Chapter 455 – Pride and Guilt

000

Rattle! If you think that the mirror has been shaken, the gold-rimmed surface of the mirror will glow and someone’s hand will come out.

The first to show up was Klaon, and if you peeked around, you could see that no one was there.

Looking out the window, it was still bright, and even considering the time spent inside, it felt like not much time had passed.

“Okay. I don’t think the old man is there either.”

As Cleon looked down and talked like that, if he pulled his body out completely, then put his hand her inside it again.

A small hand holding it.

Amelia is pushed up from below by Sasha, and is pulled up by Cleon.

She came out cautiously, holding a rope in one hand.

At the end of the rope, the store manager was still asleep.

Finally, Sasha jumps lightly, grabs her mirror with her own strength, and exits.

Cleon pulls the rope Amelia was holding to pull the store manager’s body out of the mirror.

“Thank you Mirror! With this, the Mirror World is stable again Mirror!”

“Goodbye, Mr. Admin Mirror.”

When Sasha waves her hand to the administrative mirror, who she expresses her gratitude.

The surface of the mirror, which shimmered like a ripple, changed back to normal glass, reflecting the three people.

“We’ll go back to camp and hear about the regressors. Schrödinger.”

“Okay… Instead, you’ll have to sew it properly when it arrives.”

Then, Schrödinger pokes her face out of Cleon’s pocket and after saying that with a worried expression, left the manager leaning against the counter.

“I’ll go and talk to the old man. The two of you will explain the circumstances when he wakes up here.”

When Cleon says that, Amelia and Sasha nod their heads.

Then, when he went out of the store with careful steps, an old man was sitting on the stairs next to the door, staring blankly at the street.

He looked at Cleon, probably hearing the door open with a squeaking sound.

“What? It rattled a little inside. Is it over?”

And, even though his eyes were a bit suspicious as he said that.

Cleon replied with a nod of his head.

“Yes. There are no more monsters. And… I also found the manager.”

“What!? You found him!?”

As if surprised by his words her, the owner of the building gets up from his seat and hurriedly climbs the stairs and looks beyond the door.

And as Cleon said, when he sees the man who appears to be the manager of the store passed out, his expression turns to disbelief.

“With this, the request is complete. As promised, the items inside… Hmm.

“Where the hell have you been…?”

As if the old man was really unexpected, he carefully asked Cleon, and Cleon kept his mouth shut for a while—

“…Hidden inside the store.”

Replied,

It was okay to talk about Lewis’s mirror and where he had been, but if it became known that there was a mirror that sucked in people, there was a risk that such a mirror would be dangerous and the artifact destroyed.

As for the management mirror, it is said that the door of the mirror is now closed, so people will not be sucked in so easily.

Furthermore, Schrödinger also erased the memory of being sucked into the man’s mirror, replacing it with the memory of actually hiding in the store.

If anything about Schrödinger was known, it would have been annoying in many ways.

“That guy… I searched all over the store in case I was hiding in the store… Nope… No, well. Anyway, it’s true that the guy who will pay is back, so I’m glad. ..”

The old man groaned with his arms folded in a complicated state of mind, then looked back at Cleon.

“…Anyway. It looks like you’ve completed the request as you said. Besides, even that guy came looking for you. You’ve done more than what I asked you to do.”

As if acknowledging Cleon a little, his tone and voice his became milder.

Cleon only responded by bowing her head toward the old man.

Among the many clients he has experienced so far, he shows an arrogant or hostile attitude toward Cleon’s race even before the commission begins.

Even though he accomplished his original purpose by safely completing Cleon’s request, there were those who did not hesitate to criticize or criticize.

Some would have endured, saying they would not pay, but such people are subject to strong sanctions at the guild office even if Cleon does not touch them.

Compared to such people, the old man in front of him had a slightly conservative mindset, but he was a person who could acknowledge others’ achievements.

“Okay. Promises are promises. Take one of the items in there… Nope… Just take it.”

If it was the original contract, it would have been that he had to buy it from the old man, but the old man looked a little worried and said that to Cleon.

“…Are you okay?”

“I told you. He did more than what he was told to do. If that’s the case, it would be right to give him more than he promised. Think of it as a reward for catching him.”

