Chapter 34: Corruption and Rebirth 3
Thirty minutes later, he and Patricia go out into the narrow streets of the western district of the royal capital, where the sun is shining strongly in the west.
Patricia is dressed in a white shirt and dark green pants.
Both the shirt and pants belonged to Melvina.
Melvina is usually dressed in a blouse and long skirt, so she rarely wears the clothes Patricia is wearing right now. So why did Melvina buy these clothes? She says it is for her hobbies of collecting medicinal herbs and performing alchemy.
“There is an herbalist who used to act as a sort of mother figure to Mel."
Patricia says this as she checks the condition of her hood.
"She taught Mel about herbology and alchemy."
"She can do alchemy?"
"A part of alchemy―― it seems that she can create essential oils and create some potions. She brought various tools into the basement of the hero's mansion."
"I didn't know that."
"It's not a full-fledged thing, it's just a detailed knowledge of how a woman needs to be fashionable. I guess I couldn't say that she can use alchemy as a special skill."
Patricia's face clouded as she continued.
"It seems that everything she learned was to earn a living after she left the family. She never talked about love with girls her own age and spent her days just learning practical science. There was something uncanny about the way she devoted herself to her studies as if running away from her own mother. Yet, when I talk to her, she would smile cheerfully and respond to me, never showing any of the pain she was going through. ――Did you know that she is working on the Demonology Book?"
"No, I don't know. She seemed to like writing, though, and seemed to be recording every little thing she did in something."
Patricia shook her head sadly.
“She would go to the Adventurers' Guild warehouse in her spare time and sketch the corpses of the monsters in storage, research the lore and characteristics of the monsters and how to defeat them, and write them down in a book."
"Isn't it wonderful to be so diligent? The Adventurers' Guild will pay her a huge sum of money when the book is completed. She may leave her name as a monster researcher for posterity."
“Maybe so, but to die as a woman. And to think that researching monsters is her lover......"
"You say that, but you've been running around the battlefield all your life as the wife of the hero, you know?"
"I'm fine. But Mel is a normal girl. As a sister-in-law, I want her to have the happiness of a normal woman."
"I can make that happen. Leave it to me."
They passed through the narrow streets of the west district and out onto the main street.
Patricia pulls her hood down even further.
Her hair, which she usually wears in luxurious vertical rolls, is now pulled back with a hair band and ribbon in the style of a simple lady knight. Her makeup is darker than usual, and since it is twilight, few people would be able to identify her at first glance as Patricia.
In the eyes of the public, Patricia Lou is completely dead.
At this rate, if she learns some of the art of mutation, it is quite possible for her to live as someone other than Patricia Lou. In other words, she has the option of living her life hiding her true identity.
Or rather, it is a safe choice.
She would keep it a secret only among Christo, Melvina, and Patricia's relatives.
Melvina can be told that it is better to keep her true identity a secret in order to take revenge on Finn Lou for killing her son, or to prevent assassins from being sent by someone who would be in trouble if Patricia were alive, or to pretend that Patricia is dead because it would only cause trouble for her parents now that she cannot use the holy arts by spitting out the seed of the holy sword.
It is not a lie at all, and it seems to be within the range of what is possible as a reason for hiding one's true identity.
Escape from the eyes of the world, and the three of them can slowly advance the slow life of building a country.
However, hiding her true identity means completely cutting off or abandoning those who have sided with her so far.
"Today's newspaper, huh?"
Patricia looks at the bundle of papers that is caught on the wooden crate at the corner of the street and is swaying in the wind.
"You don't have to pick up the dirty one. I'll buy a new one. I wanted to read it too."
“I have been completely cut off from all contact with the outside world. In my case, that's less than a week."
“I was out of contact for two days, but during that time the mail piled up. Most of them came from the officials of the old Söderholm castle, the monastery, and a few from Netzel, but to tell the truth, I didn't even bother to break the seal on Netzel's letters."
"By Netzel, do you mean Eric Netzel-sama? The Count of the Northern Frontier?"
"Yes."
“You'll get yourself killed ignoring a letter from the Count.”
“They're going to be appalled that I don't answer before they kill me. As far as I'm concerned, that's fine. If I had responded to him, he would have continued to use me for his own gain. I told him to destroy his blank check before, but he still seems to have it, and I don't see any harm in not getting involved with him.”
