Death March kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyusoukyoku (WN) - Volume 13 - Chapter 18

Chapter 18: 18

13-18 . Satou and Kuro

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"Kuro-sama, welcome back . "

Even though I moved into the main office without any sound, Tifaliza greets me in no time at all, and then she pushes the button to call the manager .

Sound of footsteps, 'dadada', that aren't fit for a lady are reverberating from the corridor .

The footsteps stop right before the door, and then someone knocks the door after enough time for a few deep breathes .

"Enter . "

"Please excuse me . "

There wasn't any trace of going full throttle at the corridor on the manager who opened the door .

"Kuro-sama, besides the matter about the auction, there is a report regarding the boy and the orphanage from before . Which shall I report first?"

"Start from the auction . "

The latter is probably about the encounter with us during the day, so leaving it for later should be fine .

"Yes, all of the magic arms that were exhibited in the first day have all been bid as planned . Furthermore, nobles, military officers, and merchants who couldn't bid have made reservations . Total income from the successful bid is--"

"It's 30 . 713 gold coins . The details is in this copy . "

Tifaliza's calm and melodius voice takes over the manager's triumphant report .

"We've got quite a lot for only 100 exhibited items . "

"The effect from the incident where demons and monsters appeared in the Royal Capital was quite impactful . I heard that magic arms that were exhibited by other people had also been sold for three times the price . "

. . . . I see .

I guess it's not improbable for the sudden price hike since the red-rope pattern monsters can't be hurt by normal weapons that haven't been enchanted at least .

"Fumu, check the applicants levels, and prioritize the ones who are level 30 and above and have magic edge skills . "

Giving magic swords to people with 1-digit level is meaningless after all .

"Certainly . And also, a special request for a magic sword has come from Sir Heim of Shiga Eight Swords . "

"A made-to-order magic sword huh . . . "

It sounds quite interesting .

After getting the chant orb, making a one-of-a-kind magic sword without burdening Arisa and Mia sounds fun too .

"I can't do it right now, but inform him that we will consider about it positively . "

"--Yes, understood . "

Looks like she didn't think that I would receive it, the manager's response was slightly delayed .

The manager pulls herself together, rolls up the list on her hand and then continues talking .

"The prime minister requested that we don't sell magic arms to merchants who deal with foreign countries . This is the list of them . "

I receive the list from the manager .

The house of Souya boy I met today is in that list . It's no wonder that they're in the list since it seems they have dealings with the weaselkin empire and the continent west .

The prime minister probably sent the sales control request because he wanted to prevent powerful weapons getting to foreign countries .

"It should be natural for us to think about the national defense . "

"Then we will handle it as is . Kuro-sama, I'm thinking of asking for tax concession from the prime minister for undertaking the request, would you permit it?"

"Do it . "

The manager is shrewd unlike me .

◇

Next, I receive the report about Shin boy .

"--Thus, the kidnapped orphans were saved by Viscount Pendragon and his Mithril explorer retainers . May I ask if the orphanage directors were really arrested by Kuro-sama?"

I reply, "It's the truth", to the manager .

"Then I'll omit the matter about the orphanage directors . The details are described in this report, Kuro-sama can look at it on later time . "

I take the report from the manager and toss it into the black hole of the item box .

"The majority of the missing children were found in the slum . "

"Is that so--"

--Good .

It seems not all of the missing children were sacrificed for the demon summoning .

"The watchmen reported that social welfare bureau had dispatched junior officers to the orphanages that had lost their directors . "

I thought the replacements for the directors wouldn't come for a while, but the public office worked unexpectedly fast .

"Lastly, Shin boy has sold his black bandana to a weaselkin merchant . "

"When was it?"

"It was right before the kidnapping incident . "

I didn't notice it at that time, so he wasn't wearing the recognition inhibition bandana huh .

That explains Arisa finding out Shin boy's hero title .

Even if I give Shin boy another recognition inhibition item, he will just sell it again if he doesn't understand its importance .

I'll talk to him about the reason properly before giving it next time .

"Who is that merchant?"

"I am very sorry . It's not described in the report . "

"Then investigate it, just the name is fine . "

"Understood . I'll arrange it so that it'll be ready by tomorrow morning . "

I had searched for the bandana on the map, but I couldn't find it . It's probably stored inside Item Box .

I tried searching the weaselkin, but there were more than 1000 of them in the Royal Capital, so I gave up .

Being annoying was one of the reason, but there was simply no information to narrow them down .

"Kuro-sama, you might be not interested in it, but--"

With that preface, the manager talked about how thieves appeared in two venues of the auctions .

They were all amateur thieves, so all of them seemed to have been arrested by the venue guards and soldiers, but the story continues .

"--The goddess statue has disappeared?"

"Yes, the inside of the box that had been carried into the venue was changed into another stone statue . "

Fumu, it's probably unrelated to the matter about orbs, but it kinda bothers me .

"It's bothering me a bit . Inquire the detail about the incident . "

"Certainly . "

Next, I received report about the decrease of burglary of the merchant houses in the Royal Capital .

"That's pleasing to hear and all but . . . . "

I feel puzzled inside my mind since I don't know how it relates to me .

"This is the result of Kuro-sama's actions . "

Did I do anything?

