Chapter 188
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 188
Niphrim’s gaze swept toward the entrance.
The tavern’s structure and atmosphere were nothing like those in an ordinary village. Instead of round tables, a long, straight counter stretched across the room, where customers sat side-by-side, sharing drinks and conversation.
The air was clean and orderly. Music played softly, likely to prevent conversations from being overheard, and the overall vibe was calm. There was none of the drunken rowdiness one might expect from a tavern.
This was a front for the Information Guild, Akashic, one of the guilds where the most information in the Empire changed hands, with branches in over twenty territories.
"You must be Mr. Lansler."
As Niphrim stepped inside and looked around, a handsome, mild-mannered employee approached him. The man wore immaculate attire, like that of a nobleman’s attendant, and a genial smile was fixed on his face.
"Would you like to order?"
"No need."
"You must order at least one drink. If nothing comes to mind, how about a simple glass of wine?"
"...Wine, then."
"Understood."
With a simple reply, the man prepared the glass.
Niphrim recognized him. In fact, this man was the very reason he had come.
Insane.
That was the name he had given, though it was undoubtedly an alias. It was the nature of information guilds to conceal the identities of their members, with the exception of the publicly known guild master and vice-master.
"Here you are."
As Insane placed the wine on the counter, Niphrim shoved the glass aside with the back of his hand, showing no interest in the alcohol. Instead, he slid a dungeon subjugation request forward and spoke bluntly.
"I need information on a dungeon."
Insane squinted at the request in the dim light.
"Ah, the Ragged Ghoul dungeon."
"I'm going there tomorrow. I need information I can use immediately."
"We have no information on that dungeon," the man replied instantly.
Niphrim furrowed his brow. Hadn't Insane previously boasted that Akashic was the "greatest guild where all information gathers"?
"That's not what you said before."
"We are information brokers. We sell information. The cost of sending an investigation team to that dungeon outweighs the value of the information we'd gather. It's not that we can't find out; it's that there's no profit in it."
"..."
"However, we do have records on the monster known as the Ragged Ghoul, including its habits."
"Give me that, then."
"That will be sixty silver ounces."
Niphrim clicked his tongue and rummaged through his pockets.
He had one gold ounce left.
...It wasn't much. After a moment's hesitation, Niphrim flicked the gold coin into the air. Catching it effortlessly, Insane activated his Teleportation magic and vanished on the spot.
He returned in less than a minute carrying a rolled-up parchment and forty silver ounces in change.
Niphrim started to inspect the contents but decided against it, stuffing the parchment into his pocket. He couldn't verify its authenticity here anyway, and with over ten pages, it was far too much to read on the spot.
"And the other thing I asked for last time."
As Niphrim pressed on, Insane lightly snapped his fingers. A black curtain descended from the ceiling, isolating the two of them from the rest of the room.
Insane spoke with a faint smile.
"You were looking for a way to restore eyes blinded by paralytic poison, correct?"
This was Niphrim's true purpose for seeking out the information guild in Koenigsk. He nodded.
"There is no way."
While maintaining his smile, Insane delivered the news in an utterly cold voice.
"You mentioned the pupils had turned grayish-white, yes? That means they've completely lost their function. Think of them as nothing more than empty shells in the shape of eyes. As for magical healing… even the experts were uncertain."
"..."
"To give you an example, Garot Azaneljia of the Edelbreas Black Wolf Knights lost an arm in combat, and even she hasn't been able to regenerate it."
"Are you certain it can't be restored? Did you ask a Sage?"
"Your commission, Mr. Lansler, was seven gold ounces after deducting our brokerage and handling fees. We conducted our investigation within that budget. Meeting a Sage requires far more capital, so you would need to pay an additional fee."
"..."
There was no point.
Among his former companions, people like Sylvia used magic. Though Niphrim didn't use it himself, he had naturally picked up its basic principles from watching them.
The healing magic, <Cure>, was based on restoration, not creation. Pesil's eyeballs were still present but functionally dead. She needed creation, not restoration. She couldn't be cured.
Even if he paid more, Insane's answer would likely be the same.
"It would be nice if one could simply transplant an entire eyeball, but the human body isn't that simple," Insane added, cracking a rare joke.
In fact, certain monsters were capable of transplanting eyeballs among their own kind. The same was true for homunculi. For Niphrim, who reconstructed his own body from the flesh of other species, what was impossible?
But Pesil was different.
Pesil was a pure human. A method like swapping in someone else’s eyeball would never work for her.
I made the request grasping at straws, but…
Was he really forced to seek reconstruction rather than a cure? The only alchemists with that level of skill belonged to the 'Third Eye.' To be precise, the 'Third Eye' had monopolized all of them.
'...'
Lost in thought, Niphrim slowly rose from his seat. Insane snapped his fingers again, and the black curtain instantly retracted into the ceiling.
He turned to leave but paused.
Remembering something, Niphrim turned back to Insane.
"One more thing."
"Ask as many as you like."
"I heard that a few weeks ago, the Black Disaster descended upon Riaze."
"It was absolute chaos."
"...I need to know the current situation in Riaze."
"Are you planning on going there?"
Niphrim remained silent. Answering would be giving away information for free.
Insane replied with another sly smile.
"As it happens, our investigation team returned from there just yesterday with a report. Our guild obtained it secretly. Since this information will be made public in a few weeks anyway, it won't be too expensive."
He held up four fingers. Forty silver ounces.
Considering it was the exact amount Niphrim had left, the price was clearly set at Insane's own discretion.
