Elqueeness [EN]: Chapter 147

Chapter 147

“We are protecting the Claymore’s young lady.”

“……!”

“What are you talking about…….”

Ferris was just as surprised by the unexpected words. As both of their faces hardened, Eldran, with an understanding expression, took out a tightly wrapped bundle from his arms.

“Please take a look at this for the details. Then you will know everything.”

“What is this?”

“The young lady asked me to deliver it.”

What came out of the bundle was a letter folded several times. After giving it a suspicious look, Kay unfolded it and quickly scanned through it. The further he read, the more his eyes widened. The letter contained everything that was happening within the duchy: that Duke Claymore was under the curse of a demon god, and that the Emperor had left for a distant foreign land to lift the curse. Truths unknown to the general public were written in a calm tone.

The letter was written by April herself. To lay some groundwork until the Emperor returned, she had been very busy these days. However, there was a limit to what she, who had grown up like a flower in a greenhouse, could do with her own strength. In particular, to persuade the Duke’s vassals, she desperately needed someone who could be a political force. What she thought of were the Emperor’s Imperial Knights.

Not only Kay, who was the captain and a Count, but the Imperial Knights were all composed of nobles with titles. As they had the duty of assisting the Emperor right by his side, they were quite influential figures in the noble world. If they helped, laying the foundation for Claymore would be much easier. And as long as they had the common goal of opposing the Grand Duke, they would surely be a powerful support force.

‘I need your strength.’

Kay, who had read the sentence written in the last paragraph, took a deep breath. He stared at Eldran with a stiff face.

“……Is this all true?”

“I swear on my life.”

“They say cats have nine lives.”

“You don’t know much. A stray cat’s lifespan is only three years.”

In short, it meant it was that precious. Feeling thirsty for some reason, Kay gulped down the glass in front of him in one go. The stale taste of cheap beer filled his mouth, but it seemed to bring him back to his senses a little.

“He’s a really creepy guy. He’s put a lot of thought into this.”

Kay’s eyes turned cold as he thought of the Grand Duke’s neatly smiling face. He didn’t know if the heat inside him was because of the alcohol he had just swallowed or because of the rising anger. He believed that everything would be fine once he arrived in Claymore. Looking back now, it was an absurdly naive judgment.

“Kay.”

At Ferris’s gaze, Kay silently nodded.

Either way, they had no other choice left. The Grand Duke had already rolled the dice, and their young Emperor had left on a distant journey, not knowing when he would return. There was no point in staying here any longer. Kay stared at the empty beer glass and said.

“We’re going to Claymore.”

* * *

The journey to the next direct route by land was expected to take about a week on foot. However, they had to find a nearby village and enter it again only half a day after leaving. It was because of the hotter weather than expected.

Although they had crossed the border, they had not yet officially entered the territory of the Alponph Empire, so the climate was quite cool for the tropics. However, the problem was that all the clothes they had were for cold weather. They hadn’t even thought about preparing summer clothes because the cold hadn’t gone away until recently. The fact that El was insensitive to temperature and that Isana was very patient was also one of the reasons.

Perhaps because she was born into the imperial family and had received strict education, Isana had a habit of enduring things. Thanks to this, she was a very comfortable type as a companion (because she never complained in any situation), but it often brought bad results for her. The current situation was exactly like that. El clicked his tongue and treated Isana’s skin, which was red and festering.

“Oh, your skin is all flushed. It must sting quite a bit, why didn’t you say anything?”

“Uh-huh, I didn’t think it was that hard.”

“Seeing this, I think being patient isn’t always a good thing. I should have paid attention in advance. I’m sorry for being a heartless contractor.”

“Ah, no! It’s my fault for not taking care of my body in advance. Lapis also gave me advice, but I made a mistake again.”

“Yeah, Lapis?”

“But, but I never think that someone should take care of me or that it’s natural to be served. Please don’t misunderstand.”

Tilting his head, El realized what she was talking about and chuckled. It seemed that Lapis’s nagging when he cast a warming spell on her sometime in the past had been bothering her.

“Don’t pay attention to what that guy said. He was just being mean. I know better than anyone that you don’t have such intentions. I think it’s definitely a problem to habitually endure things, though.”

“S-sorry.”

“I’m not telling you to apologize. I think there are many advantages to that. Especially for people in high positions, there’s no harm in being patient. You’ll be a really good emperor if you get reinstated.”

“R-really? Do you really think so?”

“Yeah, of course.”

“Hehe…….”

Isana blushed and smiled shyly, as if she wasn’t used to such compliments.

After finishing the treatment, El took her straight to the shopping district to buy clothes to change into and necessary supplies. He bought enough with the intention of not stopping by a village for a while, and the backpack swelled up as if it would burst in an instant. No matter how much he crammed in, he couldn’t find any more space, so he fell into serious thought. Until now, Isana and El had each been carrying only one backpack, and they hadn’t felt any particular inconvenience in that regard. They just bought as much as they needed and replenished it whenever they stopped by the village. But once they entered the desert, it would be impossible to expect such convenience anymore. They would have to secure at least a few months’ worth of food and supplies, but two backpacks would be woefully insufficient. However, El didn’t want to disperse the luggage by adding more backpacks.

“Hmm, I can’t help it. I’ll have to change my backpack to a really big one.”

“Ah, then mine too…….”

“No. Isana, yours has a weight-reducing magic on it. I just need to change mine.”

“But then El will be carrying almost all the luggage alone.”

“It’s okay. That much isn’t very heavy. Hmm, but I wonder if there’s a bigger backpack than this? Should I just tie it with a rope and stack it like a tower on top of the backpack?”

“Like a peddler?”

