Despite it being a summer night, the temperature inside the Marschel residence was a lot cooler than the outside due to the effect of magic items cooling the air.

However, with significant physical exertion, you would naturally sweat. Right now, a large number of adventurers were walking around the Marschel residence with sweat on their foreheads, even with the cooler environment.

It was already night, a time when they would usually be drinking, out in the entertainment district, a brothel, or for some, taking an early night. But, inside the Marschel residences, adventurers were walking and running about as they shouted.

「Are these documents the ones with the names of the merchants which sold the gems?」

「Yeah. ……However, these are only the public merchants. As for the underground ones, I’m pretty sure they’re in that drawer.」

In one room, documents on desks were all being checked……

「KYAAAAAAh-!」

「What’s going on!? T-The plants are turning into monsters! Wait……wait, I’ll help you right away!」

「No, hey, don’t look at me! My clothes……my clothes are melting!」

In another room, maybe a result of Pree’s work, a female adventurer who had been investigating had trouble with her clothes being melted, exposing her skin.

「Are these all gems? ……I guess as expected of the Marschel family.」

「It seems a considerable portion of the money they earned was used to buy gems.」

「Hey, don’t even think about putting that in your pocket. If the Silva family finds out, we’ll never be able to live in peace.」

「I know. But I can at least look at it for a minute.」

「……If that’s all you do.」

In one room, a female adventurer was entranced by all the gems within it as her fellow adventurers advised her not to do anything strange.

「Uh, hey, this is……」

「A mountain of bones……are you serious? There has to be at least 10 to 20 people here. At worst……maybe 100……」

「It seems like they’ve been dealt with magically to stop them from becoming undead.」

「I thought it was strange that there were so many traps in the way getting inside.」

「Moreover, these bones have undergone some sort of magical treatment. They were probably intended for some use.」

A mountain of human bones was found in one room in the literal sense……the bones had also been found to have undergone some sort of magical treatment.

And……

「Wow, this is……they’ve accumulated quite a bit.」

The adventurers who entered a hidden room which had been found by thieves muttered unintentionally.

There were a lot of magic items inside the room. There were also many that could only be found inside the dungeon. Considering how the Marschel family had likely obtained them, the adventurers could give bitter breaths.

「Hey, look at that. There are so many magic swords that are rarely found in the dungeon.」

「Yeah. ……This is too much for just us to handle. Hey, I’m sorry, but please call Vosk-sama. We need his orders.」

「Ah? O-Oh, right. I understand. I’ll call him right away.」

One of the adventurers, who had been stunned by the magic items in the room, rushed out.

Calling for Vosk was important, but he had been more afraid of careless reaching out for one of the magic items if he stayed in the room any longer.

The rest of the adventurers all felt the same way and they eventually left the room one after another without a word.

A few minutes later……

「This really is a mountain of magic items. ……I guess she just used her power as the Marschel family.」

Vosk let out a sigh……as Rei and Elena followed in after him.

Vihera and Byune had already left for the day.

Normally, Vihera would have headed back to her inn by herself, but considering today’s events, she decided it would be better to stay with Byune for at least one night before visiting the Silva family. After promising that, the two of them had gone back to the Fraut family’s residence together.

As for Set and Yellow, the two of them would only get in the way, so Vihera and Byune had taken them back to the Golden Wind inn.

「This……really is a tremendous amount.」

The magic items displayed in the room ranged from weapons, such as long swords, daggers, and spears, to protective equipment, such as shields and armour. There were accessories, including bracelets and anklets, but none of them had any gems. Other than that, there were also potions, clocks, mirrors, books, cups, cards, candlesticks, lanterns, carpets, quills, engravings, and many kinds of magic metals.

And……

「……」

One of the magic items caught Rei’s gaze.

There was an open metal case with two familiar crystal balls inside, about 10cm in diameter each.

Rei immediately knew what they were. After all, he had one himself and he had come to the Labyrinth City Exil in search of such a magic item.

Paired orbs.

The decoration was different to the one Rei had, but it was undoubtedly a magic item that allowed people to communicate at long distances.

He had never thought he’d find them here instead of inside the dungeon.

As Rei held those thoughts in his mind, Elena, who had been talking with Vosk about the magic items in the room, called out to him.

「Rei? Was something bothering you?」

「……Yeah. Something amazing.」

Hearing those words, Elena followed Rei’s gaze……and realised what he was looking at. Her eyes widened in amazement.

「This is……could this be what we were looking for?」

「Probably. I never thought it would be in a place like this.」

「……I see.」

As they were talking with each other, they were interrupted by Vosk.

「Hey, what’s wrong? ……Hm? Is that a magic item or something?」

「That’s right. The reason we came to Exil was to look of a magic item that would allow for conversations at long distances.」

「Long distances……?」

Hearing Rei’s words, Vosk thought about something for a few seconds before a smile appeared on his face.

With a cheeky grin, Vosk turned to look at Elena as he murmured in a low voice so as to not be heard by the adventurers outside the room.

