Proofreader: Xemul
Rumors abounded that a certain remote town had been destroyed.
Not some village, but a proper town, even though remote.
Loren did not even want to think about how many people the rumors would affect, considering the relatives of the town’s sizable population. And since he had a direct hand in the destruction of that town, the feeling was quite strong.
Even leaving aside the excuse that he had no other choice, he still did not believe that there was any other way to go about it, and still considered that to be the best course of action. But if the residents of Suest and their relatives pointed fingers at him saying that ‘You destroyed the city’, he wouldn’t be able to find the words to refute them.
However, life in Kapha was so calm and normal that it was hard to believe that there were rumors of such a thing. This was more than a little surprising to Loren.
Although not all the details of the situation were known to the Adventurers’ Guild, it must have been reported to them by a girl named Ivy, who had accompanied him on his previous job as an employee of the guild. There should have been a sense of crisis and tension in the air, but the town was looking to be the same as ever.
Loren went to the Adventurers’ Guild as always did, and while sipping a cheap drink in the adjoining restaurant, he listened intently to the conversation in the bar. Although some of them mentioned the destruction of Suest, it seemed that many adventurers did not consider this to be a problem.
“Did you hear that Suest has been destroyed?”
“Suest? Where is that?”
“Some kind of town in the northwest, I think.”
“Well, let’s not talk about that. Let’s talk about the next job.”
That’s about all there is to it.
If the other adventurers did not know about the information, it was understandable that they did not bring it up. But if it was brought up and they were not interested, Loren found it difficult to understand.
“Isn’t that strange?”
It was not that he wanted other adventurers to be interested in the topic, or that he wanted Kapha to fall into a depression as a result, but the fact that no one had any interest at all made him wonder about the magnitude of the situation. At the very least, tens of thousands of residents must have died, and it would have been a well-known incident due to how terrible it was. Loren tilted his head, having the feeling that there had been another incident with a similar scale of destruction before.
[‘Onii-san, you can’t have forgotten that…’]
The thought of Shayna, who had not responded to Loren’s attempts to talk to her for a while, perhaps because she had used too much power when she was finishing the final task of their previous commission, echoed in Loren’s mind. He did not think that Shayna, King of Death, the highest-ranked undead, would disappear just because she had used a little too much power, but it was still a relief to be able to hear her voice properly.
“Well, Shayna’s hometown was a city-state, too… And when it was destroyed, I think there was… a lot more going on.”
“Since it happened before, they’ve got used to it, don’t you think?”
The answer to Loren’s question came from Gula, who was sitting across from him at the table and devouring the large bowl of soup she had ordered. Her spoon had not stopped scooping up soup even once.
The soup was just a cheap one made of scraps of meat and vegetables seasoned with a little salt, made to fill one’s stomach, and of poor quality. It filled the bowl, which was as big as a wash basin, to the brim, and Gula was in the process of single-mindedly pouring it down her throat.
Loren wished she had something better to eat, but he himself was drinking the cheapest liquor one offered at the diner. It was not very strong, and was not something you could get drunk on with just one glass.
“How could one ever get used to it?”
Gula had received some explanation of the situation when she joined Loren’s party, and of course Lapis had told her how Shayna had gone from being an ordinary girl to being the King of Death. She must have heard about the city-state in which Shayna’s parents served as the chiefs of government, and seemed to know that the girl had a former life.
“No matter how big the incident is, if it has nothing to do with you, you may get used to it after hearing about it a few times. That’s how it is, isn’t it?”
“I wonder.”
Loren thought that even if it had nothing to do with him, if it was a big incident, he would be interested in it, but Gula’s opinion was different.
“Well, whatever the case may be, it’s over now. Ivy will take care of things, and I’m sure nothing bad will happen.”
In their previous job, they accepted a commission from Ivy, a Guild official, in exchange for certain information. The information was about a ruin in Suest, which was rumored to have been destroyed.
In fact, Ivy, who was the Evil God of Envy, one of the Evil Gods that had existed since the time of the Ancient Kingdom, had detailed information about this ruin. But the materials stored in the ruin had been depleted by a swordsman named Magna and his follower the dark elf Noel, both of whom had some history with Loren’s party before. As a result, it was not serviceable right now. Ivy had sealed this ruin, which was located underground within the sewers of Suest, and had promised Loren’s group that she would take charge of it until the materials were replenished over time.
