To a Distant Land (4)
"Great Sage, the Demon Knight refused the investigation and left. What should we do?"
In the reception room, the Archmage's brow dipped faintly as he conversed with White Wind.
"Mm. How did that come about?"
"We asked what happened in the moment he was overtaken by the demon, and…"
"I thought as much. Leave him be. Don't bother sending people after him, either."
"Understood."
When fierce White Wind answered so casually, it was she who found herself thrown off balance. The Archmage set down the teacup in his hand.
"Is it truly all right to let him go?"
"When a man says no with his entire body, how am I supposed to drag him back?"
"But the investigation was for crafting a seal, was it not? At this rate, making a proper one will be…"
"Right. Impossible. I told you earlier. That absolute seal you're hoping for will never exist. Even if he cooperated meekly it would have been difficult—this way, it's hopeless."
"That was the reason? I took it to mean our technique was simply insufficient. Then perhaps I should try persuading him myself…"
The Demon Knight was a critical resource. His combat power alone went without saying, and his very existence already neutralized one of the Great Demons they would otherwise have to face. That made a seal that could serve as insurance a matter of no small weight. The Archmage understood the Demon Knight's feelings well enough—but this time, somehow, he needed to wring a concession from him.
"It won't work."
That was what the Archmage believed.
"He'd rather die than give any more than he already has."
Had fierce White Wind—who always wore a sunny smile—not whispered those words with her expression set at a slant, the Archmage would have acted on the impulse.
"How would you know that?"
"Because I have that part in me too. So do you, don't you?"
White Wind dropped a spoonful of honey into her teacup. With every slow turn of the teaspoon, the honey melted into the warm tea.
"In your head you know it isn't right—or that it isn't efficient. Even so, there are things you simply cannot compromise on. Things you'd rather die for than yield."
That water would be sweet.
Would it?
"I respect him."
One spoonful of honey. Two. More and more, until the cup overflowed and the heat could no longer dissolve what remained—
Just as a knot left in the chest, once it grows past a certain point, can no longer be melted down and rinsed away by reason.
"That's also why I gave him something that can blow out a heart in a moment of crisis."
"…! Wh-what are you—"
"Honestly, I'm more surprised that you're acting like this. I always thought you respected people more than I do. Or has the self-loathing you aim at yourself started leaking onto that kid as well?"
"…!!"
"Well, it doesn't matter. You'll handle it fine on your own."
"…Did I seem as though I didn't respect him?"
"Not quite that far. More like I was wondering whether you were on edge because of the Hero, or for some other reason. I never expected you to press him this hard. At the very least I thought you'd take your time. This isn't the sort of problem that gets fixed overnight. Same with how little time you gave for developing the seal."
White Wind drained the tea that was half honey in a single gulp. However thick the sweetness must have been, her face remained expressionless, giving nothing away.
"Anyway—everyone's short on development time, so we'll set that aside. The rest is your personal business, so I won't touch it further. If you insist on trying to persuade him, I won't stop you."
She made a light gesture with her fingers, as if to say that if the persuasion succeeded, he would have to be sent along without fail.
"Don't worry about the other problems either. Researching ways to deal with demons is something we should be doing anyway, and as long as the Hero is at the Magic Tower, we'll give full cooperation on applications of Holy Power."
Ah—and of course the search for the informant, too. White Wind lightly reviewed every issue she had entrusted to him.
The Archmage's hand quietly traced the rim of his teacup.
"…Thank you."
"Think nothing of it."
Though the view outside could not be projected directly, a landscape transcribed by magical instruments and cast onto the walls surrounded them.
"Ah! Right—whatever else, I meant to give the Demon Knight a commission! Completely forgot!"
"A commission?"
"Aaah! It's too late to send someone after him now. This is all your fault! You fix it!"
"What… that's absurd."
"You fix iiiit."
I raised an eyebrow at the person clinging to me.
"So shameless you've lost your hands and feet as well, I see."
A side quest dropping into my lap of its own accord was fine by me. I'd been stuck handling nothing but main-quest-scale—or whatever-they-were—massive jobs for long enough.
That said: the Magic Tower as the client? Even if I ended up taking care of it myself, I ought to push back at least once, right?
"Ugh, I apologize for what I said earlier. Please, just hear me out."
The apology was pretty half-hearted, but… fine. Kid was young. I'd cut some slack.
I settled into the posture of a cousin willing to listen for a moment, and the child's face lit up as they launched into a rapid-fire explanation.
"Starting two weeks ago, snakes began appearing in the lake. There were always some snakes, but never ones this big. This is the first time."
