Between the 30,000-character exclusive being added to the book and other things, the update got delayed.
It's also a busy time, so I don't expect future updates to be stable either. My apologies.
"I just wanted to relax in my room..."
"Can't be helped. It's only natural for the Guild to want a direct report from those involved."
Using poor health as a pretext, I had left the Guild report to Leon and the other two nobles, along with their escort who served as the
guide.
But the Guild Master determined that a firsthand account from someone who had actually fought was necessary to classify the situation as an emergency, so I was abruptly summoned.
"Well, I appreciate them providing a wheelchair, but... it really hurts my butt, you know?"
Since the Guild was summoning me despite my claimed illness, arranging a carriage and preparing a wheelchair was only natural, but unlike the ones from my previous life, the wheels weren't rubber and there was no shock-absorbing mechanism, so I draped the monster fur from my Dimension Bag over the seat and backrest — though it provided only minimal comfort.
"This way..."
Upon entering the Guild and explaining my business at the reception, I was promptly led to the Guild Master's room, but the receptionist who assisted me was visibly unhappy the entire time. I don't know why, but the moment I opened the Guild door and our eyes met, she looked at me like she'd seen something utterly repulsive. However, she was the only one at the available window, so I had no choice but to approach the scowling woman.
"Guild Master, I've brought your visitor."
"Thank you for your trouble. Please, come in."
"Well then, come on in,
Yuri."
"
The man Grandpa called Yuri smiled and shook his hand, then turned and extended his hand to me.
"It's been a while."
"Yes, it's been about six years, hasn't it?"
The last time I'd met Yuri was six years ago — back when Kukuri Village was attacked by a horde of zombies led by a Dragon Zombie, and I'd burst into the guild begging for rescue.
"We made it to Kukuri Village with a relief force, so that much went well... but the sheer number of zombies caused some of the adventurers to panic. Fortunately, most of the zombies were just wandering aimlessly, so nobody suffered any serious injuries. The problem was, once word got out that there was a Dragon Zombie, some people tried to run."
Most of the adventurers who attempted to flee apparently came to their senses after being called out by companions or acquaintances, but a handful got away and were punished for it later.
"Guild Master, Tenma isn't feeling well, so let's wrap this up quickly."
"My sincerest apologies. In that case, since Lord Lion has expressed the same wish, shall we get started right away? And—"
"Canon."
"—stay here and take notes."
"...Understood, Guild Master."
The receptionist who had been guiding us reluctantly accepted Yuri's orders and set up a desk well away from where we were sitting.
Albert and Cain seemed a bit irritated by the receptionist's attitude, but since Lion said nothing, they kept their complaints to themselves.
Yuri frowned at the receptionist but apparently decided the Lich took priority, ignoring her as he began the discussion.
"So your and Merlin's assessment is: 'A heavy blow was dealt to the Lich, but it's unclear whether it was actually defeated,' and 'There's a possibility the Lich has allies or subordinates.' Is that correct?"
Among the Liches identified so far, there had been individuals known as "Kings of the Dead" who controlled undead monsters as their subordinates. That was why we had reported the possibility that this Lich might still have subordinates lurking somewhere.
"This isn't exactly information we'd want made public..."
In the Haust Margraviate, if you mention a monster that controls undead subordinates, the first thing anyone thinks of is a Dragon Zombie. Last time, they only made public the fact that a Dragon Zombie had appeared after its defeat was confirmed — yet even so, it still caused enormous chaos, and several residents of Russell City ended up leaving.
"On that matter, I actually intend to let this information out deliberately."
While Yuri was still deliberating, Lion stated firmly that the information should be released.
The reasoning was that even if they tried to suppress it, sending personnel to investigate would carry the risk of the hidden details leaking out somewhere. And rather than let suppressed information leak and damage the Margrave family's credibility, Lion believed it would be better to proactively announce under the family's name that a Lich had appeared.
This was the complete opposite of what Cain had predicted. Even if announcing it caused some residents to leave the Margraviate, keeping the information hidden and having it leak later would likely result in both those same people departing and a further blow to their reputation — so Lion's decision was meant to minimize the final damage. That said, a letter would need to be sent to the Margrave for his judgment, so there was still a chance things would play out the way Cain had predicted.
