there might still be rumors about it being “cursed territory” in this far-off land.

“An upper noble of Shiga Kingdom, eh…?”

The man must have misheard me. “No, I am the head of a humble family—the very first Viscount Pendragon, in fact.”

“At such a young age?”

“Yes, thanks to Arisa and our other companions, I was just promoted quite recently.”

The gentleman looked startled by the contrast between my visible age and rank.

Luckily, he seemed to believe me, and switched to a more polite tone.

“I take it you have come alone to discuss Lady Arisa?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“In spite of what His Highness said, there are none but the Farmar family who would agree. If you have come to request my persuasion on the matter, I am afraid that would only be in vain.”

Oh, he’s got the wrong idea…

“No, that isn’t why I’ve come.”

The gentleman looked puzzled.

“I want to free Arisa and Lulu from their status as slaves.”

“…Impossible. Are you familiar with the terrible curse known as a Geist, Viscount?”

“Yes, Arisa told me about it.”

The elderly man heaved a sigh. “A Geist can only be undone by the one who set it in motion. The imperial mage who placed the Geist on Lady Arisa and company betrayed Kuvork Kingdom before its destruction and joined Yowork Kingdom, and now works there in an important position.”

Oh, then this should go more quickly than I expected.

“Is this mage in Yowork Kingdom now?”

“That I cannot say for certain. However, I would certainly wager that he is in Yowork Castle. Though there are rumors that Yowork Kingdom is aiding the rebel army in Vistall Duchy, it is highly unlikely that he would be dispatched there.”

“It is?”

If this guy can put a Geist on people, I bet he’d be able to enslave enemy troops in battle and so on.

“Indeed. He once told me in the days of the Kuvork Kingdom that there are many conditions to using a Geist. It is no small feat to meet all of those conditions on a battlefield.”

Now that was news to me.

It made sense, though: If you could use a Geist on other people without any conditions, this imperial mage might have made himself king by now, and certainly could have made Yowork Kingdom a lot stronger.

“What are those conditions?”

The elderly gentleman looked at me appraisingly before answering my question.

“There are four conditions to use a Geist: the magic power of a hundred mages, an intricate magic circle as big as this mansion, a Xanthic Staff, and the consent of the target. I do not know if all four conditions are truly necessary, but it is not the sort of thing one could use on an opposing army in battle.”

I see. So when I go up against this mage, I’d better keep an eye out for the magic circle and staff, and be careful not to accidentally agree to anything.

“Will you be going to Yowork Kingdom?”

As I recorded these notes in my menu’s memo tab, the man questioned me.

“Yes, I intend to go meet this imperial mage.”

“That nation can be rather closed-off. They may not be willing to tell you where he is, even if you show up at the castle doors.”

That wouldn’t be a problem in my case since I could use “Search Entire Map.”

But since it seemed like he wanted to say something else, I went along with his warning.

“That is concerning, to be sure.”

“If you wish, I would be glad to help you.”

“Help me? How so?”

“I have a few connections in that kingdom. I can get you a map, and introduce you to a peddler who travels between Kageus City and Yowork Kingdom.”

“I would appreciate that.”

A peddler could tell us about any sightseeing spots on the way, and maybe even some hidden gems and local specialties.

Still, I doubted he was making this offer out of simple kindness.

“In that case, what could I do to repay your generosity?”

The man looked faintly scornful at my direct question, though he hid it with a smile.

“Anything you could offer as a tip toward Sir Eruus’s aspirations would be much appreciated, I confess.”

Huh?

I expected him to ask me to get Eruus’s Geist lifted. Instead, he just asked me to hand over a bit of funds or supplies for the restoration of Kuvork Kingdom.

Of course, since Eruus was related to Arisa, I was planning on getting his Geist lifted either way.

“I’d be happy to offer some aid.”

I put a Magic Bag on the table.

I’d acquired it in the ruins in Lessau County. It could hold about twice as much as a large dresser.

“Please accept the bag and all of its contents. I hope it can help with the restoration of Kuvork Kingdom.”

The bag contained two thousand gold coins in pouches, as well as some magic weapons and armor with a military look, various potions, and Pure-Water Bags made with water stones, which were convenient for long marches.

I didn’t include things like Fire Rods and explosives that could be used for indiscriminate acts of violence, though.

“I-incredible…”

Once the old consul looked through the contents of the bag, he stared between the bag and my face several times over.

“…Sir Pendragon, if you are offering all this to Sir Eruus, does this mean you wish us to take Lady Arisa back as a member of the royal family…?”

His voice trembled as he asked my true intentions. I guess it must have seemed like a huge gift to a kingdom in the middle of rebuilding, though it was nothing special to me.

“As I said before, I have no ambitions of making Arisa queen or attempting any kind of puppet regime over the Kuvork Kingdom. This is merely a gift to her older brother.”

If they were willing to accept Arisa as a royal, I’d certainly appreciate that, but not if it meant Arisa would lose her freedom in the process.

If possible, I just wanted Arisa and Eruus to be able to see each other without any issues. I wasn’t going to use money to strong-arm them into it and pave the way for future problems, though.

“Please accept it. I promise you I have no ulterior motives.”

“…We appreciate your kindness dearly, Viscount.”

The gentleman bowed his head deeply.

They must have been hurting for cash more than I realized. The man looked pleased as punch while he wrote me a letter of introduction to his connections in Yowork Kingdom.

He said he would have a map copied and sent to our inn, as well as to the peddler in question.

I stood up once I received the letter.

Oops, I almost forgot.

“Could I ask you one last question?”

“What is it?”

“Do you mind telling me the name of that imperial mage?”

As long as I knew his name, I could look him up using my map search.

“Orchidee. These days, he goes by the family name of Matossh that he earned for selling out the royal family.”

I thanked the elderly gentleman for the information and left their base behind.

“…Your report?”

“Viscount Pendragon went directly back to the inn. It didn’t look like he intended to go back out, so I left the rest to the guards watching the inn.”

The young male noble responded to the elderly consul.

I remembered what I’d seen from the shadows as I listened in on their conversation.

I’d noticed the young nobleman tailing me from their base and hid a near-undetectable Shadowdive Bat in his shadow to investigate his intentions.

“Your Excellency, we should eliminate the witch and her companions under cover of darkness.”

The gentleman stared coldly without responding to the boy’s words.

For my part, I carefully controlled my anger toward the young man, lest he sense it through the Shadowdive Bat.

“We mustn’t wait until that bastard puts the witch into power and spreads her influence.”

The boy continued spouting nonsense.

I get what he was worried about, but there was no need to spread her influence. If Arisa really wanted to rebuild Kuvork Kingdom, I could make that happen anytime I wanted.

“I understand your concerns. Yet I cannot approve a surprise attack.”

“Why not?!”

“Because you would all be killed.”

A military man who’d been in the room this whole time spoke up to answer his question.

According to my map, he was a respectable level 38.

“General! How can you be such a coward?!”

“A coward? That’s rich coming from someone who got knocked down a peg by a couple of brats.”

“I—I was just careless, that’s all.”

“Keep making excuses, and you’ll end up dead next time.”

The young man scowled at the general’s words.

“Those people are strong, make no mistake. Especially the scalefolk girl. I could fight her ten times and lose every time, no doubt. From what I gather, she’s every bit as strong as the Shiga Eight Swordsmen member I once met.”

Ooh, he could tell all that without the “Analyze” skill? Very impressive.

“Th-then we just need to capture that homely girl and blackmail the rest of them. Surely the witch’s maid is weak enough to…”

“She’d still destroy you, I guarantee it.”

“Do you make a mockery of me?!”

“I only state the truth. That girl is skilled, too, if not as much as the scalefolk woman. You can tell just by the way she moved when they fought your people.”

I forced myself to keep listening without voicing my many complaints about the boy’s inability to appreciate Lulu’s supreme beauty.

“Possam, is this true of the viscount as well?”

The man hesitated before responding to the elderly gentleman’s question.

“…I can’t say for sure. He doesn’t look strong, and yet my instincts scream at me not to mess with him no matter what.”

Rude. That makes me sound like some kind of monster.

“Sir Rukuubho, you must not lay a hand on Viscount Pendragon and his companions. That man will surely be of use to Sir Eruus. And the same is true of Lady Arisa, of course.”

Scowling, the young man reluctantly agreed to the old man’s warning and left the room.

“Possam, make sure they don’t do anything foolish.”

“Very well.”

“While they might not be capable of causing much trouble, the last thing we need is for them to displease the viscount and let His Highness lose a valuable ally.”

At any rate, it seemed like we didn’t have to worry about the young man and his friends doing anything stupid.

Still, while I was pretty sure they would keep him under control, I kept the bats I summoned on guard around our inn so that we could sleep soundly, just in case.

Journey to Yowork Kingdom

“Is that the border?”

After I got the information from the elderly consul, I headed for Yowork Kingdom.

I flew through the sky under cover of darkness, using Create Stone Object and seal slates to create teleport points as I went.

“It’s like they’re preparing for all-out war…”

Bonfires were blazing at the fort on the border, with sentries marching around even in the middle of the night.

I crossed the border from far off the highway, and used the Search Entire Map spell to load up on information about Yowork Kingdom.

First and foremost, there was no one in the territory with the Geist spell.

The name the gentleman gave me, Orchidee Matossh, didn’t come up with any hits, either, nor did the family name by itself. I didn’t even see a mansion that might belong to him.

“Either he’s traveling with the army, or he’s using an item to disguise himself like that cardinal…”

The other possibility was that he was hiding in one of the blank zones within the territory that constituted separate map areas.

Once I set up a base for teleportation in the kingdom, I traveled on to Vistall Duchy and searched there as well. Sure enough, I still didn’t find the imperial mage in question.

Annoying as it was, it looked like my only option was to enter Yowork Kingdom the normal way and ask around for his whereabouts.

I added one more teleport point close to the capital of Yowork Kingdom, then used the Earth Magic spell Create House to make a mostly underground safe house there. It came out a little fortress-like, only to keep out monsters, not for any other reason.

“Arisa, it’s much too dangerous to go to Yowork Kingdom! You should wait here in the city with me.”

“I’m sorry, big brother.”

Two days after I investigated Yowork Kingdom, we were at the main gates of Kageus City, where Eruus, Ben, and some of the others were seeing us off.

“We really oughtta go with ya, Lady Arisa.”

“I appreciate it, Ben. But you should stay here and keep supporting Eruus.”

Ben and his family all wanted to come with Arisa, but in the end she convinced them with a “please” to promise that they’d stay with Eruus.

It took two days before our departure because Countess Kageus learned of our visit and invited us to a banquet at her castle.

I was sincerely impressed that the chefs had such a wide repertoire based around mutton. The sausage and their locally made ale were especially delicious, and I’m not even a big fan of ale, normally.

“The mutton yesterday was delicious,” I mused aloud.

“Aye!”

“Pochi could eat Mr. Mutton every night, sir!”

“It was truly divine. In addition to all of the sausage varieties, the stew made with sinewy mutton meat had a wonderful mouthfeel.”

The beastfolk girls seemed equally taken with the mutton dishes.

“I think I can figure out most of the recipes. We’ll have to try and recreate them.”

“Yes, Lulu. I wish to eat the mutton stew again, I report.”

“Baked potato.”

Nana and Mia chimed in with their own requests, and the other kids all started listing the dishes they wanted Lulu and me to make, too. For some reason, Pochi requested hamburg steak, which wasn’t even part of the previous night’s lineup.

“Master, I’m ready.”

“You’re done saying good-bye already?”

“It’s not like it’s our final farewell. We can always come see them again.”

Arisa looked a little relieved. I nodded, and we left Kageus City behind.

“Whew, what a feast! Hope I didn’t eat you out of house and home.”

“Not at all. I appreciated the chance to hear more about other nations.”

We had lunch in a plaza near the main road with a traveling merchant who’d just returned from Yowork Kingdom.

“Well, be careful out there, kids. Yowork Kingdom’s a dangerous place these days.”

The friendly merchant waved as he walked away.

“We got some good information there.”