“I'll open the letter when we get back. If you are going to throw it in the trash, at least take a look at the contents first."
"I've always wanted a familiar to do the troublesome work for me. Thank you, Patricia."
“I wonder what the Count has done to this man that he is so reluctant to even read the letter. I haven't heard many good things about him, but in a way, it's amazing that he could get Christo to react this way."
"You! Give me a newspaper! Thank you."
He paid the fee and received the newspaper from the newsstand.
Come to think of it, they hadn't had dinner yet, so he bought some skewers and thin bread from a nearby stall, and went into a nearby alleyway. Using a pile of crates as a chair, they sat down and read the newspaper.
“A truce with the Dragon Race!? You don't mean to tell me that the decades-long battle on the [Frozen Plains] is coming to an end!”
Patricia, who was sitting next to him and running her eyes over the front-page article, opened her eyes.
"That seems to be the case. But it is no wonder. I hear that the military power of this generation's heroes was quite powerful. Setanta, who possessed overwhelming strength, and Finn, who possessed both intelligence and strength. I hear that these two great warriors went around killing dragon warriors."
“I don't want to admit that Finn has both intelligence and strength. But the current generation of heroes was strong. They were eager to fight and win, and were not as passive as their predecessors."
"Setanta's father, who died at the age of twenty-eight."
"Yes. Leroy-sama. Leroy Lou. I remember him as a relatively gentle man, with no brothers to kill."
“The previous generation had only one person with the power of a hero, but this generation has three. The first of them is Setanta, so even the dragon race had no choice but to pile up the corpses."
Patricia nodded.
"Setanta is strong. Finn is also a cunning fighter, brutally killing countless dragon warriors, but Setanta fought fair on the battlefield, and with his indomitable spirit, he destroyed his enemies in the end."
"That mentality is amazing. I don't think there's anyone reliable fighting alongside him. Except for the strategist who has to somehow control his movements beside him."
"――――"
Patricia kept quiet with a confused look on her face.
Even now that her relationship with Setanta had broken down, she still respected him as a warrior. Christo also recognizes his mental strength. It is hard to find a warrior with such a strong heart. Even after killing and killing, the beast of the holy tree rises up with an indomitable spirit. It was more troublesome than any enemy he had ever fought.
Christo turned the conversation back to the dragon race.
“I heard from someone that the dragon race changes the sex of its offspring according to the temperature at which the child is conceived.”
"It seems so."
“Right now, there seems to be a shortage of males. The temperature north of the [Frozen Plains] is too low. Only females are being born. The males are killed by the heroes in the Frozen Plains, so the ratio of males to females is horrendous."
“It is estimated that it is ten to one. If that happens, will the social structure also change?”
Christo nodded at Patricia's words.
“The dragon race is at its limit. It was fortuitous that the current generation of heroes fell in a family feud. Finn will now begin the process of searching for a wife and sowing male seeds. The truce agreement was desired by both the demon race and the light race."
"Then... will the war with the demons end for the time being?"
"No, it will not. Once the dragons in the north are silenced, mankind will next target the south. Simultaneously with the spreading of the ashes of the holy tree to the savage lands of the east and the expansion of their power."
"South―― vampires."
"Yeah. If the vampires―― Leopoldo Salvatori and others are dealt with, it will be the dragon race again. The cease-fire agreement with the dragon race will be broken once the transformation of the dragon race's social structure is complete, or once the human side has exterminated the vampires."
“…………”
Patricia turns the page of the newspaper with sunken eyes.
Her color changed quickly as she read the text on the next page.
"Father declared war on Finn? With Chief Wailde?"
“It doesn’t say that a declaration of war has been declared. The text read, "Declaration of war?". It's an incendiary phrase. But where there is no fire, there is no smoke. I guess there must have been some kind of conflict in the negotiations with Finn."
Even though he said that, he was somehow able to predict it.
Patricia's father―― From Count Lowell's point of view, after he lost his lovely daughter, his grandson was killed. Drowned in the bath―― The moment of Shifu's death, who was killed without knowing anything, must have been full of fear and despair. Thinking about his dead (he thought) daughter and grandson, Finn Lou, who must have been the one who killed his grandson, must not be recognized as the next hero.
Chief Wailde is Kat's father.
