Blue Blood (3)
I slammed my forehead to the ground without a single moment of hesitation the instant my “elite martial artist from the Kitai righteous faction” concept was exposed.
‘Yesugei? Never heard of him.’ I could have played dumb and denied everything, but if this was the Primor I knew, banging my head on the floor was the far wiser choice. At least an honest confession would spare me from being accused of insolence.
〈Your face really is the real one, I see. Then how much of what you told me was true?〉
The ordinary question, delivered in an ordinary tone, somehow felt terrifying. When I couldn’t answer and just stammered, Primor let out a small sigh.
〈……So it was all of it. Except for the part about the young lady of the Arma Shunas lineage.〉
〈That’s right!! I have committed a crime worthy of death!!〉
〈Stop that. I won’t act pettily toward the person who saved my life.〉
Primor spoke calmly even while watching me perform a full grand kowtow.
〈I understand. At our first meeting I hadn’t revealed my own identity, and you couldn’t have told the whole truth to someone you found suspicious.〉
〈Whaaat?! You even understand the circumstances of a country bumpkin like me?! How can someone be this merciful?!〉
〈I told you to stop.〉
〈Yes ma’am.〉
The moment I shut my mouth, Primor murmured softly.
〈……Yes. Both at our first meeting and when you avenged my husband, it was unavoidable.〉
She nodded with merciful grace, then kept that same benevolent expression as she continued.
〈However, the fact that you lied to me again when we met this time… can only be called intentional, can’t it?〉
Wow. I’m fucked.
The moment my brain switched to there-was-hope-but-now-there-isn’t mode, I felt old memories flash through my neurons. But thankfully, Primor showed mercy once again.
〈Still, I can understand even that. The debt of avenging my husband and saving all our lives is far too great to be canceled out by a few lies.〉
She had apparently reached some kind of enlightenment; Primor was now in full non-killing, infinite-mercy mode, spamming the compassion button like crazy. At this rate, she’d probably start treating arrowheads like double-edged swords out of sheer benevolence.
〈You’re forgiving me……!! Thank you so much……!!〉
〈Stop using that strangely cute way of speaking. Instead, I have a condition.〉
Goddamn it, you say all that and then tack on a condition at the end? That’s a little unfair.
But my position was too weak to argue about unfairness. I kept my mouth shut and listened attentively. Primor spoke.
〈It isn’t far from here to the Armaals family’s territory. I will formally invite Sir Nord, so please bring Lady Tirsi and the rest of your party to visit.〉
〈Of course I will!! It is the honor of a lifetime!!〉
〈I’m also worried about Lady Tirsi’s condition. Traveling all the way to Britannia for treatment would take an enormous amount of time just for the journey. The sooner an illness is discovered and treated, the better.〉
〈Is that true?! I don’t know how to contain myself in the face of such tremendous honor!!〉
─*Bung bung!*
I shook my head vigorously to express my gratitude. The part about travel time wasn’t entirely true thanks to spatial movement, but I decided to accept her goodwill at face value. Besides, a full health checkup in this world cost an absolute fortune. If she was willing to cover that, granting a request of this level was more than reasonable.
‘She calls it a condition, but isn’t this basically a “paying back a favor” quest?’
Primor didn’t bother emphasizing how precarious her position was within her family. The way she repaid kindness without making a show of it seemed to reflect both her pride and her personality. Well, she was the kind of person who would cut off her own finger and pick up a bow to avenge her husband. There was no point in saying anything; it would only make my mouth hurt.
〈……I won’t ask you to speak as casually as before, but could you at least talk a little more normally?〉
〈……Ahem. If that is what you wish, I shall do so.〉
I cleared my throat and returned to a kneeling position. Primor spoke as if she were tired.
〈We’ll make the official reason for the invitation your achievement in defeating Diabolo. I will also keep your true identity as Yesugei hidden from the guards.〉
〈Thank you. I feel like I’m only receiving from start to finish.〉
〈It doesn’t matter. I’m simply repaying what I’ve received. ……By the way, this is a slightly different topic, but may I ask your real identity, Sir Nord?〉
Primor suddenly spun the conversation 180 degrees. I tried to read her true intentions while answering honestly.
〈I obtained citizenship in Britannia and currently work as an archaeologist and adventurer.〉
〈……An archaeologist. So that’s why you possess such skill.〉
Whether it was admiration or understanding, Primor made a small sound of realization. It was kind of funny that archaeologists were apparently treated like some high-tier adventurer class. She stared straight at my face and asked.
〈Then do you have a separate sponsor?〉
〈Pardon? Ah, well… After this job is finished, a certain noble who asked me to rescue Lady Tirsi said she would become my sponsor. It’s not confirmed yet, though.〉
〈A noble from Britannia, I assume. Who is this person?〉
〈She is Lady Maria Hennessis, the heir to the Lord of Sargadis.〉
Primor snorted elegantly through her nose and placed a hand on her hip.
〈I’ve never heard that name before. In that case, the Armaals family or my own natal house would be far better.〉
Whoa, this lady is suddenly acting all high and mighty.
If Maria Hennessis had heard that, she probably would have slapped her across the face right from the capital. I smiled awkwardly and avoided giving a direct answer.
‘……Is she offering to become my sponsor? It can’t be pure goodwill.’
If she were some pure, unmarried young noble lady, I might have suspected romantic intentions, being a man myself. But the possibility that Primor—who had lost her husband only a few months ago—would do something like that was close to zero percent.
Realizing I was having trouble answering immediately, Primor snorted again and spoke.
〈……Well, that’s fine. This isn’t the right time or place for a deeper conversation. I will send someone for you later.〉
〈Yes. Just call and I will come running at full speed.〉
When I laid on the flattery, Primor answered grumpily.
