kscans

Chapter 174 - The Search and a Bad Feeling

The next morning, we awoke in our tent.

After the battle with the Lizardmen, the night had passed without incident. Reinforcements and the Edgeson Unit had arrived, solidifying our forces.

As we started breakfast, Tina spoke up. "The general said he wants us to come to his room after we finish eating."

"Did he come up with some kind of strategy?" I asked, munching on a piece of bread.

Nothing came to mind.

"I can’t say," Tina replied. "But since we’ve been summoned, we have to go."

I had a bad feeling about this. This place was stricter than I’d expected. While I was confident in my current gear, I lacked a decisive edge. I had been thinking about returning to Earth for a bit. My house was under renovation and swarming with contractors, but I figured I could manage.

"Alright, let’s get going then," I said. "And you, stay hidden like always."

The Goblin eating canned food next to me nodded.


Inside the commander’s office, the general’s first words to us were, "You’re on standby leave."

I was stunned into silence for a moment.

"What do you mean by that?" Tina demanded, her voice edged with anger. Her reaction was understandable, given how sudden the declaration was.

"After yesterday’s incident, the adventurers are feeling a strong sense of responsibility for their failure," the general explained. "Some are even wailing about how they ‘shamed that beautiful person.’ What do you think would happen if you two—or rather, Miss Tina—showed up now? It’s not hard to imagine, is it? Even I am having a hard time keeping my composure in the face of your beauty."

He clutched his head as he spoke. It seemed the general, too, had fallen under the spell of Tina’s ‘All-Round Perfection’ skill. Tina took a small step back.

"General," I said, "when you say standby leave, does that mean we could, for example, temporarily leave the base and return to the Royal Capital?"

"No problem," he replied. "Even if you’re further away than the capital, you can use this to contact us immediately."

He pulled out what looked like a vintage wireless transceiver, slightly larger than modern ones, likely a type used during wartime.

"This was made by the Dwarves," the general explained. "Though it’s not an original design. A long time ago, three of these apparently just appeared out of a mirror belonging to the Dwarves. They were amazed to find they could talk to each other from a distance and tried to replicate them, but it was too difficult, and they were on the verge of giving up. Then, they got a hint from something a certain someone said while drunk, and they managed to complete it."

He recounted the story matter-of-factly.

Come to think of it, didn’t I run into Lurud at a tavern a while back and end up drinking with him? I barely remembered anything after that, only waking up in bed at my house with Tina sleeping next to me in her armor.

"Out of curiosity," I asked, "does this thing have the range to reach the Royal Capital?"

"Yes, it does," the general confirmed. "It’s still in the experimental stage, but the goal is to eventually make it possible to communicate from anywhere in any country. Messenger birds can take too long. However, we have no intention of making this available to the public. If there were too many of these things, it would inevitably lead to chaos. Their use is restricted to the military top brass."

That made sense. It wasn’t the kind of thing you could carelessly make public.

I took the wireless transceiver. "Then I’ll take this into my care. Thank you for the leave."

I bowed and left the room.

Inside the base, a soldier was guiding us in a way that seemed to intentionally avoid other people. It must have been a consideration to keep us away from the other adventurers. I was grateful to avoid any unnecessary trouble.

Once outside, we returned to our tent.

After confirming no one was around, I spoke to the Goblin under the bed. "We’re going to be gone for a while. I’ll leave food for you in the usual box. Eat as you please. And no matter what, don’t go outside."

The Goblin nodded.

We left the tent and departed the base on foot. Pulling the cart would have attracted the wrong kind of attention.

Once we found a deserted spot, I created the cart and propelled it with magic.

We reached the Royal Capital without encountering any monsters along the way.

"I’m heading to the Dwarven workshop for a bit," I said. "What about you, Tina?"

After a moment’s thought, she replied, "I’ll go with you. I don’t have anything else to do on my own."

As we walked through the city, we saw Dwarves hard at work in their workshops, assembling Edgesons and processing weapons and armor, a blacksmith’s typical trade.

There, I spotted the person I was looking for.

"Hey, Lurud. Long time no see. How’ve you been?"

Lurud stopped his work to greet me. "Oh, hey! Long time no see yourself. Oh, right. Thanks to you, we finally finished that thing. I’ve been meaning to thank you."

"You mean this?" I said, holding up the device. "The general told me about it. To be honest, I don’t remember much from when I was drunk, but I’m glad it was helpful. I can’t imagine I said anything coherent."

