Private Soldiers (3)
It was the fourth day since we'd entered Gergius's lair.
Tomorrow, Mersius's treatment would be finished. Her condition had improved so much that nearly every crystal visible on the surface had already been removed — you could see the change with your own eyes.
"…Thank you so much again today, Benefactor."
"It's nothing. I'm just glad you're getting better."
Worn out from the treatment, Mersius managed a weary smile. Gergius turned to her with a question.
"Mersius, how is your body feeling?"
"…It's really so much better, Father. It doesn't hurt anymore when I just sit still."
"Oh…"
Gergius approached his daughter with a look of pure emotion. He reached out carefully and drew her into a tender embrace.
"Truly…the day is coming when you won't be in pain, when you'll be able to see the world outside."
"…Yes."
I didn't know the full story of what they'd been through, but just looking at their faces told me enough — how much hardship they must have endured.
"Haa."
Watching them made me forget my own exhaustion for a moment. I glanced over the mana crystals I'd pulled from Mersius's body. Come to think of it, I'd been tossing these things out without a second thought this whole time…
If you really think about it, this is pure mana that solidified.
Wasn't there some way to put them to use? The thought had barely crossed my mind when Letisia stepped up beside me.
"Albrecht, that's impossible."
"…I didn't say anything?"
"The way you were staring at them made it perfectly obvious what you were thinking. You were wondering if there was some way to use the mana crystals, weren't you?"
…How did she even know that? Was she using telepathy or something?
"Unfortunately, these are too impure to be of any use. They're runaway mana that leaked out and solidified as-is, so unlike the magic stones normally used for crafting equipment, they can't properly hold mana."
"Ah…"
That was a shame. There were so many of them, too.
"If anything, the moment you try to fill them with mana, they'll go boom and explode."
"…They explode?"
"Yes. So they're useless."
That gave me an idea.
Then couldn't I just throw them like grenades?
In the era that formed the backdrop of Dungeon in Evil — that stretch of history after the Middle Ages but before the modern age — bombs were more commonly fired from cannons than thrown by hand. Hand-thrown bombs had existed, of course, but they'd been pushed aside by artillery and never saw widespread use.
So the thought that would naturally occur to a modern person was one Letisia, a native of this world, simply hadn't considered.
If these things didn't detonate the instant you poured mana into them — if there was a delay — then throwing them like grenades would make for a pretty effective weapon, wouldn't it?
"When you say they explode, you mean the solidified mana itself detonates?"
"Yes, that's right. Since the crystals are already solid, the blast wouldn't be enormous, but if one went off right next to you, it could easily kill you."
"Then what if I threw it before it exploded?"
"……What?"
Letisia was giving me that look again — the one that said what kind of ridiculous idea is this — when Gergius spoke up.
"That would be difficult, I'm afraid. When runaway mana that has already leaked out comes into contact with other mana, the reaction is immediate. It won't wait around for a person to throw it."
"Ah…"
So that was it. I'd been wondering why they didn't just dump all these crystals piling up like trash in an empty room of the lair outside — it was because of that danger.
If the whole pile went off at once…just imagining it was horrifying.
"……Hm?"
But wait…thinking about it, these were still mana, weren't they? The explosive force itself came from the fact that the crystals were mana.
"Gergius, about that."
"What is it?"
"If I suppress them with my own mana when I pour it in — would they still explode?"
At my question, Gergius's eyes widened slightly, as if he'd caught on to what I was getting at. Then he answered.
"Well, your mana is extremely unusual, so I can't say for certain…"
He continued.
"But in theory, they probably wouldn't explode until your mana was withdrawn."
"……So that means I could delay the explosion? They wouldn't detonate until I pulled my mana back."
"…In theory, yes."
"Then would it be all right if I tried it once? If it's theoretically possible, it seems worth experimenting…"
Used properly, this could become a useful weapon all my own. And the method was simple enough, wasn't it? Pour mana in, throw it, then just pull my mana back out.
"I don't mind, but…"
Fortunately, being as big as I was, my arms and legs were on the long side — throwing things shouldn't be a problem.
Letisia, however, sounded a little uneasy.
"E-experimenting with that is far too dangerous. And besides, these are still his daughter's mana…"
"That part is fine. They've been a nuisance to dispose of anyway. There's no method of converting them back into Mersius's mana, so they're nothing but garbage."
"Then let's do it right now!"
I turned to look at Caesius.
"Caesius, stay by Mersius. Just so we're clear — if any suspicious types come in like last time, you have full authority to deal with them yourself."
"Understood."
Having given Caesius her orders in advance so we wouldn't have a repeat of the previous incident, I took Gergius and Letisia and headed out of the lair.
The area around the lair was an uninhabited forest, so chucking something like this around wouldn't cause any problems. I picked up one of the fresh crystals I'd just removed from Mersius's body.
…Did crystals even have something like freshness?
Anyway, I was about to give it a try when Letisia spoke up.
