Chapter 35
“THEY SURE STORED TONS of stuff in here. Wow—I bet Solomon would love this sword!”
They’d made their way farther inside the cave Gillian Rock had used as a hideout, finding the entrance to a hidden room at a dead end. According to the information they’d gotten from Rock, this was a secret warehouse full of all kinds of treasure, as well as important paperwork and documents.
“This is a counterfeit trade permit…and here’s a ledger with all their transactions. Wow—and this is a report from a supplier! This is great. We hit the jackpot!”
Gillian Rock was heavily involved with human trafficking, so there were piles of documents relating to those activities. To Lastrada, those were likely what was most important, and he began gleefully grabbing whatever papers he could get his hands on. While he gathered anything that could lead him to who or what was behind the human-trafficking syndicate, Mira focused on the treasure.
“Whoa. This must be Grandoll’s magic sword! And this is the Whistle of the Underworld. And, wow, the famed sword Wild Snow and a meteor spear! This is a literal treasure trove!”
For Mira, a summoner who used Immortal Arts, weapons and such were superfluous. That said, she’d been a fan of cool weapons long before becoming a summoner. Such things were simply beloved by all men.
“Hrmm. Not bad, not bad at all!”
Among all weapons, Japanese swords tended to be especially popular. Accordingly, Mira found herself enjoying playing around with the famed Wild Snow. Strapping it to her waist, she had a great time whipping it from its sheath and trying techniques she’d seen in her favorite anime and manga.
“Great. This’ll do it,” Lastrada said, finishing up his work as Mira goofed off.
He must’ve gotten what he was after. He seemed confident that, given all the information he’d gathered there and what they’d learned previously, he could discover whatever malevolent force was behind the human-trafficking syndicate.
“So what do you plan to do with the rest of all this?” Mira asked.
They’d gotten the all-important documents, so it only made sense to figure out what to do with the remaining treasure next. Mira’s expression brightened, her eyes practically begging Lastrada to let her keep it all.
Noticing that, Lastrada replied, “Well, we’re antiheroes, so of course we’ll be taking all of it.”
“Hrmm. I see!” Overjoyed at how fantastic being an antihero was, Mira began grabbing all the treasure she could.
That wasn’t all Lastrada had to say when it came to claiming the treasure, though. He added, “Normally, well, I’d take it all and put it toward the orphanages’ operating expenses or give it to charity. But since you helped so much this time, you can take whatever you like, Commander.”
Mira’s hands immediately froze. She glared at Lastrada, wondering why he’d had to say that right when she was having the time of her life plundering loot.
The money would’ve gone toward children, but he was bequeathing it all to Mira for her services just this once. What he was implying was very clear, and such a thing was sure to hit home for anyone with a conscience.
“All right… How about I just take this sacred sword as a souvenir for Solomon? It’ll help me butter him up so he’ll keep lending me a hand when I need it. But I think that’s enough for me. So, hrmm… Hey, take the rest back with you to go toward the orphanages!” Mira replied, somewhat disheartened, but having convinced herself that she could relinquish all the loot, since it would go to the children.
Despite giving up the rest of the treasure, Mira wanted just a little something in return for her efforts and took the sacred sword. That was because she currently believed it would be the most useful in the future. If she could win Solomon’s favor by giving him such a rare sacred sword, it’d be sure to help her down the road when she needed to ask him for bigger favors.
“I see. I’ll make sure it all goes to good use helping orphanages, Commander,” Lastrada replied happily with a knowing smile. He’d been sure that Mira would say as much and began collecting the remaining treasure.
Having looted the secret room entirely, Mira asked, “So what’re we going to do with these guys?”
Rock still lay on the ground, and his fellow guild members remained strewn around the cave, beaten senseless. Gillian Rock’s members were all involved with human trafficking, so Lastrada and Mira couldn’t just leave them there.
That said, transporting that many men would be no easy task. Mira could summon a bunch of dark knights to help her move them to the closest nearby town, but as the look on her face indicated, that would be a tall order.
“Ah, don’t worry about that. We just need to report this situation and location to the Guild Union, and they’ll come take care of it. What’s more, members of an adventurer guild were complicit in the crime this time. Considering that, the Guild Union will probably come en masse to mop up and take care of everything.”
As he said all that, Lastrada pumped the cave with so much white mist that none of the men would probably wake up for a few days.
“Yeah. Considering what these guys did, and the fact that they’re from a guild registered with the Guild Union, you’re probably right.”
That was the situation, after all, so the Guild Union would likely clean up the whole mess thoroughly. They wouldn’t just stop with that particular hideout either; they’d deal with all of Gillian Rock’s outposts.
Just as Mira was agreeing with Lastrada, he suddenly made a suggestion: “Oh, yeah. I think you should report this, Commander. You’d probably score a lot of brownie points with the guild.”
Apparently, the Guild Union offered substantial benefits to those who furthered their cause, regardless of rank. Mira could expose the crimes of Gillian Rock, a guild heavily involved in human trafficking, as well as how she’d neutralized their guild master. Finally, Lastrada added, she’d bring further prestige to the Spirit Queen’s name.
