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Chapter 125: Security is always a pain to deal with

The stairs sweep up around the tree trunk, leading up to a grand terrace with the main entrance to the tree-mansion.

There are guards stationed at the bottom, middle, and top of the staircase, as well as four standing in front of the main entrance.

Is this kind of security really necessary?

I mean, the tall staircase itself is totally already a deterrent for anyone to actually approach the house part.

… I guess this person is technically a diplomat, so this kind of security isn’t actually that ridiculous.

Seimei-san had about this many guards stationed at his house, too, when he was in Nyl City.

Although I haven’t seen how many guards there are inside this mansion, I guess.

… Whoa. There’s a lot of guards inside.

When we enter the mansion, an open ceiling foyer greeted us.

It’s covered in a material that looks like marble, but I don’t think it is.

There are at least eight guards inside, four lined up on each side of the doorway, and some more standing around the room.

They have swords sheathed at their hips, but the guards are carrying spears as their main weapon.

… I want to take a closer look.

Is that magic aura from an enchantment or the alloy…

“Please remove and leave all your weapons here. Also, leave your bags and baggage here”

Unexpectedly, we were forced to remove all of our weapons and stuff right at the door.

No, well, I mean, it’s a diplomat’s house, so I get it, but it’s certainly a bit annoying.

….Now that I think about it, Ragnall and Desmond-san were totally already expecting it, weren’t they?

So that’s why they didn’t bother bringing much with them.

Ragnall looks a little irked that he has to hand over his weapons, but he doesn’t bother putting up a fuss.

I mean, they’re nobles, basically, so, yeah.

Do or die, or whatever.

As for me…

Okay, yeah, I have a nodachi and a knife to hand over, but…

… What do I do about the stuff in my Inventory?

Um…

Yeah, I guess I’ll just pretend I don’t have anything.

I mean, it’s always good to hang onto some weapons, just in case, right?

Since I don’t have any intentions to use them, it should be fine.

Just so you know, it’s totally not because I think it’ll be a huge pain to unload my Inventory and then reload it.

… Seriously, I have a crap ton of stuff.

Like hell I’ll leave it all here just to have to put it all back later.

I wonder if it’d even all fit in the front foyer.

…. Hah! I mean… I don’t have many other weapons on me… not at all…

As the guards were doing a precursory scan on us for dangerous substances (using magic, of course) and confirming our identities (I don’t remember people so blatantly using Analyze on us before… probably because Unaffiliated territories are lawless zones so no one bothers), footsteps came down the arching stairway that led up to the second floor balcony.

When I looked up, a deep elf that was more ‘yellow’ than the ‘green’ feel that Desmond gives off, was coming down the stairs.

… His face totally looks like he’s looking down on us, huh?

“What a great combination. An exile, a heathen and … a human?”

… The guy was trying to sound condescending, but that last part kind of ruins it.

Looks like he couldn’t think of a bad moniker to call me – eh?

Wait. He could tell Ragnall’s not a human?

I mean, Ragnall’s nickname is the White Demon, but it’s not actually widespread that he’s a half-demon.
^{A ‘half-demon’ is anyone who has any amount of demon and human in them}

I mean, Ragnall is such a small part demon that it said ‘Human’ when I used Analyze4, so I’d assume that regular Analyze says the same.

But … why ‘heathen’?

Come to think of it, what were the gods like in this world again?

No one’s been able to tell us yet, so…

“… Sir Liadain. Is Her Excellency Maeve in?”

Desmond-san has a bit of a strained smile on his face as he talks to the guy.

“Her Excellency is finishing up other business and can’t be bothered to welcome you right now. She will be down in a little while.”

Desmond-san nods wordlessly as we’re taken into a room that looks like it’s supposed to entertain guests.

As we sit, a tray of glasses are brought in.

Instead of maids or maidservants, it’s guards doing the serving here too, huh?

N-not that I was looking forward to seeing maid elves or anything…

“Well, then. To our meeting.”

Liadain-san, the deep elf who ‘welcomed’ us, took a separate glass a guard had handed us, and offered a toast.

Is this… wine?

Maybe I can pretend to drink it.

I’m not that good with the bitter taste…

Suddenly, Ragnall grabbed my hand.

