Sightseeing in the Royal Capital
“Satou here. Touring scenic locations and famous places is one of the joys of travel, but I think trying the local cuisine made with locally sourced ingredients is just as fun. And picking out souvenirs, of course.”
“Ooh, so this is our new house?”
Arisa jumped for joy as she looked up at the stylish mansion.
It was in a picturesque area near the border between the lower- and middle-class noble areas.
I had visited a few times as Akindoh, the fictional purveyor to the Pendragon family, but this was my first time coming here as Satou.
“Our home in Labyrinth City is wonderful, too, but this one really feels like a fancy noble’s mansion.”
Lulu’s timid, roundabout compliment was adorable.
“Yeah, it’s way nicer than the castle and villa from our old homeland.”
Arisa seemed to like it, too.
“Big yard.”
“There’s even a garden and a flower arch.”
A rainbow of flowers was blooming in the garden of the mansion, beautifully maintained by the gardener sent by the real estate agent. We probably would have to hire a full-time gardener to keep it up in the future.
“Mew…”
“We don’t get to help, sir.”
Pochi and Tama, who were excitedly holding their weeding tools, slumped in disappointment at the well-maintained gardens.
“Master, I wish to see the inside of the mansion, I declare.”
“Good idea. Let’s check out all the furnishings first.”
We proceeded past the circular driveway with space for carriages and went into the entrance hall.
“Whoever decked this place out has good taste.” Arisa seemed satisfied. “Everything’s so nice.”
The basic furniture was all chosen by the real estate agents, who had done a great job, since they were used to working for upper-class nobles. I had been a little worried whether the amount of money I had given them as a furniture budget would be enough.
“Let’s get a feel for the layout.”
The inside of the mansion was just as impeccably maintained as the outside, without a speck of dust to be found in any of the rooms.
“This seems like the room that gets the most sunlight on the second floor. Let’s make this our bedroom.”
“Mm. Agreed.”
The others all nodded, too; I took out the giant bed I had in Storage.
There were plenty of smaller bedrooms, enough that everyone could easily have their own room, but then they’d still wind up all sneaking into my bed one after another, so I decided not to bother pointing it out.
“A bed appeared, I report!” exclaimed Number 8—Huit.
“It’s the power of a wonderful ancient artifact,” I explained vaguely.
“That’s a pretty lame excuse.”
“You think so?”
Arisa looked exasperated, but Huit…
“Master is amazing, I praise.”
…seemed perfectly convinced.
“Wow, that actually worked…”
I pushed the reluctant Arisa out of the room and started putting furniture in everyone else’s rooms: clothing cases, mirrors, and other large objects. The girls had smaller things like accessory cases in their own Fairy Packs.
“Treasure cheest…?”
“Pochi likes the yellow one, sir.”
Tama and Pochi took out the treasure chests they used to hold their accessories in the corners of their room. Tama’s box was pink with cat ears on the lid, while Pochi’s was yellow with a cartoon meat-shaped mark on it.
The two chests were packed with a mix of things like acorns, pretty rocks, toy rings, and some weird things like unidentifiable string and dried-up dead things, as well as some money, jewels, and even Magic Items.
They’d originally kept these objects directly in their Fairy Packs, but after an incident when Pochi had scattered all her pebbles in a panic during battle, I gave them the treasure boxes for holding small items within their Fairy Packs.
Unlike with the “Item Box” skill or Storage, you couldn’t pick things out of a list of contents from the Fairy Pack.
“Master, thank you for giving us our own rooms as well.”
The eldest sister Adin thanked me earnestly.
“Of course. Do you have enough furniture?”
“Yes, sir! The other sisters are currently bringing all of it in from the warehouse and attic.”
“If it doesn’t turn out to be enough, you can grab things from the guest rooms in the separate building. And if you need help carrying things, don’t be afraid to ask me.”
“It’s all r—”
“Master, we are all right because we have ‘Body Strengthening,’ I declare.”
Huit interrupted Adin.
“Ah, there you are. Let’s go, Huit.”
Adin grabbed Huit by the scruff of the neck like a cat and dragged her away.
Since Nana and the beastfolk girls had finished setting up their rooms already, they went to help the sisters carry in furniture as well.
“Speaking of which, where’s Lulu?”
“Kitchen.”
Typical Lulu.
I went to the kitchen with Arisa and Mia in tow.
“Ah, there she is!” Arisa pointed at Lulu gleefully.
“Master!”
“Sir!”
Lulu and Tria, the homunculi sister who liked cooking, were in the kitchen.
“Do you like it?”
“Yes, it’s even easier to use than the one in Labyrinth City.”
“Tria too! Tria likes it very much! Tria has never seen a more wonderful kitchen, Tria announces!”
Tria looked excited.
Her expression didn’t change much, but she still adorably expressed her happiness by raising her hands and jumping up and down. It was innocently cute in a different way from Huit’s pesky cuteness.
“Is it really that different? It looks about the same to me, except maybe the size.”
“It’s completely different! Everything is so much more convenient!”
Arisa didn’t look too interested, but Lulu pressed the subject insistently. This side of Lulu was adorable, too.
I had taken out most of the cookware that came with the kitchen and replaced it with my own handmade cooking magic tools. This kitchen was bigger than the one in Labyrinth City, meaning it wound up with more sophisticated equipment.
On top of that, I had used an improvement from the Labyrinth City kitchen.
“The bath’s on the small side.”
“Master, I can’t find the device to charge the water supply tool with magic—”
“It’s this here.”
I turned the handle on the faucet, producing water.
“There’s a water supply?”
“Yes, the nobles’ quarters in the royal capital have running water.”
There were aqueducts when we stayed in Baron Muno’s mansion, but we’d been so busy the day before that I’d forgotten to explain it to everyone.
I would have to guide them through it while we explored the city later.
“Wow, there’s a lot of people.”
Once we finished checking out the mansion and setting up our furniture, we went out into the city to buy some necessities for Nana’s sisters, as well as to sightsee. The area nearest to our new home had a lot of wealthy people’s homes and shops.
Pochi and Tama wanted to invite Lady Karina, too, but she was busy getting reeducated in social behavior.
“There are so many ingredients!”
“Lulu, Tria is interested in these!”
The cooking duo seemed pleased.
At our first stop, we bought sakura salmon at a store that the gourmet-loving Marquis Lloyd and Count Hohen had recommended to us.
“Wow, they really are pink.”
“So byooti-ful…”
Tama, who loved pink, twirled around delightedly as she praised the sakura salmon.
Their eggs were the same color as the salmon roe I was familiar with.
“This roe came from fish that were caught just this morning. We have some in the back that have been aged or pickled, if you prefer.”
Perhaps because of the people who referred us here, a pretty lady who was the vice president of the store was guiding us around.
I decided to buy a large amount of the newly caught salmon sakura and fresh salmon roe, as well as a few kinds of the aged and pickled roe that the woman recommended. The store carried a small amount of trout, too, which I purchased as well.
Next, we stopped at a specialty shop the gourmet noble duo recommended and stocked up on some seasonings and spices. I was able to get cinnamon and several kinds of herbs, as well as replenish my dwindling supply of sake at a wholesale liquor store operated by the same company.
It was a bit too much to carry in our Magic Bags, so I had everything that didn’t need to be kept fresh delivered to the mansion instead.
“Let’s stock up on some vegetables and grains, too, shall we?”
