STM 4

Wow, a business genius. The richest person on the continent. I was inwardly admiring her but kept a neutral face to hide it.

“Yeah, treatment. I’ve been getting it diligently until today. Lantuya must be shocked right now.”

“You’ve only been here for three days, though?”

…Damn it. That bastard Lu came to the resort and fell into the pond drunk after only three days? I smiled to cover my surprise.

“I’m not someone who can stay still even for three days.”

“Well, that’s true.” Marvin immediately agreed, and I hurried to use this advantage.

“Before I came here, my sister promised to send me money. A huge amount. So big I couldn’t even use it all by myself.”

Gulp. Marvin swallowed his saliva

“Hmm, going outside might be risky since the guards could notice, but walking inside the building… should be fine.”

The greed filling his eyes made it look like he’d even carry me on his shoulders if I asked. But as he led me into the corridor, he complained about how dangerous this favor was.

“Ah, if the director finds out, I’ll be in trouble. If I get caught, I don’t even know how I’d explain it…”

“That’s your problem.”

“Pardon?”

Marvin turned to me in shock. Fuck, I spoke too much like myself. At the same moment, Mo’s alert appeared.

[Signs of suspicion on Marvin’s face exceed ninety percent. Lu’s typical responses in this case are as follows:

Tch, I hate thinking about things. (He pouts cutely and slips his hand inside Marvin’s clothes.) If Marvin gets scolded for making a bad excuse, I want to be locked up with him. (He slides his hand along Marvin’s thigh.)]

…Lu, you crazy bastard. Unless you were obsessed with crotches, why act like this? I wanted to revive him from the dead just to beat his favorite crotch with a stick.

“What I mean is.”

I forced myself to say the words and touched Marvin’s arm before pulling away faster than light.

“I don’t have the brains to come up with excuses.”

Ah. Marvin nodded but still looked suspicious. Then he suddenly turned and stared at me.

“Lord Lu.”

“Yes?”

“Why has your voice changed?”

What? The question made me freeze. The body was the same, so the voice shouldn’t have changed. Fortunately, Mo found the reason fast.

[Lu preferred speaking in a higher tone and had a habit of talking above his natural pitch.]

…Unbelievable.

“My throat just hurts a bit.”

I made the excuse sound weak and urged him on.

“Lead the way.”

***

“Ah, that’s an emergency bell.”

It was while we were looking around the third floor of the resort. A string with a small bell hung from the corner of the ceiling, so I asked what it was.

“Emergency?”

“Yes. It rings if a monster appears. The capital has never suffered a monster attack, but this area used to have them long ago.”

Marvin’s voice became lower as he explained. From that tone, I could tell monsters were still objects of fear here. Well, any living being would fear those creatures. But his next words broke any sense of shared feeling.

“When I was young, that bell used to ring almost every day, but now it almost never does. It’s all thanks to the Divine Beast. When a monster rift opens, a new one opens right in front of it, and most monsters get pulled in there.”

“…”

“Of course, not all of them go through that rift, which is a bit unfortunate. That’s why monsters haven’t disappeared from Tubain yet.”

He couldn’t see my face, so he smiled, as if he found it regretful.

“Still, compared to when monsters were swarming everywhere, life’s much better now. I don’t know where the monsters that cross through that rift end up, though…”

My stomach churned because I knew exactly where they went.

“When the bell rings, what do you do?”

I interrupted him and looked around again.

“What happens next if a monster really appears?”

“There’s a shelter on the first basement floor. But monsters will never show up here.”

I stared at his calm attitude for a moment, then looked away. I swallowed the bitterness rising in my throat like spoiled water.

“What if one does appear?”

“Then we’d have to run for our lives, of course.”

Marvin scratched his head and laughed awkwardly. But seeing that my expression wasn’t pleasant, he grew cautious.

“If monsters appear, the knights will be dispatched. If we’re lucky, even a Swordmaster might come. Don’t worry.”

What’s that supposed to mean? Mo immediately displayed the explanation.

[Swordmaster: In Tubain, they are the only ones besides users of Divine Beast power who can defeat monsters. Monsters are immune to magic, but a Swordmaster, whose swordsmanship has reached the level of aura control, can damage them.]

There are attacks that actually work on monsters? My mouth fell open in shock. In our world, no weapon ever worked no matter how hard we tried.

“Lord Lu, what’s wrong?”

I said random words to hide my surprise.

“There aren’t many Swordmasters.”

“That’s right. Only four remain.”

“What? Only four?!”

Only four?!

I yelled so loudly that Marvin blinked in surprise. This time I couldn’t pretend nothing happened. Fortunately Marvin misread my shock.

“Ah, a Swordmaster in the Krol region passed away not long ago. So now three Swordmasters remain. Also one of them has been hidden for a long time, so you could say two are active.”

This is not the time to count leisurely. If such beings exist, they should train Swordmasters by the tens of thousands.

While I treated Swordmasters like minor figures, Marvin asked with curiosity.

“By the way, didn’t you know about the emergency bell?”

“I didn’t. I don’t see those often in the capital.”

I tried to bluff, but Marvin continued.

“You looked amazed at the carriage outside.”

I really wanted to lie. The carriage outside looked familiar, but I kept my mouth shut. The coachman waved a long rein like a whip, and the carriage moved like a vehicle. Of course I would be surprised; I’d arrived in this world with almost no knowledge.

“…I’ve never seen such an old carriage before.”

I hoped Lu had been an immature rich kid. Marvin nodded.

“True. When you first saw our resort you even asked how anyone could live here.”

Lucky, but also, damn Lu.

“But the mana stones carriages cost a lot, yet our resort has two. We use horse carriages mostly, because we cannot waste magstone.”

Mana stone. Fuel like oil, then.

“Mana stones are expensive.”

“Also, you must hire coachmen trained in control magic. You know how strict the Magic Association is. Kids with mana get a certificate in a week and act so high and mighty while picking and choosing coachmen.”

Marvin shook his head. I nodded weakly. Associations cause trouble everywhere.

“They take fees and set rules, and when trouble comes they wash their hands of it.”

“That’s right! I’m surprised you agree, Lord Lu.”

“I have ears, too.”

“But Lord Lu, you are a member of the Magic Association?”

…Me? I froze. Quick as ever, Mo displayed data.

[Adeye Lu: Graduate of the Imperial Comprehensive Academy, Department of Magic]

What, I can see spirits and use magic now?!

[After a childhood fever the ability vanished, but Lu’s parents pushed him into the Imperial Academy. Having no mana or talent, Lu kept his place for ten years with donations and barely passed the graduation test by managing carriage-control magic.]

At least he graduated.

“I’m not close to the Magic Association.”

I lied again and then asked urgently.

“Where are the stables? If there are horse-drawn carriages, there must be horses.”

Only two mana stones carriages, so if needed I could steal a horse… Wait, can I even ride a horse?

[No. Adeye Lu is clumsy with his body.]

This guy is only good at groping.