How could this be?
Right now, the moment I opened the door, I was greeted by a startling sight.
"Oh? A visitor? From the way you don't look like Lalk, I'd say you're not one of his servants... He doesn't keep men around him. So that means you've come to rescue me?"
The woman before me was remarkably composed. And two maids stood at attention around her.
Her reddish-purple hair covered one eye, with several strands clinging to her cheek. She appeared to be slightly perspiring, but the room itself didn't smell particularly foul.
Arranged around the three women were instruments of torture, and upon seeing one of them, the Third Generation said:
"We had one of those at home."
Or something to that effect. The Fifth Generation was silent.
"......"
The Seventh Generation looked at the woman before us — Ludmilla Cartaphus — seemingly at a loss for words.
"She's remarkably composed. She is, but... what in the world is this situation? I certainly wasn't expecting this."
It was no wonder the Seventh Generation was surprised. After all, Ludmilla was dressed in a skintight black outfit that left the contours of her body entirely visible, with her hands and feet bound. The clinging garment was festooned with an absurd number of belts.
But the outfit wasn't the only problem.
"Um, uh... what's with that outfit?"
When I pointed it out, Ludmilla let out a light laugh.
"Oh, pardon me. It's not my taste, mind you. That Lalk fellow made me wear this indecent outfit. Hey — it's not needed anymore, so release the restraints."
The two maids began removing the devices that had been restraining Ludmilla. Dressed in that obscene outfit and pose, she had been chatting with me without so much as a hint of embarrassment.
As if her body ached, she rolled her neck and moved around lightly. Every time she shifted, the outfit creaked and squeaked.
"So, if they're removing those restraints, why are you still dressed like—"
I asked the question that was on my mind. The woman had no hostility toward me — if anything, the display on my Skills showed the blue light indicating friendliness.
"It's just his hobby, that's all. He shows up sometimes out of the blue, and it's a real pain. If he came on a regular schedule I could just pose for him during those times, but since it's unpredictable, I never know when he'll turn up."
Was she not embarrassed at all? She leaned back against the obscene device and began looking me up and down.
I'd hunched forward a bit — more like leaning over, really — but I didn't think that was too bad.
When I averted my gaze from the smirking Ludmilla, she chuckled softly.
"Don't be so hostile. Looking at you, you don't seem to be one of my country's soldiers. Although I suppose I wouldn't mind if one of our rule-bound soldiers came to rescue me on his own. Now then — might I have your name?"
Without straightening my posture, I introduced myself to Ludmilla.
"An adventurer from Baim — Lyle Walt. I came here on a commission from Baim to carry out a rescue."
Upon hearing that, Ludmilla's eyes widened and she smiled. Had she heard my name before? That was my thought at that moment. Come to think of it, when I defeated Tracy at Kartafus, I'd become fairly well-known around here.
"Is that so? So it's you. I'd heard there was an adventurer who defeated the Trident Sea Serpent and wanted to meet him. I never imagined that adventurer would come to rescue me. It seems you're more than just skilled — you have the cleverness to rescue me while blending in with the soldiers. Very nice. You really are something."
Her eyes — like those of a raptor targeting its prey — glowed an eerie purple. She was licking her lips, and despite being the one who'd come to rescue her, I felt the unsettling illusion that I was the one being trapped.
One of the maids spoke to the increasingly excited Ludmilla.
"Your Majesty, the objective has already been accomplished. I believe there is no longer any reason to remain here."
Ludmilla nodded, stood, and walked out of the room. But she glanced sideways at me with a grin.
"You too — Lyle, come along. I'm curious about the state of the castle. Where are my weapons?"
She grabbed my arm and pulled me along, and we left the torture chamber of the underground prison. The maid answered Ludmilla.
"They are prepared nearby."
With that, the maid headed to an unused room and returned carrying clothes and a sword.
The sword was slender but long. As I watched, thinking it looked difficult to handle, Ludmilla drew the blade to inspect it.
