Chapter 6:
On the Road
EARLY THE NEXT MORNING, we gathered all our things together and
set out from the cabin. The sun hadn't yet risen, and the woods were
dark and silent.
"Okay then, follow me."
Triss led our party as we made our way deeper into the forest.
Without the sun as a guide, it was hard to tell which direction we
were going, but the ground slanted upward before of us, so we were
probably moving toward the mountains. We moved quietly, without
any unnecessary chatter.
The forest was dense here, and it seemed to go on forever. But
then, we pushed our way through one last dense patch of brush…
"Ooh."
…and found ourselves looking down at a sizable lake, with the
forest suddenly behind us.
Some people might have called it a pond, since it didn't look
very deep, but lake somehow felt more appropriate. It was
semicircular, surrounded on all sides by tall cliffs and forests, and its
surface was a brilliant shade of blue. From the looks of things, it
wasn't part of a river system; maybe the water came from
underground.
"This wasn't even on our map," I murmured.
"Yeah, it's positioned so you can't see it from a distance," said
Triss. "And this is all our turf, so you won't see it on any maps."
"Hmm…"
We proceeded to follow the curve of the lake to the cliff on the
far side. At first glance, it looked like a sheer, almost featureless rock
face right at the water's edge. But a single stone tablet stood on the
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ground nearby. When Triss performed some sort of incantation in
front of it, part of the cliff melted away, and a cave appeared before
our eyes.
"This way," she called. "It's easy to slip and fall in here, so watch
your step."
She led the way once again, stepping carefully into the lake,
which continued into the cliffside cave. Apparently, the water was
very shallow here. It only came up to about her knees.
"Come on, Rudeus!" said Eris, her eyes sparkling with
excitement. "Let's go!"
Even at twenty, she hadn't lost any of her enthusiasm for
adventure. She was clearly itching to explore this mysterious hidden
cavern. But I wasn't much better, in my own way. I'd never grown
out of my love for used underwear.
"Just don't move so fast that you make the horse slip in the
water, okay?"
"Yeah, I know!"
With a smile that suggested my warning had gone in one ear
and out the other, Eris stepped post-haste into the water, pulling our
horse Matsukaze along. Matsukaze was reluctant to wade into the
lake and resisted her, but she managed to drag him in pretty quick. It
was like watching a kappa at work.
Hmm… Eris would probably be good at sumo wrestling.
Wonder if she likes cucumbers, though? I don't think she has many
favorite foods, but you never know…
"We should try to keep up, Rudy," said Sylphie.
"Right."
With Eris at the head of our group, we formed a single file and
led our horses carefully into the water. It was surprisingly chilly,
given the time of year. I didn't even want to think what it would feel
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like wading through this in the winter. Wouldn't horses die from
exposure? Hmm… the lake would probably freeze solid, actually.
That might actually make the trip easier.
Fortunately, the cave led upwards from the entrance, so we
were out of the water before too long.
"All right then," said Triss. "Follow me, and try not to fall too far
behind. You don't want to get lost in here, trust me." With her torch
blazing in one hand, she confidently set off deeper into the gloomy
cavern. I'd taken a moment earlier to summon a lamplight spirit for
some additional illumination.
Glancing behind me to make sure the others were following, I
made eye contact with Princess Ariel, who was contemplating her
drenched pants with a troubled expression.
"Let's wait until later to get those dried out, Your Highness."
"Oh, yes, of course," said Ariel, somehow managing a cheerful
smile.
Last night, most of our party had convinced themselves that it
was pure coincidence Triss and Ariel knew each other. They were all
very impressed with the princess for winning her over on the "spur
of the moment"—with the possible exception of Eris, who'd gotten a
bit cranky over all the admiring gazes at Ariel.
That aside… it was kind of nice to have the princess on my side
now. It seemed like she was serious about supporting me.
I'd been studying Ariel's face for a long moment when Sylphie
spoke up from beside me. "Uhm, Rudy?"
"What is it, Sylphie, my beloved wife?"
"Don't stare at Princess Ariel too much, or I'm going to pull your
ears."
"Understood, dear. You want me staring at you constantly,
correct?"
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Sylphie replied to this by yanking my ear.
For some reason, she seemed opposed to me getting too
friendly with Princess Ariel. She hadn't objected to me marrying Roxy
or Eris, but I guess Ariel was in a different category. I seemed to
remember her saying Nanahoshi might be okay, too…
Hmm. It was hard to tell exactly what counted as "cheating" in
her mind.
In retaliation for her attack, I slipped behind her and licked the
back of her ear.
