Arc 25: Daydream Believer
Chapter 246: Suspicious Person, and the Feedback
Surprisingly, the cat patrols that Nyantaro had organized were very excellent.
If there’s some kind of trouble in the town, they immediately run to the knight post and called over the knights. When they spotted a suspicious person, they indirectly pursued and watched the actions of that person. They also urged the adults to pay attention to kids If they tried to play a dangerous game.
They’d managed to accomplish so much despite not being able to speak. The townspeople came to cherish the cats to the point of being able to see cats all over the place before anyone even noticed it.
That large number of cats should’ve increased the theft of fishes or their misbehavior, but I didn’t hear any kind rumors like those. Nyantaro was apparently handling the reins skillfully.
In addition, there were adventurers who one-sidedly bullied the obedient cats, but they were then discovered in back alleys completely tattered. They said countless scratches were found on their bodies, leading to a conclusion that they’d been attacked by a quite numerically large group. After that, the number of adventurers who had tormented the cats for fun sharply dropped. Even if cats were animals, they still could get angry. Incidentally, the adventurers who had been attacked seemed to suffer quite a bit of trauma and developed a phobia of cats, prompting them to leave the town.
With this, the cats had gained a right of citizens.h.i.+p in Brunhild.
「So, are you saying that there’s suspicious person?」(Touya)
「Nya」(Nyantaro)
In the shadows, Nyantaro and I were watching a person in the bar that’s beside the guild. Fiana-san was spending the day right now with Sakura in the castle, so Nyantaro was removed from guard duty.
The suspicious person, whom the cats had found, was slowly drinking sake at the farthest counter. I couldn’t see the person’s face since he’s wrapped in a hooded robe that’s slightly dirty, but I felt that the person was a woman rather than a man for some reason. It’s only my intuition though.
The hands and the legs that extended from the robe were being covered with gauntlets and greaves. Is she a knight from somewhere?
Oh well. If you say she’s suspicious, then she’s definitely is, but not to the point of being cautious against. I don’t want to know her real ident.i.ty, and she may have her own circ.u.mstances as well.
「She’s definitely suspicious, but the thing that bothers me the most is that she doesn’t have any scent~nya」(Nyantaro)
「She doesn’t smell?」 (Touya)
「Every person has their own peculiar smell to a certain degree ~nya, but there’s still a body odor at the very least ~nya. Of course, a perfume can be often used to cover that smell ~nya, but having no smell at all is very abnormal ~nya」(Nyantaro)
I see. Although cats’ sense of smell wasn’t on the same level as that of dogs, theirs was still several tens of thousand times more sensitive than that of humans. It’s being said that they could judge the quality of food through their olfactory senses and that they could mark the body of their owner with their own smell by putting their bodies against their master’s legs.
Those cats are saying that it’s abnormal, so there might really be something else about this.
「There are three possibilities ~nya」(Nyantaro)
Nyantaro says so and puts up his three short fingers. Oi, aren’t you nimble?
「First, the smell is being erased by magic. This is also the same as an artifact ~nya. Second, she’s an undead. In this case, however, it’s strange that she doesn’t have the stench of death~nya. I guess her being a spirit body is a possibility too ~nya. Lastly, she’s a golem or a magic creature otherwise. However, I’ve never seen a golem as small as her ~nya. This makes the first possibility as the most probable ~nya」(Nyantaro)
Speaking of golems, there were those that resembled Frankenstein’s monster who could be called a “flesh golem”, but that’s akin to an undead. It seemed to have the stench of death though.
a.s.suming that her body scent was being erased by some sort of magic, it raised the question of why that person was doing it anyway. In the first place, does a magic like that really exist? It may be possible though if it’s a non-attribute magic.
Thinking about it normally, deodorizing magic is used if one smells really terribly. But if that’s the case, then this town has public baths which are available. If she can afford to drink sake, then she should be able to go to a public bath as well
「I guess she really is suspicious if you’re saying she’s suspicious, but it’s not like she has done something」(Touya)
「His Majesty is too optimistic ~nya. If something happens, then it’ll be too late already ~nya. It’s better to place countermeasures at once before it’s too late ~nya」 (Nyantaro)
Really? She’s just quietly drinking sake. Even if we don’t do anything.. oh?