Once we left that store, we turned our attention to the many outdoor stalls.
“Yes, sir! There are so many options, I don’t know where to begin.”
“Tria wants to see fruits.”
Lulu and Tria headed over to the fruit stalls.
There was an abundance of fruits and vegetables lined up in the stalls, like something out of a Southeast Asian market.
“Mushrooms.”
Mia tugged on my sleeve and pointed excitedly at a kiosk selling all kinds of mushrooms.
“Yeah, let’s buy a lot of them.”
“Mm.” Mia nodded happily.
Of course, the other girls were all peering at other stalls with great interest, too.
“There are so many kinds of pumpkins, I observe.”
“They have fresh wasabi and ginger, too. I would love to share some grilled meat topped with wasabi and fried food dipped in ginger and soy sauce with Nana’s sisters.”
“Meeew…meeeat…?”
“Pochi will be a good girl and stick to fruits for now, sir.”
As always, the beastfolk girls were most interested in meat.
“I guess the capital of a major kingdom gets all kinds of goods and…”
Arisa trailed off as she browsed a stall selling root vegetables.
“Turnips,” said Mia.
“Those are sweet snow turnips!”
“Wow, you know a lot for such a little lady.” The shopkeeper seemed impressed by Arisa’s knowledge, then shifted into a sales pitch. “If you buy some, I’ll give you a good deal.”
“How many should we buy?”
“I don’t really want any.” Arisa shook her head. “They’re not particularly tasty—in fact, they’re weirdly bitter and astringent.”
“Wow, you really do know your stuff.” The shopkeeper looked at Arisa, fascinated. “These vegetables are only really grown in the plateau of the Chuushin Mountains around these parts. Is that where you’re from, missy?”
“Nope. I’m from a small nation near the center of the continent.”
With that, Arisa resumed walking.
“A long time ago, when I was trying to start reforming the land, the first vegetables my best subordinate gave me were regular snow turnips and those sweet snow turnips.”
She looked a little distant, but before I could comfort her…
“But being a downer doesn’t suit the adorable Arisa! Let’s go buy some necessities!”
Arisa smacked her own cheeks, raised her fist, and charged forward.
“Wooo…”
“Hip-hip-hooray, sir!”
As Arisa deliberately put on a cheerful face, Tama and Pochi immediately joined in, and the three of them ran through the crowd toward the part of the market where everyday necessities were sold.
“Master! Hurry, hurry…”
I waved back in response and followed behind her with the rest of the group.
“Master, they sell stationery and art supplies in this area, I report.”
Nana called out from a little ways away, and Tama and Pochi zipped over to her immediately.
Tama inspected the art supplies with a serious expression, and Pochi picked out a quill and writing paper from the large variety.
“Are you writing a letter to Yuni?” I asked her.
“No, sir. Well, I am, but that’s not what it’s for, sir. Pochi’s going to write a novel, sir!”
“Tama’s going to illustrate iiit…?”
“Music.”
“And I’m in charge of supervision, editing, and proofreading.”
I understood how Tama and Arisa were helping, but Mia’s input was a bit of a mystery. Was she playing music while Pochi worked, to help her write or something?
“I’d like you to read it when it’s finished, sir.”
“Of course. I’ll be looking forward to it.”
“Aye-aye!”
“Leave it to me! I’ll teach Pochi the essence of Japanese entertainment and make this a real masterpiece!”
“Just don’t overdo it,” I warned the enthusiastic Arisa.
I had a feeling that she would end up wanting to make Pochi’s novel into an anime or something. Maybe I should make some magic tools for recording and lightboards and such.
“GWAAAAAH!”
I heard a male voice howling, and I turned to see Lulu pinning a man on the ground.
“This man is a pickpocket.”
It had certainly been a while since I’d last seen one: They were incredibly rare in Labyrinth City.
From the corner of my eye, I saw another sketchy-looking man creeping toward Nana’s sisters.
His hand was reaching toward the eldest sister Adin’s bottom.
I don’t think so.
I used “Warp” to teleport to Adin’s side, and I grabbed the man’s arm right before his hand touched anything.
“GAAAAH!”
The lecherous man wailed as I twisted his arm.
“Groping is a crime!”
“Mm, death penalty.”
Arisa and Mia must have seen it, too.
“Pickpockeeet…?”
“He was trying to grab her purse with the other hand, sir.”
Tama and Pochi had grabbed the would-be attacker’s other hand.
I see…so he was attempting two crimes at once.
“Liza, could you find a guard and flag them down?”
“Of course, sir.”
While Liza was off looking for help, we tied up the cursing men and handed them off once she returned with a guard.
“Master, I am terribly sorry. You entrusted me with this money, and I failed to properly protect it.”
“No need to worry about that. But it does seem like there are a lot of pickpockets here, so it might be best to split it between two purses.”
“Yes, master.”
Adin nodded meekly.
After that, whenever we spotted the likes of any purse-snatchers or luggage thieves, sergeants Tama and Pochi sprang into action, and we wound up cleaning up crime on the streets of the royal capital.
“Hey there, little lady, interested in having your love life read?”
A sketchy-looking fortune-teller called out to us from a shady shop between stalls.
Arisa looked the tiniest bit interested, but quickly responded, “No, I’m good,” and kept walking. She had probably noticed that the fortune-teller didn’t have any skills like “Divination” or “Foresight.”
“Young man, are your shoulders or head achy? We’ll fix you right up in our spiritual healing center.”
A pretty lady in a low-cut outfit wrapped her arm around mine and pressed against me.
I thought the claim of “healing” might be a front for more intimate services, but she actually did have relevant skills like “Magic Heal” and “First Aid.”
I had them, too, but she had a niche that was different from potions or magic.
“No thanks, I’m not really achy.”
“Is that right? Well, if you find yourself feeling under the weather, come by anytime…”
“Sure, thanks.”
Feeling slightly regretful, I kept walking past the stall.
“Honestly, you’re way too easily charmed by pretty ladies!”
“No cheating.”
Arisa and Mia grabbed me by either arm and dragged me away. Lulu and the beastfolk girls were close behind.
Nana and her sisters were gathered in an area up ahead, looking at something.
“Master, there is a bridge above the city, I report!”
Nana pointed at a bridge-like structure on an arch foundation.
“That’s an aqueduct.”
“So that’s what they look like.”
“Huh, it sorta looks like some ancient Roman stuff.”
Lulu and Arisa looked up in interest, too. The latter was probably referring to those famous ruins in southern France.
“What is an aqueduct? I inquire.”
“An aqueduct is like a bridge that carries drinking water from the source to people’s homes.”
The source of fresh water in the royal capital was in the royal castle; there were six aqueducts that stretched from the castle to the city walls in straight lines. In the wealthiest neighborhoods, there were a few places with ring-shaped aqueducts in concentric circles from the castle as well. The ring-shaped ones were thinner, with pipes that provided running water to some houses.
The lower-class areas used both aqueducts and canals, and some areas also had wells.
“That’s…”
Liza’s eyes narrowed.
Following her gaze, I saw a weaselman merchant riding a hideous golem carriage.
She once told me that the orangescale tribe village where she was born was wiped out by weaselmen, so she probably still held some ill feelings toward them.
“Liza, let’s go.”
I prompted Liza to start moving again, and we went back to shopping.