Clumsily.

Splash.

Ah.

Under the pressure from Ragnall’s hand, I accidentally spilled the glass.

Desmond and I look at Ragnall in confusion.

I mean, it’s Ragnall, who was chosen in Nyls due to his ability to handle nobles to be a bodyguard for Seimei-san.

For him to stop me from drinking to a toast, I assume there’s a reason.

“… … …”

Ragnall presses several curled fingers to his mouth.

… He’s suddenly quite pale.

His face is also quite serious, and he looks like he’s attempting not to throw up.

There’s no doubt he drank the wine, so… food poisoning?

No way, it wouldn’t work so fast.

So then…

“What is the meaning to this? It seems you’ve been keeping worse and worse company, Desmond. A heathen who can’t even drink what’s offered to him. How abysmally rude.”

I ignore Liadain as I lean in to hear Ragnall mutter,

“Mana … disperser.”

“Ah… mixed into it?”

Come to think of it, I didn’t bother analyzing the drink, since it was offered by a diplomat’s household, but perhaps that was a bad move after all.

I’m just not used to using Skills…

When I used on the liquid on the ground, it certainly does seem abnormally devoid of magic.

“… Just what have you done?”

Desmond-san’s voice drops considerably lower as he almost growls his words out.

Sir Liadain sniffs.

“Do you really think we’d allow a potentially dangerous subject like yourself approach Her Excellency without ensuring that you could do no harm? It’s only natural that we’d have you take a mana disperser for safety.”

“But normally one would inform us of the mana disperser!”

“It was properly diluted to ensure no harm to the body, so what’s the problem? Although it is unfortunate that an accident happened. Or are you questioning our methods?”

It doesn’t sound like the deep elf diplomat intended to hurt us or anything – it’s just Ragnall’s unusual constitution being a problem – but I’m also pretty annoyed that he didn’t inform us about it.

And he doesn’t sound apologetic in the slightest about Ragnall’s case.

Hey dude, this isn’t to the degree of accidentally forgetting to mention there’s beef broth in a vegetable soup for a vegetarian.

It’s more like neglecting to mention the chef spit in your food.

…Yeah, this really pisses me off, but I’ll let Desmond-san fight it out with Liadain-san for now.

I mean, I guess I should do something about Ragnall, right?

Aw man, he doesn’t look good at all.

But the reaction also isn’t as bad as the time from when Ragnall had a whole pouch of mana disperser thrown at him, even though he ingested it this time, so I think it would technically be more dangerous for him.

Is it because the amount is a lot less, or because a lot of his mana passages were healed by me… well it’s probably both, but he still looks pale as death and sick as a dog.

Luckily I asked Seimei to send some of Ragnall’s medicine over from Lor earlier.

And I forgot – I mean, I didn’t hand it over to Ragnall right after I got it, so it’s in my Inventory.

Even if Ragnall had any on him, all of our stuff got confiscated at security earlier.

“Right, here.”

I pull it out and hand it over.

… What? Don’t look that confused.

You usually don’t bother with the details, so just ignore them this time, too.

It looks like he had the same idea, since Ragnall just kind of brushed his confusion aside and took the vial of medicine.

Clang.

“Desmond. Just what is the meaning of inviting someone with an undetectable Storage ability?”

Achyaa… Mr. High-and-Mighty Deep Elf-sama looks pretty pissed for some reason, and all the guards have pointed their weapons at us in a circle.

… … … Oh, right.

Storage is a rare ability, and assassination attempts, blah blah blah.

Ugh, this guy really is pissing me off.

I’m obviously not trying to hide the fact that I have something like Storage (Inventory), okay?

It was just a pain in the ass to deal with… well, I guess its still a pain in the ass to deal with.

Chill out.

“… … That’s not the reason I brought her along. She’s an important witness-“

“Enough!”

Liadain-san swung his arm down and the guards advanced.

… Oh come on.

He’s being so hasty; it’s too obvious you were looking for an excuse to attack us.

I reach out to destroy the guards’ spears, but … yeah, the spears aren’t at fault, so I change my mind.

I’ll have you know, although I’m still learning how to cast spells through Light Magic, I’m very, very good at manipulating Light Magic.

