204

Maintaining an appropriate sense of distance was difficult.

That could be said even between humans, so it was all the more true when one looked like a monster.

Though I had had no choice but to push them away, after that, we finished cleaning up in silence, and an awkward atmosphere settled over us.

Perhaps sensing something, Rena also silently gathered something, and although she was within sight, she had moved a little away.

Amid that, Boobs Lady, who was leaning her back against a tree, let out one deep breath.

“All right, I’ve accepted it. Let’s talk about what comes next.”

She approached me as she said that, but every time she walked, my eyes inevitably went to the things that swayed.

In the end, she had given up on wearing the maid outfit, so the current Boobs Lady wore only a tied towel on top and a short skirt below, which was a troublesome outfit that, in a sense, looked sexier than being fully naked.

“I had at least considered sending you to Canaan?”

And while I was at it, I would stop by the Eilqueel ruins and obtain clothes for them.

If all went well, I had been plotting to have Boobs Lady wear various things, but she shook her head at my words.

“Canaan is no good. After what happened last time, they have their eyes on me.”

As expected, there seemed to have been some circumstances behind the snake incident.

Then what would she do? I waited for her to continue.

“I want you to guard and guide us to the Furon Council-State.”

If not Canaan, then that was the only place.

It was something I could predict, but I had no choice but to show reluctance.

After all, it was far.

On top of that, there was no profit.

If I moved based on profit and loss, there was no option except refusal, and I had no reason to do it for free.

(More than anything, the more time it takes, the higher the possibility that I will kill them.)

Even if I could simply accept it by saying they were “unlucky,” the more time we spent, the higher the risk would become.

I had no intention of accepting while tolerating that.

As I sat there silently, Boobs Lady moved even closer.

Then she grabbed my face with both hands and stared straight at me.

“The reward will all be paid in advance. I’ll give you all the magical knowledge I know and information about Seizeria. In exchange, guard and guide us to the Furon Council-State. If possible, help us enter the country.”

Boobs Lady peered into my eyes with a serious expression.

The conditions she presented were both reasonably appealing.

The fact that she offered something as important as information likely meant she had judged that I understood its value… but it could also be said that she had no cards left except that.

How should I answer a request that wagered everything she had?

What mattered was whether there was information useful to me.

Regarding that, Boobs Lady said this.

“First, I’ll correct your misunderstanding. I have enough pride to say I’m fairly excellent as a hunter. But when viewed as a mage, someone like me is right in the middle, at best. The truly dangerous people shut themselves up in a place called the Tower of Wisdom. Those people are in a different class as mages. I can state clearly that even you would have little chance of winning.”

Without thinking, I put a hand to my chin and urged her to continue with an “Oh?”

“You’re probably thinking based on elves as your standard, but those people can even easily capture elves and use them as experimental materials. Even if they are warrior-class elves, the result is the same. The people in the tower are truly in a different class. Whether you know about them or not will definitely change your survival rate.”

At those words, I tilted my head with a look of half doubt.

Surely saying they were above elves was an overestimation, wasn’t it?

There were certainly weak elves, but naturally there were strong ones too.

The same could be said of humans.

Even if it was a place where outstanding individuals gathered, the idea that there were plenty of people who greatly surpassed elves on average felt like an exaggeration.

“As an example of talent… or rather, geniuses gathering, there are those mass-produced magic engines we fought earlier.”

Apparently, those were not called golems, but “magic engines.”

They had called them mass-produced Type Eights, but naturally, it was not hard to imagine there were others.

I did acknowledge that they had been quite powerful as weapons, but judging from that alone would be hasty.

However, her next words forced me to revise that thought.

“Those were developed within the last few years. And by the hand of a single genius.”

According to her, magic engines themselves had suddenly appeared about three years ago, and at the time, they were apparently only small dolls that toddled around.

However, one year later, they had already taken the form I had seen, and now, mass-produced models with excellent cost performance were being produced. According to her, though, they had originally been specialized weapons that disregarded cost.

She did not know the path that had led to that point, but at least as far as Boobs Lady knew, there existed three powerful magic engines incomparable to the mass-produced models, and she asserted that all of them possessed abilities equal to or greater than mine.

And that was not the only problem.