Since Nana’s sisters had gotten most of their necessities, we moved on to the all-important business of clothes shopping.
“Master! There’s a picture book store!”
The younger kids beckoned me over to a bookstore.
They didn’t have any spellbooks or alchemy-related books, but I let each kid pick out a book they wanted, and I picked up a picture scroll of famous sights in the royal capital. The majority of Nana’s sisters preferred picture books, but the eldest, Adin, chose a book on philosophy, and the third sister, Tria, picked a cookbook.
“Clothing stores.”
“Aah, that street over there?”
The street was lined with stores dealing in ready-made clothes, secondhand clothes, and so on.
“Let’s go, everyone!”
“““Yes, Arisa.”””
Arisa led the homunculi sisters off to look for clothing.
Mia and Lulu were close behind, followed by the beastfolk girls and me.
Girls really take a long time shopping.
Rather than trying to keep up with them the whole time, I eventually went outside and sat on a wooden crate on the side of the road to wait.
“Mew…”
“I’m pooped, sir.”
Tama and Pochi were understandably exhausted after Arisa and the others had played dress-up with them for so long.
Evidently, Liza was the current target of their fashion attack.
I passed the time by petting Tama’s and Pochi’s heads as they slumped in my lap.
“Something smells sweet, sir.” Suddenly, Pochi raised her head and sniffed the air. “Over there! Sir.”
She pointed down the street, where a food cart had opened up near the corner.
“Shall we go do a little taste-test?”
“Aye-aye!”
“Taste-testing is important, sir!”
The pair suddenly recovered their energy, and we walked over to the food cart.
There was a park right nearby, though we hadn’t been able to see it from where we were sitting. There were plenty of food carts near the park entrance selling snacks.
“Young master! How about a famous royal capital galette? We’ve got sweet jam galettes for the little ladies, too.”
“No meat, sir?”
“Sorry, the only two fillings we have are leafy greens and jam.”
“Too baaad…?”
The two meat-loving girls looked disappointed, then ordered jam-filled galettes anyway. I decided to order the leafy green galette.
“Sure thing! Leafy greens are one copper coin apiece; jam is one large copper coin.”
Jam seemed to be relatively expensive.
“I filled yours with plenty of jam, little ladies.”
“Yaaay…”
“Sir!”
I exchanged the coins for the galettes.
“Trés bieeen…?”
“Sweet and yummy, sir.”
Pochi’s and Tama’s faces were soon covered in jam as they munched on the galettes.
I took a bite of the leafy greens galette. The filling was sweet and salty, possibly pickled, and fairly tasty. Something about the flavor made me want some hot sake.
“Aaah, there you are! Of course you went off to get snacks!”
The rest of the group spotted us and came over, having finished their shopping.
“Do you want some, too? It’s pretty tasty.”
“Let’s see…”
Arisa wiped a bit of jam from Pochi’s messy cheeks and licked it off her finger.
“Wow, that’s sweet. Say, mister, is there a lot of sugar in this?”
“Not a lot, but we do use sugar.”
That explained why the jam galettes were more expensive.
“Huh! I’m surprised you can use something so expensive at a food cart.”
“The price of sugar has gone down lately. I heard it’s because trading has gotten safer for ships in the south seas because of some famous pirate hunter named Pen or Pon or something.”
Arisa looked at me. She seemed a little proud.
“You heard the man, Arisa.”
“Hee-hee…”
“It’s about lunchtime now. Want to eat in the park?”
We bought a few more galettes, then went around to the other food stalls near the park, buying more food.
Meat seemed to be a little more expensive in the royal capital: Skewers and meat stew were all being sold for three or even five times as much as they would sell for in Labyrinth City.
The galettes and buckwheat flour–based snacks were much more reasonable.
One of the more unusual offerings was a fried dish that looked like gnocchi made with buckwheat flour. Most were soy- or salt-flavored, with a few miso versions as well.
“There’s a lot of buckwheat flour, but I don’t see any soba, or noodles at all for that matter.”
“That’s a good point.”
Thinking about it, I realized that while I’d seen plenty of short macaroni-like pasta and gnocchi, I didn’t remember seeing any long soba-style noodles. Surely it must have occurred to someone to stretch them out into noodles, and I imagined that one or two heroes or reincarnations must have spread the idea at some point.
I’ll have to ask the gourmet noble duo about it sometime.
I remembered seeing soba noodles wrapped up and tempura-fried back in Japan. As long as noodles weren’t against some kind of fantasy-world taboo, I would have to make soba for everyone at some point.
“Want to eat over there?”
We sat down on some benches near a water fountain to have a light meal.
“Wow, this is actually pretty good. I guess it’s worth trying something new once in a while.”
“These tendon skewers are good, too.”
“Tough and yummy…”
“Pochi likes regular skewers better, sir.”
The beastfolk girls went for beef skewers as usual, but the other kids preferred the sweet jam galettes.
“Tria likes sweet foods best. What about you, Lulu?”
“I like sweets, too, but it’s nice to be able to try lots of different flavors.”
“Don’t worryyy…?”
“We’ll finish whatever you can’t eat, sir.”
Tama’s and Pochi’s glutton sensors activated at Tria and Lulu’s conversation, and they immediately moved to intercept any scraps.
“Mm-mm-mm…mm?”
Mia, who was enjoying a jam galette, looked up.
There was jam stuck to her cheek, so I wiped it off with a handkerchief lest it get on her long hair.
“Music.”
Mia was looking at a girl who was pounding out a rhythm on the rim of the fountain, and at some children who were dancing to the beat.
Though it looked like she was hitting it at random, she was actually creating a proper song.
It must be a famous melody in the area.
“Are they street performers?”
“I think they’re just playing around, no?”
“Fun is important.”
With a longer sentence than usual, Mia produced an instrument from her Fairy Pack and began to play along to the girl’s rhythm.
“Tama will dance, tooo…?”
“Dance fairy Pochi’s soul is all fiery, sir!”
Tama and Pochi joined the other dancing children.
Some of the other girls were nervous at first, but joined one after another when they saw the pair dancing.
“Hey, there’s more of them now.”
At some point, an unfamiliar gentleman had set up a little ways away and started playing along with a large instrument. He was just as good as Mia—no, possibly even better.
“Why don’t you dance, too, Arisa?”
“But of course! Let us go, Madam Lulu.”
“Master, we wish to go dance, too, I report.”
Following Nana, most of her sisters joined the dance.
“You, too, master!” Arisa cried.
“All right, all right. Let’s go, Liza.”
I got up to join along with Liza.
It was only a few magical minutes, but we all enjoyed attempting to dance to the music.
When the girl wrapped things up with a DA-DA-DAH, Mia and the gentleman ended the song along with her.
“Satisfied.”
I handed Mia a clean handkerchief for her puffed-up nostrils.
When I glanced over at the gentleman, he gave a graceful bow, got into a carriage, and left. I guess he was a passing musician.
“Where are we going next?”
“Since we finished most of our shopping, let’s go to a museum.”
I’d learned about the royal museum, which included a gemstone exhibit, at one of the viceroy’s wife’s tea parties. It was right on the other side of the park.
We took a leisurely stroll in that direction, walking off our lunch at the same time.
“The flowers are late to bloom this year.”
“You’re right, dear.”
I overheard an elderly couple talking as we walked by.
The trees along the path were all sakura trees, but none of them were budding yet.
“These are all sakura, right? I wonder when they bloom?”