It hadn't been obvious at the entrance, but the floor of the
cavern we were moving through was neatly tiled. Apparently, this
tunnel was man-made.
"It gets real twisty and complicated from here on in, so stay real
close," called Triss from just ahead. "Keep alert, too. We don't get
many monsters in here, but sometimes they wander in from the
deeper tunnels. Oh, and don't go wandering outside if you see a light
in the distance—we're in Red Wyrm territory now."
At this point, the tunnel had a high ceiling and was relatively
wide. But just as Triss said, it was constantly curving, and there were
frequent side passages and branches in the path. It felt like we were
moving through one part of a giant man-made maze.
"This place is really amazing, Rudy," murmured Sylphie quietly.
"It isn't some kind of labyrinth, right?"
"Hm? Yeah, I'm pretty sure it isn't."
"How do you think they made such huge tunnels through the
mountains?"
I frowned thoughtfully. "Hmm… Well, the Red Wyrms took over
this area four hundred years ago. Maybe there were dwarves living
around here up until then, or something?"
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"Oh, that makes sense. I guess these might be some really old
mining tunnels, then…"
Up ahead, Eris poked curiously into one strange side passage
after another, only to be dragged back by Ghislaine. For better or
worse, it felt like spending last night under a roof had helped us all
relax a little.
"By the way, Rudy…"
"Hmm?"
"…Sorry, it's nothing."
Sylphie fell silent, but shot a quick glance over her shoulder.
Ariel, Luke, and the attendants were following us at a decent
distance. Our formation was feeling kind of loose… we'd probably
gotten a bit too spread out. It didn't seem like there were many
monsters lurking on this path, but the last thing we needed was for
the princess to get lost.
We'd been walking through the tunnels for quite a while. It was
hard to say how long exactly. When you can't see the sun, it throws
off your perception of time; until you get used to walking in those
conditions, a single hour can feel like three. Moving through dark,
unfamiliar terrain tends to be more fatiguing, too. I'd learned all this
from my adventuring days, trekking through dense, overgrown
forests where no sunlight ever reached the ground. Ariel and her
attendants were clearly getting tired. I was starting to hear a few
comments like "It feels like we've been walking for days now," and
we weren't moving as quickly as before.
But before anyone could throw in the towel, Triss finally came
to a halt at what looked to be a dead end. A stone tablet similar to
the one we'd seen at the entrance was sitting unobtrusively on the
ground nearby.
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When Triss activated this device, the wall of rock in front of us
opened up… and we blinked as the sunlight hit our faces.
Just like that, we were back outside again.
Squinting as my eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness, I looked
around the area. We'd stepped out into another forest, from the
looks of things. It was dense, but not overgrown enough to hide the
sky from view.
The sun's position told me that the time was a bit past noon.
We'd set out very early that morning, so all in all we'd been walking
for about eight hours.
Triss took a few strides out into the open, then turned to face us
as we blinked and squinted. "Welcome to the Kingdom of Asura,
everyone," she announced, a playful grin spreading across her face.
We'd made it safely across the border after all.
The exit Triss had guided us to was a bit southeast of the actual
border checkpoint. If we headed due south from here, we'd reach
the Donati Region. Fittoa was off to the southeast. Our ultimate
destination, the royal capital, was further to the south of Donati.
After an extended breather, we pushed ahead, trying to make
our way out of the forest. Triss was anxious to get us moving. There
was a good reason for that: from dawn till dusk, this route was used
to smuggle people into Asura; at night, it was used to smuggle
people out. Whenever two groups heading in opposite directions
bumped into each other, the head of that bandit gang tended to get
very upset. This seemed to explain why he'd kept us waiting in that
cabin overnight as well.
We needed to take several breaks along the way, but we
managed to push out of the forest that same day, and then resumed
our journey south through the Donati Region.
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Naturally, we stayed off the main highways, sticking to quiet,
less traveled backroads. Just to be clear, these weren't rough trails
crawling with dangerous thieves or monsters. While it was always
simplest to take the direct roads that connected various cities and
towns, Asura had plenty of others that were mainly used by the
locals of that specific region. These were usually just wide enough for
a single wagon, though, and the princess' carriage did attract some
curious looks.
These roads weren't on our maps, but Triss knew them like the
back of her hand, so we progressed toward our destination steadily
enough. Thanks to her, we stayed one step ahead of Auber… well,
assuming he was even pursuing us at this point. It was entirely
possible that the Man-God and his allies knew exactly where we
were, and had simply decided to concentrate their forces in the
capital or the palace. There was no telling if it was the Man-God or
Darius who was calling the shots about these things, but we needed
to tread very carefully regardless.