“Yeah, I’m glad we found out ahead of time that they’re not officially at war with Shiga Kingdom.”

From what we’d just been told, Yowork Kingdom was aiding the rebellion in Vistall Duchy; however, they were really just helping them eliminate thieves who were pretending to be part of the Shiga Kingdom army, so they weren’t officially enemies. Thus, Shiga Kingdom merchants like the one we just met were still allowed to cross the borders and do business, he said.

The peddler the elderly gentleman introduced me to had given me information, too. But since he hadn’t been to Yowork Kingdom since before their army joined the battle, getting the latest information was a big deal.

We enjoyed traveling by carriage to the border, then took a shortcut from there to the teleport point I made.

“Fortress?”

“Master, is this fortress our destination? I inquire.”

Mia and Nana spotted the safe house I made first.

I nodded. “I figured this safe house could be our base for investigating Yowork Kingdom.”

“A safe house? This?”

It sure looks like a fortress to me, Arisa’s eyes seemed to say.

“Just to be safe. There are monsters in the area.”

“Preeey?”

“Pochi wants to hunt, sir!”

“First, we need to secure the safe house, you two.”

“Aye.”

“Yes, sir.”

At Liza’s prompting, the two headed for the safe house.

For some reason, they were acting like they needed to secure the perimeter or something. I’m not sure why they seemed to think there might be traps or jump scares just around the corner… Did they get “safe house” and “fun house” mixed up, maybe?

“Lulu, let’s go.”

“Right! I’m coming.”

I called out to Lulu, who was gazing up at the watchtower that was camouflaged with leaves and branches.

As a skilled sniper, she probably couldn’t help being distracted by possible sniping positions.

We entered the fort and relaxed in the well-lit reception room, which had a glass ceiling.

“Are we venturing into the capital tomorrow?”

“No, I was going to go right after a quick break.”

“By yourself, you mean?”

At Arisa’s words, the group all looked at me, a little worried.

“No, I figured I’d bring two escorts along.”

After a bit of debate among the girls, I chose Liza and Nana, who were less likely to be looked down on by strangers at a glance.

Arisa and Lulu wanted to come, since this concerned them directly, but I insisted that they stay behind, since they could get in trouble if any Yowork Kingdom people recognized them.

“The atmosphere here is very heavy.”

“Yes, Liza. It is like a war zone, I declare.”

Liza and Nana adjusted their hoods as they murmured quietly about the strict inspections taking place at the main gates of Yowork Kingdom’s capital.

Soon, it was our turn.

“Next, you there.”

A soldier beckoned to us.

The language of Yowork Kingdom was more like a dialect of the Kuvork Kingdom language than a distinct language of its own. It was close to Shigan language, too, though not as near identical. At any rate, I could understand it easily enough.

Although it didn’t seem strictly necessary to put skill points into this one, I figured it could be bad if I used a Kuvork Kingdom accent when I addressed royalty of Yowork Kingdom. Just to be safe, I put points into the “Yowork Language” skill and activated it.

“Let’s see your identification.”

I held up my explorers badge from Labyrinth City Celivera to the haughty-looking soldier.

“Labyrinth City, eh…?”

“Musta heard about the labyrinth and come here. Do these things come in silver, though?”

Another soldier peered over the first one’s shoulder.

“Oi, Hop! You were an explorer in Labyrinth City, yeah? You seen one o’ these before?”

“Ooh, don’t see that kinda explorers badge every day. That’s the explorers’ guild seal, all right. Rich folks and nobles get gold badges—maybe it’s a lower version o’ that?”

Apparently, he wasn’t familiar with the mithril badge.

“So yer passably rich, eh? Explains the fancy sword and nice clothes.”

“Entrance fee is three silver coins per person. Make sure that demi-human there ties her spear into its sheath with cord. You and that pretty lady better not cause any trouble in the city, either, or we’ll toss ya right into jail, got that?”

I handed over the silver coins, and the guards let us inside.

“Welcome to the Inn on Prosperity Hill!”

We were at the highest-rated inn in the Yowork Kingdom capital, according to the merchants.

While the inn was almost excessively luxurious, the manager was clearly the type to appraise guests from behind a bright smile. Even as we were going through the check-in process, I could tell she was inspecting our clothes and accessories with snakelike eyes.

That didn’t particularly bother me, although her treatment of demi-humans definitely did. She muttered “a tail, eh?” when she saw Liza’s peeking out from under her coat. There must be discrimination against demi-humans here, too, though the merchants’ information failed to mention it.

After a moment’s hesitation over this, I decided to stick with the plan to send Nana and Liza out as messengers.

I needed them to offer high-quality gifts to the king to arrange for a meeting with him. Since they weren’t officially at war with Shiga Kingdom, I went ahead and requested an audience as a Shigan noble, throwing in my position as Vice-Minister of Tourism for good measure.

Sure enough, I landed an audience at the castle, albeit in two days’ time. That way I could search out the truth of the mage’s whereabouts from within the castle.

While we waited in the inn, I used my summoned Shadowdive Bats and Space Magic to investigate, too, but didn’t acquire any good information. All I learned were whispers of scandals, like an affair between the queen and the knights’ captain, and like the few ministers who were misusing their authority in various unpleasant ways.

Now, then…

“Master, there are many golems, I report.”

“They are similar to the weasels’ piloted golems, though their exterior appearance is somewhat different.”

Once we passed through the castle gates, our path was lined on either side by nearly a hundred knights and some thirty piloted golems like guards of honor. There were wyvern knights on standby near each of the four castle watchtowers, all looking down at us.

The wyvern mounts were being controlled with screws, another weapon of the Weaselman Empire, which they’d apparently made connections with via the Vistall Duchy rebel army.

“This is quite an elaborate welcome.”

As we approached, a commanding officer blared out a note on a horn, and the golems all drew their swords with metallic clanks and created an impressive sword arch over the path.

Whoa, that’s an impressive sight.

I was surprised to see that the king of Yowork Kingdom was receiving us with such enthusiasm. I wished I could’ve recorded it on video. At the very least, I took some pictures of the sight.

“What a crude attempt at intimidation.”

“Yes, Liza. This is not nearly enough power to threaten us, I appraise.”

…Wait, so that wasn’t just a fancy demonstration to welcome us? Oh well, whatever. I still enjoyed it.

I cleared my throat deliberately to reset my mood, and we strode elegantly beneath the sword arch like true nobles of the Shiga Kingdom.

Waiting at the end of the path in a full suit of armor was the knights’ captain. Yes, the one having an affair with the queen.

“I appreciate the magnificent reception.”

I sincerely meant my thanks.

“I am Count Horrhen Midnach, captain of the knights. We welcome your visitation, Viscount Pendragon, Shiga Kingdom’s Vice-Minister of Tourism.”

The cheating captain looked down on me as he spoke.

My “Keen Hearing” skill picked up on a muttered comment like, “This tiny infant is a vice-minister?” I couldn’t blame him for being surprised, though.

He held out his right hand, and I accepted the handshake.

It was a strong one, too, given his “Herculean Strength” skill.

“Grr…nngh…”

The handshake went on for an awkwardly long time, until the captain turned red-faced and started to groan.

Did I hurt him by accident? I only used roughly the same amount of grip strength as he did…

“W-well then, follow me. Right this way.”

Pulling his hand away, the knights’ captain turned on his heel and led the way into the castle.

With our friendly greeting over, we followed his lead. The knights who had lined up to greet us fell into step behind us as well. Guarding us, maybe?

“…It seems they are continuing their attempts to threaten us. But their glares are weak.”

Guess I misread the situation again.

“Yes, Liza. Master, may I show them what true intimidation looks like? I request.”

Yeah, please don’t.

I shook my head at Nana fervently.

As we continued to follow the knights’ captain, I observed the architecture and art with interest, as it was different from that of Shiga Kingdom. The maids and officials wore clothes of a somewhat different style, too. They looked a little unsophisticated to me; maybe the quality of the fabric was lacking, or they just weren’t very well put-together.

We arrived in the audience hall, and at the knights’ captain’s instruction, bowed our heads to await the king.

“The king of Yowork Kingdom, rightful heir to the Great Eldohk Kingdom, His Majesty King Usarserkis is heeeere!”

The king’s arrival was announced in an unnecessarily musical tone. I kept my head down and snuck a peek.

The monarch was carried into the room on a palanquin by slaves. He looked emaciated, possibly due to some illness. I wondered if there were drugs or poison involved, but his only status condition was an alcohol addiction.

I later learned that the “Great Eldohk Kingdom” was a name from long ago when all of these small nations were one a large kingdom.

“Viscount Pendragon, Vice-Minister of Tourism of the Shiga Kingdom, raise your head.”

When I looked directly into the king’s eyes, they were blazing and unfocused, as if he was feverish and barely conscious.

“Hmph. So youthful. Did you buy up the youth-restoring elixir of the Saga Empire? Do you carry the blood of the fairy folk?”

I certainly wish fairies and humans could have children. Unfortunately, my beloved Ms. Aaze, the high elf of Bolenan Forest, told me it was impossible.

“…Or have they given some ordinary youth a fictitious role and sent you to mock me?”

“None of the above.”

I removed a couple medals from my ceremonial robe—the rarest (the Shiga Kingdom medal for defeating a dragon) and the one that might have the most name recognition (the mithril medal)—and held them up for the king’s inspection. The latter was a medal I received along with my mithril explorers badge.

The officer behind the king seemed to recognize them; he whispered to his minister boss, who relayed it to the king.

“…A dragon medal? You defeated a dragon?!”

“I only aided Sir Hayato the Hero of the Saga Empire in doing so.”

I had actually done so myself once, but saying so would seem like a boldfaced lie, so I went ahead and dropped Hayato’s name instead.

But the king wasn’t listening to my modest clarification.

“A dragon, eh?! Damn those dragons!”

He stood up unsteadily from his throne and nearly fell over, prompting his retainers to support his weight.

“Pendragon! Become my vassal! I will give you the title of count!”

It seemed that this king had some kind of fixation or history with dragons, judging by his desperate expression as he tried to recruit me.

“With a knight who can defeat dragons at my side, I could reunite the splintered pieces of Eldohk into one nation, and perhaps even ascend to the title of the Great King of Eldohk! Nay, not perhaps—the title would be mine at last! The Great King! I shall achieve my destiny!”

This was getting a little scary. Was he on some dangerous drug or something?

“Your Majesty, please calm yourself.”

“Myude…but I am to become—”

“Yes, your Majesty. I am sure you will.”

Myude, a busty woman in a veil, rushed to the king’s side and whispered some sort of spell.

Oh yikes, she’s a Psychic Magic user.

The veil was a powerful recognition-inhibiting Magic Item, making it difficult to read her information with “Analyze.” According to my AR display, though, she belonged to the Phantom Peach Orchard organization.

Judging by her skills, she was probably some kind of spy or criminal. By searching the maps of places I’d already visited, I found members in the royal capital of Shiga Kingdom and most other capital cities. None of the others were Psychic Magic users, however. I put a marker on her, just to be safe.

At some point soon, I would have to write a letter to the former Count Poputema or the prime minister and ask if they knew anything about the organization. Maybe I could even use Summon Pigeon to do it.

While I was lost in thought, the king retired from the room, due to his poor health.

“The king of Yowork Kingdom, rightful heir to the Great Eldohk Kingdom, His Majesty King Usarserkis has lefffft!”

“Pendragon! Come back to the castle tomorrow! Swear it!”

The king bellowed at me as he was carried away, nearly tumbling out of his palanquin.

“Sir Pendragon, despite what His Majesty said, his whims are rather changeable,” the knights’ captain warned me. “Don’t set your hopes too high for tomorrow.”

That was fine, since I had no interest in serving him anyway.

More importantly…

“I wish to meet with the imperial mage Sir Orchidee. Could I ask you to arrange it?”

I decided to get into the real reason I came.

He didn’t seem to be in the castle, but that in itself might be secret information, which is why I figured I’d ask to meet him.

“Orchidee? Are you close with Sir Matossh, Sir Pendragon?”

The captain’s expression was somewhat unpleasant.

