201. Holy Empire
201. Holy Empire
What we found, we found.
And since even the Anketin Mountains can wait until after a meal, we ate first. The deposit we'd paid for the reservation would've been a waste otherwise, and I was dying to know how the cloud-egg fried rice tasted.
Not only that, but the chicken—no, the harpy skewer stall still had plenty of time before closing.
So we decided to take our time eating, leisurely demolish dessert too, and only then start the tail.
[The texture was incredible!!]
"...I've never had fried rice like that in my life."
They were right—it was insanely delicious. From the fluffy texture of the eggs to the rice that was perfectly separated, and a seasoning that wasn't overpowering but was absurdly addictive.
The more I ate, the more my hand moved on its own. It was that kind of flavor.
And the desserts that followed—cloud cake, hotcakes, a soufflé omelet, even egg pudding—it honestly felt like my tongue was melting.
"...Is this why everyone ends up finding faith after living in the Holy Kingdom? Good welfare, tons of delicious food, peaceful atmosphere... It's completely different from the Empire."
[The desserts were so, so delicious too! I've never had such violent desserts in my life...!]
"And the prices were cheap, weren't they? Eating this much in the Imperial Capital would've cost at least 150,000 cel... but it was only 40,000. That's insane."
[Exactly! The academy's meals are famously cheap and good, but the restaurants in the Holy Kingdom seemed far better!!]
"...Maybe I should come live in the Holy Kingdom after graduating..."
"...Hii."
[I don't want to go that far...]
At Pina's dejected expression, Stella blinked.
"Why? Is your hometown still better?"
[No. It's not that... but for some reason, there seems to be an unsettling atmosphere lingering around.]
"...An unsettling atmosphere? In the Holy Kingdom?"
Nod nod—
[Yes. The spirits are trembling with unease. Not only that, but there seems to be a strange smell as well.]
"Spirits...? A smell?"
Stella let out a thoughtful hum and sank into thought for quite a while, then muttered, "I think I know roughly what you mean," and tugged at my sleeve—tug tug.
"What about you?"
"What about what?"
"What Pina said. I was watching the Mana around here just now too, and I did feel something stirring... well, honestly, maybe I only felt it because Pina mentioned it, but anyway, I felt something."
Stella, who had conjured a sphere of Mana above her pale hand, examined it from every angle as she asked.
"Sooo... the Resurrection of Gluttony? Do you think that's why? What do you think?"
"Who knows."
Spirits react sensitively to demonic forces.
Since Mana is a force that corresponds to Demonic Energy, humans sensitive to Mana—like Stella—can also feel a sense of foreignness.
So their words carried a fair degree of credibility.
And well, even without their input, I was feeling a strange sense of foreignness myself.
The feeling of a puzzle piece fitted in the wrong place.
Not only were the puzzle pieces nowhere near complete, but even the pieces that were there felt wrongly assembled.
Why was that? What was the problem?
"Still, the atmosphere is definitely off. There are too many people—especially tourists."
"...Isn't that because the Nativity Festival is less than ten days away?"
"That's probably part of it, but they don't look like people who simply came to enjoy a festival. There were tons of people, but the other shops were empty, remember?"
"Oh... definitely. Even the inn we're staying at seemed to have a lot of empty rooms. Huh... really? What the hell? Is there actually something going on?"
"There's something, all right."
And the smell.
The people wandering the streets who looked like tourists reeked of Nuclexirol.
The strange smell Pina mentioned must be the smell of Nuclexirol.
Beastkin have excellent senses of smell, after all.
"Anyway, if you felt something strange, be careful. Don't forget what I told you."
Having said my piece, I checked the seal on the envelope once more and dropped it into the express mailbox.
The destination was Rondinella, a tiny rural village on the Empire's frontier—a letter to Eurasia.
I didn't write much. Just a brief note telling her not to come to the Holy Kingdom and to wait in the Duchy.
Partly because we'd quickly found the Cartel's food stall we were looking for, and partly because, as we'd been discussing, the atmosphere in the Holy Kingdom was far from ordinary.
And also, I had a feeling Eurasia shouldn't come here.
"Let's go. They'll be closing soon."
"Hii...!"
"Okay...!"
"Don't just answer—magic too."
"Oh, right."
Violet Mana rippled from Stella's fingertips.
Silence and Oculus. Magic to kill sound and magic to conceal appearance.
The effects had been decent enough when Stella was at the 3rd Circle, so now that she'd reached the 5th Circle, they'd be even better.
[I'll do my best!!]
"I'll show you the tailing skills of a Wizard who's reached the 5th Circle...!"
*****
Pitter-patter— pitter-patter—
Brown and navy ghosts darted this way and that.
Not actual ghosts, of course. It was Pina and Stella.
Neither of them was particularly tall, so from behind, only their feet were barely visible beneath their cloaks.
Which made them look, at a glance, exactly like ghosts flitting about.
...I probably looked the same from behind.
No, possibly even worse.
Sometimes my cloak dragged on the ground.
So why were we foolishly wearing these things?
I didn't want to wear one either. But I had no choice.
The ones I—we—were wearing were the smallest size available. There was no way to make them any smaller... none.