I unfurled the royal capital picture scroll I’d just bought to see if it had the answer to Arisa’s question.
“In an average year, they start blooming right around now, and hit full bloom right around New Year’s.”
The cherry blossom trees in the royal capital were evidently grown from seedlings that the ancestral king Yamato received from the elves.
While we were talking about this, the entrance to the royal museum came into view on the other side of the park.
“I hear something, sir.”
“Clacky clackyyy…?”
The noise was coming from an intersection on the right side of the street that separated the park from the royal museum.
“What’s that, I wonder?”
“It sounds like a carriage.”
“But I do not hear hooves, I report.”
The light on my radar showed the vehicle approaching too quickly to be a normal carriage.
At the same time, I heard young voices whooping gleefully and screams from other people.
“The sound is getting closer, I report.”
Huit tried to jump into the street to check, but I grabbed her by the collar and pulled her back.
“Outta the way!”
“Woo-hooo!”
A runaway carriage skidded into view at the intersection, careering around the corner.
It was an open-style golem carriage with no horses.
“Waaaah!”
“Eeeek!”
The pedestrians who’d been looking around for the source of the noise shrieked and ran away when they saw the golem carriage speeding toward them.
“We’ll run you over, plebs!”
“Bah-ha-ha-ha!”
There were four young noble boys riding the golem carriage, sneering at the fleeing crowd.
A few people didn’t get out of the way in time, but the beastfolk girls quickly rescued them without my needing to do anything.
Without slowing down, the golem carriage sped away down the street.
“I never thought I’d see such reckless delinquents in this world,” Arisa muttered.
“What in the world was that?”
“The idiot sons of some high-class nobles.”
“Whoa, careful. If one of their family’s servants heard you say something like that, they’d have you turned into a criminal slave in a heartbeat.”
“Heaven forbid. The best thing to do is avoid getting involved with those sorts.”
My “Keen Hearing” skill picked up some chatter from the pedestrians.
“They’ve been running wild in this area a lot lately.”
“The guards don’t stop them?”
“Not a chance. Even if they arrested one of those rich kids, their parents would have them freed in no time.”
“I heard some people who got hit and seriously hurt a while back tried to bring it up to the government, but instead they got in trouble for ‘jumping in the way of a vehicle’ and had to pay for the so-called repairs of the horseless carriage.”
Whew, that’s pretty depressing.
“What a bunch of spoiled nobles. Viva la revolución!”
“Yeah, really.”
Absentmindedly responding to Arisa, I searched the map and made a note of the delinquent nobles’ names.
It didn’t seem like reporting them to the judicial branch would do much good, but maybe I could talk to the king and prime minister about it next time I visited the castle as Nanashi the Hero.
“Even the building itself looks like a jewel.”
The separate building of the royal museum that housed the gemstone exhibit was engraved with patterns that looked like gems and rings; evidently it was a popular place with higher-class ladies.
We presented our identification and paid the entrance fee of one silver coin per person. Commoners needed a noble in good standing to vouch for them.
I assume the entry process was so complicated because the exhibit contained highly valuable items.
“Pretty…?”
“Sparkly, sir.”
“Mm. Beautiful.”
The gemstone exhibit displayed all kinds of jewels and jewelry in glass cases. “Light Magic” was used to provide the ideal lighting to make the gems shine.
“They’re so lovely, it’s almost blinding just to look at them.”
Lulu was squinting a little as she gazed at a dazzlingly bright jewel. She was as beautiful as any gemstone herself, to the point where I murmured, “Yes, very lovely” without thinking.
“Right?” Lulu didn’t seem embarrassed at all.
She must have thought I was talking about the jewel, too. Her eyes were glittering just like gems.
Arisa could stand to learn a lesson in femininity from her, instead of wondering aloud how much the gems were worth.
“Master, say it to me, too.”
“Me too.”
Arisa and Mia, who had caught on to the real meaning of my words, pointed at themselves hopefully.
“Y-Y-yep. Very lovely.”
“Come on, say it like you mean it!”
“Mrrr.”
I reminded everyone to keep their voices down so as not to disturb anyone else, and we continued enjoying our tour of the exhibit.
Since there were some priceless artifacts on display, guards were stationed throughout the museum. The glass cases were also set up behind dividers made from poles and ropes, to prevent viewers from getting close enough to touch the glass.
“This diamond spearhead looks very strong.”
“A spear made of diamond would be very sturdy, I agree.”
Liza and Nana talked among themselves as they looked at a piece called “Radiance of the Sacred Mountain.”
“There are a lot of really big gems, though, huh?”
“Brilliaaant…?”
“Very, very great, sir.”
There were plenty of gems the size of eggs, and even rugby ball–sized rubies and emeralds.
Most of the other visitors were groups of well-dressed women.
“The Heaven’s Teardrops are still perhaps the most beautiful of all.”
“Indeed, it is as if someone captured the light of a star in a beautiful stone.”
“I hope someone proposes to me with a gem like this someday…”
A gaggle of young women from lower-class noble families were gazing at a Heaven’s Teardrop from Ishrallie.
There was also a small unicorn statue made from alua, the same substance that composed Heaven’s Teardrops.
“Aluaaa…?”
“It’s a yoony-corn, sir!”
Tama and Pochi gazed up at the statue on its pedestal.
“My Tama statue is cuter, sir.”
“My Pochi statue’s cute, tooo…?”
Tama and Pochi showed each other the sparkling statues that I had gotten made along with some tableware while we were staying in Bolenan Forest.
“The sparkling statues are very cute, I declare. Does Nana have one? I inquire.”
In response to her youngest sister Huit’s question, Nana produced her baby chick statue.
“““Larvae!”””
All the sisters clustered around the statue.
I guess they all have similar tastes to Nana, too.
“I request a transfer.”
“Negative, I respond.”
Nana rejected Huit’s request without hesitation.
“Master, Nana is being mean, I report.”
“Now, now, don’t fight. I’ll make some for the rest of you sometime soon.”
Although I didn’t have any spare alua, I’d find a way to acquire some other gemstone.
“There are a lot of other carvings, too.”
“Mm. Pretty.”
The youngest girls seemed to like the carved jewels.
They had seen plenty of carvings I’d made with the Earth Magic spell Create Stone Object, but I guess there was something different about these ones.
“This one seems to be the most popular.”
“Wow, it’s so pretty!”
It was a fire burning inside of a crystal.
“A fire crystal! I wonder where the black onyx is?”
“Wasn’t there a black crystal of some kind in the first room?”
Arisa was joking about some old PC game, but Lulu answered her literally. “That ain’t it,” she grumbled in a fake Kansai dialect.
“Master, do you know how it is made? I inquire.”
“It looks like they hollowed out a crystal and put in some fire stones mixed with dark stones. They seem to have used wind stones to make the fire move, too.”
According to the plaque in front of it, it was created by a legendary Jewel Magic user named Gemma. Judging by the Latin name, I suspected that a reincarnation or hero was involved.
“Rainbow colors…?”
“It’s a spinny pole, sir.”
There was an array of stones that seemed to have been altered with an Earth Magic spell like Create Stone Object.
A young curator who was standing watch near the piece barely suppressed a chuckle at Tama’s and Pochi’s reactions.
“The next ones are by different artists.”
“Looks like they’re by pupils and modern makers.”
