Invaders: Chapter 4

Part 3

In a certain high-class residential district within the Empire's capital, that occupied a

vast area of land. Since long ago, rows of luxurious mansions have been built on this

land, erected in the style of the past. Walking by these mansions would bring out a

feeling of historical nostalgia. One could certainly guess that the type of residents that

live here were most likely aristocrats.

The mansions of aristocrats were a sign of their status. One could see it as a waste of

money, but if not extravagantly decorated, they would likely become subjects of

ridicule.

Furniture, jewelry, clothing, mansion, courtyard—all of these things needed to be

maintained in order for one to have status amongst the upper class of society. For

aristocrats, who were continuously establishing connections and cliques, it was

necessary to display their wealth. Living in a plain mansion was enough reason to be

ridiculed and looked down upon. Because of this, aristocrats that were interested in

politics and power had to constantly decorate their bodies and holdings. Realistically

speaking, this was similar to the display of strength between military forces. It was a

privilege reserved for the powerful.

These were the things one would see when looking around.

Even within the capital this area was one of the most well-regulated districts, where

everything was nice and quiet. However, if you observed carefully, the quietness could

be a bit unnerving. This was due to the lack of human presence.

In truth, the majority of these mansions were unoccupied and empty. Due to the

events set in motion by the Blood Emperor, the majority of their owners ended up

being unable to sustain the expenditures of living in this district.

Among these empty mansions, there were still a few that were being used. Unlike

before, the gardening was kept very rough and there were no longer servants waiting

outside.

It was in one of those mansions that Arche's family lived. She was welcomed home by

her parents, who bore the proper appearance of typical nobles with the rightful

bearings and fancy clothes.

"Ooh, welcome home Arche."

"Welcome back."

Before properly replying, Arche turned to look at a delicately crafted piece of

glasswork which had been carefully carved into the shape of a cup. It radiated an air

of great expense.

Arche's face twitched due to having never seen it before.

"—This is?"

"Oh, this is Artist Jan's—"

"—I'm not asking that kind of question. This is something we didn't have before, why

do we have it now?"

"That's because it was purchased just this morning."

That was her father's casual reply, using the same tone as if he was saying something

like 'Good morning'. Hearing this, Arche's body started shaking.

"—How much?"

"Hmm... I think it only cost around 15 gold coins. Cheap, isn't it?"

Arche drooped her shoulders in despair. She had originally planned on using the

deposit from

her current job to pay off a part of the debt, and now she found that it had risen even

more.

"—Why did you buy it?"

"As aristocrats, if we can't even purchase things like this, we'll become the

laughingstock of everyone."

Hearing the prideful laugh coming from her father, anger started to shine through

Arche's eyes.

"—We're no longer aristocrats."

Arche's father's expression hardened at the sound of those words and his face turned

completely red.

"That's wrong!"

Arche's father forcefully slammed his hand against the table. Due to the sturdiness of

the table, the glasswork was not affected by the blow. Although Arche wouldn't have

minded if it broke, her father probably wouldn't have felt any regret. It only costed

fifteen gold coins, that's what her father would think.

"As long as that piece of shit upstart dies, our family can instantly gain back its status!

Members of our family have been nobles of the Empire for over a hundred years. It is

absolutely unforgivable to end our line. This is an investment for our revival! Also,

this display of power is to show that fool that we haven't given up!"

How foolish.

That was Arche's opinion of her father, who was currently out of breath due to his

anger. The "fool" probably referred to the Blood Emperor. For someone like him,

Arche's family wasn't even worth consideration. If they really planned on regaining

their nobility, this definitely wasn't the method to use.

Being trapped in their own small world, they wouldn't be able to see what was

happening outside.

Arche helplessly shook her head.

"The two of you stop fighting."

Seeing her laid-back mother, Arche decided to call it quits with her father.

Shortly afterwards, her mother stood up and passed a small vial to Arche.

"Arche. This is perfume, bought just for you."

"—How much?"

"Three gold coins."

"Is that so... thank you."

