Main Quest (Bad End Specification)

“Whoa, this is delicious. What kind of meat is this?”

Tooyama had returned alive from the scorching hot spring.

At the meal he had been invited to, several dishes on silver plates were laid out on the ridiculously huge table.

“Fuhaha, is it not? Fanon, my head maid’s cooking is among the top five in the whole wide Empire. This meat is a rare cut, only a few hundred grams of which can be taken from a ‘turkey pig’ that appears only rarely in the plains outside the city walls. Mm, delicious.”

It was a steak grilled to perfection. It was meat from a creature he was hearing of for the first time, but it was delicious.

“This is black pepper, nutmeg, and is there wine mixed into the gravy sauce? Is the reason it has this much richness even without soy sauce because the meat juices are delicious?”

The flavor of spices could be felt within the overflowing meat juices.

The sharpness of the spices melted into the hot meat fat and the mellow flavor of the fat itself mixed together, letting him eat it as if drinking it.

The sauce poured over it also had a deep flavor and did not grow tiresome. Its slightly fruity taste matched the meat very well.

“Mm, mmm? Forgive me, but I do not know the method of cooking—”

“Y-you have excellent taste, Friend-sama. …Even though everyone in this mansion, starting with Ojou-sama and the butler, basically only understands whether ingredients are good or bad! You are quite knowledgeable about seasonings!”

The maid standing by nearby leaned forward sharply.

“Ooh, your eyes are really sparkling. …Good. Looks like our sense of taste and preferences are the same.”

Tooyama secretly felt relieved that one of his worries had vanished. He had been worried that their food preferences might not match at all.

“I am glad it suits your palate. This pepper is a rare spice that can only be obtained from certain regions of the ‘Kingdom’… Sob, sob, even procuring it takes a fair amount of effort.”

“Wait, Miss Maid. Is this black pepper possibly quite expensive? No, not just black pepper. Spices—uh, will that get across? I mean these dried things used for adding aroma.”

Oops, this was bad. If spices were precious goods, then this flavor would be something only a small portion of the wealthy could enjoy.

“I can see that you are quite knowledgeable about cooking! Friend-dono! Yes, yes! That is right! The amount of spices used in this embassy for one week would probably cost enough to build a house anywhere in the adventure city outside the noble district!”

And that unpleasant premonition had been correct. Judging from the situation and the reactions around him, Drako was probably an existence quite high in the hierarchy of this world.

That was why he could eat this flavor.

In other words, as Tooyama established his base of living, there was still the possibility that the food would not suit him if he lived at the standard of an ordinary citizen.

That was extremely bad. Bad food was painful, too painful, unbearable. He would die.

“…I see. There are few production areas. No, is it because of sailing technology? Miss Maid, only if you know, but how far are the production areas for this pepper and these spices from this city? What are the transport methods?”

As a Nihon person, Tooyama’s uncompromising devotion to food drove him into action. While he was at it, he tried to probe through conversation in order to learn this world’s technology and geography.

“I do not know the precise distance, but according to the merchant we buy from, it takes around one to three months by sea route. He also complained that the schedule changes depending on whether they are attacked by monsters.”

“Monsters… Wait, don’t tell me monsters appear outside that Tower too. I see… As expected of another world.”

Combining his otaku knowledge with his quick wits, he formed a hypothesis.

In other words, the level of technology, if compared to modern standards, was before the Age of Discovery. In some places, there were aspects resembling the Middle Ages and the Renaissance as well.

That great bath was probably also a facility made possible because they were wealthy.

This was bad. At the commoner level of life, he was seriously worried about what food, baths, and also toilets were like.

Just as Tooyama began worrying about the certain standard of living that had been guaranteed in modern life—

“May I ask one thing, Friend-dono?”

“Sure.”

“What sort of person are you? For someone who does not know general common sense, you are, how should I put it, strangely educated. …Earlier, you said your homeland was far away, but where were you born?”

A question from the butler.

Tooyama did not answer immediately.

“…Before that, let me ask. In this country, are words like another world or transfer taboo? Also, yeah, are there rituals with magic or something that summon humans from different worlds?”

He would probably have to start thinking about many things now.

