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- 149 Mushoku Tensei
- Rikarisu Town.
- Lots of memories here.
- Even now I remember it like yesterday.
- My life as an adventurer in Begaritt Continent started here, filled of memories with Ruijerd and Eris.
- But in the end we were chased out, leaving only bad memories behind...
- But the experiences I gained here are good.
- It's here I learned not to overthink the situation, or try to do everything by myself.
- We hike down the slope and head towards the edge the crater until we reached an entrance.
- Just as before, here stands a pair of guards.
- Back then, in order to sneak Ruijerd in, we came in disguise..
- "Hey, it's guarded. Is that a problem?"
- "No. Cities in the Demon Continent basically welcomes everyone in."
- "But doesn't the security feels rather tight right now?"
- As Cliff said, the guards looks quite alert.
- Jet black armor, full face helmet.
- The armor looks sharp, omnious.
- When I was at Rikarisu, the guard weren't so well equipped.
- The equipment has changed over the years, I suppose.
- "Halt."
- Just as we are about to enter, the guards stops us.
- "What is it?"
- "No, that woman over there..."
- The guards stare at Elinalise.
- Cliff steps in front of Elinalise as if to shield her.
- Elinalise looks unfazed.
- "What wrong?"
- "... What?"
- The other guard pull out a piece of paper.
- Then look back and forth between that and Elinalise.
- I sneak a peak, drawn on it a succubus like beauty.
- Tall, big breasted, long wavy hair.
- It wasn't colored, but Elinalise shares some similiarities.
- But, the chest is off.
- "Not her."
- "Ah, nope."
- With that say, the guards put away the paper.
- "Excuse me, proceed."
- "Something happened?"
- "None of your business."
- I left quietly after I was refused.
- "Looks like they're looking for someone."
- "Yeah."
- There's an escapee somewhere in town?
- Well, nothing to do with us.
- But we should be careful.
- If we wander into an alley somewhere and meet a murderer, that'd suck.
- "Well, now what?"
- "Let's go to the Adventurer's Guild and exchange some money."
- "Got it."
- After a simple exchange, we follow the road ahead.
- "Wow, amazing..."
- Cliff exclaims as he see the nearby open market.
- As usual full of life.
- Merchants and adventurers of various races.
- Lizard-like magic beasts ridden back and forth.
- But the going on is the about the same as markets around the Magic City Sharia.
- Merchants and adventurers arguing, residents wandering to and forth.
- A begger asking for charity from a merchant and gets kicked aside.
- Same sort of things everywhere you go.
- Even Cliff should be familiar with this sight, but seeing various race mixed together might be refreshing.
- Must be different.
- However, a little unexpected.
- Black-clad soldiers are everywhere.
- Whenever they spot Elinalise, without a pause they'll take out some paper.
- Then, obviously someone different even from afar, they never came for questioning.
- "Cliff-senpai, your wife is rather popular."
- "Eh, Ehh... Is it alright?"
- "As long as Elinalise-san hasn't done anything here before, it should be alright."
- With that said I stare at Elinalise.
- She shrugs.
- "Nothing I feel guilty about."
- Elinalise looks unfocused.
- Definitely did something she felt guilty about.
- ---
- The Adventurer's Guild is same as always.
- At worst, it has deteriorated slightly by the ravages of time.
- No, I remember it was always like this.
- All eyes on us when we entered.
- How nostalgic.
- Last time after a short act, we had the place in an uproar.
- Thankfully Ruijerd soon got in the act an we avoid a mess.
- Soon everyone lost interest.
- A party of Long Ear Race and Human might be exotic, but a few rare specimens don't deserve the attention.
- We head to the front desk, and exchanged some Asura coins with Demon Continent ones.
- Around 100 Green Mineral Coin worth, but I collected it without double checking.
- Back then, I'd check everyday the content of my wallet, even if there's only one or two pieces left. I have really changed.
- No, just a tad more affluent than before.
- Also we issued a request to the Adventurer's Guild for Kishirika's whereabout.
- "Petite girl, purple hair, bondage wear, self-proclaimed Great Empress of the Demon Realm, in particular habitually laugh like a maniac."
- Since it's a search, ratings are low, but reward is high.
- I stick the request on the job board. Suddenly I noticed at the edge of the job board, an aging petition from the Fedoa Region Search Group.
