When we spoke to him, we found out that Gregory was a n.o.bleman of the Raidos Kingdom. To my surprise, he was actually a Viscount.
However, he said that he had never lived like a n.o.bleman since he entered the Belios Kingdom disguised as a merchant more than twenty years ago.
I thought it was amazing that he remained loyal to the Raidos Kingdom, but it seemed that his fear of being killed if he betrayed them was stronger than his loyalty.
In fact, some of his fellow spies had been killed for trying to betray their homeland.
Maybe there were even spies watching over other spies.
Besides, spies from the Raidos Kingdom were somewhat unique. Instead of always conducting operations against the other country, they usually worked earnestly so that they could move easily in case of emergencies.
He mentioned that a Knight named Saruth, who had infiltrated the Kingdom of Philias, also worked normally in peacetime to gain trust.
Gregory was the same, and it seemed that he was really a decent merchant, except for the fact that he sent information to the Raidos Kingdom once every few years.
Because of this, he had gained the trust of the people around the lake, and their scheme involving the Scarlet Waterweed medicine had been able to proceed smoothly.
Gregory and the others were under the command of the Eastern Duke, and they were helping the alchemists under his command with their plans.
「Who is this alchemist you’re talking about?」
「Zelyse, a man who behaves like a child」
「Zelyse!? He’s in this country?」
「Y-yes…」
Fran’s eyes widened. She never thought she’d hear his name here.
He was the crazy, psycho, good-looking alchemist, who had done several things to us in Barbra. Well, we did manage to thwart his plans as well, so I’d say it was even between us.
But still, is he on the Raidos Kingdom’s side? Or did he originally belong to the Belios Kingdom? But he also said something like he was raised in the Kranzel Kingdom at that time…
「Is Zelyse a subordinate of Raidos Kingdom?」
「I-It would be more accurate to say that he was a subordinate of the Eastern Duke…」
「Even though he’s being hunted elsewhere?」
「Criminal records in countries that are hostile to our country are irrelevant. Besides, in the Raidos Kingdom, where there is no Adventurer’s Guild, the bounties issued by the Guild is meaningless…」
In other words, they would accept criminals from other countries as long as they were capable. On the contrary, it was even possible that they were actively accepting those who were wanted in the Kranzel Kingdom. Just like that saying went, “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”.
『Could it be that that undead are under Zelyse’s command?』
When Fran asked him about it, he said that it had nothing to do with Zelyse. He said that the undead was loaned by the Black Skeleton Army, an organization under the control of the Southern Duke.
To my surprise, it seemed that the Black Skeleton Army had created a technique to transform necromancers into undead while retaining their human consciousness.
「How is that even possible?」
「I-I don’t know. But even that Wight King was still able to hold a decent conversation. Although his mind was greatly corrupted…」
It seemed that it was not possible to tell which cla.s.s of undead a slave would turn into depending on the affinity of the person who became the base body, so the current method was to force a slave to turn into an undead after making them learn necromancy.
After they were turned into undead in this way, they were then controlled by higher-ranking necromancers and made to swear allegiance to the Raidos Kingdom.
The advantages of turning a human into an undead were strong reasoning and the ability to talk. The undead, who were usually too mentally deranged to carry out complex missions, could be transformed into fearsome and powerful soldiers by having human thoughts.
However, he said that those who became undead must sleep in a coffin during normal times because their bodies and minds would gradually deteriorate over time.
The coffin also had a powerful concealment effect, so powerful undead could be hidden inside their luggage and be transported. In some cases, it was even possible to carry them close to the heart of the enemy country without being detected.
The Wight King we had just defeated was said to be one of the few remaining top-level forces in the Black Skeleton Army. When we mentioned Weena Rhyn’s name before, they must have seen us as a possible enemy. Well, we killed it instantly though.
However, the Scarlet Waterweed medicine was more important than the undead right now.
「What is your purpose? What are you going to do with the Scarlet Waterweed medicine?」
「Z-Zelyse hasn’t told us his main goal! He just asked us to ma.s.s-produce the Scarlet Waterweed medicine!」
「Where are you sending that Scarlet Waterweed medicine?」
「N-nowhere…」
「Nn?」
『Huh?』
What does that mean? Aren’t they trying to make Scarlet Waterweed medicine and use it for something?
However, Gregory told us that the Scarlet Waterweed medicine was still stored in large quant.i.ties in the s.h.i.+p’s warehouses.
He said that all of them were left here except for those that were distributed for domestic use.
They a.s.sumed that it would eventually be transported somewhere else, but the situation had remained the same for over a year now.
(But why? Isn’t their purpose is to get the Scarlet Waterweed medicine?)
『Well, I don’t know about it either… Besides, I don’t even understand the connection between the fact that these guys are from the Raidos Kingdom and are working under Zelyse’s orders and the anomaly in the lake』
We thought that the anomaly was caused by something that the Mesther Merchant a.s.sociation had done. In fact, we thought that the Scarlet Waterweed medicine had been misused in some way to cause the current anomaly.
But was that really the case?
「Did you know that there’s been some kind of anomaly in the lake?」
「Y-yes」
「Are you guys the ones behind it?」
「T-that’s outrageous! There’s no way we could do something that big!」
『For real? But this guy seems to be serious』
Was it just that Gregory didn’t know about it? Or did they really have nothing to do with it?
『Fran, It seems we need to get Zelyse to talk, even if we have to force him to』
(Nn)
Fran then asked Gregory where Zelyse was.
「T-the atelier! He should be in the Scarlet Waterweed medicine making atelier!」