"Albrecht, do you really have to do this?"
"Hm? Getting a new weapon is a good thing, isn't it?"
"Well…you have magic. Do you really need something like this…?"
"Magic is magic, and this is this. When you're short on time, this might actually be more practical than casting a spell."
I said it plainly.
"The more usable weapons you have, the better, right?"
"…Haa. The moment anything feels off, throw it immediately."
"Got it, got it."
"If the reaction looks strange, I'll try to block it."
With an Elder Dragon like Gergius offering that kind of assurance, Letisia's expression finally eased a little.
"All right. Here goes."
I gripped the crystal and raised my mana, then guided it to flow into the crystal. The crystal immediately began radiating a fierce light.
"…Oh?"
"A-Albrecht! Throw it!"
"No, just a second…"
I casually held the crystal out toward Letisia. She flinched hard and jerked her body backward.
"Eek…?!"
"Hey, no need to panic. It's not going off."
"…What?"
"Look. It worked just like we discussed."
At my words, Letisia and Gergius both examined the crystal's condition. It was glowing as if it might detonate at any second — but the suppressing nature of my mana was holding the explosion in check, keeping it from going off.
Letisia spoke with genuine wonder.
"You're right…"
Having once been a mage herself, she still had that inquisitive streak. She studied the crystal from every angle with a look in her eyes not unlike the one Agresia got when researching my mana.
Gergius let out a murmur of admiration.
"Remarkable. A truly mysterious phenomenon. Albrecht, the more I see of your mana, the more fascinating it becomes."
"Now for this…"
I gripped the crystal and hurled it forward with everything I had. It arced through the air in a clean parabola, and the moment it was about to hit the ground, I withdrew my mana.
And then—
KRAAAAAAAAAANG!!!
"Huh?"
"Hyaaaak?!"
"This is…"
The explosion was far bigger than expected — big enough to shake the ground for a moment. Startled out of her wits, Letisia let out a terrified scream and threw herself at me.
Thud!
"Ow!"
I toppled backward under the impact. Rubbing the back of my head, I looked down at Letisia, who had essentially flung herself into my arms. I'd been about to ask her what she thought she was doing, lunging at me like that — but the way she was trembling slightly made me shut my mouth.
Guess she was really startled.
She'd be used to cannons, so it wasn't that bombs scared her — she'd just been caught completely off guard by a result she hadn't anticipated. Even people who don't startle easily can jump when they're too relaxed.
"I-I'm so sorry, Albrecht. The noise was so loud, I just…"
"No, it's fine…"
More pressingly, with Letisia lying on top of me like that, I was very much aware of a soft sensation I really shouldn't have been focusing on. Which made it even harder to say anything.
……Honestly, it felt good.
"Are you all right…? It looked like you hit your head…"
Letisia got up and helped me to my feet.
"I didn't hit it that hard. More importantly…"
I looked ahead. The mana crystal I'd thrown into the forest had exploded, and every tree in the blast radius had been flattened.
"……That's a mess."
"The power was stronger than I expected…"
"Mersius's excess mana was so abundant that far more mana was compressed into each crystal than their size would suggest. Even so, the blast shouldn't normally have been this powerful, but…"
Gergius explained.
"While your mana was suppressing it, Albrecht, the mana inside kept trying to explode and built up a counter-force against itself. Releasing all of that at once made the detonation even more powerful."
"Ah…"
So that was how it worked.
Either way, force of that magnitude wasn't something even a monster could shrug off. It felt like I'd genuinely acquired a proper weapon…
"Gergius, would it be all right if…"
"Do as you please. You're offering to dispose of the garbage piled up in my lair — why would I object?"
"Thank you."
"There's no need to thank me for taking trash, Albrecht. Compared to the happiness you've brought me, this is truly nothing."
Gergius added one more thing.
"But carrying all of it away would be quite the chore. You don't seem to have anywhere to put it…"
"Ah."
That was a problem.
I was still fretting over how to solve it when Gergius spoke.
"Follow me."
Gergius led Letisia and me back into the lair — and somehow, we ended up at his warehouse again.
"Gergius? I've already received what I was going to take."
"It's fine. And what you took…"
Gergius smiled lightly.
"You gave it to Letisia, did you not?"
"…!"
The question of how he knew resolved itself almost immediately. He was a dragon — of course he would have sensed Letisia's mana increasing.
"A chance to claim treasure from a dragon's lair, and you used it not for yourself but for someone else. I have never seen such a commendable human."
"Ahaha…"
It wasn't like I'd done it out of some desire to perform a good deed. I'd just picked something I thought would genuinely be good for Letisia.
"Your conduct is so admirable that I ought to give you one more thing, don't you think?"
With that, Gergius opened the warehouse, went inside, and came back out holding something. At a glance, it looked like an ordinary small leather pouch.
"It's a subspace pouch."
"…What?!"
Letisia was more shocked than I was. As for me, rather than shock…I felt pretty pleased.
Didn't expect to run into one of these here.