“No, we have never been acquainted. I came here to give him a message from a friend, as well as a staff.”

I gave the excuse I’d come up with in advance by using my “Fabrication” skill, and showed the captain a staff from the belongings that had been taken into custody when we entered the audience hall. It was a fairly powerful long staff made from a Mountain-Tree branch.

I’d attached a large blue crystal containing a water stone to effectively give it a mystical air.

Overall, it was stronger than those used by the lower-ranking Shiga Thirty-Three Staves members with red belts, though not as strong as the ones Arisa and Mia used.

“Amazing…”

The imperial mages who were present in the room gathered around as if transfixed.

“I shall take responsibility and bring it to Sir Matossh.”

“No, I’ll do it.”

For some reason, it seemed oddly popular. I guess looks are important for staves, too.

“Sir Matossh is not in the royal castle?”

“Lady Myude used her feminine wiles to get him demoted.”

“That burnt-up ruin of a castle is a perfect match for that lousy mage.”

“You were told to keep that information top secret, dammit!”

It appeared that Orchidee had been sent away to some ruined castle.

Come to think of it, there was a good chance that was the former Kuvork Kingdom capital. Arisa told me that demons destroyed the castle and its surrounding town and burned up her villa.

I decided to go ahead and ask outright.

“Do you mean the capital of Kuvork Kingdom, by any chance?”

At that, several of the less subtle mages suddenly had “uh-oh” written all over their faces.

“Sorry, that’s top-secret information. We can take a message for you, but we can’t tell you where to find him.”

“I see… Please do relay this message, then. ‘We kept our end of the bargain. You keep yours.’”

Rather than keep pressing for information until I started to look suspicious, I pretended to accept it and gave the nearest mage the staff, as well as a vague message that could be interpreted any number of ways.

Since the staff itself was just a dummy made for this occasion, it didn’t matter to me if he kept it for himself.

I left the royal castle with all the information I needed.

That night, I used the Shadow Magic spell Shadow Mirror to contact Hikaru in the royal capital.

Since you could see each other’s faces while talking, it was preferable over the Space Magic spell Telephone for talking to Hikaru, Miss Aaze, and our friends on Paradise Island, Rei and Yuuneia.

“Phantom Peach Orchard…”

“Yeah, one of their members seems to be controlling the king of Yowork Kingdom with Psychic Magic.”

“I didn’t know that group was still around.”

Hikaru looked less than pleased.

I’d brought it up to have her ask the prime minister for me, but Hikaru herself seemed to be familiar with the name.

“You know them?”

“Didn’t I mention it the other day? We were talking about how there was a group in the Flue Empire that could use Shadow Mirror, remember?”

Come to think of it, that did sound familiar.

“This one lady they called Myude the Undying Witch managed to get in with some powerful people in the Flue Empire and caused all kinds of trouble. Psychic Magic was her specialty—maybe she passed down her spellbook to the organization or something.”

“The lady messing with King Yowork was named Myude, too.”

“Oh, geez. Maybe she inherited the name as well as the spellbook? I can’t imagine the same lady could still be alive now… You might want to be careful, though.”

“Yeah. I will.”

Since there were youth-restoring potions and long-lived races in this world, and even Hikaru herself used a sort of magical cold sleep to survive a long time, it wasn’t completely impossible.

“It seems like they might be trying to take root in Shiga Kingdom, too. Can you warn the king and the prime minister?”

I used my map search to give Hikaru information about the Phantom Peach Orchard members and secret hideouts I found there.

That should take care of the Shiga Kingdom side, at least.

Just as the knights’ captain predicted, the king didn’t call me back to the castle.

I’m guessing the Psychic Magic user Myude made him forget about me somehow.

While I was a little concerned that she was controlling this kingdom from the shadows, right now tracking down Orchidee was more important.

Surely the people of this kingdom could handle their own problems.

Still, I couldn’t resist meddling a little: I sent an anonymous tip that “Myude the Witch is controlling the king with Psychic Magic” to the knights’ captain and a few imperial mages via the Space Magic spell Material Transfer. Hopefully it wouldn’t just result in her getting her claws into them, too.

“So this is the former Kuvork capital…”

Pursuing the imperial mage Orchidee, I went alone to investigate the former royal capital of Kuvork Kingdom, now known as Kuvork City.

Since the former Kuvork Kingdom was its own map, I used “Search Entire Map” again, but still didn’t find Orchidee in the city.

“This place really is in shambles, huh…?”

Using my Space Magic spell Clairvoyance, I inspected the city and found all kinds of criminal activity, with many people living on the streets. Trash and filth were piled up in the alleyways, and sometimes even decomposing corpses. The majority of citizens of the fallen Kuvork Kingdom seemed to be treated as slaves.

The guards were dirty, too, openly demanding bribes.

Only the Yowork Kingdom soldiers seemed to have any kind of power.

In search of information about Orchidee, I went to a bar where those soldiers gathered.

“Another moron tried to sneak into the labyrinth.”

When I walked into the bar, my ears were assailed by the rowdy voices of the soldiers.

I kept my presence hidden and sat at the far end of the bar, ordered a drink from a passing barmaid with heavy makeup, and listened to their conversations.

“These idiots never learn, do they? We’ve warned them so many times that the labyrinth is blocked off, and only us Yowork Kingdom soldiers are allowed to enter.”

“No, apparently it was a Yowork noble this time.”

“For real? Wish they’d join the army and protect that creepy mage or something instead, then.”

“That bastard Matossh has been hiding out in the labyrinth ever since he got into that fight with the general.”

Well, I got that information more easily than I expected.

From the look of it, he was up to something inside a sealed labyrinth.

“No, not him. I mean his creepy successor who showed up half a year ago.”

“That guy hasn’t been seen in at least a month, either.”

“Oh, good. Hope those bastards never come out.”

“No wonder us aboveground troops haven’t gotten word about changing shifts.”

“Yeah, the general’s hangers-on only care about leveling up themselves…”

Evidently there were some troops in the labyrinth. I should still be able to sneak in easily with the use of my transparency cloak and “Skyrunning,” no doubt.

“By the way, have you heard the rumors?”

“What, about the wandering ghosts?”

“Yeah, that! The ghosts of the fallen royals!”

“Are they supposed to be royalty from Kuvork or something?”

“That’s what I hear. Probably ’cause they sacrificed the royal family to revive the labyrinth, or so the story goes.”

“So what, the ghosts are searching for the retainers that betrayed them?”

“What a bunch of idiots.”

“Who, the ghosts?”

“All of ’em. The dirty traitors, and the ghosts who don’t even know that King Usarserkis already executed ’em all.”

Huh. So the retainers who betrayed Arisa’s family were already long gone.

I doubt Arisa would be the type to seek revenge, but I personally was hoping to make them apologize for betraying her. Oh well, I guess it doesn’t matter if they’re already dead.

“Maybe this place?”

Now that I had the information I needed, I stopped off at a bar frequented by former citizens of Kuvork Kingdom.

Hearing that ghost story gave me the urge to take Arisa and Lulu to visit their family graves, so I figured I’d try to find out where they were from some of the locals.

“Welcome! You gotta pay Yowork copper coins up front for ale. No Kuvork coins!”

As soon as I entered, I was given this information from a scantily clad barmaid. Despite her provocative dress, her face was round and youthful. She was around Lulu’s age, in fact.

“Do you have wine or mead?”

“Not from around here, are you, mister? It’s a half silver coin for a glass of watered-down wine. We don’t have any mead.”

“I’ll take the wine, please. And some snacks with the change.”

Without answering about my origins, I paid using a Saga Empire silver coin from my Storage.

Since their silver coins were on the larger side, it should be worth more than a half silver coin from Yowork Kingdom.

“Order up, boss! Wine and a heaping helping of snacks!”

The barmaid bit the coin to test if it was real, then stashed it away in her cleavage and ran off to the kitchen.

“Damn those Yowork Kingdom bastards.”

“You said it. Workin’ us to the bone for next to nothin’!”

“At least they pay you at all. Our boss doesn’t give us a damn cent.”

As soon as I started eavesdropping under the pretense of waiting for my order, I immediately heard some work complaints.

A lot of people chimed in to agree. Unsurprisingly, the people from the former Kuvork Kingdom seemed to have a lot of stress and unhappiness built up.

“If you complain to the guards, they’ll just insult you or beat you up. Best you can do is cry yourself to sleep.”

“I miss the old days of the Kuvork Kingdom…”

“Hey, just between you and me…I heard there’s a survivor of the Kuvork royal family in Shiga Kingdom.”

For a moment, I thought they might mean Arisa or Lulu, until I realized it must be Eruus.

“What?! S’that true?!”

“It’s true, all right. One of the princes is gathering forces to take the kingdom back from those Yowork bastards, they say.”

Apparently, this was one of Eruus’s henchmen that the elderly consul told me about. That was probably why he knew so much.

Although I didn’t catch his name, he must be one of the men sent out to gather support for the resistance on the ground.

“Glad it’s a prince. If that witch was alive, I’d make her eat dirt myself.”

“Hey, don’t call her that! The hidden princess only ever tried to make life better for us!”

“What, the so-called Hidden Princess of Prosperity? That ‘fertilizer’ of hers only attracted monsters and rotted our fields. Some prosperity she brought us.”

“The princess was just being used by a pawn of the Yowork Kingdom!”

Some of them seemed to resent Arisa, while others defended her.

“Hmph! What can a cursed purple-haired freak even do?! She was even stupid enough to make that hideously ugly girl her lady’s maid!”

The waitress chimed in with the drunken patrons, her voice dark with resentment.

The former must be referring to Arisa, which meant the latter must be Lulu. I had almost forgotten by now that most people in this world considered Lulu’s looks unattractive. This girl didn’t look like she’d worked at the castle; maybe she knew Lulu from when she lived in town?

As much as it irked me to hear insults about Arisa and Lulu, right now I needed information.

“Settle down, everyone. The tab’s on me tonight. Go on and drink as much as you like to forget your troubles.”

I lightened the mood in the room by buying drinks for everyone.

After all, I couldn’t get any information out of them if they got bummed out and went home.

“Never seen your face around before, mister.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Akindoh, a traveling merchant.”

Eruus’s covert agent came over to investigate me, so I introduced myself under one of my aliases and discreetly showed him the papers I got from the elderly consul.

“Oh-ho, a merchant! Got any moneymaking tips for me? I’ll tell ya whatever you wanna know in exchange.”

“That would be great.”

He must have figured out from the papers that I was connected to Eruus.

“…You want to know where His Majesty and the old royal family are buried?” Tilting his head, the man turned to the rest of the crowd and shouted. “Does anyone know?”

Unfortunately, none of them had an answer.

“Oh, I know!”

Except for the waitress who’d been bad-mouthing Arisa and Lulu.

“Where is it?”

“Hmm, let me thiiink…”

The girl jiggled her modest chest in a clumsy attempt at seduction.

“If you’ll buy a night with me for three silver coins, maybe I’ll tell you with some pillow talk.”

I guess the waitresses here worked double duty as prostitutes.

I had no intention of sleeping with an underage girl, whether it was for information-gathering or not.

“Sorry, I only need the information.”

“Heh-heh, looks like you got shot down.” Another woman said to the girl before turning her attention to me. “Wanna spend the night with me instead, sweetie?”

“Oh, shut up! You just keep drinking your booze!” The barmaid scowled at the customer, then at me. “If you only want the information, it’ll be one gold coin!”

I must have put her in a bad mood.

She was probably trying to be unreasonable, but that amount of money made no difference to me.

“You’ve got a deal.”

I put a gold coin on the table.

When the girl reached out to snatch it up, I caught her hand and added, “after you give me the information.”

I got the feeling she was going to run off with the money otherwise.

“Tch. Fine, the graves are on a hill behind the old castle. Should be easy enough to spot—it’s the one place where grass doesn’t grow.”

The barmaid grumpily gave up the information.

I thanked her and handed over the gold coin.

“How’d you know that?” one of the customers asked.

