AFTER recovering the dragon’s body, we set off again.
Since two of Gregg’s knights were in the wagon to keep an eye on Blast in his cell, Jarred and Guyer rode their now free Nocorns.
We didn’t encounter another attack, and we arrived at the manor before two in the afternoon. It would have taken normal horses a whole day to travel this distance. That was the difference between horses and Nocorns.
The royal manor was beside a lake and surrounded by forests. It also had a defensive wall around the perimeter, making it more of a small castle than a manor.
“Welcome, Your Highness.”
We were greeted by the head of the manor, Jeffrey Valentin, an aged knight. Jeffrey was what you might call a silver fox, with his neat gray hair and beard. He was joined by ten maids and servants.
They were, of course, not your normal maids and servants. All of them, including Jeffrey, also functioned as guards in the service of the royal family. They weren’t that high a level though since their main job wasn’t fighting.
We had a late lunch at the manor, then went for a walk around the grounds to scope the area out and see what was going on.
The only things in the vicinity of the manor were the lake and the forest; there were no other people. Both the land and the manor were owned directly by the royal family, meaning regular people couldn’t enter. But the surrounding environment practically screamed, “Attack me!” The forest was good cover, making it easy for people to sneak up close. One side of the manor faced onto a lake, reducing your options for retreat.
If I were going to attack, how would I do it? I ran through the possibilities in my head. Eric and the Intelligence Ministry had probably already thought about this. Still, it wasn’t like I’d done nothing in these eight years since becoming an adventurer other than going into dungeons.
I returned to the manor and explored the inside with Milia and Sophia for the same reason. It would be easier to deal with things if we’d actually seen the place. Zeke and Eric were holding a defensive planning meeting. Some Ministry agents who’d been hiding with Perception Block and Invisibility were also in that meeting.
The night watch was going to be covered by Eric’s knights and the Ministry agents in shifts. We were going to be at the manor for two nights with plans to leave around noon on the third day. We’d informed the academy of our plans, and Eric had casually talked about it to other students and teachers, meaning Duke Jordan would have gotten the information. That meant he was likely to attack sometime during those three days.
I could function fine without sleeping for three days, so I decided to stay awake the whole time. If Scan were up, the ping would definitely wake me if it picked up anything, but it had a shorter range when I was sleeping. I decided to pretend to sleep so everyone else wouldn’t be overly concerned for me.
Once we’d finished checking out the manor, Sophia and Milia had a meeting with Sophia’s two guards. Sophia wasn’t going to be part of the manor’s defenses, so they were going to get ready to move wherever they were needed to support. The guards would follow Sophia’s orders, and Milia would act as a healer and additional guard. I was already prepared, so I sat on the sofa in the living room watching the others while keeping an eye on the area with Scan.
Once the defensive meeting was over, Zeke came back with his two guards. He seemed tired, maybe from being on edge this whole time.
“Zeke, don’t let yourself get so stiff. The guy who stays calm when something goes down is the guy who wins.”
“Arius… You really are calm, aren’t you?”
“All you need to do is what you can do. We’ve got the guards and Ministry agents here too. Get some rest when you can.”
“I couldn’t… I mean, I guess you’re right. I think I’ll go lie down for a bit.”
One good thing about Zeke was how he was so open to listening to others. His guards lowered their heads to me as if saying thank you. At least Zeke would be all right for now.
“You’re always keeping an eye on everyone, Arius,” Milia called to me with a teasing smile.
“Focus on your meeting.”
“Would you join us? I’d like to ask your opinion,” invited Sophia.
She and Milia weren’t going to be out on the front lines, but they could support with magic, so they were deciding where they should go and what they should do to react. Since Milia was also a healer, Sophia and her guards were thinking about how they could support her if she needed to move closer to the front lines.
“You guys are prioritizing protecting yourselves, so I don’t see any issues. It could be a problem if you were in danger, since they’d need to shift forces over to protect you. There’s a chance you could actually end up holding others back.”
What mattered most was that we got through this with me able to protect everyone, but if possible, I’d also like to not get in Eric’s way.
“Thank you for being so frank. I see our role as nothing more than a support role from behind,” said Sophia.
“And if things really get dangerous, then we’ll get your help, but we’re not planning on needing it from the start,” countered Milia.
They understood and were trying to be helpful in any way they could.
✦ ✦ ✦
AFTER we all had dinner together, Eric called me to his room.
“As I’d expected, Blast Garland received nothing more than orders from Altana the Merchant of Death. He hadn’t heard anything else,” he informed me.
“Was it Altana who told him to go off on his own? Even if he is a cleaner over level 500 with a dragon, sending him in alone was just a waste of a fighter. Altana should have known that.”
Zack Trigger, the cleaner who’d tried to kill Eric at the Combat Tournament, had been acting alone, but Zack had immediately fled after attacking. Acting alone was more convenient for him. This time was completely different.
“It appears Blast had made his own decisions in that regard. Altana may have let him do it in order to gauge our forces.”
If they could use Blast as cannon fodder, did that mean they had plenty more where that came from?
“And about what you told me earlier, unfortunately I couldn’t learn anything new. Perhaps our assumptions were wrong. Or perhaps someone is carefully hiding it so no one notices.”
We were trying to find out who Altana the Merchant of Death really was. There were loads of sightings of this person who dealt with anyone rich—nobles, royals, wealthy merchants—but descriptions of them were all over the place, ranging from a shriveled old man to a heavyset man to a plump woman. The only commonality was that they wore a mask covering half their face. Even their voices and accents were different each time.
Either they were using a spell or a magic item, or there was a chance that people who worked for Altana were the ones going to the meetings while using the name. There was no information leading us to Altana’s true identity.
But I actually thought we’d come close.
“Arius, in this attack, was she—”
“Yeah. Alisa was there. I’m sure of it.”
When I’d captured Zack Trigger at the tournament attack, I realized Alisa Kusunoki of the hero’s party was nearby. She’d been concealing her mana, so the ping in my Scan was the amount you’d expect from a normal person, but the qualities of mana varied slightly between people. I’d met Alisa before, so I knew it was her from her mana alone.
Then today, when Blast attacked, I detected her nearby again. We couldn’t completely rule it out as a coincidence, but the question we had was what was she after? If she was just observing or monitoring me, then that wasn’t any big deal. But if she was actually Altana, the Merchant of Death…
Eric and I suspected she was, but we had no proof. Even if we pushed her for answers, she’d just say she was monitoring me, and we’d get no further.
“Eric, if Alisa comes, I’ll deal with her.”
If Altana’s goal was just money, and they were just acting as a go-between for Duke Jordan and high-level cleaners, then Altana wasn’t our enemy.
But if Altana was really Alisa, and if her goal was me, then we didn’t know what she’d come at us with. When Blast attacked, Alisa would have been able to gauge all of Eric’s forces, even the hidden Ministry agents.
“I don’t mind leaving Alisa for you to handle, but I would like you to stop thinking the hero’s party issue is your problem alone. If Alisa attacks, she’ll have made an enemy of me, too,” Eric replied with a fierce smile.