The sword was crimson — and I could see at a glance that it was a type of Mana Tool.
"...You've been maintaining it. Good work. Well, this outfit won't do. Might as well change."
Saying that, Ludmilla dragged me along by the arm as she and the maid entered a room that resembled a storage closet.
My arm was released, and the two maids began undressing Ludmilla. They then prepared a tub, filled it with water, and heated it using magic.
Judging from their use of magic, they were likely daughters of a noble household. They wiped down Ludmilla's bare body and dressed her in the outfit they had prepared.
I averted my eyes, but the Seventh Generation had been watching the whole scene.
'...Isn't this just the same as before!'
She was shouting in irritation.
I looked, and sure enough, it was a form-fitting black outfit that showed off every line of her body. The waist area and outer garments had at least been given some thought, but it was still practically identical to before.
Then, Ludmilla brushed her hair back and said:
"How boring. I was hoping to show you something impressive... Tell me, do you dislike women?"
When I shook my head, Ludmilla smiled. She didn't seem to be more than four years older than me, at least going by appearance. I couldn't help but wonder if it was really alright for a woman like her to bare her skin so boldly.
"Hmm, so you're surprisingly innocent? Well, this works well enough on its own. I like you! You—become my husband!"
Both maids nodded in agreement.
"That's right. His initiative, his wits, and his strength all seem to be more than adequate."
"The only question is whether training can polish the rest, but if Her Majesty the Queen provides support, there should be no issue."
——They were saying something along those lines.
Mireia watched Ludmilla's behavior and remarked:
'Good grief, what is this? I came here to help, and it feels like I've stumbled straight into this woman's trap... To think she'd set a trap using Larque! There are all sorts of complicated, interwoven schemes between the various factions, but what stings the most is that I fell for it!'
It seemed I had been caught in some kind of trap. But what kind of trap, exactly?
The Third Generation was just as frustrated.
"Damn it, this situation isn't bad at all, but I hate that I got played! Lyle, we're turning this around from here!"
What kind of turnaround was he talking about? Or maybe this was just the Third Generation's usual joke.
Surrounded by enemies on all sides, with no knights or soldiers emerging from the castle to help.
Larque, facing off against Erhard, was confused and terrified. There were no women around him, and his allies had been restrained in an instant.
He wasn't exactly surprised that such skilled opponents had been sent after him, but he had still believed that once he made it inside the castle, they wouldn't be able to move against him so easily.
"Y-you guys... L-let's talk this over, yeah?"
Larque held his left hand out in front of him and smiled at Erhard. But his cheeks were twitching, and cold sweat ran down his face — he was clearly terrified.
"I'm sorry. Look, truth is, I was planning to beat you up a bit and claim the credit. I never intended to kill you. So how about you let me go? Wh-what if I give you women? How about the ones standing right there? They're useful as adventurers, and they're easy on the eyes, so—"
No one was listening to Larque's negotiation. When they had launched their assault, he had unmistakably radiated killing intent.
Erhard held his chipped greatsword straight out in front of him, making it clear his feelings hadn't changed.
He really did intend to fight Larque.
Larque looked over at Damian, the mage sitting atop a wooden crate.
"Y-you! How about you? Women, and money too — I'll have both ready! I'm close with wealthy women! So name your price and I'll—"
Damian was unmoved by such words. No — he was scoffing at him.
"You should try saying that after you've captured the daughter of one of the continent's foremost merchants. Can you produce millions in gold coins? No, you can't. Honestly... just listening to this is already disappointing. At first I thought this guy was something impressive, but reality sure has a way of deflating that impression."
In truth, when Damian had heard that this man had risen to power through a single Skill and was planning to seize a country, he had been on guard. But now that he saw the reality of it, Larque was nothing like what he had expected.
Larque turned his gaze toward Maxim—
"No thanks, I'm not interested. Also, there's a bounty on your head. You've been abusing your Skills too much."
