Chapter 304 - Reinweils (2)

After I shot upright and spat out a curse like I was having a fit, an awkward silence followed. It didn't last long.

“Did you just say ‘fuck’ to me?”

Amelia asked as if to make sure, and I hurried to smooth things over.

Of course, I didn't just mindlessly apologize. This was important to me.

“Ahem. My name is Lee Hansoo. Not Lee Hans.”

“And?”

“I'd appreciate it if you were careful with the pronunciation. You know, it's... a very sensitive subject for me.”

Even as I spoke, I worried this might lower her opinion of me further, but Amelia was surprisingly understanding.

“... All right. I'll be mindful of it.”

She didn't seem to understand why I'd reacted that way over the pronunciation, but she apparently recognized she'd crossed a line.

Good. That settled that.

Since she'd started talking to me anyway, I asked something I'd been wondering about.

“Hey, Amelia.”

“Go ahead.”

“What did you mean earlier? About the royal family possibly knowing I was an evil spirit and turning a blind eye.”

It was the question I'd wanted to ask but had held back before coming out as an evil spirit.

“It's only one possibility for now.”

Having covered herself with that disclaimer, Amelia shared her theory.

“First, if the royal family had ‘verified’ you, your identity would have been exposed long ago.”

Hmm, that was true. As today had shown, a single Numbered item was enough to leave me helpless.

But...

“I understand that, but how does that lead to them turning a blind eye? Isn't it more natural to assume the royal family simply trusted me completely?”

“Perhaps they did. But weren't you the city's most famous hero at the time? I thought it was possible the royal family couldn't touch you.”

Uh, I still didn't get it. No matter how famous I became, I was insignificant compared to the royal family.

“Explain in more detail.”

“Hmm. You have no feel for politics, do you?”

Please, enough with the study of Lee Hansoo already.

When I simply stared at her without answering, Amelia gave a little chuckle and continued.

“Think about it. A hero who sacrificed his life to save his companions in the Labyrinth, then returned after battling villains to save thousands of explorers. And that hero turns out to be an evil spirit? What problems do you think that would cause?”

“Uh... people would be confused?”

“Yes, they would. All this time, the royal family and the three religious orders have portrayed evil spirits as wicked beings and publicly declared that they must be exterminated.”

Ah...

Only then did I understand why she thought the royal family might have known my identity and turned a blind eye.

“Evil spirits have to remain evil, is that it...?”

“Fortunately, you catch on quickly.”

I was different from other evil spirits. I'd helped my fellow barbarians to strengthen our powerless race, and beyond that, I'd risked my life fighting ahead of everyone else in the battle against Noark.

That meant even the royal family had to tread carefully. The moment they executed me for being an evil spirit, the citizens would start asking questions.

But he saved thousands of people.

They're still killing him just because he's an evil spirit?

“Of course, exposing you as an evil spirit and sending you to the scaffold wouldn't spark a riot. As always, there would be a brief uproar before things settled down. But...”

“The royal family wouldn't want to leave even that precedent. A precedent suggesting that some evil spirits might actually benefit this world.”

“Again, this is only conjecture.”

Amelia closed the discussion with that reminder, but I was left deeply unsettled. This wasn't some baseless theory. She had grounds for it, and the problem was that even I found them convincing.

‘Hah, what if this really is true? Will I have to get a new identity and go into hiding as soon as I return?’

As all sorts of thoughts tangled in my head, I spoke.

“... Amelia, are you asleep?”

“No. And from now on, call me Emily even when we're alone. I'll use your alias too.”

“Uh, why all of a sudden?”

“You might slip up in front of others again.”

By “again,” she must have meant when we'd wrecked Beck's gang.

“It's best to make a habit of it. If things go according to plan, we'll be in contact with the lord's faction soon.”

At those words, I cleared away my distracting thoughts.

Right. No amount of thinking about the royal family would give me a proper answer in this era, would it?

For now, I needed to focus on our business here.

* * *

The next morning.

KNOCK, KNOCK.

A visitor came to our lodgings.

“My name is Rick Omanus. Are you Emily and Bjorn, son of Thor?”

Surprisingly, he was a knight. Not an explorer wielding a sword and clad head to toe in plate armor, but an actual knight serving the lord.

‘So they have a knight order here too.’

Well, that would explain how Amelia could use Aura. It would have been difficult to attain enough sword proficiency to awaken it naturally at her age. Someone must have taught her.

“What do you want?”

“The lord holds your abilities in high regard and has decided to offer you his support.”

His arrogant choice of words reminded me of Raphdonia's high-ranking officials.

He wasn't even considering that we might refuse, was he?

Not that we would.

“What sort of support?”

When Amelia feigned ignorance, Rick Omanus offered a sheet of paper instead of an answer.

“The details are all written there. Would you read it and give me your answer?”

It was a contract listing the support we'd receive if we accepted the recruitment offer, along with what we'd have to give up in return.

The terms themselves weren't bad. They would provide teammates, grant us permission to travel up to Raphdonia and back if we earned merit, and offer all sorts of benefits backed by the lord's authority.

In exchange, we'd have to obey the lord's orders during emergencies.

“So you're recruiting us, not offering support?”

“As I said, the lord holds your abilities in high regard.”

“We need some time to think.”

