by Hiro Ainana
I opened the memo function of the networking tab in my menu and started listing the problems at hand.
1. The guildmaster and the Shiga Kingdom government views anyone who knows how to cultivate demonic-potion ingredients as a threat.
2. Miasma seems to be an important part of cultivating these ingredients; it’s safe to assume that the torture chamber and the magic circle were necessary components.
3. It’s highly possible that Ludaman is the only person who’s had contact with the yellow-robed mage who passed on the information about the magic circle.
4. The guildmaster and other governmental officials don’t know about point two.
5. Cultivation is still possible with only a torture chamber and prisoners, although it’s far less effective without a magic circle.
6. It’s unclear how many of the young women who were prisoners are aware of what they were cultivating.
“…Hmm. I think I can actually work this out.”
I could probably find a way to give the young women a future, although it would depend partly on the outcome of number six and how the government reacted to the information in number five.
If I could find a way to get the guildmaster to trust Kuro, then I might be able to convince her to let the girls live their lives freely with Kuro as their guardian.
And if I could just figure out from Ludaman why the yellow-robed mage taught him how to make the ingredients for demonic potion, then that would pretty much take care of everything, right?
As if they’d been waiting for me to get my thoughts in order, someone knocked at the door.
“Come in.”
“Is now a good time?”
Arisa peered inside.
“Yeah, it’s fine.”
“Oh? You’re looking more relaxed than I expected already. Did you take care of whatever was worrying you?”
“I haven’t put it into action yet, but I think I’ve got a good plan.”
That was all thanks to Arisa and the others for soothing my mind after dealing with those awful plunderers.
But just as I was about to thank her…
“Awww, man. I was hoping if I gave you some advice now, I could build up enough points to finally get you on the Arisa route!”
…Arisa ruined the moment.
I couldn’t tell how serious she was, which was very typical of her.
Since she was here, I decided to lighten the mood by getting her opinion about my Kuro costume.
The guildmaster seemed to be in the City Core room of the viceroy’s castle talking to an important person from the royal capital, so I had some time to kill.
“Actually, I might need your advice after all.”
“Aw, sweet! Put ’er here!”
Arisa posed like a baseball catcher. Chuckling dryly, I offered her a seat.
Not that getting her advice was going to convince me to take the “Arisa route,” though.
“So I’m working on a new disguise…”
I transformed into Kuro using the “Quick Change” skill.
“Wow, what a hottie! But he’s not really shota enough for my tastes.”
Arisa was already finding fault with my new character.
“He’s supposed to be a member of Nanashi the Hero’s party named Kuro.”
I used the “Ventriloquism” skill to alter my voice and demonstrated it for Arisa.
Edging closer, she grabbed my collar and looked down my shirt. I thought she was being inappropriate as usual, but it turned out I was wrong this time.
“So you’re only tanning your skin down to the neck.”
“It’d be a pain to do it on my whole body.”
“Hmm. What about your hands?”
“No, I figured I’d just wear gloves.”
“What if someone wants a handshake, though?”
“I’ll refuse.”
“All right, I guess…”
That was partly why I had chosen a haughty personality for Kuro.
Arisa stepped back and looked my outfit up and down.
“The clothes are a little generic, though. Maybe you could match the hair with a white gakuran?”
“Wouldn’t a Japanese high school uniform look weird with a Hollywood actor’s face?”
“You think so? But then you could wear white gloves with pentagrams on them and be all, ‘Mwa-ha-ha!’ or ‘Empire! I have returned!’ Y’know?”
You’re mixing up so many different references that I have no idea what you’re trying to say.
“I think I’ll just stick with the outfit as it is.”
“Awww, at least make it military uniform–style or something!”
Looking in the mirror, I added more layers of the Illusion spell.
She was right: The uniform did seem to match this hairstyle.
“And then put a long overcoat on top. What color are you thinking?”
“Hmm. Nanashi wears a white jacket—should I match that?”
“Wait, you gotta go with black, then! It’s like that old line—‘You are the light, and I am the shadow’! So the leader should wear white, and the subordinate wears black!”
I didn’t really know where Arisa was getting this, but it did remind me of some super-famous shojo manga set in France.
“All right, he’ll wear black, then. The overcoat, too.”
“Oh, and you should put a purple streak in his hair.”
For now, I used Illusion to add a purple highlight to part of Kuro’s hair.
Since I had dye anyway, I could apply it to the wig before I went out.
“Now for his equipment. How about a bazooka or a machine gun?”
Arisa must have recognized the character I’d based this face on, since she suggested the weapons he used in the movie.
“No, not guns. That would overlap with Lulu’s main weapon.”
It wouldn’t be a big deal if it was a more popular weapon, but hardly anyone in the Shiga Kingdom carried guns these days.
“A broadsword, then? Didn’t he use one in that Great Something-or-Other movie?”
“It doesn’t need to be based on anything.”
I made a broadsword with Illusion and held it up experimentally.
