For Edgar’s Sake!

Around midday in the Royal Capital.

I had come back to Kou’s dungeon.

The exploration of the Demon Realm had ended quickly, and I had obtained the princess’s soul and the long-desired Philosopher’s Stone.

When I brought Liricia along to look in on the shop, Teti was sitting at the counter.

“Ah, welcome back, Alec-sama!”

“How’s the shop doing?”

“It’s started to sell a little here and there—though it’s only Puchi Eli that’s actually selling.”

Her long ears twitched happily as she reported.

I nodded and answered.

“That’s a pretty good start. …Anyway, it’s still midday. Should we take a medicinal herb gathering quest, Liricia?”

“Yes, we should accept it as camouflage for living in the forest. It will be over quickly as well.”

At Liricia’s words, Teti raised her hand with a bright smile.

“Yeah! I want to do it too so I can learn the herbs!”

“Got it. Then we’ll go to the Adventurer Guild. I’m leaving the shop in your hands.”

“Okaaay!”

With Teti’s cute voice at our backs, Liricia and I left the shop and headed for the Adventurer Guild.

We walked about five minutes down the back streets of the Royal Capital and arrived at the Adventurer Guild.

There were still few people around, as usual.

I checked the request board, but as expected, there were only a handful of low-rank jobs.

It seemed the fields around the Royal Capital were being ravaged by monsters, and there were extermination requests out for rats and Great Boars.

—If it were in the forest, I’d gladly take it.

For the time being, we took only the usual herb-gathering type quests.

Then I asked the receptionist at the counter to pass a message to Edgar: that I had obtained what he wanted.

When we got back to the shop, Edgar was already there.

He was standing restlessly in front of the store, shoulders a bit hunched.

All I could do was speak in exasperation.

“Seriously, why? That’s way too fast.”

Edgar scratched his messy hair, a grin tugging at the corner of his mouth.

“I gave the guild a magic item so any message from you would reach me right away.”

“You’re thorough, I’ll give you that.”

“…You and Liricia-san are my last hope.”

A glint flashed in Edgar’s eyes from behind his hair. I could see he was dead serious.

I sighed and nodded.

“Yeah, I know. —Liricia, you still have the princess’s soul, right?”

“Yes, safely kept, right here.”

Liricia placed a hand over her ample chest.

Edgar’s face relaxed into a smile.

“Thank you! —Could you come with me to the slave trader right away?”

“Huh? Right now?”

“Please, we gotta strike while the iron’s hot!”

Edgar gave a thumbs-up and winked.

It was very unlike his usual taciturn self.

“You’re impatient… Well, I guess that just shows how many years you’ve kept thinking only of her.”

“That’s right! The princess is my dream!”

“Okay. Let’s go.”

“Thanks!”

Hurried along by an oddly hyped-up Edgar, we headed for the slave trader.

Early afternoon in the Royal Capital.

Liricia, Edgar, and I were in the slave trader’s reception room, meeting with the witch Cordelia.

The three of us sat side by side on a sofa, while Cordelia sat opposite us, her face twisted into a creepy grin.

“Heh heh heh. What a strange little group, isn’t it?”

“We’re just here to accompany Edgar today.”

“That’s right. I finally got what we need! I’ve brought the money too, so please, I’m begging you!”

Edgar bowed his head so deeply that his waist bent.

Cordelia took a notebook from her breast pocket and licked her fingertips.

“Some of the ingredients go for market price, so the cost has gone up quite a bit compared to what I told you before. Is that all right?”

“Of course! I worked extra to cover that too.”

“Hmm… in that case, fine. I’ll say this up front: for a resurrection request, my fee is fourteen million for one week of basic costs, forty-five million in technical fees, and eighteen million as a fatigue allowance. That comes to a total of seventy-seven million Gort.”

“Okay, that works.”

“What the hell is a fatigue allowance?”

At my question, the old woman snorted through her hooked nose.

“When I use this spell, I’m not much use for three whole days. That covers lost income during that period, caregiving costs, magic treatment fees, and various other things—if you don’t like it, you can always go elsewhere, you know? Assuming there’s someone other than me who can resurrect the dead, that is. Heh heh heh!”

“So it’s a license to gouge.”

“That’s fine by me, please do it!”

Edgar’s messy hair bounced as he bowed his head vigorously again.

Liricia gave a troubled little smile.

“My, Edgar-san… you really are desperate.”

Cordelia nodded once, then checked her notebook and started writing numbers on the sheet of paper spread on the desk.

After adding them up, she spoke.

“Hmm. As of now, with everything included, it comes to one billion, two hundred forty-seven million, eight hundred thirty thousand.”

“Wha!? Over one-point-two billion? I managed to save up eleven hundred million, though…”

Edgar’s face twisted in panic as he glanced over at me.

I hurriedly shook my head.

“No way. I don’t have anything close to a billion on me.”

“Yeah, I figured… which means I’m more than a hundred forty million short… that’ll take over a year to earn. Man, she said five hundred fifty million back then, so I saved up double that, but I guess it’s still not enough…”

Edgar’s shoulders slumped in defeat.

