Chapter 70 "Invitation"

　"The next destination is a place called Nordia. It's a town called Aldia."

　"What's there?"

　"It is famous for its ruins. Other than that, it's home to the Academy of the Knights of the Holy Order of the Gnosis."

　I was riding on Savage's back, leisurely watching the scenery flow by and talking to Heidi in the back about the destination we were heading to.

　Nordia territory.

　　As I told Heidi, it is famous for its ruins and academy, but on the flip side, the territory is otherwise unremarkable.

　Well, if I had to pick one, I would say that it is a safe territory.

The population is not as large as in Willead, so crimes are noticeable.

　There are many knights and holy knights, so it is very risky to do anything.

It is also not a place to visit except for sightseeing purposes.

　It is a place where there is not much change, so it seems that some people notice at an early stage if something is going on.

　I'm not interested in committing crimes, so I'm thankful that it's a safe place for me.　　

　The ruins are not specifically named, but are said to be called "the ruins of the holy sword" or "the base of the sword" in reference to the "holy sword" that was unearthed.

　The holy sword is something that came out of the ruins, and it boasts tremendous power, and it is said that it may or may not even change the course of war.

　Whether it is true or not is doubtful, but at least something called the Holy Sword was dug up, and it is now kept by Gnosis as a symbol.

　For this reason, the ruins are an important place for Gnosis, so it is very strict in many ways.

　However, the excavation work is not free of charge, so they are using the money to maintain the site by opening up the areas that have been explored (for a fee to visit).

　Well, the people who come to see it are there for academic purposes, so it's not clear if they are making any money or not.

　The other famous "Academy," as the name suggests, is a facility for training future holy knights, and its greatest feature is that tuition and other expenses are free.

　Instead, you have to go through highly difficult examinations.

　It is said that they are looking for a wide range of people who have magic, physical skills, and knowledge.

　It would certainly be a good way to raise the quality of each individual.

　If you can successfully graduate and become a holy knight, your future will be secure.

　I hear that holy knights are highly paid.

　I hear that there is no end to the number of people who want to take the entrance exam.

　To be honest, I don't want to get involved with the school because I don't have any good memories of it.

　For now, the only thing I have to do in Nordia is to visit the ruins.

　After that, I'll just go to the guild to make some money and then move on.

　The ruins of the sacred sword.... I'm interested in the holy sword, too.

　Unfortunately, you can't see the actual sword because it's in the custody of Gnosis.

　That's a bit unfortunate.

　While talking like this, the destination, Oldia, came into view.

　Once in town, the first thing to do is to look for a place to stay.

Savage would have stood out in town, but not outside.

　I had planned to have him wait outside the city, but he didn't want to.

　He sent me a thought that he wanted to sleep somewhere with a roof over his head.

　He was even more flirtatious with Heidi, trying to get her to intercede for him.

　You lizard, you've got a lot of wisdom.

As expected, Heidi said, "I feel sorry for him, let's take him with us," and we had no choice but to use an inn with stables.

Finding a place to stay was not so difficult, so after completing the formalities and throwing Savage into the stables, we decided to register at the guild first.

"But still, it's very biased."

　"I agree... there's just too many of them."

There's papers on the wall with requests on them.

　Most of them are looking for people.

　What's going on? Are people disappearing that frequently here?

　...What was all that talk about security?

　According to a guild official, there have been a number of missing persons, mainly women and children, in this town recently.

　I haven't checked this area yet, but I heard that some suspicious-looking guys in black robes have been kidnapping people in the town.

The identity of this group is also a rumor, but it is said to be a suspicious group called "Darzain" or something like that.

　Well, in fact, they are more than suspicious, they are quite dangerous.

Darzain.

　Their mission statement is to "transcend the limits of humanity."

　What exactly they are doing is mainly summoning demons and experimenting on human bodies.

　The demon summoning was done by Fatima sometime ago.

　What they do by summoning such things is to experiment with fusing them with human beings and evolving them into a new species.

　Of course, if they fail, they suffer worse than death, but they keep repeating their experiments on human bodies and making mountains of corpses.

　They are kidnapping people from other places and using them as experimental materials, which they could have done on their own, so they are treated as an evil group by Gnosis and designated as a target to be eliminated.

Now, the reason why I know this is because Fatima's family...the Laird family, is into that kind of experimentation.

It seems that their focus is on the weaponization of demons, and although they are connected to Darzain, they seem to be going in a different direction.

　Well, from what I have seen of the demon summoned by Fatima, it doesn't look like they are doing very well.

Fatima is not directly connected with them, so I don't know the details, but it is quite possible that Darzain is conducting some kind of experiment here.

　It seems that this group is a group of people who don't know how to hesitate when there is a possibility.

　It sounds good to say that they are challenging possibilities, but it is nothing but a nuisance to those who have nothing to do with it.

　I don't want any trouble. Let's leave here as soon as we're done touring the ruins.