The works by the master artist Gemma all retained high transparency, but most of the works by his pupils and contemporary artists were less transparent, losing some of their beauty as gems.
“This statue is weird, sir.”
It was a statue of a naked woman carved from a larger statue, but it wasn’t exactly artistic.
I herded the group along to the next area, since it wouldn’t be a good influence on them.
“…WHAT?!”
Just as we were starting to go around the corner, I heard a young man bellowing from the direction we’d just come from.
I turned and saw four well-dressed nobles gathered around the curator who’d almost laughed earlier.
“As the fifth son of the Merkray line, I demand access to the jewel created by Master Gemma that was lent to the museum by the Merkray family! You insult our family name by refusing to cooperate, plebian!”
One of them seemed to be a chronic complainer.
There were two guards nearby, but they weren’t getting involved, sticking to their stations instead. They were staying at their stations, probably worried that the noble boys were a diversion.
“Aren’t those the delinquents from before? Talk about your typical idiot nobles. Wanna knock ’em down a peg?”
“They’ll just take it out on us.” I shrugged lightly. “More importantly, could you and Liza go back up the guards, please?”
“Okey-dokey.”
“Of course, sir.”
Arisa and Liza sprinted down the hallway.
“Nana, you follow them with Adin and the other sisters. Lulu, you wait here with the other kids.”
I led the army of eight beauties toward the commotion.
“I will happily crush them, if that is what you wish, master.”
“No, don’t do that. We’re just going to keep them distracted until more guards show up.”
Adin seemed surprisingly quick to jump to violence.
“Adin, follow my lead.”
“Yes, master.”
With deliberately loud footsteps, I headed back toward the area we’d just left.
“Is that the miracle jewel made by Master Gemma?!”
I used my “Amplification,” “Acting,” and even “Fabrication” skills to get the young delinquents’ attention.
Ignoring them as they glared at me, I loudly led Nana and company toward the fire crystal.
“Oooh! There really is fire burning inside the crystal!”
“It’s wonderful, master.”
“It is wonderful, I agree.”
Adin and company agreed in flat, monotone voices.
Shoot, I should’ve kept Arisa in this group.
“Hey, you!”
The noble delinquents pulled away from the curator and advanced toward me instead.
“What is it, good sir?”
“You’re being way too damn loud!”
I guess they’re not very self-aware.
“Oh dear, I’m sorry,” I apologized innocently. “Please forgive my poor manners.”
“This is the problem with you stupid bumpkins…”
The delinquents started to turn back toward the curator, so I quickly kept the conversation going.
“Even a bumpkin like myself can see how beautiful this fire crystal is, though.”
The young nobleman’s eyes swiveled back toward me.
I had thrown the topic out there since I’d heard him say that his family lent the fire crystal to the museum; fortunately, it caught his attention successfully.
“It must belong to a very prestigious family, I’m sure.”
I made a point of sounding impressed to tickle the brash noble’s pride, and he took the bait.
“You’re exactly right. That priceless treasure belongs to my family, the noble house of Viscount Merkray, and has been handed down since the days of the ancestral king.”
The man puffed up his chest proudly, prompting his friends to start praising his family, too.
“A truly great bloodline naturally attracts equally great treasures,” he continued boastfully, his mood clearly improved.
Once I saw on my radar that Arisa and the others were returning with guards, I knew I didn’t have to keep buying time much longer.
I opened my mouth to praise him arbitrarily and wrap up the conversation, but instead the youngest sister, Huit, blurted out something unfortunate.
“Master, does that mean they receive a lot of bribes? I inquire.”
“Excuse me?! You dare imply that my family has amassed its wealth through illicit means, you wench?!”
The delinquent noble turned on Huit and moved to grab her, his rage flaring up again instantly.
“Wait a minute, please. Let me apologize for my friend’s rudeness.”
“Don’t touch me, cretin!”
I stretched out my arm to protect Huit, and the delinquent noble crashed into me. Instead of resisting, I let myself get knocked backward, where Adin and some of the others caught me.
As I enjoyed the soft sensation, I looked at the guards, who were coming around the corner. The man in the lead seemed to be the director of the museum.
“Lord Merkray! You’re causing trouble again?!”
“Tch, what a pain. Let’s get out of here!”
The delinquent noble hightailed from the museum as soon as he saw the director, who gave chase immediately, along with the guards.
“Are you all right?” the curator asked me.
“Yes, thank you. My friends here caught me.”
“Master, we ran into the director, so we brought him along, too.”
“Thanks, Arisa. That was a big help.”
Arisa and I high-fived.
“Th-thank you very much for your help.”
The curator, who seemed to have caught on to the fact that I was trying to draw attention away from him, bowed his head gratefully.
> Title Acquired: “Jester”
> Title Acquired: “Gem Lover”
“This area seems to lead to the main part of the royal museum.”
Having finished our tour of the gemstone exhibit, we headed through a connecting passage to the royal museum’s main building.
“Looks like they’ve got lots of different stuff on display.”
“Master, there is a suggested route here.”
We decided to take our tour in order of the map Liza found.
“Instruments.”
“It looks like they have instruments from both the Shiga Kingdom and neighboring nations.”
There weren’t that many different kinds, but one did catch my eye.
“An electric guitar?”
“Yeah, it says it belonged to a past hero.”
It appeared to be a bass, not a guitar. I doubt they were able to perform without an amp, though.
“Master! I found larvae!”
“““Larvae!”””
Nana had spotted a group of small children from the royal academy preschool on a field trip.
Nana and all her sisters nearly jumped into action to dote on the students, but fortunately Mia stood in their way and said, “No,” preventing it from turning into a big incident.
“Whoo-hoo! Look at those muscles!”
Arisa was practically huffing in admiration at a line of nude statues.
“None of them are as nice as master’s collarbone,” I heard Lulu mumble, with the help of my “Keen Hearing” skill.
When she said things like that, it made it easier to believe that she was Arisa’s sister.
“Byooti-ful…”
Tama was gazing in admiration at a sculpture of a buffalo called “Ste Fani’s Leap.”
It was a remarkably lifelike statue, with eye-catching touches in the sculpting of the clay.
“Now say ‘Ste Fani’ after ‘beautiful,’” Arisa requested for some reason, but Tama seemed too entranced with the statue to hear her.
“You like that one?”
“Aye.”
Tama nodded and kept staring at it intently.
I decided to leave her alone, since she seemed to want to look at it for a while.
Just as I turned to leave, an elderly man standing near the statue spoke to Tama.
“Ho-ho, you’ve got a good eye, young missy.”
My AR information revealed that he was the sculptor of the buffalo statue.
“Would you like to see more sculptures like this?”
“Aye!”
“Then come visit me anytime.”
The elderly man handed a card to me, Tama’s guardian.
It was sort of like a business card, with his name and address written on it.
“Thank you very much.”
“Thaaanks…?”
After we thanked the man, he walked away with a cane in one hand.
“Looks like this next part is a history of weapons and armor.”
“Yes, although the magic weapons are just visual replicas.”
That made sense, since they still had practical use.
“Is that a little giant’s weapon, perhaps?”
Liza was looking at a giant double-edged ax some eight feet long with the blade over six feet wide. The black ax seemed to be some kind of cursed weapon.
According to the information on my AR display, it was a magic weapon with exceptionally high attack power. It could even steal the magic and stamina of the target and give it to the wielder. I wasn’t sure how efficient it was, but it definitely seemed pretty impressive.