Nito, Kat's son, also died a terrible death.
Chief Wailde would not recognize Finn, who had killed his grandson, as the hero.
“Father seems to insist that Setanta is not dead yet and that it is too early for him to inherit the title. On top of that, he seems to be saying that if Finn is going to be the next hero, he will rethink their cooperation, support, and logistics with the Hero Family."
Patricia was trembling with a newspaper in her hand.
She continued.
"It's absolutely unacceptable to have something to do with the Hero Family. The front line with the dragon race is―― I see. If the front line in the [Frozen Plains] disappears."
"If they can conclude the truce and have peace, then Count Lowell can quarrel with the hero family to his heart's content."
“Finn is a dangerous man. If someone doesn't stop father, he will be in trouble."
"I wonder how far King Naaza will be able to persuade him. If Count Lowell is emotional, he will not be able to follow logic, so it will be difficult for anyone other than King Naaza to persuade him. We will have to rely on the Count's loyalty to the King."
"What will happen if the king doesn't stop him?"
"Do you need to ask?"
"......"
“Patricia, there are other ways you can live as Patricia. By using the mutation skill, you can partially change your face, as I did. You can live as someone other than Patricia in the future. There is no need to jump to conclusions right now. Think it over.”
"……I, agree."
Patricia shook her head lightly and took a sip of water from the bottle as if to swallow the many emotions swirling in her chest.
Seeing her unhappy face, Christo decided to change the subject.
"Tonight's work is to take care of the catalyst used for magic."
"Processing the catalyst?"
The girl who elegantly stuffed her mouth with grilled skewers covered her mouth and tilted her head.
Christo nodded.
"When you use a catalyst to perform magic, the catalyst takes on the properties of an object. Take this one, for example."
“......A withered lodgepole. And is this brown thing a tooth? From the shape, it is the tooth of a beastman. It has been dead for a long time. The age is probably in its late thirties. There is a cavity in the back teeth that have been treated. Maybe this person had a sweet tooth. Also, there was a time when it had a lot of money. Is there a difference?"
"Eh. Is that so? I dug it up randomly from the royal capital's cemetery, so I don't know the details."
"You dug it up randomly from the cemetery? Christo, you grave robber!"
"I needed it to make a golem. And I paid the grave keeper."
"It doesn't matter. You will be charged with a violation of Article 190 of the Royal Criminal Code, as well as an administrative penalty under the Grave Burial Law. If the bereaved family finds out, they too will demand compensation."
"It's not a crime if they didn't find out. Don't be harsh."
"It would have been terrible if it had been discovered!"
"Oops. If you scold me with a strong tone, I guess I'll have to repent. I'm sorry, I'm reflecting on it."
"Your remorse is too light."
"You stole that dagger from a dwarven's store, right?"
"Ugh... That's."
"Let's get along as fellow criminals. Okay?"
"It's complicated. I can't argue with anything..."
“To return to the subject, the stolen golem's catalyst is to be placed back in its original coffin and repurposed. The lodestone will be burned to ashes. Then, while burning this incense, which is said to be the favorite of the dead, we will go around the cemetery chanting the prescribed phrases. That's it."
Christo said, pointing to the portable incense burner on his waist.
Patricia was still not convinced, but she nodded at Christo's explanation.
"It's perfect for a night adventure. Let's finish it quickly. What about the grave keeper?"
"I will give him money. I'm going to return the parts of the body, so it will be easier than before."
"Understood. Shall we go?"
Patricia shoved the remaining meat and bread into her mouth and jumped lightly off the crate.
Mumbling with her mouth is rude and cute.
Christo slowly ate the rest of the skewers, then wiped his mouth with a handkerchief and finally stepped out of the crate onto the cobblestones.
× × ×
The royal capital's public cemetery is located near the Hospital in the North District.
Since many deaths occur at the Hospital every year, the closer the distance from the public cemetery, the more convenient it is.
The problem is that many people make offerings to the public cemetery, and the surrounding area is infested with vermin and pests such as rats and cockroaches that come for the offerings, which is not good for sanitation.
That's where the grave keeper comes in.
The grave keeper is an official who belongs to the lower end of the executive branch of the royal government.
They clean and otherwise manage the cemetery during the day while keeping an eye on those who come to make offerings. At night, they protect the graves from criminals who come to steal the money and goods that are placed in the graves.