“Yeah, it might look a little weird, but.”

In this world where trade between countries is not very active, there are more peddlers [traveling merchants] than settled merchants. Their characteristic is that they carry luggage stacked like a tower from below their waist to above their head. If they used the same method, they might be misunderstood, but it would be okay since they wouldn’t run into anyone else once they entered the desert.

“Hmm~ It seems like you’re having some trouble. Can I help you?”

“……!”

At that moment, El was startled and swallowed his breath at the voice that suddenly came from nowhere. Isana also looked very embarrassed. A man in black leather clothes was standing where El turned his head to look. He was someone El knew well.

“……What is it, Lucarim? I thought I told you not to approach within a certain distance?”

He was wearing a hood deeply, perhaps to cover his head and eyes. But even so, the magic power emanating from his whole body was blatantly telling his identity. Fortunately, there were no people passing by around him. As El frowned, he raised the hem of his hood with his thumb and smiled.

“Hey, why are you being like this all of a sudden? Between us.”

“What’s between us?”

“A relationship where we spent intimate time twice?”

What intimate time? Besides, you came to me unilaterally both times? As El frowned at his frivolous attitude, he smiled even more intensely. It seemed that he was enjoying making El uncomfortable.

“El, do you know him?”

Isana asked carefully from the side with a very stiff face. Usually, if they seemed to know El, they would let their guard down (just look at the cases of Troel and Lapis), but this time, El could feel that she was particularly nervous. She seemed to instinctively feel threatened by his magic. At that sight, Lucarim raised the corners of his mouth and said cheerfully.

“Wow, now that I think about it, this is the first time I’m seeing you awake. It’s an honor to meet you, Your Majesty, the Emperor of Swart Empire?”

“H-how did you know me?”

“Ooh-hoo-hoo, there’s a way to know everything.”

Isana was even more restless at the meaningful answer that was clearly intentional. Now that it’s come to this, there’s no point in hiding it anyway. El sighed and said.

“It’s okay, Isana. He’s just a passing demon.”

“D-demon?”

El calmly nodded to Isana, who was in shock. Lucarim, who pouted his lips, grumbled that there was no way to introduce him like that and that it was too much, but El lightly ignored such noise.

“You don’t need to pay much attention to him. Of course, he’s a demon, so I don’t know when he’ll change his mind like flipping his palm, but it doesn’t seem like he’s planning to monitor or attack us for now.”

“I-is that so?”

“Yeah. Besides, he doesn’t intend to follow the Demon King’s orders. He might die soon for treason. In short, a death row inmate?”

“Wow, are you really going to say that?”

Lucarim shouted in dismay from behind the bewildered Isana. El shrugged his shoulders and replied.

“What? I don’t think I said anything wrong.”

“You’re really too much. I was going to help you because you looked troubled. If you do this, I’m just going to go back?”

“How are you going to help?”

When El asked him nonchalantly, Lucarim smiled and stood in front of El with just one leap. As expected of a demon, his physical abilities seemed to be outstanding. As a result, Isana’s body stiffened even more, but he didn’t even look at her and stared straight at El.

“Looking at it, it seems like you’re worried because your backpack is small. I have a groundbreaking way to solve this situation, would you like to hear it?”

“What is it?”

“It’s to create a subspace inside the bag. Then it doesn’t matter how many things go in.”

Subspace? El thought he’d heard that word somewhere. He tilted his head for a moment, feeling somehow familiar, and soon recalled a fragmentary memory from the past. When Lapis gave him the circlet, he said he took it out from the subspace.

“W-wait a minute. You’re going to make that? Wasn’t that like an invisible personal storage? I thought only dragons could have it.”

“Ah, that’s when you design a space directly in the gap between dimensions. Basically, you need to be proficient in formations and formulas, and you need a large amount of mana to support it, so it’s a method that’s difficult to attempt unless you’re a high-ranking wizard. It’s not easy for a wizard with that much skill to appear among the human races, so it’s not wrong to say that only dragons can have it.”

“Then are there other ways besides that?”

At El’s question, Lucarim smiled and nodded. According to his next words, subspace is not only created artificially, but also formed naturally in the first place. For example, things like impurities derived from the gaps between dimensions, but even though they are just scraps, most of them have small and large spaces. If you find its coordinates, connect it to a medium, and perform magical processing, it can be used as a storage place. Compared to something made directly, it has the disadvantage of being small in scale and requiring attention to security, but it has the very big advantage of being much simpler and usable by anyone.

“Can you find those coordinates?”

“If you’re a high-ranking demon, you can do that much.”

“If you find it and the coordinates overlap with someone else’s?”

“That doesn’t happen. In the process of magical processing, the connection to that space is limited to one. You can say that there is no way for another person to connect the coordinates.”

“Hee…….”

Maybe El’s eyes are sparkling a lot right now? Just as he was thinking that, he met Lucarim’s eyes. As if he had read El’s expectations, his eyes curved gracefully from side to side.

“Subspace, shall I make it for you?”

When he asked, El was quickly nodding his head. This is not the time to worry about humility or pride. He can’t miss this good opportunity. The thought that he was an untrustworthy being had long disappeared from his mind. Lucarim, who had been looking at El subtly, soon chuckled.

“Certainly, you’re the type I can’t leave alone.”

“……Is that an insult?”

“No, it’s a compliment. I like cute things.”

That’s an insult after all!

The moment El was about to get angry and argue, something suddenly appeared in front of his eyes. It took him a little while to realize that it was the backpack that he had put in front of him a little while ago. When did that demon get his hands on it? As El blinked in embarrassment, Lucarim said with a smile.

“It’s all done.”