“Awfully big, isn’t it?” a curator said to us with a smile. “This ax was used by Sir Gouen of the Shiga Eight Swordsmen back when he was an adventurer in the Saga Empire.”
“He must be pretty amazing to swing such a big ax,” Arisa remarked, sounding impressed. “Do you think you could use it, master?”
“I could probably lift it, but it’d be physically impossible for me to swing it around, considering how light I am.”
I wonder if I could use the inertia to my advantage if I let it swing me around, though?
Thanking the curator, I moved on to the next area.
“Master, look! Sir!”
I left Arisa and company looking at the ax to go see why Pochi was calling me.
“It’s a samurai display, sir!”
Pochi waved her arms and tail excitedly.
At the word samurai, Arisa came running over.
“That’s a lot of Western-style katana. There were a bunch in the old-capital museum, too… If they’re so popular, I wonder why not many people use them?”
She had a point: The only katana users I knew were Kajiro and Ayaume.
“That’s true,” I agreed, searching the royal capital map for katana.
A few people came up as hits. They were all from the Saga Empire, mainly adventurers and martial artists with titles like “Sin Kaage Style: Licensed” and “Tennenrii Sin Style: Initiate.”
“Tama, there’s ninja scrolls over here, too!”
“Lemme seee…”
Tama, who was still contentedly gazing at the buffalo statue, came zooming over at Arisa’s words.
“Can’t read ’eeem…?”
“Then allow Ninja Master Arisa to read for thee.” Arisa put on a sage-like voice and began to read. “The basics are modeled after the five elements: mokuton for wood, katon for fire, doton for earth, suiton for water, and kinton for metal…”
“Ton-ton…?”
“Sweeton sounds yummy, sir.”
“Basically, there’s a bunch of cool disturbance jutsu. There’s even ninja arts where you can use birds and small animals like a tamer.”
Arisa seemed to have realized that Pochi and Tama couldn’t follow all the unfamiliar words, and she switched to a simpler explanation.
“Boriiing…?”
“Not at all! These are just the basics! Why, Clarke once said that ‘any sufficiently advanced Ninjutsu is indistinguishable from magic’!”
Arisa, that was about technology, not Ninjutsu.
“If you master flipping tatami mats, you can flip the ground itself, or move from shadow to shadow like a Shadow Magic user, or tie people up with shadow ropes! Plus, you can dig tunnels and move around with doton, and set whole castles on fire with katon. Also, there’s throwing stars and taijutsu and…”
“Don’t get too carried away,” I told Arisa as she started ranting about fictional Ninjutsu. Then I left to check on the other kids.
“Did you find something interesting?”
“Master…!”
Lulu was keenly inspecting a booth that displayed the history of Fire Rods.
It showed the changes from when Fire Rods were first developed in ancient times to their modern form.
“Huh, they’ve been around for a pretty long time.”
The exhibit said that they were originally created to make up for a shortage of Fire Magic users.
“Doesn’t this one look like the tip of your Fire Rod rifle or Fireburst Gun, master?”
“You’re right. I guess people in the old days came up with similar ideas to mine.”
I had improved the accuracy of my Fire Rod Gun by making the Fire Shots spin as they were fired.
Some of the older Fire Rods had rifling barrels near the fire stone, or were fashioned with the fire stone carved into a helix shape. The modern style seemed to favor making the helix shape with alchemy or spells like the Earth Magic spell Create Stone Object.
“It seems like older Fire Rods weren’t very accurate.”
“Looks that way.”
Aside from the horizontal rotation methods displayed, images described other methods that had been attempted in the past.
One particularly interesting rod called the “Three Divine Flowers” had the end split into three prongs, each with its own Fire Rod mechanism at the tip.
“Ooh, a Fire Rod that could fire three shots at once? I wonder if people used them for triple burst attacks?”
“Mew…?”
“What’s a triple burst attack, sir?”
“Well, to put it simply…”
Arisa explained to Pochi and Tama that it meant that pulling the trigger once would automatically produce three shots.
But since she also mixed in some fictional aspects for fun…
“I see, so it was one shot for the head and two for the heart. That certainly seems like an effective way to defeat an opponent.”
“Amazing, sir! Pochi wants a triple burst attack, too, sir!”
“Tama too…?”
The beastfolk girls seemed to have absorbed the concept of a “double tap” shot for incapacitating an opponent as part of their understanding of a triple burst attack.
“I wonder if it would be possible with Spellblade Shots?”
“Rapid-fiiire…?”
“Good idea, sir! We just have to go pa-pa-pow, sir!”
At first I was going to clear up their misunderstanding, but they seemed so excited about the topic of doing a triple burst attack with Spellblade Shot that I didn’t want to ruin their fun.
“We’ll have to give it a try sometime.”
“Aye-aye…”
“Yes, sir! We’ll train lots and lots, sir!”
Tama gave a languid cheer and Pochi an enthusiastic shout in response to Liza’s words.
From the sound of things, I would have to bring them to our teleport point on the outskirts of the royal capital to do some shooting practice.
“The downtown area isn’t exactly a tourist attraction, is it?”
Arisa raised her eyebrows as she looked around.
After we left the museum, we went on a stroll toward the west gate, but Arisa was right: It didn’t seem to be designed for sightseeing.
There were a lot of recent refugees from Lessau County, many of whom were living in tents or simple shacks built in parks or empty lots near the wall. Of course, there were a fair amount of poor citizens who’d already been living in the slums, too.
“Yeah. We’ll be at the west gate soon, so we can get on the main street there and head back.”
We quickly walked through downtown.
Just as one might expect, we were approached a few times by some unpleasantly leering groups, but the beastfolk girls fended them off easily.
“Mew…?”
“It’s the princess who was on the airship, sir.”
Just as the west gate was coming into view, Tama and Pochi pointed at a carriage and exclaimed.
It was being guarded by nearly twenty knights, and I could see through the window that Duke Vistall’s first wife and youngest daughter were inside.
The last time I had seen them, they were fleeing with the airship attackers, but I guess they ended up getting caught by the guards.
“Mew!”
Tama’s ears shot up under her hood.
I glanced around and saw a few sketchy figures watching the guarded carriage from a distance. According to my map information, some were spies from the Saga Empire and Parion Provence—and a few were members of the demon lord–worshipping group Wings of Freedom, which lurked in the western side of the continent.
The former had incited the incident with the demons when Lady Helmina was visiting Labyrinth City.
I had disguised myself as the hero’s attendant Kuro and wiped out the Wings of Freedom base that had been in the trade city Tartumina, the gateway to the Shiga Kingdom, but I guess the insidious group had invaded yet again.
Before I could search the map for other Wings of Freedom members, my radar lit up with countless red dots.
“Master…”
Following Liza’s urgent gaze, I saw several smoke bombs rolling toward the carriage, producing white smoke.
The information on my AR display said that these attackers were from the royal capital criminal guild Snake Legs. It used a similar method to that of the group that had gone after the floormaster spoils before, but it seemed to be from a different organization entirely.
I couldn’t just let a crime unfold in front of me, so I decided to stealthily help out.
Using Magic Hand, I grabbed the smoke bombs and put them all in my Storage.
The smoke they had already produced was still there, but it wasn’t enough to completely conceal everything, making it easier for the guards to cut down the criminal guild attackers.