Two drunk adventures for some reason picked a quarrel with the hooded suspicious person. She was standing out in a bad sense, so I believed it couldn’t be helped if people like those suddenly came out.
I wonder, should I stop them?
While I thought about something like that, I secretly hid behind the bar entrance and observed the situation. One of the adventurers who had picked up a fight was quickly blown away in front of my eyes. Eeh!?
He, who has been blown outside from the entrance, fell headfirst into the ground, being sent flying by the hooded suspicious person
The male adventurer was considerably tall and tough. I wonder what herculean strength did this woman have to have made him fly that far.
As I looked inside the bar again, the other adventurer came flying outside as well. That was dangerous, you know?!
I then drew my neck back like a turtle as he flew in the air the same way as the previous man, and fell to the ground.
Peeping inside the bar again, I saw that the hooded person wearing was still there slowly drinking sake from her gla.s.s again as if nothing had happened. Apparently, she was quite a gutsy person.
「This b.a.s.t.a.r.d!」 (Adventurer A)
「Stop fooling around!」 (Adventurer B)
The fl.u.s.tered adventures pulled the swords from their waists and tried breaking into the bar. Aren’t you quite drunk? As expected. I had to stop those guys.
「Sorry, but this is it. Any more will be going overboard. Until the swords are drawn it’s just an ordinary quarrel, but it will lead to murder once they are. As expected, this isn’t something that can be overlooked」(Touya)
「What’s with this brat!? You! Are you his companion?！」 (Adventurer A)
「Don’t get in the way!Do you also want to have a painful experience?!」 (Adventurer B)
Am I being treated as a kid? I was already past 17, but my appearance didn’t seem to grow up very much for some reason. I still got that kind of reaction even now. It surely increased the credibility that perpetual youth was granted by an effect of divinification… Far from eternal youth, it might even be immortality, but I couldn’t bring myself to try it by myself.
「What’s going on?」
「Did you see some adventures rampaging?」
「Or rather, isn’t that his majesty?」
A crowd had gathered around the bar before I even noticed it. Even the kids were waving to me.
「Your Majesty~！ Do you best~！」
「Get them~！」
No-no, it’s not like that, you know.
I made a wry smile and waved my hand to the kids, but did that hurt their feelings? One of the adversaries tried to cut me.
「Uraaaaaaa！！」
I then agily dodged from his overswing line of attack that didn’t even have a posture to it. His feet were unstable too. Is it because he’s drunk?
Nonetheless, there’s no doubt that he was in a dangerous state.
Knocking him down with a paralysis bullet from Brynhildr would’ve been fine, but I ended up worrying that having the gallery have a bad image of me — like I had just killed someone — would’ve been good, especially since they were already here.
I slipped through the incoming attack of that man, touched his body and invoked [Paralysis]. Looking at his companion who had collapsed as if the threads from his body were cut off, the other one brandished his sword and came at me too, but I caught the blade between my fingers and broke it off with [Power Rise]. What a cheap weapon.
「Whaaa?!」(Adventurer B)
Just like that, I then invoked [Paralysis] which incapacitated him.
「Fuu」(Touya)
The moment I’d neutralized the two, the guild master, Rerisha-san, came out from inside the guild next to the bar.
「Your Majesty? What in the world is this commotion?」(Rerisha)
「Oh, I’ve just subdued these two drunk men since they were acting violently. They appear to be adventurers, so please give them a warning just in case」(Touya)
To be exact, the guild couldn’t supervise adventurers, but actions like that harmed the position and image of an adventurer. In case there was an actual harm to the guild, a penalty ranging from deduction of rewards to deprivation of the guild card was usually given out. There were rumors of an a.s.sa.s.sination corp lurking in the shadows as well, but I didn’t know if those were true or not.
「I understand. I’ll strictly caution them this time, without imposing a penalty. It won’t the end of it, should they continue this behavior again and again. However, pointing a sword at the king of a country normally warrants a death penalty, and it’s something that can’t be helped」(Rerisha)
「Well, I think I’ll overlook it」 (Touya)
The guild staff dragged the two collapsed people away into the guild. Those two had been paralyzed but they still could hear and see everything around them, so they should’ve heard the story from a little while ago. Both of them had pale faces. Did they sober up?
