Chapter 481
An Exchange of Information
A while later, Haku-san returned from my [Storage].
“It’s structure is reminiscent of what Rokuko-chan’s used to be, but there was a room inside. At the very least, it’s not just the size of an ordinary [Storage].”
“… Really now?”
“You didn’t know? You need to look into it properly yourself, it could be a matter of life or death for Soto-chan.”
“I mean, humans can’t enter it without having their movement stopped. I can’t even use a light in it.”
“… Oh well, then.”
Haku let out a sigh.
… It’s something Haku-san said, so maybe I should ignore the risks and investigate? It’s not as if I’m not interested.
“By the way, Kehma-san. You were investigating the chaotic dog and the Holy Kingdom?”
“Huh? Yeah, I am.”
Haku-san suddenly changed the topic. It was probably due to Dolche-san reporting on it.
“Did you find anything out? We should exchange whatever information we know.”
“… Alright. Their culture is out there, such as promoting polygamy.”
“Yes. They are efficient, going so far as to ignore individuals’ emotions…”
A strength of the Holy Kingdom was that it could suppress that point.
“Oh yeah, there’s also apparently a suspicious dungeon in the Holy Kingdom.”
“… A dungeon in the Holy Kingdom? Is it in the Timern region?”
“No, Sunstar.”
So there’s a region called Timern as well, huh?
“… Hmm, there certainly are some places where the flow of supplies seem off. A dungeon would go far in explaining that.”
“You’re saying there are multiple places like that?”
“Timern, around Chromak. The Holy City of Valrai is also suspicious.”
The Holy City was the capital of the Holy Kingdom.
“If you asked me, I would say there are three places other than the Holy City where production levels don’t add up. The Holy City has too many things that go the opposite direction, it consumes too much and exports too little. You could go so far as to say that it consumed so much because it is the Holy City, but you could also say that it is the Holy City precisely because there is something there.”
I see, that’s the kind of information an individual like me wouldn’t find out by looking at bits and pieces.
It appears that the Empire’s information network has its hands fully inside the Holy Kingdom.
“I think it would be a good idea for you to look into Sunstar’s grain production.”
“Grain?”
“Yes. There is much more consumption and export in the area than what the area’s production volume could support. If there is a dungeon there, it will undoubtedly be one producing grain. It could even be processing it into ale and the like.”
Haku-san spoke while pressing her hand up to her left eye.
… She’s probably being sent some very good intelligence, but it’s more amazing that she’s able to keep track of so much info in her brain.
I also shared my information with Haku-san.
“A [Properly Managed Dungeon]? From what I recall, that country wors.h.i.+ps the Light G.o.d and uses its heroes and the Saintess to actively destroy dungeons though…”
“No dungeons means a poor production strength, after all.”
“So the Holy Kingdom has dungeons cooperate with them else risk being killed… or perhaps humans from the Holy Kingdom became Masters? Hmm.”
Haku-san put her hand to her chin in thought.
“In any case, let me know if you find anything out. You can get to me through Dolche.”
“Alright… But by the way, Haku-san, is there really any information I could find that your information network can’t?”
“There is much I don’t know about foreign countries. I’m looking forward to your take on it, just like when you were in Demonlands.”
If I had to say something, it would be that Haku-san seemed to have misunderstood various things about Demonlands’ culture and that examining it from my point of view was important to her.
With that, we exchanged various meaningful bits of information—and I was able to safely return to my residence in Golen.
“… I’m alive! I made it!”
“You did it, Papa!”
“Yeah. Thank you, Soto. You too, Rokuko… for saving my life!”
“You’re making a big deal out of nothing, Kehma.”
Meanwhile, I would’ve been six feet under by then if I’d done anything to her as a [Human].
“Oh right, Soto. You said something about [Even though I stopped time] when Haku-san entered your dungeon? Could it be that you can control it how you like?”
“Yeah~, but I can’t make it move faster than normal.”
Hohoh.
“In that case, I should be able to check around inside as well, yeah? And why didn’t you tell Haku-san about it?”
“Eh? Well… Papa’s trying to keep information Aunty Haku, right? I figured it’d be better to not tell her much about me either! Same with [Weak Replication]!”
You know me that well…? I wonder what circ.u.mstances about me were given to her when she took elements from me? I guess the reason she didn’t tell me either would be that she didn’t want to be worse off from saying too much.
“That’s fine. In that case, I’d like to check out your dungeon, Soto. Would you mind? It’s also my [Storage], so I’d like to see what’s going on.”
“Sure~. Oh, I’ll make a room for Papa’s personal items.”
Moreover, it seems bigger than my original [Storage]… Yeah, Haku-san said it was big, too… but we can build as usual in it? What’s going on here?
“You’re not connecting to other people’s [Storage] or anything, right?”
“Huh? I shouldn’t?”
“Eh—”
Soto grinned.
Hold up. Isn’t that bad? Like, crazy bad in many ways?
“Ahaha, I’m just joking~. At most I could just connect to Papa’s and Mama’s since she has a soul connection-like thing with Papa. And the dungeon monsters, oh and Master Meat Onee-chan’s!”
“Really, other people’s [Storage] would have been—oi, that’s still plenty enough to be holy c.r.a.p about.”
Mmm, well, I guess it’s a good thing that we can’t just pull stuff out of a random merchant’s [Storage]…
“… Wait, did I just hear you call Meat your Master?”
“Yeah, I had her become Master yesterday! It’s best to do stuff like that early on!”
“Seriously…”
I held my head in my hands. Can’t say I expected that… Meat became a Dungeon Master.
Still though, it’s not like there are any downsides to Meat being a Master, so…
… Actually, maybe this confirming that Soto won’t have some weird guy as her Master is an upside?
One of those I won’t let some shady guy have my daughter kind of things.