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Chapter 136: Homecoming II

Leaving Otou-san and Lord White-Scale behind, we returned to Lemuria through Maria\'s ability.

It\'s about three o\'clock at night at the moment. This is the time of night when the drunken adventurers are starting to fall asleep.

The person with whom Maria has a connection, and is probably the closest to the person I have in mind, is Lanseal.

An instant after we had dove into the light, we were teleported to a damp prison cell that looked familiar.

On the cold stone bed, a silver-haired beastkin was curled up.

「Huh, Lanseal?」

「………Eh, is that you, Souya?」

「Lanseal, what are you doin――」

I was about to ask her why she was in prison when she pounced on me and locked her lips to mine.

「Nuugh」

She held my head and ravished my tongue. It was so unexpected that I forgot to breathe. I could feel the heat from her limbs and the hard tips of her breasts against me. I nearly lost consciousness from confusion and lust.

「Ohh」

Maria?! A child! There\'s a child watching! This is terrible for her moral development!

「This, is bad! This is not the time for this, alright?」

「I, I\'m sorry. I was overcome with emotion」

I managed to tear Lanseal off me and wipe the saliva that was all over my mouth.

That was a close one. If it hadn\'t been a bad time for it, I probably would have crossed the line.

「Haa…… Oh no! Souya! My father, he sent you to……………… Are you alright?」

「It was dangerous, but I\'m fine. So is Maria, who came with me」

「Somehow, I got tied up, blindfolded, collared, and dragged around by a leash, but I\'m fine」

Puffing out her chest, she said some very dangerous things.

I\'m begging you, please don\'t say that in front of Tortch or that guy will have a stroke.

「And why are you here?」

「I couldn\'t forgive my father for his decision, and when I was about to go bring you back, Souya, he preempted me and locked me up in here」

「What do you mean you couldn\'t forgive him?」

「I\'m referring to the matter with the vampires. Even if it\'s with Barfuru-sama, sending just two people to eliminate them is far too dangerous. There must have been other alternatives, but this decision was made much too hastily and secretively. It\'s very unlike my father to do such a thing」

「Well, your intuition is correct」

Is this the sharpness peculiar to beastkin, or is it just the keenness of women\'s intuition, I wonder? Anyway, if she had butted in, things might have been different. Though I can\'t say whether or not they would have turned out for the better.

「I came to have a talk with the king about this matter. You and Maria should go home first」

「Umm, Souya?」

「Yes?」

Lanseal looked at me apprehensively.

「I\'ve seen a glimpse of the madness inside you. Indeed, I think that my father has made a mistake in this. But――」

「It\'ll be fine. I\'m just going to protest nicely. Maria should be starving. Why don\'t you make her some hot soup?」

「I\'m so hungry～」

For once, Maria read the mood and said something appropriate.

She\'s grown, hasn\'t she? Thought I suppose it\'s possible that she simply just happens to be hungry.

「I understand. I\'ll go back first and make supper. Souya, I\'m trusting you, alright?」

「Don\'t worry」

I smiled at Lanseal. Maria took her hand and teleported back home.

I held my breath for a second, drew my katana, turned the blade around, then slid it back into the scabbard. When it clicked into place, the lock of the prison split into two.

I slipped past the sleeping guards and emerged into the corridor. Lemuria\'s royal castle still looked the same whichever way I turned, and I nearly got lost.

Relying on memory and intuition, I made my way to the food storeroom. Along the way, I ran into maids several times, but I managed to sneak past them. Although some of them were beastkin with keen senses, they somehow didn\'t notice me.

Perhaps it\'s thanks to the adventuring garb I\'m wearing?

I stuffed a burlap sack with things I could give as souvenirs. Leaving some room in the sack, I moved on to the treasury.

I knocked the guards out and held a discussion in front of its sturdy door.

「Yukikaze, can you by any chance pick locks?」

I could just cut it open, but that would leave traces of my intrusion.

『Easily, indeed. However, due to issues regarding morality, Yukikaze is unable to cooperate. Yukikaze seeks an explanation, indeed』

「This is what’s called a bonus」

『Bonuses are not meant to be collected by the employees on their own initiative』

「I was scammed into a contract that was grossly unfair」

『It\'s too early to come to that conclusion without questioning King Lemuria, isn\'t it? It\'s possible that the king was a victim as well』

「Even if the king was a victim, he would only be able to pay the reward we had agreed upon when we made the contract. But that would surely break King Lemuria\'s heart. Therefore, collecting the reward in secret is simply my way of showing consideration for the king\'s feelings」

『………………………………』

Don\'t go silent on me!

