The Shirone Kingdom was a small but old country with a two-
hundred-year history. This was notable because all the human countries
except for the Asura Kingdom and the Holy Country of Millis had been
wiped out in the war four hundred years ago.
The southern part of the Central Continent had been ripe with conflict
until the King Dragon Realm took control of the whole region some three
hundred years ago. Even now, the land to the north of here was a sprawling
region of discord. The Shirone Kingdom was close to the Conflict Zone.
Given its precarious location, how had this kingdom endured for two hundred
years? The answer lay in the alliance it formed with the King Dragon Realm
right after it was founded—an alliance in name only. Much like the other two
countries we'd had to cross through to get here, the Shirone Kingdom was
basically a vassal state to the King Dragon Realm.
That said, I had very little interest in national politics. The only thing I
cared about was the fact that Roxy was in this country. I wondered if my
young—wait, no. She wasn't actually young, was she? Anyway, I wondered
if my adorable, clumsy master was still a court magician here. She'd said the
prince was giving her trouble, but I was sure she could handle that.
It'd been so long. I wanted to see her. I wanted to see her and tell her I
was all right. I wanted to tell her about how I visited her hometown. I wanted
her to show me the King-tier magic that she'd said she could use now. My
heart thrummed with anticipation as we made our way down the road toward
the capital.
Along the side of the highway were disjointed rice fields and grazing
livestock. There were also inactive plots of land and pastures full of plants
that looked like clover. I wasn't too well-versed in agricultural practices, but
the people of this world seemed to be putting some thought into how they
grew their crops.
Although supposedly a vassal state of the King Dragon Realm, the
Shirone Kingdom didn't really have the vibe of a colony, unlike the two countries we'd passed through before. Maybe it was because it was so far
away, or because it was being used as a buffer between the Conflict Zone and
other countries. At any rate, such was the landscape that accompanied us as
we arrived at the capital, Latakia.
In this world, most major cities were surrounded by protective
ramparts, including Roa and Millishion. Even the larger cities in the Kikka
Kingdom and Sanakia Kingdom had walls around them. The same was true
of the Shirone Kingdom's capital, which had a sturdy, awe-inspiring wall
lining its perimeter.
In hindsight, it was the same way on the Demon Continent. In fact,
because the continent had such a high concentration of powerful monsters,
their defenses were more thorough. There wasn't a city out there that could
match the huge natural walls that surrounded the city of Rikarisu. Each city
on the continent utilized the special abilities of the tribes living nearby to
erect strong walls to protect itself. Even small settlements conducted daily
exterminations of beasts around the village's outskirts. In comparison, the
ramparts on the Central Continent looked as if they were merely for show.
We passed through those walls and made our way into the city, where
we parked our carriage at a stable. There were many labyrinths in the vicinity
of the city, so there were plenty of tough-looking adventurers around, many
of whom engaged primarily in dungeon diving. That had been Paul and
Ghislaine's life in the past, and even Roxy had done it for a while. I was
pretty sure it was Paul who'd said dungeon divers were incredibly skilled.
There were many labyrinths scattered throughout Shirone, and you
could make a ridiculous amount of money just by exploring their topmost
levels. There were probably a handful of S-ranked adventurers among the
dungeon divers who were aiming for the most lucrative loot, and we mingled
with that crowd as we traveled the main road and selected a random inn to
stay at. As usual, it was one tailored to D-ranked adventurers. Even the low-
ranked inns in this town were a bit pricey, perhaps because there were so
many high-ranking adventurers around.
Compared to the D-ranked accommodations on the Demon Continent,
the quality of the lodgings on the Central Continent wasn't bad at all. It was
actually good enough that we would have been fine with rooms aimed at lower-ranked adventurers, but we had enough money not to worry about that.
Quite the opposite. In fact, we could have afforded even better
accommodations if we wanted.
I would like to stay in a better room, I thought to myself at one point,
but even though we had the extra coin, it felt like a waste. Maybe I really was
a penny pincher.
"All right! Now that we've arrived in the Shirone Kingdom, let's
conduct our strategy meeting," I announced to the two standing in front of
me. Their apathetic applause told me they'd gotten quite used to this setup.