But his otaku knowledge told him that he should respond carefully here.

“Another world? Ma-gic? Naruhito, what are those?”

“…Forgive me, Ojou-sama. According to the information from the guild, before Friend-dono fell into being an adventurer slave, he got into a battle with adventurers and hit his head… It may be better to go along with him here and avoid stimulating him too much.”

“Uu, you have suffered, Friend-dono. There are seconds as well, so please.”

“Hey, you dragon group. Don’t treat me like some poor pitiful person.”

Tooyama complained as they directed lukewarm gazes at him.

However, that reaction had narrowed down the possibilities.

Otherworld reincarnation and transfer convention number one.

A pattern where another world is recognized as common knowledge in the world, and where humans are summoned from another world on a national scale.

This time, that did not apply. In other words, Tooyama’s current situation was irregular even in this world.

“Looks like I’d better not carelessly talk about other worlds and stuff. I’ll be treated like someone whose head is too cheerful…”

If that was the case, he would need to make up a suitable cover story. For that, a certain level of understanding of this world was absolutely essential.

“Mm, Naruhito, forgive me. I asked something difficult to speak about. It is fine. I do not care what kind of person Naruhito is. …More importantly, what do you intend to do from now on? Do you have somewhere to go?”

At Drako’s words, Tooyama turned his mind.

Honestly, if he were to take the safe route, relying on Drako, using this Dragon Embassy as a base of living, and learning about this world from there would be the safe plan, but—

“I’m so happy I could cry, Drako. …Hmm, well, I don’t have anywhere to go, but there’s someone I have to find. Drako, where are those tattered slave clothes of mine?”

Right now, he had to look for that person first.

“Mm, those? …Must I return them after all?”

“No, huh? What do you mean by that? It’s not that the clothes are important, but the stuff I had in those pockets.”

“If that is what you mean, Friend-dono, are these what you are referring to?”

The old man, the butler Bernal, presented something on a tray to Tooyama.

A gold plate-like necklace and a seal designed like a dragon’s claw.

“Oh, yeah, those. The seal and necklace I stripped off Drako. Sorry, I took those when I killed you.”

“Ahh, the adventurer badge and Return Seal. Fuhaha, good, good. I give both of them to Naruhito. They are the reward for killing me once. …Hm? The Return Seal has not activated… Naruhito, how did you escape from the Tower?”

Drako pinched the seal and stared at it while tilting her head.

“…Oh, that needs explaining too, huh? It was some woman with a pretentious way of talking that I didn’t really understand. Wait, but I think she said something about stealing my memories…”

That was right, there was also that strange elf. She had said something about memories, but what had that been?

Tooyama firmly retained the exchange from that time in his memory.

“Ojou-sama.”

After Bernal directed gentle eyes toward Tooyama, he admonished Drako.

Could you stop looking at me like I’m some pitiful person?

While thinking that, since it seemed he could avoid further questioning, he deliberately did not deny it.

“Mm, I-I see. No, it is fine, Naruhito. Forgive me. We may speak of that again when you have calmed down. What matters to me is that I was able to meet you again like this, and that I was able to become f-f-f-friends with you.”

“Ojou-sama, your tail is showing. Please stop your dragon transformation.”

For Drako, that part apparently did not matter either.

While placing a hand against her cheek in embarrassment, she began swishing the golden tail that had suddenly grown from beneath the hem of her white clothes.

“Mm, forgive me. Now then, Naruhito. The one you wish to find is indeed that Lizardonian?”

With a shoom, her tail vanished in an instant. What sort of system was that?

“Lizardonian… You mean Lazaar? Then yeah. There’s something I want to talk about with that lizard person. Drako, I’m sure you’re not someone who lies. You said he could return. Lazaar is in this city, right?”

Yes, Tooyama’s immediate goal was that lizard man.

The lizard man Lazaar. Reuniting with that good person? whom he had parted ways with in the Tower was the first goal Tooyama Naruhito had decided for himself.

“Ojou-sama, could that Lizardonian named Lazaar be…”

“Mm, most likely. Naruhito, about that Lizardonian. In truth, I was looking for him as well.”

“Seriously?! Hm, was?”