“My dad’s dead brother’s wife is buried there, apparently. Just ’cause she used to take care of them, he spent what little money we had to find out where the grave is from a Yowork soldier,” she grumbled. “We wouldn’t have had to starve so much if he didn’t waste money like that…”

Still muttering, she retreated into the galley.

I went back to the soldiers’ bar and gathered more information, confirming that the executed king and queen, as well as their chief vassals, were all buried behind the castle of the former Kuvork Kingdom. Their closest attendants, maids, pages, and so on were buried in the same grave.

Time to check this place out for myself.

The royal castle of the lost Kuvork Kingdom was on a small hill in the center of the city.

“They left this area in ruins, huh…?”

The castle and the nearby nobles’ quarters had been burned to the ground in a disastrous fire caused by demons; debris was still scattered everywhere, possibly from some kind of explosion.

More than half of the castle itself was burnt and crumbling away, presumably from the demon attack Arisa mentioned.

The castle towers had taken the worst damage. They looked like they had been pierced by missiles or some type of attack. One of the towers had been torn clean off and sank into the ground.

Urk…

There must have been a noble prisoner confined in the top floor of the tower or something, because the glimpses of the room I saw through the broken rock showed wild writing all over the wall, painting a grim picture of the prisoner’s sanity.

I paused for a moment of silence to pray for the departed soul to rest in peace, then moved on.

“This must be the place…”

Just as the barmaid said, it was easy to identify the location of the graves.

One section of the hill was bare of grass, with nothing growing except a few sparse weeds. The dirt was piled a bit higher, though there were no markers or any other indicators that it was a grave. The hole had been dug and filled in—nothing more.

I decided to at least make a gravestone before I brought Arisa and the others here.

Producing a solid meteorite from Storage, I used the Earth Magic spell Create Stone Object to make a gravestone. It was a little difficult to carve the sturdy space rock, even with the spell.

Now that I knew where it was, I used the Return spell to go back and get the others.

“So this is their grave…”

“How awful. They left the castle and the nobles’ quarters all burned up from the demon attack.”

I returned to the grave with my group in tow.

Arisa and Lulu were quiet as we walked closer, far from bursting into tears like I half-expected.

“Arisa.”

“Thanks, Mia.”

Mia handed a bouquet of flowers to Arisa, who placed them in front of the grave.

“Lulu, the incense.”

“Thank you, Liza.”

Liza lit the incense and passed it to Lulu.

I made the incense at Arisa’s request, along with a string of prayer beads.

“We pray at graves by putting our hands together and wishing for the soul to rest in peace, I declare.”

“Aye.”

“Yes, sir.”

Tama and Pochi followed Nana’s example, meekly putting their hands together. I lit the incense in the incense burner and joined the others in praying for the departed.

Even after the rest of us finished our prayers, Arisa and Lulu kept their eyes closed and their hands pressed together.

They probably had a lot to tell their lost family members.

“…That should do it.”

“Thank you for waiting.”

Finally, the pair finished their prayers with the faintest trace of tears in their eyes.

“You sure?”

“Yep, I did plenty of praying.”

“And I said my farewells to my mother.”

I took out a handkerchief and wiped the tears from their eyes.

“Thank you, Master… This place is awfully bleak, though, isn’t it?”

Arisa looked around the gravesite.

Shoot. I should’ve planted some flowers when I made the gravestone.

“Master, could I borrow a Treespirit Pearl?”

“Of course. Need some seeds, too?”

“Ah-ha-ha, you’re always a step ahead of me.”

We all started planting flowers around the grave.

“Lulu, let’s do this part together.”

“Okay.”

Arisa held out the pearl and beckoned to Lulu, who put her hand on top of her sister’s.

“Treespirit Pearl, lend us your power. For Mother, Father, my brothers, Lili, and all the others…”

Arisa and Lulu held up the pearl together.

““…Let this place be filled with flowers!””

Magic flowed from their hands into the Treespirit Pearl and spread out across the ground.

“Flowerrrs?”

“So pretty, sir.”

The seeds sprouted into beautiful flowers of all colors of the rainbow.

It was heartbreakingly lovely, a perfect expression of the sisters’ tender feelings for the departed.

“Satou.”

Mia tugged on my sleeve.

A young man stood among the flowers, his body see-through.

He had soft features and long black hair, the kind of boy you’d find in any romantic shojo manga from the Showa era. While his posture and appearance suggested a flippant attitude, there was a hint of sorrow in his expression.

He seemed too young to be Arisa’s and Lulu’s father. An older brother, maybe?

“Nisnarch…,” Lulu murmured.

On the other hand, when Arisa saw the man, she shouted his name with obvious rage. “Nisnarch!”

A shimmering wall appeared between Nisnarch and the rest of us, likely the Space Magic spell Deracinator.

Moments later, he was surrounded by floating fireballs.

“You’ve got some nerve showing your face here after you betrayed us and sold away our kingdom!”

It seemed that this very man was the traitorous retainer who brought down Arisa and the rest of the royal family.

“Nisnarch was one of the people who helped Arisa with her reforms, along with Ben and the others,” Lulu whispered to me.

“Go on, say something, will you?”

Despite her demand, Nisnarch just went on staring at Arisa in silence.

“Or can you not talk anymore, now that you’re a ghost?”

Arisa slowly moved the floating fireballs closer to Nisnarch.

When they were close enough to warm his skin, Nisnarch finally opened his mouth.

“…Looks like the demons did their job well.”

His voice echoed oddly through the field of flowers.

“Well?” Arisa repeated sharply. “Does that mean you’re the one who sent the demons to burn down the castle and the villa?”

Nisnarch simply nodded. “Lady Arisa, I beg you. Please save the souls of His Majesty and the others.”

Arisa’s brows shot up.

“What kind of request is that coming from a traitor?”

“I do not ask you to forgive me. I am willing to burn for all eternity for my crimes.”

“That’s good to hear. In fact, I’ll burn you up myself, soul and all.”

The fireballs crept even closer to Nisnarch.

“If that is what you wish, I will gladly accept my punishment. But first, there is something I must tell you.”

Her eyes cold, Arisa jerked her chin for him to continue.

“The spirits of His Majesty and all those who were used to revive the labyrinth are still trapped and suffering inside the Dungeon Core. Please, I beg you to save them.”

“You want us to destroy the core at the very deepest part of the labyrinth? Do you realize what a ridiculous request you’re making?”

“I do… But with the help of the people behind you, I suspect that you can do it.”

Nisnarch looked at me, Liza, and the rest of our group.

Arisa turned away from him and looked at me in a silent question. I nodded, of course.

“All right, fine. But don’t get the wrong idea! I’m not doing it because you asked me to. I don’t want to let Father and the rest of our family suffer like that, that’s all.”

Arisa waved her hand, and the fireballs around Nisnarch disappeared.

“Master, lend me a Holy Stone.”

Apparently, she wanted to send the traitor’s soul on peacefully instead of burning him away with Fire Magic.

“Are you sure?”

“It’s fine. He’s suffered enough.”

Arisa’s logic was sound and softhearted as always.

I produced a Holy Stone from Storage and handed it to her.

“Thank you, Master.”

The stone glowed blue with Arisa’s magic.

“Please wait, Lady Arisa.”

Nisnarch stopped her before she could send his soul on.

“I am a sinner. I betrayed your ideals and set into motion the destruction of our kingdom. I deserve to remain tied to this world in eternal suffering.”

“…Are you serious?”

“Very.”

Arisa and Nisnarch stared at each other.

“…Fine.”

With a short response, Arisa turned and walked away from the grave.

“You sure about this?”

“I’m sure.” Arisa’s voice was short. “He was always so stubborn…”

This last part was muttered so softly that I only picked it up with my “Keen Hearing” skill.

“He was…your friend, was he?”

“…Yeah. Unlike Ben and the others, who helped carry out the farming experiments, he did all kinds of behind-the-scenes work for me. Finding room in the budget, convincing the nobles, finding places to conduct the experiments, that kind of thing.”

“Sounds like he was an excellent helper.”

“He was. But he was a little oblivious about people’s intentions. He was so occupied with chasing ideals that he fell for some stupid jerks’ bait—hook, line, and sinker. He ended up betraying me and accidentally set our whole kingdom up for a fall.”

Apparently, Arisa had a lot of enemies at the time: the king’s second wife, ministers trying to protect their own interests, and other influential people who begrudged Arisa’s work or were simply so superstitious that they feared her purple hair color. Nisnarch had always bustled around trying to mediate between them.

Arisa didn’t get into detail, but it seems an agent from the Yowork Kingdom took advantage of his good intentions and found ways to make her reforms fail time and time again, ruining her reputation in the process.

That just sounded like a mistake, not a downright betrayal. Nisnarch must have made some serious blunder to be seen as a traitor to Arisa.

“Look…forget about him.” Arisa shook her head as if to dismiss thoughts of the past. “Master, everyone…will you go to the labyrinth with me?”

“Of course,” I said, ruffling her hair. As if she even needed to ask.

It goes without saying that the rest of the group all unanimously agreed.

Interlude: A Skirmish

“Their skills are impressive. I suppose I should expect no less of the former army of the duchy, even if they have turned against their lord.”

“Yes, and their equipment is on par with the kingdom army’s, too. We would likely have struggled to defeat their knights without the help of the Champion’s Swords and Spears.”

The commander and vice-commander of the royal army’s advance party were discussing the rebel army they had just battled.

“The city where the first anti-rebellion squadron was crushed is up ahead, is it not…? Let us hope we can return to the royal capital before too long.”

“Is there something of import for you in the capital?”

“My daughter is due to give birth soon…”

The commanding officer hoped to celebrate the birth of his grandchild in person in the royal capital, not away on a battlefield.

“A report, sir! An unknown army of some thirty men has been spotted in the mountain path to the north!”

“That seems too little to be enemy reinforcements…”

“They were not flying the banner of Vistall Duchy, I am told.”

“…Mercenaries joining up with the rebel army, perhaps? Then we cannot let them pass. Send Sir Mavats and fifty of the reserve troops.”

On his orders, a squadron of fifty soldiers was sent forth to intercept.

“…They are far less skilled. Little more than civilian soldiers.”

The commander watched the battle begin to unfold in the north with a longscope. Losing interest, he returned his attention to the primary battle.

But just as he lowered the longscope, there was loud shouting from the northern battlefield.

“Your Excellency! Look!”

At the vice-commander’s prompting, the commander looked back to the north with the longscope.

There, several warriors in unsightly evil-looking armor designed after dragons and demons were laying waste to the royal army’s soldiers. They must be using “Body Strengthening,” as they took out multiple men with each sweep of their enormous broadswords.

“Did those mercenaries bring some famous knights or something?”

“They’re probably fallen explorers, no doubt. But unluckily for them, our force has Sir Mavats and five other knights who will surely make short work of them.”

As soon as their intercepting force’s knights stepped up to take on the men in strange armor, the tides of the battle quickly turned.

“Sir Mavats received a Champion’s Sword from His Majesty himself, after all. His strength is…”

The vice-commander trailed off abruptly.

Even when Sir Mavats and the other Champion’s Sword–wielding knights sliced off the armored enemies’ arms or destroyed their swords, they continued fighting ceaselessly.

Caught off guard, the knights began to fall to the evil-armored figures.

“What in the world are they?”

“Corpse potion users, perhaps…?”

“A corpse potion would not grant such power. Don’t tell me—do they have Demonic Hearts?!”

The commander recalled the forbidden weapons carried by the attackers in the attempted assassination of Duke Vistall.

“Urgent report, sir! More reinforcements from the northwestern hills! They appear to have tamed monsters with them.”

Worse yet, there were at least a dozen more of the evil-armored warriors with those reinforcements.

“They must be using those screws…”

“This is problematic.”

“Yes, we could be in a bit of trouble here. I am sure we can win, but we will lose more allies than I would like.”

After a moment’s hesitation, the commander quickly made a decision.

“We must not let too many men fall here. We retreat.”

The advance party began to withdraw at once—but it was too late.

Rebel knights on tamed naga mounts lay in wait to block their escape. They were twenty in number.

