The scene that awaited us back at HQ made me doubt my eyes. The front door was open. The entryway was a mess. Force and Erin were tied up on the floor. We immediately freed them and helped them up, hoping to get an explanation.
According to Force, a mysterious group of clerics had come knocking, attacked without warning, and taken Neme away. I quickly used Enemy Detect to scan the area for Neme or anyone suspicious, but I didn’t get any hits. They were already out of range. Considering how quickly they’d disappeared—moreover, how they’d chosen to attack while the Arrivers’ tracker was busy in the dungeon—I could only assume that the kidnappers had planned out their ambush. It was my fault for not noticing them while they were making their preparations.
Fortunately, Force was able to get the name “Cardinal Fuge” out of Neme, but none of us knew who that was. I thought Roslia would know all the big names of the Cecinaist faith, yet she was as oblivious as the rest of us. I tried to think of other acquaintances familiar with Cecinaism but came up blank.
While I was racking my brains, Sofie offered up, “Gilbert might know something.”
Of course! Consulting the Legion’s war priest was a great idea. He was renowned for being the strongest inquisitor and had once held a preeminent role in the church. If we went to see him, we might even get to talk to Leyfa too. A royal like her was bound to know all kinds of people, so it was possible that she’d have some clue about who’d kidnapped Neme. We thus decided that Sofie, Force, and I would go to see the princess. Meanwhile, Roslia and Erin would go around town to see what information she could collect about the suspicious group.
We rang the door to the princess’s hotel room. A familiar face answered soon after.
“You lot again?” Despite her displeased expression, Leyfa let us in. We promptly told the Legion what had happened. After listening to our story, Leyfa said, “Cardinal Fuge... Doesn’t sound like anyone in our church. Do you know this person, Gilbert?”
“Indeed. He’s from abroad. I believe he’s the cardinal of Aifan, which is known as the motherland of Cecinaism.”
“Where’s that?” I asked, unfamiliar with the circumstances of neighboring nations.
Leyfa was the one to answer me. “It’s the next country beyond our southern neighbor. They have a large population of other species like dwarves, and they were once known for their production of magic tools. Aifan doesn’t have a dungeon, so it’s not as bustling as it used to be, but it’s still famous for two things.”
“What are they?”
“The first is holy arts. Like Gilbert said, it’s basically the capital of Cecinaism. And the other is skills. Aifan is allegedly the world’s front-runner in skill research.”
Skill research, huh? Like dungeons, the true nature of skills was beyond human knowledge. It didn’t surprise me that people were studying them.
“It’s said that Aifan has succeeded in directing which skills are bestowed upon a petitioner. In other words, they’re able to pick and choose the skills they desire as a nation.”
“Is that even possible...?”
If that was true, it’d be a miracle. People like me could be spared the misery of pulling undesirable skills and having their dreams crushed. I was a little jealous.
“At any rate, my hands are tied if another nation is involved. If royalty interferes, it will become an international incident. I must maintain neutrality.”
“Right, of course...”
Not even the Tyrant Princess would act that far out of line. I’d held on to a faint hope that she’d bend the rules for us after we’d saved her butt on floor 21, but I understood where she was coming from as a princess.
“For the same reason, I cannot lend you the aid of my party members as they’re considered my direct subordinates. Is that clear, Miya?”
“Huh?! Why are you singling me out?!”
“Because you’d probably say something like, ‘If Note’s begging for help like this, I guess I gotta do something. I can’t just abandon my childhood friend.’ Then you’d smugly run off to assist him.”
“I would not! Probably not, anyway... I mean, Erin’s an Arriver too, right? So if my friend’s in need, then I guess I gotta—”
“That’s exactly what I’m talking about. And don’t go using your new friend as an excuse to indebt your childhood friend.” Leyfa lightly smacked Miya in the head, then turned back to us. “Well, there you have it. I do hope you won’t hold this against me. I have my own circumstances to consider.”
“Don’t worry. Just knowing the identity of the kidnappers is a huge help. Now we can go after Neme. Honestly, thank you.”
“Hold on. I’m not done yet.” Leyfa had done enough already, so what she said next truly took me by surprise. “If your party succeeds in retrieving Neme Pargin, you can leave the rest to me. I’ll use my power as princess to make sure the cardinal never lays a hand on you again.”
I was stunned silent.
“What’s that dumb look for?” she asked.
“Well...”
“Note’s in shock. I bet he never expected you to offer a hand,” Miya chuckled, patting Leyfa on the shoulder. “Ha ha, Leyfa’s too shy to be honest. If you want to help Note, just say so! You don’t have to be so indirect.”
“...What?”
“You’re so cute! Look at you playing coy!”
“I take everything back, Note Athlon. Because of your childhood friend, I shall no longer lift a finger for you.”
“What?!”
“If you must blame someone, blame Miya.”
This was a hundred percent my stupid childhood friend’s fault. I shot Miya a glare, and she carried on without any sign of remorse.
“I’ll deal with Miya later.” Leyfa cleared her throat and continued, “Now, do you really intend on going to Aifan? The cardinal is basically the highest position of the church. If a person like that is making a move, you may as well consider every Cecinaist in Aifan your enemy.”
“No. Aifan itself is basically run by the church. It would be more like taking on the entire nation,” Gilbert corrected.
Taking on an entire nation, huh? That should be enough to give anyone pause, but unfortunately, I already had my answer. Who gave a crap about one country? We were the vanguard challengers of a dungeon no one had ever conquered before. A nation or two didn’t scare me after some of the floor bosses we’d faced.
“Shouldn’t you know better than anyone that a warning like that won’t stop us, Princess Leyfa?”
“Indeed. If that worked, you’d be under my thumb by now.”
“That’s right.”
Following that, we turned to leave. Neme was probably in the middle of being taken to Aifan. Since the intruders had gone for abduction first, her life probably wasn’t in immediate danger, but that didn’t mean we could take our sweet time. As we were walking out of the room, Leyfa called to us from behind.
“Do at least try to return safely.”
“I didn’t know you cared so much, Your Highness,” I called back.
“I wasn’t talking to you. I was talking to Sofie.”
“...Of course.”
“I’m leaving her in your care, so you had best see to it that she doesn’t meet her end outside of the dungeon. I don’t want her going through anything painful.”
“We’re going to get Neme back to prevent that.”
This was probably Leyfa’s way of cheering us on. As Miya had pointed out, the princess wasn’t very straightforward, but she was worried about us. Right now, she could only be honest with Sofie alone. Given how she’d only seen the faithful knight as a pawn in the past, however, I considered that plenty of progress.
“We’ll be off now, Your Highness,” Sofie replied happily before we made our exit.