- The search group at Milis has already been disbanded, yet this petition still remains.
- The contact person is still Paul at Holy Kingdom of Milis.
- At this rate, wouldn't someone end up traveling all the way to Milis for nothing?
- I return to the front desk and change the contact to Alphonse at the refuge camp.
- They probably will still accept refuges there.
- Although my residence could work as well, but honestly I don't want to take care of people I don't know.
- "Well, we're done here."
- "Now what?"
- After Cliff asked, I spend time thinking about our next moves.
- Of course, we shouldn't just sit around and wait. Better if we do some digging ourselves.
- We'll spend a week here collecting information.
- Look for help and do leg work on our own, search carefully.
- Ultimately the Adventurer's Guild job request is just a safety net, in case we missed Kishirika somehow.
- "First, collect intel."
- I check my surroundings.
- A man walks up towards us.
- A horse faced man.
- I remember this guy well.
- It's he that trapped us.
- It's all his fault that we got kicked out of the city... well, not all.
- I know as well, back then we broke the rules.
- "Yo!"
- The horse faced man - Nokopara - just like before, come chatting full spirited.
- To a guy like him, making conversation with new faces are part of the job.
- Despite what I think, the person he's greeting is not me, but Elinalise.
- "Long time no see! You and Roxy split up?"
- Elinalise looks at Nokopara in surprise.
- Not long after, probably when it finally clicks for her, she claps her hand.
- "Ah, from Roxy's old party."
- "...Eh?"
- Roxy's old party?
- What?
- "Rudeus. Please help translate. This is my... no, Roxy's old buddy."
- Elinalise pushes me to face Nokopara.
- 8 years ago.
- The guy that cling onto us.
- Roxy's old buddy.
- Old party member.
- In other words, he was clinging on to Roxy too.
- Why have I never heard anything about this?
- "Oh, I am Nokopara. Do you understand me?"
- He doesn't remember me from back then.
- It can't be helped, after 8 years, I have grew up quite a bit.
- Nokopara has grown old too... well, I can't really tell.
- How horse face looks when older, I can't really tell.
- In turn, Nokopara probably can't tell human apart either.
- "Yeah, Nokopara-san. I understand."
- "Rudeus, he should be quite familiar with the situations in this town. Why not ask him to help collect information for us?"
- "..."
- This guy is good with intel, that I know.
- He's very observant of others.
- In that case, he should come in handy for us.
- We were once pushed into a corner by him.
- But we shamed him in public as well.
- He might still be holding a grudge for that.
- Instead of coming clean, I'm better off hiding my identity and take advantage of him.
- "I am Quagmire. Nice to meet you."
- "Ah, Quagmire huh... Oh? Have we met before?"
- "No, that's impossible."
- If Eris is here, she probably did kick his ass.
- But I'll let bygones be bygones.
- He never did realize that Ruijerd is a Supard.
- And it was our misstep that caused the situation.
- Besides, now is not the time to dig up the past.
- "We're looking for someone. Will you assist?"
- "... How much you got?"
- He pisses me off.
- Well, I wouldn't want to do work for free either."
- "2 Green Mineral Coin. 4 if you find her."
- "4!? D-done!"
- Ah, too much.
- It's been a while, I completely forgot about the situation here.
- Ah, oh well.
- "It's an emergency."
- "Oh. If it's for Elinalise, I can do it for half."
- Nokopara turns up his nose and smiles to himself.
- ---
- After I provide Nokopara the info on Kishirika, he said "we'll get in touch in half a day" and disappeared in the crowd.
- "I'm surprised you held back."
- Watching Nokopara leave, Elinalise speaks up.
- "Eh?"
- "I remember now. That guy tried to shake you down before."
- "Wow, you even know about that."
- "When I came by this town, I caught wind of it. Apparently Nokopara tried to shake down [Dead End] and almost got killed. But I don't think Roxy heard of it..."
- Elinalise knows.
- Well, no reason that she wouldn't.
- A Supard showing up in town would be big news.
- "It's just an unfortunate event."
- Things were going so well that I got carried away and fell on my face.
- The way Nokopara takes advantage of others disgusts me, but I'm no saint myself.
- Since Nokopara doesn't realize who I am, it's just as well.
- "Anyways, I don't plan on settling the score with Nokopara. But if he crosses us again, that's a different story."
