The Dragon of the Pleasure City - 6
The Red Scale Tribe and the Magic Tower—both forces hostile to Bern—had dispatched personnel to Yuran.
The Magic Tower’s range of activity already covered the entire kingdom, so that much was easy enough to understand. The people of the Red Scale Tribe who revered Ignite, however, were famous for operating only in the west and its immediate surroundings. Yuran sat in the kingdom’s northeast; western tribesmen were almost never seen there.
What business brought them all the way out to Yuran?
Bern wondered why they had traveled to this distant foreign land. He also wanted to know what scheme the Magic Tower was hatching that had drawn them here as well. He had meant to return to his lodgings and rest properly, yet the curiosity rising inside him made him reverse course.
Concealing his form with magic and completely erasing every trace of his presence, Bern slipped into Sestia’s residence. Dodging the servants’ sight lines from the garden onward, he climbed the old tree he had scouted the day before. The ancient trunk stood right beside the building, close enough to the reception room that a carefully tuned ear could catch every word.
With heat-sensing magic he confirmed the two figures seated face-to-face inside. One was a woman with horns crowning her head; the other was a solidly built man. Sestia and a swordsman sent by the Red Scale Tribe.
“I pay my respects to the great Blue Dragon of Yuran, Lady Sestia.”
“Spare the formalities. State your business quickly. I’m not a woman with time to waste.”
“...Understood. Assuming Lady Sestia already knows most of the relevant facts, I shall omit the detailed circumstances. There is only one reason I have come all the way to Yuran.”
The man drew a sheet of parchment from his coat. On it was a drawing that looked exactly like a wanted-poster montage. The moment Sestia saw it, a certain face sprang to mind, yet she reacted with polished ease, as though the man were a complete stranger.
“So this is the one Ignite has ordered killed?”
“As expected, you already knew. That is correct—an ignorant fool who uttered blasphemous words against Lord Ignite and harbored open hostility.”
“Shoving this under my nose means you want me to deal with him?”
The man shook his head.
“I have no intention of inconveniencing Lady Sestia in the slightest. If you possess even the smallest scrap of information, I ask that you share it. Even if not, should you later spot him or receive a tip, contact us at once. Do only that much, and I swear a grand reward in Lord Ignite’s name.”
“Hmm~”
Even for a world-class tycoon, a Red Dragon’s bounty was mouth-watering. Treasures and artifacts money could never buy, plus rare materials such as dragon scales and claws—everything would be provided. The offer had been crafted with full knowledge of Sestia’s hobby of collecting treasures.
Looking at it this way, he’s rather handsome...
Yet for Sestia, whose interest in Bern had only deepened after the previous night, the proposal had already become lukewarm. She was paying far more attention to the drawing on the parchment than to the man’s words.
“Lady Sestia?”
“...”
“Lady Sestia!”
“Ah! What were you saying just now?”
“I was asking whether you would accept Lord Ignite’s proposal.”
“...Right. It’s not a deal where I lose anything, so I’ll take it.”
“Thank you! Then I shall take my leave—”
“W-wait!”
At Sestia’s urgent call the man halted mid-step and turned back, asking what the matter was. She fidgeted, then whispered in a voice that had suddenly shrunk into a mouse hole.
“Don’t you have any more of those same parchments?”
“You mean the ones with the drawing?”
“Yes. I need to post them for the residents of Yuran as well.”
“I see. As it happens, I do have extras.”
“Then hand over every last one.”
“Not that many—”
“Quit stalling and give them here! I’m offering active cooperation and you’re refusing?”
“Y-yes, ma’am!”
Bullied by her scolding, the man frantically emptied his coat of every parchment. He had brought only a limited number, intending to make the same offer while touring other villages, yet he ended up surrendering them all to Sestia. The stack alone numbered more than ten.
“That’s everything.”
“Good. I’ll spread them far and wide in your place, so be on your way.”
“Understood. I leave trusting solely in Lady Sestia.”
Stripped of every parchment, the Red Scale tribesman departed the residence. Alone again in the reception room, Sestia unfolded the sheets and smiled with quiet satisfaction. Even though only a face was drawn, she clearly liked what she saw.
Not bad at all...
She set aside the single best-preserved parchment for herself and dumped the rest on a maid with orders to store them.
“Ahem...!”
Embarrassed at having raised her voice without meaning to, Sestia cleared her throat and steadied herself. Once her usual composure returned, she ordered the waiting maid and butler to usher in the next guest.
A new figure soon entered the reception room: a lady carrying a long tobacco pipe, a hexagram tattoo etched on the back of her hand.
“A pleasure, Miss Sestia. I am Carifa of the Magic Tower.”
“If the introductions are finished, state the business that brought you here.”
“My, rather impatient, aren’t we?”
“That’s right. So if you don’t want to sour my mood, you’d best do as I say.”
