Swamp Girl! Chapter 29

“They’re going to be mad at us for doing this, aren’t they? They’re definitely going to be mad, aren’t they?”

I was on all fours. In a similar position behind me, Aira appealed to me in a small voice with tears in her eyes. Honestly, what a chatterbox.
Exasperated, I looked over my shoulder and whispered back,

“If you hate it that much, there’s no need to push yourself so hard to come along, you know?”

“I don’t want to be left behind by myseeelf~”

“Then no complaining. No chatter. Keep your mouth shut. What will you do if they find us?”

Replying to Aira’s complaints without mercy, I kept inching forward.
Palmira was in front. On all fours, same as me, she silently advanced forward. I wished Aira would follow her example a little.

The garrison was separated from the city proper by a wall. Other than the gate we came in through, there was only one entrance to the city.
As far as I could tell from my vantage point in the room, there was one soldier manning the gate. Probably one of the local troops originally stationed here. He wasn’t Elite Guard, but he’d stop us if we went into the city from there.

As far as my hunt for other avenues of escape went, it finally occurred to me that, hey, it’s not a bad idea to keep things simple and just scale the wall, right?
It was the same in town, but the Brellwandy garrison, lacking much tactical value, was separated from the city by a fairly low wall. Two meters at best. And maybe maintenance was slacking, because it seemed to have cracks running here and there that hadn’t been repaired.
And on top of this piece of good luck, there were trees way taller growing on the garrison side of the wall, hiding the interior from prying eyes. There were gaps, of course, but the long underbrush was enough to hide behind as we made a break for it.

After sneaking our way out of the building, we headed for the trees and underbrush growing along the wall. Finding a cracked spot, we somehow successfully made it outside. No one should have noticed. Probably.

–

–

Thump. Aira fell off the wall, landing on her b.u.t.t.

“Gyah! Ow ow owww — ”

Wouldn’t someone notice the noise? I scanned our surroundings.
…Luckily, there wasn’t anyone around.
Since Aira was the last, a wave of relief washed over me. For once, I sympathized with Aira while she rubbed her lower back as if it hurt.

“You okay?”

“Owow… Yes~”

Not looking very okay at all, Aira nonetheless got to her feet. Well, if she’s standing, she’ll be fine.
I turned back to look at the wall, but there weren’t any trees in particular planted on this side. Not a lot of cracks, either. It looked like we’d have to go through the gate on our way back. Leon might chew us out, but as long as I could finish my business in town, I could put up with it.
From the setting sun, it didn’t seem to be late enough to be evening. I knew I was doing a bad thing, so I wanted to at least return in time for dinner.

“Let’s go.”

Aira rallied her spirits somehow, and Palmira, who’d gone over the wall first, was keeping a tight watch on the surroundings. Calling the both of them, I started to walk down the main thoroughfare leading to the guild.

–

–

“The city’s so lively, isn’t it?”

At this time of day, there were a large number of people walking along the road. Almost all of them were dressed like traders. Perhaps staying at some lodging house tonight, they were searching for a place to eat beforehand.
In response, the road was lined with inns with posts for horses and open restaurants.
There were already several customers chatting away. 1 On the whole, it was a city of outsiders: there were few locally produced goods, and the residents of Brellwandy itself were unexpectedly low in number.

“…That’s what it feels like.”

I told them about it as we walked.

“You know this city very well, don’t you?”

Aira’s expression was openly amazed. It was extremely rewarding.
Maybe she was a pretty good listener. Back in Telaberan, Rupert seemed really awfully proud of himself too.
On the other hand, Palmira was her polar opposite. Fundamentally untalkative and unexpressive. You might wonder whether she was listening, but you couldn’t look down on her because she actually was. More than that, when needed, she would ask for a precise repeat explanation, so you’d have to change your mind: Oh, she really was listening back then?

“Well, I’ve been around for a surprisingly long time. I’ve come here a lot.”

Truth is, I knew this city better than I did Telaberan. I’d never stayed long enough to see the entire city, but it was smaller compared to other cities anyway, so it was easy to grasp.
Besides, I recently had an extended stay here.

“There are only merchants around here.”