And they were aggressive enough to attack people on the bridge like this, the kid grumbled. Visitors to the Magic Tower had dropped off as a result.
"Among the labs the Tower runs, the small-scale ones mostly scrape by selling magic. If customers keep dwindling, those labs will all go under. We have to stop that!"
They insisted this had absolutely nothing to do with their own lab being in that situation. From where I stood, that was about ninety-nine percent of the reason.
"So."
Still… every time I saw a quest like this, I wondered. Dumping the job on the Adventurers' Guild was one thing—they existed to take on odds and ends like this.
But when it was this urgent, why didn't the Magic Tower itself step in?
"S-so? So please accept the commission…"
Why weren't they stepping in? Was there a reason?
"…Please. I'm begging you. The Adventurers' Guild already turned this commission down. The mages from the labs that got hit wanted to handle it themselves, but they're all research types—fragile as paper. The other labs with combat mages said it wasn't their problem and refused to help… and the Great Sage just told us to ignore it…"
While I briefly guessed at the commission's background, the child rambled through excuses with a crestfallen face. That at least told me why they were asking me. It also raised new questions.
"…The Adventurers' Guild refused?"
"Tsk. It's all because of the Temple! They keep saying we must be the culprits and should take responsibility ourselves! And the Adventurers' Guild sided with them!"
Huh. The Temple? That was odd. Those people loved helping others so much they even did free volunteer work. And the Adventurers' Guild at least moved for the public good—so why?
"Isn't that just awful? Sure, there were times when fallout from certain labs' research left the city blanketed in bugs, or shook the ground so a few houses collapsed, or clogged the drainage so the entire lower district flooded—but this time we're the victims too!!"
…So there was a reason. Anyone looking at that would assume it was you people.
If that sort of thing hadn't happened once or twice but over and over, even rolling over backward you'd still look like the perpetrators.
"Just because they give free treatment! We pay damages in our own way too!"
And free treatment is fine once or twice—having to clean up after you every single time would make anyone sick of it…
I exhaled deeply as I grasped why two organizations dedicated to the public good had washed their hands of this.
Anyway: they claimed it wasn't their fault, and they also claimed they weren't in a position to solve it themselves, so I was inclined to step in. It wasn't demon-related, and it was only snake hunting. It shouldn't take long.
"…So I need only kill all the snakes."
"Please… wait, what?"
"I asked whether killing all the snakes would suffice."
A contract… ah, forget it. I had no money and no dignity left to stand on. If they paid, great; if not, I'd move on.
Besides, the payment for the dragon scales… was still sleeping in my wallet. Sniff. Suddenly something in my eye.
"Y-yes!"
But thinking it over again—how was I supposed to catch these snakes? In a normal game you'd just kill a set number of field mobs, but here… wait.
"Is there an item that allows underwater breathing?"
"Ah, of course! I-I'll go get it! No—wait, I'll come with you! We'll provide every item you need!"
Come to think of it… how long had it been since I'd looked at the quest window?
Huh?
I realized the quest wasn't appearing, but there was no time to dwell on it. The client's eagerness was far too thick to leave room for other thoughts.
Besides… even if the system had glitched and stopped opening windows, there was nothing I could actually do about it.
What a broken bug. Aside from hoping I'd get force-logged out and bounced back to reality, there was truly nothing to try.
So would I let anxiety swallow me and freeze in terror? Absolutely not. I caught the sinking feeling and set the question of causes aside for later.
I could think about it after this quest, while resting. Or while searching the lake, even.
After all, I'd already gone more than a few weeks without noticing the quests weren't showing. Another day or two wouldn't blow anything up. If it was going to, it would have already, damn it.
"Our savior!"
"The light!"
"Thank you!"
And so, faithfully postponing the problem, I followed the client to their lab.
As a bonus I received items for underwater breathing, medicine against the bends, hot packs against hypothermia, and a lamp that worked submerged.
"A-are you sure you'll be all right with just that?"
Back outside, I took off my boots and coat and tucked them carefully into inventory. There was no emergency so urgent I needed to keep them on, and no reason to swim encumbered.
Besides, removing those two things didn't disorder my appearance.
"Take this as well. Press the button and compressed air inflates a balloon—you can surface in an instant."
Weren't they almost too well prepared for underwater work? I thought of ocean-survival games I'd played before and looked again at the item being offered.
It was shaped like a harness with an air bladder on the back; even worn, it wouldn't ruin the silhouette. Best not to use it at all, of course.
I checked the hot packs—finger-sized stones—fitted to my wrists, ankles, waist, and chest one last time, then bit down on the underwater breathing device.