While calculating in her heart the eighteen gold coins that got wasted, Arche said her

thanks to her mother. After accepting the tiny vial that contained a very small quantity

of perfume, she placed it into her bag.

It was hard for Arche to look at her mother with such a cold gaze. At least perfumes

and makeup had more practical uses than glasswork.

Properly dressing oneself up and attending high-class parties were a means for nobles

to mingle together and make connections. If one considered marriage, pregnancy and

childbirth to be a woman's happiness, then it was important for daughters of nobility

to decorate themselves, at least from a noble's point of view.

However, even if that was the case, in their current situation, Arche's simply couldn't

afford to be this wasteful. Also, three gold coins were enough to feed a normal family

for a whole month.

"—I've said this countless times already, keep spending to a minimum. Only buy what

you really need."

"Exactly, that's what I said! This was necessary!"

Feeling tired of arguing, Arche simply stared at the flushed face of her father. Having

to continuously remind them of such simple things was becoming too much for her.

She could only blame herself for all of this. If she had used force to resolve these things

in the beginning, it wouldn't have ended up this way. Also, she wouldn't have brought

trouble to 'Foresight'.

"—I'm no longer going to send money home. I will take my sisters with me and live

elsewhere."

Hearing the quiet words spoken by Arche, her father started to heat up once more.

What unnerved her father the most was probably the loss of her income, Arche

thought indifferently.

"Just who do you think it was that raised you from birth to now?"

"—I've already repaid my obligations."

Arche forcefully ended the conversation. The amount of income she had earned so far,

while not ridiculously high, was still quite a considerable sum. That money had been

earned during the adventures she took with her comrades, and should have been used

to strengthen herself just like the rest of her teammates had done.

Seeing how she never updated her equipment, what would her comrades think?

Not having strong equipment would mean she was the weakest member of the team.

However, the members of 'Foresight' never said a thing to her about it. Arche had

been spoiled too much by this already.

Arche stared intensely. Having received the full burst of Arche's gaze, her father caved

in and looked away. For someone who had gone through life and death situations,

there was no reason for Arche to lose to a bumbling aristocrat of a father.

Arche glanced once more at her speechless father and left the room.

Walking out of the room, Arche sighed in relief.

"Ojou-sama."

"—What's wrong, James?"

James had been the butler to Arche's family for a long time now. A tense expression

was visible on his wrinkled face. That face had been seen very often since her family's

fall from grace.

"Although I don't wish to say such things to ojou-sama but..."

Arche raised her hand and interrupted the speech. After considering that it wasn't a

butler's right to say certain things, James distanced himself away.

Arche took out a small bag and opened it. Various different lights sparkled from

within. The majority of the lights were silver, followed by bronze. The least amount

were gold.

"—This much should be enough right?"

Having been handed the bag, James looked inside and finally relaxed his face.

"Salary, as well as the interest for the merchants... I think I should be able to solve the

rest. Ojou-sama."

"—That's good."

Arche finally managed to relax. Although it was the bare minimum amount, it was

just enough to scrape by.

"—You weren't able to stop father from buying it?"

"It couldn't be helped. The seller came with nobles acquainted with us. Although I did

remind the old master multiple times..."

"—I see."

The two of them sighed.

"—Just a small question. How much do I need to prepare in order to clear everything

away?"

James widened his eyes, and then returned a sad smile. Perhaps the reason why there

wasn't any movements in his eye was because he had already seen it coming.

"Certainly. Once I finish calculating it, I will bring it in."

"—I'll be relying on you then."

At that moment, the sound of running was be heard within the corridor. Even without

looking up, Arche knew who it was.

Softening her face, Arche turned around just in time to see a shadow running towards

her and leaping at her without slowing down.

The figure that had leapt into Arche's embrace had a height of less than one meter.

Her age was around five years old, with eyes similar to Arche's. While hugging Arche,

this girl raised her face and displayed an expression of dissatisfaction with her pink

cheeks bulging.

"Way too hard."

This wasn't directed at Arche's flat chest.

