Chapter 98 - Still, There is Hope (7)

Why is the guy who told me I smelled here?

"It just turned out that way!"

No, Kimchi Dumpling. I didn't hear anything. What do you mean 'it just turned out that way'?

"That blockhead heard what that gentleman was saying and brought him here."

Fortunately, I had a friendly explanation provider named DeB. He also gave a somewhat vague explanation and then excused himself saying he urgently needed the restroom, so I didn't catch everything... but I still roughly understood.

This guy, he must have been running his mouth without caring about the people around him like yesterday and got caught, right? I knew it!

I casually crossed my legs in front of the man who was suddenly about to have his hidden secrets exposed. Kankan, sitting across from me, had his head bowed low, sweating profusely.

Only the single earring dangling from his ear seemed completely carefree.

"Look, I have nothing to say. I'm really grateful that the Priest treated me, and I'll make a donation for that, but..."

"I did not treat you hoping for money."

Right, our Inquisitor was the type to only throw fastballs right down the middle. If you know him well, he's just stubbornly honest and easy to trick, but if you don't, there's no bulldozer quite like him.

"No..."

Thanks to that, Kankan couldn't easily continue speaking. I couldn't tell if his previous cynical attitude had fluttered away, or if he was just overwhelmed by the Inquisitor's reckless charge.

"I have nothing to talk about."

Or maybe he was just walking on eggshells? I quietly observed the man who answered so firmly after rubbing his face dry a few times. Somewhere in his eyes, a very solid resolve lingered.

"We simply want to know something. Perhaps we might even be able to help you in the process."

"I already told you. There's nothing."

The Archmage stepped in and tried to gently coax Kankan. However, the more he did so, the more resolute his face became.

"Since I received help from the Priest, I don't want to be disrespectful to you all. But what can't be done, can't be done. Could you please not make things difficult for me?"

"Hmm. Seeing as you say speaking up will make things difficult, it seems it's true that your life is being threatened."

"It's not that...!"

But the guy was too much of a pushover. What was he doing, getting worked up with a guilty face at that part? Anyone with even a little bit of tact would figure it out.

"Then I will ask just one thing. Is the reason you would be 'made difficult' truly unrelated to the rumors of the Martial King?"

"...!"

But because he was that kind of person, it was actually better for us. The moment the Archmage drove the final wedge in, Kankan jumped to his feet.

His expression held a darker fear of something rather than the anger of someone being forced to speak about what they didn't want to.

"Stop it."

Kankan tightly clenched his fists and whipped his head around to check his surroundings. Knowing that he was being watched, it wasn't a completely out-of-the-blue action. Just a bit late.

"Going any further than this is dangerous."

"Dangerous, you say."

"You people have nothing to do with this!"

I slightly uncrossed my legs. FLUTTER. That was when the piece of cloth substituting for a wooden door at the entrance to our room moved.

"I've brought them in."

Did his saying he was going to the restroom not mean he was going to relieve himself, but rather that he was going to deal with the guys hiding in there?

"That guy is...!"

"Mmph, mmmph!"

"Seems like you're quite good at leaving breadcrumbs trailing behind you."

It wasn't even just one.

I casually closed my eyes as if I didn't care about the conversation, leaving the two people DeB threw down alone. Even with my vision blocked, I could easily sense Kankan gaping like a fish.

"Still, since I caught all the rats, shall we have a proper talk now?"

The sluggish story was finally moving forward.

* * *

"... And so, that's what happened."

Now that his watchers had been discovered and dragged in, there was no way for us to escape this incident.

Kankan must have realized that as well, as he didn't drag his feet any longer. He revealed the entire inside story without hiding anything.

"How vicious!"

Unsurprisingly, the Inquisitor was the first to get angry. It was also the only anger among us.

"Hah. We came here to recruit a talented person and ended up suddenly having to deal with a crime cartel."

"For someone speaking as if it's annoying, you seem to be in a good mood."

"Because there is nothing more joyful to me than bringing judgment upon evildoers who cover up their sins with power and wealth to escape judgment and punishment."

"... I guess everyone except the Priest already knew."

"Though I only found out this morning."

On the other hand, DeB just shrugged his shoulders. I thought he was a bit too unresponsive even considering his personality, but it seemed he had gathered information in the meantime.

