Luckily, we teleported to the back of the Moving Palace on the Heizen Plain.
Though it was hard to say whether she even counted as a corpse, carrying a woman on my back naturally got me stopped by the guards.
It was hard to explain, so I had no idea what to do.
That's when the Zenzera family threw me a lifeline.
Thanks to Giiza showing up, I was released.
I headed into the Moving Palace right away, on my way to the witch's shop.
"Oh, Hoss?"
Hoss was in the courtyard. Just standing there.
"Wof!?"
I called out to him, and he turned around—then his eyes went wide when he saw me.
"What are you doing out here? Oh, right. Luma's in trouble."
"Luma? Right, Luma! She wasn't in the palace!"
Judging by that tone, Hoss already knew what was going on.
So that's why he'd been nowhere to be seen.
"That means it's the Jinryu family mansion, right? I'll help out too."
"Much appreciated. Also, what's that?"
I knew what Hoss was getting at.
"Yeah, this is... well, it's kind of a long story."
"I see. Must be the Night King, huh..."
"That's not what I mean!"
What do you mean, "I see"?! Seriously.
"Hey. If you're planning to get into the mansion, we'll cooperate."
"A-And you are...?"
"This is Geeza from the Zen Zela family. They're on our side."
"D-Don't mind if I do, eh."
Hoss lowered his head in surprise.
Geeza glanced over and spoke to us.
"We're planning to move in after the Full Moon Bazaar wraps up. Hoss, right? I've actually heard about your situation. If you want to join, we'll accommodate your wishes."
"A-Ah, much obliged, eh."
Hoss bowed his head in thanks.
Good. I hoped Ruma and the others were safe.
Ah, but they already knew that Somaniya had been captured and that it was the Tassan family behind it.
"Let's head to the witch's shop for now."
"The witch's shop!?"
"Everyone's there."
The moment I said that, I remembered Dagaa and Bidd weren't there.
Just then, several well-dressed men came down the stairs, chatting among themselves.
"That was something else. The Champion Match."
"Yeah, a heart-pounding, magnificent battle."
"Reversal after reversal. And then a mega-reversal from the super-reversal!"
"Both of them were insane!"
"Yeah, both were way too strong."
"That was a great fight!"
"Thank goodness, thank goodness. What a thrilling night."
Everyone was fired up and heaping praise, but I had no idea what they were talking about. Oh well, whatever.
I headed to the witch's shop. The bell jingled with a cheerful ring.
"Welcome— ah, welcome back, death. Deputy Manager."
"…!"
Shardina and Anna Kreutzen greeted me at the door.
They smiled warmly in welcome, then their eyes shifted to the Higheran body slung over my shoulder.
After that, they were a little surprised by Hoss.
They looked blankly at Giiza.
"You're back safe and sound. Is that a Raada?"
Mineha set down the tea she had been drinking and spoke.
She was oddly calm.
"Ah, no, this is…"
"And Hoss. It's been a while."
"H-hello there."
"Mineha. Where's the witch? And there's no Barrow corpse."
Looks like someone cleaned up the broken coffin and the rest.
"She went out saying she'd sell the body off to the heads of the Zenzera and Gouro families. The corpse. She called it a Barrow."
"R-Right."
What a shrewd dealer. Once you knew the whole story, it was exactly the kind of thing a witch would do.
Selling a corpse in the VIP area — that took a witch-level of nerve.
Somewhere else, though. Especially the outer rim, that sort of thing would probably happen all the time.
"Barrow… So it really was her."
"So the witch was the one who took the corpse after all."
"Oh my, Giza's here too."
"Daughter. Do you know where the witch took the corpse?"
"She said something about the auction venue, I think."
"That vixen! Show some respect for human dignity! I'll be taking my leave!"
Giza stormed out.
Human dignity, huh.
Coming from Giza, daughter of the Sword Goddess — hearing those words out of her was something else.
From now on, I'd call her Ms. Giza in my head too.
Still, the heir to the Jinryu family, one of the Three Great Houses — a dead body.
Putting that up for auction… the witch really was something else.