「How\'s that?」

I tapped the pod with my finger.

『It only sounds like sophistry to Yukikaze, but that somehow passed the ethical analysis. Yukikaze has no choice but to cooperate. After all, it\'s not only team member Souya who will get in trouble if this theft gets discovered. If Yukikaze grows up to be a bad person in future, it\'ll all be your fault』

I brought the pod closer to the lock. Several parts that were smaller than its arms emerged from it and began fiddling with the mechanism of the lock. With a final turn, the lock gave an audible click.

The door to the treasury swung open.

『Aaahh, aaahh, Yukikaze doesn\'t care anymore. You\'re a bad, bad person~』

Ignoring Yukikaze\'s complaints, I rummaged through the treasury.

There were many tempting treasure chests, as well as mighty-looking weapons and armor on display. I came across richly colored furs and stuffed monsters that I had never seen before. The bookshelves looked unassuming, but they must be filled with valuable books.

For how impoverished the castle seems, there\'s quite a hoard of treasures here. I wonder how much this all costs.

「Now……」

What shall I take?

As I agonized over this, there was a burst of light and an owl alighted on my head.

「Ehhh」

That’s unexpected.

Why did she not come when I called her, but come now when I\'m doing something I don\'t want her to see?

「I felt as if I was called, so I came to take a look, but what are you doing?」

「What does it look like I\'m doing?」

「Stealing」

「Gravius-sama, there\'s a profound~ reason for this」

I explained myself to god.

I told her about what had happened in the Neomia inside the dream and the whole story about Barfuru. My suspicions regarding the king. The existence of the vampires. Halfway through my explanation, Gravius-sama started fishing through the treasury while making perfunctory responses.

「I see. ………Ideally, you want to pick things that aren\'t bulky, are valuable, and can be easily altered」

「What? Oh, right」

Surprisingly, she was on board with it.

「This brooch is perfect. The inset stone is a Galgus pyroxene, which is also referred to as "Gastolfo\'s Upper Arm", "Whore\'s House", "Thieves\' Star", and "Tender Treasure". One of these is worth 500 gold coins」

I\'ll get Makina to alter and then sell it.

「This is an antique gold ring that has been imbued with magic power. Wow, this is quite a rarity. The magic power is very pure. A skilled magician might be able to seal some sort of miracle within it」

I\'ll get it reworked and give it to Rana as a souvenir.

「Here\'s something you don\'t see every day. These are Rmir steel arrowheads. I wonder why they made it into something like this………for ceremonial purposes maybe?」

I\'ll have Ea use them in secret.

「Now this is something special. I\'d never have guessed that a king of a remote country would possess something like this」

The object that had caught Gravius-sama\'s eye was a gemstone with a strange glow.

It had a blood-red luster. In its center was a pattern that resembled the pupil of a cat. It was the size of a softball, but weighed as much as a bowling ball.

「What’s this?」

「It\'s a dragon\'s eye. It\'s not a real eye though. It\'s just a type of gemstone. However, it\'s been said that only those who have a connection with dragons may lay their hands on it………………Souya, you\'re able to carry it as normal, I see」

「Indeed」

I\'d take it, but it\'s something that won\'t be easy to sell. What should I do?

「Hey, Souya. Here, this one」

Gravius-sama was holding a single ring in her beak.

I accepted it from her and appraised it.

「Hmm?」

It was an old silver ring. There was nothing special about it other than the fact that a language I had never seen before was engraved on it. It was worth no more than two silver coins.

「Give that to me as an offering. I won\'t mind accepting it」

「Eh, are you sure you want something like this?」

There are lots of more expensive things in here that you can have, you know?

Not that any of them are mine though.

「This is fine. While you\'re fast developing into a swordsman, you\'ve gone downhill as a merchant. The price of an item has nothing to do with how much it\'s worth to the person who desires it」

「If this is what you want, Gravius-sama, then I\'ll be happy to present it as an offering」

「Well, I guess I have no choice. I\'ll accept it」

When I held out the ring, the god took it with her beak again and tucked it under her wing.