As expected, I knew he would do well even if I didn't tell him to.

"Let's report it. This is a matter that needs to be reported."

"That won't work. The one who buried this incident was the Lord."

"... Not even the Lord has the right to conceal a crime. We simply have to punish them as well."

At the Inquisitor's words, Kankan made a somewhat dumbfounded face. If put into words, it would probably be something like, 'As if that's possible.'

"How stupid. There's no way that would work."

DeB said the words Kankan couldn't bring himself to spit out out of a feeling of indebtedness. The Inquisitor raised his eyebrows straight up.

"Why do you think it won't work?"

"Because there's no evidence."

"Don't the victims clearly exist? There must also be bereaved families of the deceased."

"Is there any chance the corpses would still be around until now? They must have disposed of them all. And bereaved families? Would they really be willing to testify when their heads might go flying the moment they speak up?"

"But you just said we should bring judgment down on them!"

"Of course we have to bring down judgment. But that method won't work."

If the concealment of crimes using power could be resolved through frontal assaults, the world's chaos would be reduced by about half. It's like this because it doesn't work that way.

Thinking that I couldn't raise Kimchi Dumpling's hand in victory this time, I retraced the series of events again.

Most of the clues that have come out so far are tied to the Martial King. And now the full truth of that incident has been laid bare.

But is this really the end? This is supposed to be the frontline, yet the incident concludes with just the Martial King's corruption?

There's no way. It would absolutely never end like that.

If we just move on without a demon being involved, it puts the name of 'frontline' to shame.

"They must have definitely taken measures to silence the victims. If we carelessly poke around them, their safety could actually be put in danger."

"... What if we request protection from the Temple?"

"We don't know whether the Temple is involved or not. Even if they have no connection, it would be tricky to protect them if the other side sends assassins or something. It's not just believers who come and go from the Temple, after all."

"T-Then what about this person! Will this person not work? Isn't he also a victim?"

"It might have been different if he stepped forward when he was injured, but it will be difficult now. Moreover, didn't he challenge him today and lose? People will assume he's spreading malicious rumors because he couldn't stand the humiliation of defeat, rather than believing it's the truth."

"Kuuugh."

While the Archmage was informing the Inquisitor of reality, I continued to probe at a subtle sense of misgiving.

The 'bothersome feeling' the Inquisitor mentioned still hadn't been uncovered. That continued to poke at me.

"Damn it, I guess you guys don't have a plan either. If I knew it would be like this, I wouldn't have said anything."

"Look here, Boss Redmane. Did you think anything would change if you hadn't spoken up?"

"Still, I wouldn't be drawing their attention. You guys don't have watchers attached to you, so no matter what deductions you make, they wouldn't find out."

No matter how much I think about it, those guys seem connected to demons. But seeing DeB keeping quiet, I wonder if it's not a big deal.

But these are exactly the kind of things that stab you in the back later on.

"... This won't do. I'll have to challenge him again tomorrow."

"... Are you perhaps talking about the Martial King?"

"Yeah."

"But, why..."

"Unless we make him turn himself in, there's no way to blow this case wide open! If that's the case, then rather, we must at least forcibly stop him so that there are no more victims...!"

"Uh, I'm a bit sorry to say this, but. I don't think that'll be possible with your skills."

"@(%#*%#(!"

Is there really no further connecting link?

"Is there really no way? Do we truly have to just leave that criminal alone like this?"

"Hmm."

"Well, lacking the skills is the issue, but it would be possible to cut the matter off using the method Boss Redmane attempted. Of course, in this case, it would only ease the victims' bitterness, and making it public would become even harder."

"That is nothing more than revenge through a loophole in the law!"

"I knew you'd say that. However, there's not a single method here that you would like."

"Is there even a method?"

"It would be stranger if there wasn't. The one protecting the Martial King right now is the backing of the Lord who loves the Martial King's career, right? If we completely destroy the Martial King's career, the Lord won't protect him anymore, so a path opens up if we go about it that way."

"Are you suggesting we take his position as Champion?"

"That's also possible, but it'll probably take a long time. It would be better to ruin his social reputation instead. For instance, fabricating—no, finding and exposing a secret so huge that even the Lord thinks they can't protect him anymore."

Wait a second. I think I just caught a glimpse of Meat Dumpling's true intentions, but surely that's just my imagination.