At the old man’s words, Cleon nodded his head.

The old man will wait outside, so he urges us to take our things and leave quickly.

Cleon said he would understand, and she returned to the store with a bitter smile at the old man’s grumbling her.

“Is that old man the owner of this building?”

When Schrödinger asked that question, sticking his face out of his pocket, Cleon nodded.

“Ah. Originally, I was going to buy one item as a condition of dealing with the monsters in this store.”

“Huh, that’s right. That old man said he was very relieved.”

“Well, since the manager of the building who ran away without paying the building tax was said to have been caught, isn’t it like that?

When Cleon raised his finger to Schrödinger, Schrödinger said ‘Stitch! Somme!’

“Mr. Cleon, can I buy a cage now?”

Sasha approaches Cleon, who is standing in front of the door and having a conversation with Schrödinger, with a half-worried and half-expected expression.

“Yeah. To be precise, he said he would just give it to you. He said it was a reward for bringing back this man.”

When Cleon answered with a smile, Sasha’s face brightened up at once.

“It’s nice, Sasha.”

“Yes!”

If Amelia talks to Sasha like that, and Sasha replies energetically.

“Kuh… Ugh… This is…”

At that time, the store manager who had fainted at the counter slowly opened her eyes.

“Ah. He woke up, that guy.”

When Schrödinger mutters that, he quickly hides in his pocket.

Instead of the original memory, it was planted with the memory of hiding in the store and trying to escape after being caught by Cleon.

If the image of Schrödinger himself, who manipulated his memory of him, was visible, the suggestion could be weakened.

“Are you awake?”

“You, you! The guy who stopped me from running away earlier!”

“… Okay.”

To be precise, Cleon did not have a good impression of this man who was connected to the regressor.

“You know… Certainly, a clan adventurer of a dark horse named Cleon… Why are you here!”

“… I know your true identity. Hughes, Marquis Woodnocker’s underling—or is he the one who worked with the regressor?”

“Kuh…!”

Cleon’s guess and point were correct, but the man could not hide his bewilderment when he heard Hughes’ name from Cleon.

“Yeah… After you made him die, I was in trouble! Until now, I made a living by acting as a middleman selling relics through the connections he introduced…!”

“Wow…”

When Sasha sees her store owner proudly saying that, she looks at him with a slightly flustered face.

Cleon also looks at the man with a cold expression.

“The objects you are dealing with are not mere stolen goods. They are dangerous objects that can lead to dire situations if handled incorrectly.”

Haha!? Do you think nobles don’t know that? Everyone buys it even if they know it!”

The man replies to Cleon as if he has done something wrong.

If Cleon shook his head with a face that said there was nothing more to hear.

Amelia asks him.

“Are you from the kingdom?”

“What? That, but… Wait. Your face…?”

The man sees Amelia’s face her as he approaches and opens her eyes wide in surprise as if he has recognized who she is her.

“…Lady, you don’t have to deal with it.”

Cleon quickly intervened and tried to cover her face her, but Amelia shook her head.

“No.”

Amelia speaks a little emphatically, then she talks as she looks at the man.

“What you have done is a problem that creates danger not only to the kingdom but also to other neighboring countries, and if done wrong, can lead to national disputes. That, for the sake of profit, to the nobles… For you, the pride of dealing with goods as a merchant is Aren’t you!”

“Even if you tell me that… ! I was just doing what I was told to do! It was the Marquis who was dealing with the regressors! Not me!”

Squash! A voice rang out.

It was the result of Amelia’s palm her slapping the man’s cheek her.

10 year old girl.

Even if she does n’t use the power of her Spirit of her, that power is a bit on the strong side compared to girls her age of her.

The man’s head roared back with a strong shock.

“Should you be ashamed! That you didn’t do anything even though you knew you were involved in something wrong!”

As Amelia’s angry voice echoes inside her shop her, Cleon and Sasha look at her with their startled faces.

“…Some of the money you earned, must have gone to the Marquis Hughes. And, it must have also flowed to the regressors. …What you have done is, in the end, to fund those who pose a danger to the world. It helps to provide that.”

“The reason why I set up a shop in a place far away from the capital of the kingdom is to avoid prying eyes from within the kingdom.”