「This ring was popular back when I was alive. It\'s of little value, but it is precious. Silver gets dirty and corroded when people wear it, so I was surprised to find that one in such good condition still exists in the world」

So gods reminisce about the past too, huh?

「What does the engraving on the ring say?」

「"Glory and decline are the sun and the moon." In my time, many a country was born and many a country perished. As such, a number of such words of warning were created」

The era in which she lived in. Hopefully, there will come a time when I can ask her about it.

After that, I quietly packed the hard-to-trace items into the sack and parted ways with a pleased Gravius-sama.

I tidied up the treasury to hide my theft. I also made sure to lock the door behind me. I put the unconscious guards in chairs to make it look like they had simply fallen asleep.

Everything had gone so smoothly that I couldn\'t believe that this was my first time.

Maybe I have some talent as a thief or something? But I\'ve always wondered about this with regards to games and such. "Thief" refers to a type of criminal and is not a profession, right? Wouldn\'t calling them “Professional Criminals” be more accurate?[1]

Leaving that aside, I headed for the king\'s bedroom.

I had more stuff on me, but remained undetected. I made it there easily.

I knocked out the three guards there with the back of my katana. They were weaker than I had expected.

If the captain of the guard had been here, would I have had a harder time, I wonder?

I tried to sense for presences through the door, and fortunately, I only sensed one. If he was in bed with a woman, it would put a kink in my plan.

The door was unlocked as there were people guarding it.

Even if he\'s a king, for me to be sneaking into a dude\'s bedroom, what an incredible downer this is.

I approached the canopied bed, flipped my katana around so that its edge was facing backward, then swung it down at the sleeping king\'s face――――――

「Who\'s there?!」

Sparks and an angry yell filled the darkness. The king had deflected my katana with a dagger he had pulled out from under his pillow. He then leaped away and distanced himself from me with a grace that belied his years.

As expected from the king of adventurers.

To think that a surprise attack while he slept wouldn\'t work…… Well, I had only meant to give him a scare. I hadn\'t been serious.

「I\'ve just made it back from Neomia」

「Is that you, Souya? What\'s gotten into you? What\'s with the clothes you\'re wearing, or rather, what\'s the deal behind this outrage?」

「What, you ask………………」

「?」

I gave him plenty of time.

The king was waiting for my reply with a question mark floating above his head. That was enough for me.

「Why did the thought that I had become a vampire never cross your mind?」

「What?」

The person you had sent to eliminate vampires snuck into your bedroom in the middle of the night and attacked you. That should be the very first thing that comes to mind, isn\'t it?

「………………」

Even in the darkness, I could clearly see the king’s face twist.

「There were no vampires to begin with. It was Barfuru who attacked the Knight Order. The reason why they mistakenly thought they had been infected was probably because of the beasts of abominable blood in their own veins, or because of the spirits of the dead that haunt Rossian. The captain of the guard\'s men must have been sent into battle to die so that there wouldn\'t be any inconvenient witnesses. Or maybe they were killed to silence them」

「………………」

There was no response.

「It was give and take. Barfuru let you use him because he wanted me to go with him. To begin with, this whole thing was made up out of thin air. You can fake whatever information you want. You must have gotten all sorts of information this time by stirring up trouble for Elysium. How fast they respond, and who they communicate the information to. Who you\'ll need to silence, how others will react, and what gets delayed if you do manage to silence them. Such information is invaluable」

「………What happened to Barfuru-dono?」

Those were the words that the king squeezed out.

「I killed him」

「Impossible」

I showed him the fangs as proof.

「He was strong」

That\'s all I\'ll say. I won\'t go into detail.

I\'ll let him imagine the rest on his own.

「Yes, I understand now. That bastard Barfuru. For him to conspire against me, he must be a despicable beast, not just in appearance but also in his heart」

「………………Huh?」

Wait.

What the bloody hell is this baldy talking about?

「But his strength was no lie. You did well to defeat him. I shall give you a bonus on top of the promised reward」

「What do you think you\'re doing?」

「That beast-headed man tricked me with his made-up story about vampires and killed the knights of Elysium, who were our allies. In addition, he tried to plunge Lemuria into chaos. However, he was defeated by a single adventurer who caught on to his plan」

Rage.

Rage welled up inside me.

Rage is rage, but this is the kind of rage that\'s hard to describe in words. I hate Barfuru. I certainly hate him. I don\'t feel the slightest bit of pity for him. However, the only ones who are entitled to trample on him are Maria and me.

