Chapter 107
Chapter 107
When Fluden left, he said, “Don’t leave the cell, okay? Don’t leave the cell until the investigator comes, okay? It will be a pain in the ass, so absolutely don’t leave the cell, okay!?”
It seems bad . To the point he repeated it 3 times and attached an ‘absolutely . ’
“Should we go outside?”
“Nah, it’s not like you really want to go outside, right?”
“That’s true . Fua~ I got sleepy after eating .
It’s noon outside, but on top of having pulled an all-nighter, our bellies are full and I can’t think of a reason not to lie down .
All of us laid down on the monster furs spread out on the floor and began snoring .
It had become midnight when I woke up .
It was around when Merumo, who had woken up earlier, was brewing tea .
The magic stone lamp’s light illuminated the entire cell .
Ayl and Velsa aren’t in bed .
“Morning . Where are Ayl and Velsa?”
“Upstairs, washing their faces . ”
Merumo replied .
“Upstairs?”
When I looked over, the cell door was open .
“Was it unlocked?”
“Aah, I asked the poisonspider to pick the lock . Since we can’t go to the bathroom . ”
“Ah, I see . ”
Well, I suppose there’s no problem if we’re still inside the guardhouse . The pot that was to be used for your toilet inside the cell had been placed outside of the cell . As a man, I pushed the emblem aside, leapt outside, and did my business while standing on the rocks . Was it because of low tide? The rocks had appeared where there had only been the surface of the sea at noon .
I had to do some light rock climbing to get back, but it was just perfect for limbering up .
Right at the same time, Ayl and Velsa returned . The guards upstairs seem to be moving about in a panic, but they don’t seem to have any intentions to come downstairs .
Seth was still sleeping . He’s probably exhausted from the constant ship-steering and order-giving . I let him sleep .
“Now then, it seems we have spare time . ”
I said while sipping tea .
“I have a thesis to write . ”
“Then, maybe I’ll practice my sword swings . ”
Velsa and Ayl both have something they can do by themselves, it seems .
I put together a low, Japanese-style writing desk (fuzukue) with some wooden planks for Velsa, and for Ayl I used a knife to whittle a wooden sword out of a torch, which isn’t very useful to us in a jail cell, and drew a gravity magic circle on it .
“This is great! Depending on how much magic power I pour into it, it gets that much heavier!”
Ayl praised it as she swung the sword directly in front of the cell .
Merumo had the poisonspider ride on her arm, playing with it .
I ended up the only one without anything to do .
“How about making recovery potions?”
Velsa suggested .
“We still have reserves, and there aren’t any herb ingredients in the first place . Ah! There’s a poisonspider, so how about making poison?”
“That’s something you have to do outside . ”
True, if the wooden sword Ayl’s swinging went flying, it would be a great calamity .
“That’s true . Then shall I read a book?”
So saying, I began reading the adventurer’s diary I had received from Margaret-san underneath the magic stone lamp .
It seems the adventurer had lived his life capturing rare monsters and escorting curious rich people across the Virgina continent . It also described the regions where he searched for monsters, from the Eastern Archipelagos and the Eastern Continent’s forest, as far as the barren lands of the north, and even the island of giant beasts . I wonder if that’s Marcus-san’s island . He was also shipwrecked many times due to storms and lightning, and it seems he thought he would die; there was also plenty of information on the fruits and poisonous leaves and the like that he had eaten . There were illustrations included, so it was easy to understand .
The sun had risen before I realized it .
Seth also finally woke up, cooking a fish dish sluggishly . He slept too much and looks drowsy .
With a, “I was sweating, so I’m going swimming in the ocean,” Ayl leapt out past the emblem . She returned a few minutes later with a refreshed look on her face, saying, “Use Cleanup for me . ”
Merumo seems to have used the fibers from the ivy that had grown suddenly to weave insect cages .
Velsa was writing her thesis with ferocious vigor while making strange exclamations . I wonder if I’ll be able to read that thesis in the distant future .
As we ate the breakfast Seth made, sharing it with the person in solitary across from us, several young guards came down the steps bringing hard bread and tasteless-looking soup .
“Wh,what are you doing!?”
“We’ve already been through this yesterday . ”
“Wh,what do we do about this?!”
“That’s a repeat as well . ”
“H,h,h,here’s your food . ”
“Yeah, thanks . ”
Sponsored Content
The young guards went back up the stairs in a panic .
One side of the guards’ faces was red; I suppose they were the guards with aristocratic origins that someone or other hit .
I tried the bread and soup they’d left, but both of them were tasteless .
When I asked the guy in solitary, “Want it?” he said, “You really are a great guy!” so I gave it to him .
When we finished our meal, everyone began killing time on their own again .
Seth and Merumo said they also wanted wooden swords with the gravity magic circles on them, so I made them and they faced off against Ayl in the space in front of the cell, swinging their swords . Ayl evaded and parried their wooden swords with her bare hands . They’re doing well in such a narrow space .
They were going at it too vigorously, so the solitary cell’s door got bashed off . The person inside was a giant man with a scraggly beard . He was frightened, saying, “You guys ain’t human . ” I added wooden planks to the door, raising its strength and sturdiness with a magic circle, and it turned out nicer than before it was broken . I’m not too sure about the lock, so I used a magic circle to seal it up . I’ll apologize when the guards come .
I scolded Ayl and the others fiercely and handed them fishing rods .
Velsa wasn’t affected in the slightest, writing her thesis feverishly .
The rest of us sat in the exit we had made, dangling our fishing lines . Ayl and I just kept fishing up rocks without catching anything .
Fluden arrived before lunch, and I apologized for the incident with the solitary cell’s door .