"If you ask me, considering what lies ahead, I think Lion's approach is the way to go."
"Indeed, rather than clumsily trying to hide things, publicly announcing the danger clearly might make it easier to maneuver later. Lion, when the time comes, you have my permission to use my name."
When publishing the information about the Lich, having the sentence,
"I
defeated the Lich, but there remains a slight possibility that it survived" would be a positive factor for the Margrave family, so I gave my permission.
"So you're saying you need to get the Margrave's approval, which means you'll be staying here in Russell City until his reply comes?"
"Well, I suppose that's how it'll be."
There were couriers like Ted in Russell City who could make a round trip to Shellhide in a matter of days, but with a regular express horse, it would apparently take twice as long. So we'd have to stay in Russell City for about two weeks.
"I hope it doesn't snow..."
"Aye, let's hope not..."
And so, we found ourselves stuck with an unplanned stay in Russell City.
"Why do I have to..."
The day after our meeting with Yuri, during our extended stay in Russell City, the rude receptionist who had been appointed as our guild liaison and caretaker had been muttering complaints under her breath while giving us a tour of the city.
"Tenma, do you really not know anything about her?"
Cain asked me in a low voice while pushing his wheelchair along, but I had absolutely no clue. Yesterday, Cain and Albert had apparently been furious at her attitude during the meeting with Yuri, but she had apologized while I wasn't there. The two of them had grudgingly accepted the apology, but they hadn't been able to get to the bottom of why she'd been so rude. All they'd managed to find out was that the only person she hated was me, and that when I wasn't around, she transformed into an incredibly pleasant receptionist — her reputation among the adventurers she served was apparently quite good.
"Cain... I know it's awkward to say this myself, but I'm the kind of guy who keeps interactions with people I'm not close to to a bare minimum. At the very least, I have never once exchanged words with a half-elf woman in my entire life. I don't even have any memory of having seen one."
"Well, I know Tenma isn't the type to go up and talk to girls like Lion does, but... that's not exactly something to be proud of, is it?"
"Yeah, well, I suppose not."
"You say that, but couldn't it be that you actually tried to hit on someone and failed? And that's why she hates you?"
"No, Lion maybe, but I can't see Tenma failing at that... It's most likely that he earned her resentment somewhere without even realizing it."
"I think Albert's on the money. For example, she could be jealous of a younger Tenma's accomplishments, or maybe she took on a quest and failed, only for Tenma to succeed at it — people hold grudges for all sorts of reasons... But from what I've heard of her usual reputation, that possibility seems pretty slim."
Lion pressed on, but Albert calmly offered his opinion. Meanwhile, Chris—who had been casually gathering information all along—joined in on the conversation between Cain and me.
While we were talking, Grandpa wandered off through the town with a nostalgic look on his face and vanished before we knew it. The other girls were peeking into shops and street stalls, but they were also listening in on our conversation... especially around Lion's "pickup" comment, where all three of them except Ren gave me sharp looks.
"Hm? Oh... everyone, Kanon's waiting for us."
Kanon had stopped walking up ahead, seemingly noticing we were lagging behind.
"Hey, Tenma. Isn that girl trembling?"
"Looks like it."
"Maybe Lion was so vulgar that it scared her?"
"Hey!"
"She doesn't seem like the type to do that, though."
As we approached while murmuring among ourselves, Kanon was muttering something under her breath. When we got close enough—
"She says she doesn't remember... after doing something so terrible to me..."
Not even noticing we were standing right in front of her, Kanon's muttering grew steadily louder.
"Tenma... what the hell did you do?"
"Nothing!"
I couldn't help but react to Lion's words and deny it loudly. That outburst, as if flipped a switch—
"No way you didn't do anything! You put me through all that and you don't even remember?! Don't you dare joke around with meeeee!"
"Stoooop!"
Kanon rushed toward me, and just one more step and she would have reached me—when Amour came flying in from the side with a tackle, sending her flying.
"Phew... nice work."
