The elf girl was level 43 and seemed to specialize in Earth and Forest Magic.
Still, after all the epic tales of Sebelkeya’s bravery that the guildmaster had told me in the bar, the real thing was a lot more adorable than I’d imagined.
“The Silent Bell of Bolenan?”
Noticing the bell at my waist, the girl gasped, looked at my face, and muttered something about my hair.
“”
“”
I exchanged formal introductions in Elvish with Sebelkeya.
“<…Satou?>”
She tilted her head at my name, then whispered, “”
Hmm?
That was the title the high elves had given me after I saved the World Trees.
The high elves knew my name, Satou, but I thought the other elves all knew me as the purple-haired, mask-wearing Nanashi the Hero.
Maybe she was making an educated guess.
Fortunately, my “Poker Face” skill kept my surprise from showing, so I just acted confused and didn’t answer.
“What in the world, Satou? You can speak Elvish?”
“Yes, I learned it while traveling with an elf companion of mine.”
The skill, that is.
“Huh. It’s unusual for Sebelkeya to introduce herself first, though. What, have you fallen for Satou at first sight or something?”
“No, I was just showing respect for the Silent Bell he wears.”
Sebelkeya and the guildmaster seemed to be quite close.
“Well, you can tell me all about your trip home later. For now, where’s my souvenir?”
“You’re such a boozehound, Lilian.”
“I told you to cut that out!”
Hmm?
Looking closely, I realized that the guildmaster’s name in my AR display was Zona, not Lilian.
I decided to keep quiet about that for now, but there was probably some entertaining story there about “her soul’s true name” or something. Maybe I could ask Miss Sebelkeya about it if we all went drinking sometime.
“I want to show off Bulainan fairy wine to Satou, too.”
“To Lord Satou? Why?”
“…Lord?” The guildmaster raised her eyebrows. “Sebelkeya, did you eat something that disagreed with you or what?”
“Don’t be impolite, Lilian. I’m acting perfectly normal.”
“No, in all the many years I’ve known you, I’m pretty sure this is the first time I’ve ever heard you call someone ‘Lord,’ so—”
Miss Ushana interrupted the pair’s banter.
“Lady Sebelkeya, I’m terribly sorry to disrupt your conversation, but might I make a brief report to the guildmaster?”
Uh-oh. If I was privy to private guild information, I might get caught up in something else.
“Well, it seems like my business is done here, so I’ll take my leave…”
“Just a moment, Sir Knight.”
I tried to sneak out, but Ushana stopped me.
“This concerns you as well. Please stay and listen.”
I guess there’s no escaping from Secretary Ushana.
“This place stinks, as usual.”
The guildmaster pinched her nose.
We had arrived in the dungeon below the guild.
The Plunderer King Ludaman claimed to have secrets to share with the guildmaster, but for some reason, he said he would tell only if she brought me along.
“This way, please.”
Miss Ushana led the way.
Ludaman was confined in a particularly fortified cell in the dungeon.
On top of being held behind sturdy iron bars, he was also bound by thick chains. According to my AR, they were a magic item called Demon-Sealing Chains, probably to keep him from unleashing his superhuman strength.
He’d clearly been tortured already, as his body was covered in fresh wounds and healing bruises.
“Heh, now, that was fast.”
Ludaman looked up as he noticed our approach.
…His face.
The right side of his face, which had been hidden under a mask, was disfigured like that of an ogre.
“Hunh? What, ye never seen a man’s face warped by demonic potion before?”
Ludaman glared at me.
I guess his disfigured face was a side effect of demonic potion. Illegal drugs in fantasy worlds were no joke.
“So, Ludaman. You want to give us information all of a sudden? What’s with the change of heart?”
Paying no attention to Ludaman’s state, the guildmaster questioned him tersely.
His warped face looked undaunted, even arrogant, as if he didn’t feel an ounce of pain.
“You’re gonna spare my life, that’s what.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. You’re to be publicly executed, you know.”
The guildmaster shut down his plea bargaining before he could even reveal the nature of the information.
“S’pose that’s fair enough. But I’ll be damned if my death’s gonna be a show for rotten nobles and filthy peasants. Can’t ye send me to Violet?”
“Think about your crimes, will you?”
I didn’t recognize a key word there, so I asked Ushana in a quiet voice.
“What is Violet?”
“A nickname for a unit of the army made up of criminal slaves.”
She explained that they were famous for having a low survival rate, specializing in fighting powerful monsters or being used as decoys.
Ignoring our whispered conversation, Ludaman and the guildmaster continued their verbal battle.
“I’ll have you know that you’ll be executed at the west gate, in front of a splendid crowd.”
“Ugh, I knew it’d be no good talking to ye, hag.”
Ludaman scowled, then turned to me instead.
“What say ye, Mr. Kindly Noble? Ye’ll help me out, won’t ye?”
