Reborn as the Hero's Daughter

“And that is what happened. This city’s public order truly is bad!”

When we arrived at the inn and joined up with Michelle and Cloud, Letina started to complain in indignation. There was nothing wrong with meeting up in the room, but unfortunately, the room they took wasn’t that big. It was a little too narrow for the six of us who grew up over the years.

Thus, we instead headed to the inn’s cafeteria and decided to borrow the seats at the partitioning screen and talk there.

Our voice was overheard of course, but we could at least avoid gazes. And if someone was listening in on us I would be able to detect it, so there were no immediate problems.

“Even so, we can’t be too loud here, so quiet down a bit, Letina.”

“Ugh, my apologies for that.”

“Well, I can understand your anger. The problem is how indifferent the citizens are.”

I rested my chin on my hand while pecking at the food that they brought to us and sighing.

My hair that spread over the table felt quite bothersome.

“They are far too indifferent to what’s going on around them. They wouldn’t even notice if anything happened like that.”

“So you mean gathering information will be hard?”

“I think they will keep their mouths shut to avoid trouble unless it’s directly advantageous for them.”

“I’m bad at talking with people like that.”

Cloud put his head down wearily on the table as he heard the situation.

His communication skills were by no means low. Rather, they could be called exceptionally high considering his handicap of being half-demon.

Still, it would be hard for him to blend in with this city.

“Yeah. It would be scary to make poor moves and gather attention. Both you and Michelle should avoid going out too much.”

At first I was thinking of leaving the information gathering to them. But given the city’s state, they would get rolled up in weird trouble.

“But we can’t just sit still without doing anything, okay? I want to help Letina too.”

“Michelle, you’re such a good girl…”

While still leaning on my arm, I reached out and patted Michelle’s head. It wasn’t that big a table so I could reach her who sat diagonal to me.

“The food isn’t that good either.”

“So that’s your real reason.”

“Ehehe.”

Still, I could understand Michelle’s point. The food they brought to us had too much oil and the spices were overused too.

They might have given the dish a luxurious impression in some cases, but I could only think that this store was doing that just to cover up their poor skills.

They were bringing out meals with roughly-fried unevenly diced vegetables without batting an eye. Honestly, even my outdoor cooking was better than this.

“But if Adventurers who don’t adventure stay too long, that might also invite suspicion. This city should be fine in that regard but still.”

“Hiding in the room will just get me depressed, so I will gladly do it if there’s anything.”

“You seem awfully motivated, Cloud. How about you go and ask the Guild for some information?”

“Wait a minute, I’m always motivated, you know?”

“I couldn’t care less…”

“You should!”

“The Guild might be involved too, so be careful when you ask around.”

“Seriously…?”

It… wasn’t common, but when the local authority was too strong, such things could happen. Cloud was shocked to hear that.

“I mean, even in Raum, Maxwell or Cortina’s words couldn’t exactly be ignored by the Guild, right?”

“You couldn’t ignore their words no matter what.”

“It’s the same here, but on a smaller scale. Just the difference between the influence of the Hero and the power of money.”

“I feel like I grew up just by learning that.”

Then I faced Letina to return to the serious topic.

“Letina. Our target this time was supposed to be cultivating illegal drugs, right?”

“Yes, those were the rumors.”

“Do you know what type?”

“I believe it was some kind of a psychotropic drug that used mushrooms. I do not know the exact species.”

“Mushrooms, huh…”

Those were unavoidable when studying alchemy. They were of course used in the senior academy too, but they wouldn’t teach us the illegal uses of them during the lessons.

Letina not knowing about them was only natural.

“Normally you extract the effect with water or distilled liquor, but it goes the same for other materials too.”

“But if he’s dealing with such an amount that it circulates within the city, he must be using a lot of water! If we investigate that…!”

“I already asked the head chef. He said there were no suspicious people.”

“Uggh.”

Letina felt disappointed to have her suggestion instantly rejected. Her start wasn’t bad, however. I also investigated that part right away.

“I simply investigated it beforehand, so don’t worry about it. More importantly, Michelle and Cloud, you two investigate the mask sales.”

“Mask? You mean those with Purify effects?”

“Not just those, but normal dust-proof ones too. Those are too valuable and aren’t suited for the human-wave tactics.”

“Why do you think it’s human-wave tactics?”

“I mean, it’s easiest to go about it with numbers when it comes to mass circulation. So, for those numbers, they would need equally many masks. Mushrooms, in particular, scatter spores.”

“Ah, I see.”

Those that had their medical efficacies extracted and enriched had big effects. But even with a minuscule effect, inhaling great quantities would still lead to certain poisoning.

All the more if it was an illegal and psychotropic drug. If the workers got poisoned, acted wildly without self-control and it reached the authorities, their business would be reduced to nothing.

“Got it, I’ll investigate. Maybe I’ll accept some medical plant gathering commission as a camouflage. It wouldn’t be suspicious if I investigate the masks too that way.”

“Nicole, Cloud’s acting kinda weird! He’s actually using his head!”

“So rude!”

Michelle was uncharacteristically mocking Cloud. I suppose it was proof of how close they’ve gotten. It was rare for a docile girl like her to tease others. It was probably Letina’s first time seeing this too. It was quite amusing to see her stare wide-eyed in shock.