“You could say that.”

It was clear from the fact that almost every person we saw was a merchant, that adventurers fundamentally had no place here.
The star attraction of the Artor Ruins had run its course, and not only that, but there hadn’t been any reports of monsters appearing in the neighborhood either.

And caravan escort requests were a rare sight here.
The roads to Telaberan and Kakraw.a.n.ga were dangerous enough to warrant such services, but it was customary to accept those requests in the capital, where the caravans usually originated. In the reverse direction, traveling from here to the capital, the roads were practically risk-free, so naturally, there was no call for that kind of thing.

Basically, good luck picking up a commission here.
That’s why there were adventurers around, but just like the traders, they were only pa.s.sing through. If Artor didn’t have any problems, there would be people willing to settle here…

“In that case, we aren’t seeing any adventurers around because no one knows about the twelfth labyrinth you found, Chris?”

Palmira suddenly brought up a good point.
That’s possible, sure. A new labyrinth was like a gold mine: the moment news of its discovery got out, a horde of money-hungry prospectors — I mean, adventurers, would descend on it from G.o.d-knows-where.

So you could say that Palmira’s insight was a pretty good one.

“That might be it, but with things as they are, I wonder if it’s already being cleaned out… It’s not that difficult to tackle — it was deep vertically, but it wasn’t all that wide…”

Coming from the guy who ransacked the place, you can bet that’s the truth. Even though I was reckless enough about it, I did somehow manage to get through the maze by myself. It was nothing large-scale, after all.
Adventurers usually formed parties of four or more to tackle mazes. Of course, some people went solo like me, but that was a club that stayed at low members.h.i.+p. In the first place, I only challenged the twelfth labyrinth solo because it was virgin soil. Normally, I’d find a party somewhere and slip in.
Labyrinths were, by nature, that dangerous.

“So it might be common knowledge that it’s been scoured clean, and that’s why no one’s gathering here.”

Perhaps unable to agree with that conclusion, Palmira had a pensive look on her face.
Well, I could pry all I wanted right now and I’d still come up empty. Besides, I was just about to get a clear answer.
Looking at the hall of Adventurers’ Guild before my eyes, I swallowed hard.

–

–

The Brellwandy guild was different from Telaberan’s, starting with its appearance.
The Telaberan guild had an open sort of atmosphere, maybe because it was remodeled into a tavern, but the Brellwandy guild here — if I had to describe it, I’d say it was like a mansion.
Four stories tall and rather antiquated, the brick and mortar building ended up shooting itself in the foot. Rather than welcoming, it gave people the impression that they weren’t allowed to enter. If not for the signboard by the entrance, no one would think this was a guild, I guarantee it.

The entrance was the usual set of large double-doors, and when opened, it was obvious that the doors were made from some kind of heavy wood.
With these design choices, wasn’t it operating on the a.s.sumption that hardly any adventurers would come here? Thanks to that, it wouldn’t be getting a makeover.
Because it wouldn’t be flooded with people upon opening, like in Telaberan, it was built from a crime-deterrent standpoint, hence the difficulty of entry — or so the clerk said when I submitted a complaint during one of my previous visits.

So anyway, I opened the doors and went inside. They felt heavier than they used to, simply by virtue of my weak strength. It also reminded me that I’d turned into a woman, and my mood soured.
Palmira and Aira followed me inside.
Aira was tense — or more precisely, she nervously snuck inside. That had to be the trauma from her experience in Telaberan.

“Oooh.”

It was Aira, but still, when she went inside, she exclaimed in awe upon seeing the scene.
Its immediate impression was ‘wide’. The hall spread out to a bizarre degree — I wouldn’t be surprised if this one story had enough s.p.a.ce for two. The stonework interior had a temple-like austerity, so much so that it gave the hall an air of gravitas. It was overwhelming.
Even ignoring the sprawling size it boasted, because there wasn’t a single person here, the atmosphere was full of even more oppressive stillness.
I bet first-timers were overwhelmed by the atmosphere and ended up frozen in place. I was like that too, my first time.