And anything organic has passive Light Magic coursing through their veins, and Deep Elves have an especially large amount in them.

… Please stop thinking that I’ll do something that would make it into a splatter film.

There’s no way I’ll do some Northstar-like effect; I’m really bad with blood, okay?

Anyway, as the guards close in, I erect a non-attribute Barrier and throw out a large wave of Light Magic, similar to the Search spell, but this time I’m letting it affect its surroundings.

Or rather, I want it to.

As expected, except for Desmond, who’s behind the Barrier with Ragnall and me, all the deep elves in the front room stumble and fall to the ground.

It’s not like I made them unconscious or anything; with the wave of Light Magic at knee-level, it knocked into the guards’ knees and caused them to buckle a little.

Yeah, I kind of made an aoe tapping-behind-the-knee spell.

It feels a little like an extravagant schoolboy prank, but I don’t really care about the feelings of these guys, so who cares if it’s low-class?

I huff a little, glaring at the guards, before I say,

“… Desmond-san, do we have to speak with these guys? I’m pretty sure we could just brute-force our way in to wherever we’re going.”

… Am I beginning to think more like a muscle-head?

I should probably reflect on this.

As I think about that kind of thing, Desmond-san, with his hand over his face, heaves a sigh and says,

“Even if we entertain that kind of possibility, it’s not really that great for diplomacy…”

Oh, right.

Y’know, with the Guild Quest for the Forge looming ahead, I forgot about why we have to go to Deep Elf Territory.

Masaki always said I had a bad habit of only remembering the things I’m interested in…

Well, damn.

So, even though it was a prank-ish spell, I kind of just attacked the guards of the deep elf diplomat… R-ragnall?

Help?

As I was slightly panicking, trying to find a way out of the situation, all the guards suddenly stood up at the same time.

Oh, crap.

So we’re gonna fight now-?

BAM!

A loud thud resounded through the foyer, startling me, as all the guards kneel down, with an arm on their knee.

Uh…

All the deep elves have taken a knee, and Liadain-san very nearly prostrated himself, trembling on the ground.

I think it can’t be helped that I’m a bit confused.

“… What is going on?”

I asked.

“… How should I know? I’m a heathen, remember?”

Ragnall, who was already feeling a little better after taking his medicine, couldn’t help remarking sarcastically as he looked over the scene in confusion.

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<a/n: Sorry for the delays; I’ve been super melancholic, which makes writing a little difficult.
Over 7 years ago a friend of mine I grew up with killed a man and then shot himself. I don’t know if there’s anything quite like receiving that sort of news. It always seems to come out of nowhere, and at first the words don’t make sense. Then, half a minute later, it feels like all the sound got sucked out of the room and the floor falls out.
That first 5 minutes after you find out someone you knew relatively well died to violence is a sensation I don’t wish on anyone.
I got a bit of flack for mourning him, since he was definitely the ‘bad guy’ in the situation, but I think it’s okay to be sad about sad things. I feel grief for his victim and the bereaved, AND I feel grief for him having gotten to a point where this felt like an acceptable solution. I don’t understand why that has to be mutually exclusive… but I digress.

The reason this has hit me so hard again, so many years later, is because an in-law’s close relative was the victim in a very similar situation very recently.
I feel like this due to being a friend of ‘the perpetrator’. I can’t even imagine the emotions he’s going through right now.
And this is why I get really frustrated at surface-level comforting – because the fact that someone you cared for died a violent death won’t ‘get better’.
People have this idea that sadness is bad and you just need time to get over it, and it infuriates me that so many sympathy cards reflect that idea. The worst thing you could say is, “It will be fine, you’ll be able to move on some day,” seriously. Is that acceptable in the face of ANY recent loss?

Sure, it will take some time to ‘accept’ things, but sad things don’t stop being sad just because you accepted that it happened. Grief is still very real when I think about my friend. The only thing that fades over time is the burning demand for the answers to all the “why’s” you have – and an increase in the “could have’s” you think about.

… Of course, just because I’ve been through this doesn’t make it any easier to comfort my in-law. It kind of makes it worse, since the only thing I can think is, “Yeah, you’re never gonna stop feeling sad about this,” so in the end, I just didn’t say anything.>