"Safe travels!!"
"You've got this!"
Splash!
The cheers of support, half-swallowed by the sound of the dive, irritated me for some reason today.
Bubbles.
Feeling the breathing device work properly, I swam inward.
With the city and research facilities nearby, the water was extremely murky. Whether to call it algae or silt, the suspended matter was no joke.
Blub. Blub-blub.
Still, it wasn't to the point of total blindness.
Accompanied by the sound of bursting bubbles, I swam deeper. Twigs, leaves, and seaweed brushed past me in small scraps, and the bottom gradually came into view.
"…?"
Strange thickets had claimed the lakebed.
Was this all right? Without room for other thoughts, I drew a knife and readied myself. Even bare sand would have been dangerous; with undergrowth like that, sensing a snake's approach would be nearly impossible.
I swam at a moderate depth without descending too far. A few fish brushed past me, and soon a couple of snakes began to approach as well.
Maybe it was the muscle memory from fighting Dragon Tooth Soldiers. And unlike then, I had magic to spare—so taking down the giant water snakes wasn't particularly difficult.
The king water snakes that came at me were split in half and sank toward the lakebed.
"……??"
But then the undergrowth began to wrap around those corpses. It wasn't the current swaying them, or the weight of the bodies pressing them into a gentle rock. They were unmistakably coiling around the fallen carcasses and drawing them in.
This was starting to feel like a bad call, wasn't it??
Bubble.
It might still be my imagination, so better to confirm. I swam in search of other snakes. I was a little scared to go myself, so I planned to experiment with ones I'd have to kill anyway.
Sorry to the snakes, of course! Honestly, the whole idea of labeling creatures looking for a home as pests that needed exterminating was pretty sorry to begin with!! Humans are soooorry.
Slash!
I found a third snake and cut it down. Then I snatched the sinking body and held it out at length.
The snake's body, gripped in my hand like a fishing line, slowly descended.
Slither.
"…!"
It really was grabbing it!
I frowned at the waterweeds starting to tangle around the snake's corpse, then pulled to test their strength.
They felt a little tougher than expected, but they tore.
So—surface now, or investigate a little more?
I respectfully released the experimental snake and looked quietly down at the thickets. The dark-blue swaying almost resembled a beast's maw.
Blub-blub-blub.
…Just a little more looking. For all I knew these things were always like this. The mages probably would have mentioned it if so, but who knew—maybe they'd simply forgotten.
And even if this was abnormal, I at least needed a sample so I'd have something to ask the mages about. I also needed to check how far these thickets had spread.
So I set the snakes aside and began surveying the lake bottom. I didn't need to go hunting for them—they came at me on their own—so I didn't have to focus too hard.
What unsettled me more was how widely the undergrowth had spread.
I scowled as I took in the lakebed: all but conquered, and even what looked like Magic Tower buildings blanketed over.
Thankfully it hadn't reached the shoreline yet, but at this rate that would fill with the same waterweed too.
More than anything, there were barely any fish. Watching the ones that only appeared where the weeds weren't, I kicked my legs again.
I'd killed a dozen-odd snakes and roughly mapped the weeds' range. Now I just meant to tear off a small sample.
"…!"
But why was this so tough!
Figuring it was better to be grabbed from one side than from all directions, I approached the weeds from the outer edge.
The right call. The things that instantly wound around my arms and legs were extremely tenacious.
Crack!
The hand that finally freed one arm swung the knife. With a sound like twisting metal—screee—the thicket was slashed away in heaps.
I was free again.
Bubble.
Getting bound for real felt so disgusting. Shuddering, I grabbed some of the severed weeds and headed up. Even cut, the seaweed-like strands kept coiling around my arm as if still alive.
Splash!
"Ah, you're back!"
Ugh—I'd been searching for maybe two hours, and it was surprisingly exhausting. With my free hand I pulled out the breathing device and swam slowly toward the pier. I'd torn out part of the railing earlier, so climbing up wasn't hard.
"S-so, how was it? Did you manage to catch some snak—"
"What is this."
Snakes later—this first. If I'd approached that thicket without thinking, what would have happened?
"Grass?"
"When I drew near, it tried to drag me in. Explain."
"Tried to drag you in? What do you me—"
I swept my water-heavy hair back. Floating debris caught in the strands did nothing for my mood.
"Mm. About that—may I explain?"
Someone cut in without warning.
"Great Sage!"
"The Great Sage herself!"
As if living up to her name, fierce White Wind appeared like the wind.
"That was the part I originally meant to commission, you see."
Separately, I had the distinct feeling this incident was about to get much larger.