Tooyama reacted to the unexpected statement. But he immediately caught on to something in Bernal and Drako’s expressions and words.

“Yes, was. I am no longer looking for him. To be precise, it became unnecessary once that money-grubbing Female Pope’s prophecy pointed to this day.”

“…I see. You were looking for Lazaar in order to find me.”

It clicked instantly.

That was right. If Drako had been looking for him, it was only natural that Lazaar, who had been acting together with him at the time, would be a clue.

“Exactly. Fuhaha, Naruhito, you are quite quick-witted. Yes, the only clue to finding you was that Lizardonian. I used the authority of the Dragon Embassy to have the guild, the church, and various forces search for that Lizardonian, but in the end, he was not found.”

“…There’s no stupid chance that he’s dead, or that the seal sent him to some other place, right?”

Anticipating the worst possible pattern, Tooyama unconsciously lowered his voice.

“Fuhaha, do not underestimate me, Naruhito. Dragons keep their promises. That is an absolute fact. That Lizardonian was without a doubt repatriated to this adventure city.”

Drako answered Tooyama with a fearless expression. Even after becoming friends, it seemed her uniquely dragon-like pressure and way of thinking had not changed.

“Even if he were dead, I sought even his corpse as a clue. The fact that there has still been no report means that the Lizardonian has evaded the pursuit of me, and by extension the adventure city, and is hiding himself.”

“That’s honestly pretty amazing. Searching for him will be hard—”

Den-den.

The sound of a drum echoed in Tooyama’s ears.

What flowed through his vision was a message from the quest of fate.

“…No, looks like it’ll work out somehow. Phew, that was delicious. Thanks for the meal. I’ll repay you for this. You let me take a bath and even treated me to food. Thanks, Drako.”

This really was convenient after all.

He was bothered that he did not know its origin, but for now, following it seemed fastest.

Tooyama’s course of action was settled. Since he was used to following quest markers in open-world games, it did not feel that strange.

“Fuhaha. Think nothing of it. We are f-friends, after all. But are you really leaving already…? I-it is fine, you know. At least for one day, no, i-if it is Naruhito, you may even live in the Dragon Embassy.”

“No, that’s really fine. I can’t be taken care of that much.”

“…………”

“Don’t make that face, Drako. We’re already friends. If things get really bad, I might borrow your power, and I’ll come show my face again.”

“R-really? Truly, truly really?! If you lie to a dragon, nothing good will happen to you.”

“I won’t lie. At least not to friends. Well, probably.”

“Mm. Mmm… I understand. I do not want to anger Naruhito again either, so I shall respect you.”

“Oh, that’s a good sign. Respect is important. Then, return my tattered clothes. I can’t exactly go around looking like I’m in pajamas.”

“Mm, mmm, but those clothes are… Ah, old man, that.”

“Yes, Ojou-sama. It has already been prepared.”

Snap.

Bernal snapped his fingers.

The door to the room opened, and a maid entered, pushing a cart with a mannequin on it.

“Ah, no way, that!”

Tooyama’s eyes sparkled. A familiar primary red mountain parka woven from harsh chemical fibers and monster materials, and gray cargo pants made of cut-resistant material.

Tooyama Naruhito’s exploration clothes were arranged on the mannequin.

“These are items I purchased from a survivor of the second-rank adventurer party ‘Lycans’—no, more precisely, from the man who had been investigating their promotion. I gathered them as clues to search for Naruhito, but… It is only right that you wear them, is it not?”

Drako grinned, lifting her shapely lips.

“O-ohhh… Drako, I’m intensely moved right now. …I thought I’d never be able to wear this again.”

“It is a mysterious material. The people from the workshop petitioned the Dragon Embassy for days, asking to be allowed to see it.”

“Hmph. As if I would let mere dwarves touch my collection. Faran.”

Drako gave the maid instructions with her eyes.

“Yes, understood, Ojou-sama.”

The maid unit that was the pride of the Dragon Embassy surrounded Tooyama in an instant.

“Whoa?!”

“Outfit change complete. Since the red clothing stands out badly, we prepared a robe.”

