We spent the time until evening checking out a landmark of anthill-like towers and sampling the local grub as we walked around. There was a lot of cheap food using corn flour; we’d have to spread this cuisine back in Shiga Kingdom.
“It’s not just ratfolk working the stalls.”
“Merchants from out of town?”
This country was bordered by kingdoms of dogfolk, bearfolk, and frogfolk, so there were lots of them; but there were also rhinofolk, foxfolk, and weaselfolk.
As we pursued another stall, Nana suddenly looked up.
“Master, soldiers coming, I warn.”
A company a few hundred strong was advancing from the gate. This country’s official army.
Scouts ran ahead, clearing people out of the main road and securing space for the army to march through.
At the back of the crowd, I could see generals and knights riding mounts that looked a lot like rhinos.
“Mew, mew!”
“Master—!”
Tama and Arisa didn’t need to tell me.
The general and army leaders were all possessed by demons.
Doing anything here and now would be dicey, so I let them pass, resolving to handle things as Kuro that night.
“Have you gone mad, General Jiba?!”
When I got to the palace that evening, chaos reigned.
A demon’s arm had grown from the general’s shoulder, and it was hoisting the king into the air. He was fighting back with the power of the City Core, but he didn’t have enough left to free himself.
“Here to help,” I whispered in the king’s ear with “Ventriloquism.” I then used “Warp” to close in, cut the demon’s arm off with a self-made Holy Sword, and free the king. The whole front of the general turned into a giant mouth and tried to bite me, so I kicked him away.
He hit the wall, and blood-covered knights burst in the door.
“Secure the intruders!” the king yelled, relieved at the reinforcements—but the knights quickly abandoned humanity, becoming demons, too.
I’d hoped to yank the demons out of them in time to save them, but I was too late.
I moved in with “Warp” and sliced and diced with a Holy Dagger.
It was all lesser demons, so none of them even put up a fight.
“Now, then—”
I put the Holy Dagger back in my Item Box and turned to the king.
“Wh-who are you?”
“Kuro. A follower of the hero Nanashi.”
“Of the hero? Oh! Well, you’ve saved me, Sir Kuro.”
He’d been inexplicably terrified, but just claiming to be a follower of the hero made him turn around real fast.
The king ordered his servants to clean the room and led me to a resplendent reception parlor. Clearly a room he used to welcome foreign VIPs.
“Do you get a lot of demons here?”
“It’s been over twenty years. We have barriers up, so how could they breach the palace?” he wondered, munching on a biscuit that smelled of cinnamon but was not the least bit sweet.
“Perhaps,” the prime minister ventured (he’d joined us here). “The recent string of missing merchant caravans and remote village collapses was the work of the demons.”
“Very likely.”
I’d have to check the scenes to be sure.
I’d scoped things out when we arrived and found no demons or worshippers, but the general and knights had returned from their excursion possessed, so perhaps I’d better dig deeper.
“Where were those men dispatched to?”
“The Jungle Labyrinth.”
Aha. There’d been demons in Arcatia, too, so they must have been possessed inside the labyrinth.
“Your Majesty!” the head servant burst in, whispering in the king’s ear.
“What? It was Jomujo?!”
I’d used “Keen Hearing,” and it transpired that the second prince—believed to be loyal to the king—had used the City Core terminal to dismiss the demon detection and defensive barriers. The former ran along the city walls, while the latter was meant to keep them out of the castle proper.
“Minister, we must eliminate this demonic threat.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
He possessed a few bells made by the Flue Empire. These could detect demons.
“I’d love to ask your help, Sir Kuro…”
“I’m afraid I’m a busy man. I can’t be there all the time, but I’ll help eliminate the immediate threat.”
I traded dagger-size Magic Swords for a few of those Demon-Sealing Bells. Those should be a good size for ratfolk. They were similar in function to the Champion’s Swords, which was more than enough for lesser demons.
He tried to give me a title and invite me to live here, but I brushed him off. He also offered me the hand of the princess, but since my tastes weren’t broad enough to fall for a ratfolk girl, I politely declined.
In return for saving his life, I merely asked for a favor later, to be called in when the need arose.
“Water city.”
“Yes, Mia. The frogfolk country has much water, I confirm.”
Mia and Nana were gazing down at the gondola-filled canals.
We’d left Latiluti behind, heading to Chipucha. Domains in the Shiga Kingdom and western regions often had names that ended in “ork,” but not so much out here.
“Can we ride a gondola? It feels like we’re in Venice!” Arisa was pretty worked up. I got that.
“Meow?”
As the gondola swept along, Tama peered over the side.
“What is it, sir?”
“The houses have doors underwater?”
“They do, sir! I would drown!”
Tama and Pochi both shivered.
