58. Dinner Party (5)
58. Dinner Party (5)
- 1 -
After the second dance, Sonia returned to her seat looking considerably brighter.
She really had enjoyed it. That was a relief.
"It's a little warm."
"Ah, I'll fetch a drink...!"
"Thank you."
As soon as I sat down and made a comment while fanning myself with my hand, she dashed off even faster than Shue, as if she were my actual partner.
Her face wore a cute expression that said she'd found moving about to be well worth it.
After that, my gaze soon turned to Alexis.
I wanted to hear how the task I'd entrusted to him earlier was going.
"How is it coming along?"
"Ah... well. The results haven't been ideal."
Alexis answered with an apologetic look, one hand on the back of his neck.
The reason I had deliberately brought him here was to assemble a new party, one befitting the new status he would now assume.
A party for 'Alexis Samigina,' replacing the deceased 'Alexis Julka.'
Since he was someone more mentally invested in dallying with women, I'd expected his results might be poor, and it seemed my unpleasant expectation hadn't been disappointed.
"..."
Shake, shake.
When I turned my gaze to Maria, she also shook her head. I'd asked her, a veteran adventurer in her own right, to lend Alexis a hand, but that side of things seemed fruitless as well.
Well... I suppose you can't be full after only one spoonful.
It couldn't be helped.
"It'll be fine. Stay visible around here for now. I'll need to purchase a mansion anyway, which means I'll need a manager for it. You can just register with the local guild and build up your achievements, right?"
To establish a trap base for the dungeon in Copherin, someone actually needed to remain nearby and manage it.
I planned to assign that task to Alexis along with additional personnel I intended to 'requisition' locally.
However, the man didn't seem to think much of the idea, given his expression.
"...To think I'd have to build everything up from nothing again, at my level."
It must have been mentally draining, losing all the colleagues and wealth he'd accumulated over the years and starting from scratch.
As for the wealth, I'd actually taken everything from his hideout after extracting the information from his colleague's memories, but that wasn't a fact he could know right now.
And he wouldn't know it in the future either.
"If you'd prefer to operate in your old appearance, I can revert it for you."
"...You're joking, right, my lady? If word got out that a man rumored to be dead had come back, the temple would haul me away before anything else."
Right now, he was someone who must not go anywhere near the temple.
A significant portion of the power inside him had been replaced with elements from the Demon Realm.
It was fine during normal activities as long as he didn't openly use the mana derived from the Demon Realm, or restricted it to internal body strengthening, but if he entered a major battle or came into contact with a renowned cleric, it would be difficult to hide the presence of that mana.
In this world, holy power and mana—specifically, demonic mana—were opposing forces.
'If there's a silver lining, it's that this place isn't near the Demon Realm.'
If one upside existed, it was that most high-ranking clerics were busy supporting adventurers operating on the front lines against the Demon Realm.
It stood to reason that the most capable clerics and healers would be concentrated wherever the world's casualties were heaviest.
"Right. It's a joke. So, do your best. If you don't want to get tangled up with the temple, you'd best not get injured even once."
"Ha ha..."
"Besides, it'll be a much easier start than before."
"That's... true."
The main growth paths for inland adventurers were said to be either 'Dungeon Growth Management,' jointly overseen by the Adventurer's Guild and the state, or 'Dungeon Exploration'—finding and conquering dungeons that had secretly grown in remote regions beyond the reach of state administration.
Of course, there were also things like participating in territorial wars, commissions to retrieve specific treasures from dungeons, and occasionally solving mysteries cropping up on the continent, but those two were the primary ones.
Dungeons were invariably treacherous spaces, so ordinary adventurers would struggle to operate without injuries, but...
『Job and Grade — Elite Magic Swordsman』
『Attributes — Strength: 49, Technique: 42, Endurance: 39, Magic Power: 51, Resistance: 48』
『Traits — Specialization: Flame Magic, Specialization: Lightning Magic, Advanced Specialization: One-Handed Sword, Inhuman, Balance, Magic: Strong Wind, User of Magic Armor』
Alexis was an elite-grade adventurer.
He himself knew he wouldn't be easily injured inland, so he simply laughed it off.
Originally able to handle only flame magic, I had forcefully crammed the traits of several hobgoblins who wielded lightning sorcery into him as sacrifices, and in the process, his magic power and other abilities had been strengthened even further than before.
"Then, I'll take my leave first. It seems there's nothing further to gain here."
"Contact me regularly."
"May you remain safe."
At the very end, Alexis paid his respects with proper decorum and disappeared.
Of course, I had already assigned separate surveillance and protection for him as he would be moving through society. Against any threat that could endanger an entity of an elite adventurer's caliber, an observer to record the source of that threat was equally necessary.