「I want to ask something」
「Uouuuu！？」(Touya)
A voice has suddenly called out to me from behind, so I unintentionally let out a strange voice. The one standing behind me was the girl that was drinking at the bar counter, the suspicious person. I didn’t feel her presence at all!? Who is this person…? From the sound of her voice, she seems to be a woman as I’ve thought but…..
「Your Majesty. Since you’ve being called by that t.i.tle, are you the [King] of this country, right?」(Suspicious woman)
「That’s right…?」(Touya)
「Then you are Mo-chi-zu-ki To-u-ya, right?」(Suspicious woman)
I nodded to the suspicious hooded person with a gulp. What in the world is going on? Don’t tell me she’s yet another a.s.sa.s.sin sent by some country, huh? Though no other countries that do things like those come to my mind aside from Yuuron.
「Can we talk for awhile in a place with no other people around? I won’t take too much of your time」(Suspicious person)
「…I understand」(Touya)
I felt somewhat reluctant to follow a suspicious person of this huge level, but I conceded since I didn’t feel any hostility from her. I was also a bit interested on her story.
From behind the hooded woman who’s walking ahead, how should I say this……? I can’t feel anything. I feel like I’m following a puppet or a robot.
Just in case, I left Nyantaro in that area. She, having led me, took me to the forest by the ca.n.a.l on the east side.
After confirming that there’s no one around, the woman in front of me took off her hood, exposing her face to the sunlight
「Wha…!!」(Touya)
I involuntarily leaped backward, pulled Brynhildr from my waist on reflex alone, and aimed it towards the woman. The face in front of the gun muzzle was considerably ordered and probably belonged to the category of beauties.
However, what attracted my attention more than anything else were those glittering red eyes and hard hair that grew from her head. The hair that was s.h.i.+ning like a crystal, I’d seen it twice before. The first was in Rodomea, and the second was in Zenoasu.
「Ruler-cl…a.s.s！！」(Touya)
d.a.m.n! Why has a ruler-cla.s.s been able to enter Brunhild!? There was no response from the board, wasn’t there!?
「Wait. I have no intention to fight」(Suspicious woman)
「……?!」(Touya)
She doesn’t have the intention to fight!? What does she mean?
「My name is Rize. If you are Mochizuki Touya, then you do know Endemuon, right？」(Rize)
「Endemuon…? Are you talking about End?」(Touya)
That guy, did he really have such a name?
「Endemuon hasn’t yet returned from the dimensional gap. It’s just a little slip though, but it looks like it’s taking a lot of time. Therefore, I want to ask you to rescue him」(Rize)
「Rescue?」(Touya)
I didn’t understand the reason and thought that this is dubious, so the ruler-cla.s.s that introduced herself as Rize threw out something from under her robe. I then reflexively received it. It’s a triangular crystal prism approximately 10 centimeters in length.
「Pour magic power or something into that object. Once that power exceeds a certain amount, it will pull Endemuon here…Apparently」(Rize)
「Apparently?」(Touya)
「Endemuon has said so. Unfortunately, I don’t have what you call magic power. He told me to rely on Mochizuki Touya, the [King] of this country if ever I’m in trouble」(Rize)
I really don’t know what’s what anymore. Though the one in front of me is certainly a ruler-cla.s.s, why is she trying to help End? Isn’t that guy supposed to be hostile toward frazes?
Or is this a trap?
I took a quick glance at the ruler-cla.s.s who had introduced herself as Rize, but I couldn’t see any emotions from her. However, I felt that she’s slightly different from the two ruler-cla.s.ses whom I met before.
I poured a little magic power into the prism, but there were no particular changes to either myself or the prism. Is… it alright?
I poured magic power a little by little, gradually increasing its amount. Not too long afterward when I’d poured about a tenth of my magic power, the prism broke into several small pieces.
「Uwaaa！？」(Touya)
I unintentionally separated my hand from the crushed prism. Those small glittering fragments then became a big ring. End suddenly appeared from inside that ring as if there’s nothing in it and pa.s.sed through to this side.
「Ah. It’s Touya after all. You’ve saved me~ If I’ve stayed like that, I would’ve been unable to come back for another half a year. Woops, I’m back. Rize」(End)
「So you came back, huh? Endemuon」(Rize)
As usual, with a fluttering white scarf and a smile, End returned to this world.