Inside Yuran, she herself was the law. Words that would have sent the Holden royal family into fits left her lips without a second thought. The stake she held within the city was that absolute. She had breathed new life into a dying town and raised it high enough to be counted among the three great pleasure cities; her power had made it possible. Those who fervently followed her therefore vastly outnumbered any who dared raise a banner against her.
“Ohoho, how bold! Very well—when in Yuran, one follows Yuran’s laws. Then my business is precisely this.”
Like the previous visitor, Carifa produced something from her coat. This time it was not parchment but a bloodstained hexagram badge. Sestia’s face twisted as she glared at the woman.
“Why are you shoving such a disgusting object at me?”
“Could you sense the mana sealed inside this badge?”
“...Two different natures of mana coexist.”
“Exactly. One has been identified as belonging to the badge’s former owner; the other the Magic Tower estimates to be the murderer’s.”
The moment those words reached him, Bern—still listening from the tree—furrowed his brow. He had no way to confirm it was the same badge from his memory, yet he was nearly certain. It belonged to the high-ranking Magic Tower auditor he had first eliminated in the Valley of Mist. After disposing of the man he had burned the corpse and every possession thoroughly, yet one item had escaped his notice. Calling it a serious blunder, Bern pressed a palm hard against his forehead.
“Hmm. And the reason you came to Yuran?”
“Following the faint residual mana, I eventually sensed a weak trace of it in this city. So I came to request cooperation.”
“Allen.”
“You called, my lady?”
At Sestia’s summons a middle-aged butler dropped lightly from the ceiling. He served as both steward and her personal bodyguard.
“Hand over the complete list of every mage currently staying in this city.”
“At once.”
“My! Such swift cooperation—thank you!”
“My help ends there. Looking at the list and hunting them down is your own work. And if in the process you take any action that harms the city, you already know what will happen without me spelling it out.”
“...O-of course! I’ll cause no disturbance whatsoever and handle everything quietly!”
Carifa forced a smile onto facial muscles that had gone rigid. Even half-blood of the strongest race could never be ignored. A single brief glare had frozen her body solid—an effect akin to petrification produced by sheer pressure alone.
“If you understand, leave.”
“Very well.”
Carifa immediately cast a small-scale teleportation spell and vanished from the spot. A dragon’s whims were as changeable as reeds; lingering any longer risked some unpredictable mischief.
Meanwhile, examining the residual mana still clinging to her fingertips, Sestia wore a faint, knowing smile.
So he even picks fights with the Magic Tower—something even I can’t treat lightly... I’ve reevaluated him a little.
One of the manas left on the badge was one she already knew. Of course she did: it belonged to the man who had adjusted her sensitivity with magic, promising even more thrilling pleasure. That unforgettable first experience had burned his mana into her very bones. She therefore turned her head toward the window.
“They’ve all gone. Why don’t you come out now?”
“Caught, huh.”
Clack—!
The window swung open and Bern, who had been outside, slipped inside. The instant she saw his face, Sestia’s cheeks flushed faintly. She continued speaking without letting it show.
“If you thought you could fool my eyes, that was a serious miscalculation. I knew from the very beginning you were hiding in that tree eavesdropping.”
“If you knew from the start, why didn’t you say anything while they were looking for me?”
“There’s still unfinished business between us. I can’t just hand you over yet.”
“For someone saying that, you cooperated pretty diligently.”
“I only pretended to cooperate. I plan to ignore the westerners’ manhunt completely, and your name isn’t on the list I gave the mage.”
“Oh, is that so. Then why take every single parchment?”
“Th-that’s...!”
Unable to admit she simply wanted them for her personal collection, Sestia scrambled for an excuse before her averted gaze could look suspicious.
“I-I heard they’re posting wanted notices in other regions too! If a visitor from a nearby village happens to recognize you, things will get messy!”
“That’s certainly true.”
“I prevented that in advance. Be grateful!”
“Yeah, I’m grateful for that.”
Bern smiled brightly and offered honest thanks. The moment she saw that smile, Sestia whipped her head away. Had she not, he would have seen her face dyed scarlet.
“I’ll repay the favor for this matter gradually. Later—”
“Repay it now!”
“Now...?”
“How many people do you think I’ve watched promise to repay a favor and then try to run? If you want to settle a debt with me, I won’t accept it unless it’s right now.”
Yuran was the largest gambling city in the kingdom. People constantly tried to put up collateral or take on debt for lack of coin. Sestia had lived her entire life in that world. Bern nodded as though he understood perfectly.
“Fine. What do you want me to do?”
“That’s already decided, isn’t it? Duel me!”
“Like last night?”
“N-not that!”
Bern grinned slyly while Sestia exploded in flustered anger. He was being deliberately annoying even though he already knew exactly what she meant.
“The duel I want is a real, blood-soaked fight! N-not thrashing around and slamming our bodies together messily—”
“I get it. I know what you want.”
“Hmph! So you finally understand.”
“But if I win the fight as well, I’ll pounce just as mercilessly as last night. Keep that in mind.”
“Ugh...!”
Sestia’s combat power was already dropping before the match had even begun.