If Alexis died, I would confirm it through the contract's dissolution, but I would still need to document the circumstances, wouldn't I?
『Title/Entity Name — Armor of the Dead』
『Traits — Armor of the Dead, Soul Absorption』
『Armor of the Dead: Absorbs the wearer's mana to generate a protective barrier that deflects ranged and magical attacks.』
『Soul Absorption: Delivers powerful attacks proportional to magic power and absorbs the blood and souls of slain enemies to strengthen both the user and the armor.』
This high-grade summoned creature and growth-type rare equipment, which would stay with Alexis constantly as inner armor, was an entity well-suited to carrying out his surveillance and reinforcement simultaneously.
The next time I saw him, he would be even stronger.
Both he and the armor.
"Leonis. Is there some problem?"
Next was Leonis, who was still gloomy.
I was also curious about why Sonia had been wearing such a devastated expression.
I had a guess, but I really hoped I was wrong. I had no idea how I'd handle it.
And if I didn't handle it and simply let it be, I had no idea how their situation would shift, or what sort of chaos it might unleash.
Sonia was young, and this fellow Leonis seemed naive.
"...It was."
"What?"
As I approached him and opened my mouth to ask, he gave an immediate reply before I'd even finished the proper question.
"I was rejected."
"Oh dear."
So the news was that this fool had taken the more idiotic path and pressed his affections simply because they'd danced once.
"What are you doing? My support was all for nothing."
"I don't quite know myself... Sigh."
If he wanted someone unfamiliar with him to grow aware of affection, wouldn't the natural first step be to slowly get used to each other?
...Not that I know much about it either.
- 2 -
I wanted to hear in detail about what had happened between Leonis and Sonia, but unfortunately, there was no time for that.
— Esteemed ladies and gentlemen who graced this occasion. Regrettably, today's banquet concludes here. Wishing you all a safe return to your lodgings and a pleasant after-party, we inform you that the hall doors will close in one hour.
"Oh dear."
The moment the announcement that the banquet had ended was heard, it was because the surveillance bodies I had separately attached to the 'target' reported that she had begun to move.
"It seems I'll have to hear that story at leisure later."
"Does it really need to be heard at leisure...?"
"Well. Who knows."
After instructing the three to return to our lodgings, I gave orders to the two besides Sonia to search for an empty house within Copherin tomorrow.
It was to secure a location to turn into a trap.
"You want a house with as many unsavory rumors as possible...?"
"Yes. Whatever the bad rumor is, it can't threaten a dungeon lord, and the worse it is, the cheaper the price, right? We can simply repair one that's dilapidated and use it."
"Ah, ha... That's true. Understood."
That was how I explained the rationale to Maria, but in truth, a house already rumored to be haunted or the like was better suited to being styled as a new dungeon.
To be precise, it was to serve as a dungeon entrance, but regardless.
"Um, Master...?"
"I have some business. I'll resolve it quickly and return to the lodging, so go ahead and rest."
"..."
As we were about to part ways, I found myself puzzled because Sonia lingered and didn't follow the others.
As if feeling some trepidation, her eyes wavered while she still held onto my sleeve, as though she had something left to say.
"Do you have something to tell me, Sonia?"
"I..."
"Go on."
"Would it... not be all right if I went with you?"
It was a difficult question.
Because what I was about to do from here on out was a task very well suited to a monster with human-level intelligence.
"I'm not sure what you're implying."
Was she trying to dissuade me from what I was about to do? Or was she attempting to participate for her own reasons that I didn't know about?
Without understanding her motive, I couldn't allow her to join in that kind of work.
"So, I mean..."
"Sonia! Let's go quickly. You shouldn't be troubling the Master."
Before Sonia could even finish voicing her thoughts, Maria swept her away. I could have stopped them, but I decided to let them go for now.
Whatever Sonia was thinking, I had a conviction that this was a matter I needed to properly sit her down and talk through.
In a direction distinct from whatever Leonis's story held.
"You lot."
— Yes, Master.
"Please look into something for me."
— Simply give the order.
Finally, after ordering Talhan and the other Cerebrum Skulls to investigate a certain matter I had learned of at the party venue, I burrowed into the city's alleyways.
The streets, thick with shadows.
To me, they were a place as comfortable as home.
- 3 -
That night.
"Hiiik...!!"
Baroness Hayley Shum Gremit—noblewoman of the Haisen Kingdom and external collaborator of the black-market association 'Midas'—received four skulls.
The very heads of the guards she relied upon.
"You possessed information unbecoming of your station, child of man."
The one who had delivered them was watching her from within the city's shadows.
With violet eyes glinting in the dark of night.