On our journey south, we passed by the Fittoa Region.
Some years had passed since the rebuilding effort began in
earnest; fields of crops were dotted here and there across its
landscape. The people living in the area looked like they'd regained
some of their spirits, too. Still, it was a far cry from the endless fields
of golden wheat that I remembered. It would probably take another
decade before Fittoa regained that level of prosperity.
Eris and Sylphie paused, their horses side by side, to look out at
the grassy plain with its smattering of fields. The expressions on their
faces contrasted sharply: Sylphie looked nostalgic, and Eris frowned
sulkily.
"There's a lot more fields of wheat than the last time we passed
through here," said Sylphie.
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"If you say so," said Eris. "I don't remember."
"I hope they get it all rebuilt soon."
Eris tossed her head, looking even more surly than before.
"Hmph. I couldn't care less."
"Come on, don't say that. It's the place where we were born and
raised, right? I'm not saying I'd want to go back there for good, but…
I'm sure you've got some old friends living there, right?"
"Not really. Everyone back home hated my guts."
"Hmm. I guess I wasn't too popular either, actually…" Sylphie
paused, smiling slightly as she recalled the past.
It put me in a kind of sentimental mood as well. Both had both
been loners as kids, but for very different reasons. Sylphie was
bullied relentlessly, and retreated into her shell like a turtle; Eris
jumped at anyone who tried to approach her, scaring them off with
her wild outbursts. If they'd met back then, maybe they could have
balanced each other out.
…Nah, doesn't seem too likely. The only outcome I could picture
was Eris beating Sylphie up until she cried. The woman had herself
mostly under control these days, but back then, she was basically a
wild animal. If you'd tossed the two of them together as kids,
Sylphie's life would probably have turned into a hellish nightmare.
I'm talking Gian versus Nobita levels of bullying here.
Then again, if you sent Sylphie back as she was now, it might
turn into more of a co-bullies type situation. She'd gotten a lot
tougher over the years.
"Look, Sylphie," said Eris after a moment. "I'm just going to say
one thing."
"What is it?"
"I couldn't have done anything useful for Fittoa, even if I stayed
there."
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"Hm…?" Sylphie tilted her head, looking something like an
uncertain squirrel. Adorable. "Oh, right. You were the daughter of
the lord, weren't you? Sort of a princess yourself! It kind of slipped
my mind."
"Hmph. I was just a stupid dress-up doll."
"Well, you're pretty imposing these days. I bet you'd make a
very convincing ruler if you wanted to."
"…You think?"
Sylphie's compliment seemed to put Eris in a better mood.
Whatever else you could say about her, the girl wasn't difficult to
placate.
"Well, whatever. It's not like I want to rule Fittoa either way.
There's no way I could handle a job that complicated."
"Hmm. It does feel like you were born to be a swordmaster, I
guess."
"Exactly!"
Wow, Sylphie's really laying it on thick today…
"Still, you could easily have ended up spending your whole life
as an Asuran noble, huh?"
"Not a chance."
"I bet Rudy would have stuck around to help you, and ended up
ruling from the shadows. He probably would have made you the
head of the Boreas family in no time at all."
Miss Sylphiette? I'm sure you're not serious, but… you're not
serious, right?
"Then he would have seduced me and wiggled his way into
Princess Ariel's inner circle. The Boreas family would back her for the
throne, and we'd end up fighting Darius or Grabel together."
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Did Sylphie let me "seduce" her in this scenario? How would
that work, exactly? We probably wouldn't even have run into each
other…
Okay, let's not overthink a game of make-believe.
"Sounds like things would turn out exactly the same," said Eris
dubiously.
"But you'd be the ruler of the Fittoa Region, and Rudy would be
your loyal aide! I bet you two would be the talk of the whole
kingdom…"
"All I want is to fight with my sword and make babies with
Rudeus. I don't want anything else."
Somehow, Eris had delivered that line without a hint of shame.
It was enough to make me blush, and I wasn't even the one who'd
said it.
"Aren't you satisfied with things the way they are, Sylphie?"
"Oh, absolutely. Sometimes the whole thing almost feels too
good to be true, to be honest."
"…"
"You know, back when we first got married, Rudy and I used to
go at it like animals every single night. When there wasn't anyone
else in the house, he'd carry me off to the bedroom with this
ravenous look on his face! And of course, I was quivering with
anticipation the whole way… err… Sorry, I probably shouldn't be
talking about this in public."
