With great difficulty, I successfully slipped back into the city. I silently vowed never to try sneaking out ever again.
Bang!
“Catch them!”
“One of them is getting away! After them!”
“Don’t let them escape!”
But what was with all this noise?
On my way back to the inn, I noticed the streets were in utter chaos. It seemed like some sort of chase or arrest operation had been underway since the break of dawn.
“Get out of the way, or you’ll die…!”
Amid this uproar, I began to ponder.
Why did these damn incidents always seem to happen when I was close by, right as I was on my way back?Bang!
“Urgh!”
“You punk…”
Something else to add: how in the world were these criminals, with so many paths to choose from, unlucky enough to run straight into me?
Especially considering that I was the only person around since it was still before sunrise.
Wait. Could this be some sort of conspiracy? Some ridiculous scheme orchestrated by the world itself to make me suffer?!
“Uuurgh.”
Nah, how could that be?
I quickly shook off that wild speculation and tried to guess roughly what kind of criminal this guy might be.
Judging by how quickly the guards caught up to him and the timing, it seemed like they’d planned a full-on ambush.
“You…!”
“Take him.”
“Thank you for aiding in the capture of a Demon Worshiper!”
…But this guy was a Demon Worshiper?
Had they started a large-scale sweep operation because of the incident the other day—the one that caused the checkpoint closure—and actually found one after just a few days?
“Urgh.”
Well, either way, it seemed this guy deserved to be arrested.
I handed over the man I’d subdued to the guards. Maybe it was because I’d struck the guy in the solar plexus before slamming him onto the ground, but he was still groaning quite dramatically.
“Ah, thank you for your assistance.”
“D-Damn it…!”
“Stay still!”
Not that anyone paid attention to that guy’s complaints. Instead, a few of the guards even roughed him up further.
It wasn’t a pretty sight. However, I had neither the right nor the will to stop them.
“Damn it! If Lord Envy… If only Lord Envy were still here… you guys would—!”
“…?”
Hold on. For some reason, it seemed that guy just mentioned the name of someone I’d killed.
I narrowed my eyes as I watched the Demon Worshiper get dragged away.
There was no point in interrogating him now… but since he’d just shouted Envy’s name, he was probably one of Envy’s followers. But Envy was already dead. What was the point of continuing to follow him?
“Shut up!”
Thwack!
“Gah!”
I momentarily wondered why Envy’s followers were here and why they were acting like pathetic ex-lovers before shaking my head.
Demon Worshipers were like cockroaches anyway, so I decided there was no point in thinking about why they’d shown up here.
“I should get some sleep…”
I was rather sleepy, having gotten little rest due to the early-morning sparring session. With that in mind, I dragged myself back to the inn.
Bam!
“Catch him!”
…And promptly dragged myself back out. It seemed like the guards were determined to turn the city upside down because of the recent events. There really was no end to the noise coming from everywhere.
* * *
The Inquisitor returned from her morning prayers, only to be greeted by rather startling news.
“A sweep… you say?”
“Yes, the operation just concluded. Those arrested are currently being transferred to the interrogation chamber.”
All the seeds of evil hiding in the city had been captured. It was good news, undoubtedly, but she felt somewhat disconcerted.
The Inquisitor first wiped away the sweat from her face using the towel hanging around her neck. Skrr. In the meantime, she pulled back a chair with her other hand and sat down.
“Had I known, I would have helped.”
Had she known they would be purging the evil forces within the city, she would have postponed her prayer session. The Inquisitor felt a twinge of regret about that fact.
“Who wouldn’t understand your resolve, Inquisitor… But one doesn’t need a sledgehammer to crack some peanuts, right? The guards were clearly enough, which was why they didn’t send a request for cooperation.”
However, what the Archmage said wasn’t wrong. Unless absolutely necessary, it would be foolish to deploy excessive force when there were more appropriate methods.
The Inquisitor nodded in agreement.
“How did they get the information to carry out that operation?”
“I don’t know. This operation was planned entirely by the guards.”
At that moment, someone who’d arrived just before the Inquisitor posed a question. The Archmage stroked her chin as she thought.
“From what I heard, the Temple was only asked to assist in case of an emergency and to ensure an effective suppression.”
“Hmm.”
“Is there a problem?”
As much as she didn’t want to admit it, the Inquisitor rarely felt pleased with how that troublemaker reacted to things.
Her expression hardened as she sharpened her focus on the conversation. Just in case.
“It’s a bit strange… how they managed to find all of them at once and so quickly.”