"Now, what should we start with?"
"We're going to meet your teacher, right?"
Eris' question reminded me of what the Man-God had said. "Her name
is Aisha Greyrat. Currently, she is being detained in the Shirone Kingdom.
You'll be there when the events from your vision transpire, and you'll meet
her and save her. You absolutely must not let your name be known. Call
yourself the Kennel Master of Dead End and ask her for details on her
situation. Then send a letter to your acquaintance in the Shirone Royal
Palace. If you do that, both Lilia and Aisha will be saved from that palace."
Something along those lines.
If I trusted his advice in its entirety, then I just had to walk down the
alleyway I saw in the vision to trigger that event. I figured I should probably
take Eris and Ruijerd along as well. After all, the Man-God said nothing
about going alone this time.
I continued to think. If I believed the Man-God, then Lilia and Aisha
were being detained at the Shirone Royal Palace. But in my vision, I'd met
Aisha outside. That meant she'd somehow managed to escape the palace.
I remembered the look of the two men who came after her in my dream. I'd
seen their getup numerous times in the city; it was a normal soldier's attire.
In other words, Aisha would be pursued and then caught by palace
soldiers. That was when I would come in. If I took the most obvious
approach to save her, I'd risk making an enemy of the palace, which had to
be why the Man-God had said not to use my name. It might be best if I hid
my face, too.
While the knights were busy tracking my fake identity, I could send a letter to my acquaintance in the palace (Roxy) and ask her for help. If she was
a court magician, then her words should hold some power. I already owed her
so much. I didn't want to show up barefoot and dirty-soled at her doorstep,
like a stray child—though I would happily wash her feet if our positions were
reversed.
This was the Man-God we were talking about, though. It was possible
he was up to something. If I tell you too much, it'll spoil my fun, he'd said. In
other words, he was hoping for something interesting to happen, and there
was probably nothing I could do to avoid it.
However, he'd also said, I hope you'll trust me next time. Hopefully,
even if there were unpleasant surprises lying in store for me, they wouldn't
involve such things as serious injury or the death of someone close to me.
But this was all assuming I trusted the jerk. He might just be trying to
deceive me this time, with no care for what happened after. Even so, there
was no point in putting up needless resistance that might make everything
catastrophically worse. I disliked feeling like I was playing into his hands
again, but it seemed I had no choice but to listen.
My main goals were now to search for Aisha, to falsify my name, and
to send a letter to Roxy. That said, how was I going to convince my
companions? The letter wasn't a problem, but I still needed a good reason for
searching the back alleys while using a fake name. Ever since we'd set out
from Millishion, they'd made sure one of them was always by my side, even
on our free days. Apparently, they were still concerned by how depressed I'd
gotten after my encounter with Paul.
I felt bad about having worried them, but there was a high probability
we'd end up facing off with some soldiers in our quest to find Aisha. Neither
Eris nor Ruijerd was any good at acting. No matter who I took, it seemed
likely they'd do something that would come back to bite us in the butt.
Karma had a way of doing that.
Now then…what to do?
"Rudeus, what are you worrying about?"
Hm…well, it's like they say, better to act now and worry later, I
reasoned with myself.
"Actually, I'd like for us to conceal our names while we're here."
"We're going to be pretending again? Why?"
"Umm…" Even if I had to keep mum about the Man-God, there was
no reason I had to hide the rest of the story. "Actually, I heard from a source
that members of my family have been taken captive somewhere in this
country."
"Really?" asked Eris.
"Oh," grunted Ruijerd.
Neither asked from whom or where I got this information, even though
one or the other of them had always been with me whenever I gathered
information. But it was better for me if they didn't press the issue.
"Oh, I get it!" Eris exclaimed. "They'll be on alert if they hear the
name Greyrat, then!"
"That's right."
"So, who's the family?"
"Lilia and Aisha. Our former maid and my little sister." Actually, now
that I thought about it, what was I supposed to call Lilia anyway? She wasn't
really my stepmother.
"Your little sister? You mean the one who was so full of herself, whom
we met back in Millishion?"
"I have one more."
"Uh-huh…" Eris looked unenthused as she pursed her lips.