I'd certainly appreciate it if you stopped, yeah. Eris' eyes were
narrowing with what looked like jealousy, and I was starting to think I
might get dragged into the bushes tonight for some vigorous
lovemaking. It was an appealing idea, but right now we needed to
conserve our energy for the task at hand.
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"Anyway," said Sylphie, "I think that's the whole reason it's fun
to think about how things might have turned out. Because I'm really
happy with how they did."
"…I wonder if I'll feel the same way once I have a child, too."
"Hmm… if you and Rudy have a kid, it'll probably be a real
lecher…"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Sylphie did have a point. Anyone who inherited half of my genes
would probably end up at least moderately perverted. Which made
me a little anxious about how Lucie might turn out. Sylphie wasn't
that much of a pervert, relatively speaking, but she had Elinalise for a
grandmother. What if those dormant horny genes had been
activated by combination with my own? We might end up with a
daughter who went around sucking innocent young men dry left and
right.
This calls for precautionary measures. The secret morality
lessons will commence immediately.
"I hope I get one soon," said Eris after a moment.
"Oh, it won't take long. You're a full-blooded human,
remember? You're a much better match for Rudy than I am."
That seemed like an unnecessarily negative choice of words. At
the very least, Sylphie and I matched perfectly in bed. Even now, the
beast inside me was waiting vigilantly for its chance to get started on
baby number two.
"Either way, that comes later," said Eris. "Right now, the most
important thing is keeping him safe."
"Yeah, you're right."
The two of them kept chatting. They speculated about what
Roxy was doing at the moment, then talked about how good the
food was back in Fittoa. Sylphie promised to teach Eris how to cook a
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few meals once we got back home. That sort of thing. Sylphie
ostensibly did most of the talking. Eris wasn't the best at this kind of
casual conversation, and sometimes there were awkward pauses.
Still, the sound of their voices made for pleasant background
noise as we rode along. It felt very relaxing just sitting on that horse
with my arms wrapped around Sylphie, listening to their
conversation. There was no telling when the enemy might attack us
next, but that afternoon it was a challenge just to stay awake.
***
After about ten days on the road, we stopped at a place called
Rikket. This was a city near the southern edge of the Donati Region,
and a hub for trade with the Royal Region.
Most of the merchants here were heading south to bring their
goods to the Royal Region, rather than the other way around.
Because of this, the streets were thick with representatives and
headmen from villages all across Donati, here to send their harvest
south and to buy the crops their people needed from the sprawling
market. This was clearly a place of major economic importance for
Asura as a whole. It was also larger than the whole of the Magic City
of Sharia, even though it was really just one giant trading post and
rest stop. That's the Kingdom of Asura for you.
We wanted to make it to the capital city of Ars, without making
our presence known if possible. We'd gathered information in the
villages along the way, but found no clues about the movements of
our pursuers. A city this big would offer them all sorts of places to
hide—and set up ambushes, of course.
On the other hand, it also offered us a chance to stay
undetected… at least in theory. Unfortunately, our party kind of
stood out in a crowd. Ariel was still maintaining her anonymity, but
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that didn't matter as long as she was strutting around with a bunch
of eye-catching bodyguards like Ghislaine, Eris, and Sylphie. Luke was
a well-known figure in Asura in his own right.
However, there was no going around this city. Triss knew all the
roads in Asura, but she couldn't make new ones appear out of thin
air. And people generally only made roads to places they wanted to
go to. Bluntly, the only road that led from Donati into the Royal
Region ran through this city.
Rikket was a chokepoint, just like the border fortress. There was
an excellent chance our enemies were waiting for us here. To my
surprise, though, the guards at the gate didn't stop us, and there
weren't ranks of armored soldiers across the streets inside.
Triss swiftly guided us to an inn that was well-suited for groups
looking to keep a low profile. It looked like a normal place from the
outside, but it was actually run and staffed by people closely
connected to her bandit gang. They also owned the buildings on
every side of it, and had undergrounds tunnels to allow for
emergency escapes. It was like something out of an old ninja movie.
Ariel would be shutting herself inside the inn while Triss headed out
onto the streets to gather information. The rest of us stayed in the
inn to guard the princess.
Ghislaine and I stood watch at the inn's first-floor stairway, with
Eris and Sylphie guarding Ariel in her room. The two attendants had
disguised themselves and gone out to buy supplies. Luke was laying
low in Ariel's room. That made me a little anxious, but I had to trust
that he wouldn't suddenly lose his mind and try to stab the princess.