The two of them, having launched through the air together, crashed right into a shop displaying vegetables and fruits. Then Amour got up on her own, beaming with a big smile and giving a thumbs-up. It felt like I hadn't seen Amour act like herself in a while, though I wondered how Ren felt about that move—but then Ren was also giving a big smile and a thumbs-up.
"Sorry, shopkeeper. I'm just that kind of person. Also, that guy over there is the same sort — I'll buy everything that's broken and everything lined up in front of your shop, so just call it even."
Albert immediately went to the shop the two of them had crashed into and settled matters with the man who appeared to be the owner. What he showed the man seemed to be the crests of Duke Sanga's family and Earl Haust's family, and the man kept nodding over and over with a stunned look on his face.
"Tenma, the troublemaker has been taken down! Also, bring out Shiromaru."
Unscathed, Amour came over to report to me with the unconscious Kanon draped over her shoulder.
"Ah... thanks, Amour. Shiromaru, you can come out now. Oh! Sorry, but Solomon, stay on standby."
"Woof!"
Solomon was about to come out right after Shiromaru, but I had no idea how the people of Russell City — who weren't used to this — would react if a dragon suddenly appeared in the middle of town, so I decided to have him wait in the Dimension Bag just like before. Well, there were some people who screamed in surprise at Shiromaru's sudden appearance, but once word got around that he was my familiar and a safe monster, it didn't turn into a full-blown panic.
"Shiromaru, lie down!"
Amour had Shiromaru lie down, then placed Kanon on his back and began tying her down with rope so she wouldn't fall off.
"Tenma, let's head to the Guild."
"...Yeah, you're right. We should probably hear what Yuri has to say about this."
To find out why Kanon had gone berserk, we needed to—
—the Guild Master,
—who was also her superior. Everyone agreed with my plan, and we headed for the Guild. I'd completely forgotten about the old man... and I didn't remember until after I'd passed through the Guild's doors.
"...Well, I guess it's fine."
The minor details might have changed, but as long as I knew the general route, I could find my way back to the inn. Besides, he might ask someone in town and come straight to the Guild, so there was probably no need to go looking for him.
"Something wrong, Tenma?"
After answering Cain — who was pushing the wheelchair — with "It's nothing," I told the reception desk to let them know I needed to see Yuri.
They were quite startled at the reception desk, since we'd had Kanon strapped to Shiromaru's back this whole time since the commotion. At the same time, though, I could hear voices from among the staff and adventurers saying things like "Just as I expected..." — so it seemed they'd had a feeling things would turn out this way once Kanon met me.
"Now then, Yuri... how about you tell me everything you've been hiding?"
"Ahaha..."
The moment we stepped into the guild master's office, I locked eyes with Yuri and demanded to hear everything about Kanon. Sitting in my wheelchair, I was looking slightly up at Yuri, who sat in a chair. Behind me stood the three idiots, with Chris to their side, and further back still, Amour — pointing a bird feather at the soles of Kanon's feet, who was strapped to Shiromaru's back.
"Guild master, what is the meaning of this receptionist's attitude toward Tenma? The Russel City guild... no, Russel City itself owes Tenma an enormous debt of gratitude. I'd rather not resort to this, but if things stay as they are, I'm prepared to use my authority to make the entire guild bear an appropriate punishment."
Lion was showing a stricter side than usual, going so far as to consider penalizing the other staff with collective responsibility. It was probably because if word got out that guild staff had treated an adventurer — who had defeated dangerous monsters lurking in the margrave's territory on the way back from accepting a commission from the margrave's family — with hostility, and had even attempted to harm them, the recovering economy of the margrave's territory could take another downturn.
"Then... shall I tell you what I know about why she took that kind of attitude? It might be a little long."
Yuri began speaking, as though recalling why Kanon had such an excessive reaction toward me in particular.
And to cut to the chase, it turned out Kanon held a grudge against me — a misplaced one, at that. Though there were parts that made me feel a touch of sympathy.
"I can't believe there was actually a connection between me and her in the past..."