〈Keep those words in mind. If you run away like last time, I might really send people after you.〉
〈Yes ma’am!! Of course I will!!〉
This time my playful response must have landed, because Primor let out a small laugh.
〈Once again, I offer my gratitude to the real you.〉
In a sense, she had every right to feel betrayed by someone she once considered her benefactor, yet it seemed a few pointed words had been enough to dispel her anger. She lifted the hem of her skirt and gave a proper curtsy.
〈Thank you for comforting my husband’s soul, Sir Nord.〉
〈……I’m glad it brought him peace.〉
I didn’t add any unnecessary words and simply answered like that. She really was a good person. Considering how the average noble behaved, she would probably continue to suffer mentally in the future.
‘Anyway, that was a fucking huge slip of the tongue just now.’
I held back a sigh. To think I had been so lazy about hiding a false identity. It was the biggest mistake of Kang Bukho’s life. Even if I had been creampieing Dana while shouting “Priscilla! I’m cumming!!” at the top of my lungs, it probably would have been less cringeworthy than this.
Primor must have noticed that the moment the mood relaxed I started thinking nonsense, because she released her skirt and smiled.
〈I knew that the Yesugei I knew wouldn’t just sit there doing nothing in this situation. Also, the line of your neck and such that I saw when you removed your mask looked extremely similar. It was half an interrogation.〉
〈Ha, hahaha…… Your memory is truly impressive…….〉
The neck, huh. So even something like that could be used to suspect someone. An archer’s eye really couldn’t be underestimated.
‘It’s a shame I don’t have the ability to transform into other people, fuck.’
Turning into an animal and turning into a human were as different as kimchi stew and mille-feuille nabe. Sure, some basic ingredients overlapped, but almost everything else was completely different.
Still, things had somehow worked out, so I’d call it a blessing in disguise.
After receiving Primor’s forgiveness, I participated in the mop-up operation against the remaining Yotun. Tirsi still hadn’t woken up, and the Yotun were still hiding all over the city, so whether I liked it or not, this was the moment for my detection ability and combat power to shine.
〈I’ll exterminate every last one of them!!〉
〈Kuhuuuuuuuk!!〉
I dodged the Yotun that was staggering around doing the forsythia dance after getting hit in the head, then drove my spear straight into its solar plexus. Even wrapped in the mana of Beast Regression, the spearhead couldn’t fully penetrate, but that didn’t matter.
Blood Hand Demonic Art – Calamity Horn
─*Thwock!*
〈Guaaaaaaack───?!〉
The vertically-mouthed giant that looked like a giant dick spewed blood from its giant overturned-turtle head and died instantly. The Beast Regression mana that had dug into its hide had literally crushed its internal organs into something resembling fried rice with crab innards.
〈Fyauuuu……〉
〈You should’ve prepared some defense-penetration countermeasures.〉
─*Thud!*
I spun my spear and dodged the falling giant. When I checked the corpses of these bastards, their internal organs were far weaker than their tough outer hide. That was true for any living creature, but for mana users their level was quite low. In humans like us, the more we trained, the tougher our insides became as well. But these guys had none of that. Their innate physical abilities gave them a high baseline, but that also made their weaknesses and limits very clear.
Of course there were exceptions. Not every member of this race was a combat genius. The five I had just caught were mostly trash-tier.
‘If I had to describe them, they’d be like street thugs from the Yotun world?’
Thinking of it that way, they really were a terrifying species. Ten blond thugs could destroy an entire city, after all. And judging by the frost storm raging in the distance, there had apparently been some Yotun who didn’t get one-shot by Signatio.
This otherworld golden sun is seriously terrifying. It’s pure horror.
‘Of course, since I came here to leech honey, I won’t be fighting any monsters like that.’
─*Shwaaaack!*
I absorbed the mana spewed out by the fake Yotun and smiled with satisfaction. The mana increase from killing five of them was roughly 25 percent. It might not sound that impressive, but that was only because I had already doubled my mana after killing the fake Thor. Compared to me from a year ago, it was still a 50 percent increase. And 25 percent was by no means a small amount. For office workers, whether their salary went up or down by 25 percent could be motive for murder.
Still, there had to be a limit to how much mana could be increased this way. Nothing in the world was infinite.
〈Thank you for your hard work!〉
〈Thank you for your hard work!!〉
〈Yes, you too everyone. Where’s the next spot?〉
When I answered the soldiers who were guiding me after I located the Yotun, they muttered among themselves while looking at a map before replying.
〈It looks like there aren’t any more!〉
Fuck, already? I wanted five more.
I felt a brief pang of regret, but comforted myself with the fact that no more people would get hurt. I was honestly tired too.
〈Understood. You’ve all worked hard.〉
〈Yes sir! We are truly grateful for your cooperation!〉
Maybe it was because I had slaughtered monsters they could never have defeated even if they died and came back to life, without so much as a scratch on my hide. The soldiers were overreacting with tears in their eyes from the “shaky bridge” effect of a life-or-death crisis. I gave a casual farewell and retraced my steps.
While walking the return path, I checked my mana vessel. The amount had increased so noticeably that the corners of my mouth almost rose—until I saw the utterly miserable state of the streets. The sight made my shoulders slump on their own.
‘……Anyway, at least I got the main reward.’
Of course, I had no intention of being satisfied with just this. Now it was time for the important drop item distribution phase. With confirmation from the two aunts and Signatio, my innocence had been proven. I could confidently claim my share.
‘As long as I don’t make enemies of the nobles, that is.’
There was nothing to gain from being greedier than necessary. People’s grudges tended to accumulate in trivial places. I returned to the lord’s mansion, where tents resembling makeshift shelters were being erected, and headed straight for the place where the drop items were being stored without stopping anywhere else.