Death March kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyusoukyoku (WN) - Volume 16 - Chapter 55

Chapter 55

16-55 . Sage's Tower (4)

 

Satou here . Unlike in fictional stuff such as detective manga or drama, I would have liked it for incidents to stop happening every time I got to a new place . Peaceful every day life is the best you know .



◇



"What's the big trouble?"
"Karina she's~"
"Come with us nanodesu!"

Pulled by Tama and Pochi, I was taken elsewhere through the shadow .
After coming out of a back alley, we arrived at an open space near Kariswolk City's outer wall .

Something seems amiss, many people in the open space are crouching down looking ill .
There are fireplaces burning here and there in the open space, also traces of people distributing food here .

--Is it food poisoning?

"Hurrya~"
"Master, come here nanodesu!"

Tama and Pochi pulled me by hands to the blue light point that indicated Lady Karina .

"Master, over here . "

Liza called me from the direction of the light point .
Lady Karina is sitting down next to a watering hole in the center of the open space .

"Karina-sama, are you okay?"
" . . . Satou . "

Lady Karina looked at me with a pained look when I called her .
Her condition is displayed on the AR reading on top of her .

--State [Curse: Progressing]

I would have never imagined that there would be an abnormal status Raka cannot cure .
Looks like Lady Karina has been cursed by someone .

I don't think anyone would target someone who had just arrived at a foreign country like her, so I checked on the other ill-looking people around .
Sure enough, the people here are cursed as well .

I search for everyone with a [Curse] state and put markers on them .
Since the number is quite high, I group them together and change the color .

"Master~?
"Will Karina be okay nanodesu?"

Tama and Pochi look up at me while looking really worried .

"Ah yeah, she'll be fine . "

I smile back at the two to reassure them and pick a Soul Magic [Return Curse]-type from among my magic list .
There's this spell that would return the curse back to its user multi folds, [Karma (Space Return Curse)], but I pass over that as it would likely kill the target .

--Curse Back: Home In (Return Curse Chaser)

I pick a convenient spell that would trace the curse back to its user while also returning it back .
Once I used the spell, black miasma came out of Lady Karina's body, then it turned into a cutout-like crow, and flew to the sky--

"Nyu?"
"It's gone nodesu . "

But for some reason, it was repulsed and then disappeared when it was about to fly over the water .
Normally, it should have flown back to the curse's user, but apparently, there was some kind of anti Return Curse mechanism at work, so the tracking was stopped midway .

But for now, since Lady Karina's abnormal state has gone back to [None], all's well .

And for other people with Curse status, rather than using [Return Curse] on them one by one, I'll just use the advanced spell of light magic [Divine Brilliant Purification] and cure them off their Curses .

"Nyu!"

Right when I was about to cast the spell from the magic list, Tama slashed her claw at empty air .
With a view magnified by my skill, I could see a falling mosquito that had been cut in two .

Oh, it's just a mosquito--wait, mosquito in the middle of this winter season?

Why?
Right when I was thinking that, my conversation with Arisa flashed back on my mind .

『They were bitten by bugs right? Maybe the bugs were the vector of the vampiric infection?』

While thinking, no way, I read the info of the falling mosquito .
Its species name is [Vampire Mosquito: Mutant] .

. . . No way .

Searching for [Vampire Mosquito], I found a not insignificant amount of them in the surroundings .
I have no reason to ignore this, thus I operate my Magic List, and suck all the mosquito in using wind magic [Air Control] to a sub-space I created using space magic [Garage] .

The new snow in the area also ended up getting sucked in, but it's not like anyone would be troubled if the mosquito died, so I left it alone .

After securing one rat that had fallen into the same condition as Lady Karina earlier, I cast the [Divine Brilliant Purification], and purified the crouching people who had been cursed in the open space all at once .

Quite a flashy light filled the open space, but we're the only one who would pay it any mind here, so no problem there .



◇



"So what actually happened here?"


"There was this little kid who broke a pot nodesu . "
"The adult was going to hit that kid with a stick~"
"He was going to hit her with a stick nodesu!"

I sort out the info in my head while Tama and Pochi continue on with their narration .
I had asked Liza to patrol the open space for a bit, I might have made a mistake in the personnel selection here .

There was a man next to the watering hole, and there was a big pot next to that man .
That pot had a warm water inside, steam was coming out of it .
One of the kids who were playing hide and seek bumped into that man, and then the falling man hit the pot in a chain reaction, breaking it .

Afterward, Lady Karina and the girls, who witnessed the enraged man flailing a stick around, put a stop to the barbaric act .

I secretly secured the broken pot's splinters from the ground into my Storage .
According to its detailed information, it was an item created at the old capital of Saga Empire .

. . . Saga Empire huh .

"Reimbursement . "
"He told us to pay to make up for the pot the kid broke nodesu . "
"And did you pay?"
"Secret savings~"
"Pochi and Tama did with our pocket money nodesu . "

Checking on the their magic bags, all the gold coins I gave them have disappeared .