Maxim, who had eyes only for Adele, truly could not be negotiated with.
Larque gripped a greatsword in each hand.
"Damn it... You think you can make a fool of me? I'm gonna become king, gather beautiful women, and rule the whole continent... Damn it... DAMN IT!!!"
He swung the black greatsword in a massive arc and brought it down toward Erhard. Was it the effect of the greatsword being a Mana Tool? Black flames appeared and wrapped around the blade.
Larque's movements grew faster, his muscles swelling. Erhard, facing the downward strike from that huge swing, looked like he'd be cleaved in two if he tried to block it head-on.
He received the blow by angling his own greatsword. Erhard's blade sparked violently and was heavily gouged, the metal melting.
Having lost most of its edge and become lighter, Erhard's greatsword was now unusable as a proper weapon. Gripping the hilt tightly, Erhard punched Larque across the cheek.
Larque was sent flying lightly, shocked by the pain. Up until now, with his body reinforced by his Skills, he'd never felt anything that hurt so much.
Looking closer, Erhard's muscles were bulging and radiating heat. Steam rose from them—it was definitely an enhancement-type Skill.
"Y-You lowlife bastard!!"
Still, Erhard's greatsword was now practically useless. Because of that, Larque thought he could win. He imagined cutting Erhard down, then slicing through the knights and soldiers, and escaping the scene.
Just then, Damian, who'd been sitting on a wooden crate, showed no sign of moving. He murmured.
"Hmm, surprisingly capable. It seems you're more of a man than I thought."
At that moment, Larque, who had been swinging his greatsword sideways, saw Erhard vanish from before his eyes. Partly because he'd averted his gaze, he was slow to notice that Erhard had ducked.
"Oh sh—"
"—Hate to admit it, but he was right."
Erhard drew a short sword from the small of his back and drove it into Larque's chest.
Blood spurted from Larque's chest, and his Skills became unusable. His strength drained rapidly, and he dropped his greatsword.
Erhard pulled the short sword from Larque's chest, and Larque crouched down, desperately pressing his hands against the wound to staunch the blood flow.
"S-Someone! Help me! Heeelp!"
Looking around, he saw his companions, who had risen, approaching. Among them, Larque spotted the comrade who could use healing magic and felt a surge of relief.
*Maybe I can be saved,* he thought.
Without even considering why his restraints had been removed.
And the woman among the companions Lel had looked up to wore a smile.
"Die just like that," she said.
Lel, shocked, tried to activate his Skills. But he had lost too much blood and couldn't use any mana.
"Eh, ah... h-help..."
Surrounded by the cold stares of the women around him, Lel remained crouched — lowering his head as if in apology — and drew his last breath.
——Dawn was about to break.
Meanwhile, the adventurer party that had infiltrated Kartafus to ambush Lyle's group could hardly hide their shock upon hearing their companions' report.
"Lyle's group stormed Kartafus Castle? And they have at least five hundred soldiers? What the hell is going on? They should have left most of their forces behind for the Dungeon subjugation!"
The man who served as leader stood up and seized the reporting adventurer by the collar.
The ones who brought the information were a pair that had been keeping watch on Lyle's group.
When Lyle's party moved out at night, they were ambushed, bound, and left behind. After that, they managed to free themselves from the ropes and informed their comrades.
To make up for the failure, they had gone to gather intelligence on Lyle's group. And when they approached the castle, something seemed off — only to find Lel's head displayed on the walls.
"T-They really did assemble a full force! They even raised their own banner on the castle walls..."
The leader dropped the adventurer, who was answering through gritted teeth, to the floor, then buried his face in his hands and sank into his chair.
"...They entered the castle? They conquered Kartafus Castle? With only five hundred? Why? They should have had information... Did the information broker betray us?"
Baim's information brokers should have had no reason to sell reliable intelligence to Lyle's group, who had been cut off by Baim.
