Chapter 55

"Hehe, why are you so surprised? You look like you've just met your favorite Outer God."

Right.

The joy of seeing Agartha and the satisfaction of seeing her seemingly improved state were completely stripped away by that one comment of hers.

Seeing her still irritating remarks, I thought that whether she improved or not, Agartha was still Agartha.

"Ow, why are you hitting me!"

"Because I'm glad to see you."

"What kind of person hits others because they're glad to see them!"

"Here. Ah, I'm so glad. Would you like to take one more hit?"

"Eek, he's a woman abuser following his attempted rape of an Outer God!"

As Agartha naturally slandered me again, I raised my fist high, and she pretended to cower, covering her head with her hands.

"Sigh, you're still the same."

"Of course. They say people only change suddenly when they die, right?"

"Even the talkative part."

"...Even Mr. Tanton is doing this?!"

If the Hunter was here too, we could have given her a proper verbal bombardment.

It's a bit of a shame.

"You seem to be doing well. What were you doing here?"

"Hm? I told you before. I said I'd be active in the underworld."

Agartha said this with a confident smile.

"When Mr. Tanton defeated the Greater Outer God called the Dragon Slayer, I also managed to secure a position here! That's what I mean."

"...Has that news already spread this far?"

"There's no news the underworld doesn't know. We even know the color of the underwear Mr. Tanton is wearing right now."

"...Don't know such things, you perverted thief!"

Satisfied with my reaction, Agartha burst into laughter.

"Haha, it's a joke."

"...Is it?"

"Of course, I could find out if I wanted to."

"Don't try to find out!"

Why are you so obsessed with my underwear!

Has her long life as a thief messed up her head somehow?

"Haha, you can think of us as a group that doesn't lack any information. If we set our minds to it, we can find out anything quickly."

...Just how amazing a place did this person get into?

I might have saved an incredibly big shot.

Meanwhile, throughout our conversation, the arm that should have been gone but was clearly moving kept bothering me.

"By the way, how did you get that arm...?"

"Oh, this?"

Agartha quickly pulled back the clothes covering it at my words.

And I saw it.

A form that seemed to be made only of bones, without a single piece of flesh.

"Aaah!"

"...Why are you so surprised? It's just a prosthetic, a prosthetic."

"Pro... sthetic?"

Even after hearing Agartha's answer, I didn't want to look at it.

Bones are creepy!

But if I acted like a coward here again, I could predict how much Agartha would tease me, so I slowly turned my gaze towards the prosthetic.

And I could understand why Agartha asked why I was so surprised.

What I thought were bones was just a structure made of strong iron.

What looked disgustingly like tendons were just strings connecting each joint.

These strings all seemed to go into Agartha's shoulder.

"I used a bit of an Outer God's fragment for the joint implementation. After all, while muscles might be manageable, nerves aren't something that can be handled by human power!"

Outer God fragment, amazing.

How is it so versatile?

At this rate, I was starting to wonder if the Knight Order's hunting of Outer Gods might have hidden business purposes.

"It was hard to get this too. It's been about a week since I got this implant? Before that, my position wasn't that high, so everyone refused to give it to me. Phew, I thought I was going to die of inconvenience."

Well, it looked like a procedure that would cost an astronomical amount.

Above all, being a fragment of an Outer God, there probably wasn't much stock.

"...I'm glad. I was worried."

"Hmm? What's this, Mr. Tanton? You were worried about me? Do you perhaps still have lingering feelings for me?"

"Well, yeah. Who would like to see their first companion end up like that?"

I just gave a formal answer, but for some reason, Agartha was making the same expression she had when I accidentally fell on top of her in the underground prison.

Why, did I say something wrong again?

"...If you hadn't added that last part, I might have misunderstood."

I just tilted my head, looking at Agartha whose face had subtly reddened.

I didn't understand what there was to misunderstand.

I just let it go.

As we chatted, we arrived at a tea house in the market street.

Agartha ordered an espresso, I got a chocolate drink, and I bought Asti a fruit drink before we sat down.