—Come to think of it, I’m pretty sure he came to this country eight years ago.

So he’d been earning an average of a hundred thirty million a year.

After working that hard, having to put it off yet again felt kind of cruel.

Next to me, Liricia’s brows knit sadly.

I wanted to help Edgar somehow, so I asked the old woman:

“Isn’t this a bit too much gouging?”

“Then tell me this: if the girl at your side died, and you could bring her back for one-point-three billion, would you call that cheap or expensive?”

I looked at Liricia sitting beside me.

Her straight nose, her large eyes that tended to tilt down a little. Her luxuriant silver hair fell across cheeks as white as porcelain.

Her violet eyes, framed by long lashes, blinked gently.

An angelic smile graced both her lips and her eyes.

I nodded firmly.

“That’s all it would take? That’s a bargain.”

“Isn’t it just?”

“Thank you so much, Master.”

Liricia sitting beside me smiled happily.

But the problem still wasn’t solved.

And another question came to mind, so I tilted my head.

“But with eleven hundred million, isn’t that plenty? Are there really ingredients that expensive?”

“There are materials that cost over a hundred million just for one, you know? The price is only natural.”

“What are they?”

“Same as with rejuvenation, as if I’d tell you. Heh heh heh.”

“Well, fair enough—wait, hold on.”

An idea struck me like a spark.

Resurrecting the dead should be about as forbidden as rejuvenation.

If that was the case…

I rummaged in the magic bag and took out the Philosopher’s Stone.

A transparent green octahedron, giving off a faint light.

I set it on the table.

The point rose up, and it slowly floated into the air, rotating.

Cordelia’s cloudy eyes flew wide as she gasped, her raspy voice breaking into a shout.

“Y-you! That—that’s!?”

“The Philosopher’s Stone. I picked it up. —If you use this, won’t it make resurrecting Edgar’s princess cheaper?”

“O-o-oh… ooooooh! —That is truly, that is truly! The Philosopher’s Stone—ah.”

As the trembling Cordelia reached out with her wrinkled hand, I quickly snatched it back into my palm and hid it.

“Are you listening? If you use the Philosopher’s Stone, it gets cheaper, doesn’t it? And you can use this thing over and over, right?”

“Mm! It’s true that the Philosopher’s Stone is an unchanging item that can be used any number of times… If I’m lowering the cost, I can cut back on the use of the Emerald Tablet… and use only the leaves of the World Tree instead of the petals… then this goes like that, and it won’t even take a week… If I can use the Philosopher’s Stone, the price comes to eight hundred seventy-three million, four hundred eighty-one thousand Gort.”

“In that case, I’ve got nine hundred million right here. Keep the change.”

Edgar took out nine large gold coins—Holy Grand Gold Coins, each about the size of the back of a hand and shining pale blue—and lined them up on the table.

Chuckling to herself, Cordelia picked them up and tucked them into her pocket.

“Heh heh heh, I like your attitude! I accept. I’ll make absolutely sure this succeeds.”

“Thank you! Please, I’m counting on you! —And you too, Alec-san, thank you for lending us a legendary item! Seriously, ask me for anything, I’ll do whatever you say!”

“Yeah, I’ll keep that in mind. I’m going to keep relying on you. …Still, that’s way too much for ‘keep the change.’”

“Unlike other medicines and spells, I’ve got a feeling this one can only be used once. So I want Cordelia-san to be as comfortable as possible when she works on it.”

“You really do understand. If I fail, I’ll end up as a pile of ash.”

“I see.”

“Edgar-san, you really have thought this through.”

“Good. I wanted to do everything I possibly could.”

Edgar’s voice was thick with resolve.

Cordelia nodded and looked at me.

“Already collecting the Philosopher’s Stone… as expected of someone who met my standards. —However, Alec, is it really all right for you to casually lend out something that valuable? You won’t be able to come along, you know?”

“Huh? Why not?”

“Isn’t it obvious? With your Holy Wave leaking out everywhere, a ritual that would have worked will fail instead. Leave the girl and the stone here, and go outside the Royal Capital… to the forest or somesuch.”

“I don’t really get it, but fine. With Edgar and Liricia there, it should be okay… I’ll contact you once I reach the forest. Liricia, if anything happens, call me with the Kou Phone.”

“Yes, Master!”

I handed the Philosopher’s Stone to Liricia sitting beside me.

—Come to think of it, if my presence in the Royal Capital makes it fail, how has she been doing this until now?

Has she been checking my schedule?

I thought about asking, but Cordelia slowly pushed herself up from the sofa.

“Well then, I’ll start the preparations. You two come with me—oof, up we go.”

—Well, whatever.

I stood up too.

“See you later, then.”

“Yes, Master!”

“Thank you! Really… really, I owe you more than I can say!”

Edgar jumped to his feet and bowed his head to me as I left the room.

And he didn’t raise it again until I was completely out the door.