“I’m truly sorry . ”
“I understand . I’ll call the locksmith later . However, I need you for a different matter . ”
“If it’s something we’re able to help with, please speak . ”
We broke the door, so we have to be subservient . The door was also broken because we were bored, so we don’t have an excuse to refuse .
“It seems that, actually, the Prince’s home tutor had joined hands with mercenaries in order to kidnap the Prince, but the tutor was double-crossed midway through . ”
“Does that mean that the tutor was killed by the mercenaries?”
“No, that’s, somehow… The tutor’s death was 2 days before his body was found . Around that time, the mercenaries who had kidnapped the Prince with him were half-killed by that man over in solitary . They were in the middle of getting medical treatment at the church, so it took some time to find it out . ”
I looked at the solitary cell . I believe he said he went Berserk and wounded his comrades, so is the person inside related to the Prince’s kidnapping?
“That guy’s not involved . He’s a staff member of the Mercenary’s Guild who’s always getting put in jail after getting too fired up in the training grounds . ”
He was a staff member!?
“When they went to the warehouse the Prince was locked up in, he was gone together with the tutor . I asked one of the guys still in the middle of being healed, so I suppose it’s more likely to be true than not . ”
“In other words, the one who killed the tutor isn’t the mercenaries he’d allied with…”
“It could be pirates that he was making deals with, or else the Prince, I guess . Either way, we have to find the Prince he was together with . ”
For the Prince to have killed him,
“How old is the Prince?”
Sponsored Content
“14 . He’s almost an adult, and he’s the fourth down the line of succession to inherit the throne . Because of that, well, he’s probably not involved in some sort of conspiracy . ”
“And so, why ask me about searching for the Prince?”
“We heard that you can move at incredible speeds after we made inquiries at the Adventurer’s Guild . If that’s the case, I was thinking it would only take a day to get to the archipelago and back if it was you . ”
Damn you, Adventurer’s Guild! Your lips are too loose! I’ll remember this!
“The investigator’s come across a landslide, so he’ll be delayed, it seems . ”
Fluden continued .
“So you want me to find the Prince before the investigator comes . ”
“That’s right . We’ve had the guards searching downtown East End until they hated it . If he’s anywhere, it’s at the archipelago . If the sea currents and the location where the boat was found are anything to go by, then the west coast of the archipelagos would be the most promising . ”
“Do you have a map and a portrait of the Prince’s features?”
“Yeah, we’ve prepared it . Oi! Bring the map and the portrait!”
Fluden turned to the stairs and issued an order .
“Can I ask what your reason for the rush is?”
“Aah? It’s better to settle things before the investigator arrives, right?”
“It would be for us, but I don’t think there’s any benefit for the guards . ”
What I mean is that it would be fine if the investigator came and investigated, even without our cooperation .
“I don’t know why, but right now an official from the Central Government came to our country . This emblem, it’s the Floura House’s emblem, right? Right now, we’re also hoping this won’t become a major issue . ”
I wonder if the Central Government official is doing a preliminary inspection for the toll roads .
I see, I get it .
The investigator can’t just not investigate us . However, we, the subjects of investigation, are somehow acquaintances with a prominent person within the Central Government . If things are aggravated, they’re not sure how it will affect their country’s standing within the Alliance . You might think it would be fine to just release us if that’s the case, but if they do that then it would be affect the honor of this country’s Royal Family . The Prince was kidnapped, the criminal was killed by some unknown individual, and the Prince has disappeared . The only clue they have is us, who found the criminal’s corpse .
As a result, the best thing would be to find the Prince quickly . And the most suitable people to do that is also us, huh?
A young guard brought the map and the Prince’s portrait .
I placed the map and portrait in the item bag .
“Please don’t use your boat . We can’t issue it a departure clearance . ”
If that’s the case, do I use that blood-stained boat from before? No, as expected, that’s evidence so it’s a no-go .
“Then what should we do? Fly across the sea?”
Only Ayl and I can fly .
Sponsored Content
“Ayl, how far can you fly?”
“About 1 km, I think . ”
Looking at the map, there’s quite a distance to the archipelago . As expected, that’s impossible .
“Is it okay not to have someone stay? If we’re leaving someone behind, I’d like to be left here . ”
Looks like Velsa wants to write her thesis . In actuality, it would be good to have someone to deal with the investigator when he arrives, so we’re going to leave Velsa behind .
“But what will you do for meals?”
“In that case, I’ll also stay . ”
Merumo raised her hand . With this the cooking itself will be fine, but they have no item bag .
“What will you do for ingredients?”
“We’ll buy it around here as needed . ”
“It’s a problem for you to go out to buy it, though . ”
Fluden said after hearing us .
“In that case, the guards will go buy it . ”
Velsa’s tough .
“Muu, I understand . I’ll give you a young guard . Tell him if you need anything . ”
Seems like Fluden is unexpectedly weak to pressure .
The problem is the boat .
“Should we steal one?” (Seth)
We have a former ship-invader over here . There’s no way we can steal one .
“If you’re fine with a battered fishing boat, please use ours . ”
It seems like the home Fluden had grown up in was fisherman’s family, and ever since his father died the fishing boat had been left as it was .
I had Fluden write a letter to make the request at his childhood home . It seems like his mother is living there by herself .
Fluden’s childhood home is on the west side of East End .
It’s daytime outside . Since there are people around, the three of us, Ayl, Seth, and I, pushed aside the emblem and left from the back . We ignored Fluden’s “Oi!”
After a bit of light rock climbing, we came out on top of the guardhouse’s roof . From there it was just moving along the rooftops .
We moved swiftly while trying to avoid making noise as much as possible .
Only the cat monsters saw us .