I thought Western people drank espresso, but Agartha immediately brought a large cup and started mixing it with water.

"Huh?"

"Who has time to drink hot, bitter coffee? You need to cool it down quickly and drink it fast."

...I didn't expect her to even know the definition of an Americano.

I had to give her high marks for this part.

We each took a sip of our drinks and caught our breath.

It had been a while since a moment of silence wasn't uncomfortable.

"By the way, is being an information broker all you've achieved?"

"Of course not. I have quite a high position. Hmm, I can't directly tell you what I do, but to explain it in an easy-to-understand way, it's like a high-ranking commander? I might not be in the top 20, but I'm in a position that's free from such people, you know?"

You've already climbed that high?

How hard did you work?

Maybe like how I was offered the position of 'Observer' after catching something great, Agartha might have had a similar concept.

"Then shouldn't you not be slacking off here?"

"S-Slacking off? I heard Mr. Tanton was coming here, so I cleared my schedule to see your face after a long time..."

Seeing Agartha suddenly make a sad expression and cover her mouth with both hands, I felt an inexplicable anger building up.

The so-called 'Agartha Response Signal' told me that this was definitely a lie.

"Your lies are still as smooth as ever."

"...Tch, did I get caught?"

See that?

She immediately reveals her true intentions.

"But it's true that I wanted to see Mr. Tanton. I came to brag about how great I've become, and since I happened to have free time today, I also came to check if my subordinates are working well.

We're still an underground prison party even if we're apart, right?"

Agartha said this with a grin.

A high position, huh.

It certainly seemed that buying information from Agartha now would be much more beneficial than getting shoddy information from other brokers.

It's also good that I can ask comfortably due to our acquaintance.

"By the way, who is that child next to you?"

"Ah, this child is..."

As I was about to speak first, Asti suddenly raised her head.

"I am Master's maid."

...It seems Asti's social burial operation wasn't over yet.

As if to prove this, Agartha's expression was changing comically.

"M-Mr. Tanton."

"It's not like that."

"Now you've even gone as far as slavery..."

"I said it's not like that."

"Our Master isn't such a bad person."

Asti said this, and then suddenly lowered her gaze and started speaking in a mumbling voice.

"...He just 'punishes' me..."

"I told you to stop milking that!"

"Wow."

Agartha's pure amazement burst out, and soon the voice I heard made me incredibly annoyed.

"So now you're even thinking about that kind of play."

"Argh!"

The despair that overcame me when I realized no one was on my side even after making such a despairing sound was considerable.

***

"So what information do you want to know? Since we're acquainted, Mr. Tanton, I'll count our tea time as payment."

I smiled in response to Agartha's exceptional offer, expressing my gratitude.

From now on, it was better to have fewer people knowing about this.

Which means it would be better if Asti wasn't in the same place too.

"Asti."

"Yes."

"You see where the kids are playing over there? Go play there for a bit."

"Okay."

I was grateful that Asti went straight to the children's play area without any back talk.

Agartha raised a question mark seeing my actions.

"What do you want to ask that you're even sending that little one away?"

"...A murder case."

I threw the main point directly at Agartha, feeling there was no need to beat around the bush.

Realizing it wasn't a light topic, Agartha's expression also became very serious.

Feeling the atmosphere was set, I started talking.

"Have there been any recent murder cases involving young children like Asti?"

I roughly knew that there was something like an Outer God in Asti's background.

Plus, Asti's lack of surprise when seeing Ria.

And the Gardener mentioning 'her' when looking at Ria.

I had a thought, though it might be a stretch, that Asti and Ria might both be related to 'her'.

Actually, I wanted to ask right away when she mentioned 'Mother' earlier, but I held back in case it unnecessarily complicated things.

In response to my question, Agartha lowered her head and exhaled deeply, as if lost in thought.

Moving her fingers back and forth as if organizing her thoughts, Agartha nodded and spoke.

"...This is information that even our side treats as confidential."

"Is there no way to know?"

At my question, Agartha twisted her lips once and then smiled.