"No, no, it was a huge help," Lurud said with a grin. "We had no idea how to make the sound travel, but you told us about the existence of ‘radio waves.’ After that, we managed to apply the principle somehow using Thunder Stones."

He spoke with genuine delight. An old man’s smile wasn’t cute like a woman’s, but it reminded me of a carpenter who lived in my old neighborhood—gruff, but kind.

"Well, I’m glad it helped," I said. "One more thing. I’m trying to get stronger, but I’ve hit a wall. Even grimoires have their limits. Do you happen to know anything about runic characters?"

I figured a Dwarven weaponsmith might know something.

Lurud thought for a moment. "Sorry, I don’t know anything about runic characters outside of grimoires. But, back in my grandfather’s day, there was apparently something called Onmyōdō? He said he only saw it once, but it was a pretty powerful piece of work."

He spoke with a nostalgic air.

Onmyōdō. How convenient—or rather, perfectly suited for me. It was a welcome lead, and one I couldn't believe I'd overlooked. I’d encountered several Japan-specific items since coming to this world. It was a failure on my part not to have considered it sooner.

"Where can I see it?" I asked.

"It’s gone now," Lurud said, his face falling. "I heard it was lost by my grandfather’s time. I tried to reproduce it myself, but it was too difficult, so I gave up. For one thing, I couldn’t read the characters."

That made sense. Most languages only used one writing system. Japanese had three. It was understandable that he wouldn’t be able to decipher it. Just then, an idea struck me.

If that was the case, I could find out by going to Earth. Japan was my home country, after all. Gathering information would be easy.

"Thanks," I said. "I’ll buy you a drink next time."

"I’d appreciate that," Lurud replied, "but are you sure? Last time, you were so lightweight you got completely hammered, and that beautiful young lady had to come pick you up. It was quite a scene. When I handed you over, you said, ‘Let’s do it again tonight.’ You probably don’t remember, but you had fun, right?"

He asked with a lecherous grin.

I glanced at Tina beside me. She was beet red. I scratched the back of my head.

The air became too awkward to bear, so we made a hasty exit.

"Alright," I said. "I’m heading to Japan. I got some good information. What about you, Tina?"

"I’ll stay here," she replied. "It would be a problem if both of us disappeared at the same time. But isn’t your house full of contractors right now?"

"I’ll go at night," I explained. "No one will be staying over. There are plenty of places to sleep over there. Places that are open all night."

Internet cafes, 24-hour public bathhouses—there were tons of options.

"I understand," Tina said. "But please be back within two days. There’s a limit to how long I can cover for you."

Her warning was serious. I nodded. From there, we went our separate ways. I entrusted the wireless transceiver to Tina and gave her a quick rundown on how to use it. We made an unspoken agreement to meet at the cave with the magic circle. If she wasn't there, I would head straight to the base.

Then, I used the magic circle to return to my house in the Kingdom.

It was a little past noon. I still had time. I decided to go see Bardos. I wanted to talk to him about what was happening in the Empire.

When I arrived in the city and went to his house, I sensed no one was there. Had they gone out somewhere? Just in case, I went to the General Store ‘Yuri.’ The shop was closed, and a sign hanging on the door read, ‘Closed. Reopening date undecided.’

What was going on? As I wondered, a voice came from my left.

"Oh, Shinsuke-san? When did you get back?"

I turned to see the guild’s receptionist standing there, holding a shopping basket.

"Ah, I got back through… means I can’t really talk about," I said, evading the question. "I’m heading to the Empire soon. More importantly, do you know where Bardos and the kids from this shop went?"

She seemed to understand and only answered the second part of my question. "Bardos-san and the others headed to the Royal Capital about three days ago. Something about a direct summons from the Queen herself."

I breathed a sigh of relief.

"A summons? Did something happen?"

The receptionist’s expression turned serious. "I don’t know the details. The Guild Master took Bardos-san and his party into his office, and they left as soon as they came out. The only explanation he gave the staff was ‘a summons from the Queen.’ But he ordered all C-rank and above adventurers with real skill to head to the capital and told the others to refrain from any unnecessary outings. Not that there’s any work, so no one’s going out anyway."

She sighed. "No work? You mean there are no clients?"

"There are no monsters," she explained, her face troubled. "We can’t gather materials, and there’s no need for escorts. There’s nothing like this even in the old records. The adventurers, and the staff, for that matter, have no idea what to do."

What in the world was happening in the Kingdom? No, on this entire continent?

It felt a bit dramatic, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that something big was about to happen.