In a local village, a grave keeper may have little or no work, but here in the royal capital, it is quite different. The work is hard, but the pay is low. Moreover, in some cases, they are exposed to violence from outlaws, which can be dangerous.
Even though there are plenty of replacements for grave keepers, the government should pay them more. Otherwise, they can be bought off by the likes of Christo, or their families can easily end up on the street if they are killed in the line of duty.
"――He's been murdered."
When Christo and Patricia came to the public cemetery, they found that the iron fence leading to the cemetery had been opened and a middle-aged grave keeper with an arrow through his throat was seated in a chair inside.
Patricia touched the man's body and muttered, "Still warm".
"It's a pain in the ass. Let's come again later."
“If the guards come, this place will be sealed off. We won't be able to offer the catalyst."
"But what about the thieves? If we run into them inside, we'll have to fight them bare-handed."
"Fumu……"
Patricia crouched down into the cemetery pathway by the light of the lantern and began to carefully check the footprints around.
Christo also entered the iron fence and scanned around the entrance of the cemetery.
The entrance is quite large.
Paths leading to the basement were built on either side, and faint signs of people were coming from downstairs at the far right. It was probably the thieves who had killed the grave keeper.
"They must be the worst kind of grave robbers, to violate the resting place of the dead and snatch the money and goods offered to them."
"You say that?"
Patricia said in an exasperated tone and got up.
"The number is seven. All of them are amateurs. Leave this to me."
"Are you going to kill them?"
"No, I will restrain them. You drag the grave keeper's corpse further in. After that, be ready to begin the ritual at any moment."
"Hey, as your employer, I'm not going to make you do anything reckless."
“No. It's not reckless...... I have the best chance of winning."
"All right. If you want to do it, do it. But if I see you in danger from behind, I will destroy the thieves without mercy, even if it means destroying a few graves. Keep that in mind."
Patricia's eyes widened as Christo said this.
"You trust me?"
“I don't trust you because I don't know your power well enough yet, but I'm willing to go along with you on your little adventure if my lovely subordinate No. 1 is so righteously indignant."
“T-thank you very much...... And I apologize for the inconvenience."
"Good. Do as you please."
Patricia nodded and walked soundlessly toward the stairs on the right.
Christo followed suit.
The staircase led down to a brightly lit place with torches burning, wider than the entrance. This is the first basement floor of the cemetery―― the area where relatively new coffins are brought in. Because of the large number of visitors, there are naturally a large number of offerings.
On the first basement floor, there is a large area at the end of a narrow passageway.
In the center, there seemed to be a staircase leading down to the lower level, and there seemed to be a fence in front of the staircase to prevent falls.
At the corner of the narrow passageway.
Patricia got down on one knee just before she came out to the large square, and looked around carefully.
Christo also stretched his neck for a moment to check the back.
A rope ladder, a wooden shovel, and other items were left in disarray in front of the fence.
Behind it, at the far end of the square, a magnificent stone chest was surrounded by seven rag-clad men wrapping gold coins, necklaces, and other items in cloth bags.
There was a jingling and a loud clattering sound.
"――――"
Patricia didn't even blink, and seemed to be carefully observing the square.
Before long, perhaps confirming that the enemy was armed and that no ambush was set up, he turned to Christo.
"Okay, if you want to go, go."
"――――"
Patricia walks out toward the square.
As she stood up, she grabbed two fist-sized rocks.
"You guys!"
Patricia called out in a loud voice.
"What are you doing there? If you want to visit the deceased, do it while the sun is still up!"
"W-what's with this woman?" "I was surprised." "Oh, that's a pretty young lady, hehehe."
He could hear the vulgar reactions of the bandits.
Christo quietly watches Patricia from behind the wall.
Patricia asked, "Are you thieves?"
It was obvious from their looks, but she was afraid that if she was wrong, there was no going back.
The answer to her question was an arrow from a crossbow.
"......"
As Patricia turned around, she threw a stone at the same time.
The stone flew with a low trajectory and struck the man who fired the arrow in the face, causing him to faint in agony.
She was apparently holding back because she knew that if she threw the stone with all her might, it would have crushed the man's face.
"You, bitch!" "Die!"
Two men attacked her with daggers drawn.