"Thanks to Kuro-sama smashing thief hideouts one after another, the number of thieves in the metropolitan area and night burglars have decreased sharply . "

Come to think of it, I remember arresting around 400 people recently .

"Excellent . "

I replied so and urged the manager for the next report .

◇

"Kuro-sama, there is a little something I need to talk about Sir Pendragon--"

After finishing the report, the manager wanted to consult with a serious face, so we change places from Kuro's office where Tifaliza is working to the manager's room .

"What is it about?"

Don't tell me, has she realized that Kuro and Satou are the same person?

"Y-yes . Actually the main head of the earl house that's related to me--"

"Manager, this is bad!"

The manager was finally going to talk, but then a light blond executive girl rushed in so it got interrupted .

"Viscount Pendragon has come for a meeting!"

--What?

"Moreover, he said that he was Manager's fiance!"

I suppress my surprise with [Poker Face] skill, and search the map in order to find out the identity of the fake Sir Pendragon .

◇

"Nice to meet you, fiancee-dono . I want to talk with just the two of us without other people interfering if possible . Sorry but could you please leave?"

That guy talked while having the exact face of Satou .

Unfortunately the voice is slightly different from my natural voice . It sounds like he's forcing higher pitched voice to sound lower .

I confirmed just in case, but he's not a mock body (avatar) of the green demon .

"--Don't mind it . "

I cut off Fake Satou's talk .

"And, what's your business for coming here?"

Fake Satou shrugs off his shoulders to my pressing, he's putting the expression of 'can't be helped then' .

His attitude is quite aggravating, though it's probably his aim .

"I received her marriage proposal, so I thought of meeting her here and having some talk with her . We're neighbors after all . "

Fake Satou smiles refreshingly towards the manager .

The manager isn't looking at Fake Satou, but to me, she tells me the reason why he's insisting that he's her fiance .

"A-actually, the head of an earl house related to ours had colluded with my father to propose a marriage to Viscount Pendragon . "

I see, so it was among the many marriage proposals that had arrived in the mansion .

I had told the butler to write letters of refusal if the other parties were lower nobles, but I have to write the letters myself if it's for the upper nobles, so it's been put on hold .

It looks like it'll become troublesome if I don't write my replies soon .

Now then, leaving that aside, let's find out Fake Satou's motive .

"Apparently an annoying bug won't go away today, so let's deepen our love in another day . "

The manager lifts her eyebrows in anger toward Fake Satou's joke .

She muttered in low voice, "He dared to insult Kuro-sama . "

However, it seems because the other party is an upper noble, she endures herself not to raise her hands against him .

"This is a commemoration for our meeting . "

Fake Satou takes out a necklace wrapped in cloth from his chest and presents it to the manager .

It's an expensive looking necklace that has a glittering vermilion drop on the top .

The detailed information is displayed beside the necklace on the AR reading--

"I want you to at least take this . "

The manager who wants Fake Satou to go away is going to take the necklace without even looking at it .

I grab her arm and stop her .

" . . . . Wait . "

"Kuro-sama?"

The manager smiles broadly from my restraint .

"You are really boorish--"

Fake Satou disappeared before he finished speaking .

He didn't run away, he was sunk into the wall after receiving my front kick .

I didn't kill him of course, but he probably won't wake up for now .

I leave the surprised manager and put the necklace dropped by him into my storage .

This necklace is a cursed item, it's a dangerous item that makes the wearer unconsciously obeys the order of the one who has the other pair .

"Ku-Kuro-sama?! He's still tentatively an upper noble . From the standpoint of Kuro-sama and Hero Nanashi-sama . . . . "

"I don't care . It's an impostor . "

Long blond hair flows down from Fake Satou's black hair .

I get close to the impostor and strip off his disguise .

"--A woman?"

"That's right . "

This person was the female phantom thief whom I met when we first arrived at the Royal Capital .

I had noticed that the Fake Satou was the phantom thief from the beginning, but she didn't do any offense, so I assumed a wait-and-see stance .

I tied the phantom thief with Thorn Foot's ivy, gave her the minimum treatment with a diluted low magic potion, and interrogated her .

"--Then you wanted to manipulate the manager in order to steal the orbs in the underground vault?"

"That's right . "

This one wanted orbs too huh-- .

Organized thievery has decreased, but now an individual phantom thief has appeared .

I'm getting tired of eliminating them, it's about the time they should stop .

"Is that all you want to ask? Then just quickly hand me over to the guards . Or maybe you want my body?"

The female phantom thief pushes out her breasts while being tied up, provoking me .

It's the manager who reacts instead of me .

"Be silent . "

The manager hits the phantom thief with a horseback-riding whip .

A red mark is engraved on the phantom thief's cheek .

"Leave it at that . "

I take out a sleeping magic potion from my storage and force the female phantom thief to drink it .

The female phantom thief twists her body, trying to resist it, but she quickly loses her consciousness, turning to [Coma] condition .

She was probably going to try escaping before the imprisonment, but now she should sleep for a whole day .

"Send her to the prison as she wants--"

As if waiting for me to finish dealing with the fake, the ring tone from [Telephone] rings .

The caller is Arisa .

Did anything happen in the royal castle?

While recalling a slight irritation, I put the Telephone reception to ON .