The purpose of all this was to create a vessel to house Shayna’s spirit body, which was temporarily residing inside Loren’s spirit body. There still remained the question of Shayna’s thoughts about the matter and how to transplant her spirit body, which was now undead, into a living body, and so on. However, the story was shelved for the moment.
In the sewers of the former town of Suest, which are connected to the ruins, were swarms of insects that have grown abnormally due to the leaked chemicals and other substances that Magna’s group have left behind as a result of their actions. This was not a matter that could be dealt with overnight, and Loren thought it was best to leave it out of the picture for now, since it was difficult to even get close to the ruin until such problems were taken care of.
“But Loren, it’s annoying to get beaten up all the time, isn’t it? That black swordsman is our mortal enemy.”
“By ‘we’, do you mean the Evil Gods?”
When Loren interjected with an implied warning not to include the party into this business, Gula rested her soup-scooping hand for a moment and looked at Loren reproachfully.
The black swordsman, Magna, was apparently related to the Ancient Kingdom, although he didn’t know how he came to be. Moreover, he seemed to know a lot about many things, and there were indications that he knew a lot about the ruins where Gula and the other Evil Gods were created, and the one where Ivy created a new body for herself in order to quit being the Evil Gods of Envy.
Loren also noticed that Gula and other Evil Gods seemed to have mixed feelings about those related to the Ancient Kingdom, and that Gula’s feelings seemed close to hatred and resentment. She was one of his friends, more or less, and he was willing to lend a helping hand if she wanted to fight Magna to clear up the resentment she harbored. However, he would like her to not go and make new enemies as a member of the party.
“You’re so mean, Loren…”
“Shut up. What’s the point of considering him as an enemy if we don’t have any countermeasures against him? We don’t even know where he is.”
The possibility of them settling down somewhere was zero. Magna, whether by sheer strength or thanks to the equipment that had enhanced his abilities, was capable of going head-to-head with Loren and even overwhelming him if he were to take him seriously. If such a swordsman, with a dark elf as an attendant, were to stay in one place, it would be impossible not to hear about him.
“It would be a different story if they had come at us, but we only encounter them after they’ve done something, and then it’s too late.”
“Have you heard anything about them? They’re officially wanted by the Guild, right?”
Magna and Noel were wanted as persons of interest in the destruction of Suest. Ivy had immediately initiated the procedures after returning to Kapha, and as soon as the warrants became effective, they were sent by various means to the Adventurers’ Guilds throughout the continent.
According to what Ivy had told Loren, the wanted list was quite severe, and all adventurers, regardless of rank, were eligible to take them. There were bounties for even the smallest information, and the Adventurers’ Guild will pay a considerable amount of money for the capture of Magna or Noel.
“There may be some information out there. I don’t know.”
“Why?”
“Because the Adventurers’ Guild pays for information. How can they give away information they paid for for free?”
The Adventurers’ Guild was a mutual aid organization for adventurers, not a charity. There was no way they would share the information they had collected with money with adventurers for free. If necessary, adventurers had to pay the Guild to buy the information.
And Loren did not have the money in his pocket to buy the information.
“Why don’t you beg Lapis-chan for it?”
“Do you think that’ll work?”
Loren answered, thinking that Lapis would probably nod if he begged her. However, he also knew that there was a world of difference between thinking about doing something and actually doing it.
“I thought about doing that too, but… The amount of debt I owe is just too much.”
Although he had not received any demands, Loren was a debtor.
The creditor was actually Lapis’ mother, a Demon King. She had paid, on his behalf, the cost to repair the damage of part of the castle of the Great Demon King, who was apparently of an even higher rank than the Demon Kings. Loren had no way of resisting the double attack of the amount of money and the creditor, either which could end his life.
“I’m in a position where I could be seized at any moment.”
If he were to be taken into custody by the Great Demon King, he would not feel very much like living at all. The thought of not being able to return to his daily life made Loren feel as if he did not have time to think about all the commotion over the destruction of Suest.