"Her attitude isn't excusable, but if you go and do something like that and then don't even remember it, I guess it's only natural she'd get irritated."
"But hold on. The one who did it wasn't Tenma —
Solomon,
right? So it's not his fault if he doesn't remember."
"Either way, she's more in the wrong for not leaving enough of an impression on Tenma, don't you think?"
"Hear, hear! Chris is absolutely right. Tenma did nothing wrong."
"Indeed. I do feel sorry for what happened to her after that, but blaming Tenma for it is completely misguided."
Those were the group's opinions. Jeanne and Aura said nothing, but the women's conclusion was the harsher one, while the men showed a slightly higher degree of sympathy.
"Now that you mention it, I do seem to have memories of that... what was it called again?"
The team
name?"
"'Lohengrin.'"
Behind me, I heard someone shout something like "You say you remember, but you don't, do you!" but the speaker was quickly silenced by attacks from both sides, so I ignored it and continued my conversation with Yuri.
"Canon was the archer for 'Lohengrin,' and in the team battle of the martial arts tournament, she faced Orasion in the main bracket and suffered a crushing defeat."
Canon had fought in the team battle of the martial arts tournament I first competed in. Solomon had tripped her legs and sent her flying into the air, then dropped her from above. The manner of her defeat had become a trauma, and for a while she apparently couldn't perform against dragon-like lizard Monsters or bird-like Monsters that flew through the air. Things had improved considerably since then, but in the meantime her party had disbanded, and Yuri had recruited her to work at the guild.
"Moreover, Canon and all her team members also lost to Tenma in the Individual Battle preliminary rounds."
All the members of 'Lohengrin' had apparently entered the Individual Battle as well, and in my preliminary group, three members — including Canon — had been registered. It was quite a fortunate occurrence; if they coordinated their fights, at least one of them might advance, maybe even two, and all the members had been celebrating. But that joy was short-lived — the result was their elimination via ring-out from my magic, and since the other members also fell in the preliminaries, the Individual Battle for 'Lohengrin' came to an end.
"At the next tournament, where they had sworn revenge, they failed in both Individual and Team preliminaries again and couldn't share the same stage as Tenma. And as if mocking Canon's determination to make it next time, 'Lohengrin' disbanded, and she was never even given the chance."
"Hmph!"
The reason for the disbanding was that everyone was so consumed with the desire to get revenge on me that it made their day-to-day interactions tense and hostile. That rift exploded after their defeat in the second tournament, and within a month they had parted ways in a bitter falling-out.
"But Tenma isn't really at fault here, right?"
"Mm..."
Yuri nodded in agreement with Lion's question.
"No, it's completely irrational resentment."
"Hmm..."
Canon was apparently Yuri's niece, and in daily life, whenever my name came up — or even when she heard a word close to 'Tenma' — she would become visibly distressed. Yuri wanted to do something about that current state of affairs. So when she heard I was coming to Lassell City, she seized the opportunity, hoping that direct contact with me might help Canon improve. She arranged for Canon to be our caretaker, but... it had backfired.
"Hmph!"
"Amour, you've been so noisy this whole time!"
Chris scolded Amour, who had been making strange noises repeatedly throughout the conversation.
"Tenma. Canon is pretending to be asleep."
At those words, everyone turned to look at Canon simultaneously, but she lay in the exact same position as when she had been brought in, without so much as a twitch.
"No, she's still unconscious, right?"
"She's still unconscious — that could be dangerous... So I'm going to check right now. Take this!"
What Amur held high was the bird feather she had been carrying for a while now. And as for what she planned to do with it —
"Tickle tickle tickle..."
Just as she'd originally planned, Amur began tickling the soles of Canon's feet. And a few seconds after she started,
"Fhyah!"
Canon couldn't take it anymore. But Amur didn't stop moving the feather.
"Hyah, stoahp, hahny!"
Canon's voice, unable to form proper words, gradually started to sound rather sultry.
"Hey, Amur... Isn't it about time you let her off the hook?"
"Hmm~?"
Among us,
Lion, who had the most flushed face of all, said that to Amur, but Amur continued waving the feather while pretending to deliberate.