He had been certain of this, especially since Lyle's group had charged into Kartafus with such a small force. Yet the result was that they had perfectly fulfilled the overt commission.
"...We're pulling out of Kartafus immediately."
When the leader spoke, the assembled adventurers nodded and began preparing to flee.
They were confident they had enough strength to beat Lyle's group. But if the enemy had prepared numbers exceeding their own and had slain Lalk, that changed everything entirely.
Was there a traitor? Had the enemy known from the start? Or had they obtained information and grown suspicious of them?
All sorts of thoughts ran through his mind, but he judged that staying here any longer was dangerous. Everyone immediately began preparing to withdraw, sending a few people ahead to the port to secure ships. Money was no object. However, they needed to hurry back to Baim as well.
With that thought, the adventurer party headed for the port — and there, Lyle was waiting for them.
And sure enough, knights and soldiers in full armor had them completely surrounded; the ships had moved away from the port and could not be boarded.
Surrounded on all sides by a fully armed throng whose numbers exceeded two thousand, the leader stopped counting the enemy.
And Lyle was smiling. Smiling, he held a bundle of documents taken from a bag at his side — .
The mood inside the Jewel was the worst.
Third Generation spoke.
"What the hell. 'Run away' is the only option? ...Bring it on. Become fuel for Lyle."
Fifth Generation said, sounding bored.
"Couldn't we just crush them? We'd wear down Baim's fighting strength that way. With this many of them, the losses would be minimal. Well, we could have the main players fight Lyle's group anyway."
Seventh Generation was laughing while praising the adventurers. No — it looked like praise, but was actually mockery.
"Isn't it wonderful? They know their place and scurry away like cowards. Well then, let's have them be of use... for Lyle's sake."
Mireia also seemed bored. This time, the Successive Heads had things go in a boring direction, and she really couldn't muster any enthusiasm.
"Sigh... Lyle, show them one of your trump cards."
I watched the adventurer party surrounded at the port and pulled a bundle of documents from my bag. It was tied with string and quite a considerable amount.
I had them confirm the contents, put them back in the bag, then tossed it over to the man who appeared to be their leader.
When the man didn't pick it up, I said with a smile:
"Please pick it up. I haven't set any traps or anything. I'm the kind of man who fights fair and square."
With a hint of mockery in my voice, I spoke to the man. He turned to his companions, looking for confirmation. After letting them verify the contents—
"...Boss."
The dejected adventurer handed the bundle of documents to their leader. The leader took them and went pale. His hands were trembling, and he kept glancing back at me.
"What is this? These are Guild documents!"
The Guild documents that Marianne had obtained. They'd done the trick.
They knew the hallmarks of Guild-created materials. It was only natural that adventurers would recognize them. The format and everything else bore a striking resemblance to official Guild documents, and the contents were written in meticulous detail.
There was even information that only the Guild could possess.
"You still don't get it? The one who's been sold isn't me. It's you lot."
Hearing those words, the leader was shaking.
"Don't screw with us! We haven't gone against the Guild! We were ordered to kill you, and we made the appropriate preparations—"
Wearing an expression of complete composure, I said to the leader:
"And? How did that turn out? Since you still don't seem to understand, let me spell it out for you... you're already finished."
Knights and soldiers parted to make way, and through the gap approached the nobles of Cartafus — the nominal clients — their faces twisted with bitterness.
They were the ones who had placed the request with Baim, and the adventurers had been sent in response. Because it was an official request, they must have thought it would be easy. A Dungeon-specialist adventurer party wouldn't normally take on this kind of job and leave the Dungeon. Had they been adventurers from the Eastern Branch, they would at least have put on the appearance of doing legitimate work.
It was a glaring mischoice of personnel. They had been too focused on nothing but bringing us down.
The nobles spoke.
"Not only did you fail, but you didn't even have the will to do the job properly."
"To flee like that — what utter cowards. Baim truly looks down on us."
"...We have something for you. Take it. As per the rules, we'll be exercising our rights."