Was… that the case? Well, it might be. Demon Worshipers were like worms, endlessly gnawing away at the world yet not so easily caught.
They needed to be eradicated, and she thought they deserved it, but spotting them without some luck at hand seemed difficult.
“I admit, I also found this quite strange… The Bemurchen guards usually root out one or two groups of Demon Worshipers a year. So maybe this was just the result of their diligent work.”
“Even so, catching one or two groups a year isn’t the same as arresting the remainder who had scattered into seven groups.”
“If you put it that way, you do have a point… But wouldn’t the incident a few days ago have had some aftereffects?”
“…You mean they searched more thoroughly because they were more alert than usual? Well, that’s not completely impossible.”
However, as she watched the Archmage and troublemaker continue talking and come to some kind of agreement, the Inquisitor also couldn't help but waver. Was it really due to the guards’ efforts…?
“Still, it feels like they caught them too quickly for that… No matter how alert they were, it’s only been a few days. They’ve never done anything similar before either…”
Or was it not…?
“And they’re constantly sending out reconnaissance teams to monitor the movements of the Merfolk as well. Considering that the guards are also acting as soldiers, wouldn't they be seriously short on manpower?”
“So what exactly do you suspect?”
“No, rather than suspecting anything… I just have this uneasy feeling. If this wasn’t a coincidence but something that someone orchestrated… they may have some unknown ulterior motive.”
“You’re not wrong. The problem is, if this was planned, just why would they do something like this…?”
While the Inquisitor was left completely confused, the Archmage and Deathbringer continued their exchange.
“Even if we assume that this is the work of another Demon Worshiper… I find it quite hard to believe they had reason to do something like this to their fellows. They were bound to be discovered after the commotion they caused at the gates, but had they been kept hidden, they could have been of use later on.”
“But who else but a fellow Demon Worshiper would know their exact locations?”
“True. If they weren’t part of the same group, it wouldn’t make much sense for someone who knew the exact location of every Demon Worshiper to have kept silent until now.”
“Then they must have had something to gain from this… but what?”
“…It appears we’ll have to wait until the interrogation is over to find out.”
Unfortunately, they couldn’t come up with an answer yet. They eventually decided to postpone the discussion.
“If something’s going to happen, I hope it’ll happen after the sword is completed.”
“Agreed. You said it would be completed in a few days, right…? I hope it is.”
“Where should I place the soup?”
“Ah, right here. Thank you.”
“It’s nothing.”
Instead, they shifted their focus to the meal before them. One by one, each dish, all modest but far from lacking, was brought to the table.
“…She’s late.”
However, just as that troublemaker pointed out, one person was noticeably absent.
“Oh right, Berserk isn’t here,” the Inquisitor agreed, blinking. Oddly enough, the thought of another seat being left empty dampened her mood.
“She already mentioned that she would be late before she left.”
However, thanks to the Archmage’s words, they were able to cease their useless thoughts. The Archmage’s face was completely calm as she answered, so they judged that there were no problems. Of course, if they knew that Berserk had refused to share where she was going and the Archmage had lost the confidence to intervene with others after what happened with the Demon Knight, they wouldn’t have felt so reassured.
“What sort of training is she doing that she already knew that she would be late…?”
“Maybe it’s not training, but sparring with someone strong…?”
“That does make some sense.”
Since they were completely unaware, they just kept waiting, feeling relieved. They even put forth some plausible guesses.
“More than that, how strong would they have to be for Miss Fighter to acknowledge them? I wonder who it is.”
They hit the mark, although they couldn’t have known that the person she was sparring with was someone they already knew.
* * *
What I’d intended to be a short one-hour nap at the inn ended up lasting a whole three hours.
Having realized a flaw in the Sleep System—that I could easily just fall back asleep after waking up at the set time—I knocked on the door to the workshop.
“Come in.”
As usual, the door opened automatically to let me in. Its occupant, whom I had expected to be at least a little angry at me for being late, was hunched over his work, heavy dark circles under his eyes.
The various flasks and bubbling pot that looked like something out of a science lab somehow made him look like an alchemist.
Swish.
Taking off my coat, I folded it neatly and quietly placed it on the table. However, Meister didn’t so much as even glance at me. It seemed whatever work he was doing right now was very important.
“Phew.”
Then, after what felt like a long time, he took his hands off the vial and leaned back in his chair.
“Hey, infuse some Arcane Power into these.”
Several Batteries were piled up on another table.
Considering that I left the workshop at seven o’clock yesterday after infusing Arcane Power into all the Batteries he’d crafted by then, this was quite surprising.
