The problem was the future, right, the future! Heinz had given Dalshia over once to those fanatics. What was to say he wouldn’t do it again? Even if he changed his mind once, he could just as easily change it back. So he must be eradicated! Vandal thought.
This was also the perfect chance to do it.
Of course, Vandal couldn’t be too open about it, with so many people watching. He understood that much.
He just had to poison him somehow. Infect him with something. Maybe I can alter my breath? Turn the tiny water droplets into poison that would enter through his skin? Or maybe he could pretend to bump into him and use that contact to infect him.
Vandal considered various plans, but whatever he thought up, Detect Danger: Death went off like alarm bells in his head.
If he tried poison, he was the one to die. If he tried a disease, he was the one to die. Whatever Vandal did, the one to die was not Heinz, but himself. This is crazy! What is he, invincible or immortal?
It was light and day compared to when Vandal had faced High Priest Goldan. Vandal was surprised, but he also couldn’t deny the reality that was right in front of his eyes. And death attribute magic had never steered him wrong.
This is what Borkz was talking about, Vandal recalled, when he told me how easily Divine Ice Spear Mikhail killed him. The strength of a Grade A who, for all practical purposes, is already a Grade S. Grade A were already considered superhuman; Grade S was a superhuman who surpassed other superhumans. Someone living in a completely different dimension from Raily, whom Borkz had defeated before Vandal crushed his soul. Not to mention, Heinz had reliable friends and allies.
Vandal moved his eyes to look beyond Heinz and saw a party of five other men and women. Two of these matched up with information he had extracted from Raily: a female dwarf with blue hair, the Shield Bearer Delaiza, and a male Scout with black hair and eyes, Edgar. Then there were two newer members: a female elf in monk’s attire and armed with a mace and a young woman who looked like some class of fighter. Vandal assumed they were Grade A, B, or C at the very worst. That made this the new Five Hue Blades, filling in the gaps created by Raily’s departure and the female elf with elemental magic who had apparently been killed in a dungeon.
There was a fifth person who looked as young, if not younger, than Vandal. Delaiza was protectively standing in front of this young girl. She couldn’t be a member of the actual party. Probably someone’s kid sister or something like that.
Oh, I get it. This is my problem right here. The little girl aside, he could tell by looking at the other four. They were the reason he wasn’t going to get to kill Heinz in this setting.
The women were sighing about Heinz throwing his weight around. But if anything were to happen to their leader, they would react instantly, and with appropriate force. If Vandal fought Heinz while his party was around, they would all work together and likely succeed in punching through even Vandal’s incredible barriers.
Poison and disease were not going to work. These adventurers weren’t like those easy marks among the Milg Shield Kingdom expedition. They had experience fighting high-ranking monsters with all sorts of malady-inducing attacks. They weren’t like Raily, puffed up on their own bullshit. They were the real deal.
They were incredibly strong. The volume of Magical Power didn’t matter. If Vandal was a massive elephant, these were the ants who could sting him to death.
That’s it, then. I just have to bear it. I can’t get myself killed here—I’ve got things I need to do. I just have to be satisfied with having seen their faces. I can kill their leader once I’m stronger. I should just get back to Eleonora and the others . . . huh? What are they doing? What’s Heinz doing? Vandal had even turned on his Rapid Cognition skill in order to rationalize his way out of his feelings of powerlessness and humiliation. He ran back over the information that was coming in through his ears.
“Please, hold on a moment. The Guild Master is currently out—”
“Then a submaster should be here. Regulations state that when the Guild Master isn’t present, at least one of the two submasters must be. Or have those regulations changed as well?” Heinz wasn’t talking to the receptionist anymore, but now a man who looked like her boss. They were arguing, and the other man didn’t look to be holding his ground.
“I’m afraid that’s—”
“I know, okay. It’s pointless to say this to you. To even the Guild Master of the Niakki branch. I just want someone here to write a letter, that’s all. A letter of introduction to the Guild Master at the Heartner guild HQ.”
“But if we do that—it will give the impression that our guild master agrees with what you are saying!”
“So? You can’t write such a letter, is that it? Even though you can easily follow along with this meaningless change?”
“That isn’t something a guild employee like me can comment on!”
“And you don’t have to be a guild employee to see what’s really going on here,” Heinz said. “I worked it out right away. With the troubles in the ducal house, Prince Belton doesn’t have access to the duke’s army. But he wants to bring the noncommittal Alda lot and all their shrines to his side, so he’s trying to win their favor with policies like these that amount to little more than bullying.”
The highest ranks of the Alda faith in Duke Heartner’s domain were currently stacked with fundamentalists, apparently.
“Children with monster blood are too dangerous to ever test, is that it?” Heinz continued. “They might lose control, meaning it’s too dangerous to let them into the academy? Is that that what you really believe?” Every word Heinz said made the man pale further.
He turned his face away. Inside, he probably agreed with what Heinz was saying. The other employees, and the original receptionist Vandal had talked to, looked the same way.
“What does it matter? At least run it up the ladder!” The other adventurers who were present started to shout their agreement.
“That’s right! The adventurers’ guild opens its doors to all, right?”
“You gonna kick beastmen like me out next?”
The new voices seemed to help the man make up his mind.
“Very well. But the only thing I can do is send it on to the Guild Master.”
“I understand that. That’s enough,” Heinz replied.
“One word of warning . . . Yes, Grade A adventurers have more clout than petty nobles. But what you have said here will reach the ears of our princes. I do not know how they will react to it.”
“I understand that too. I’m not motivated by my position as an Alda conciliator. I’m just an adventurer, saying that the guild should not be bowing to political pressure when making policy. That’s all. ‘The door to adventure is open to all races.’ Are we going to ignore the words of our founder?”
“I also like that quote myself,” the man said. “Very well. I will send a messenger to the guild master at once.” He looked down at Vandal with a smile. “Looks like you got lucky today, kid.”