This guy has no right to do that.

「Are you angry, Souya?」

「………………」

Wordlessly, I slid the katana back into the scabbard. It was a preparatory action for what came next.

Depending on his next words, blood may be spilled.

「You\'re so very young. When you get older, you\'ll understand. That there will be many times when you’ll have to sacrifice something in order to protect something else. Besides, it\'s not as if you\'re one of those fools who talk about worthless ideals and dreams, am I right?」

He\'s certainly right about that.

The notion of protecting everything is a pipe dream. A person only has two arms, and trying to protecting someone along with yourself is next to impossible.

And that\'s precisely why I\'m so angry. I no longer have any words left for this guy――――――

「Calm down. What are you going to do after you kill me? Take your wife and sister and flee to another continent? Elves are notoriously bad at adapting to new lands, you know? The blame for the murder of the king could also fall on Heures Forest. If it does, everything will go up like a powder-keg. The land will be embroiled in war. No, it could turn out to be much less complicated than that. As there is no successor to the throne, the Margrave will bring in troops from Elysium and establish his rule over the country. The beastkin will be oppressed, and all the beastkin you know, including Lanseal, will become slaves. Yes, the same fate will likely befall the elves as well」

The king spoke eloquently and without the slightest hint of guilt. His gaze was calm and his expression impassive.

I took the jumble of emotions inside me and honed them until they were as sharp as a blade.

I don\'t need anything else.

「What did you come all the way from the foreign lands to do?」

So long as I kill this guy, I don\'t………………

「………………To explore the dungeon」

In that moment, I killed myself without using any blade.

Calm down. I don\'t need the coldness of a blade right now. What I need is the cold dispassion of a person seeking profit.

Maria getting caught up in this is partly due to my own carelessness. If I had been watching her more closely, she wouldn\'t have fallen prey to Barfuru\'s instigation. Besides, she\'s already safe and sound.

So calm down.

Calm down.

I’ve made a promise to return home. It would be foolish to go back on that promise and put myself into another dangerous situation.

I had thought that I had become stronger, but I\'m still weak. It\'s frustrating.

「Haaa」

I let out a sigh.

After all that has happened, I\'m just so tired.

「Just this once, I\'ll let you have your way. Remember, it\'s just this once. And never forget, separating your head from your body is child’s play for me」

「Tomorrow, to honor you for defeating Barfuru――」

「Screw that! I don\'t need any glory. You can feed that to the dogs」

「Then……」

「Barfuru, no, Deimos Zamongrea exchanged mortal blows with the king of the vampires. That\'s all there is to it」

「I see. If that\'s what you want, then so be it」

I turned to leave.

I no longer have any respect for this king.

This is a castle of falsehoods. This king\'s authority is built on nothing but lies and a series of lucky breaks. And you call yourself the king of adventurers? You sly bastard.

「I am the king. Of adventurers, that is」

Even at the very end, the king continued to sound off.

「Souya, you\'ve revealed too much of your talents to me. One of these days, I\'ll put you to work again」

I turned back and bared my teeth at him.

「Order me all you want! However, I am no dog! Don\'t think for one second that you can tame me!」

[1] This is one of the rare times where Japanese is more specific than English, so the joke is hard to bring across. In essence: A person is a thief if they’ve stolen once, but that doesn’t mean that it’s their profession, right? So the ones in games and such who have “Thief” as their class/job/etc and presumably do it as a profession shouldn’t be called “thief” but “professional thief”. Yes, it just sounds so weird in English because there isn’t a completely separate term for “professional thief” (that I know of).

In case, you hadn’t caught it, “I don\'t need anything else” is what Souya thinks in his head when he’s honing his killing intent. He did it during the dragon fight and also thought something similar in the Lola fight. So yes, he was intent on killing the king at that moment. But when he was reminded of his purpose, he gave up on it.

Yeah, it’s been shown in flashes here and there, but Lemuria is no benevolent king. Before this, he’s only schemed with Souya against others, but people like that will scheme against anyone as long as it’s to their advantage and it was only a matter of time… So, what do you think this change in their relationship will bring?

On a lighter note, I like Gravius-sama. It’s really too bad she doesn’t get more screen time.

2 more chapters until the volume ends…and I’ll be releasing them together as a double chapter! Stay tuned!