When Mordred woke up, he saw that Eris was still asleep, snuggled to his side with a happy smile. It seemed she had a good dream.
He gently smiled and got up carefully while he avoided waking her up.
That's when he noticed that at the table of the room there were two plates of food.
He slowly got up and sat down on a sofa to fill his grumbling stomach first.
While eating, he thought of Hitogami's advice.
It seemed that Hitogami wanted him to hurry and not spend much time in the Sky Fortress.
And so, should he leave right away?
He didn't want to allow things to play out the way Hitogami wants and he might also miss out on meeting Orsted if he did leave early.
However, for the time being it seemed that he should purposefully avoid Orsted and make it appear to Hitogami as if he's following his advice faithfully so far. It was all in order to first find all the people affected by the Mana Calamity.
Eris was already saved, so the worst was out of the way. However, Hilda, Philip, Lilia, Aisha, Zenith and Norn were still not found.
And there were also Ghislaine and Hector, although he didn't particularly worry about them because of their strength.
In relation to all this, it's very possible that Kishirika Kishirisu had not resurrected yet, so he might not be able to rely on her to find them.
While pretending to be hooked by Hitogami's plot, he would make use of him to find everyone.
Eris was already safe and sound, so his worst worry had passed.
Next, he would clear the Teleportation Labyrinth to get the Anti-Magic Scale of the Manatite Hydra inside. With this, any trap using Barrier Magic should lose all meaning before him.
No matter what kind of trap Hitogami sets up in Wyvern or anywhere else, they would become half as effective with no Barrier Magic able to suppress his Gravity Magic.
Benedicte was already in Hitogami's hands, so whether he went there sooner or later made no difference. In fact, she was being protected by Hitogami for the time being as long as he wanted him to continue following his advice…
After quietly eating his meal, Mordred left his room.
In the corridor, he quietly spoke to the air, "Hello… Can someone bring me to Lord Perugius?"
As Mordred walked alongside the corridor for a few seconds, Arumanfi suddenly appeared in front of him from the light.
After a brief exchange, Arumanfi disappeared, just to return a dozen seconds later.
Following that, Mordred was led to the Audience Room.
The giant silver doors opened before him and Perugius could be seen sitting majestically on the throne in the center. He still wore his armor, as if prepared for battle at any moment.
Many familiars were stationed before him, ready to follow his orders.
"I heard you wanted to see me," said Perugius.
"Yes. I have a request."
Hearing this, Perugius frowned and said, "Just don't tell me you want my help in the succession for the throne."
Mordred saw that Perugius was very displeased with the thought. "Hm? No. I can manage that myself."
"Then what do you want?"
Just like that of Sauros, it was a look that would make anyone hesitate with making their request.
Mordred said honestly, "I need Arumanfi's help in bringing me something from another country."
"Is that all? It's a small matter. Is there anything else?" Perugius agreed, surprisingly easily, or not.
"Yes. I would like to leave Eris in a safe place while I set off. I would be grateful if I could you take care of her when I'm gone."
"Where are you going?"
"To save people close to me," said Mordred. "I met a strange man in my dreams who calls himself the God of Humans – Hitogami. He told me where Eris was and I managed to save her thanks to his advice from a perverted nobleman. I can't say he can be trusted, but I have no choice but to go where he tells me to."
Perugius slightly wrinkled his forehead. "The Human God Hitogami?... I've heard that name before, but I don't know much about him. Since you have made up your mind, I will not stop you. You can rest assured. Your friend will be safe here."
"Thank you very much." Mordred bowed deeply to express his gratitude. He then looked up. "I'm glad I can leave Eris here in the Sky Fortress. I only want to apologize in advance... She is quite blunt and sometimes rude. I hope you can forgive her."
"Is that so? I'll keep it in mind." Perugius faintly smiled, seeming amused.
After all this, Mordred remained in place and didn't leave yet.
"What is it?" Asked Perugius.
"It's… It's rude of me to ask, but I'm going to explore a labyrinth. Do you maybe have something that could help?"
Perugius stared at him. "Which labyrinth?"
"Teleportation Labyrinth in Rapan," Mordred said.
"Hmm…" Perugius hummed for a while looking at him.
Mordred lowered his head. He knew that he was making excessive requests, but he was aware just how dark it was in the labyrinth and knew that Perugius had the lamp spirits scrolls that should help, among other things..