“Caught between the devil and the dragon, eh…? We’ll just have to smash our way out! Knights, to the front lines! Archers, support the knights’ advance with your arrows!”

Resigning himself to losing some of his forces, the commander sent his most powerful soldiers, the knights, to do battle with the formidable nagas.

The rebel knights used the fact that their mounts could fly to make their retreat even more difficult.

At this rate, the evil-armored fighters and the rest of the rebel army would catch up to them at the rear.

The commander’s stomach twisted in the face of a seemingly impossible predicament.

Just then, a savior arrived.

“Hi-ya-ha-haaaaaaaa!”

A scythe flashed through the air with an arc of red light, slicing one of the naga riders in two, along with his steed.

A warrior in white armor began cutting down the nagas and knights alike with a vicious grin.

“The Shiga Eight…”

“A woman with a scythe—there’s no doubt about it! That must be Lady Ryuona, the Grass Cutter!”

The vice-commander cried out with joy as he pointed at the unexpected backup.

“Follow Lady Ryuona’s lead!”

“It is I, the Windblade, that I am!”

More warriors arrived, helping Ryuona take down the nagas and rebel army knights.

Each of them alone was strong enough to overshadow even the efforts of Sir Mavats, himself a Champion’s Sword wielder. One knight with red armor and an Ice Sword stood out especially, as did a swordsman with wind-imbued armor.

“Oh-ho, what’s this? Check out the sick armor on those guys!”

Having laid waste to the naga squadron, Ryuona set her sights on the evil-armored warriors who were snapping at the heels of the retreating advance party. They’d already slaughtered most of the rearguard soldiers and the knights who came running to stop them, but now they drew back as if in alarm when they saw the look in Ryuona’s eyes.

“Let’s gooooooo!”

Ryuona began sprinting toward the evil-armored warriors at full tilt.

“Lady Ryuona! Those things are invincible! Be careful!”

“Got it! …‘Death Guillotine’!”

With a swoop of red light, her scythe chopped one of the warriors in half, hideous armor and all.

“Pshh, they’re nothing special. Guys! Don’t let these losers intimidate you!”

“Yes, ma’am!”

The Shiga Eight Swordsmen candidates who accompanied Ryuona began to cut down the evil-armored warriors, ice and wind flashing from their magic blades.

“I-incredible…”

“No wonder the Shiga Eight are the protectors of the kingdom…”

The seemingly invincible evil-armored warriors fell like any average soldier in the face of the overwhelming power of the Shiga Eight and potential candidates.

“…Back up Lady Ryuona and her men! We’ll take care of the lesser soldiers! Make sure you don’t hit any allies with stray arrows!”

On the commander’s orders, the advance party rallied back into formation.

Right as they collided head-on with the rebel army, Holy Knights on warhorses arrived on the battlefield, and the tide turned completely in their favor.

“It appears that victory in the first battle will go to the royal army after all.”

“Indeed. It seems the rebel army commander has chosen to retreat, too.”

A man at the rear of the rebel army who appeared to be the commander blew on a large flute to signal the retreat.

“It doesn’t look like Lady Ryuona intends to let them get away that easily, though.”

Having defeated the last of the evil-armored warriors, Ryuona was charging toward the rebel knights.

GYAOOOOOOOSZ.

A howl echoed from the northeastern hills.

“An enemy ambush?”

“It might be whatever destroyed the first anti-rebellion squadron.”

Ryuona and her company abandoned their attack on the rebel army knights and vanished toward the hills.

GYAOOOOOOOSZ.

The monster’s howl echoed, and the red flash of Ryuona’s special attack blazed from beyond the hills.

“As long as we have Lady Ryuona on our side, we need not fear, even if the rebel army has a hydra on theirs.”

The commander seemed to be reassuring himself as much as his vice-commander.

GYAOOOOOOOSZ.

There was a burst of flame beyond the hills, and Ryuona and her men were sent flying back in a cloud of black smoke.

“L-Lady Ryuona?!”

The vice-commander exclaimed in fear.

Covered in burn marks, Ryuona nevertheless stood up immediately. She and her company readied their weapons again as they looked up at the hills.

“Wh-what is one of those doing here…?”

The vice-commander’s voice trembled as the monster emerged from the hills.

With a reptilian face and bat-like wings, it was none other than…

“…a dragon.”

There were rumors, of course.

But almost no one believed them at face value.

After all, dragons almost never showed themselves to any but the strongest combatants.

“So, it’s true…”

Technically, it was a lesser dragon, though this was cold comfort to them.

They were all far too intimidated to make note of the fact that the dragon seemed to be wearing a droll hat, nor of the gaudily dressed man it carried in one hand.

“All forces, retreat! Run for your lives!”

While the vice-commander shook with fear, the commander put the safety of his soldiers first and called out the order.

GYAOOOOOOOSZ.

Behind them, the dragon spread its wings, and flames licked out of its jaws like a tongue.

“Those flames… Look out! It’s going to use its ‘Dragon Breath’!”

Fire spilled out of the dragon’s mouth, closing in on the commander as he rode away on his horse as fast as it could gallop.

“Miseyna, I might not get to meet your child after all…”

As hot air crackled around him, the commander’s wife and daughter flashed through his mind’s eye.

“Hi-yaaaaa! Inverted… ‘Death Guillotine’!”

Ryuona’s voice rang out, and the flames closing in on the commander’s back were scattered into the sky.

Her special attack had knocked the dragon’s chin upward while it was breathing fire.

“Hope you don’t mind if I buy you some time.”

“Allow me to aid you.”

“And I, that I shall.”

The Scarlet Nobleman Jelil, complete with his Ice Sword and red armor, stepped up to Ryuona’s side, as did Bauen, the Windblade, with his wind-imbued Magic Katana.

The dragon spread its wings and glared down at them menacingly, but then the flashily clad man it held in one hand shouted something, and the dragon took off into the air with an astounding jump and vanished on the wind beyond the hills.

The rebel army was already gone from the battlefield, which was dotted only with countless corpses.

“So, we escape with our lives…”

“Yes, thanks to Lady Ryuona and company.”

“Still…a dragon, cooperating with the rebel army? And it seemed to have some kind of trainer, too…”

It looked to the commander like the gaudily dressed man was some kind of tamer, who commanded the dragon to help the rebel army retreat before having it fly away.

But could such a thing be possible? It seemed to go against all common sense.

“That judgment is far beyond my pay grade. I will report to the general and Duke Vistall and let them handle the rest.”

Giving up on contemplating a seemingly impossible scenario, the commander decided to focus on his own duty.

“Officers, take command of your troops! Gather any survivors. We’re regrouping with the main force!”

As he called out the order, the commander thanked his lucky stars that their lives had been spared.

Sacrificial Labyrinth

“Security is strict, I declare.”

“The labyrinth is a sort of military training area for Yowork Kingdom, I suppose.”

Nana and Liza gazed at the multitude of walls and trenches in front of the labyrinth, all bustling with soldiers.

“Master, how are we going to get in?”

“By force?”

“I wouldn’t do anything that violent.”

I didn’t really want to make that kind of move, even if it would admittedly be the easiest way in.

“I’ll sneak in on my own and then come get all of you.”

“Tama toooo?”

“Ooh, it’s Tama the Ninja’s time to shine!”

If I was going to take anyone along, Tama made sense: She was the team’s scout and had a lot of stealth-related skills that should prevent her from being detected.

Pochi wanted to come along, too. Luckily, Arisa talked her into staying behind by telling her that a samurai is supposed to stand in the back with their sword at the ready.

“All right, put this on and let’s go.”

“Nin-nin.”

I handed a transparency cloak to Tama, who had changed into a pink ninja costume, and put one on myself. (The cloak, not the pink ninja costume.)

“From here on out, we’ll use hand signals to communicate, okay?”

“Aye!”

We left the others behind and raced from shadow to shadow.

Eventually, we reached an area where there was no cover to hide us from the guards.

“Let’s activate the transparency cloaks. You lead the way now, Tama. I’ll be right behind you, don’t worry.”

“Aye.”

We both charged our transparency cloaks with magic power, and its optical camouflage kept us hidden as we crept between the guards without a sound. Since I was still able to see people who were otherwise invisible, I followed Tama easily.

I’d been worried about whether one of the guards might have “Magic Detection” or some such skill, but since the Magic Furnace in front of the labyrinth was in full operation, it would probably prevent the minor magic of the transparency cloaks from being detected.

Still, I found it strange that the Magic Cannons, Fire Rods, and other weapons positioned near the labyrinth entrance were pointed away from it.

They must be more concerned about attackers from the outside than monsters escaping from within.

…Whoops.

While I was distracted, Tama had reached the entrance and was waiting for my signal. I quickly slipped through to her side.

There was a large iron door set in front of the labyrinth entrance that seemed to be kept closed when not in use.

We waited for some soldiers to pass through, and I picked up Tama and used “Skyrunning” to pass above their heads and into the labyrinth.

The place smelled musty inside, more like the ruins underneath the old capital than the labyrinth of Celivera.

We avoided the torch-lit hallways and found an area with no one around before we took off our transparency cloaks.

“Good work. We made it inside.”

“Mission compleeete!”

Tama spun around happily.

Once her celebratory dance was done, I used “Search Entire Map” to get information about the labyrinth.

Hmm?

In my documents, this labyrinth was called the “Goblin Labyrinth”; on the map, however, its name was “Sacrificial Labyrinth.” Maybe the name changed when they sacrificed the royal family of Kuvork Kingdom to revive the labyrinth.

I skimmed the rest of the information.

While it didn’t reveal the location of the Dungeon Core or dungeonmaster, there were pathways and doors on the Middle and Lower strata that seemed to lead to separate maps. They must be hidden in one of those empty map areas, no doubt.

Ideally, the separate map in the Middle Stratum would be the hideout of the imperial mage Orchidee Matossh, the Geist user who was my original goal in coming here…

“Let’s goooo?”

“Right. We should bring everyone else in here.”

I put down a seal slate and used Return to get back to everyone else, then made a round trip back inside the labyrinth.

“Now, our destinations are on floors twenty and twenty-four of the Middle Stratum, and floor fifty of the Lower Stratum.”

“Floors? So this is one of those classic, big multi-level dungeons?”

I nodded at Arisa.

The labyrinths in Seiryuu City and Celivera weren’t big multi-level dungeons, so “classic” didn’t necessarily apply in this world. I guess you could say the ruins under the old capital were sort of like a multi-level dungeon?

“I believe the imperial mage Orchidee is hiding in one of those two areas in the Middle Stratum. Our main goal is to capture him and get him to free Arisa and Lulu from the Geist.”

My backup plan was to get Orchidee put under a Geist and acquire the skill so I could do it myself, although I didn’t mention this part, since I didn’t want to worry everyone.

“Our other goal is to attack the dungeonmaster in the Lower Stratum and destroy the Dungeon Core to free the souls of Arisa’s and Lulu’s family members.”

That should be a lot simpler, since it was just breaking things.

“Most of the enemies in this dungeon are bipedal: demi-goblins, demi-orcs, demi-ogres, and so on. They all have stronger variations like demi-goblin assassins, so don’t let your guards down.”

There were also creatures like slimes, rats, and even chimeras.

“There are Yowork Kingdom soldiers training against monsters in here, too. We’ll avoid them as much as possible, but there are a few places on the route where we won’t have a choice. Just remember that we’ll have to stay hidden and sneak past them when that happens.”

My companions all nodded, looking determined.

“Let’s go, then. Pochi and I will take the lead. Nana and Lulu will protect Mia and Arisa in the middle, and Liza and Tama will bring up the rear.”

Since the passages were narrow, I chose a modified double-file formation.

As soon as we started down the path, we immediately started running into demi-goblins.

GGWOOOOOZB.

“Too slow! Sir.”

Pochi ducked under a left hook thrown by a demi-goblin grappler and slashed up its vulnerable torso.

GGWOOOOOZB.

GGWOOOOOZB.

This time, a demi-goblin swordsman and a demi-goblin thief leaped at her.

“Hi-yaaa, sir!”

Pochi’s kick sent the thief flying into the path of the swordsman’s attack, shielding her.