Arch was wearing clothes made for adventuring. The area around the chest and

abdomen had been reinforced with hard leather to improve its defensive properties.

Running into it would definitely feel like running into a hard surface.

"—Are you okay?"

She touched the girl's cheek while stroking her head.

"Mm, I'm fine. Onee-sama."

Seeing the happy face made by her sister, Arche started to smile.

"...I shall leave the two of you be, then" Arche expressed her thanks towards the butler

that did not wish to disturb the two of them, and then turned around to once more

stroke her sister's head.

"Ulei... when in the hall..."

Arche suddenly stopped speaking halfway. She was about to say that it was inelegant

for daughters of nobility to run inside the house, but after having told her father that

they were no longer nobles, scoldings like these were no longer needed.

During this period, Arche's hand did not stop once, though the girl whose hair had

already become a complete mess did not mind at all and continue to laugh.

Arche looked around her surroundings, and confirmed that one other person wasn't

here.

"Where's Kuude?"

"Inside her room!"

"Is that so... there are a few things that I wish to speak with the two of you, let's go

together."

"Mm."

Protecting the cheerful smiles of her sisters was Arche's responsibility. Holding Ulei's

hand, a warm feeling quickly grew inside Arche. Ulei's small hands were something

that even Arche's hands could fully cover.

"Onee-sama's hand is really hard."

Arche looked at her other hand. Due to injuries received from numerous adventures,

these hardened hands could no longer be called hands befitting an ojou-sama from a

noble family. However, she had no regrets. These hands were proof that she was living

her life together with friends—her comrades in 'Foresight'.

"But I still really like it!"

With her hand tightly grasped by her both of her sister's, Arche smiled and said;

"—Thanks."

♦ ♦ ♦

As usual, the North Market of the Empire's Capital was full of energy. However, the

number of customers that frequented the North Market was a lot less when compared

to the central market, due to the specialisation of the sold products. As such, it wasn't

difficult to navigate through the less crowded streets.

Seeing the usual atmosphere surrounding the market, Hekkeran and Roberdyck

relaxed their shoulders and started browsing.

The reason why they were able to relax their guards was because they were at the

northern market—it was probably one of the safest districts within the capital.

"Well then, Hekkeran. What do we need to buy?"

"First would be healing items. We'll need to stock up on those 'Wands of Cure light

wounds'. Depending on the situation, we might also need some 'Wands of Cure

moderate wounds'... Don't select any that have a low number of uses. From what I've

heard, our target location is a tomb, we might need to use them on the undead. After

that, we need to stock up on items that counter undead creatures, poisons and

diseases. We also need to have counter-measures against negative energy and undead

without physical form... Items that have unlimited usage are too expensive, so it might

be better to also stock up on scrolls inscribed with magic as well."

Wands were a type of item that could hold multiple charges of a single spell. The user

could keep casting the spell until the number of charges were used up. As such, when

compared to scrolls that could only be used once, wands were much more valuable for

certain applications, such as healing.

"Is that so? I had thought that we were here to buy gifts, and you wanted my advice."

"Gifts?"

"... Don't worry about it, Hekkeran. Let's start searching for what we need."

"...Oh, okay."

The stores within the northern market were all open-air markets, neatly arranged and

filled with items for people passing by to see.

The items on display were typically placed on single sheets. One sheet per item.

However, the majority of the items on sale at each store were only medium-quality

goods. New or unknown items were rare sights here.

The majority of the vendors here seemed to be capable of handling themselves well.

They either possessed powerful looking weapons or were dressed like magic casters.

Compared to typical merchants, these looked like seasoned warriors.

At first glance these vendors looked out of place, but they really were the owners of

their respective stores, even if it was only for the current day. During other times, they

would usually be working as adventurers or workers. In other words, the actual

profession of the vendors were similar to that of Hekkeran's and Roberdyck's.