「Hmm, I see. I thought you had some other purpose here, but it seems like it was for a very cute reason.」

「……What are you trying to say?」

A voice several tones lower than usual came from Elena’s mouth.

Vosk shook his head in a panic, judging that teasing her any further would likely cause Elena to pull out her sword whip.

He fully understood how powerful the sword whip was from the fight against Oricule. Even if he fought himself, he would only have a 20% chance of winning. The speed at which he changed his attitude was because of his judgement.

「No, no, nothing, nothing at all. ……Ah righ, then, is it fine for me to give you guys that magic item as a reward for all this trouble?」

Elena’s movements stopped at Vosk’s words and, after a few seconds of silence, she spoke up.

「What are you talking about? This mansion belongs to the Marschel family. Right now, you guys are investigating it for various reasons, but that doesn’t mean it’s okay to just take things.」

「It’s true that this magic item belongs to the Marschel family, but since they’ve caused such a big incident, there’s no doubt the family will fall from grace……above all, most of the magic items here are probably stolen goods anyway.」

Vosk muttered as he lifted up a nearby lantern.

「That said, it’s nearly impossible to find out who owns what. Everything will probably end up contributing to Exil’s operating expenses through an auction. It’s not that strange to give this to you guys as a reward.」

「……That’s true.」

Rei was actually surprised that Elena acknowledged Vosk’s reasoning.

He had been sure she would have called it some sort of embezzlement.

However, no one, including Exil, managed their land, people, and cities without some sort of shady means. Everyone was more or less involved in one way or another.

In the first place, in this world of Elgin, it was a matter of common sense for the nobility to control both the clean and the dirty side of things.

Most creatures couldn’t live in a perfectly clean lake.

(Well, I’ve heard before that they all have connections with underground organisations. Maybe he’s just being nice, giving us a reward?)

Rei seemed to reach some sort of understanding as he turned to Elena, wondering what she would do.

Of course, Rei would have welcomed the offer of the magic item they had been looking for.

Even though it was said that such a magic item could be found in the dungeon, whether they could actually obtain one or not was a different matter.

「I understand, then we’ll accept it gratefully.」

Elena must have come to the same conclusion as Rei. She nodded slightly at Vosk.

「I see, in that case, please come to my residence tomorrow. I’ll give it to you then. I’d like to give it to you now if I could, but there are formalities that need to be taken care of. I also need to find out how much it’s worth.」

「……Can that be done in just a day?」

Vosk shrugged his shoulder and nodded at Rei, who asked without thinking.

「It’s true that it would normally take some time, but who do you think I am? Before that though, we have to settle this matter as soon as possible and report it to the Kingdom. It’s not a problem that can be solved by Exil alone.」

「Certainly true.」

Rei nodded at Vosk’s words.

The Church of Holy Light wasn’t a religion that originated in Exil. It had been spread by people dispatched from the Church of Holy Light.

If their presence was confirmed, the Kingdom had to do something to crack down on them.

(In that sense, it’s convenient that there are no such laws regarding freedom of religion, like in Japan.)

As Rei was thinking to himself, there was a sudden knock on the door.

「Anything happen?」

At Vosk’s question, the person who knocked on the door quickly answered.

「Vosk, a relative of the Marschel family has come……」

「What do they want?」

「That is, they want us to leave the residence.」

「……What?」

The response seemed to be unexpected for Vosk and he asked back without thinking.

Even Rei and Elena, who were next to him, seemed confused as they struggled to come to an understanding.

Considering what the Marschel family had done, it was a bad idea for members of the Marschel family to come out in such a high handed way.

(Or, did they not know heat Pree was doing at all? That’s why they couldn’t stand the presence of the Silva family in the Marschel residence.)

Rei thought to himself as he reached a reasonable conclusion.

After all, no matter how one thought of what Pree was doing, it would be very bad for Pree if anyone else found out. Would she go out of her way to tell her relatives what she was doing……Rei thought that impossible.

If Pree’s relatives in the Marschel family were working together with her, that would be a different story. But Rei didn’t think anyone would come shouting at them to leave the residence as soon as possible if they knew of what Pree had been doing.

「By the way, is it fine for them to call you out like that?」

「Hm? Ah. The Marschel family will probably collapse, but until that happens, we’ll need to keep them going. They might be a temporary family head who doesn’t know anything, but we still need to prepare for that.」

Vosk scratched his head at Rei’s words.

However, Elena, who had been listening in, spoke with a somewhat dubious expression.

「Pree’s relatives, from what I heard when I came to this mansion previously. They’re all children of distant relatives, right?」

「To be exact, the father of one of those children has come over. When Pree was alive, he stayed away from this mansion and only complied with Pree’s orders with the promise that his child would become the future head of the Marschel family. ……No, I don’t want to involve you guys any more than you already have been. I have to deal with him, but what do you plan to do?」

「I don’t want to get involved. I think I’ll look around a bit more to see if I can find any more evidence in the mansion. ……Is that fine with you, Rei?」

「Yeah.」

Like so, the three of them left the hidden room before splitting up.

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