Perugius then said, "I have some things that could be useful. Sylvaril, give him a light spirit scroll and a fitting book on Spirit Summoning Magic."
"As you wish, Lord Perugius," said Sylvaril.
Mordred lowered his head again. "Thank you!"
"I'm only lending you those. You'll have to return them later and tell me how your exploration went. There's also no guarantee you'll have success with Spirit Summoning Magic."
"Yes. I understand."
Mordred already knew that Perugius was a generous person, but he was surprised to see how he did not even ask him for a favor in return.
Despite that, Mordred swore that he'd still try to repay him somehow. It might be that Perugius wanted to test his character this way as well.
"Bringing you to the Sky Fortress required an absurd amount of Magical Power, so I have high expectations for you."
After bidding Perugius farewell and leaving the Audience Room, Mordred explained to Arumanfi the details of the book that he needed.
Arumanfi disappeared, then two minutes later returned with the book in hand.
Mordred returned to his room.
At that time, it was around 18:00. Even if he immediately set off for Shirone, there was little he could accomplish before nighttime.
He decided it was better if he took some time to rest and skimmed through the book first, then set off in the early morning.
He sat down at the desk of his room and turned on a Magic Tool lamp, beginning to read the book on the Teleportation Labyrinth.
Some time later, Arumanfi brought him a scroll and another book.
The second book was on Summoning Magic while the scroll could be repeatedly used to summon a light spirit that follows you around.
"Thank you."
At one point, Eris slowly woke up. After eating her meal, she went back to her room.
After skimming through the book on the Teleportation Labyrinth, Mordred then skimmed through the book on Summoning Magic.
Not long later, he was slightly blown away.
The information in this book was all new to him, something that he had a chance of seeing before in Wyvern!
There were several spells there ranging from Elementary to Advanced rank, along with functional Magic Scrolls used to invoke them.
Unfortunately, as Mordred read, the power of the summoned spirits depended on the Magic Circle while the injected amount of Magic Power only increased their lifespan. This meant that he couldn't make them stronger beyond their limits.
Despite that, he felt very glad to finally learn more about Spirit Summoning Magic.
Around that time, Mordred was approached by Sylvaril, of the male servants of Perugius, offering to bring him to a bathing room.
"Lord Perugius likes cleanliness. A level of hygiene is necessary to stay in the Sky Fortress," said the man.
Having sweated quite a lot in Begaritt and in the last two days, Mordred didn't decline and took a shower.
After he returned, a while later Eris visited him again.
This time she was wearing a night-gown and looked to have also taken a bath, her hair still wet. She timidly snuck into his room just like before.
"Mordred…" Eris muttered, looking even more embarrassed and shy than before.
"Yeah?..."
"Can I sleep with you?" She asked quietly.
"What?" Mordred was stunned for a moment, before he realized that Eris must be simply feeling lonely or perhaps worried, and even scared about what happened recently. He smiled sympathetically and replied, "Oh, okay… If you want to."
"Thanks…" Eris looked relieved. "But it's just sleeping, right?"
"Ah, yes, of course."
Mordred saw Eris look relieved again.
He frowned. What did she expect?!
Like this, Mordred and Eris slept together in the soft feather bed of the Sky Fortress.
But it was just sleeping, nothing else.
The two began at opposite ends of the large bed, but when Mordred woke up at night, he noticed Eris hugging him tightly as if he was her body pillow. He knew that Eris had a plush toy that she liked to sleep with, so he probably took its place.
In the early morning, Mordred wrote a letter, left it there and immediately set off without breakfast.
…
After bidding his farewell, Mordred leaped up directly from the floating fortress and flew south-west.
He flew in a straight line toward Shirone.
In a zero gravity field, he surrounded himself in Invisible Air to avoid the air friction and sent out several powerful bursts of Magic Power to quickly reach the speed of thousands kilometers per hour, blitzing through the air.
He crossed the Red Dragon Mountain range, flew over the Conflict Zone and eventually reached the sea.
Turning back, he returned to the Shirone Kingdom and located its capital city - Ratakia.
He landed in the central square of Ratakia without caring about attracting attention, as it didn't matter anymore at this point.
He then came straight to the Adventurer's Guild.
After thinking things through, he didn't approach the clerk and instead publicly announced that he will give a gold coin to whoever brings him to Geese Nukadia.
This caused a large commotion as many adventurers volunteered, but they backed off when a big and muscular bearded man stepped out.
The other adventurers called the man: Fire Ax.
