Gluttony Demon King with the Swampman ~A Man with No Magic Power Who Dreamed of Magic, Wielding Knowledge from His Past Life Through Steady Research and Hard Work to Become the Most Vicious Final Boss~

Chapter 24: Connections

I was kneaded and washed.

Thoroughly, relentlessly, slowly and slickly, like being simmered down to the marrow.

By the time I got out of the bath, after being trapped for so long between soft female bodies, my whole body had gone completely limp.

I was carried out, towel-dried, thrown into nothing but a thin bathrobe, and marched off to the bedroom.

Zaria held me on her lap while I rinsed my mouth with cold water she’d prepared. Noiche sat on the edge of the bed, lazily peeling an orange in one long spiral with a small knife.

“…This distance is absolutely not normal for friends.”

“Come on, it felt good, didn’t it?”

Zaria narrowed her eyes in a grin and stroked my hair with a seductive air that didn’t suit a noble lady at all.

Noiche, meanwhile, gently pushed bite-sized pieces of orange into my mouth while gazing at me with a dreamy expression.

“…Haro, how was your first job?”

Noiche asked in her usual slow drawl.

“No real problems… just a lot of monsters. I blew a little dog whistle and over ten wolves showed up.”

“I see. So they really are increasing.”

“…Is this that thing about the Demon King reviving or whatever?”

I remembered what Branch Master Dordwin had said.

Ever since the prophecy of the Demon King’s appearance, monster numbers had visibly risen over the past few years.

That was several years ago—back when I’d already been kicked out of my family home and holed up in the tower—so I wasn’t up to date on the situation at the time.

Noiche nodded, and Zaria took over the explanation.

“Some monsters that live extremely long can turn into Demon Kings. To us it was just an old fairy tale… but then all of a sudden prophets started popping up everywhere saying a Demon King was coming.”

“Soon seven Demon Kings will appear. Prepare for disaster and gather heroes—that kind of thing.”

Seven? That’s a lot.

I only knew the broad strokes about Demon Kings and heroes.

When a Demon King appears in the world, a warrior called a hero appears as if to balance the scales.

And every Demon King in history has been defeated by one of these heroes.

…The first time I read about it in a book, I got ridiculously excited.

Pure isekai fantasy. But for the ordinary citizens caught up in it, it’s nothing but trouble.

“Normally girls like us would never be allowed to travel, but… the world’s probably going to get rough soon, right? So they figured it’d be good for us to build real strength while we still could and sent us off.”

“Father was against it at first, but our older brother convinced him.”

So that’s why they were allowed to travel.

This mansion was also lent by that same brother with a casual “use it however you like”… They seem to get along great. I wish my own brother were like that.

…Suddenly I looked around the bedroom.

Even though we had the whole mansion, with just three people we only used a fraction of it, and for some reason this room had become our shared bedroom. Luggage was strewn everywhere.

Three people’s travel bags, bundles of memo paper I brought from the tower, the broken telescope waiting for repairs—

As my eyes wandered, they landed on a straight sword propped in the corner.

“…Did we have a sword like that?”
“Hm? Oh, I bought that today.”

Zaria? She uses swords?

She always made blades with magic, so I assumed she didn’t need a real one.

“It’s kind of a ‘lesson learned.’ Last time we completely ran out of magic power, remember? We left everything at the end to you, and I regretted it… so I figured I should think about conserving magic.”

“I see. So instead of creating a sword with magic, you’ll enchant a real one.”

“Yeah. I saw Kujack’s sword and, as much as it pains me to admit, that style works.”

Kujack’s lightning-wreathed blade was certainly powerful. Zaria could master it in no time.

“There’s just one problem.”

“Yeah?”

“Normal swords can’t handle it! Regular blades have terrible magic conductivity and fall apart fast. Ideally I’d want a magic sword forged specifically for my magic power, but…”

“We barely have any connections in this town, so finding a blacksmith has been tough.”

Noiche summed up Zaria’s complaint neatly, and I nodded in understanding.

A blacksmith tied to a ducal house would normally live in the capital. Around here, they’d need brand-new connections.

Then I suddenly remembered a request I’d seen at the guild.

“Now that you mention it… that escort job.”

This morning I’d seen a request to guard a group of blacksmiths heading out to mine ore.

When I explained to the puzzled sisters, Zaria’s eyes lit up. “That’s perfect!”

“Let’s take it first thing tomorrow morning!”

“You’ll come too, Haro?”

“Of course.”

I wanted to knock out my yearly quota quickly so I could focus on research. Plus, ore that only experts can mine sounded interesting.

And so we set our next goal: getting Zaria a proper sword.

The sisters reported that they’d successfully accepted the request the next morning.

They’d apparently handled the paperwork and packed for the expedition at the crack of dawn while I was still asleep. I was stunned at how fast they moved.

“Still, I’m surprised slots were open. It looked like good pay—I thought it would’ve filled up yesterday.”

“Yeah, it was full. But someone gave up their spot.”

…What?

At a slightly late breakfast, while Noiche poured tea for everyone, she continued.

“A rough-looking trio. When I said we wanted to take it with Haro, they hurriedly handed it over.”
“They kept bowing super low and practically ran away. Wonder what that was about.”

“…”

Were those the three from the ruins?

The scare must have worked better than expected. I’d been feeling a little bad about going overboard, but… all’s well that ends well.

The request starts in three days.

In the meantime, I had preparations of my own.

Top priority: finish the pendant that seals a portion of ink for Noiche.

By reflecting magic power inside it, she’ll be able to cast alongside Zaria.

The rest of the time I spent prototyping new magic sigils.

I experimented with various formulas, spell equations, and circle designs to use ink more efficiently.

…Truth be told, the paralysis in my right arm had caused several problems. All the spells triggered by right-hand gestures had become unusable.

For example, the ink spear I fired into the troll when we first met the sisters—it relied on my right hand, so I can’t use it anymore.

That’s why I’d been searching for new sigil designs to replace the techniques I’d lost—