"I'll trust you and tell you because Mr. Tanton doesn't seem like the type to go around saying strange things. But you absolutely must not tell anyone else, okay? Especially people like the Imperial Princess or the Vice Captain."

"...Yes."

Only after getting a firm confirmation did Agartha nod and open her mouth.

"In Vandre Village, and in the countryside near the walls of Rondan. There are stories of some fallen nobles who bought slaves from illegal slave traders being murdered. The problem is that some scammers who were doing slave trade under our name also sold such children. According to eyewitness accounts... it's as if these children wanted their so-called masters to suffer, they didn't kill them at once but repeatedly mutilated each body part, and only stabbed the neck when they were about to die. Moreover, it seemed that no one could resist these children. I wonder how strong they must be for such things to happen."

Illegal slave traders, murder, mutilation.

And wanting the target to suffer?

Plus, an incredibly strong physique unlike a child's.

I could see that some of the information overlapped significantly with Asti.

"Were there no peculiar points?"

"Well. Maybe the fact that the children who killed their targets in this way disappeared so thoroughly afterwards that they couldn't even be traced. Even children who looked exactly the same didn't seem to remember anything about it. No, it's more like their memories were erased."

The red aura Asti showed.

I asked hoping there might be some content related to that, but unfortunately, there wasn't.

But I was able to gain one more piece of information.

'Assassination maids' who have completed their mission either have their memories erased by someone or simply disappear.

It might seem insignificant, but these small details are often important.

"But why? Did the Knight Order give another order to catch something?"

"No, that's not it... It's just something I wanted to look into personally."

"Ah, I see."

The reason it was treated as confidential by Agartha's backers seemed to be because slave traders from their group were involved.

Well, it wasn't really my business, so I'd probably forget about it soon.

"Well, that's about all I know related to that. Was it helpful?"

"Yes, to some extent."

Anyway, just knowing that there are beings like Asti was enough information to make some progress.

Based on this information, I could go straight to the library and look for materials about Outer Gods.

I guess it's been resolved to some extent for now.

***

Inside the tea house where Agartha and Tanton were talking.

There was someone carefully observing this while hiding behind a pillar.

It was a girl wearing a maid outfit, with a red aura mysteriously flowing from the back of her head.

"...It seems so. Yes."

As if talking to someone, the girl who had been muttering nodded once and withdrew the red aura.

"...I understand. Everything is according to your will."

The girl then calmly walked into a dark alley as if nothing had happened.

***

"And is there anything else you want to ask? Feel free to ask. Opportunities like this are rare."

And other things...

There's no point in bringing up the Recorder since even the Gardener didn't know much, so Agartha probably wouldn't know either.

Ah, right.

"I'm curious about something regarding the Dragon Slayer."

"Ah! I just imported all the related information recently. Your timing is good, Mr. Tanton."

Agartha said, pointing at me with her hand shaped like a gun.

But what is she planning to do with such information?

Is it just for selling information?

It probably won't do me any good to know.

"You know, the Dragon Slayer's horns?"

"Yes."

"What do they mean to the Dragon Slayer?"

"'What they mean' is too broad."

"For example, touching the horns."

After hearing my words, Agartha spat out the coffee she was holding in her mouth onto the floor.

Fortunately, it didn't splash on my clothes, but my reflexes automatically made me hit my knee on the table.

"Ow, why did you suddenly do that!"

"The horns, you did what?"

"Grabbing or touching the horns, that kind of thing."

Agartha, still not calmed down, kept hitting her chest with her fist.

A waiter came over to ask if everything was okay, cleaned the floor, and left before she opened her mouth.

"Mr. Tanton."

"Yes."

"What do you think it means to put a ring on someone's ring finger?"

"Hmm. It means a proposal to marry, right?"

Then Agartha's face changed to a subtle expression mixing embarrassment and amusement.

"Roughly speaking, grabbing and touching a dragon's horns is like putting a ring on the ring finger while touching and exciting your lover's body in various ways."

...Pardon?