Her reputation as an A-rank adventurer would spread more widely, and everyone would look up to her. If that happened, people would recognize summoning’s merits more widely as well. There were plenty of upsides.
“I don’t think so,” Mira replied.
Guild Union recognition of her efforts would certainly have advantages, yet she flatly turned down the suggestion. She was worried about what would happen if Rock talked about how he’d been interrogated.
And if she reported it to the Guild Union herself, they’d undoubtedly tie the Spirit Queen to the onetime BDSM queen.
She wanted what had happened in the cave—her wielding a whip while dressed as a dominatrix and whatnot—to remain there. She let Lastrada know that this was her biggest concern.
“No, no, listen… It’d be like, you’re usually the Spirit Queen…but your true identity is Noir Queen. An antiheroine who abides no evil! Sounds awesome, doesn’t it?!”
For an incorrigible superhero nerd like Lastrada, being unmasked was what made being a hero in secret so fun. He couldn’t wrap his head around why Mira would object to that.
“I’m not sure how many people would visualize that episode and consider me a hero…” It was certainly the type of imagery one would find in a particular kind of store. Regretting what she’d done, Mira sighed.
When Lastrada asked what in the world was wrong with how she’d proceeded, Mira replied that all of it had been wrong, ripping off her costume and changing quickly into her original clothes.
This outfit is full of Lily’s and the other maids’ fanaticism…well, devotion…so why does it seem so much more comfortable…?
The magical-girl-style outfit seemed like a giant improvement over the “mistress of the night” one. Considering it bizarre that she felt that way, Mira began to think that she was just more used to this outfit. But there was one more possible reason, and it made a shiver run down her spine: Perhaps Lily and the other maids were growing on her.
“I let the Guild Union chief know about the whole situation. I told him some mysterious heroes destroyed the hideout of a guild conspiring with a criminal syndicate,” Lastrada told her.
He was climbing into the wagon. It had been parked up high on the edge of the forest with a full view of the town where he’d bought the dominatrix outfit.
He was now dressed as an adventurer with consistently fine equipment. Lastrada had two “adventurer” identities: He was both John, an ordinary C-class adventurer, and Subaru, a very capable A-rank adventurer.
“So what was the reaction?” Mira asked.
“Well…he didn’t have much of one,” Lastrada answered, looking slightly discontented.
After discussing it a bit, he and Mira had decided to go with a story in which two mysterious heroes had shown up and delivered just punishment to Gillian Rock.
Mira had insisted on keeping those heroes’ true identities a secret, rejecting Lastrada’s idea of giving the Spirit Queen all the credit. Lastrada had decided to leave the identity of the antihero he’d played a mystery too. Because of that, though, the report he’d filed seemed rather fishy.
“Oh, wow. Looks like they decided to move.”
Despite how dubious that report had seemed, it was filed by an A-rank adventurer. There was no way the Guild Union could just ignore it. Looking at the town from far away, they saw what appeared to be the entire guild heading out in droves. Chances were that they were all going to investigate Gillian Rock’s secret hideout.
It seemed like they could leave the rest to the Guild Union.
“All right. Then I guess that’s case closed. So what now? Could you use any other help?” Mira asked, wondering whether there was anything else Lastrada—or, by extension, the children—needed.
Lastrada shook his head. “Nope,” he answered. “Thank you, but everything should be fine now, Commander. I got more than enough intel. All that’s left is to check it all, then determine who or what was behind everything.”
Judging by how confident he sounded, he’d gained very substantial information from Gillian Rock. It was now just a matter of time, he boasted.
“What about you, Commander? I could just take you straight to Artesia, but you’ve got some big award ceremony in Haxthausen, right?”
Since all that was left was to analyze the documents they’d looted, they could both have headed for Artesia’s location immediately. But, sure enough, Fuzzy Dice had eyes and ears everywhere. Although the donation ceremony hadn’t yet been finalized, Lastrada had already caught wind of it.
“Ugh…well, yeah, true. I ended up saying I’d donate that necklace you threw me…” Heaving a sigh, Mira muttered that the event would be held despite her wanting to forget about it.
“Rightly so!” Lastrada said. He let out a brisk laugh and smiled, almost as if saying that he’d imagined that Mira would do as much. Perhaps he had known how valuable a treasure Eurus of the Silver Sky was.
Just before leaving, he told her, “In that case, let’s go afterward. I’ll contact you once things have settled down!”
Lastrada wasn’t heading to town either, but back toward Gillian Rock’s hideout. He seemed to want to see how the guild members reacted to the scene the two antiheroes had left for them. Smiling like a schoolboy, he dashed away.
“All right. I guess I should head back for now.”
The ceremony aside, Mira had another obligation to fulfill in Haxthausen. She’d made an important promise to Nina and her sisters to help teach their youngest sibling about summoning.
For the sake of all future summoners—as well as a distraught young girl—the wagon flew off toward Haxthausen with Mira aboard it.
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