But all frogfolk residences had doors underwater.
“Fiiiish?”
“Mr. Tadpole, sir!”
There were some oversized tadpoles in the water.
“Those are larvae, I report.”
Nana stopped the kids from reaching into the water.
Frogfolk kids were like real frogs and started out as tadpoles.
“Whoa!”
The gondola passed by a huge building, and the view of the lake opened up before us.
“There’s a town in the center of the lake, too,” Liza said.
There were several buildings out there, growing out of the water.
That city was for frog and fishfolk only. All the entrances were underwater.
“Is that white building the castle?”
“That’s the government building, ribbit,” said our oarsman.
He had a bit of an accent but was using the southwestern common tongue.
“What’s that?”
“Those are corves from the Mazuna aquafarm, ribbit.”
“Nazuma?” I asked. It had sounded like the Japanese for “catfish” to my ears.
“No, no, Mazuna, ribbit.”
“The fishing industry’s big here, then?”
“Fish are good, but our main product is Mermaid Tears, ribbit.”
This appeared to be the name of a gemstone.
It was not actually the tears of the mermaids—finfolk—but was called that because an ancient king had said it was every bit as beautiful.
“Outsiders also go for Magic Items made with water stones, ribbit.”
Likely not too useful to Chipucha natives—they had more than enough water.
“Those men have very big mouths, sir!”
“Are they hippo? They’re pulling a very big raft.”
Rafts carrying a ton of cargo were coming from the city on the water.
Hippos seemed to be doing the work of horses, pulling them along.
“We’re here, ribbit. This is where outsiders enter, ribbit.”
The gondola stopped at a pier leading into one of the buildings above the surface.
This market must be entirely for outsiders; it didn’t appear to be connected to the underwater dwellings.
“Feels like coral.”
“It’s not mortar or concrete—what’s it made of?”
“Mazuna spit, ribbit,” said a frogfolk working a stall.
“Made from the fish you’re raising?”
“Right, ribbit. It’s made by mixing Mazuna blood with transmuted Mazuna milt and mud from the lakebed.”
He pulled a jar of mud and a bottle of the Mazuna milt from under the counter.
“If you’re curious, buy some, ribbit. The mud is ten large copper a jar, and the Mazuna milt is three silver a bottle, ribbit.”
“That’s outrageous. The going rate is four large copper for both.”
He’d started at ten times the actual price, so I responded with the exact figure.
“Not your first time, ribbit? You sure fooled me, ribbit. You’ve hurt my feelings, and I shan’t recover unless you pay at least eight large copper, ribbit.”
His performance wasn’t fooling anyone, so I said, “I could go as far as six large copper, but if it’s higher than that, I don’t need it,” and turned to leave.
“W-wait, ribbit!” he yelled, grabbing my sleeve and pleading. “Six! Six is fine, so let’s shake on it, ribbiiiiiit!”
This stuff clearly wasn’t selling.
We inspected the souvenirs at several shops, looking for something to eat.
“What?!”
There was a crowd forming up ahead.
“Say that again, asshole! Who do you think I am?!”
“Put a lid on it, you phony adventurer! You’ve never even been to Arcatia!”
Things were getting heated. The adventurer was a beastfolk, and his opponent a local frogfolk.
The latter gave the beastfolk a surprisingly strong kick, but—
“Ugh, he drew his sword in his street brawl…”
“That is not appropriate.”
Liza glanced at me, so I nodded, and she used “Blink” to block his path, disarm him, and put him on the ground. Liza didn’t even need a spear to impress.
“Lady, that was incredible, ribbit! Are you from Arcatia, ribbit?”
“Yes, we only just left the fortress city,” she said, and for some reason, a cheer went up, and locals started asking for handshakes.
“What’s going on?” Arisa wondered.
“Arcatia adventurers are very popular in these parts, ribbit.”
“Their hard work in the labyrinth is what keeps the labyrinth from encroaching on us, ribbit.”
Some king a few successions back had said so, encouraging citizens to become adventurers and make expeditions—and the practice had continued to this day.
“This country’s only at peace because of Arcatia, so that fool of a frog’s got us all worried, ribbit.”
“True, true! ‘Zanzasansa the Ungrateful’! How dare he even dream of turning against Arcatia, ribbit!”
Apparently, this was the hometown of the necromancer who’d led an army of undead to attack the fortress city; he was well-known among the locals, and the rumor mills were churning with the disturbance he’d recently caused.
The frogs ribbited away, talking shit about Zanzasansa, but the topic soon shifted to how dirty the lake water was these days.
Sounded like the palace had a magic device for purifying the water, but it wasn’t working right.
If the palace was struggling, perhaps I could lend a hand? Considering that, we left the gossipers behind, looking for something good to eat.