Vol 3 Chapter 68 – Suspicion of Dart and the Guild Investigators【Empire War Arc】

Roy decided to go down and check on the Tomahawk stored in the underground chamber.

It was because he had felt a sensation similar to a purification phenomenon when he touched Dart’s shoulder.

Combined with the fact that Eiden was taking an unusually long time to return, Roy could not shake the feeling that something was happening.

Roy felt a growing impatience in response to a vague, formless anxiety. Because he was the type who prepared meticulously in advance, he was not good at dealing with unforeseen situations as they happened.

Up until now, all he had done was assume that the unexpected might occur and prepare accordingly. Since that had been on the scale of an adventuring party, even if things went somewhat beyond his predictions, they could usually recover.

But this time it felt like something invisible was crawling around beneath the surface. Of course, if he was just overthinking things, all this would amount to nothing but wasted effort… Even so, going underground now would tell him everything he needed to know.

He had the key to release the barrier, entrusted to him by Eiden. It was the “Ignia dagger,” a symbol of nobility used when invoking Geas.

“The right-hand bookshelf in the office… the red book on the second shelf from the top… This one.”

When he tilted the indicated book forward, the left-hand bookshelf slid back into the wall with a rumble.

Just in case, he set up a “Shadow Shield” at the entrance before descending the narrow staircase. Shadow Shield could be smashed easily enough with a strong attack, but in a place where sound echoed this much, anyone using that kind of force would make too much noise for a sneak attack from behind.

“I am supposed to stick the dagger in here, but… looks like there is no need.”

From the altar that controlled the barrier, Roy could see the Tomahawk through the semi-transparent magic wall. At a glance, there seemed to be nothing wrong, and with that thought he turned back the way he had come.

“Even so, Dart is suspicious. I will have to talk to him later.”

After resetting the mechanism and leaving the room, Roy found Sophia standing there.

“What were you doing?”

“I just wanted to make sure the Tomahawk was still where it is supposed to be.”

“Hmm. If you are done checking, then let us go together.”

With no actual harm done and no solid proof, Roy hesitated to bring up Dart. To gather more information, he decided to ask about him casually as they walked.

“Doesn’t Dart seem… off, lately?”

“Dart? Hmm, yes, now that you mention it. He has been acting strange since the day we fought Ganalkin, I suppose. He is the type who always does exactly what he is told, and yet he reported there was nothing inside the mine… Given his personality, that is odd. Even if there was nothing, he is the sort who would find something to report. So? Does Dart have something going on?”

“Yeah, just… a bit.”

Standing in front of Sophia, the words stuck in his throat. It was hard to admit that he was suspecting one of their own before any real damage had even occurred.

“Roooy! Something happened, did it not?”

Sophia stepped in front of Roy and cupped his cheeks in both hands.

“Well… I hope it is just me worrying too much, but Dart—”

Roy told Sophia everything he was worried about: the purification-like reaction when he touched Dart’s shoulder, and how strange Dart had been acting lately.

“I knew Dart had some feelings about you. You fight with unorthodox tactics, and Dart walks the straight and narrow… I thought it was just a clash of values. But yes, now that you say it, his recent behavior might be crossing the line. So—was the relic weapon properly stored?”

“Yeah. From its unique aura, I can say for sure that the one in the underground chamber is not a fake. But do you not think it is strange that Dart gives off the same kind of presence as that thing?”

“I see. I had planned to go see the guild staff with you, but I will go after Dart instead.”

“Got it. Just… be careful, all right?”

“I know. When I am done, I would be happy if you came to my room.”

And so Roy and Sophia decided to act separately.

Time to hurry up and finish my report to the guild. Relic weapons are always causing trouble.

☆☆☆

When Roy entered the reception room, two mages were drinking tea. Both had their hoods pulled low, hiding their faces.

Roy gave a small bow and took a seat across from them.

“An honor to make your acquaintance. I am Lydia Kingston, a guild investigator. This is my assistant, Fred.”

Fred, sitting beside Lydia, bowed a beat later.

“I am Roy. The lord is away, so I will be handling things in his place today. Nice to meet you.”

“I had assumed the Spear of Ignia, Sophia-sama, would be coming.”

“Now that you mention it, that would have made sense. Sorry, it did not occur to me. Want me to go call her?”

“Oh, no, as long as someone can give a proper report, that is quite all right. But thank you for the thought. Now, please fill out these forms with the circumstances at the time and the resulting damage.”

As Roy wrote down the situation from his battle with the black Snow Wolf, Lydia struck up small talk. Roy answered her inoffensive questions while continuing to write.

“You did not react at all when you heard my name, did you?”

“Your name?”

Lydia tapped her finger on the paper where her own name was written—specifically, on her family name, “Kingston.”

Huh? Kingston? …Oh, right, Dart mentioned that name earlier. Lydia watched Roy’s reaction and smiled slightly.

“Oh my, you finally reacted. General Kingston, the man who tried to shorten his own name into a ‘title’—or rather, Ganalkin—is my father. In the end, he turned out to be a man people forgot in barely a month, did he not?”

“I really did not know. I only just got here myself. …So, are you here to get revenge on me?”

“Of course not. It is not as if we were a particularly close father and daughter. I am honestly here for work, nothing more. Please, do not be so on edge. Your killing intent is so intense that you are scaring Fred.”

Roy had been ready to attack from the shadows under the table if Lydia so much as twitched the wrong way. Perhaps she had sensed that, if only faintly.

“Sorry for your partner, but bear with it. When the man we captured is your family, even a guild member might let personal feelings get in the way.”

He wondered why she was even working for the guild in the first place, but most likely she was not the child of a legal wife and had not received much in the way of benefits. At the same time, she had not been denied recognition and thrown out either… All things considered, she occupied a rather delicate position.

“I was only joking. Before coming here, I did some research on you. I heard that a guild employee at the kingdom’s branch falsified the quest information you received. Once trust is lost, there is nothing to be done.”

“Then why work for the guild yourself? Ganalkin must be giving you some financial support, right?”

“My, I come here to investigate, and now I am the one being investigated? Could it be you are interested in me?”

“Not particularly. If you do not want to talk about it, you do not have to. I can guess well enough.”

Her goal was probably to build a pipeline into the guild, but the guild was not so soft. The guild wielded so much power that not even the imperial chancellor could bend it by force, so there was no way some provincial noble family was going to take it over.

Lydia snorted at Roy’s attitude, then stood up and went to look out the window. She had probably decided that any further conversation would be pointless. After that, Roy spent about thirty minutes filling out the documents while making light small talk with Fred.

☆☆☆

“Hmm, hmm. It looks like there are no omissions. We will cover part of the damages, so please wait about ten days. Fred, we are leaving.”

“Ah, yes! Then, Roy-sama, here is your certificate.”

As he accepted the paperwork from Fred, something thin and papery was slipped to him behind it.

“H-hey! This is…”

“Shh! Please stay as calm as you can. I just want to do my job in peace, so you are the only one I can entrust this to.”

“Fred! What are you doing? We are going!”

“See you again!”

Once the guild investigators had left, Roy flipped over the scrap of paper.

On it were just a few words: “Lydia and Dart are connected.” That was all it said.