If the man snapped, hopefully he'd just throw himself at her or
something…
Stifling a yawn, I glanced over at Ghislaine. She was standing
quietly next to the stairway, staring toward the entrance with her
ears perked straight up.
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The two of us hadn't done much talking since this journey
began. I guess she was more of a professional about her duties as a
bodyguard than I'd ever be; whenever I tried to strike up a
conversation with her on uneventful shifts like this one, she'd cut me
off, saying that she was listening for danger. A part of me was
starting to wonder if she actually hated my guts. But she wasn't
doing much talking to Eris, either. She was probably just talking her
job seriously.
Today, however, turned out to be an exception. She actually
started a conversation for once. "Rudeus?"
"Yes, Ghislaine?"
"Thank you for your help earlier."
I just blinked, trying to figure out what she was referring to.
"With Wi Taa's armor, I mean."
Oh. This about that battle way back in the forest? "Don't
mention it. It's my whole job to support the rest of you."
"You've always been quick to think up clever tricks like that,
haven't you? Ever since the old days."
The old days, meaning… ten years ago, probably? I felt like I'd
changed lot since then, but maybe I was still the same cheeky little
brat to Ghislaine. "I guess so. They usually don't accomplish much
against the tougher enemies, though."
"For the tougher ones, you can have Lady Eris do the heavy
lifting."
I was a little surprised to hear that coming from Ghislaine,
honestly. She'd always seemed more like the "find a way to handle it
yourself" type…
"That's the whole reason she trained so hard for all those
years."
"…Yeah, you're right."
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In my heart, I wanted Sylphie and Roxy to stay put at home
where it was safe. But for some reason, I didn't feel the same way
about Eris. It probably had something to do with all the effort she'd
put in to fight alongside me. The years she'd spent in the Sword
Sanctum had really paid off.
Then again, it was also just impossible to imagine her waiting
patiently back at the house while I went off on some adventure.
Come to think of it…the woman said she wanted to have a baby,
but was she actually capable of sitting still during the pregnancy?
Kind of a scary thought…
"…"
The conversation seemed to have ground to a halt. Crap. Don't
we have anything else to talk about? Uh, maybe the good old days?
Uhhh…
"By the way, Ghislaine, are you still keeping up with your
reading and writing?"
"Yeah. I practice like you taught me when I have some spare
time. Wouldn't want to lose a skill I took the time to learn."
What an admirable attitude. Eris, on the other hand, seemed to
have forgotten almost everything I'd taught her by now.
"You know," said Ghislaine with a smile, "the others at the
Sword Sanctum didn't believe me when I told them I'd learned how
to write."
"Couldn't you have just written something for them to prove
it?"
"I did, but most of them can't read, either. They said I was
scribbling a bunch of nonsense and laughed in my face."
"Haha…" I kind of wished I'd been there to see that happen.
"How about you, Rudeus? You still practicing with the sword?"
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"A bit, yeah. When I have some downtime at home, I practice
the forms you taught me and do a bunch of swings as part of my
daily workout."
"Really? You're a full-fledged magician now, so I figured you'd
stopped years ago."
"Even magicians need to stay in shape, you know."
I wasn't trying to improve my skill with the sword at this point,
of course. Becoming Paul's equal had been my goal once, but he was
gone now. I only really used it when I was teaching Norn. In this
world, you couldn't make it too far as a swordsman without the use
of Battle Aura.
"Oh, this reminds me," said Ghislaine. "Do you remember that
promise you made me, back when you were just a kid?"
"Uhm… what promise was this?"
"Slipped your mind, I see. You said you were going to make
another figurine of me."
Oh, right. I did say something like that, didn't I? When was
that, my tenth birthday? That really takes me back…
"I've heard you're still doing those figurines even now, right?
Make me another one sometime, if you don't have anything better
to do."
"Absolutely."
"Thanks. I don't know much about art, but I do like your work a
lot."
That was nice to hear, don't get me wrong, but why was
everyone in this world constantly saying stuff like this with a battle
looming on the horizon? It made me antsy. Hopefully we weren't
setting any death flags here…
Nah. I could understand it, actually. I still had my memories of
cheesy movies from my previous life, so I felt like talking about the
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future right before a battle meant your death was all but
guaranteed. But it was probably the other way around. Reminding
yourself of the reasons you wanted to survive made it more likely
that you would.
"Hm?"
Suddenly, Ghislaine's ears and nose twitched. I lifted my staff
and prepared myself for a fight; but she held out a hand to stop me.
"Don't worry. It's fine."