When her foot hit the ground, she launched herself forward and slashed both attackers in two with her “Spellblade”-infused Magic Sword.

“Mr. Demi-guys aren’t enough of a challenge, sir.”

“Pochi, pride cometh before a fall,” Liza warned.

“Yes, sir. Pochi is always wombat ready, sir.”

I think she meant to say “combat ready.”

“Next sounds flabbyyy?”

“Flabby? Must be orcs, then.”

“Mr. Hate pig snouts.”

“Yes, Mia. Demi-orc eyes are also very unpleasant, I declare.”

A group of demi-orcs came running from the darkness.

Unlike the fairy race of orcs that I met in the underground of the old and royal capitals, these demi-orcs looked exactly like the piglike race you might see in an old computer RPG.

“Quick attack! Grilled pork jutsu!”

Mia’s Flamethrower spell burned all the demi-orcs to a crisp.

Of course, there was no grilled pork jutsu. Arisa was probably being silly, as usual.

“Fireball jutsuuu?”

Tama used a flame-based ninja technique to toast a demi-goblin assassin that had crept up on us from behind. In her case, it was a ninjutsu using fire stone powder, not magic.

“There are a lot of goblins and orcs, aren’t there?”

“Yes, Lulu. Wherever there is one, thirty more are sure to follow, I declare.”

Lulu used her dual-wielded guns to shoot down demi-goblins and demi-orcs even as she spoke.

Nana followed up with a “Shield Bash” to take out any that escaped Lulu’s sniping.

“Satou.”

A small sylph floated next to Mia.

“Soldiers.”

She pointed at one of the hallways.

Apparently, she was using a sylph split into many smaller spirits to investigate the hallways, since the others had the fighting under control.

Unfortunately, the path with the soldiers was one we needed to use to get to the lower levels. Once the battle was over, I took everyone to get a closer look from a safe distance.

“There they are.”

In a large cavern, the Yowork soldiers were fighting some monsters, specifically a group of demi-orcs around level 15.

Shieldsmen in tattered armor were taking their blows head-on, while the soldiers in back with proper armor used their spears to attack the demi-orcs.

“Stay where you are, meat shield squad!”

One of the spearsmen shouted at a shieldsman who had flinched back under the demi-orcs’ powerful onslaught.

What a terrible name for a squad.

“I said stay put!”

When the shieldsman still fell back, the spearsman kicked him forward.

“Gya-ha-ha, that idiot just took a punch right to the skull.”

“Think he’s dead?”

“Nah, he looks alive. Those Kuvork scum are tough.”

“Quit yammering, idiots!”

The spearsmen were jeering at the shieldsmen’s plight.

Evidently, there was a strict hierarchy within the troops.

“Wait…”

Hearing Arisa whisper, I turned around.

“…That’s the Kuvork Kingdom crest.”

The shield-toting “meat shield squad” turned out to be slave soldiers from the fallen Kuvork Kingdom, while the spearsmen behind them were regular members of the Yowork army.

“That oughtta do it… Magic squad, finish them off!”

The mages finished their chants, and a volley of spells like Fire Ball and Toss Stone hit the demi-goblins.

The largest majority seemed to be Fire and Flame Magic users, followed by Earth Magic users. There were only a few Wind Magic and Water Magic users, and no users at all of Ice, Lightning, Light, or Dark.

“How cruel…”

The spells had engulfed the shieldsmen as well as the demi-orcs; the mages must need more practice. Fortunately, no one was killed, but many of them had burns or broken bones.

“Hey, did you guys do that on purpose?”

“Those mages are even meaner than us, heh.”

The spearsmen pointed and laughed at the shieldsmen as they rolled on the ground to put out the flames.

This was horrible treatment, even if they were slaves from a former enemy kingdom.

“Master, a large bipedal monster I’ve never seen before is approaching, I report.”

“It doesn’t seem to be a little giant. It has horns and a hideous appearance, like a demi-goblin made much larger.”

I followed Nana’s and Liza’s gaze.

“That’s a demi-ogre.”

It was level 30 and loomed at over ten feet tall, with an enormous club in hand.

LUOOORGAAAA.

The demi-ogre’s hoarse roar echoed in the cavern.

“Captain! It’s an ogre, sir!”

“An ogre all the way up here?”

“But why? They live at least another five floors down.”

“Maybe the sounds of our spells attracted it?”

“Calm down! We’ll retreat starting with the first squad. Scouts, throw smoke bombs! Shieldsmen, take the rear! If the ogre catches up to us, fight it to buy time. That’s an <Order>!”

The Yowork Kingdom soldiers began to flee, leaving the wounded slave soldiers to die defending them.

“Master, please. We have to save those people.”

Lulu looked at me with tears in her eyes.

Arisa, who was hanging her head, looked up at the sound of Lulu’s voice. Her face was deathly pale.

“Don’t worry. I’ve got this.”

I patted Lulu and Arisa and gave them a reassuring nod.

“Master, what are we going to do?”

Arisa looked panicked, probably because the shieldsmen were moments from getting attacked if we didn’t intervene.

While most of the Yowork soldiers had escaped from the smoke-filled cavern, there were still enough of them left to see us if we showed ourselves.

“Simple. We’ll do this.”

LUOOORGAAAA.

I used my “Ventriloquism” skill to imitate the roar of the demi-ogre, and produced the image of a group of ogres with the Light Magic spell Illusion.

Luckily, the Illusion spell startled the demi-ogre into stopping in its tracks, looking this way in confusion.

“Pochi will help, too, sir.”

“Tama toooo?”

I handed some oversize hammers to Tama and Pochi to create vibrations in time with the fake footsteps. Who would have thought some weapons I made just for kicks would come in handy like this?

“More ogres! At least a dozen of them!”

“Run for itttt! They’ll eat us alive!”

As soon as they saw the illusion, the Yowork soldiers abandoned their orderly retreat and started stampeding away.

“Shieldsmen! Defend this place down to the last man, dammit!”

Bellowing another heartless order, the commander vanished down the hallway.

I produced a few large boulders from Storage and used my always-activated Practical Magic spell Magic Hand to throw them down the hall, blocking the passage where the soldiers had fled. Now they were successfully separated.

“Dammit! The ogres threw rocks to block our escape!”

“Not like we could’ve run away, thanks to that damned captain’s orders anyway.”

“Yeah…if I’ve gotta die, I wish I coulda died fighting for my family and kingdom instead of getting eaten by ogres, ya know?”

The slave soldiers from the former Kuvork Kingdom seemed resigned to their fate.

I decided to draw the demi-ogre’s attention before they started a suicide attack.

LUOOOORGAAAAA.

I used my “Ventriloquism” again to imitate the demi-ogre, this time adding the “Taunt” skill to the mix.

“Arisa, use Fire Magic to make a show of defeating the demi-ogre, please.”

“I’m on it! …‘Flame Pillar’!”

A column of fire shot up under the demi-ogre’s feet.

It started to flee, so I used my new Iron Toss spell to make an instant cage around it.

“One of the ogres is using magic!”

“Friendly fire?”

“Let’s run while we—gaaaah!”

One of the slave soldiers tried to tell the others to flee, only to fall to the ground.

The enslavement collar around his neck must have tightened because he tried to disobey an order.

Shoot.

“I’m going to knock them out. Evacuate them without the soldiers back there noticing, okay?”

I put an ogre-like Illusion spell over myself and charged right into the middle of the slave soldiers with “Warp.”

“A smaller ogre!”

“Dammit, it’s too fast!”

I knocked out the slaves one after another with my “Abduction” skill.

Tama and Pochi, making a zipped-lips gesture, put unconscious slaves onto stretchers and carried them out. Nana and Pochi carried one under each arm, and even the delicate Lulu carried one out on her back.

Once they were out of harm’s way, Arisa performed triage, identifying the most severely wounded for Mia to use her Healing Magic on.

They should be able to take care of the wounded from here.

One of the soldiers tried to peer in from beyond the blocked passage, so I hit the ceiling of the passage with the Fire Magic spell Chain Fire Shot. On the other side, soldiers yelled and commanders gave orders in alarm.

The spell sealed off the top of the boulder, which should prevent any unwanted intrusions for a while.

I took over making fake battle sounds for the busy Tama and Pochi and used my “Ventriloquism” skill to try to act out the slave soldiers’ hopeless battle and ultimate demise against the demi-ogres.

“Don’t eat meee! Please don’t eat—gaaaAAAAH!”

LUOOOORGAAAA.

“That was my best friend, damn you! DIIIIIIIIIE!”

LUOOOORGAAAA.

“GAAAAAAAAH!”

My companions stared at me, their eyes wide. Maybe I overdid it with the acting a little bit.

…It made it a little embarrassing to act with them watching, though.

We changed the slave soldiers into clean clothes, ripped up their bloodied armor and clothing with the dead demi-goblin’s tusks and claws, and scattered them around the room. Since there were tons of orc corpses in the room, I destroyed them with Wind Magic and sent bones and flesh flying everywhere.

That should be good enough to fake the soldiers’ deaths.

Thanks to the help of my “Forgery” and “Counterfeit” skills, it should be believable even if the Yowork soldiers bothered to investigate with the “Analyze” skill.

“…Who are you?”

“I’m Kuro, a retainer of Nanashi the Hero. His Highness Sir Eruus sent me to save you.”

Disguised as Kuro, I addressed the slave soldiers face-to-face when they awoke.

“A hero’s retainer!”

“Wh-where are we?”

The soldiers looked around.

We were in the City Core room in the great desert.

I’d used Unit Deployment to bring them here. Arisa had protested, worrying like always, but I managed to convince her by borrowing the soul shell garland artifact she wore to prevent her soul vessel from being damaged.

“A place where we can undo your slave contract.”

“R-really?! You’re gonna free us from slavery?!”

“That’s right. I’ll make you all honorary hereditary knights, then strip the title away.”

My explanation didn’t seem to be sufficient because the men and women just exchanged confused looks.

“Wh-what will that do, exactly?” one of them ventured.

“When you first receive a noble title, you’re automatically freed from a slave contract. With this method, we don’t need permission from your master in the Yowork army.”

They all happily agreed to this, so I gave each of them the title, broke their slave contracts, and took the title away, repeating the process for each one.

For some reason, I earned a few titles in the process. The latter was probably for “firing” them from the honorary rank.

Once they were freed from slavery, I grabbed them with Magic Hand and moved them to a location near Kageus City with Unit Deployment.

“Sir Eruus is in that city. You’re on your own from here.”

With that, I gave them enough money to enter the city and a letter to explain things to Eruus.

Since they might look suspicious showing up in only civilian clothes, I used Bonecraft to whip up some armor and weapons and gave them some bags with preserved foods from my excessive stock. I made sure the equipment was no better than that of an average soldier’s, so hopefully it would be fine.

“I’m back. I brought them to the city and sent them Eruus’s way.”

“Thank you, Master.”

“Master, thank you so much.”

Arisa and Lulu came running over with worried expressions when I returned, so I told them what had happened with the slave soldiers.

“Master, we faked the ogres’ retreat, I report.”

“Thanks. It looks great.”

“Mm. Perfect.”

Mia puffed up her chest proudly.

I’d asked the rest of the group to make it look like the ogres left, and they did even better than I expected. The footprints and battle damage looked incredibly realistic.

“Mia used her spirits to bring up some real ogres from the lower floors.”

Oh, so they brought in the real thing… No wonder it looked so convincing.

“Master, shall I retrieve the iron spikes impaling the ogre corpse? I inquire.”

Nana was probably referring to the cone-shaped iron spears that my Toss Iron spell produced from the floor.

“My magic mostly melted them… Wait, it’s just coating?”

On closer inspection, the iron was only plating, with a stone interior.

I guess the Toss Iron spell collects iron sand from the ground and creates stalagmites coated with iron to increase their piercing power.

Although we probably wouldn’t get much metal, it was rare for Nana to offer a suggestion like this. I used my refining spells Melt Metal and Extract Metal to collect the iron.

As she watched this process, Pochi’s stomach growled.

“Well, we can’t exactly eat lunch here. Let’s head a little farther down and take a break.”