What was tossed over was an envelope containing documents. Inside was a report assigning the lowest evaluation — an [E] rank — along with paperwork to force Baim to pay a penalty for breach of contract.
And it was a remarkably hefty penalty fee.
The adventurers' actions were documented in meticulous detail — the only thing omitted was the part where they had interfered with me.
They'd been waiting for me at the tavern, moving about in places where Ludmilla, the Queen, wasn't present. They hadn't searched for her. They hadn't done a single thing. We arrived after them and beat them to the punch, and once everything was done, they tried to flee Kartafus as fast as they could.
From my perspective, their choices may have been the best ones, but on the surface, they were the lowest kind of adventuring group.
The woman standing near me — Her Majesty the Queen — was smiling down at them with contempt.
"So they sent adventurers who wouldn't even try to rescue me in earnest. I see — this is absolutely grounds for a formal complaint. But that would let the world know I'm incompetent... Hmm, no, that might actually work in my favor. I'm growing tired of this queenly title anyway. Perhaps I should use this blemish to find myself a husband. Don't you think, Lyle?"
I averted my gaze from Ludmilla, cleared my throat, and continued.
Damian was grinning from ear to ear.
"That's the Lyle I know. Now that's more like it."
Maxim looked utterly exasperated.
"Lord Lyle, while everyone else was fighting... that's deplorable. And stay away from Adele."
Erhard and the others stood there dazed, completely unable to comprehend what was happening.
I looked at the adventurers and spoke.
"You're finished as adventurers. And it's not just the lowest evaluation. You've turned Baim and Kartafus against each other. Well, the outcome doesn't really matter either way. You were sold from the start."
When I raised my left hand, the knights and soldiers around me readied their weapons. Thinking a charge was imminent, the leader threw down his weapon.
Both hands raised.
"Wait! We were sent here on the Guild's orders! We took the commission on the surface, but we planned to fulfill it later! Believe us! We were just following orders!"
To those words, I fired back.
"Sorry about that. I was just following orders too. Can't help it, right? It was a commission. Man, this really hurts my heart. But it was a commission, so there's nothing to be done. That's just how it works, isn't it?"
I wasn't addressing anyone in particular. It could have been the Successive Heads, or it could have been myself. Either way, the adventurers who had been planning to launch a raid were going to be met with swift retribution.
And the plan had been to direct that dissatisfaction toward Baim as well.
The Seventh Generation was happily puttering around inside the Jewel.
'Not bad, Lyle! There are still some rough edges, but your taunting is pretty solid! Keep going! Drive those adventurers into despair even more! And that's where the real show begins!'
The adventurers, unable to escape, began to buckle and beg for their lives. Seeing that, I lowered my hands.
"When you get back to the Guild, be completely honest about everything. You won't know who's on your side and who's your enemy, right? Do that, and I'll at least guarantee your lives. Well, before that, I'll need you to do a little work for me, though."
Who was an enemy and who was an ally—Baim had turned against me, but surely there had to be at least one ally in there. That's what I wanted to believe.
The leader looked at one of his companions after hearing my words. That person nodded. He'd been using his Skills to see if there were any lies in my words. And then, he nodded again.
"Fine. We'll report everything honestly. So... please. Save us. If we do that, we'll never go against you again. I'll put it in writing! We'll hand over all our weapons and gear too!"
If they returned to Baim, they'd at least have spares on hand, and they were a party with enough strength to gear up again in no time. Making them hand over their equipment wouldn't accomplish anything.
"I'll have you put it in writing. And as for your equipment—as a fellow adventurer, I understand how important it is. Just being honest when you get back to Baim is enough."
Then again, I was asking them to use their weapons, so it wouldn't do if they didn't have them on them.
Everyone was relieved.
Ludmilla was watching me, grinning, as I threatened the adventurer party like that.
What was going on...? I had the distinct feeling that I'd walked right into a trap this time.