True to his nickname, there was a large ax strapped to the man's back; it was probably a magic item.
Outside the guild's building, the large man asked Mordred, "Did that Geese guy offend you?"
Mordred shook his head. "No, I only need a thief and I had someone recommend him."
"You want him as a thief?... Well, I don't quite care what your reasons are. First, the gold."
Fire Ax stopped and showed his palm, signalling he won't go any further without receiving his payment in advice.
Mordred uncaringly took out a Shirone gold coin from his pouch and gave it to the man.
Fire Ax was slightly surprised. "Boy, are you not afraid I'll cheat you?"
"... If you end up wasting my time, you'll regret it."
"Eh?" The man was stunned. He then smiled. "You're interesting, kid. Well, I don't care either way, so I'll lead you to where that Geese guy usually drinks."
Mordred followed the man's lead.
…
Not long ago.
In one of the taverns, a man with a monkey-like face was sitting with another man while drinking beer.
It was Geese Nukadia.
The reason why Geese came to Shirone was because there were many unexplored labyrinths around here.
"If not for me noticing that trap, our entire party would be wiped out. I tell you, I'm the best thief around!" Geese bragged.
The other man looked at him skeptically. "Sure, sure. You're the best. But what if you get attacked in the rear? You can't wear Battle Aura and can't use Magic. You're just a dead weight. Without Battle Aura, you can't even detect traps properly. Sorry, but we can't take a dead weight into a Labyrinth."
The man left, with another high-ranking party declining Geese.
"Damn it!"
Geese cursed and then forcefully drunk all the beer in his mug to drink away his troubles.
As an Adventurer, he was S-rank. He could do anything: mapping, logistics, cooking, translation, helping to make plans, you name it…
It is only that he could not fight.
For a typical S-rank or A-rank party, it was a deal breaker. They couldn't afford to protect a weak guy like him.
"Tsk." Geese clicked his tongue.
Back in the day, they had Ghislaine, with her sharp instincts and a Demon Eye detecting enemies and traps in advance. She was a Sword Saint, so there wasn't a monster she couldn't kill.
There was also Paul, weaker, but still with outstanding combat strength nonetheless.
Then, Elinalise and Tallhand filled the gaps, acting as a tank and rear guard, while Zenith provided healing when necessary.
Overall, their team's combat strength was so high that there was no problem with Geese being one of them, and he did everything else for them in turn.
'Damn. These were the good times...'
Geese let out a sigh with a melancholic look.
Despite being S-rank, he struggled to find a job ever since Paul decided to marry Zenith and the two left the party.
Their team fell apart.
At the present time, Geese crawled out from his room in the morning and ordered a cheap beer to drown his worries. He'd drink in the morning, then gamble at night.
As he just began drinking, a kid in expensive-looking armor approached him.
"Are you Geese Nukadia?"
Geese looked at the boy that was maybe 10 years old. "What? Who are you, kid? Did you perhaps hear stories of great Geese and want to become an S-rank Adventurer like me?"
Mordred heard this and chuckled. "In your dreams. I'm here because someone recommended you as a thief."
"Someone recommended me? Who was that?"
"You don't need to know." Mordred sat down at the table, opposite Geese. He then said, "I have a party with a King-rank warrior and a powerful magician. Our goal is an S-rank Labyrinth. We only need a thief skilled at mapping."
Geese looked interested, but he still asked, "Hm? Boy, are you a part of that team? How old are you?"
"Do you look down on me because I look like a child? I'm not sure if you heard of me. I'm the 16th Prince of Kingdragon."
"The 16th Prince?" Geese looked surprised. "So you're that Magic Power Miko kid? A 5-year old Saint ranked Magician?"
Mordred smiled. "It's King rank now, but yes. At any rate, even if you want to decline, I'll still bring you with us. We can do it the hard way or the easy way, so which one will it be?"
As he was stared at by that boy, Geese felt a chill. After a while, he replied, "The easy way! Yeah, the easy way! I'm your thief now, Boss!"
"Good!"
Mordred knew that Geese was a stinking traitor, but he felt he wanted to pretend to listen to Hitogami for now.
***
***
***
Name: Geese Nukadia
Nicknames: Gisu, Stinking Traitor (by Mordred)
Age: 30+
Strength: F
Endurance: F
Agility: F
Mana: F
…
No talent for Incantation-type Magic.
Sword and North God Style - Elementary rank.