So Norn seemed full of herself? I didn't think that at all, but Eris
clearly had a different impression. I wondered whose side I would take if Eris
were to punch her…
Eris snorted triumphantly. "Well, if that's what's going on, no
complaints here! Impressive, Rudeus. You really thought this through." So
she said, but I was really only being strung along by the Man-God. "So we'll
hide our names. Should we be using fake ones?"
"Yes, and it'd be best to go with something common," I reasoned.
"How come?"
"It's supposedly better if fake names aren't memorable."
"What were some of the famous names around these parts?" Eris
wondered out loud.
"While we were traveling, I heard names like Shyna and Reidar a lot,"
Rudeus offered.
Shyna, Knight of the Death God, was a female knight who appeared
frequently in the Epic of the North God. She was one of three North God
knights, and used to be one of the God's companions. No matter how brutal
the battle, she would always return home, almost as if she were unkillable.
The story was probably ficticious, but there were still many who named their
child Shyna in hopes that the name might keep them from being killed in
some freak accident.
Reidar was the name of a Water God. He was a genius at countering
attacks, could freeze the ocean and walk on top of it, and was the hero who
vanquished the Sea King Dragon. The name of that legendary man was
passed on through the generations. Each new head of the Water God Style
would inherit it: men would be called Reidar while women would be called
Reida. It was quite a common name around here.
The two were putting a lot of thought into the fake names they would
use. I was grateful for that. Now I needed to give mine some serious thought,
too.
"Rudeus, what are you going to do?"
"Well, let's see. In this case, it might better they know right off the bat
that it's a fake name."
"How come?"
"They don't know our names or our faces. It might confuse them if we
give them a fake, flashy name to go off of," I said, quoting a line from some
super old anime I'd seen a long time ago. To be totally honest, it didn't really
matter as long as the names were fake.
"Then we should pick a cool name."
A cool name, huh? "All right then. I'll call myself the Knight of the
Shadow Moon."
"Knight of the Shadow Moon?!" Eris' cheeks flushed and her eyes
sparkled. That was a character from Kamen Rider who loved haikus and wore
what looked like a tacky lunch lady uniform. If someone like that appeared in
front of Eris, she'd probably clobber them.
"I'll do the same one! Wait, but we can't be the same, um…"
Did she really like it that much? In that case, might as well stick with
the knight theme. "Okay then. Eris, you can be the Sword of the Shadow
Moon and Ruijerd can be the Lance of the Shadow Moon. Then we all
match."
"Very nice, we match! Let's use those!"
I thought Ruijerd might be embarrassed by such a name, but he didn't
look too bothered. Paul had said that Aqua Heartia was a cool name.
Apparently, the concept of "nerds" didn't exist in this world.
"But you don't seem like a knight at all, Rudeus," Eris muttered, after I
thought we'd settled it.
Not a knight, huh? Maybe I should name myself Evil Magician or
General Omega instead? Then again, I had no idea if I'd even end up using
the name. If it didn't work, I could always use Kennel Master instead.
"Okay. We've decided on our fake names, then."
"What do we do next?"
"For now, I'll send a letter to Roxy at the royal palace. We'll spend our
time gathering information until I get a reply," I declared.
***
I went to the market the next day, purchased some stationery and an
envelope, and started penning my letter to Roxy. I started off with seasonal
greetings, asked after her well-being, and then informed her that, although I'd
been teleported, I was safe. I told her that I was now in Shirone's capital and
wanted to meet her. Hoping to rouse her concern and anxiety, I casually
mentioned how everyone from Buena Village was missing, and how none of
them had been found despite the ongoing search. Then I broached the topic of
our maid, Lilia, and closed by emphasizing one final time (because this was important) how worried I was about my family. I also structured the letter so
that the first letter of each line, if read vertically, would read "HELP ME."
With all that I had included in my letter, I was sure Roxy would understand
what I was implying.
I sealed it with wax that I pressed an imprint of Roxy's pendant into. I
briefly considered sending it under a fake name, but I'd be in trouble if she
threw it away thinking, "Who the hell is that?" So I signed it, Your Beloved
Pupil Rudeus Greyrat, Who Just Wants to Watch Over You.