"The best thing would be a connection to demons... but since the chances of that are low, that won't work. A flaw huge enough for the Lord, who even covers up murders, to cut the Martial King off..."

I inwardly sweated profusely watching the genre suddenly change to conspiracy, plotting, and politics.

Thinking of Deathbringer's personal storyline, this is actually fitting, but it felt a bit distant since it's different from the side of him I've seen so far.

"Is there anything like that?"

"Uh, no. He only got weird starting three months ago. Before that... he did cause trouble, but not to this extent. There probably isn't anything like what you want."

"That's definitely a shame. And what's this about three months? Did something happen?"

"I don't really know about that... We were friends, but it's not like we completely opened up to each other."

"I see."

DeB reasonably accepted Kankan's words. Thanks to that, my heart tightened even more. It felt like he was going to proceed with a 'If there are no facts to attack with, we'll win with incitement and fabrication!' sort of vibe.

And if he did that, Meat Dumpling would end up in a fight to the death with the Inquisitor...

"Ah."

"...?"

"Come to think of it, I felt a sense of bothersomeness from the Martial King as well. Has nothing come up regarding that?"

That was when the Inquisitor threw out a question. 'Exposing a greater evil deed.' This in itself didn't seem to grate against his stubbornly honest nature.

He would 100% push back if asked to make something up and spread it, but finding what's already there and reporting it was fine with him. Since that was a price for a sin that had to be paid anyway.

"As for that... there's nothing for now. But more importantly, was the Martial King like that too?"

"Yes."

Wait, he felt a sense of bothersomeness from the Martial King too? Ah, no matter how I look at it, this is totally a demon setup?! A setup where he made a deal with a demon!?

"Come to think of it, you did say the Martial King's skills skyrocketed right around the time he became Champion. Looking at it this way, I suppose it was to be expected."

"What are you talking about?"

Kankan, who didn't know about the 'bothersome feeling' the Inquisitor had felt, asked abruptly. DeB and the Archmage seemed to pop exclamation marks over their heads at his words.

"There have been a few people that blockhead said were 'bothersome' after coming to this city. Not that their actions or anything were bothersome, but just something feeling weird when you first look at them."

"I understand. And so?"

"Since it was Boss Priest's intuition, I investigated just in case, and surprisingly, wouldn't you know they all shared one commonality?"

"A commonality?"

"Their skills sharply increased at a certain point in time. Just like how five years ago, the Martial King, who was equally matched with you, beat you and went straight to the Champion seat."

"Do you happen to know anything about that? We don't consider this a coincidence. And if it truly isn't a coincidence but rather something tangled up in this..."

"There is no scandal more massive than the Martial King rising to the Champion seat not through legitimate skill but through some sort of trickery. If this is true, even the Lord won't be able to cover for him."

Thanks to them explaining it to Kankan, I also obtained puzzle pieces that I wasn't even aware of. I know I acted like I wasn't interested, but you guys could have at least shared the information... Still, it's a relief to hear it now.

"... Uh, I don't really know about any trickery."

Seriously, what the hell does this guy actually know?

"However... I did think it was a bit strange at the time. It didn't seem like he had a fortuitous encounter or underwent special training, yet he suddenly got stronger... Ah!"

Correction. It seems he does know something.

"Earlier, you said there were bothersome people. Are those people all fighters?"

"From what I've heard, they are."

"Do you know their names or what they look like?"

As Kankan seemed to have realized something, DeB quickly held out the documents.

"... I can't read."

"... I will read them for you."

Of course, there was a slight issue, but it wasn't a huge hardship. It just took a little more time.

"Right, exactly! These guys were all like that too! They didn't seem to have any reason to get stronger, but they suddenly got stronger! I'm sure of it!"

"... Wow, you completely nailed it."

"There is no power without a price in this world. There is definitely something behind this."

"It doesn't seem like they contracted with a demon. What they used as collateral to gain that power will be key."

And finally, a way out opened up.

"Inquisitor, Inquisitor!! Are you here?!"

"...? What is the matter?"

"Ah, you are here! Excuse me for a moment!"

"Brother? What makes you in such a hurry that you..."

"T-The signal fire has been lit! The demons have begun their invasion!"

Or so I thought one had opened up.

Anyway, if things ended easily, it wouldn't be life!