Death March kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyusoukyoku (LN) - Volume 19 - Chapter 5

Journey to Yowork Kingdom

Satou here. It must be incredibly stressful to be in a position where your every decision affects the lives of countless people. In a way, I feel like I can understand how you might get the urge to trust strange consultants or psychics and so on.

“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.

> Skill Acquired: “Yowork Language”

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.