She probably didn't give a damn about human dignity.
Half impressed, half exasperated, I sat the Haiyarn body down in a nearby chair.
It looks like it's fast asleep.
Mineha and Hoss approach the Haiyarn body.
"Even so, it's strikingly similar."
"Yeah. Dead ringer for Megadia. This one's got more allure, though."
Maybe because she's older than Megadia.
If she kept quiet, she'd be an exquisite beauty of the highest caliber.
"That's because she's like an ancestor, in a way."
"Really now?"
"Is that so?"
Come to think of it, the two of them didn't know about that.
I explained the situation to them.
After I finished, both of them wore complicated expressions.
Hoss spoke, his tone heavy. He sounded uncertain.
"…Can't really say much about it."
Mineha murmured sympathetically.
"Poor Megadia."
She genuinely pitied her from the bottom of her heart. Well, yeah.
Shardina and the rest looked at the Haiyarn body with keen interest.
"So this is that pervert rabbit's original body, huh? It's gorgeous. It totally blows Mounieca out of the water!"
"…?"
Anna Kreutzen poked the Haiyarn body with her finger.
She tilted her head.
"Apparently, she had that same personality even in this body."
"So this is that... Death, huh?"
"............"
"Hard to say one way or the other."
"It really makes you want to put a soul into a rabbit, doesn't it?"
I thought so too. And Raada actually went through with it.
She might have been eyeing the Haiyarn body as a vessel from the start.
Plus, knowing Raada's personality, I couldn't imagine her having a child.
Well, she might have done it on a whim, but she was the type who looked down on people completely.
It's hard to imagine her doing that with someone she so thoroughly despised.
"The bodies are separate, so it doesn't matter" or whatever — that probably wouldn't have been a factor either.
Judging by her last words, she seemed to genuinely treasure the Haiyarn body.
Otherwise, there was no way she would have kept drinking that talisman and staying in the same body for thousands of years.
She is one of Megadia's ancestors, but not a direct line.
Whether that counts as the one saving grace — I wasn't sure.
"Oh, come to think of it, how did you know Raada's name?"
"The witch told me."
"I see."
"Raada — what's that about?"
I explained it to Hoss.
When he learned Raada was behind all of it, Hoss's face twisted with anguish.
I got the feeling he wished he could have fought Raada himself. I understood how he felt.
"But that means it was inhabiting Hoss's body — so it was using him as a vessel."
"That's right. It was using him as a vessel."
"What about Raada's real body?"
"I destroyed it. Honestly, Raada was incredibly strong."
"That strong?"
"Yes. I used everything I had and barely managed to win."
Which meant my true trump card was unusable for a week.
Hoss let out a bitter laugh.
"An opponent tough enough to give you that much trouble, huh? I'd have been dead."
"Was it that terrifying of an opponent?"
"It was the strongest opponent I've ever faced."
I really didn't want to fight it again, if I could help it.
The world is a big place. I was reminded of that all over again.
"...I see."
"Mineha?"
"You must be tired."
She murmured. Like her energy had suddenly drained away?
Mineha sat down a short distance from us and drank the cold, leftover tea.
Annakreutzer hurriedly poured fresh tea into her cup.
"Thank you."
"…!"
Annakreutzer smiled warmly.
Hoss was also offered a chair by Shardina and sat down.
I took the opportunity to tell them that Samarniya had been captured too.
And that after her identity as the Tassan family's daughter was discovered, she'd been locked up without being harmed.
Hoss let out a long, deep sigh, as if a weight had finally been lifted from the bottom of his heart.
It was the moment all his hardship came pouring out.
"It's complicated, but I owe Rel's family for this."
Ruma had been put in danger by the sheer injustice of political power.
But it was also political power that saved her.
Ironic, I guess. Everything has its positive and negative sides.
Even somewhere like this, you learn about positive and negative energy.
Also, well, I had a vague feeling I was about to be summoned.
A mysterious white space, shrouded in a pure white, inexplicable mist.
"……………"
I stood frozen in that space.
Ah, yes.