A subspace pouch. Despite its small appearance, the amount it could hold was effectively infinite. It was the item that served as the infinite inventory in Dungeon in Evil.
In-game system limitations meant there was still a cap on how many items you could store, but there was no weight restriction whatsoever.
"If you put them in here, you'll certainly be able to fit all those crystals, and it'll be convenient for you to take them out and use later."
"Are you sure it's all right to give me something this valuable?"
I hadn't expected to receive anything else.
"It's fine. It isn't particularly useful to me, and it's something you need, is it not?"
Gergius said.
"Use it well. And please see my daughter's treatment through to the end."
"Thank you, Gergius."
I took the subspace pouch and stuffed every last one of Mersius's crystals that Gergius had piled up in the empty room into it. True to its nature as a subspace pouch, even with that many crystals inside, its slim exterior didn't change at all.
I'd figured it would at least puff up a little when things went in, but apparently not.
"I'm envious, Albrecht."
"Hm?"
Letisia said.
"A subspace pouch is a treasure every adventurer dreams of having."
"…Yeah, I suppose so."
From an adventurer's perspective, a bag that didn't care how much luggage you carried was about as good as it got. You could just buy everything you needed and stuff it all in.
"Still, for now I'm only putting the mana crystals in it."
"Why?"
"Because I don't want to accidentally pull out a ladle or something when I'm trying to throw one. Though throwing a ladle would probably still hurt pretty bad."
"……Pfft!"
Letisia burst into light laughter at that.
"You're worrying about nothing, Albrecht."
"What? It could actually happen."
"It won't. When you take something out of a subspace pouch, only what you want comes out."
"…Oh, really?"
I hadn't known that. So it worked just like selecting an item in a game inventory?
"You said all that without knowing? I thought you were joking."
"I was at least half-serious."
"Heh. What are you like."
Letisia continued.
"…Now that you have a subspace pouch, once you come back, we won't have to worry about luggage at all."
"Hey now, are you still treating me like a porter?"
"It's not treatment — that's your post, isn't it?"
"I already left the party, so that post doesn't matter anymore."
"…"
Letisia smiled with a touch of bitterness. That smile of hers made me flinch.
"……I-I mean right now. Right now. It's not like I'm saying I'll never go back…"
"…Will you come back?"
"I told you. Once I reach a level of skill I'm satisfied with, I'm willing. Assuming there's still a spot open…"
"If you're going to come back anyway, can't you just come back starting now?"
"…"
I looked at Letisia quietly. The look in her eyes was genuinely earnest. The sincerity of wanting me by her side came through so strongly it was almost overwhelming.
I spoke to her carefully.
"…Even if I go back to the party, I'm going to finish what I started. I made a promise to Agresia, and besides…how often does a chance to learn magic from a Magic Tower Lord come around?"
"I'm sure Erinn would understand that."
"…You think so?"
Letisia nodded — with a fervor that almost felt desperate. The sight of it made me laugh lightly without meaning to.
"Wh-why are you laughing…?"
"No, you were just nodding so intensely."
"Euh, th-that just sort of happened…"
Watching her get flustered, I smiled faintly.
"All right. When I go back, I'll talk to Clara first, then Erinn."
"R-really?"
"Yeah."
I said.
"It was only for a little while, but…I think I enjoyed having comrades like you, too."
"Albrecht…!"
Letisia's face lit up with emotion, and even her eyes began to shimmer. Seeing that, I spoke up in mild surprise.
"Letisia, why are you cry—"
"W-well…"
She said.
"I'd been thinking…what if I never got to see you again……"
"……"
"…Thank you for saying you'll come back, Albrecht."
Letisia wiped away the tears that had started to fall. Then, with eyes still wet, she smiled more brightly than I had ever seen her smile and said,
"Let's do well together again."
I was briefly startled by those words — then I huffed a quiet laugh and nodded.
"Yeah."
Morning arrived in Obern.
"Here you are, Hero. These are the investigation results."
The Aurum Aquila investigation that had begun the previous evening was only completed that morning. Of the buildings owned by the ducal house, a total of eleven had underground spaces.
Having woken early to check the list herself, Erinn folded it with a sharp snap and said,
"Perfect."
"Pwahh, so now we just go check them out ourselves?"
Erinn nodded at Ser-Aria, who had already been drinking first thing in the morning.
"Yeah. We narrowed it down a lot, but eleven places is still a lot, so splitting up will be faster~."
"Right! That's the way to do it."
Ser-Aria sprang up from her seat, and Erinn rose as well.
"Thank you, Branch Manager~."
"Haha…not at all. I'm just glad I could be of help."
Erinn smirked at Race's polished, perfunctory reply. And then—
"I'll be using your services often from now on~♡"
"Pardon…?"
Was that a promise to patronize the trading company regularly, or a threat that she'd keep putting him to work like this?
"Let's go, Aria."
"Let's go~!"
Race had absolutely no idea which it was.