Chapter 58 - Conspiracy
Although Wicklen seemed to have objections, Madam Skange eventually agreed to let Zwei and Alyssa live in the castle temporarily.
This outcome was also within Zwei's expectations. After all, he had just saved her daughter. She couldn't possibly chase him out of their house in the blink of an eye.
However, no one noticed that when Zwei followed the maid to his room, a bug the size of a fly quietly flew out of his sleeve and hid inside the reception room.
After confirming that Zwei and the others had left, Madam Skange carefully closed the door. The next moment, the gentle smile she had been wearing was replaced by irritability and anxiety.
"Why is that mudblood still alive?!" Madam Skange snarled at Wicklen. "What has that bastard Campas been doing?!"
"Hmph. I told you long ago that fellow was unreliable. The only thing he's good at is speaking beautiful words. Even that Aldric fellow can easily take care of Campas."
"How about…you take action?" Madam Skange suggested hesitantly.
However, Wicklen shook his head in refusal.
"No. The Green family's wind magic is too distinctive and can be easily traced. On the other hand, if I use spells I'm not proficient at, I'm not confident of defeating that guy. If you don't want to go to noble court for conspiring against a noble, you'd better dispel this idea quickly."
"So what if someone finds out I killed that mudblood?" Despite her words, Madam Skange no longer pursued the topic of Wicklen taking action.
"Anyway, the mudblood must be removed! I went to great lengths to place William in the sickbed. There must not be any accidents!" Madam Skange said hysterically.
"Actually, we still have a chance to get rid of that mudblood without anyone knowing," Wicklen said as he twisted his goatee, a treacherous light flashing in his narrow eyes. "Didn't that magician friend of ours just provided us with a good excuse?"
—Zwei's room—
The lord's castle truly deserved to be called a castle. Even a measly guest room boasted a four-poster velvet bed, a leather sofa, and many other extravagant objects that filled Zwei with jealousy.
However, Zwei currently didn't care about these things. Instead, he sat on the sofa and stared at the coffee table before him.
At this time, a tiny bug was resting on the table, and above the bug was a translucent screen, which showed everything that happened in the reception room after Zwei's party left it.
After listening to the conversation between Madam Skange and Wicklen Green, Zwei fell silent for a moment. He then sighed and muttered, "It seems buying this Spy Bug was the right decision."
The Spy Bug was a gadget sold in the Achievement Store's Miscellaneous Items section. According to the brief introduction, this little thing, which looked like a flying insect, was actually an alchemy product. It should be a magic puppet in the same category as a gargoyle. It could freely move about within one kilometer of the user. It could also record what it saw and heard into a video with a maximum duration of ten hours. The user could play the video at the cost of some mana.
However, as an item that cost only ten achievement points, the Spy Bug came with many flaws. For example, the gadget was extremely sensitive to mana, so if someone used second-circle magic or above within five meters of it, it would overload and burst into flames. It was also no different from ordinary flies in toughness. Even a weak girl could swat it to death.
However, the fact that the Spy Bug managed to collect such valuable information already made it well worth its price.
Zwei massaged his eyes and forehead in annoyance. He had learned a lot of things from the conversation between Wicklen and Madam Skange.
Tio wasn't the daughter of the lord's wife. Instead, she was probably an illegitimate daughter born to Lord Skange and an unknown woman. Madam Skange had also done something to put her husband out of commission. Moreover, by the looks of it, she planned to send her husband all the way to heaven, as well. The gnolls' ambush of Tio was most likely Madam Skange and Wicklen's doing too. In addition, Madam Skange and Wicklen Green were scheming against their party.
"Things are getting more and more troublesome…" Zwei sighed.
He had met many people before—enthusiastic and simple peasants, cunning townsfolk, polite or kind priests, rude mercenaries, and merchants that smelled of copper. However, not one of these people would ever stab him with a knife while wearing a smile on their faces.
In Zwei's opinion, even fighting monsters in a dungeon was preferable to trying to get along with nobles.
Zwei put the Spy Bug in the Bronze Storage Chest. Although it was somewhat wasteful to expend one storage slot for such a small gadget, this thing was too sensitive to mana. If he kept it in his pocket, he might accidentally destroy it.
Afterward, he tossed all the annoying matters to the back of his mind, called up the Trial Gate's panel, and entered the Yellow Sand Dunes dungeon.
Although meeting the conditions to engage the Yellow Sand Dunes' Boss was a troublesome process, the Prospecting Lizards were currently the only monsters he could harvest Money resources from. To be precise, they dropped a magic item called Gold Grinder, which could be exchanged for Money resources.
For Zwei, who was currently stuck in poverty, these resources were extremely important.
After completing the dungeon as usual, storing the awarded Earth Elemental Shard in his pocket, and exiting the dungeon, Zwei heard a knock from the door.
Is the maid here to tidy up the room? Zwei curiously opened the door, only to find the beautiful Tio standing outside.
The silver-haired girl was hugging a pillow that was almost as large as herself, and she wore a white dress made of a very light fabric as nightclothes.
When the door opened, Tio looked up at Zwei.
"What's the matter?" Zwei asked curiously.
"…I knocked for quite some time just now," Tio said slowly. "…I thought you were out."
"Um…"
Zwei was momentarily rendered speechless.
"Zwei," the girl called out in her unique, ethereal voice. This was also the first time she had addressed him by his name. "I hate this place."
"…Mm, I'm sorry." Zwei's stiff expression softened slightly.
At this moment, he realized that Tio never had any attachment to this place. After all, an illegitimate daughter definitely wouldn't lead a happy life in this castle.
"So," Tio continued, "I want to sleep here tonight."
"Mm…" Zwei subconsciously nodded out of guilt. However, he quickly realized what the girl just said. "Huh? Wait, how are these two matters related?"