Chapter 179 - Episode Six
In the office of Lark’s mansion, I came face to face with Lark across the desk.
I’m not sure if it’s a serious matter or not, but Lark’s face is pale, and he seems somewhat uncomfortable with the way he looks at me and his gestures.
“…… Actually, If you go down to the east of Dinrat kingdom, along the mountain range that borders Riveras, there’s a village called Palgas. It’s another village I own, but it’s…… a little farther away. I left the real power of governance in the hands of a relative of mine.”
Lark takes out a map and spreads it out on his desk.
Indeed, it’s a bit of an open distance from here.
“When the Fage territory was ruled by other nobles in the past, it seems that it was meant to keep an eye on the Riveras Nation. They dared to keep their distance. However, it became clear that they were too busy fighting within to look out for the outside world, so they were handed over to my ancestors……”
…… But according to the missionary work done by the missionary Ringus, the water god Levi has risen and united the Levi’s religion, which was divided into several factions.
If this is true, then there is a possibility that they will not stop at Marias only, but will continue to interfere with us in the future.
The time has come to a troubling time, even for me.
The time, or should I say the era, is now.
“…… So, um, what’s up with Palgas Village?”
“To what extent the Palgas Villagewas affected by Nalgarn …… actually, we haven’t been able to figure out how much it was affected. It’s a delicate position, and perhaps it did little real damage.”
“What? But you did contact them in the pogues (the bird that carries the message), didn’t you? Even though it’s a little farther away, it’s still closer than the other territories.”
Lark shook his head.
“I sent it, and I even got a response once, but…… he was not only out of line, he was extremely rude to me. After that, no matter how many times I sent it, I didn’t get a response. I was also naïve at the time due to the piled up territorial issues, so I didn’t think too much about it and assumed that I had been betrayed, but…… Just now, a bloodstained pogue was found outside the territory.”
“A bloodstained……”
It’s getting a bit creepier than I expected.
“One leg was torn off and there were burns all over his body. Perhaps he was hit by a blast of attack magic.”
The story was that while the Fage territory was being attacked by Nalgarn, there was little or no reply to the pogues that flew to other territories.
Considering this case…… Marias’ area might have had the demon they summoned shoot them down.
“Was that pogue sent from here?”
Lark shook his head, plucked a tattered piece of paper, and lifted it up.
The paper was stained with blood, ‘You will be killed”, and that’s all it said in rough handwriting.
“…… By any chance, is this a message from Palgas Village?”
“Based on the location, there’s probably no doubt about it. It makes more sense to me that the message sent from Palgas Village previously was altered by someone to prevent information sharing.”
Based on the timing of this, the other side would be the Riveras nation again.
Not only did they cut off interaction between the Fage territory and the rest of the world with Nalgarn, but they may have been trying to split it into two and dye it with Leviism from within at the same time.
“Because of the weird biography and…… I was going to send a trusted messenger from here to talk to them about it so as not to create any more unnecessary misunderstandings, but …… inexplicably, it doesn’t seem to be a normal situation.”
“…… I’m embarrassed to say this, but I’ve only been dancing around the hands of Ringus and Marias for so long. I figured that if a sorcerer of their class was targeting Palgas Village, it would be impossible to send anyone but you to deal with them. I don’t want to force you to do anything, but…… I thought it would be helpful if you could go check on them if you could……”
Lark seems to be somewhat difficult to say.
Maybe he feels guilty that since the Nalgarn fiasco, he’s become dependent on me.
You don’t have to be so overwhelmed, you could have been more poised.
You can find a good impression of Lark’s personality, so if there’s anything I can do, I’ll do my best to help.
Besides, there are still some things I need your help with.
I really want to sell as much as I can of my debt.
Thanks to Marias, I have the remains of the spirit bodies of Hamelin, Cow Snake, and Lapidestatoa, and for me, I’m also interested in the Levi Religion in action.
More to the point, the position of Alchemy Division Commander was also obtained thanks to Marias.
“Leave that much to me. The Alchemy Division will also be guided by Rinoa’s deputy commander for a while…… I can go to Palgas village and ask them about the truth of the message and see if anything strange is happening in the village, right?”
To be honest, at this stage in the Alchemy Division’s training of Ortem carving, it has only come to the point where it doesn’t matter who teaches it, as long as you know the basics.
In that respect, Rinoa’s dexterity and concentration are tantamount to being from the Noir tribe, so her progress in Ortem carving is much faster than the others.
There is a big-time loss because I had the Lapides Sword developed for a while now, but that won’t be a problem at all.
As expected of the one who served as the deputy leader of the group.
“Oh…… that would be really helpful. I feel like that’s just one more hassle solved for me when you take on the task ……”
Whe-, when you say that much, the pressure on the other hand is……
“…… Well, we don’t even know if it’s really Levi’s religion-related or not. It may simply be that Palgas Village was just trying to turn on Lark-san by entrusting him with the Nalgarn fiasco.”
“Tha-, that’s a huge turn-off itself……”
“Ohhh, can I have this map……”
I suddenly look down at the map.
It was to the south that the Fage territory faced the Riveras Nation via the mountain range.
Palgas Village is just down along the mountain range to the east from there, and is even more remote than the current location.
Further east from Palgas Village is the southeastern-most point of the Dinrat Kingdom, where you can see the sea.
If you move further north along the sea from there, you will find a sign.
“Lark-san, what’s here?’
“Ahhh, I’m sure you’ve heard of it. There’s a tower where a wicked witch is sealed up called Altamere. You know, the one where she used to study sorcery concerning the raising of the dead……”
“Altamere, you say!?”
I involuntarily grabbed the map and stood up.
Altamere was an alchemist who had been active about eighty years ago.
She boasts a legend that she single-handedly fought a good fight against a court magician army that came to her for violating the commandments.
In the end, it is said that she was finally sealed in the tower, but the feeling that her quest was shaken out of her is a bit respectful and even makes me jealous.
“It, it might take a little longer, but is it okay?”
“Y-, yes…… it’s fine…… but, I heard that the inside and the surrounding area of the tower are full of powerful magical beasts and demons enchanted by the leaked magical power of Altamere, so it’s best not to get too close…… And Abel-kun, I feel like you’re going to do something unnecessary……”
“I’m fine! I’m just going to stop by and check on it while I do my research in Palgas Village!”
“That’s okay then if it’s just that much…… yeah ……”
“I’m just going to immediately go pack a bag. We’d better hurry, right? For the Palgas Village!”
“Y, yeah…… yes…… that’s right, for the Palgas Village.”