“Fuhaha, good. It suits you, Naruhito. That robe is, well, that. A gift from me. Uh, I would be happy if you wore it.”

“Uoooooh, this is sick! Seriously, Drako! Amazing. It feels like velvet but it’s super sturdy. I’m a Jedi… So cool. This is a huge debt. …Alice Dral Flaretail.”

Great satisfaction. A robe like this, and with a hood too. It was nothing other than a Jedi. It was very good.

“W-what is it?”

“Thank you. I won’t forget what you’ve given me. Beating down people who piss me off and repaying debts to good people are both my desires. Thank you, really.”

“Fu-haha. …I see. This is a good thing. Naruhito, that, uh. Since you and I are friends, yes, if anything troubles you, tell me. I will help.”

“O-Ojou-sama…”

“O-oh.”

“I see. That’s reassuring. If you have trouble too, tell me. I’ll help you.”

“Fuhaha, letters! I shall write letters! When you decide on an inn, tell me! Absolutely, absolutely, absolutely, absolutely!”

“Hihihi, yeah, got it.”

“Mm, it is a promise. …Old man, send Naruhito off. Also, notify the adventure city and the Empire. From this day forth, stop all searches for the black-haired slave. From now on, any prying into the black-haired slave is forbidden.”

“Yes, we shall ensure it thoroughly.”

“Sorry, for everything.”

“Hm, have you fallen in love?”

Drako laughed with a grin.

“Shut up, armor bastard.”

Tooyama returned the light banter. It was already the casual exchange of friends.

“Then, since good deeds should be done quickly. Faran.”

“Butler-dono, the carriage is already prepared outside. The driver will be you, Butler-dono, correct?”

“Mm, Bernal, I leave Naruhito to you. Send him to the city. Hm, yes, how much travel money should we give him? Would fifty platinum coins be enough?”

“…Sorry, how much can you do with fifty platinum coins?”

“Let me see… The average annual income of a city citizen is about five hundred silver coins per year, so that would be one hundred times that amount. It would be easy to build a house in the noble district.”

“Eek.”

“Mm, is it not enough?”

The dragon tilted her head with a puzzled face. Tooyama dropped his shoulders.

It seemed the difference in their sense of money could not be helped.

Den-den. The sound of a drum came again.

Thump.

The message wavered. Tooyama’s pupils opened, and an irresistible impulse filled his body.

A sensation similar to intoxication. A murderous intent that felt like a mission.

It was certainly not Tooyama’s own. Planted malice—

“What is wrong, Naruhito?”

Ahh, the dragon did not notice. This living being, endlessly arrogant, noble, and pure, did not notice.

She would not even think of suspecting a friend. She was that sort of creature.

Tooyama’s hand trembled. As if seized by fever, that hand suddenly stretched toward Drako’s white neck.

“…Naruhito?”

Grip. Tooyama seized it. Grasping it, intending to crush it.

“Don’t you dare underestimate me, bastard.”

Tooyama’s hand would absolutely never harm a friend.

He gripped the shitty arrow, the quest marker that pointed and told him to kill his friend.

“Stay dead.”

Crunch. He slammed the arrow against the marble floor and stomped on it with all his might.

Grind, grind. He crushed the arrow, which only Tooyama could perceive, into pieces beneath his foot.

“Hihi.”

The ↓ no longer moved at all.

“Whoa…”

“As expected, Friend-dono… No, it is all right. You need not say everything… Faran, we should only watch over him warmly.”

“…Naruhito, perhaps you should rest at my mansion after all? If you have worries, I will listen.”

Tooyama had suddenly reached his hand into empty space, then started stomping on the ground and laughing quietly.

Several warm gazes were directed at him.

“No, you’ve got it wrong.”

In the end, Tooyama could not clear up the misunderstanding that he was a dangerous person.

………

…

Kapo, kapo.

It was probably a little past midday.

He departed, seen off by a dragon who had tried to make him carry an absurd amount of money and had given him paper and pens for exchanging letters, and by a maid who waved a handkerchief expressionlessly.

Tooyama was being rocked in a carriage.

“Was that truly all right? Taking only fifty copper coins as travel money. With that amount, even at a cheap inn in the back streets, it will be gone after three nights.”