Honestly, Roxy would probably recognize my handwriting even if I
did use a fake name, but it was also just like her to get careless when it came
to something important. I wouldn't know if the letter would make it to her
until she actually had it in her hands. Schrödinger's Roxy. I pictured Roxy
sitting in a box that said "please pick me up." Aww. For God's (Roxy's) sake
—you're supposed to flip the box over and hide inside of it.
Anyway. That aside, there was no harm in making sure she would read
the contents by leaving my real name on the envelope.
"All right, I'm going to go send this letter off."
"Okay."
"All right, be careful!"
The two of them waved at me, Eris with a radiant smile on her face.
What a letdown. I'd been so sure one of them would want to follow me.
"Eh? What are the two of you going to do?"
"I plan to ask around town about your sister," Eris said.
That was right—I had said we would be searching for information.
Information was power, after all, and it never hurt to try to gather what we
could. I actually felt a little abashed at how lax I'd become, trying to move on
to the next step without doing that first.
"All right, then. I'll make sure to hunt down some information too,
once I'm done sending this letter off." With that, I left the two of them
behind.
I went to the Adventurers' Guild to post the letter. I intended to start searching for information afterward, but mere minutes later, I realized I was
being tailed. At first I thought it was Ruijerd monitoring me, probably
thinking I might get in trouble if left to my own devices. That didn't make
sense after what had happened in the last few months, though. He would have
joined me rather than tail me in secret. Besides, his ability to tail people was
second to none. If it were truly him following me, there was no way I would
have noticed.
I figured it wasn't Eris, either. She was terrible at shadowing people. I
would have noticed her the second I stepped out of the inn, and she'd prefer
to silently stick right behind me rather than skulk in the shadows, anyway.
So, who was it? Was there someone in this country who had a grudge
against me…? I couldn't think of a soul. Besides, I'd only just arrived
yesterday. It was likely I would stir up trouble in the future, but I hadn't
bothered anyone yet.
Was this connected to something I did on the Demon Continent?
Would someone really follow me all the way here for revenge? Unlikely. But
maybe they were a survivor from the Zant Port smuggling group who'd
spotted me by chance. Maybe they were planning to seize the opportunity to
finish me off.
No, the most likely explanation was that they had absolutely no
connection to me at all.
When I turned the corner, I caught a glimpse of a small figure ducking
into the shadows. It was a child. Maybe one of the neighborhood children had
decided to pretend I was a bad guy and tail me. Or maybe it was an orphan
who was planning to swipe my wallet. If I hid somewhere, they might panic
and pursue me, and I could jump out and scare them.
No, wait. This world had races like haflings, who only looked small. I
couldn't let my guard down.
I decided that I would give them the slip. With that in mind, I took a
right at two intersections and then entered a slightly narrow alleyway.
"Hm…?"
I got the sudden feeling that something was wrong, a sensation like
something rising from the depths of my throat. Brushing it aside, I used magic to create a wall of earth. A three-meter
wall rose up, sealing the alley behind me. I heard hurried footsteps on the
other side as my stalker ran toward the wall, followed by the sound of
something slapping weakly against it.
I'd gone pretty deep into the winding alleyways to lose that kid. Now,
which way back to the main road? I felt a little like a lost child. Unlike the
grid-like layout in Millishion, even the major thoroughfares in this town
didn't run straight. Even someone with a good sense of direction, like me,
was beginning to get lost.
I supposed that if it came to it, I could always use magic to boost
myself onto a roof. Wait. Hang on—this alley was just like the one in the
vision the Man-God gave me.
"Ah!"
I realized what the strange feeling from a moment ago had been. It was
déjà vu.
Turning on my heel, I ran back down the winding alley. I got turned
around at a T-junction, but managed to retrace my steps to the wall of earth
I'd created.
"No, stoopp!" I heard a girl scream. "Give it back!"
I put my hand against the solid structure and channeled my mana into
it. Using earth magic, I weakened the wall's composition while
simultaneously using wind magic to trigger a shockwave. With a booming
crash, the whole thing crumbled and fell away.
Before me was the vision the Man-God had showed me. A soldier
roughly seized a lone girl's hand, while another held up some paper he'd
taken from her, shredding it to pieces.
