Chapter 42 – Pinocchio
Perhaps because I had met his daughter, Rachel, on a previous visit to Hamburg, the Marshal of Hamburg let me into his study more easily than I thought.
He handed me a hand-brewed black tea.
“So, can you hear the reason why the wizard of the warrior party sneaked in like a thief at such a late hour?”
I looked down at the tea he handed me, then set the cup down on the reception table.
And he said it directly.
“Please help. Our party is in big trouble right now.”
Then, as the Marshal of Hamburg expected, he nodded his head with a firm expression.
“I’ll listen to the situation and judge.”
The prey had bitten the bait, so I began to let go of the lies I had thought of beforehand, without spitting on my lips.
“Our party was poisoned by the poison used by Mephisto, the Four Heavenly Kings, in front of the Demon King’s Castle a while ago, and we couldn’t do either. Fortunately, it seemed that we would get better if we recuperated, but that forced us to make a choice. I received it. For now, I’ll go back or make a forced breakthrough even if the hero isn’t in perfect condition. But we couldn’t give up the hero, so we chose to withdraw for now.”
“Is that why you came to see me?”
“Anyway, among the people closest to Doom Land, the only one who can help is Rachel’s father, the Count of Hamburg.”
Saying so, I handed the Marquis the letter I showed outside the window earlier.
“This is a letter written by your daughter. Please read it.”
What was written in it, of course, was exactly what I had transcribed.
“To my father in my hometown.
I can’t even remember the last time I saw my father.
I was completely isolated in a distant foreign land.
While trying to find a way to survive with his colleagues, he accidentally discovered a secret passage leading to the castle.
I wrote a letter to inform this fact, but there was no proper way to deliver it, so the wizard of our party decided to deliver it instead.
He is a trustworthy person, so please, father, trust the contents of this letter.
If my father raises an army and captures the castle, it will put an end to this long fight.
Before going to bed, I will always wish my father victory.
My father’s beloved daughter, Rachel von Hamburg.”
“Hmm… This must be a letter from Rachel.”
The Marshal of Hamburg muttered in a low voice, then asked, stroking his spiky beard.
“How is my daughter’s current condition? Is she all right?”
“Yes. Fortunately, except for the poisoned hero, the rest of the party members are still alive. Currently, they will be hiding in a hideout near the Vulkan Mountains and waiting for my return. I should go help them before it’s too late.”
“…How can I help you?”
“You will need an antidote to cure the hero’s poison and about 100 fast and strong soldiers. If the fact that the hero is in critical condition is known, the demons’ gangs may attack, so we have to move from the hideout to Hamburg as quickly and safely as possible.”
“If that’s the case, I think it’s possible enough. We can mobilize the enlisted men in the territory for training.”
I have identified the most important facts.
“Are you going to lead it yourself?”
“It must be so. Isn’t it because you secretly came here because you wanted as few people as possible to know the information? If the fact that the warrior who left to kill the demon king is known to be in a serious condition is known, good words won’t come out even internally.”
“Thank you for counting that part.”
“…But Rachel’s letter doesn’t say that the hero was poisoned. Why is this?”
“Isn’t it because she wants to remain a proud daughter to her father? She will not have a child in the world who will write a letter to her parents straight away saying that she is suffering.”
“Hmm. That’s right. Our Rachel is a filial daughter.”
When I deftly responded to the sharp, unexpected remark with a flirtatious snoring, the Margrave of Hamburg, fortunately, with a temperament to show off, understood and moved on.
“Then I’ll have everything ready by tomorrow. Where and how do you plan to join?”
I stroked my chin for a moment and pondered, but it didn’t take long to come to a conclusion.
“If you are stationed 10km from the gates to the east of Hamburg at around 10:00 tomorrow morning, I will take care of it. Fortunately, I can use flying magic, so if a group of people of that size gathers together, I can spot them from the air right away. Will.”
“Okay. Do as you say.”
I drank the black tea, which had turned lukewarm before I knew it, and put the empty cup on the reception table.
“You drank this well.”
“Then it’s fortunate. It’s been quite a while since I’ve served someone the tea I’ve been driving myself.”
The Marshal of Hamburg laughed bitterly when he said that, then held out his right hand to me.
“Then see you again tomorrow.”
“Is it possible?”
I reached out my right hand and accepted his handshake, just like him.
I wanted to talk more, but we decided to part ways at this point.
It’s because if you spend a lot of time together, someone might catch you.
I went outside through the window of the study to the roof, just as I had come.
With this, the work below was completely finished, so I was able to use the invisibility magic again to escape from the Hamburg count’s mansion.
***
Next day.
I went to work at dawn and went to sleep, but I was so tired that I ate breakfast with a tired face.
Fortunately, the Marshal of Hamburg seemed to have been tricked.
In fact, the biggest hurdle of this case has been passed, so now all that remains is to lure them well and kill them.
I chewed on the sausage from the breakfast menu and ate it with bacon, ham, and fried eggs on bread.
The busy movement of both hands is the same as yesterday.
‘It’s all about eating and living.’
It’s been a long time since I tasted the sweetness of civilization, but I couldn’t guarantee when I would taste these again when I left again, so my hands were bound to be busy by itself.
To be honest, the rice I eat at the fortress doesn’t taste good.
What would you expect from a meal prepared in large quantities by cooks, but I liked greasy food like this.
“Knock-“
After filling my stomach, I went up to my room and packed my things.
In order to go out by 10 o’clock in the morning and meet the Marquis, I had to move quickly.
After putting things in the backpack that I had unpacked last night, I put on the black robe for camouflage again and put on the hat deeply.
I went down to the first floor and returned the room key.
“I look forward to your next visit.”
I waved at the clichéd greeting of the waitress and came out of the inn.
A bright sun was rising over the horizon.
“Turn it off!”
It was indeed a refreshing morning.
***
After stopping at the stable, I rode the gold run that I had recovered, and came out to the snowy field again through the eastern gate of Hamburg, which I had promised with the Margrave yesterday.
No matter where you look, it’s covered in white snow, so honestly it hurts your eyes.
When I was riding the mountain the other day, I put on the sunglasses I made with alchemy, and I leisurely watched the scenery while driving the Gold Run autonomously.
As I ran across the snowfield like that, I started to see the shadow of a person procrastinating in the distance.
It reduced the need to use flight magic.
Since there was no reason for such a large number of people to be out in the morning, there was, of course, only one case.
Instead of approaching them straight away, I tied up a gold run at a distance.
It was because he couldn’t guarantee the guy’s safety if a full-scale fight broke out, but since he couldn’t walk all the way to the fortress, it was a last resort.
“At least stay here grazing. I’ll come pick you up right away.”
“Purreuk!”
Goldrun vigorously nodded his head up and down as if he had understood my words, and began to leisurely eat the grass growing above the snow.
‘Then… ‘
Now is the time for a showdown.
I don’t have any particular grudge, but when he dies, the work of the Demon King and Dorothea becomes much easier.
In other words, it is a law that can aim for the effect of one move.
As I struggled with how to seduce him so that I could be told I had seduced him well, I began to move my steps to join the margrave’s party in the distance.