- What's past is past, but I am not that generous.
- Cross me again, and I'll make sure that's the last time.
- "Say, Nokopara and Roxy in a party together, what's up with that?"
- "Ah, about that-."
- I feel a little troubled after hearing the story of Roxy and Nokopara.
- Ah, such a nice guy back then, yet look at how he turned out.
- ---
- Lots of stuff to get done in half a day's time.
- First is securing accommodation.
- This town has plenty of inns open for adventurers.
- Simple inns for rookies, and ones for high ranks.
- This time we selected one for high rank adventurers.
- Picking a high class inn mostly for its security.
- It's a little pricey, but since prices are generally low at the Demon Continent, it wasn't very painful.
- On the way there, we walked pass "Wolf Claw Inn."
- That's the place we stayed in long ago.
- By chance, we passed by three young rookies, chatting as they walk out of the inn.
- It's a little late to head out for work right now, so they're probably going shopping.
- Say, the other adventurers that lived here back then... Kuruto and people, what are they up to now?
- Because of my misjudgment, one of them died. How are the other two doing?
- No. It has been 8 years already.
- They might already be dead.
- But if we can meet again, I'd like to talk about old times with them.
- Oh yeah.
- I should go meet with the P-hunters.
- Jalil and Veskel, right?
- The petty criminals that specialize in lost pets.
- Although I'm not looking for a pet this time, but Kishirika is basically an animal. Maybe they can find her.
- "Before that, let me drop by this place I know."
- "As expected of Shishou to be so well connected."
- "I just know a few people."
- Thinking about that, I head towards P-hunters' pet store.
- It should be around here somewhere. Following vague memories of the area, I went ahead.
- My memories are dubious, and the city changed.
- Even though, after spending so long in the area, and following the landmarks, I can still recognize this place.
- The location is the right, but the store has changed.
- It's a butcher's shop.
- A guy with hedgehog head looks after the store. I went to check it out.
- "Welcome."
- "I remember this was a pet shop once. Do you know what happened?"
- "Ah, Jalil? That guy's dead. Got killed 2 years ago taming a magic beast."
- Eh, he died?
- Seriously?
- "And Veskel?"
- "Veskel? She left a year ago. With Jalil dead, she can't do work no more."
- Veskel is gone too.
- Really, Jalil, dead?
- I know that the Demon Continent is a cruel place, but hearing an old friend has died is still rather depressing.
- In the end, he did betrayed Ruijerd.
- Even so we'd work together once.
- I'd like to remain as friends.
- "I took over the shop from Jalil. Do you know her?"
- "Yeah. We met."
- "Well then, let me give you a discount."
- I also asked about Kishirika, and as pay, bought some Great Land Turtle jerky and left.
- Great Land Turtle meat still taste as disgusting as always.
- ---
- For a half a day, we busy ourselves in collecting intel.
- Collecting intel by hand is not particularly efficient.
- Particularly because I'm the only that speaks the Demon God language.
- So basically, only I could ask around.
- If only Roxy was here.
- Still, searching a town, one or two persons won't make much of a difference.
- When it comes in intel, let's count on the expert Nokopara instead.
- With those thoughts I continue to ask around...
- "Petite, purple hair, bondage wear, self-proclaimed Great Empress of the Demon Realm, habitually laugh like a maniac. Have you met that girl before?"
- "Ah, that kid. I have. But that was almost... a year ago."
- Turns out I got a lot of responses.
- Unexpected.
- Truly unexpected.
- With this, maybe it won't be too long before we find her.
- "Score!"
- Cliff raises his voice happily.
- As if we already found her.
- But Elinalise shakes her hand.
- "But no one saw her recently?"
- It's true.
- They're all "about a year ago."
- Well, some also said "about half a year ago."
- Maybe she have left already.
- In that case, we should start asking "where did she go?"
- Rikarisu Town sits on the north east ocrner of the Demon Continent.
- For the next time, she probably would head south west.
- There's a mountain range to the south west, in that case maybe... No, this is Kishirika after all.
- Not that I know Kishirika very well.
- But I got a feeling she's capable of anything.
- If she doesn't follow the roads,t hen who know where would she be.
- "Let's go check in with Nokopara."
- "It's only half a day, I doubt even he could have found much..."