“The thing you need to be most wary of is the weapons they’re developing.”

“Weapons… Did they mass-produce magic swords?”

Boobs Lady shook her head at my words.

“You live in this forest and gained knowledge from the nation that once existed here, so you should understand. Those people revived the Empire’s weapons through magical technology.”

I involuntarily held my breath at that.

She continued, saying that in the magic kingdom, this was a fact that only a handful of mages were permitted to know.

“The fact that I was able to learn about these things was truly a coincidence. That was two years ago. If new technology was being developed at such an abnormal speed, it wouldn’t be strange for us to be living much richer lives. But reality isn’t like that. Then what does that mean? I found it suspicious and investigated. As a result, I learned that it was being led by one genius.”

Hearing this, something bothered me.

A bad feeling—or something like that?

The fact that it felt like a story I had heard before spurred that feeling on.

“Ah, I’ve talked quite a bit, but if you want to hear what comes next, accept the request.”

Boobs Lady made a gesture as if readjusting her hat and scratched the back of her head awkwardly, as if thinking, “I talked too much.”

I told her that it had not been a bad time to bring it up, then nodded and accepted the request.

She let out a relieved breath, but since I was curious about the continuation, I urged her to hurry.

I simply could not stop worrying about the bad feeling I had just felt.

Boobs Lady also nodded as if answering my request, then began to continue.

“The revived weapons are guns and cannons. As far as I know, these haven’t appeared publicly. But recently, I heard a rumor that something strange was installed on the capital’s castle walls. There are also constant stories about groups carrying strange, unfamiliar wands.”

Hearing this, I understood why Gust had been in such a hurry.

(There is no way he, as a merchant, does not know this story. In that case, did he think he had to act before the people around his target became armed with guns?)

It was only natural that I had thought his uprising would fail after hearing the story.

Even though I had given them things that already existed, they were latecomers.

It would take time to gather numbers too.

It might be possible if the goal was simply killing the target person, but it probably would not go as far as a civil war, I thought, inwardly slumping my shoulders as my expectations were disappointed.

“As I said earlier, these people don’t come out into the open. I have no idea what they’re doing either. But I can imagine their objective.”

“The west.”

Boobs Lady nodded at my answer.

Or rather, Seizeria’s only neighboring country was Canaan, and even that contact was extremely limited because of the mountains and forest, so it was obvious that what Seizeria aimed for was none other than the former Imperial territory to the west.

If they were currently gathering military strength for that purpose, then I would need to complete my exploration of the southeast sooner rather than later.

This information alone was not a bad harvest.

“A few years ago, the elves declared ownership of the Fullretos Great Forest. Naturally, the countries bordering the forest objected, saying they couldn’t accept such a thing. As a result, it settled into a form where each side could cut out as much as they liked, but our country has a large territory and is crawling with monsters. I had heard that they rushed the development of new magical technology because of that. But no matter how you look at it, it’s too fast. I’m a mage too, even if only an ordinary one. If that kind of thing were possible, everyone would have done it long ago. But there’s someone who did it.”

“The genius you mentioned earlier?”

Boobs Lady nodded and continued.

“Both their talent as a mage and their actual ability are outside the standard. A genius who was said to be living even inside the tower where only Seizeria’s elites can enter raised magical technology dramatically in less than ten years. But all of that remained hidden. Only an extremely limited portion of people received those benefits… and as a result, people who wanted to treat mages as special, like that noble earlier, rose to prominence, while nothing good happened for lower people like us. On the contrary, there are even whispers that suspicious experiments have only grown more suspicious.”

Here, I finally realized it.

The true identity of the bad feeling—it was because Seizeria’s rapid technological development seemed as if it closely resembled that of the Empire.

(No way… is there one?)

An existence that violated the taboo established by the elves.

One who had once developed the Empire at an astonishing speed.

A reincarnated person—when I saw the shadow of that existence, I held my head, wondering what I should do.

Seeing that, Boobs Lady stopped talking when I suddenly looked down.

As she peered into my face, wondering what was wrong, her face and cleavage entered my vision, and I decided, “Well, I can think about it later.”

Since I had accepted the request, the first priority now was delivering the two of them to the Furon Council-State.

I would deal with that first, then think about this matter afterward.