"Ah, I'm sorry! I'm sorry, so please stop!"
"Amur, that's enough already."
"If Tenma says so."
When I figured it had gone too far and said something to Amur myself, she finally stopped tickling... but —
"Pbbt!"
Shiromaru, who hated being thrashed about on her back, shook her body violently, trying to throw Canon off. But Canon was securely tied down and couldn't get free; instead, Canon's foot struck Amur right in the face.
"Mmm..."
Amur grabbed the feather in both hands, ready to retaliate, but before she could, Reni stepped in between them and freed Canon from Shiromaru's back.
Now that Canon was no longer riding on her back and she felt much lighter, Shiromaru gave her body a vigorous shake, then fled into the Dimension Bag where Slarin and the others were waiting.
"Canon, when you said 'I'll apologize' earlier — you meant for how you've been treating Tenma, correct?"
"...Yes. My behavior up until now was driven by spite. I'll change going forward..."
Bathed in everyone's gaze, Canon sat on the ground and, conceding Yuri's point, bowed her head in acknowledgment.
"But wouldn't an apology alone be a bit light? Even if no real damage was done, you harbored enough resentment to lunge at him — surely you can't just erase that kind of hatred because someone told you to apologize?"
At Albert's question, Cain and Chris nodded. The three of them understood how dealings between nobles worked, so they likely knew that words alone couldn't be trusted. As for Lion... she seemed unfamiliar with such matters and perhaps had never really thought about them before. That probably meant Albert and Cain had to bear the brunt of it.
"That's exactly why the apology was made in front of all three of you. If Canon were to go back on her word after this, she should bear the consequences — perhaps even be reduced to being Tenma's slave."
Since Canon had admitted her fault and apologized before Albert, Cain, and Lion, if she were to do the same thing again,
as a noble who had disgraced her honor,
there would apparently be no grounds to object to being demoted to slave status — but,
"Even so, making her Tenma's slave is out of the question."
"Agreed. Just look at those two — being Tenma's slave comes with treatment that's way too good."
Cain pointed at Jeanne and Aura, and the two nodded in confirmation.
"If you're going to sell her into slavery, I can introduce you to a slave merchant we trust. But what happens after that — no guarantees."
"Right. Well, she's pretty, so a buyer would probably show up quickly. But how that buyer treats her — that's beyond our knowledge."
It felt as if something dark was oozing from both Albert and Cain. Listening to their exchange, Canon had gone so pale it was actually worrying. Meanwhile, behind her, Jeanne and Aura — perhaps imagining the future they themselves could have ended up facing — also looked sickly, if not quite as bad as Canon.
Yuri, perhaps realizing he had gotten a bit carried away talking to nobles, seemed unable to find his next words. Chris and the other women also appeared to have judged that Yuri had crossed a line, simply watching in silence. As for me, since the phrase "my slave" had come up during the conversation, I couldn't very well interject.
"But is going that far really necessary?"
As the room grew heavy with a tense atmosphere, Lion stepped between Yuri and the other two in her usual calm manner.
"Well, I think appropriate punishment would be warranted if she apologized with us as witnesses and then still went after Tenma — but there's no need to go so far as selling her to a slave merchant, is there? She could be handed over to her mother for education and put to work as a menial for the knight order. That should be enough, if you ask me."
"Well, if Lion is willing to take responsibility as the Margrave's household, then I suppose we have no further objections."
"Yeah."
The two backed off so readily it was as if their earlier statements had never happened.
"If something were to happen, it's reassuring to know that Lady Lion would take responsibility and look after Kanon."
Even Yuri was in similarly light spirits, the earlier tension all but forgotten.
Though I found their behavior puzzling, the discussion was deemed settled and everyone dispersed, leaving the guild — but on the way back,
"Lion, it's your fault the atmosphere got so weird! If you'd just spoken up sooner!"
"Right. You always know when to read the room and stay quiet — I just wish you'd been your usual self for once..."
"Hey, wait a second!"
"Let's just leave useless Lion behind and head back to the inn."
And so, leaving Lion standing there in stunned silence, Cain wheeled me back toward the inn.