“No, bigger. You know, like a giant hunk of metal.”
“What, the kind that could cut off a dragon’s head?”
I doubted any human had a sword that could cut the black dragon Hei Long, so I went with a size that could behead a wyvern or hydra instead.
“Ooh, not bad. It could use a little more originality, though.”
“‘Originality’? What do you mean?”
I tried to make the sword’s color match my hair and clothes, but Arisa didn’t seem impressed.
“You know, like…”
Arisa looked around the room for some kind of example.
Finally, she saw herself in the mirror and seemed to come up with something.
“That’s it! Gemstones! Make the sword look like crystal!”
It didn’t sound very practical to me, but it was just for show anyway. It’d be fine.
Besides, if I used “Spellblade” on it, even a wooden sword could probably defeat an intermediate demon.
“Like this?”
I tested out a bunch of different variations: making the sword see-through, changing the materials, adding more decorations, and so on.
It reminded me of working with the art team back during my game-dev days, making me a bit nostalgic.
I’ll probably never be able to make video games here, but I’d like to at least try making board games and such.
“Stop! Try it with those same decorations, amethyst as the material, put a sapphire on the hilt, and then add rubies in the middle of the decorations!”
I manipulated the illusion to Arisa’s specifications.
“How’s that?”
“Hmm…”
She didn’t seem quite pleased, so I lined up a few different versions.
“It just isn’t quite heroic enough.”
“Heroic,” huh?
“You know, like a whip sword or a sickle and chain, the kind of weapon that’s more cool than practical.”
Like a sword that could rotate like a drill?
“I can make that kind of thing some other time. For now, how about something like this?”
I made a double-edged sword, separated it down the middle, and added a sort of light beam between the two blades.
Then I made the left side into red crystal and the right side blue, adding fire and ice illusions to them respectively.
“Oh man, nice! Now, that’s the fantasy factor I was looking for!”
Arisa seemed pleased with my new invention.
“But do you have the materials to make something like that?”
“It’d be a pain to make bauxite so I could transmute ruby and sapphire, so I’ll just use colored glass for now.”
I could technically create bauxite, but the recipe was kind of difficult.
Colored glass, on the other hand, was fairly easy to make. I’d gotten all kinds of materials and dyes when we were traveling through the Ougoch Duchy.
“Whaaat, you could actually make sword-size ruby and sapphire?” Arisa exclaimed.
It was certainly simpler than making legendary metals like orichalcum.
“Yeah, but it’d be cheaper to buy it.”
“Aw, darn.”
Arisa seemed disappointed.
Transmuting ruby and sapphire required Holytree Stone—essentially Philosopher’s Stone—which was far more expensive than either gemstone.
“Since it’s just for show, I’ll try to make it before I leave.”
“You can do it that quickly?”
“I’ll use illusions for the fire and ice, and I can combine an illusion with the Light Magic spell Laser to make the light beam in the middle.”
I wasn’t planning on fighting anyway.
“Whew, that was easier than I thought.”
In the laboratory beneath the Ivy Manor, I held my newly made colored-glass sword up to the light.
Next to me was a life-size Kuro dummy wearing a uniform-style outfit.
Thanks to all my experience making equipment for my group, it took less than an hour to complete both.
“Personally, I’ve gotta say that’s some pretty good cheating.”
Poking fun at myself, I stood up and stretched.
The reason I was able to take the time to make all these things was that the guildmaster still hadn’t emerged from the City Core room in the viceroy’s castle.
I guess meetings with higher-ups took just as long in a fantasy world as they did on Earth.
Suddenly, I heard a strange beeping sound coming from the wall. There was a light bulb flashing right near the source of the sound.
Assuming it was some kind of summons, I pressed the button next to the light bulb.
“Lord Kuro, I am terribly sorry to interrupt your research. The blonde and some plain girl have business with you, apparently.”
The blond noble Eluterina and the carrier Polina seemed to have a report for me.
“Sure. I’ll be right there.”
Giving a quick response to Lelillil, I went back up to the manor.
“Including us two, the alchemist, and the doctors, there is a total of thirteen people who know.”
They had already finished the investigation I’d asked of them earlier that day.
As it turned out, not too many of the captives knew what they had been cultivating.
“I see. I’m glad it’s less than I expected.”
I summoned all thirteen of them into a separate room, explained the danger they were in, and told them that I had a plan to protect them.
The alchemist and doctors seemed to feel guilty, but the other five just pleaded for my help.
Eluterina and Polina must have explained the danger to them ahead of time.
Aside from those two, I had the other eleven move into an isolated room, instructing Lelillil and the remaining pair to make sure they had everything they needed.
That was the room that the alchemist and doctors had already been staying in, so it shouldn’t be too big of a problem.
Once the girls were moved, I checked with Eluterina and Polina about the false information.
“Is the rumor about the gabo wheat and gabo barley spreading well?”