- Regardless, we head back to the Adventurer's Guild.
- We picked a table, and just when we about to grab something to eat, Nokopara shows up.
- "Yo. Waited long?"
- Just as he left, he came back smiling, full of energy.
- No, I can't tell how happy is horse face.
- But he seems pretty happy to me.
- "Sorry I have yet to find the person, but I got some intel for you."
- "What to hear?"
- Only half a day for the eagle to land.
- Basically, we already know all the information Nokopara found.
- But as expected of Nokopara, he was able to summarize all the most common sightings, as where she was last spotted.
- Not bad for half of a day's work...
- Rather, as part of his daily routine, he knows all the right people to ask.
- Then based on what info is needed, he pick the likely candidates to ask, something like that.
- That's talent too.
- "Demon Lord-sama seems to be looking for Great Demon Empress as well."
- "Demon Lord?"
- "Yeah. About a year ago, the Demon Lord from the adjacent territory traveled here."
- Apparantly Demon Lord currently resides at the center of Rikarisu Town, at Old Kishirisu Castle.
- So all the black-clad shoulders are all her personal army. Riders too, basically her private guards.
- "Don't tell me that Demon Lord is Badigadi?"
- "No, not Badigadi-sama. It's Atofe-sama, older sister of Badigadi-sama, a very terrifying Demon Lord."
- Badigadi has a sister?
- A black amazon?
- "Really scary?"
- "Ah, she's a Demon Lord that fought in the Laplace Campaign, after all. If you accidentally offend her, she might execute you on the spot."
- I can't imagine when Badigadi is so easy going.
- But if that's the case, then I should probably avoid her.
- No, if she is related to Badigadi, then she might also be immortal too.
- If she has lived since a long time ago, then maybe she know of the cure to Doline syndrome.
- I should try to get an audience with her and ask...
- Whether she will see me is another question.
- "Say, has Badigadi returned?"
- "He has yet to return... Hey, watch your language when you talk about the Demon Lord-sama."
- "Apologies."
- Badigadi hasn't come back.
- Who knows where he's wandering the world right now.
- No, he's be gone for 8 years already.
- Maybe wandering the world is a hobby of his.
- I summarized the details to the others.
- Zanoba, with a hand to his chin.
- "The portrait looks nothing like her."
- Now that he said it, that portrait does look completely different from Kishirika as I remember her.
- I knew Kishirika was a kid.
- I didn't notice when I check the portrait, but that vixen looks qutie like Kishirika.
- Maybe once Kishirika grows older, that's how she looks.
- Maybe Kishirika has grown in the past few years?
- No, no.
- We have witness reports of that girl.
- In other words, that Demon Lord doesn't know that Kishirika is a kid?
- Oh...
- Maybe Nokopara would know.
- "That portrait the private guards have look different from the actual Kishirika. What do you think?"
- "Demon Lord-sama doesn't concern herself with petty details. So maybe she thought any age would do."
- "Ah, I see."
- Badigadi is whimsical as well.
- Maybe Atofe is the same.
- "Then, let's call check with Atofe-sama?"
- I declare and get up.
- But Nokopara starts to panic.
- "Hey, hold on, forget it. Atofe-sama is really dangerous. You're better off not to."
- "No, I must. I'll be careful to not offend her."
- No problem?
- I hope there won't be.
- If something happens, then Zanoba stands guard while I attack.
- Just like with Badigadi, I'll hit and run...
- Then once I find Badigadi, he can mediate for us.
- Well, that'll do.
- "If we should meet, then allow me to help."
- Zanoba stands up smiling.
- He's a royalty as well, so arranging a meeting should be possible right?
- If that's the case, then maybe we should get Ariel to come instead...
- Hold on, maybe like with Perugius, Zanoba is easier to get along with.
- Since Ariel is always thinking about networking, she might get exposed and hated.
- "Is Atofe-sama interested in the arts?"
- "Eh? Arts? Em, who knows. Well, Demon Lord-sama all seem to have those sort of interests."
- Badigadi's interests... like what?
- I don't think he has anything of the sort.
- No, he's interested in beer?
- Like really expensive beer?
- Even though Atofe is a very scary Demon Lord, is she's anything like Badigadi, then we might get along.
- "Anyways, let's go give it a shot."
- With the talk over, Elinalise and Cliff stood up as well.
- ----
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