At Cleon’s words, the man stared blankly at the two with his hand on the cheek that was hit.

“…Well, if you don’t have any money left, the old man will take care of you either way.”

“Now, wait. Old man? What-“

When the man got up and tried to grab Amelia, who was nearby, Cleon quickly drove a lightning bolt through him.

When the man, knocked out once more by mana shock, loses his strength and collapses, Cleon looks at him for a moment and then turns away.

“Let’s go, Amelia. Sasha. We can take the cage and go.”

“…Yes.”

At Cleon’s words, Amelia nodded her head, and Sasha followed suit.

Schrödinger slipped his face out, looked at the man again, and returned to Cleon’s pocket.

001

When the three + a doll returned to camp, the sun was slowly beginning to set over the horizon.

Under the sky dyed orange, Quon came out of the camp to greet the group, and when he saw the cage loaded on the wagon attached to the wagon, he made a surprised face.

“Big, big… Griffon eggs are big, but we need ones that big too…”

“Because it’s for the beast.”

Cleon gets off the carriage and carefully carries Sasha on his back.

She must be exhausted in many ways, so she thought it would be best to rest early today.

“Amelia.”

And on her way back, when I called Amelia’s name her, who had a slightly dark face, she slowly looked back at Cleon.

“…It’s okay?”

“Yes. …It’s okay. If possible, it would have been better to hand it over to the Kingdom Army.”

“…I’ve got his client list. The day will come when I can use this later.”

Cleon said as she looked at the paper she was holding in her hand.

It was the documents of customers that Cleon found after rummaging through her store before leaving.

The man, knowing how big his customers are, did he keep it in a conspicuous place?

It was a story that made me sigh, but the names of nobles and merchants were written in it.

Some of them were people with the word ‘Chalderis’ in their surnames – in other words, they were members of the royal family.

Such a list was found in a general store in a rural town in an oriental country.

“I-…”

Amelia tries to say something of her own, but she pauses and shakes her head.

And she got off the carriage with a wry smile on her face.

“I’m sorry, Cleon. I’m worried about you.”

“A child of Amelia’s age is free to worry about her grown-ups of her, and she will always do so.”

When Cleon talks playfully, Amelia puffs out her cheeks a little, then she smiles and nods her head.

“Then, I’ll go wash up first.”

She greets Cleon with a small nod and heads to the ensuite shower room near the tent.

“Here, since there is no bathroom, isn’t it a bit inconvenient to only have a shower?”

When Cleon follows Amelia with her eyes and talks to Quon, what will Quon do? And tilts her head.

“Ah- haha. Is that so? I don’t know. Even when I was in Elesia, since the dorm was like a dorm, there were a lot of times I only showered. Rather, wouldn’t Layla be uncomfortable because she Couldn’t take a bath? That medicated bathtub.”

“…Ah, is that so?”

Cleon also smiled as if he agreed with Quon’s words.

“..I’ll set up the cage, so can you move Quon to the bed?”

“Yeah. All right. Layla and Mr. Artis are watching Al right now.”

If Quon, who carefully handed her Sasha over from Cleon, replied that he would understand, Cleon also spoke to her Schrödinger in her pocket as she left the carriage.

“Schrodinger. The people I’m going to meet from now on… Are a bit dangerous. They might try to dissect you as soon as they see you.”

“What!? Do I have to meet those guys!”

When Schrödinger became frightened at once and went into his pocket her and refused to come out, Cleon continued to speak.

“…But, if you know about the regressors and tell them directly that you will hand over the information, you will be able to escape the crisis.”

“Oh, ow… Ok. But, stitching my body…”

“Sorry, but after that.”

Saying that, Cleon carefully lowered the cage from the wagon to the ground and headed for the investigation headquarters camp where Layla and Artis were to be.

Carefully lift the tent that replaces the entrance and go inside –

“Okay! That angle, that angle! No, it’s one degree to the right! Get it straight!”

“Oops, sorry! Lila Chief”

“What are you doing standing there! Why is the setting this way!

“Hee! I’m sorry Chief!”

Standing on a chair, he was screaming at the staff of another research camp.

What are the busy staff doing?

It caught my eye that the people of the research camp were all clinging to the griffon’s egg and creating some kind of device around it.

