White hair with black spots. Red eyes. And completely naked.
To top it off, she had a great figure. Not outstandingly so, but definitely on the good side of normal.
Unfortunately, since she was a spider-woman at base, none of it was remotely sexy.
Riv looked at Gwene with undisguised disgust.
"Hm… stinky… woman."
"An obnoxious-smelling woman. Wait. Stinky!?"
"Tch-tch-tch-tch… Riv is… a woman who smells… sweet."
"Drop dead!"
Riv and Gwene were pointing swords at each other, snapping back and forth.
They looked ready to start hacking at any moment. That would probably happen soon enough.
"You're so tiresome and trashy."
"…'Thousand Faces' lady."
The weird spider-woman beside me let out a sigh.
She looked like a spider-woman but wore plain clothes, which was strange.
Well, wearing clothes was the normal thing to do, wasn't it?
Still… why was that?
She was sexier with clothes on.
Normally it's the other way around, so what was this? Being sexier when dressed?
And her top was just some ordinary cloth you could find anywhere.
But the bottom was a miniskirt — was she aiming for something with that?
Setting that aside, this oddly sexy spider-woman.
A monster, but not a monster. I knew who it was right away.
"Thousand-Faced"... a creature capable of transforming into anyone — young, old, male, female.
For some reason I can see through it in an instant, but can it also transform into other monsters?
I already knew it was in Hyzen.
Before, it had been disguised as an elf woman at the delver's guild.
I noticed back then but just ignored it.
"L-long time no see, guv'nor."
"Oh, hey..."
We both bowed our heads.
And the Thousand-Faced one said nothing.
I stayed silent too.
"S-so, have you been doing well, guv'nor?"
"Huh? Well, yeah, I've been getting by."
"That's good to hear, guv'nor."
"..."
"..."
"Um, thanks for earlier."
"Not at all — I could only manage to call out to you on the spot, guv'nor."
"Either way, I was grateful."
"That's good and all, I guess."
"..."
"..."
The conversation isn't going anywhere. Hmm.
Maybe I should bring up the weather.
"Nice weather today, huh."
"Sure is."
Today was a clear blue sky. Yeah. Refreshing and pleasant.
"..."
"..."
The conversation isn't going anywhere. Hmm.
Oh, right.
"So, uh, how's 'Thousand Faces' doing?"
"Huh? ...I wouldn't really know."
"I-Is that so."
That unexpected reply threw me for a loop.
"..."
"..."
The atmosphere was getting awkward.
I noticed, and Thousand-Face spoke up.
"So, does Sir Wof know the man in the red mask?"
"Uh, red mask? No, I don't."
If it was the one wearing a mirror mask, I'd know him.
"I see."
"—I do."
The voice came suddenly from an unexpected direction.
It was Guene. The one who'd been exchanging blows with Riv.
I'd leave this to Riv.
Surprise attacks were startling, I supposed, but something about Guene felt different now.
"You know him?"
"Naturally. The man in the red mask is the one who brought us from that godforsaken place."
"Godforsaken place?"
"A research institution where death was sealed away."
"You mean… that ruins?"
The ruined city on the 44th floor of Hydrangea's dungeon.
Death Abstract had been sealed beneath it.
So the daughters of the sword goddess had been there, huh. That made a certain kind of sense.
Come to think of it, the archive had mentioned something about shards of a god and a sword.
Was the man in the red mask one of the bandits?
But there wasn't anyone particularly noteworthy among the zombies.
"Wof-san. You know about that, right?"
"Yes. It was a whole thing — it's a ruin that doesn't exist anymore."
It had self-destructed and vanished.
Gwene furrowed their brow.
"What? Death was supposed to be sealed away in that place."
"If that's what you're talking about, I was the one who defeated it."
"...You what..."
Gwene was stunned.
I'd launched a full-power surprise attack and taken it out.
"...
Sky
Form...
Pleiades...
...Alcyone Blade."
"Gyah—! Why did your slashes suddenly get so heavy—!?"