Just when had he managed to make all of these? Even accounting for me coming a bit later today, he shouldn’t have had enough time to make them.
…Had he stayed up all night?
“Sigh.”
Even the way he moved seemed considerably more sluggish than I’d seen over the past few days.
While infusing the Batteries with Arcane Power, I looked at what Meister was working on. It was in a vial, so I couldn’t really make it out. Was he performing some sort of scientific experiment?
“I’m dying…”
Well… if he wanted to work himself to death, that’s his business.
I watched Meister groan as I sat on the couch. Every now and then, I could feel a prickly gaze on me, undoubtedly Meister’s.
“I’m sleepy and hungry.”
His tone was very dry, plain, and perhaps a bit condescending.
“I’m really hungry.”
Because of that, I couldn’t immediately tell what he was aiming for.
I mean, how could you immediately match that childish whining with someone who looked like the “Pristine, Manner-obsessed, Elegant Noble Archetype #1” from straight out of a manhwa? My brain outright refused to connect the dots.
And the content of his words didn’t really help either.
I knew he was hungry, but what did he want me to do about that? My character aside, we weren’t even that close… We also weren’t the type to have that kind of conversation…
“Did you abandon your intelligence using fatigue as an excuse?”
I glared at him with an expression half a step below contempt. I had done a few favors for him in the past few days, but that didn’t mean I was his personal errand boy.
“It’s not like that, so get rid of that look.”
And Meister also knew that, so he stopped whining.
“Let’s make a deal.”
Instead, he offered me something else. “Since you’re an adventurer, perhaps the word ‘request’ would be more appropriate?” Judging by how smoothly the words left his mouth, it seemed he’d assumed things would turn out like this.
“The details?”
“Delivery of goods.”
It was the type of Sidequest I quite enjoyed. In other words, it was something peaceful, simple, and small-scale.
“I trust you won’t turn it down just because it’s something trivial. Some greedy adventurers who only care about their own interests might complain, but someone like you wouldn’t turn down a job just because of that, right?”
Meister even took my character’s pride into consideration.
By subtly flattering me, he removed any chance of me refusing outright, as doing so would make me seem petty.
“…What a petty trick.”
“Thanks for the compliment.”
“Just tell me what the items are.”
So now, thanks to his scheme, refusing him would make me a petty and greedy person. Sighing in frustration—though internally, I was quite pleased to receive this simple Sidequest—I urged him to continue.
“First, deliver those finished products to each client. That’s the first step.”
However, the phrase “delivery of goods” implied there would be quite a lot of things, and Meister's words hinted that this request would be somewhat lengthy.
“Every time you deliver a finished product, the clients will pay the balance. Use that payment to purchase some designated materials. That’s the second step.”
“Anything else?”
“Some of the materials you’ll be purchasing require secondary processing. Hand those over to the relevant workshop and commission said processing. That’s the third step.”
Meister concluded his speech by saying the fourth step was to procure the remaining materials for my thing.
It was simple, but I had a hunch that there would be a lot of back-and-forth.
“Ah, I almost forgot to mention. Deliver this bottle and letter to the castle. Give the gatekeeper my name, and they’ll take care of it. Since it’s not a commissioned item, they won’t give you any payment, so all you have to do is deliver it.”
Hmm. I should correct myself; it wasn’t just a hunch but a certainty.
“By the way, I’d like you to finish all that this morning. I can’t do any research on your equipment right now because of my busy schedule, but I think I might have some free time in the afternoon.”
He even gave me a time limit.
I wasn’t planning to put it off, so that time limit didn't particularly matter. All I could think about was that Meister sure lived really efficiently. He’d even factored in that he wouldn’t be able to research my equipment if I was busy running around for too long.
“The payment?”
“Hmm. 100,000…”
100,000?
“…200,000 Gal.”
Meister changed his words, faced with my steady gaze. Compared to the requests I’d completed so far, it seemed like a very small amount, but if you thought about it a bit longer, it wasn’t really a small sum either.
No, it might actually be a bit too much for what it was.
If I recalled correctly, that sewer-cleaning Quest paid around 400,000 to 500,000 Gal.
Considering that it had been a life-threatening Demon-hunting Quest, 200,000 for a simple delivery Quest wasn’t bad. Probably.
“But if any of the items get damaged, delivered to the wrong place, or somehow lost in transit, you’ll have to pay for the loss.”
“That won’t happen.”
“Then that’s fine with me.”
With that, Meister added one final remark.
“When you’re on your way back, pick up some porridge from the inn you’re staying at, okay?”
Right, he was hungry. Alright, I guess.
____
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