But I knew better this time, so while the sound of my shoes tapping the stone-tiled floor echoes, I approached the counter further inside.
It was being manned by a single female clerk. Though her job probably involved a lot of sitting around doing nothing, she quietly welcomed us as we walked toward her.

“…h.e.l.lo.”

“Yes. h.e.l.lo. Welcome to the Brellwandy Adventurers’ Guild.”

A courteous response, executed with a beautiful smile.
Another thing completely different from other guilds. It had history, it was headquarters, and more than anything, it had free time. All those elements were part of the interaction.
I was thrown off by her straightforward manner, but even so, I went up to her, relatively close, and she still didn’t mind. When I came here in the past, neither she nor her response were any different in the first place.
Of course, a.s.suming she did remember me, she wouldn’t know it.

As for Aira and Palmira, their only experience with the Adventurers’ Guild was in Telaberan. With a change in location, they might’ve be thinking that all of the guild branches were like this.
Later, I might need to tell them that it was just this place.
Leave that for later. Anyway, I set the notebooks we received in Telaberan on the counter.

“There’s something I want to ask — has there recently been talk about a newly discovered labyrinth in Artor?”

She looked slightly surprised. Before she could say anything, I reluctantly asked her point-blank, trying word it delicately to avoid suspicion.
She was probably surprised because she didn’t imagine the three of us were adventurers, only for me to whip out our cards.
But when I continued with the rest of the question, a strange comprehension dawned on her face.
It was that look: ‘Ahh, again?’

“Yes. There certainly was one discovered roughly half a month ago. However — ”

Half a month ago.
I could sense Aira’s sharp intake of breath behind me. I was about to react the same way, but I narrowly suppressed the impulse.
What’s this ‘however’?

“Because it wasn’t very large in size, we have been notified that the investigation has already been completed.”

She lowered her head, looking apologetic.
Based on her initial reaction, she must have had a similar conversation with a similar visitor recently. But our objective was something else. We didn’t exactly want to go to the labyrinth.
In fact, we were already halfway home. All that was left was the one follow-up.

“Is that so? What a shame. Since we’re already here, I might as well ask — if you know what was found there, I’d appreciate it if you could tell me. That’s all.”

Straining to keep my calm veneer, and cranking up the ‘yup, totally ordinary adventurer here’ vibes, I asked her the next question, the real heart of the matter.

“I cannot speak in detail, but it was confirmed that a reasonable amount of treasure was brought out.”

That’s that, huh. They found the stuff on the floor halfway down, no doubt.
Good for them. It wasn’t treasure that was at stake here.

“No waaay, I’m so jealous — haven’t you heard anything else? Was there something strange, for example? Anything you were curious about?”

I knew I was being a bit pushy, throwing more questions at her.
Contrary to my inner thoughts, the clerk seemed to lapse into thought for a little while, before she crisply replied,

“– I haven’t heard anything in particular.”

Haven’t. Heard.
Was she left out of the loop, or was there really nothing? Which was it?
I couldn’t make a judgement based on this answer. If it were, for instance, [There was treasure and a strange corpse], then that would be the end of it, but if it was [I haven’t heard], then either was possible.

“…How many people went down to begin with?”

While my mind went around and around, I added an unimportant question to the conversation.

“Let me see… Three parties have traversed the maze, but I believe only the first person to enter had a fruitful trip.”

So basically, only that first person had a clear idea of what was down there. In short, I had to hear it from whoever that is.

“The name?”

” — Sorry. She can’t tell you.”

The response to my impatient question didn’t come from the clerk, but rather a male voice from above.
Looking up in surprise, I saw a hooded man in deep indigo robes watching me as he descended the hall’s enormous staircase.
A smile on his gentle face, he took his time coming down.
Maybe it was his considerable height or his fairly solid build, but he projected a strange presence. For a moment, I felt like he resembled Leon.

“…Who are you?”

“Master?”

I challenged him at the same time as the clerk, looking back at the stairs in the same way, spoke.
Master.
In other words —

“A pleasure to meet you. I am the current guild head, Arcteur Vanburke.”

Stepping off the last stair to stand before us, his manner mild, he lowered his head and so named himself.

Footnotes
1. Skipped: それに挟まるように、何かを売っている店が挟まっている ↵