...Was this bastard planning to bleed him dry?
As Niphrim turned toward the door, Insane called out in a teasing tone.
"It's forty ounces, but I can let you have it for thirty-five, Mr. Lansler."
"Are you playing games with me?"
"But you'll buy it for thirty-five ounces, won't you?"
"..."
Niphrim secretly clicked his tongue.
If the information was going public in a few weeks, he'd have to waste that time waiting around in Koenigsk. It was a complete waste. He might as well pay the thirty-five ounces and get it now.
Insane continued.
"To be clear, all information from the inns in Koenigsk naturally flows to our guild. It's not like we ran a background check on you… but you do need to buy snacks for Miss Pesil on your way back, don't you, Mr. Lansler? The remaining five silver ounces should be more than enough for that."
"You..."
Niphrim scowled. As expected, information guilds were not to be trusted. They were scum who would sell their souls for money.
"You really are trash."
The jab had no effect. Insane still wore that same genial smile.
"So, will you purchase it?"
* * *
If you are thinking of going to Riaze, you had better give up.
Nothing remained.
That was the investigation team's overall assessment.
With no survivors who had witnessed the event up close, no one knew exactly what had happened. The citizens of the Empire who saw the spectacle from outside Riaze all said the same thing: "Darkness swallowed the land."
An explosion.
The investigators were reportedly hesitant to even use the word.
In the center of Riaze, the main battlefield, not a single building remained. The further one moved from the center, the less severe the damage became, leaving most buildings on the city's outskirts intact. Because the force diminished sharply with distance, it seemed no different from a massive explosion.
They said the center was completely inaccessible.
The black energy still lingered.
A few investigators who ventured too close fell into madness. Some died on the spot. These were the same symptoms that had afflicted the citizens who witnessed the disaster's source reveal its true form in Riaze.
It had become a land where humans could not survive.
Of course, the black energy would not linger forever. The concentration was said to be slowly decreasing, so the area might return to normal in a few months, or perhaps a few years.
...But no one knew exactly when the energy would dissipate.
If the Emperor was indeed alive, as rumored, he wouldn't just wait like a statue for the energy to clear. He would abandon Riaze and designate a new capital. Since the 'Third Eye' that Niphrim was pursuing was the 'Imperial Magic Society,' they would undoubtedly move with the Emperor.
Even in a highly centralized empire, the new capital was more likely to be a direct imperial territory than a fiefdom. With this information from Akashic, Niphrim knew he had to be more cautious than to just blindly head toward Riaze for answers.
Should I try to predict which territory will become the Emperor's new residence before making a move?
"This is getting complicated."
He had left the inn at dawn and walked for over three and a half hours. Only after descending underground and arriving at the entrance of the Ragged Ghoul dungeon did Niphrim finally stop.
For now, it doesn't matter.
He shook his head. He was getting lost in useless thoughts. Right now, he needed to focus completely on the dungeon before him.
Even if it was on the lower end of A-rank, it was still an A-rank dungeon.
If his old companions from the laboratory were with him, this would have been child's play, but now Niphrim was alone. He had no one to rely on. Just because his body could regenerate didn't make him invincible; risking his life in battle was the same for him as for anyone else.
He recalled the information on the Ragged Ghouls one last time. Letting out a dry, forced laugh he had learned through pain—Kahahat—Niphrim slowly entered the dungeon.
Twenty minutes later.
A group from the Cult, all clad in black robes, gathered at the dungeon entrance. There were over forty of them, and every single one held an anti-undead weapon.
"Yesterday, someone accepted the subjugation request for this dungeon," the girl standing nearest to the entrance said.
"As you all know, a Ragged Ghoul is not an undead an individual can face alone. It's a monster that even A-rank subjugation squads have trouble with. To enter a dungeon full of other monsters by oneself… is practically suicide."
The girl pulled off her robe. Her long pink hair fluttered in the wind blowing through the trees.
Without bothering to smooth her wind-tousled hair, she spoke with grim determination.
"We cannot allow any more victims to fall prey to the undead."
Declared Rosalina, the sole survivor of the Hastin back alleys and the leader of the Cult.
"...We have to clear the dungeon before he does."
*
All undead must die.
The Cult was growing larger by the day.
Every time they moved their base to a new territory, prospective members who had heard the rumors would seek them out.
In Koenigsk alone, over thirty more had already gathered. Since the rumors had only just begun to spread, even more would likely follow. It looked like their numbers would soon exceed a hundred.
If they completed a circuit of the Empire, their ranks would swell to over a thousand. No, considering the territories devastated by the undead, their numbers could reach several thousand.
Most of them were victims who had lost their families. Having lost their very reason for living, they were people who would gladly throw their lives away for revenge.
There were thousands of such victims in the Empire alone.
—The cycle of evil must be broken.
—We can't just sit by and wait for subjugation squads to deal with the undead.
For the sake of the Captain, Toth, the back alleys, and everyone in Hastin,
We will eradicate them with our own hands.
*
"Everyone."
She looked around at her followers. Their preliminary scouting over the past few days had revealed nothing unusual.
Rosalina addressed the members in the rear.
"We will proceed according to the plan."
Eight believers took their positions and assumed defensive stances.
According to the receptionist at the subjugation agency, someone had accepted the Ragged Ghoul request yesterday.
It's probably just some clueless fool who took the job.
The eight were stationed to block his entry when he arrived.
"The rest of you, prepare yourselves."
The remaining believers checked their equipment.