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078 Grissom
and the King
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Translator : PolterGlast
The monsters on the
8th floor of the royal capital dungeon are only Merfolk. However, they always
gather in groups of dozens. 20 is a small number, and sometimes they number
nearly 100. Individually, they're not that strong, but their numbers are
troublesome. The sight of 100 Merfolk surrounding us is quite intimidating. But
we won't retreat. Because we're not weak enough to retreat.
"Let's call it a
day. I'm genuinely tired," I said.
"Indeed,"
Gandarvan agreed. We, who had annihilated 80 Merfolk, decided to pick up the
drop items and return to the mansion.
During this
exploration, we fought and defeated over 500 Merfolk. The drop items included
462 D-rank magic stones, 17 demonic swords, 15 demonic spears, 13 demonic bows,
and 2 magic staffs. Anneliese, Gandarvan, Bath, Jojok, Lin, Solidia, and
Rosalina's levels had all risen to 43. Colon and Karon's levels were 32.
My Reincarnated Hero
was Level 42, Hero of the Two-Handed Sword Level 41, Assassin Level 41,
Enchanter Level 38, and Sword Master Level 42. Since everyone else's levels had
risen, I had stopped focusing on Enchanter and started leveling up other jobs
midway. I had finally caught up to Barukan. I'd overtake him now.
When we exited the
dungeon, the sky was pitch black. This time, we had been in the dungeon longer
than usual, but we hadn't reached the boss room. That meant fighting the
Merfolk had taken a lot of time. In fact, our mapping hadn't progressed much.
It indicated the monster density was that high.
Tch. I saw an
unpleasant face. It's Grissom. He seemed to be entering the dungeon now.
"..."
We passed Grissom and
his group, but exchanged no words. Perhaps because of what happened last time,
he avoided making eye contact with me.
"Gandarvan. Take
everyone back to the mansion," I instructed.
"Please don't do
anything reckless," Gandarvan urged.
"I
understand," I replied.
I sent everyone back
first and decided to head to Grissom's mansion.
"I'll be right
back," I promised.
I placed my hand on
Anneliese's cheek, as she gazed at me with worried eyes. Her skin was as fine
and beautiful as ever.
"Please come back
quickly," she pleaded.
"Yes, I'll be
back soon," I reassured her.
After parting ways
with everyone, I activated Stealth. I ran, relying on my AGI, and arrived at
Grissom's mansion. It was a familiar house, though belonging to someone else. I
used Wall Pass to enter the mansion and sensed presences, discovering slaves
confined in cages. Even if they were given food and water, this was
unacceptable. That bastard was truly trash (enraged).
I wanted to let them
out, but if I did so now, it would expose my infiltration. I hardened my heart
and was about to leave the front of the cages when I felt something amiss. What
is it? Something...
Right, one person was
missing. Grissom's party consisted of six people in total. There were five
slaves here. Previously, there were six, so one was missing. I used Detailed
Appraisal to check the five slaves, but there was no record of the missing one.
No matter how detailed Detailed Appraisal was, it wouldn't record other slaves.
But I did learn one
thing. The missing slave was Grissom's favorite. His party had six members,
three men and three women, and there had also been six slaves, three men and
three women. The missing slave was a female, who was always by Grissom's side.
Unpleasant thoughts swirled in my head. I could only pray that what I suspected
hadn't happened.
I would come to check
on the slaves occasionally from now on. When I entered Grissom's room, it was
as usual... no, it wasn't.
"Is this
blood?" I murmured.
There was a dark stain
on the carpet, which seemed to be a bloodstain. When I used Detailed Appraisal,
I found out it was slave blood. That bastard... The amount of blood meant it
was clearly a fatal wound. But where was the body...? Oh, right, in the
dungeon. There, the dungeon would absorb the body. Perfect for destroying
evidence.
"Trash!" I
snarled.
It made my blood boil.
It made my stomach churn. I wanted to make him suffer the same fate. No, I
wanted him to suffer even more. But how could I get evidence of his misdeeds?