A moment later, Triss walked into the inn with sacks in both her
hands. She nudged the door shut with her shoulder, then strode up
to us and held out one of the bags.
"Hey there. Brought some food for ya."
"Appreciate it."
"Yeah, aren't I nice? Make sure you savor it real gratefully."
There were a number of tough, pear-like fruits inside the sack. I
took one out and tossed it to Ghislaine, who immediately began to
gnaw away at it, skin and all.
"All right then, guys. I'll leave you to it."
Triss waved her hand vaguely and made her way up the stairs
toward the second floor. The woman had only spent ten days with
us, but it felt like she'd already found her place in the party. Basically,
she fell into the same category as Ellemoi and Cleane—a true
believer in the righteous Princess Ariel. She had a foul mouth on her,
but she seemed like a decent person.
My only real complaint was that her clothing made it tough to
keep my eyes where they belonged. I mean, I guess Ghislaine's outfit
wasn't any less revealing…but it's easier to appreciate the muscular
beauty of a warrior's body on a purely artistic level.
"Triss seems to be in high spirits today," Ghislaine commented.
"You're right. I wonder if something happened."
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I pulled out a pear for myself, skinned it with my knife and took
a bite. The thing was kind of crunchy for some reason, and its flavor
was more sour than sweet. For whatever reason, a lot of the fruit in
this world didn't taste so great on its own. It was edible enough,
though.
"I expect she heard some useful information," said Ghislaine.
"Leaning something valuable always puts those sorts in a good
mood. Geese was the same way."
"Hmm, I bet you're right."
Princess Ariel had tasked Triss with scouting the city and
gathering all sorts of information. Learning the whereabouts of
Auber and Darius' soldiers was naturally our top priority, but she
wanted to know plenty of other things as well. She'd told Triss to
report anything that seemed even possibly relevant; she then sorted
through that flood of information, picked out the most important
pieces, and discussed them with me. Since Ariel was choosing what
information she would share with me, there was a chance I might
miss out on hearing something crucial. But at this point, I'd decided
to just accept that risk. It wasn't like I was capable of controlling
events perfectly in any case.
Right now, my job was to consider the tidbits Ariel did pass on
as carefully as I could.
"That reminds me," I said. "Didn't Geese say something about
heading for Asura? I guess we might bump into him somewhere."
"He'll probably spot us first, if he's still around."
Yeah, that did sound like Geese. I could see him picking us out at
a distance, then planning out and staging some kind of dramatic
reunion.
"But knowing him," Ghislaine continued, "he probably lost all his
money gambling and wandered off to some other country years
ago."
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"Isn't Geese a pretty good gambler, though?"
"Only when he's broke."
From what Roxy had told me, the Kingdom of Asura wasn't a
great place to live in if you were an adventurer like Geese. There
weren't many monsters to slay in general, and the government
assigned knights to protect specific villages. On top of that, the Royal
Magicians and their knightly counterparts were periodically
dispatched on large-scale hunts that doubled as training missions.
As a result, monster-hunting jobs were few and far between.
The large Asuran businesses tended to have their own dedicated
resource-gathering operations, so there weren't many requests for
raw materials, either. And given how safe and secure the Kingdom
was, the demand for temporary guards was limited as well. The tasks
that got posted were mostly tedious, time-consuming stuff like
missing-person jobs and delivery runs. At certain times of the year
you probably could find work helping out on someone's farm, but
there simply wasn't much real adventuring to be done, compared to
other countries.
That was particularly true in the regions closer to the capital city
of Ars. There were always a certain number of youngsters who
decided to become adventurers anyway, but as they ranked up they
usually drifted off to Fittoa or Donati—and eventually further to the
north or south. Those with remarkable skills or extensive training
could sometimes find steady posts as household tutors or
bodyguards, but that was a high bar to clear. And you didn't need to
be an adventurer to secure those jobs, anyway. There were
professional specialists in Asura who could handle most of the work
that needed doing, so the people here didn't feel much need to rely
on a bunch of smelly, rough-and-tumble freelancers. You can
understand why the headquarters of the Adventurers' Guild was
located in Millis instead.
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"…Hm?"
As Ghislaine and I were chatting about all this, I noticed her ears
twitching once again. And this time, the expression on her face
turned slightly stern. Maybe trouble had finally found us. I dropped
the bag of fruit, grasped my staff in both hands and stared warily at
the door.
But Ghislaine wasn't looking at the entrance to the inn. Her gaze
was directed at the second floor. When I listened carefully, I could
just make out the sound of people arguing.
What's all this about?