　Especially if we are dealing with an organization, we will be on the run if we are noticed.

　"Heidi."

　"What is it?"

　Heidi, who had been checking the request, turned her head to me as I called out.

"I don't want to take on another request here."

"That's fine, but is the street money okay?"

"No problem. I'll take the payment in town for my own convenience."

　"No, you don't have to do that."

It is doubtful whether the request here can be accomplished even if accepted.

If it really is Darzain, the missing people have already been used in some kind of experiment or ritual.

　Even if they are found, the best they can be expected to be found is body parts. I doubt they would be found in decent condition.

　...I don't think we can accomplish this.

　I can't take a dead body back home with me if they make it difficult for me.

　Once that's decided, we have no use for this place.

　We quickly registered the plate and headed for the ruins...

　"Yes. We will allow you to visit. We will issue a permit, so please come back tomorrow."

　Why is that?

　The holy knight in front of me nodded his head as he received the money from me and said something like that.

　The location has changed to the "Ruins of the Holy Sword".

　I told him that I wanted to visit the place, paid the amount of money offered and tried to enter the place.

　I was told that I would need magic tools to enter the place, and that it would take a day to prepare them.

　That sounds like a lie.

They say it's a tool for locating targets that wear it...well, I guess it's to keep them from getting into strange places.

If they don't like it so much, they shouldn't have opened the place up.

I don't have any complaints since I can see inside, but I think they made me wait for a day too long.

　I let out a sigh inwardly as I walked along the road.

　I was just walking around the area and had nothing special to do....

　......What's going on?

　I feel eyes on me.

　I'm not sure what to make of it, but I'm sure I'll be able to find out.

I've been feeling this gaze for a while after I entered the town, but the tailing started a little while after I left Heidi.

　I don't want to lead him to the inn, so I'll just get him and make him tell me what's going on.

　If he seems competent, I'll manipulate him.

　I enter a random alley and walk to an unpopular place.

I stopped at a place where it was completely devoid of people.

Then, from the front and back, a blatantly suspicious guy in black robes appeared.

　Two in front. One behind.

I checked, but there was no sign of ambush.

The possibility that someone is hiding well cannot be dismissed, so I will remain vigilant.

"It looks like you've been following me since a while ago, what do you want?"

　The black robes exchanged glances with each other, and one of the guys in front opened his mouth.

"We are Darzain. We are the ones who have broken through the shell of man, crossed the summit of man, and are aiming for a higher summit."

　Oh, I see.

　What are these guys talking about? What are they sulking about?

　"And ......? What does this Darzain want with me?"

　"Your soul shines brightly enough to become one of us. Come with us. And we will give you power beyond that of man."

　Is that what this is? Am I being lured to a criminal gang?

　Why are they looking at me again?

　There are a lot of things I don't know, but I know the answer.

"I'm sorry, but you'll have to look elsewhere, okay?"

　I don't want to be a part of this painful group of people.

It's hard to react when someone says to your face with a straight face, "We're the ones who are aiming for the pinnacle of the world."

As soon as I refuse, I turn around and slam my fist into my back.

My fist hits the guy who was about to slash me from behind in the face.

　I swung through him.

　I could feel the bones in his face being crushed.

　At the same time, I muffled the sound with [Silence II], and then hit the two in front with [Explosion III].

　One of them took the blast and was blown away, but the other one kicked the wall and avoided it.

It was a narrow alley and I thought III would be able get them all together, but I didn't expect a triangular kick.

I've only seen that in games.

　He kicked the wall further and slashed at me with a knife from diagonally above.

　That was a good move as an evasion. If he had just run away, he wouldn't have died....

He flew straight at me, so I sliced him in half with the [Wind Blade II].

　There was no way to avoid it in the air.

Even so, it's a hell of a thing that they attack us the moment i turn them down.

　...Oh? I heard that story somewhere, didn't I?

　I immediately remembered.

　It was Mr. Koto. That's the story of the Death Worm, isn't it?

They ask him to join them, and when he refuses, they attack him.

　It's the worst. I am not sure if Darzain is the "enemy" or not....

To tell the truth, even that spider monster can handle the level of those lying in front of me.

　According to the story, they sent assassins one after another.

　Well, let's just pull the memory and check the information for now.

　I tried to wake up the guy who beat me up, but he suddenly got up and killed himself by gutting his own throat with a knife.

　What the hell is he doing? Is that it? To keep the information from leaking out?

　Well, it doesn't work on me.

　I was about to approach the corpse, but stopped when I felt the magic activate.

　What the hell? Is it still alive?

　The corpse glows thinly, and at the same time, it explodes, scattering a black mist-like substance.

　The walls and ground touched by the black mist begin to melt.

　I clicked my tongue and used magic to create wind to dissipate the fog, but there was nothing left behind.

　The other two exploded as well. I dispersed them with the wind as well, but they too disappeared cleanly.

"...I'm at a loss. I don't know what to do..."

　I could only let out a heavy sigh.