“I'll wait outside. I would appreciate it if you didn't take too long.”

This was what we'd been waiting for, but accepting too readily might arouse suspicion, so we dragged things out for quite a while.

Then, when we opened the door again...

“... Have you been standing like that the whole time?”

“Of course. I'm on official duty.”

Even so, I hadn't expected him to stand out there for over two hours.

“Here. Take it.”

We handed the knight the signed contract. He told us he'd already notified the inner castle and that we could visit whenever we wished.

He really hadn't considered that we might refuse.

“Does a signature like this even mean anything?”

“It's a formality. Defy His Lordship's will, and you cannot lead a normal life in this city anyway.”

What a load of crap. Just showing off in front of the newcomers.

We could always move to the eastern district and cozy up to Orculus.

“Until we meet again, then.”

With his business concluded, the knight left without looking back.

Now it was time for us to start our day.

“Emily, what do we do now? We've caught his attention, but apparently not enough for the lord to want to meet us himself.”

“That's not a problem. We simply need to draw more attention from now on.”

“Well, true.”

Not to brag, but I was confident when it came to attracting attention. In this barbarian body, I got caught up in all sorts of trouble even when I did nothing.

“All right, let's go.”

We put on all our equipment and headed for the lord's castle. Last time, we'd only taken care of a little paperwork in the outer castle, but this time we could enter the restricted inner castle too.

“You must be Emily and Iron Mask. Sir Omanus told me about you. My name is Mel. My duty will be to assist you with your business whenever you visit the inner castle.”

Mel, the administrator who greeted us with a bright smile, welcomed us into the fold and briefly explained the layout and organization of the inner castle.

There was no real need to listen closely. Amelia had already told me all of it.

“Since it's your first day, I believe registration should come first. Ah, what are your plans going forward? Most people join an existing team—”

“We have no intention of joining an established team.”

“I see. Then I'll help you establish a team of your own.”

We followed the administrator to the inner castle's Labyrinth Administration, which was reserved for explorers affiliated with the lord, and registered a two-person team.

Oh, and our team name was “Iron Mask.” Apparently, a nickname like that was far more memorable than names like Emily or Bjorn.

“What would you like to do about the three remaining teammate slots? If you tell me which roles you want—”

“Leave them open.”

“Pardon?”

“We'll work as a pair until we find people we like. I'd also like you to block all applications to join.”

“Yes, I'll take care of that.”

Having deftly handled all the party settings like the local she was, Amelia asked the Labyrinth Administration employee for one more piece of information.

“How many beaters can we choose from?”

Beaters were children like Jenssia, who entered the Labyrinth at a young age and handled all sorts of dangerous tasks.

“There are currently thirteen.”

“And if you include those already assigned to teams, not just the unaffiliated ones?”

“One hundred seventy-three.”

“I'd like to see them all.”

Amelia carefully read through every entry on the list the employee printed out, until she found the names she was looking for.

“I'd like to take these two children.”

“If you mean the Reinweils sisters, they're already assigned to a team, so that isn't possible...”

“You can at least contact their team, can't you? Tell them we'll compensate them generously if they hand them over.”

“... Yes.”

That concluded our planned business for the day.

Before we headed back, though, Amelia took me somewhere else in the inner castle.

It was a tavern.

“A tavern? They even have one inside the castle?”

“One of the perks for those authorized to enter the inner castle.”

“But why are we here...?”

I'd never seen Amelia touch so much as a drop of alcohol, so I couldn't figure out her intentions.

Not until I saw the tavern's sign.

[Reinweils]

Surely it couldn't be a coincidence that the tavern shared Amelia's surname.

“Aren't you coming in?”

“Ah, y-yeah...”

The interior was fairly clean, and there weren't many people inside, perhaps because it was daytime. We took a table in a corner and ordered drinks and food.

And then...

“...”

“...”

We just sat there without saying a word to each other.

Seriously, why bring me here if this was all we were going to do?

The place clearly had a whole story behind it—

“Curious?”

After a moment's consideration, I nodded.

“It won't be a particularly entertaining story.”

“Life can't all be fun and games.”

With that, I picked up my glass and downed it in one go.

Whew, that was strong. Tasted like shit too.

Was this what you got in Noark, the city of manly men?

“... You're a strange one.”

“Huh?”

“I didn't say anything.”

Amelia gulped down her drink as she spoke.

Oh, what had gotten into her? She'd even downed the whole thing.

Was this a story she couldn't tell sober?

It happened just as she set her empty glass on the table.

CRASH!

Whoa, that startled me.

I quickly turned toward the noise. A man's deep, bellowing voice was coming from the kitchen.

“You ungrateful bitches!”

His voice seethed with rage. Soon, I heard furnishings breaking, mingled with unmistakably female screams.

THUD! THUD!

Even a blind person could have told that someone was being beaten in the kitchen.

Yet the few customers present looked used to it.

“The owner's laying into his daughters again.”

“Heh heh. Poor girls. Imagine having that for a father.”

What? The owner? His daughters?

Then the ones getting beaten in there were...

The instant I realized it, I whipped my head around to check on Amelia.

Her hand trembled around her glass.

She looked far too pitiful, too heart-wrenchingly vulnerable, for me to dismiss it as nothing more than old anger.