"That's for my father! Don't tear that up!" the girl screamed.
Amidst the echoing of her protests, the soldiers looked my way in
confusion. "Wh-who the hell are you…?"
The girl had a face that resembled Lilia's, with Paul's brown hair
pulled back into a ponytail. She was wearing a baggy maid's outfit. Her face,
which would normally have been light-hearted and gleeful, was contorted
with tears and streaming snot. The soldiers had been glaring at her with obscene looks on their faces.
Wait, no. That wasn't right. They looked like they pitied her. Were they
doing this out of duty, rather than because they wanted to?
"Who are you?! State your name!"
"I'm that girl's…" I almost said "brother," but stopped myself. I
wasn't supposed to give away my real name. "Uh…I am the Knight of the
Shadow Moon!"
"What part of you is a knight? You're obviously a magician."
"Ugh…"
Dammit! Next time, I was definitely going with Evil Magician instead!
"Listen up, kid. It's nice that you want to play hero, but we're soldiers
from the palace. This little girl just got lost, so we came to escort her home."
They clearly considered me nothing more than a mischievous child. I
was sure they were lying about their intentions, but there was a troubled look
on the other soldier's face as he regarded Aisha, who was still sobbing.
Whatever was going on at the palace to result in Lilia and Aisha being
detained, it didn't necessarily mean the soldiers in the rank-and-file were bad
guys, too. Maybe I should just try to talk to them?
"But you guys tore up the letter she was holding."
"Ahh…that's, well, how to explain it? Adults have their reasons."
Uh-huh. Adults had lots of reasons.
"Ah!"
Aisha found an opening and smacked the soldier's hand away. She hid
herself behind me and clung to my waist, her face covered in tears and snot.
"P-please 'elp!"
Looking at her helpless expression and frantic demeanor, I suddenly
didn't care if I made enemies of this kingdom or not.
"Doseguhs dook muhledder and dore iddub!"
I had absolutely no idea what she was saying through her sobbing, but I
could tell she was desperate. Okay. Let's put an end to this. I was an adult on
the inside. I couldn't keep up the charade of a child playing at being a hero. Without warning, I lifted my hand and silently sent a stone cannon
flying at the soliders.
"Mnh!" The man I'd aimed it at instantly whipped out his sword and
intercepted the cannon.
Whoa! That was some reaction speed! Water God Style, huh? That was
going to make things difficult. But Stone Cannon wasn't the only spell I
knew. As long as I had some distance, this would be easy.
Even though you're the first person to ever avoid my stone cannon, I
thought.
"A magician who can use magic without incantations?!"
"Then—could he be the one?!"
"Call for backup!"
"Oka—aaah!"
I created a pit beneath the feet of the soldier who was about to try to
run away. Whoosh! At the same time, I fired stone cannons in rapid
succession to divert the other soldier's attention. As I did that, I told Aisha,
"We're going to run. Can you do it?"
"Ngh, wah…yeah…!" She nodded, even through her sobbing.
Very good, very good. All I had to do was knock this one unconscious,
and we could make our escape.
Tweeeeee!
No sooner had I thought that than a high-pitched noise like a bird's cry
echoed around me. It came from the hole I'd opened up. A whistle! That
other soldier was blowing an alarm whistle!
Moments later, from all around—both close by and far away—other
whistles joined the chorus. Tweee, tweeeeeet!!
Each one sounded slightly different, probably to let people identify
their exact locations. Once my opponent saw that I had stopped launching
stone cannons at him, he yelled, "We've created a blockade around this area!
More soldiers will be here in a moment. Cease your futile struggle and hand
over the girl! We won't hurt you!"
This area was about to be swarmed. However, I still had a card up my sleeve. "Aisha! Hold on tight!"
"Huh?!"
"Don't let go, no matter what!"
Despite her confusion, Aisha wrapped her arms around my waist and
squeezed. I grabbed her shirt with my left hand and channeled mana into my
right. Then, I conjured an earth lance with a flattened tip at my feet and used
it like a catapult to launch us into the sky.
"Wh-whaat?!"
"Aaaaaaah!"
Ah ha ha! See you later, losers!
Incidentally, I broke both my legs when we landed. I was definitely
never doing that again.