I didn’t know why he would assume that, but I had no reason to hear out his request.
“Ye made a point of arrestin’ us plunderers instead o’ killin’ us on the spot. Ye must not like lettin’ people die, eh?”
So that was why he’d insisted I come along with the guildmaster: He hoped to take advantage of my aversion to killing.
How had he known I was at the guild anyway?
“It’s true that I don’t like killing, but I don’t intend to protest a villain being executed.”
I shut down his request as well.
“I’ve got some information that might be of interest to ye, though.”
Information, huh?
If it had to do with the noble drama the green-clad noble was talking about, that would be a hard pass from me.
Come to think of it, he’d said he was going to interrogate the plunderers, but I didn’t see him here. My map told me that he had already left the west guild. Had he tortured them that quickly?
Or did Miss Ushana or Miss Sebelkeya chase him off, maybe?
“If it’s about the man behind Sokell, I don’t care to hear it.”
“Tch.”
My words made Ludaman’s scowl deepen.
That must have been the information he intended to bargain with, then.
Well, he could take that up with the green-clad noble.
“Guess it’s the other one, then.”
This time, Ludaman continued with a smirk of confidence.
“We’ve got some girls trapped in the labyrinth, cultivating ruination weeds and destruction stalks for us.”
…What was that?
Terrible images ran through my mind.
A loud crack reverberated through the dungeon.
I’d accidentally snapped one of the iron bars in my hand.
“Yikes. Scary, pal.”
Ludaman drew back, sweating
heavily.
“Calm down, Satou.”
“Sorry, Guildmaster.”
I took a few deep breaths to calm myself.
With my maxed-out spirit stats in this world, it was an easy task to regain my composure.
It was all well and good to get righteously outraged, but it should be the girls who were mistreated by the plunderers who enacted justice on them, not me.
“Just so ye know, we never laid a hand on them, got it?”
“Hmph. As if you lawless wretches would spare a young woman your atrocities!” the guildmaster barked.
I didn’t especially believe him, either.
“It’s true. Play with a woman even a little, and they break just like that.”
The way he seemed to view women as less than human only increased my rage.
“I can’t have me any fun unless it’s a fella on demonic potion or a powerful woman like that lady knight I fought before.”
It angered me to hear him talk about Ravna that way, but the first half of the sentence did lessen my fury a little.
If that was true, then it might actually be possible that the women hadn’t been subjected to any violence of that nature.
Either way, as soon as this conversation was over, I would go rescue them immediately.
“Besides, what was it…? These girls will be your laborers and the fertilizer for your fields.”
Ludaman seemed to be repeating someone else’s words.
“The hell is that supposed to mean?”
“That’s what the yellow-robed mage who taught us how to cultivate the ruination weeds and destruction stalks said.”
Yellow-robed mage…? Sounds like we’ve got another mystery character on our hands.
It was probably something to do with Sokell’s secret supporter, but still, I wished the mysteries wouldn’t keep multiplying.
“Cultivating? You said that before, too.”
The guildmaster had taken interest in a different phrase than I did.
“If you just find a field of wild plants and claim it for your own, that’s not called cultivating.”
“Damn, I know that much, woman. Yellow Robes told us that the girls’ fear and despair would make the ruination weeds and destruction stalks grow, see?”
If what Ludaman said was true, then these ruination weeds and destruction stalks probably grew by absorbing miasma.
“Guildmaster.”
“I know.”
Miss Ushana and the guildmaster exchanged glances, then nodded.
“Do you know what you’re saying right now, Plunderer?”
“’Course. I’ll tell ye where the girls are, and in exchange…”
“We won’t have you publicly executed.”
At that, Ludaman sneered triumphantly.
“Then ye’ll send me to Violet—”
“I’ll burn you to death myself. Sit here and repent till I get permission from the royal capital.”
The guildmaster’s cold words send Ludaman’s hopes plummeting to hell.
“…Wh-what?! One of those girls is a noble’s daughter, I’ll have ye know! Hey, noble brat! Stop the old hag! I swear to ye, it’s a royal capital noble’s daughter—”
Ludaman kept shouting, but the guildmaster left the dungeon without looking back.
“Ushana, don’t let anyone into the dungeon. And have those plunderers’ throats crushed so they can’t talk anymore.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
The guildmaster’s bitter expression and harsh tone left no room for disagreement.
Was what he said about cultivation really that dire?
“Shall I send a letter to the old capital?”
“No, no letter. We can’t let this information leak to anyone. Tell the viceroy to use the City Core to convey this information directly.”
City Cores were supposed to be a secret as well, but the guildmaster was talking about them in front of me easily.
“Satou.”
“Yes?”
“Swear.”
“I’m sorry?”
The guildmaster grabbed me by the back of the neck. “Swear.”
“What would you like me to swear?”