Because the perception-dampening and temperature-maintaining enchantments required a somewhat roomy size, and the cloaks we had on now were already reduced to the absolute minimum.
"...Hah."
It left a bitter taste in my mouth.
I resolved that once I reached Tier 7 and underwent Body Reformation, I'd prioritize growing my body first.
Getting taller would take some time to adjust to, but still, I would absolutely... increase my height.
"Hurry up...!"
Stella called out in a tiny voice and flashed hand signals—swish swish. If you're going to talk, just talk; if you're going to use hand signals, just use hand signals. Why do both?
"Aren't you two a little too excited?"
"...I'm not excited?"
[I'm excited!]
"Hyak!"
Thunk— I rapped Pina on the head and started walking.
Right now, we'd been tailing the harpy-skewer merchant for an hour.
If he'd headed toward Shamaim, I was ready to abandon the tail on the spot, but fortunately, he was going in the exact opposite direction from Shamaim.
On top of that, he kept glancing around to check whether he was being followed, so we'd definitely found the right target.
Which meant from here on, all we had to do was follow the route we'd planned.
Tail the merchant, confirm his residence and supplier, then pass the information to Sara.
Then Sara would use Body Transformation to disguise herself as the merchant and make contact with the supplier.
After that contact, she'd repeatedly transform into progressively higher-ranking figures to uncover the location of the main warehouse and the identity of the warehouse manager.
Probably—no, definitely.
There would be a harpy breeding facility in the warehouse.
A Monster breeding facility hidden beneath the Holy Kingdom.
We had more than enough justification to wreck it.
From there, it would be Leona's turn.
Whether she went to the warehouse and flipped it upside down, or found the manager and beat him senseless, one way or another she'd track down a Cartel executive and secure him.
Then, using Leona's authority, they'd force-feed him the truth serum brought from the Empire and make him confess everything.
If the executive had a Restriction placed on him, he might die in the middle of talking, but that didn't matter.
The Flame Emperor could trace the owner of the Mana that placed the Restriction on the executive's soul, and if it turned out to be Demonic Energy, the testimony of two Pillars would bring down the Cartel that had joined hands with Demons.
Of course, I didn't expect them to collapse easily. They could seek refuge in Ge Vihenum, or lean on their backers.
But even so, there were no variables.
Both outcomes were exactly what we wanted.
Whether the former or the latter, an opportunity would come to drag out the forces that had helped the Cartel.
And naturally, the tails of the branch family would get caught too.
If things went well, we'd probably wrap everything up within three days.
Still, we couldn't let our guard down.
We never knew when or where our identities might be exposed.
At the same time, we couldn't stop being suspicious either.
I had to consider that even that bumbling appearance of his could be an act.
And the strangest point still hadn't been resolved.
In the middle of the Imperial Capital—in the middle of the Holy Capital—someone was selling harpy meat, and no one found it strange? That was absurd.
Anyone with a decent amount of experience would surely have noticed something off.
Even if the sales had only started recently, it was still absurd.
Having quietly observed not only the streets of the Imperial Capital but also the streets of the Holy Capital, I'd seen quite a few people who looked like they'd been to Ge Vihenum.
Even the conversation we'd overheard while getting our harpy skewers wrapped was the same.
The two women standing right next to us had returned from Ge Vihenum less than a day ago.
A 5th Circle Wizard and a Tier 5 swordsman.
Those two would have eaten plenty of harpy meat in Ge Vihenum.
And they wouldn't be the only ones.
So rumors should have spread. That would be normal.
But while staying in the Imperial Capital, I'd looked into the rumors about the Holy Kingdom from every angle, and I hadn't heard so much as a whisper of the word "harpy."
Which meant one of two things.
Either the Holy Kingdom had the power to control even rumors, or there were "eyes" watching and managing things so thoroughly that rumors couldn't spread.
Given the current situation, I was hoping for the former.
If it was the latter... things would get troublesome.
Because as far as I knew, there was exactly one set of "eyes" capable of watching and controlling tens of thousands of people.
Envy.
The eyes that observed Ankanius's Myriad Manifestations.
Of course, Ankanius died 400 years ago.
We killed him. But based on the information I'd read in the Forbidden Archive, there was a high probability his Authority hadn't been extinguished.
So I couldn't rule out the possibility that his Authority had spread throughout the Holy Kingdom.
If that were the case... we'd already been discovered.
Even now, they might be watching us in real time, sneering at us.
That was the worst-case scenario I'd imagined.
Just how much of a mess was the Holy Kingdom?
I spent a long while suppressing the unease in my heart.
"...Hik?"
[He disappeared!!@!]
"Huh? It's a dead end, though? Where'd he go? Did he climb over the wall?"
The moment we turned the corner, the man we'd been tailing vanished.
So completely that even I couldn't sense his presence.
But faint traces of Mana seemed to remain. Was he a Wizard?
"Stella."
"...Yeah."
With a stiff expression, Stella nodded, and violet Mana surged from her body.
Mana rippling on the gentle breeze. Mana flowing along the well-kept path. Mana glittering in the lamplight.
And then.
Mana gathering in one spot, rippling unnaturally.
Stella's eyes flashed open.
"Ha! Found... wha... ah? Aang...?"
Then she pointed at something with her fingertip.
"Eh?"
That spot was empty air.