“…Chief?”
If Cleon borrows her title from her from the investigation team that called her and voices her.

Layla looks back at Cleon as she stands on top of her chair.

“What! Did you come back soon, Cleon?”

For some reason, she saw Lila looking down at her with her sunglasses in her eyes.

“Why are you called Chief?”

“Don’t you know? I was called that because I was just giving orders.”
Apparently, it seemed that Layla’s demon-like intimidation began to treat them as superiors without realizing it.

Cleon sighs, looks at the griffon egg again, and then asks Lyla a question.

“…What are you doing?”

“It took some time until excavation permission was issued. I was boosting the griffon’s eggs so that a healthier individual could be born.”

“…Is that possible?”

In response to Cleon’s question, Layla jumps down from her chair and talks.

“Of course. Some creatures – especially if it’s a demon beast. The environment before birth is also very important. What I’m doing right now is making an artificial elemental cross, and making a magic tool that can increase magic power absorption even in an egg state. Oh, by the way, what about Cage?”

“Outside. I set it up next to our tent. …More than that, I have something to tell you. What about Artis?”

“There.”

When Cleon asks where Artis is, Lyla points to one side.

Then, there, Attis was leisurely eating noodles.

“…Their men are being taken care of by Lyla, and they are at peace.”

“What. I’m doing the job for you.”

Lila shrugs her shoulders and tells her staff.

“For the rest, report the blueprints. I’ll talk to Cleon and come back. Finish up to step 8.”

“Yes Chief!”

Tension, respect, and loyalty are evident in their voices, so Cleon shakes his head and goes with Layla to where Artis is.

“You’re back, Cleon. How’s Miss Descartes?”

After drinking the noodle soup, Artis let out a warm breath and looked up at Cleon with half-open eyes and asked.

It wasn’t her expression of her or her full smile of her, but she seemed to be expecting Cleon’s reaction to her somewhere.

“No big deal. I heard about the Descartes family.”

When Cleon deliberately didn’t want to show a big reaction, she smirked and kissed her chin.

“Sheesh, that’s not funny.”

“And… The shop you bought the cage you recommended.”

“Ah, there. There are many mysterious artifacts, right?”

“…Did you know the identity of that store?”

At Cleon’s question, she whistles once.

“I could have done something about it because I reported it, but he’s a member of the Kingdom. Then it would be difficult for the East to intervene. Besides, he’s a ‘protected guy’ right? That guy.”

“…”

Cleon sighed at her words and put her hand in her pocket.

Then, he carefully put Schrödinger’s stitches on his hands so that they would n’t burst and showed them to the two.

“Hmm…? What is that guy? A familiar?”

When Layla, seeing Cleon in her hand her, first shows her interest her and takes her her face her-

“No. This sense is like a homunculus, but… The core is a bit heterogeneous.”

Artis also adjusts his glasses as if he is interested in Schrödinger’s figure.

“Now, wait.”

And, when Schrödinger said that and tried to step back, the faces of Laila and Artis simultaneously ‘smirked’ and the corners of their mouths went up.

“Oh my gosh! What a cute doll! Cleon, is this a gift?”

“I wonder what’s inside! I want to take it out~”

Layla and Artis reach for Schrödinger at the same time, but Cleon stops them.

“…Wait. This guy is not your toy.”

“What?”

“Cheet.”

Cleon sighs at the answer of the two and continues.

“…This guy is a regressor – a homunculus created by Maxwell. However, the core is a useful one made for something else a little more anciently. …To give us useful information about the regressors. I promise, right? Schrödinger.”

“Yes, yes, ladies. I am protected by this scary older brother. Don’t even think about touching me!”

Layla and Artis looked at the cat doll clinging to Cleonon’s arm and answering while trembling.

And then-

“Yes-“

“All right-“

Seeing the slow reply, Cleon clicked his tongue inwardly.

Because I felt like I never meant to do that.

“…Schrödinger. Then, tell me. What you know about regressors.”

“Ah, ah… Ok.”

At Cleon’s request, Schrödinger nodded lightly and opened his mouth to the three of them.

Will the information inside him be useful to the Cleons?

Until I opened the lid, I couldn’t judge it perfectly yet.