“Yes, it seems that a particularly loose-lipped young woman overheard your conversation with Elder Sister.”
Polina reported that the rumor was proving quite effective.
“Good. Once it’s gotten around enough, I’ll get them to swear to secrecy.”
That would probably make it more believable than just letting the rumor run wild.
Since that was going well, I would probably be able to release most of the girls within the next few days.
“Sorry to barge in.”
That night, I dressed as Kuro and visited the guildmaster’s room via the spiral window.
“Eeeeeek!”
“You shouldn’t be flailing around like that at your age.”
As soon as I entered the room, the battle-loving guildmaster jabbed at me with her staff, but since I was here as Kuro, I simply snatched it out of her hands.
“I’m Kuro, a follower of Nanashi the Hero.”
“…Hero?”
The guildmaster raised her eyebrows suspiciously, and I felt magic power gathering around her.
I’d hoped that introducing myself as connected to the Hero would put her at ease, but obviously it had the opposite effect.
“I don’t know of any Hero by that name. The current Hero of the Saga Empire is Hayato Masaki, is it not?”
“You haven’t done your research, Lilian.”
Miss Sebelkeya, who was also in the room, chided the guildmaster.
Secretary Ushana was present, too.
“What, you’ve heard of him?”
“But of course,” Sebelkeya said smoothly. “Nanashi the Hero is a great man who rescued us elves from terrible danger. Perhaps you would know him as the man who defeated the Golden Boar Lord in the former royal capital?”
“The Golden Boar Lord? So all that nonsense the king was spouting was true?!”
She explained that the Shiga Kingdom had announced the following: “A masked hero who is the reincarnation of the ancestral king Yamato defeated the Golden Boar Lord, the yellow greater demon, and the school of giant monster fish.”
But since the vanquished foes sounded way too powerful, the Shiga Kingdom army hadn’t been dispatched, and there hadn’t been any major damage to the old capital, it seemed that many people assumed it was just a made-up story to cover up Prince Sharorik’s blunders.
“Do you believe me now?”
“Not yet. Where’s the proof that you’re working for him?”
“How about this? It was given to me by my leader.”
I produced a dagger-size Holy Sword from Storage, which I’d made while I was practicing forging swords from orichalcum.
Then I added magic power to it, causing the blade to glow blue.
“Blue light… Is that a Holy Sword?”
“Indeed. It’s nothing compared to my leader’s Holy Sword, but I could easily vanquish the likes of a greater demon with this.”
Kuro’s official level was set as 50, so that might be a bit too boastful.
“…So what are you doing here?”
The guildmaster still looked doubtful, but at least she was willing to hear me out.
“I was raiding a hideout of those filthy plunderers infesting the labyrinth, and I found something strange.”
“Something strange?”
I paused for a moment, keeping the intrigued guildmaster in suspense.
“Can those two be trusted?”
“Hmph! Much more than you, I’d say!”
Sebelkeya and Ushana gave satisfied smiles at the guildmaster’s swift response.
“Then I’ll say it: I found a field of destruction stalks and ruination weeds near
the plunderers’ hideout.”
“…Field?”
The guildmaster’s gaze sharpened.
“Indeed. In fact, it almost looked as though they were being cultivated by humans.”
At that, the guildmaster grimaced.
She must have realized that what Ludaman had said in the dungeon was true.
“And?”
“You don’t seem too surprised.”
“I’d heard a little about it from a two-bit plunderer by the name of Ludaman.”
The guildmaster practically spat his name.
“This will be simple, then. What does the Shiga Kingdom want to do about it?”
“Burn it all to the ground. Tell me where this place is and I’ll do it myself!”
I appreciated her speedy determination.
“Let’s go right now, then. I’ll take you there—Teleport.”
“Wh—?”
Without waiting for an answer, I took the three to a field of destruction stalks and ruination weeds in the labyrinth.
“What?! Where are we?!”
“Celivera Labyrinth. This is the field I told you about.”
The guildmaster moved to burn it right away, but Sebelkeya and Ushana stopped her, heading over to make sure they were really the plants in question.
“…There’s blood on the leaves.”
“And bones in the soil, too—these are human bones.”
Before I’d gone to the guildmaster’s room, I’d made these fakes with the “Counterfeit” skill.
The blood was from livestock and brown wolves, and the bones were from demi-goblins.
Secretary Ushana had the “Analyze” skill, but my “Counterfeit” skill was higher, and it was doubtful she would notice the difference in the darkness here.
“They must be the bones of the people they were forcing to work here.”
“Those plunderer bastards…”
The guildmaster growled, believing my story.
“By the time I got here, the plunderers were tilling the field themselves. They must have worked their captives to death.”
It was an obvious lie, but thanks to the support of my “Fabrication” skill, the three of them fell for it hook, line, and sinker.
Hopefully, they would now assume that it was mostly plunderers who were involved in the cultivation and that there were few, if any, surviving women who might know.
“…No, there’s no doubt about it.”