“Satou, look!”
Mia pointed at a human who was beginning to change form.
A demon.
One of the Wings of Freedom members must have used a short horn to turn into a demon.
GZRROOOOOWN.
A lesser demon that looked like a twisted cross between a gorilla and a rhinoceros howled toward the sky.
“Yahoooo!”
“We’ll run you down, commoners!”
Just then, I heard familiar voices coming from the nearby intersection.
“Out of the waaay!”
“Kya-ha-ha-ha-ha!”
A golem carriage I’d seen before came careering around the corner.
The delinquent nobles were hooting and sneering at the fleeing pedestrians, but their faces froze when they saw the smoke on the street and the lesser demon standing in the middle of their path.
Considering how quickly and recklessly they were driving, there was no way they were going to be able to brake fast enough.
“Wait, st—”
“Oh shi—”
Before anyone could finish a single sentence, the delinquent nobles’ runaway golem carriage crashed into the lesser demon.
The front of the carriage crumpled, and it flipped forward. This world didn’t even have traffic laws, never mind seat belts; the nobles went flying from the carriage.
I used Magic Hand to help enough that they wouldn’t die on impact, but I wasn’t too concerned if they broke a few bones.
Hopefully this would teach them a lesson in safe driving.
“Now’s our chance! Finish off that demon!”
The guards charged at the demon, which had been thrown to the ground by the crash.
GZRROOOOOWN.
The lesser demon howled with rage, pulling itself up and swatting the guards away.
“Don’t let your guards down!” the captain shouted. “The demon can still fight!”
“Master, a larvae is in danger, I report.”
Whoops. I had let myself get distracted by the delinquent nobles.
“Liza, come with me. Nana, all of you, keep an eye out for criminal reinforcements!”
I took only Liza with me to defeat the demon.
If we went in with a big group, the guards might mistake us for more enemies.
“I am Sir Pendragon, hereditary knight of the Muno Barony! Leave this demon to me!”
Shouting loudly, I pushed my way through the crowd of guards to get in front of the demon.
Since I wasn’t carrying my Fairy Sword today, I picked up an iron short sword from the ground and used it to parry the lesser demon’s arm as it swung toward me.
“Haaah!”
Liza charged in behind me and stabbed the lesser demon through its jaw.
“On the side!”
“It’s a monster with chopsticks, sir!”
As Tama and Pochi exclaimed, another demon appeared through the white clouds of smoke.
Covered in silver scales, it was around the same size as the lesser demon we had just defeated, but it definitely looked much stronger.
Sure enough, my AR display revealed that it was a level-50 intermediate demon.
“YAAAAAAAAAH!”
As the silver demon came toward me, a shadow flitted toward it from the side, and they both disappeared from sight.
Immediately after, the wall of a nearby building broke open, sending dirt and shrapnel everywhere.
I had only caught a quick glimpse, but the shadow appeared to be a giant swordsman.
GZRROOOOWN.
The lesser demon Liza had skewered with her Magic Spear began fighting back with its arms and horns, so we both backstepped away from it.
I guess some demons don’t even die if their brains are destroyed.
“Liza, I’m leaving this one to you.”
“Yes, sir.”
I went to help the swordsman I’d encountered earlier.
There was a loud, dull boom from beyond the broken wall, and the swordsman jumped back out, dust flying around him.
Wow, he’s ripped.
The firm muscles I could see bulging through his ripped clothes were very impressive.
He had a large two-handed sword on his shoulders, and he was glaring alertly through the hole in the wall.
This swordsman was level 51 and a member of the Shiga Eight Swordsmen at that.
Red light flashed on the giant two-handed sword, turning into a dazzling Spellblade effect.
“Come at me!”
Just as the muscular swordsman shouted through the wall, the silver demon burst out through the cloud of dust. Its adamantite-like blue-silver claws flashed as it sped toward the man.
“‘Burst Hacker’!”
That must be the swordsman’s special attack. His sword carved a red half-circle in the air as he swung, striking the silver-scaled demon down to the ground.
They both moved so fast that they were hard to follow with my eyes, but right before the demon’s claws reached the man, his sword came down from above and crashed into its head.
“Tch…stubborn bastard. Can’t believe it survived my Secret Technique.”
The muscular swordsman prepared to attack the demon again as it lay facedown.
ZWROOOOWN.
With a move reminiscient of a break-dancing technique, the silver demon popped back up, sending cobblestone pieces flying everywhere. The beefy swordsman jumped back with unexpected agility, deflecting both the shrapnel and the silver demon’s spinning kick with a swing of his sword.
The silver-scaled demon spun, landed on its feet, and charged right back toward the knight.
“Hmph!”
Using centrifugal force, the burly swordsman swung his sword around and landed it squarely on the charging demon.
The silver-scaled demon went flying toward a nearby wall like a baseball and nearly crashed right through, but righted itself at the last second and landed on the wall, clinging to it sideways like a certain arachnid fellow from American comics.
Its silver scales stood on end and turned into sharp spikes.
Then the spikes rained down toward the brawny swordsman, who was still recovering from his giant sword swing.
“Dodge!”
Hearing my shout, the man dashed forward without even checking his surroundings.
As I watched him, I picked up a fallen shield at my feet and tossed it, deflecting the flying scales that nearly caught the swordsman.
ZWROOOOOOWN.
The silver demon jumped from the wall—not toward the beefy swordsman, but toward me, since I’d blocked his attack.
Razor-sharp claws came flashing toward me.
“Uh-oh, careful there.”
I used the iron sword in my hands to parry the attack, pushing against its scales.
The sword I’d picked up was apparently a cheap one: Metal scraped off it like carrot skin against a peeler.
The sparks and flecks of metal flying off the sword were pretty, but in a matter of seconds the sword was reduced to a handle.
I guess I should’ve at least used the “Spellblade” skill.
Meanwhile, the silver demon tried to shoot more scales at me. I dropped toward the floor and kicked the demon into the air.
“HIYAAAAAAH!”
The brawny swordsman leaped forward and swung his two-handed sword magnificently, hitting the silver demon squarely in the chest.
The demon had no way to brace itself since it was still in the air from my kick, and it was sent crashing toward a nearby wall.
It tried to land sideways on the wall again, but this time the wall itself broke on impact, sending the demon tumbling inside.
“Thanks for the hand back there, kid. You’re not half bad.”
“I appreciate your kind words.”
I didn’t love being called “kid,” but I thanked him anyway, since it seemed like he meant well.
“I’m Gouen. From the Shiga Eight.”
“My name is Satou Pendragon, hereditary knight and vassal of Baron Muno.”
“So you’re that Pendragon fella Mina was talking about, huh? Funny.”
The brawny swordsman—I mean, Sir Gouen—gave a macho grin as he referred to his colleague Lady Helmina by a casual nickname.
ZWROOOOWN.
The demon came flying from the building with a howl.
Once it landed, nearly a hundred silver scales floated off it and began circling around its body. It was probably supposed to be offense and defense in one move.
“Follow my lead, Satou. Don’t die on me, now!”
With that, Sir Gouen took off running.
Well, it would be rude not to take him up on his offer. I picked another sword off the ground and ran in a diagonal slant next to the swordsman.
The silver-scaled demon charged toward Sir Gouen, evidently choosing to attack rather than wait and defend itself.
Some of the floating scales formed into a chain and flew toward us.