"I'm going to go take a look, Ghislaine."
"Right."
I made my way slowly up the stairs. Sylphie and Eris were still
outside Ariel's room, but they were both watching the door in
concern. Did we have a real problem on our hands here?
"Hey, Sylphie."
"Oh, Rudy! Triss just went in a few minutes ago, but now it
sounds like Princess Ariel and Luke are arguing about something…"
Ariel and Luke were having a fight? That sounded… ominous.
Didn't she have that situation under control? Supposedly?
Well, maybe this was all part of the plan. Sometimes arguments
could be necessary.
"It's Rudeus. Pardon me, but I'm coming in."
I knocked at the door just for the sake of politeness, but then
swung it open without waiting for a response. Inside, I found Luke on
his feet, looking pale and shaken, Ariel sitting in a chair with an
unruffled expression, and Triss looking on awkwardly.
"Ah, Sir Rudeus," said Ariel without even batting an eye. "Just
the man I wanted to see."
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"Has something happened, Your Highness?"
"Yes. Triss has just brought us some intriguing information."
"About what, if I might ask?"
"…It concerns Lord Sauros Boreas Greyrat."
Sauros? It might be very important, then, at least to Ghislaine.
Maybe this was something Ariel had specifically asked Triss to
investigate…
"As it happens, it's often easier to learn about the intrigues of
the Asuran royal court in these regional cities than it would be in the
capital," Ariel continued. "Those who know too much tend to put
some distance between themselves and Ars, where certain anxious
nobles might have them killed."
That was news to me. I guess it made sense, though. Maybe.
"In any case, we've learned the primary culprit behind Lord
Sauros' fall."
"And… who would that be?"
Luke's face contorted into an alarming grimace. Ariel, on the
other hand, looked as emotionless as a mask.
"I'm afraid that it was a member of my faction, acting on their
own initiative. Someone who also happened to have a personal
grudge against Lord Sauros…"
Ariel paused, but only long enough to draw a breath.
"Namely, Pilemon Notos Greyrat."
Ah. So it was Pilemon himself who'd done it.
That did sound plausible, unfortunately. The Notos clan had
been the leading backers of Ariel among the aristocracy, while the
Boreas family favored Grabel. They were enemies at the time. On top
of that, it sounded like Pilemon hated Sauros for personal reasons.
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He'd probably jumped eagerly on his chance to bring the old man
down.
This wasn't good news. But it didn't come as a huge surprise,
either. Despite the circumstances at the time, Sauros was still the
liege lord of an entire region of Asura. And even with his territory
devastated, he had allies among the First Prince's faction. Only
another powerful, influential noble could really have orchestrated his
downfall.
"…What do you intend to do, Princess Ariel?" I asked.
"I'll allow Ghislaine to take his life, just as I promised her."
Luke bit his lip hard at those words.
This certainly explained his angry outburst. I was honestly
surprised Ariel was being so blunt about this, knowing how much he
cared about his family. It almost seemed like she was publicly
choosing Ghislaine over him.
"However, that's only going to happen if Pilemon… and the
Notos family… truly have betrayed us. We don't have any conclusive
proof of that just yet."
"…"
"Assuming that it's true, I intend to have Ghislaine execute him,
and then appoint Luke as the new head of the Notos family."
"And if he hasn't really betrayed you?"
"I'll convince Ghislaine to settle for the others."
"The others? Oh…"
She'd called Pilemon the primary culprit. That implied there
were additional conspirators. So in this scenario, she'd spare her ally
but murder all the others. It didn't sound much like justice, but that's
just the way things went sometimes. At the moment, I couldn't
scrounge up much sympathy for a bunch of murderous aristocrats I'd
never even met.
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"Is that understood, Luke?" said Ariel, looking over in his
direction.
"…There's no proof that any of this is true."
Luke's expression was pained. I could tell that he understood
Ariel's perspective, but didn't want to accept it on an emotional
level. Still, he was staying relatively calm, given that we were
discussing the potential execution of his own father.
"It's entirely possible that someone's manipulating us…"
Hmm. Did he just shoot a look in my direction?
"Luke, please rest assured—as I've explained previously, Rudeus
will not be usurping control of the Notos Greyrat family."
"Your Highness! We shouldn't be discussing this in front of
him!"
"I think it's the other way around, actually. I'd like to make this
very clear to him and everyone else involved." Ariel paused to draw a
breath, then continued in a firm, clear voice. "No matter how much
he contributes to our cause, I have no intention of granting Rudeus a
rank in the Asuran nobility."