They usually sold equipment or items they no longer needed, or whatever they found

during their adventures. When compared to selling to merchants who specialized in

magic items or to the Magician Association, finding their own customers could

eliminate having to pay processing fees and thus lower the price of their items. The

amount saved from this was larger than the fees one had to pay to set up their own

store.

Due to this reason, adventurers and workers like Hekkeran frequented the northern

markets first in order to look for bargains. Some even came everyday if they had the

time.

And lastly, this was the main reason why the crime rate in the north market was low.

Who would be crazy enough to cause a ruckus in a district full of combat veterans?

After spending some time looking around, the faces on the two of them were neither

gloomy nor glad.

"Found anything?"

"Nothing."

Since the merchandise on sale were mostly unwanted goods, it was hard for Hekkeran

and others to find the items they needed. Although these items might be suitable for

Adventurers or inexperienced workers that were lower ranked, for the two of them—

even when taking their companions into consideration—there simply wasn't anything

useful.

"How regrettable. As I thought, it would have been faster if we had gone to the usual

place to buy them."

"I only came here hoping to find bargains. It can't be helped if we can't find anything.

Well, this is only the first step for us to start saving."

"Savings huh... Hekkeran, what do you think we should do?"

"Having only said this much and you already caught on, are you a super high ranked

magic caster or something? ... It's obviously about Arche."

"You already know about that."

"Well, from what's already been said I can sort of tell."

"Then you know what I wanted to say right?"

"...That this might be our last adventure, right?"

"Please don't say such phrases that might jinx us." Roberdyck laughed bitterly.

"Although it looks to be that way. If Arche-san says she will take her sisters under her

care, it looks like our adventures in the future won't be as easy anymore."

"Just as you said. Although one would still need to work, but it doesn't need to be only

from adventuring."

"It'll be easy for her to find another job. She's a third tier magic caster after all.

Family—although we don't know how many sisters she has, she should be fine if she

only needs to look after three or four people."

"Ah, I think so too. That's why she probably made this decision."

"And now the problem is at our end. In case our wizard Arche leaves the team, what

shall we do about our next member?"

"If only a third tier magic caster would suddenly fall from the sky."

"Please try and separate your dreams from reality... If we were adventurers, then the

Guild would help solving our problem... We'll need to rely on luck if we need to search

for one ourselves."

The two of them looked at each other and sighed.

Losing a comrade. Being unable to keep up. Or being the only person in the team with

powers that stand out. These were the typical reasons for an adventurer or worker to

leave their team. These situations weren't uncommon. It was rare for a team to have

kept the same members from the beginning to the end. In typical cases, a team would

have had changed its members at least two to three times.

It was the same for Hekkeran, Roberdyck and Imina.

Although having said this, arcane magic casters were hard to find—especially those

capable of using 3rd tier magic. For workers that were currently companionless, the

quality of their character was an entirely separate issue that also needed to be

addressed.

"How about training a 2nd tier magic caster?"

"Let's make that our last resort. I'd wish to avoid that if possible."

"It's also really troublesome when choosing new members. The majority of those who

become workers tend to have messed up personalities. If we chose wrong, things could

get very messy, such as accidentally picking up a battle maniac."

"...Thinking back on this, we've been quite lucky haven't we?"

"It's quite a rare case for the whole team to be composed of only those who desire

money. Well, Arche's case is a bit different."

"Back when Arche-san first approached us, we were just thinking about how to fill in

the vacancy for the last member."

Roberdyck stared at the distance reminiscing about the past. Hekkeran felt he was

thinking the same thing.

"I can still remember what I was drinking at that time... The timing of Arche-san's

arrival was so great that I started to think the formation of our team was brought on

by God's will."

"Heh, that's amazing. I can only remember vaguely. What were you drinking?"

"Water."

"Isn't that the same as usual then? ... Looks like you really don't drink alcohol at all.

Although it'll be annoying if you also start drinking like Imina."

"It can't be helped. I'm a non-drinker… Though I have to admit Imina-san's drinking

habit really is a bit scary."

"Well, Rob, a single cup is enough to turn your face red, then blue and then finally

white. I'm still wondering what would have happened at that time if we didn't use

magic to remove the poison."