『And yet the man insisted it still wasn't enough and tried to take the jewelry I and Karina-dono had, but in exchange for a large diamond, that is Tama-dono's secret saving, he ceased his demands . 』

The <<Intelligent Item>>, Raka that Lady Karina had added more details .
Additionally, it was apparently Raka who took care of the rest .

The diamond that Tama had was a manmade one I created using magic, I'll be sure to make another one later and give her that .

"So where did that man go?"
"He ran there while dancing~?"

Tama pointed at the east gate .

『Right after that man had left . The kids in the plaza started to keel over . 』

They fell one after another, and eventually Lady Karina ended up collapsing herself .

"Medicines didn't work~?"
"Not antidote, not panacea worked nodesu . "
"That must have been rough . "

I pat the two's heads as they tried to convey what happened at the time with gestures .
Due to the matter of Weasel Empire's temple knight, Liedill, who ended up becoming my familiar, I had restricted the use of Blood Elixir only in cases where the victim is in a serious state of near death .

I'll let the two carry the easy to use ordinary elixirs with them next time .

" . . . Satou . "
"How are you feeling?"


"I'm fine desuwa . "

Lady Karina slowly got up .
Looks like she's recovered already thanks to her Self-Recovery skill .

"Private Pochi, Private Tama! I will now assign you a duty . "
"Aye!"
"Yes sir nanodesu!"

To the two who struck the Shupin pose while standing straight, I ask them to care for the sick people here .

"I shall help too desuwa!"
"Yes, if you would . Raka, sorry, but I'm counting on you to support the girls . "
『Umu, leave it to me . 』

The guards will probably come later, I'll let Raka to deal with them .

I turned my back at them, and dashed out to chase the man together with Liza who had just come back from patrolling .


<TLN: If you're reading this novel at any other site than Sousetsuka . com you might be reading an unedited, uncorrected version of the novel . >
◇



"--Uwaaaaaa"

A man who was riding a ride beast, a Snow Black Rat, was thrown off his ride when the rat suddenly stopped, and then he fell headlong into a piled up snow at the side of the road .
I left the Snow Black Rat to Liza to take care of, would be bad if it went wild .

"You look to be quite in a hurry, did you have an urgent business somewhere?"

I dragged the man out of the snow and talked to him .

"L-lemme go!"

When the man tried to shake off my hand, I shoved him down with his back on the snow and thrust my drawn Fairy Sword before the man .

"What were you doing next to the watering hole? I'll let you off with your life if you talk . "

I accosted the man while relying on Deception and Interrogation skill .
The reason why I could pinpoint this man as our culprit is because he was the only one who tried to flee to the urban areas at high speed .

Just in case, I should use the mind magic [Detect Lie] to see through lies .
This magic is not really that accurate, but it's still better than nothing .

"Someone just paid me to do that! 『Watch the pot』 they said . "

Result from Detect Lie--Truth .

I put on a callous expression and jerked my chin urging him to continue .

"I don't know who that person was . They were hiding their face in a hood, hell if I know who they were!" <TLN: Gender neutral they, not plural they . >



He doesn't know that person--Lie .

"That's a lie . You must know who they were . "

The man had a cramp on his face when I declared so .

"H-how . . . "
"Talk . "

I gripped the sword tighter and coerced the man .
Using Coercion skill here would have knocked the guy out .

"T-they were a scholar-sensei like you . "
"Which scholar?"
"I've no idea . They had a 『Ring of Wisdom』 on their arm just like you . "

Apparently, that's how he deemed them to be a scholar .

I put markers on all scholars that have 『Ring of Wisdom』 with them inside the country .
None seems to be acting suspiciously .

"Hey, I've told you everythin' yea . So let me go . I'd be killed by that scholar-sensei if I stay here . "
"--Killed?"

That's brutal .

"It's coz I broke an important experimental tool . That scholar-sensei who woulda go as far as killing their scholar cohorts wouldn't think twice to kill me . "

Well, they're a bunch who's been spreading Vampire Mosquito that put a debilitating curse on people all over the places after all . That much shouldn't be strange .

"I, overheard 'em . . . "

This man has [Attentive Ears] skill and apparently with that, he overheard the scholar in question instructing men in white to carry out murders in a back alley .

"Who are they trying to kill?"

I can't overlook an attempt for life here .

"Those men mentioned three names . "

And the names that came out of the man's mouth sounded familiar to me .

Witch, Witch's apprentice, and Oracle Miko-san .
Miraculously enough, they're all my acquaintances .

" . . . It's the guards . "

Looking at the direction the man muttered at, I saw guards coming here while breaking snow .

Just in time, I drag the man to the guards, and tell them that he's a concerned person of the incident at the open space .
The man was screaming 'This isn't what you promised!" or something, but it's not like I ever said I'd let him go if he talked, so I paid him no mind and proceeded to take the action needed to protect the three whose names came up earlier .

Good grief, just when we've got a fun trial that stimulated my spirit of inquiry, would it kill them to not cause these unnecessary incidents .