That was fine by me. I wouldn't have accepted it even if she had
offered. But for whatever reason, Luke was looking at me with
undisguised hostility. I wasn't sure how I should react to that. It felt
like the next words I spoke, or even a slight change in my facial
expression, might determine Luke's course of action.
Was he going to turn on us after all?
As I hesitated, Ariel stepped in. "Now then, Luke, I think we
should continue this discussion by ourselves. You don't mind, do you,
Rudeus?"
"Of course not."
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Ariel had told me she could handle this. At the moment, staying
completely out of it felt like my best option. I watched quietly as she
and Luke walked out of the room together.
That same evening, Ariel reported back to me. In her private
conversation with Luke, she'd finally convinced him to open up and
be completely honest with her.
Long story short—our suspicions were correct. The Man-God
was giving him advice.
Apparently, it had only happened once so far. As we were
preparing for our journey, the Man-God had warned Luke to "be
ready for Rudeus' betrayal." His claim was that I'd secretly allied
myself with Darius so that I could seize control of the Notos Greyrat
house. In this scenario, I was motivated by a thirst for power, lust for
Ariel, and simple greed. Sylphie had no idea of my intentions; it was
all happening behind her back.
During the day, I would pretend to be Ariel's ally, but carefully
lead her into the enemy's traps. And at night, I'd sneak off to meet
with Darius' spies and tell them everything I knew. In fact, I'd secretly
orchestrated all of these events, after many years of scheming. Even
my marriage to Sylphie was supposedly just another step in my
master plan.
This version of Rudeus sounded like one ridiculously thorough,
clever guy. It was a shame I couldn't have him take the reins for me.
My life would probably go a lot smoother.
At first, Luke had found all of this implausible. It was particularly
hard for him to believe I had any interest in joining the nobility. I felt
like he'd never trusted me that much, but I guess I'd earned that
benefit of the doubt, at least.
However, recent events like the destruction of the teleportation
circles and the betrayal of the Notos family had unfolded exactly as
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the Man-God predicted. That was enough to chip away at Luke's
faith in me. And once he started looking at me with suspicion, he
found reasons to believe the Man-God's story.
It seemed he still suspected me, even now.
Ariel told me that the best way to prove my innocence to Luke
was through my actions. She also promised that she would keep him
from doing anything unwise in the meantime.
Hearing all this came as something of a relief. The Man-God
hadn't done anything that clever here, so it wouldn't be that hard to
break his grip on Luke. The fact of the matter was, I'd never even
met Darius, I had no desire to take over my dad's childhood home,
and I wasn't interested in sleeping with Ariel. Luke could suspect me
to his heart's content, but I just wasn't going to betray them.
By the Man-God's standards, this seemed like half-assed work. It
felt pretty clear that he'd never expected to get much out of Luke.
Still, I never would have learned any of this from Luke myself. It
was a good thing Ariel had stepped in to handle the situation. She
was way better suited to the job than me.
***
The next day, we set out south from Rikket.
Luke constantly glared at me now, and did his very best to
ensure that I was never alone with Ariel. He probably thought that I
might murder the princess and send her head to Grabel, now that
she'd publicly declared I would never be a noble.
I didn't really mind. At this point, I knew what was going on in
Luke's head, and Ariel had him on a leash. It was one less thing to
worry about. I don't know if Ariel had anticipated any of this, but I
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was impressed by how quickly she'd lightened the load on my
shoulders.
One other thing worth mentioning took place that day. The
princess personally told both Ghislaine and Eris about the things
we'd learned about the death of Sauros.
"…So all in all, it seems quite likely that members of my faction
played a key role in the downfall of Lord Sauros."
"I see…"
"Hmph."
Ghislaine listened to Ariel's explanation with cold anger in her
eyes. Eris made a show of looking disinterested, but you could see
through that easily enough. She was squeezing the pommel of her
sword so tightly that all the blood drained from her fingers.
"Are you going to cut me down, Ghislaine?" Ariel asked calmly.
"…No. I'll kill the enemies you've offered me."
Ghislaine didn't seem too fixated on murdering Pilemon in
particular. I'd expected this to require some persuasion, but I guess
she'd thought this through in her own way.
Eris didn't say anything for a moment, but then she nodded
slightly. "Sounds good. I'm willing to kill anyone who might cause
Rudeus trouble."
Never change, Eris.
Now our remaining goal was to reach the capital and have our
showdown with the enemy. Over the course of twenty days, we
made our way slowly south along the backroads—and finally arrived
at Ars, the crown jewel of Asura.