Despite being trash, he strangely left no evidence.
No, there was
evidence. It was reflected on his record card.
Since there was
evidence against his father, I could expose the father's ruin and then hand
Grissom over to the guards. That way, he wouldn't be able to get away with his
father's power. I really wanted to get proper evidence, but if I left him
alone, the victims would only increase.
However, why was his
job still Debuff Sorcerer? He should have become a bandit, so what was the
trick? Could there be a way to circumvent the god's crime system? Even when I
used Detailed Appraisal on him, there was no such cheat. Perhaps there was such
an item? I had no idea...
Returning to the
Duke's mansion without evidence, I found Anneliese, Rosalina, Lin, Solidia, and
Itsukushima-san elegantly enjoying tea. The men were apparently in the bath.
"Well, well, a
tea party for everyone. So many beauties; it's a feast for the eyes," I
commented.
"Welcome home.
Your equipment, if you please," Anneliese said, reaching for my equipment.
"I can do it
myself, so it's fine. Anneliese, you just keep chatting with everyone."
"That won't do!
This is my job!" Anneliese insisted.
Her pressure is
incredible...? What's going on?
"I want to assist
too-nanodesu!" Rosalina chimed in.
"Oh, um... me
too," Itsukushima-san added.
Eh, even
Itsukushima-san? What in the world is going on?
"No, I can really
do it alone," I protested.
"No!" (All
three)
Oh, come on. Lin,
Solidia. Help me!
Ugh, that was
terrible. The three of them competed to take off my equipment. My equipment was
set to quick-equip, so I could remove it in an instant. Why did the three of
them suddenly do that?
Well, since the Duke
wasn't here, I had no choice but to submit the evidence to the Princess. That
Princess wasn't a bad person, but perhaps because of her upbringing, she seemed
somewhat unreliable. Would it really be okay to give her the evidence? I had a
touch of anxiety.
And then there was the
method of delivery. It was impossible for me to just hand it over saying,
"Here's the evidence." That would only attract unwanted attention
from the Princess. I also felt reluctant to sneak into the Princess's bedroom.
No matter what, sneaking into a woman's room was a no-go for me.
Come to think of it,
the King was sick, wasn't he? I'd check on him, just in case. I hoped he was
someone I could talk to.
***
The next day, I
infiltrated the castle to check on the King. The Duke's castle also had strict
security, but as the King's residence, it had even more guards. However, my
Assassin Lv41 job was no joke. I could go anywhere.
I tried various rooms,
but I couldn't reach the King's room. There were simply too many rooms. Then I
entered a very strictly guarded room. This seemed to be the right one.
A man lay in a
luxurious canopy bed. His complexion was ashen, and he looked completely
unhealthy. His hair, which was presumably once golden, was almost entirely
white. His breathing was shallow, indicating a serious illness. I probably
couldn't talk to him in this state.
---Detailed Appraisal.
"..."
I see. This is quite
serious. This King was poisoned. The poison seemed to cause symptoms similar to
a disease called Dargan's Disease.
The problem was who
poisoned him. Surely it can't be the princess...? No, it wasn't. There was no
such notation when I viewed the Princess with Detailed Appraisal. It wasn't the
Minister of Finance or Count Erbasil either. That meant there was another
culprit who administered the poison.
The King was poisoned,
ministers and high-ranking officials were lining their own pockets, and this
country was already finished, wasn't it? The only saving grace was that the
Princess was earnest, and there were decent people like the Knight Commander.
But there was no doubt that scoundrels were in power. Was it a situation where
they either had to clean the house or perish?
The King was in a very
critical condition, but all I could do was inform the Princess. The King's
death was irrelevant to me. However, I couldn't ignore the fact that he was
poisoned. It might be too late even with an antidote, but turning a blind eye
made me feel uneasy...
I had heard from the
Duke that the King decided to summon Heroes, so emotionally, I wanted to punch
him a couple of times, but it seemed the King genuinely did it for the sake of
the country. He probably hadn't considered the summoned Heroes, though.
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