“Yeah, it’s enough. Drako’s face when I said three days at a shabby inn was enough was something to see.”

He had accepted only three days’ worth of travel money. And he would absolutely repay this money. He remembered Drako’s face the moment he had said that.

A universe had spread across the background, and her blank face had been quite funny. Space dragon.

“Hohoho, from Ojou-sama’s perspective, the very existence of copper coins is probably incomprehensible. We shall soon leave the embassy garden. You will be able to see the adventure city at a glance.”

A grove of zelkova trees where gentle sunlight poured in.

The carriage advanced along a leveled dirt road.

“O-ohh… Seriously, this is…”

They passed through the grove.

From a small hill, that city, that sight, leapt into Tooyama Naruhito’s eyes.

“The adventure city Agatra. A key national location in the Empire, standing alongside the Imperial Capital. It is also a walled defensive city surrounded by walls, built by someone in the First Era of the Third Civilization.”

A city, buildings. Human activity.

The adventure city, the scenery of another world, spread out.

Brick houses, a river running through the city, a particularly conspicuous cathedral-like building.

And then he noticed. Beyond that cityscape, a wall spread out.

“A wall. Is this whole city covered by walls?”

“Just as you say. They are about one hundred meters high, I believe. The walls each have gates to the east, west, south, and north, serving as entrances and exits to the city.”

“What about water sources? It’s a city this big. Is it that river running through it?”

“Oh… As you say, a tributary of the Great Win River, which flows from the Hinaya Mountain region in the north, runs through the center of the city. Daily-use water is supplied by that river or by pumping groundwater.”

“I see. No wonder it developed this much. Wait, is that the Tower?”

And what inevitably jumped into his eyes was that absurd scenery.

Amid a sight resembling the English Quarter and French Quarter townscapes of Babel Island, a foreign object towered at the center of the city.

A Tower.

A black structure stretching toward the heavens. It was a sight that gave the illusion of a thick wedge being driven into the center of the city.

“Hoho, you may be the only person who worries about the water source before the Tower. Yes, that is one of the remaining mystical lands in this world within the human realm.”

“It is the mystical land whose conquest is the long-cherished desire of the Empire—no, of the human species: Herel’s Tower.”

And what Tooyama could not understand most of all was—

“I can’t see the top. How does that work?”

Just as he said. He could not see the top.

The Tower literally extended toward the heavens, but no matter how he looked at it, it vanished partway up.

“If we believe what the Magic Academy says, then apparently the Tower is displaced.”

“Displaced?”

“Yes. It is connected to a place different from here, somewhere far away that is neither the human realm nor the Dragon Realm, I believe? Therefore, from outside, the Tower’s full form cannot be confirmed by sight. Oh… Come to think of it, you said something similar earlier, did you not? Another world. Hm, does that mean a different world?”

“Oops, somehow I think I’m starting to guess.”

“Hoho, could it be that you came from the top of the Tower? A traveler from somewhere other than here… Hoho, forgive me. Even I am someone who sits at the lowest end of Tower-Class Adventurers. Romance is endless.”

“There’s no man who hates romance. I’m curious what’s at the top of that Tower too.”

“…If one believes the fairy tale, apparently ‘everything’ is at the top of Herel’s Tower.”

“Wasn’t the story about a different place or whatever?”

“Hoho, that is what you might call adult talk. Mine is the kind of fairy tale passed down by the Angel Church, which a small child hears from a nursemaid. The angel who created this world. That Tower was made by that angel as a pastime. The one who conquers the Tower, which is an angel’s trial, shall be granted everything, or so it went.”

“For a children’s fairy tale, it really tickles something. The romance.”

“Hoho, romance is important.”

The old man and the explorer. Kapo, kapo went the somehow pleasant sound of horse hooves.

The excitement felt as if he had come on an overseas trip. Ahh, amazing. It was a fantasy cityscape. Tooyama savored that sight.

As they slowly, slowly descended the hill, time passed leisurely while he gazed at the city.

“…This stinks.”

“Ho, is something the matter?”

Tooyama gazed with cold eyes at the Tower mixed into the scenery.

Immediately, the message flowed away and disappeared.