Riv's blade had turned black.
"Mm... don't look away... keep your eyes on Riv... deal with her..."
"Everything about you is damn heavy!"
That was probably gravity, huh. That really is heavy.
"It is so, ess? There's nothing left, ess?"
The Thousand Faces looked disappointed.
Oh, right. I remembered.
"Oh, but that city was originally in a different location — I know where the traces of it are."
"Really, ess!?"
The Thousand Faces looked up.
"Yes. I confirmed it before with the Knight Commander of the Delver Knights."
"Oh. Miss Peony. Could you tell me the location, ess?"
"Of course. By the way, who is that man in the red mask? I know he's a member of the bandits, but—"
"An alchemist who calls himself Biggs."
"An alchemist…"
The same job Relic as Haiyarn, of all things.
I had a bad feeling about this.
"Whether that's actually true is questionable, ess. I believe he's a con man. He received funding from various sources but never produced results, then fled with the remaining funds, ess."
"Could that be why someone is chasing him?"
The client might be one of the people who funded him.
The Thousand Faces gave a wry smile.
"I can't say, ess. But it seems he wasn't just an ordinary con man. What the investigation has uncovered is that Biggs used the embezzled funds to join up with the bandits. Then he led the bandits to a certain location. After that, their whereabouts are unknown. Only Biggs has been sighted, ess. Furthermore… it's been confirmed that Biggs made contact with Raada of the Jinryu family."
"…Raada…"
Was he involved with that too?
The information about the Poverty Club and Galad heading to the Forbidden Land.
I figured it might have come from Biggs.
If that was the case, wasn't Biggs the root cause of everything?
How come the mastermind isn't here, Biggs?
"Then he left Heisen, and his trail went cold from there, ess."
"One location is… the ruined city, I believe."
"That's what I gathered from the talk as well, ess. Do you happen to know the whereabouts of the bandits too, ess?"
"They were annihilated. The bandit leader turned into a zombie, and while there was a necromancer present, he became a lich and Agaro-san took him down."
"…Is that so, ess."
In truth, I couldn't determine much beyond what the bandits had done.
But… if he was the root cause all along, it was only natural to think of it this way.
The bandits' destruction and the ruined city's teleportation—it was all Biggs' doing, wasn't it?
Was "Biggs" another name for the God of Calamity or something?
"In any case, I'm going to check out that ruined city, ess. Thank you for the information, ess. I'm truly sorry about the debt, ess. I'm short on funds right now, but I'll pay the information fee later, ess."
"Wait, really?"
I hadn't expected to get paid for this.
"Information is a commodity, ess. For me, information is the seed of future work, ess. Please don't hesitate to take it, ess."
"Thank you very much."
"You've got some good intel, Wof-san, ess."
"Well… I've been dragged into all sorts of things here and there, you know…"
He gives a faint, wry smile.
"One-Winged Frenzy!"
"Hm...
Sky
Form...
Pleiades
...Asterope Blade"
"The sword split?! Wait — two swords is cheating!"
Gwene's sword dances wildly as she panics.
And then she lands flat on her rear.
"...Riv wins..."
"Gh... I concede."
With a blade pointed at her, Gwene admitted defeat.
"Looks like it's over, ge."
"Looks like it."
I already knew Riv would win.
Compared to just a moment ago, Gwene had lost her fighting spirit — or her drive, or whatever you'd call it. She was oddly weak.
Or maybe... this was the real Gwene all along.
Also, I'd somehow stumbled upon an unexpected truth in a rather warm, cozy sort of way.
Curse you, Biggs. Gwene, with Riv's sword still pointed at her, spoke through gritted teeth.
“Fine, just kill me!”
Wait, “frustrated killing”?
She said it so naturally, it caught me off guard.
Now then… obeying that mysterious inner voice is, honestly, a right pain.
“There are a few things I’d like to discuss. Gwene.”
Shall we talk this over, then? Daughter of the sword goddess.