One of the other three men behind them took up the crossbow on the floor and began to load an arrow with some hesitation.
Patricia picked up a rope ladder that had been knocked away and, standing low, dodged the men's daggers and used the rope ladder to scoop the men up under their legs.
The men in the vanguard, men #1 and #2 fall over.
For the third man, who slashes at her late, she threads the rope ladder through his arm and uses the momentum of his body to wrap his arm around his torso.
Her elbow strike hits the man in the jaw and he wobbles.
The men recovered from their fall and attacked her, but Patricia kicked the wooden shovel lying under her feet with her foot, and drove it into the man's throat, causing him to fall again. At the same time, she entangles the other man's arm in the excess part of the rope ladder and wraps it around the other man's arm, taking away his freedom. The result is a strange and unappetizing dish called "Two Men Wrapped in a Rope Ladder".
She ties the ends of the rope ladder tightly together and punches the men in the jaw, knocking them unconscious on the spot.
The man with his throat hit by a shovel fainted and was unable to move.
Patricia picked up the shovel and approached the men, swinging the farming tool with a flourish like a spear, bouncing or ducking the well-aimed arrow off the iron part.
"Hagyo." "Bieh." "Boeh."
Three men fell down.
Patricia threw the second stone in her hand at the man with the crossbow who was about to stand up.
The first stone hit him in the face, and the next one hit him again in the same place when he stood up, with more force, and the man cowered in place, uttering a strange sound like a rat's demise.
"You bastard! [God's Spear]!"
The man in the vanguard, who had been in agony after being hit in the throat with a shovel, stood up and attacked, brandishing a blue spear with a holy seal.
Patricia hid the shovel behind her back and jumped from side to side with tempo to avoid the man's spear.
The attack did not hit.
Not even a scratch――.
Fear spread across the man's face.
After the effective time of [God's Spear] expired, it turned into blue particles and dispersed into the air.
"Guh, uooohh!"
Patricia's arm, which seemed to have been swinging a sword seriously, extended.
Patricia did not blink.
Completely anticipating his movements, ducked a little and passed by his fist, extended her arm, and grabbed the man by the throat.
"Gueh."
Patricia's fingers dig into the man's neck―― into his sternocleidomastoid muscle.
As it was, she slammed his back into the hard stone floor as she rolled the man onto his side.
"Gaha..."
The last scream belonged to the man who had been hit in the face twice by a stone.
Patricia had knocked the man to the ground, spun her body around without killing her momentum, and thrown the shovel at him.
The shovel hit the man in the face again, and this time it seemed to have completely reaped the man's consciousness.
The red-haired girl calmly and nonchalantly checked the situation of the seven men and the surroundings with her eyes, and finally muttered "Done".
"No, it's great."
He clapped his hands and revealed himself.
Patricia opened and closed her own fist, seeming to feel the full force of it.
"Thank you. After all, this body is ridiculously excellent."
“Was your physicality a factor in the earlier act? You handled the enemy almost exclusively with skill and situational awareness."
"The ease of movement is completely different."
"I'm glad to hear it."
"I'll tie up the thieves. You go on with the catalyst."
"Alright."
He quickly disposes of the catalyst he used on the golem.
He lights the incense burner and lets the smoke spread through the cemetery.
Halfway through, Patricia joined and helped him, and all the offerings were completed before the guards noticed something was wrong and came to the public cemetery.
Finally, the dead body of the grave keeper, shot with an arrow, is removed from the cemetery, and under cover of darkness, they walked out into the streets north of the royal kingdom.
"It's good to know what you're capable of. And once again, I'm glad I didn't have to fight you guys at your full strength."
"Thank you. I'm glad I was able to show my employer what I can do."
"You don't look happy, do you?"
Christo asked, and Patricia nodded her head.
"Yeah... I was wondering what happened to the knights and maids who followed me after my death."
"Most of them were killed by Finn Lou, weren't they?"
"And those who survived were thrown out of the home without knowing why, and turned to banditry for their livelihood. Like the men earlier."
"I don't know if it's the same, but it's possible."
"――――"
Patricia furrows her brow.
Christo flicked her on the forehead.
"...What?"
"You're thinking too much again. Don't furrow your brows. You'll get into the habit."
"……I, agree……"
After saying that, Patricia quickened her steps to shake off her worries.
No comments:
Post a Comment