Sir Gouen used “Spellblade” on his two-handed sword and knocked the chain of scales away, lunging toward the demon itself through the scales.
The deflected chain of scales hit the ground, bounced back up—and flew toward Sir Gouen’s back like they were attached to him by a giant elastic band.
I used “Blink” to catch up to them and brandished the iron sword.
“Hunh!”
Sir Gouen’s body swelled for just a moment, and I saw his defense stat go way up in my AR display.
It seemed to be an effect of his “Indestructible Body” skill.
I was somewhat curious about how much this hardened his defenses, but I resisted the pull of curiosity and swung my sword, slicing up the scales that were flying toward his back.
Learning from my prior misstep, I made sure to activate “Spellblade” in the instant that I cut the scales, to prevent the sword from being damaged.
Using “Spellblade” with iron swords is a little bit of a pain, since they don’t conduct magic very well.
“HUOOOOORYAAAAH!”
Sir Gouen bellowed as he charged into the field of floating silver scales.
His armor cracked, and blood went flying into the air.
But still he pressed forward, closing in on the demon and swinging his two-handed sword with all his might.
Red shards of Spellblade scattered, and sparks flew where the floating scales hit the sword.
ZWRODDDYN.
Beyond Sir Gouen’s enormous frame, the silver-scaled demon howled as the sword cut deep into its shoulder.
It was definitely a forceful strategy, but I have a fondness for people who are that bold.
“Go, Satou!”
“Right!”
At Sir Gouen’s prompting, I drove my Spellblade-covered sword into the now-defenseless demon’s torso.
Feeling some “Magic Power Armor”–like resistance, I discreetly used the Practical Magic spell Mana Drain with my free hand, stealing the force that was strengthening his defenses.
“Liza!”
“Yes, sir!”
I called out to Liza, who had defeated the lesser demon and was watching our fight.
She used “Blink” to close in and pierced her Magic Spear through the silver demon’s heart from behind.
“This is iiiiiiit!”
As the demon was skewered in place by my sword and Liza’s spear, Sir Gouen attacked one more time and sliced it clean in two.
The silver demon’s body turned into black dust and disappeared, leaving one long horn to fall to the ground with a shrill crack.
“EEEEEK!”
One of the remaining Wings of Freedom members was trying to abduct Duke Vistall’s youngest daughter.
“Lady Somienna!”
Shouting out her name, Sir Gouen gave chase with “Blink” and beheaded the member in one fell swoop.
The young girl fainted from the sudden, frightful scene, but Sir Gouen was able to gently catch her.
Wait, that’s…
There was something concerning in the corpse’s hand.
“Master.”
“Yeah. It’s a long horn.”
It was an evil tool that could turn a human into a demon—an intermediate one, no less.
I had little doubt that the silver-scaled demon we had just fought was a former human who’d been transformed by a long horn like this, too.
Sir Gouen picked it up before I had a chance and put it away in his Item Box, along with the used long horn the silver demon had dropped.
Since he was a member of the Shiga Eight Swordsmen, the guardians of the Shiga Kingdom, I could probably trust him to take care of things from there.
“Sir Gouen, thank you and your followers so much for helping us!”
One of the young guards came running up to us.
“Moron! These two aren’t with me. They’re a couple of amazing fighters who just happened to be passing by and helped out.”
“R-really?! Please forgive me, I had no idea! I’m terribly sorry, but could I ask your name?”
I thought about passing the incident off by saying, “I’m no one worth introducing” or something like that, but since I’d already introduced myself to Sir Gouen, I gave my name to the guard as well.
The young guard told Sir Gouen about Liza’s deeds. Apparently, while I was backing up Sir Gouen, Liza had defeated five lesser demons on her own.
“A swordsman who can hold his own against an intermediate demon, and a spear user who can wipe out five lesser demons on her own… The Shiga Eight candidates this time around really are something.”
Sir Gouen smacked Liza and me on the back, praising our efforts.
“Master…”
“Are you all right, sir?”
Noticing that the battle was over, Tama and Pochi ran over.
The rest of my group was behind them, too. They’d been helping ordinary citizens escape while they kept an eye out for reinforcements.
“Sorry, Mia, do you mind healing the wounded?”
“Mm.”
Mia nodded and trotted over to the guards.
Lulu followed her, explaining in the quiet elf girl’s stead that they were here to heal the injured and directing them all to stand in one place.
“Nurse mooode…” “Sir!” Tama and Pochi, too, put on medical armbands and ran over to help.
“Are those your attendants, Satou?”
“They’re more like my comrades, but yes.”
Sir Gouen seemed to like children; he watched with the fondness of an old man as they went to work, then ruffled Tama and Pochi on the head when they came back.
“Great work, little ones.”
“Ni-hee-hee…”
“Heh-heh, sir.”
Tama and Pochi looked pleased.
He tried to pat Mia’s head, too, but she dodged his hand nimbly and hid behind me.
“You like kids, huh?” Arisa asked.
“Sure do! I’ve got daughters around their age back home.” Sir Gouen pulled something about the size of a small notebook from his pocket and opened it. “Cute, right?”
Sir Gouen showed us a miniature portrait of his family and told us at great length how wonderful his wife was and how adorable his children were.
Talking to such a doting parent reminded me of an old friend of mine who always showed me tons of videos of his kids when I visited him.
“You can’t bring them to the royal capital?”
“Yeah, my wife doesn’t really wanna leave her hometown…”
It sounded like a personal situation, so I signaled to Arisa with my eyes to change the subject. Fortunately, a guard came over at just the right time.
“Sir Gouen, we’ve finished healing the wounded and bringing in more guards.”
“All right! Great!” Sir Gouen turned back to us. “Sorry, I’ll have to tell you about my precious daughters another time.”
“Yes, I look forward to it.”
“I’ll be at the Holy Knights’ headquarters more often than not. Come by anytime. You’re more than welcome.”
Without waiting to hear my answer, Sir Gouen walked away with the guards who were escorting the carriage.
“A letter…?”
When we got back to Baron Muno’s mansion, one of the maids handed me a letter that had arrived for me.
I didn’t recognize the seal, but it was definitely addressed to me. I opened it carefully, since it was considered rude to break the seal if it was from a higher-ranking noble.
“Who’s it from?”
“Sir Juleburg of the Shiga Eight Swordsmen.”
The letter invited me and my group to the Shiga Eight Swordsmen’s home base in the Holy Knights’ headquarters.
“It says it’s an invitation, but…”
“Yeah, it’s more like a summons.”
Refusing didn’t seem to be an option.
Given the timing, it probably didn’t have anything to do with the brawny swordsman Sir Gouen, but that wasn’t much comfort.
I’ll have to come up with a plan tonight to avoid him bragging to me about his kids forever.
That night, after helping my group train rigorously in triple-burst “Spellblade Shots” until they were satisfied, I transformed into Kuro, found the hideout of the demon lord–worshipping Wings of Freedom cult, and raided it alone, tying up every last one of the members and tossing them into jail.
I made sure to get permission from the king and prime minister first, of course.
It took longer than I expected, so I wasn’t able to come up with any plans to get out of hearing about Sir Gouen’s daughters.
Since there were smaller hideouts all over the place, I didn’t get back home until dawn.
“Master, you really need to stop overworking yourself.”
I apologized to Arisa, who was kindly worried about me, and slept like a log for just an hour.
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