I popped pieces of jerky into Pochi’s and Tama’s mouths as I spoke.

Then I returned the soul shell garland to Arisa, and we went five floors down and had some lunch. I made the meal a little meat-heavy since the beastfolk girls seemed disappointed that there wasn’t any prey to get meat from in this dungeon.

Once we’d raised our spirits with a meal, we headed deeper into the labyrinth and dealt with an increasing amount of demi-ogres, aiming for the empty map areas of the Middle Stratum.

“Master, that demi-ogre has a gun for an arm, I report.”

“There are demi-orcs with extra eyes and demi-goblins with multiple heads not far from here, too.”

When we reached the first of our Middle Stratum destinations, Nana and Liza spotted some strange monsters.

“Chimeras.”

“Maybe Orchidee modified them?”

“I almost feel bad for the poor creatures.”

Evidently, they were breeding and mutating monsters to increase Yowork Kingdom’s military might.

I thought a chimera might have its creator’s name in the AR display, but I couldn’t find any such thing in the information column.

“Found a gaaate?”

Tama returned from scouting the blank area.

We followed her to the gate.

“Rusty.”

“It has not been well cared for, I complain.”

Just as Mia and Nana said, the gate that separated the blank area from the rest of the labyrinth was made of rusty iron.

“No traaaps?”

Both Tama and my “Trap Detection” skill found it free of any traces of traps.

“Want to try picking the lock, Tama?”

“Aye.”

Tama fiddled with her tool kit until the lock opened with a clink.

“Got iiit.”

“Nicely done, Tama.”

“Nyeh-heh-heh.”

I praised Tama’s successful lockpicking effort.

Just to be safe, I changed into my Kuro disguise to keep my identity secret and had the rest of the group put on full-face gold armor.

The other map seemed to start from the corridor on the other side of the gate. I used the Search Entire Map spell and found one mage, dozens of sleeping chimeras, and ten golems and living dolls that served the mage.

“How’s it look, Master?”

“There’s a mage, but not the Geist user we’re looking for.”

The bigger problem was the chimeras—specifically, the test subjects used to make them.

“Emergencyyyy?”

“Hi-ya, sir!”

“Master, enemy attack, I report.”

I closed the menu screen in my AR display.

Up ahead, the vanguard team stood over the remains of a battle golem with a sword and shield for hands.

“Master! Come quickly, please!”

Liza called me from farther down the hall.

“What…in the world…?”

“Mrr…”

The room was lined with over a dozen cylindrical tubes like the one used for modifying homunculi like Nana; each of them contained a chimera in progress, suspended in orange liquid.

“They’re combining humans and monsters…”

Lulu trailed off in shock.

“Don’t look at that,” I murmured, pulling her close.

Liza covered Pochi’s and Tama’s eyes, while Nana covered Mia’s, turning away.

“They used Kuvork Kingdom knights as test subjects.”

Tears streamed down Arisa’s face as she bit her lip.

“Wh-who the hell are you people? Gaaaaah!”

A robed mage emerged from the back of the room.

My AR display showed his name as “Bedgar,” a different imperial mage from the one we were seeking.

“You’re here to steal muh-muh-my research, aren’t yoooou?!”

“Feel my fury! ‘First Blaaaast’!”

While Bedgar spoke in a strange manner, Arisa struck him with a chantless Space Magic spell.

“Bgyaaaaah!”

His face crumpling, he tumbled back with blood spewing from his nose.

She must have used her new nonlethal knockout spell that focused air into a compressed blast.

Even at the height of anger, Arisa could still control herself enough to not kill anyone.

I assume that shouting a silly attack name even in an emotionally charged moment like this was her way of letting off steam.

“Gaaaah! You punched muh-muh-meeeeeee!”

“I don’t care if not even your father hit you! ‘Punishing Second Buuuuurst’!”

As Bedgar clutched his nose and fell back, Arisa piled on more chantless attacks.

“And the finishing blow, ‘Third Impac’—!”

“Arisa, that’s enough.”

I stopped Arisa’s magic before she could accidentally kill him.

“P-pleef donf kill me!”

Evidently broken by the storm of shock wave attacks, Bedgar begged for his life as blood ran from his broken nose and drooping face.

“We won’t be able to understand him like this…”

I used Healing Magic only on the area of his mouth, sprinkling some bitter liquid from an old failed experiment over him as a distraction.

“Can you talk?”

“DUH-DIIIIIIIIE!”

Without answering my question, Bedgar pulled out a hidden wand from his sleeve and aimed it at Arisa. It seemed to be a small, pistol-like Fire Rod.

But before it could shoot fire, the rod was blown to bits, along with the hand that held it. Lulu had beaten him to the draw.

“GAAAAAAH! Muh-muh-my haaaaaand!”

“If you resist, your life is forfeit.”

I hit Bedgar hard with my “Intimidation” skill, just barely restraining it enough to keep him from fainting.

“Eeeeeek! Sp-spare meeeeee!”

The man trembled, turning even paler.

“Answer my questions, then.”

“Gaaah… I-if I answer yuh-your questions, yuh-you’ll spare meeee?”

“If you answer honestly, I swear my friends and I won’t kill you.”

“A-all riiiight. Puh-puh-pleez, ask me whatever yuh-you waaaant!”

Several kinds of fluids dripped from Bedgar’s face as he nodded rapidly.

“First question. Can you turn these chimeras back into humans?”

“Gaaaah, of course nottt. Just like you can’t turn berry jam buh-back into berries…”

Bedgar answered through tearful cackles.

“Even with an elixir?”

“That might work on some average chimeraaa, but not on muh-muh-my perfect chimeraaa! They’re made with fusion devices produced with elf technologyyyy.”

Elf technology…?

I checked the glass cylinders and found that the creator’s name was “Touya.”

That wasn’t a proper elf name. If anything, it was most likely a reincarnation that made the equipment.

I wrote the name in my list of notable persons so I wouldn’t forget.

“So you’re saying there’s no way to turn them back?”

“Not by muh-muh-meeee. The fuh-freaks in the ‘Sage’s Tower’ or the taboo arts of the Weaselman Empire might be able to do it, thooough…”

He might just be blowing hot air, but I wrote down the information anyway, since Arisa had gone to the trouble of getting it out of him.

“Next question. Why did you make them into chimeras?”

“O-only under His Majesty the King’s orders, sirrrrr. I was instructed to use duh-dragon components to make an unbeatable army of powerful dragonkin, to rebuild the Great Eldohk Kingdom, gaaaaah!”

So this was the king’s doing…

“What kind of dragon components?”

“We got a little bit of duh-dragon blooood, so I used it for fusions with demi-dragons like hydra and naga. Muh-my techniques are the greatest in all the laaaand!”

So they used dragon blood and demi-dragon parts.

That explained why the chimera test subjects had reptilian features.

“…So how were you planning on controlling these powerful dragonkin, anyway?”

This time, Arisa asked a question. Bedgar’s face twisted madly.

“The needles, heh-heh. We control them with the ‘Doom Needles’ I stuck in their buh-braaains. No one can withstand pain directly in the brain, not even spiiiies who have trained to resist torture, or those damned noble-minded kniiights, gaaah!”

That sounded more like science fiction than fantasy. Maybe this technology came from the same reincarnation who might’ve provided the chimera fusion device.

I searched my map and found that there were “Doom Needles” in the chimera victims’ brains and in a vault in the lab. Luckily, I was able to put them directly into Storage with Magic Hand.

“And if you still couldn’t control them?”

“We’d use the black magic bombs I put in their hearts to blow them to smithereeeens!”

Bedgar cackled triumphantly.

“Don’t you dare laugh…! ‘Final Rainbow of Raaaage’!”

Arisa used another Space Magic attack to send him flying.

The shock wave hit his chin like an uppercut, knocking him through the air in a perfect arc, like a rainbow. It was as perfectly executed as a finishing blow from a boxing manga.

“Don’t worry, Arisa. I already took the needles and bombs out of them.”

“Thanks, Master.”

I hugged Arisa close and whispered in her ear.

Then I used my Magic Hand to catch Bedgar in his clumsy attempt at an escape and dragged him back.

“Next question. Where is the imperial mage Orchidee Matossh?”

“O-Orchideeee? That wily senior bastard’s been around longer than muh-meee. He’s in the research lab four floors down, gaaah.”

Evidently, our target was to be found in the blank area on the twenty-fourth floor.

“One last question. What is Orchidee up to down there?”

“What is that traitor doing, yuh-you aaask?”

Bedgar glared at nothing, his face warped with anger at the mere thought of Orchidee.

“He said he was tired of the valuable research H-His Majesty assigned him, making chimera soldiers. So he shoved it off on muh-meeee, and went off to do research of his ooown…!”

“And what is he researching?”

“That fuh-fooool? He said something about finding a w-way to use his blasted ability without limits…but I don’t know the details, gaaah.”

So he was researching a way to cast Geists without any limitations…

If he succeeded, that would be a bit of a problem.

“I—I answered all your questions, gaaah! So you’ll let muh-muh-me live like you promised, yesss?”

“First, set the people you turned into chimeras free.”

“Whaaaaah? Set them fuh-freeeee?”

“Oh, you’d rather not?”

Arisa cowed Bedgar with a wave of threatening blasts.

“Gaaaah! I-I’ll free themmmm!”

Bedgar pressed a few buttons on the console, and the liquid drained from the cylinders, which opened from the top.

“That was a little too easy.”

Arisa eyed the man suspiciously.

“So it wasn’t just a bad dream…”

“Is he going to make us kill our compatriots from Kuvork Kingdom again?”

“He might even force us to fight each other this time.”

The knights who had been made into chimeras awoke at the bottoms of their tubes, muttering with bitterness and despair.

Their speech was garbled with guttural sounds that made it hard to understand, so I adjusted it in my mind.

“Y-y-you fooools! Your enemy this time is those kiiiids! Kill them all, gah-ha-haaaaa!”

Bedgar pointed at us as he shrieked.

“Now he wants us to kill children…?”

“Maybe we should just take him down with us…”

The chimera knights turned on Bedgar, who quickly produced a device with buttons and levers from his pocket and held it up. “C-can’t you see this, fooools?!”

“…Dammit. The needles…”

“If we kill him, the bombs in our hearts will take out those poor kids, too.”

“Please, run! We don’t want to kill you! Get out of here!”

One of the chimera knights gestured for us to run with a steely expression.

Clearly, they intended to wait for us to escape and then attack Bedgar, even if it meant they would all be killed.

Bedgar, who had been slowly backing away, dove into a separate room.

“Yuh-yuh-you fooools! Have you fuh-forgotten that there’s a fortress-level magic barrier heeeere?!”

As he spoke, a barrier sealed the exit.

“Dammit, that bastard!”

“He’s always been quick to get out of dodge.”

The chimera knights grimaced.

“Now, huh-hurryyyyy up and kill themmmm!”

“Run for it, dammit! We can’t defy his needles!”

“Not to worry!” Arisa addressed the anguished knights. “We’ve already removed all the needles and bombs that were tormenting you!”

“R-really?”

“What a s-stupid bluuuuff! Feel the judgment of the Doom Needles, gaaaaah-ha-ha!”

Bedgar pressed the button.

The chimera knights all braced themselves for an onslaught of agony. Of course, since I had already removed the needles, it never came.

“Yessssssss!”

“We’re freeeeee!”

Once they realized this, the chimera knights all shouted with joy.

“That’s right, you’re free. Free to do whatever you like… Let’s go, everyone.”

Arisa headed for the lab’s exit.

Behind us, the chimera knights destroyed the tubes and devices with their sharp claws and tails and began banging on the barrier that protected Bedgar.

Arisa turned back for just a moment; I followed her gaze and saw a large crack forming in the magic barrier.

She must have used her Space Magic to help give their revenge a little nudge.

Behind us, I heard the sound of the barrier breaking and the beginnings of Bedgar’s screams, so I cast the soundproofing Wind Magic spell on the door to the lab so that we wouldn’t hear anything that might cause nightmares.

“Master, are we really leaving those people there?”