Loosening her grip, the guildmaster explained. “Swear that you will never tell another soul that the ingredients for demonic potions can be produced artificially and that you will never share the conditions for cultivating them that you just heard.”
“Understood. I swear on the name of the ancestral king Yamato and the Pendragon family name that I will never tell a soul.”
I didn’t quite understand the importance of this, but of course I wasn’t planning on telling anyone else.
I thought she would make Ushana swear next, but because the latter was a commoner, she would be bound by the “Contract” skill later.
“Guildmaster, about the women the plunderers captured—”
“Forget them,” the guildmaster said shortly.
“You’re just going to abandon them?”
My words came out harsher than I’d intended, and the guildmaster whirled and glared at me.
“You think I’m abandoning them because I want to?”
“Then why—?”
“The plunderers’ hideout is somewhere deep in the labyrinth, in one of the most dangerous areas, in order to keep out the labyrinth army. To rescue a few captives who may or may not even be safe, it would likely cost us dozens of lives. How am I supposed to justify that?”
I could do it easily with my Return spell, but I supposed it would be a difficult mission for any normal rescue team.
“Besides…”
The guildmaster paused.
What else is there?
“It’s about the cultivation.”
“The demonic-potion ingredients?”
“That’s right. If they don’t know what they’ve been growing, that’s one thing. But if they do, then the Shiga Kingdom will want to silence them, too.”
I guess the information Ludaman told us was even more dangerous than I realized.
Judging by the pained way the guildmaster was chewing her lip, I was sure she wanted to rescue the captives, too.
After that, we went aboveground in heavy silence.
The stairs to the dungeon were sealed off with Practical Magic, and a high-level employee was stationed as guard.
I received my reward money for apprehending Ludaman and the other plunderers, then stepped into the bright outdoors.
“It’s certainly nice to feel sunlight.”
I stretched, then started walking briskly.
I guess I’ll go save those captives from the plunderers’ hideout myself.
Plunderer Roundup
Satou here. The saying If there’s one, there’s a hundred is about cockroaches, but it seems like thieves have a similarly high reproductive rate. If only someone would invent a spray or poison trap that worked on thieves.
“Now, I guess I’ll start by finding the plunderers’ hideout on the map…”
Arriving in our labyrinth vacation home via teleportation, I transformed into Kuro and searched for the location of the plunderers.
They seemed to have four major bases and more than ten smaller ones.
Near the base closest to where we’d captured Ludaman, there was an area containing the captive women.
Judging by their positions, I would probably have to deal with the nearby plunderers before I could rescue them.
Investigating my best route on the map, I used the Space Magic spell Clairvoyance to investigate the area in question.
“Looks like trouble.”
The base was more complicated than I thought, with paths that were difficult to enter and easy to flee. There were slopes and ledges that they could easily slide and jump down to escape, while invading would mean a lot of difficult uphill climbing.
I could see why the labyrinth army couldn’t capture all the plunderers if their hideouts were like this.
If they tried to go and fight them head-on, it
would be like attacking an impregnable fortress. The plunderers could send out a few disposable underlings to distract them and scatter through the many escape routes.
“…That doesn’t matter to me, though, since I can fly.”
Closing the map, I used Return to teleport to the closest seal slate to the hideout.
It was a corner of a partially underwater area where I’d planned on leveling up my party next.
The fastest route from here would be to go by way of the sections where we’d rescued the labyrinth army soldiers before.
I marked out the route on my map, turning the markers visible so I could navigate like a GPS, and started my rapid approach.
Along the way, I did my best to ignore and avoid any monsters I ran into.
Passing through the second area, my curiosity was piqued by monsters I’d never seen before, but I forced myself to avoid engaging with them.
“Ooh, a natural golem.”
It looked flat and smooth, without any joints, but it still walked toward me and brought down its fist.
I dodged the fist lightly, admiring the various kinds of golems that gathered as I dashed away from them.
Many of them were made of mud or stone, but some even looked like they could be melted into bronze or iron. There were even some made of crystal, but sadly no silver or gold varieties.
I might be able to find that kind with a map search, but I could think about that after this rescue mission was completed.
Using “Warp” to dodge around the assorted golems’ fists, I left the golem area behind.
“I should be in the plunderer area soon…”
Avoiding the slopes and cracks with “Skyrunning,” I arrived at the point of the plunderers’ lookout.
Turning all my stealth and spying skills up to the max, I warped soundlessly through the passages.
Where is he?
My radar showed the dots indicating a plunderer guard, but I didn’t see one anywhere.
Oh, over there.
The plunderer was perfectly camouflaged against the wall.
I used “Warp” to land directly in front of him and knocked him out before he even noticed I was there.
This seemed to deactivate the camouflage, revealing almost grayish skin.
He was totally naked, too. I guess the camouflage didn’t work on clothes.
I didn’t particularly care to see a nude man, so I covered him with some rags and tied him up.
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