"Someone else would probably be standing here instead. It's not like people haven't

died from alcohol poisoning before." Roberdyck shrugged as he said. "Getting back

on topic, what do we do about Arche-san's situation? Are we going to end up

disbanding?"

"... If we really can't find a replacement then that will have to happen. It's simply too

dangerous for three people to go adventuring... maybe we'll have to go back to being

adventurers again?"

"I just can't go along with the regulations set by the Temples. If it has to be that way

then I'd rather retire."

"Retire, huh... That's not a bad thought."

"I still have the savings we earned, I'll look for a job where I can help other people or

protect the weak. It's also not bad to just be a farmer in some flourishing village while

studying the teachings of God. What about you Hekkeran?"

"Hmm, just what should I do?"

Roberdyck's mouth twitched.

"...Is that something you can just decide on your own?"

It took some time for Hekkeran to fully process what Roberdyck had said. After finally

comprehending, he raised his head.

"—Naa!"

"Kuku..." It was a wicked laugh, "you thought I hadn't noticed?"

"Aah. Aah. Aah! Aah! No, it wasn't something that I was trying to hide. You see, the

timing... Is that what you were talking about? The gift."

"Who's giving it to who?"

"Hey, Rob! Look over there!"

In the direction that Hekkeran pointed, two people were currently viewing

merchandise that was on display beneath a pretty pavilion.

One of them was a warrior clad in pure black armor, with a crimson cape behind his

back and carrying a gigantic sword.

"Such an abrupt change of topic... well, it doesn't matter. I'll just have to find out more

later on. Hmm, such stunning equipment. If the wearer has matching skills, then he

would be quite a remarkable warrior. Is it someone that we know, who managed to

upgrade their equipment?"

"I'm not too sure, but at least I don't think they're from the capital. For example, see

that woman hiding over there? I've never seen her face before."

"The angle from where I'm at is bad. How does she compare against Imina-san?"

"—Please don't ask me that. I can't possibly answer that! ... Honestly speaking, the

woman over there is really pretty."

"Imina-san is quite a beauty too. For even her lover to be saying this... So that's how

it is, these two are either travelers or travelling adventurers. Perhaps they've decided

to relocate to the capital."

"However, they're looking at magic household items, isn't that rather weird?"

Underneath the pretty pavilion, rows of magic items were neatly arranged. However,

unlike the magic items used by adventurers and workers, the ones on display were for

everyday usage. Examples were containers that kept their inside temperature cold,

basically acting like a refrigerator that prevents food from deteriorating. Or fan-like

items, capable of blowing wind.

These types of magic items had largely been proposed by a minotaur hailed as "The

Boastful Sage" two hundred years ago.

Even though he had proposed the creation of many items, he had been unable to

explain why these items needed to be in this particular shape or how they worked, so

in the end this warrior was unable to create them and ended up with such a title.

However, his skills as a warrior had been beyond first-class, and left behind the legend

that one swing of his axe was capable of creating tornados and splitting the earth. He

was also well known for raising the status of humans within the Great Minotaur

Nation from a species that was treated as food to slaves used for labor.

It was quite a rare sight to see adventurers, who tended to live in inns, looking at magic

household items that were thought up by this demi-human, and had no uses for

adventuring.

"It's not that weird. The Empire's magical knowledge is quite advanced. It's also

cheaper than in other countries. Maybe they're thinking that even after taking the

return cost into account, it's cheaper to buy them there?"

"Ah, so that's why. I see. That's a way of thinking I didn't consider before."

"It's true that from our point of view their actions seems strange, but it's not so weird

if you keep in mind that they're travellers."

"Ah, that's right. If I think of it this way then I definitely can understand."

The armor clad warrior was carefully inspecting the magic items. Opening them, then

closing, picking them up, turning them around. To the point of making the merchant's

head sweat.

"We should be just as serious as them when searching for magic items."

"Yeah."

Chapter 2

Butterfly Entangled in a Spider's Web