“I’m sure it’ll take some time for them to calm down. We’ll take care of business first, then come back to get them later.”

I answered Liza’s concerned question on Arisa’s behalf.

My map search would make it easy to find them. Besides, based on the information in my AR display, the “chimera-fied” knights could handle even a demi-ogre without a problem.

“He’s not here…?”

Four floors later, we reached the research lab in the other blank space, only to discover that the mage we were pursuing was nowhere to be found.

There were chimera devices, like in the other lab, but this one only contained empty tubes, without a single soul in sight.

“Satou!”

“Master, we found a clue, I report!”

Mia and Nana called out from the other room.

“Mew!”

“They got the right room, sir!”

Tama and Pochi, who were helping me search the main lab, seemed envious.

We met up with Arisa and Lulu and went deeper inside.

“Research notes.”

“This is a journal, I insist.”

“Both.”

Mia and Nana gave me some files tied up in string.

I flipped through the pages, skimming their contents.

“Looks like there are research notes in between the journal entries. Orchidee’s signature is on the very last page.”

“What does it say?”

I picked out a passage about his research in this lab and read it for Arisa.

“The dragon’s blood that the yellow-robed mage gave me is truly a marvelous material. Just by using the magic devices that the hermit left behind, my chimeras have come far closer to completion. With the help of Lord Yellow Robes’s teachings, this time I swear I shall achieve my goal.”

Not the yellow-robed mage again… This person seemed to be up to no good all over the place, since someone by the same description was providing the plunderers in the Celivera Labyrinth with technology. I was starting to worry that there might be some kind of elder root in this place, too, like the one I made with the reincarnations in the labyrinth’s Lower Stratum.

“Very annoyed. The knights who deliver my supplies interrupted my work with pointless drivel yet again. As if I have any time to spare for more research on something as trivial as dragonkin…”

From the sound of things, Orchidee didn’t get along very well with the Yowork Kingdom people.

“My colleague was demoted and sent here. Though he has a few screws loose, he more than makes up for it with passion and skill in our field of research. I managed to pique his interest and get him to take over that stupid dragonkin research for me. I will continue with my own research in the new lab I made four floors down.”

So all of this so far was about the lab on the twentieth floor?

“It seems changing the test subjects to mages was the correct choice. Men are better suited than women, and young better than old.”

It also said that he’d claimed more than twenty victims in the process of his research thus far, though I didn’t read that part aloud.

“I’ve successfully used a mage subject to create a chimera.”

His notes said that he’d fused the dragon’s blood with a monster core in the subject’s heart.

At least ten more people had been killed in the process, too. What an inhumane approach.

“With these subjects, I can use my Geist anytime I wish.”

Wait…for real?

“I no longer have any reason to serve King Yowork. With the power that unsavory woman copied for me, I need not fear even gods nor the devil. This time, I shall acquire the ultimate power at last.”

That was the end of the file.

Power from an “unsavory woman,” huh…?

The woman called Myude, who was manipulating King Yowork with Psychic Magic, flitted across my mind.

If they combined forces with his Geist and her Psychic Magic, they could definitely cause some serious trouble.

I closed the file.

“Is that it? It didn’t say anything about where he went?”

“No, I reread the whole thing and didn’t find anything to hint at his whereabouts.”

A mage who can use Geist without limitations would be way too dangerous.

I had to shut him down as soon as possible.

“Do you mind if I take that? I’ll check for some kind of coded message.”

I handed the file to Arisa, and we headed toward our last destination: the bottom of the labyrinth.

“So the dungeonmaster is past this point?”

“That’s what it looks like.”

I nodded at Lulu.

We’d conquered the labyrinth with ease and made it to the Lower Stratum before sundown.

This was the last empty space on the map. If the dungeonmaster was anywhere, this would be the place.

“We made it here awfully easily, though.”

“It was not much of a challenge, I complain.”

“Mm.”

Nana and Mia agreed with Arisa.

We’d mostly fought different kinds of demi-ogres on the way here, along with other humanoid monsters, like the regenerating labyrinth demi-troll and the giant dungeon cyclops.

“No meeeat?”

“Mr. Goat wasn’t edible, either, sir.”

We also ran into a maze minotaur, which looked like the world’s biggest and ugliest faun. Since I was reluctant to eat anything that walked on two legs, we took the core and scrapped the rest.

“We can just hunt for meat outside of the labyrinth, remember.”

Liza’s comment seemed to reassure the pair.

Since Yowork Kingdom and the former Kuvork Kingdom were surrounded by monster territory on all sides, there were plenty of hunting grounds to choose from. The only safe zones were the narrow borders between nations, where the highways and checkpoints were built.

“Nin-nin.”

Our resident ninja Tama investigated the gate on the bottom floor.

“There’s a traaap?”

“Can you tell what kind?”

“Meeew…magiiic?”

Tama couldn’t tell what kind of magic the trap contained.

“Some sort of draining spell, maybe? Can either of you tell?”

“I can see through it with Practical Magic, but I can’t tell what the contraption does.”

“Mr. Spirit Eater.”

Arisa, Lulu, and Mia all offered their best guesses.

“So what’s the correct answer?” Arisa asked, peering up at me.

“Looks like it’s a forced teleporter. The draining device takes your magic and uses it to activate the teleporter. The spirit-eating is an ability of the monster that makes up the draining device, too.”

The “monster” was a simple creature embedded in the device, more like an amoeba.

“Well, I’d hate to accidentally get teleported inside a rock or something. Shall we take a shortcut?”

Arisa pointed at the wall next to the door.

She was probably suggesting that we make a hole in the wall to create a safe path.

I used “Skyrunning” to stand on the wall and aimed the Pitfall spell at it beneath my feet.

“Whew, that’s tough…”

There was so much resistance that it took five times more magic than usual to force it through.

Finally, I felt the Pitfall reach the other side.

“Looks like it worked. Wait here for a minute while I investigate.”

It was very possible that the dungeonmaster was one of the Yowork Kingdom people who revived the labyrinth, and the missing Orchidee might be hiding in there, too. I doubted Orchidee himself would turn out to be the dungeonmaster, but I transformed into my Nanashi the Hero disguise, just in case.

“Be careful! Don’t do anything reckless.”

“I know. Don’t worry.”

I entered the hole I’d made in the wall, leaving a worried Arisa and the others behind.

The end of the hole seemed to be the boundary of the separate map.

“I guess I should be grateful for the big welcome party?”

I blocked the oncoming bullets with Flexible Shield, and alit from the tunnel on the other side of the wall.

There were a dozen or so mages with matching yellow staves lying in wait beyond the wall, along with some gun-arm golems. I probably had my forceful entrance to thank for that.

The mages were wearing jet-black robes with long sleeves, the hoods hanging low to cover their faces.

“<Let the twilight dawn.>”

The mages spoke in unison, and yellow light glowed at the ends of their staves.

Were they casting some kind of buff?

“Intruder!”

At their center stood one mage with a fancier staff and robe.

“Obey me!”

The mages chorused again.

While their harmony was great and all, they didn’t seem like much for conversation.

The mage with the extravagant staff wasn’t the dungeonmaster, but he was the reason I came here in the first place: Orchidee.

“ Activate Kidou.”

An enormous magic circle appeared before them.

Uh-oh.

“ Synchronize Douchou.”

I hesitated for just a moment over whether to use the Practical Magic spell Break Magic on the magic circle or to knock out Orchidee at its center, then decided on the latter.

If I could just incapacitate their leader, the Support Magic circle for activating his Geist should be meaningless.

“ Invoke Hatsudou.”

The glow of the magic circle grew more intense, lighting me up from below as I sent Orchidee flying with a palm strike.

As the unconscious man thudded against the wall, his hood slipped off, and I saw a yellow crown fly off his bald head.

“”

Orchidee’s information appeared in my AR display.

Level 30. Occupation: None… Did he get fired for neglecting his official duties?

“”

Race: Homunculus.

Creator: …Orchidee Matossh?!

“”

Oh, this is bad.

They all had the same staff, the same clothes, similar frames—which was the real one?

I scanned their names in my AR display.

Every one of them was named “Orchidee Matossh.”

“Ge…”

Whatever, I’ll just take them all out!

No, that wouldn’t work. My only spell for knocking people out without killing them took a few precious milliseconds to invoke, and Smell Field was too hard to control with precision.

That’s it! The skill! If I find the one with the “Geist” skill—

I searched the room.

There!

“…ist.”

I used “Warp” to land in front of the man just as the “Geist” skill was activated.

I heard the last of the invocation leave his mouth with my “Keen Hearing” skill.

As I sent my fist flying toward his solar plexus, I saw the log in the corner of my vision.

At the same time, a pattern like a red spiderweb spread over my AR display, and my thoughts went muddy.

“Kneel, my servant.”

The bastard in black—no, the man in the jet-black robes—no, my almighty master.

“Yes, my lord.”

I obeyed my master’s command and sank to one knee.

All sorts of information appeared in my AR display next to him.

The red spiderweb in the corners of my vision was distracting, but it didn’t make the text unreadable by any means.

He had six titles: “Ruler,” “Dungeonmaster,” “Chimera Meister,” “Yowork Kingdom Imperial Mage,” “Traitor,” and “Kuvork Kingdom Imperial Mage.” His skills included “Geist,” “Contract,” “Name Order,” “Chant Interruption Resistance,” “Dark Magic,” “Ghost Magic,” and “Analyze,” among others.

My master’s staff was called a “Fake Xanthic Staff,” an artifact that allowed the wielder to use a previously charged active skill three times with only an invocation word.

The last one he had charged was “Never Give Up”—one of Arisa’s unique skills, oddly enough. Its effect meant that the user’s spell or attack would bypass all of the target’s resistance with a certain percentage of success, no matter how much more powerful they might be.

So strong is my master’s destiny to succeed that it bends luck in his favor.

“Your orders, if you please.”

I eagerly awaited my all-powerful lord’s command.

Requiem

“I cannot read your name. A recognition-inhibiting tool, eh? How irritating… Tell me your name. That is an order.”

My great master Lord Orchidee gave me my first order.

Though I did not know what features were hidden beneath the black hood, I knew someone so great as my master must have an equally handsome face.

Right now, obeying his order was much more important than worrying about the strange red spiderweb-like afterimages at the corners of my vision.

Before I spoke my name, I cast off the disguise I wore, including the recognition-inhibiting device that had troubled my lord.

“My name is Na…”

Halfway through, I remembered that this was a fake name and trailed off.

I had to change my name back to Satou in my social tab.

But for some reason, it was locked. Why couldn’t I change it?

“Hmph, so you are level 89, nearly on par with the great master. Impressive that you are still fighting against the Geist even when it contained that cursed witch’s power…”

I must have given my master the wrong idea because of my hesitation.

What an idiot—wait, no, I mean a wise and vigilant man.

Pushing away the disrespectful thought that arose in the back of my mind, I opened my mouth to correct the misunderstanding, only to realize that he was unfortunately still talking.

Rather than rudely interrupting him, I waited for him to finish talking.

“I order you yet again! Submit yourself to me, and tell me your name at once! Geist!”

He struck a melodramatic—I mean, majestic pose as he activated his skill.

My log showed that I had resisted it, but I decided to keep that to myself for the sake of my master’s honor.

At any rate, it should be all right for me to state my name now.

“My name is Sa—”

“Master!!”

The voices of Arisa and the other girls drowned out my introduction.

For some reason, the spiderweb-like patterns in the corners of my vision grew stronger.

“Your subordinates?”

“Yes, my lord.”

Answering his question was more important than finishing my introduction.

“It seems they have recognition-inhibiting tools, too. But I assume since they made it this far, they, too, are stronger than they appear?”

“You have a keen eye, my lord.”

“Oh-ho?”

“Just as you surmised, they are so skillful that they defeated a floormaster in the Celivera Labyrinth on their own.”

I boasted of my companions to my great lord.

“Satou…?”

“Wh-what’s going on, Master?”

“Arisa, I think something’s wrong with him.”

“Perhaps that man did something to him, I propose.”

For some reason, the girls looked concerned.