Dark Fantasy’s Extra Chapter 103

After the deal with Bari was concluded, Yorick approached Charmol’s throne.

“My lord.”

“…”

“Haven’t you promised too much to the Black Witch…?”

“That’s enough.”

“What? But…”

“There won’t be a better deal than this if not now. If it’s the dark arts to manipulate behemoth souls, I could use it on others besides Blanc. It’s not such a loss.”

“But the Black Witch is incredibly cunning. Don’t you know that too, my lord? No, rather, you know better than I…”

“Yorick!”

When Charmol barked, Yorick immediately fell to his knees.

“I-I’m sorry. I dared to speak out of turn…”

However, even while saying this, Yorick inwardly disapproved of Charmol’s decision.

No matter how he looked at it, they had conceded too much.

The ability to manipulate behemoth souls sounds impressive at first.

But in the current era, after that abominable White Witch’s massacre, the number of remaining behemoths is merely a handful compared to back then.

Subduing a behemoth is challenging enough, and it’s even harder to summon and bind a soul from its corpse.

To Yorick, it seemed nothing more than fool’s gold.

And surely his lord Charmol must know this too.

Only Blanc.

It was clearly a technique meant solely for Blanc, just to bind her and her alone.

While Charmol’s desire for Blanc was nothing new, why did he suddenly rush like this when he had always acted calmly before?

“Get out of my sight this instant!”

When Charmol struck his throne and roared, Yorick fled without looking back.

“Hah, hah…”

And left alone, Charmol breathed heavily from agitation.

No, since he had a body incapable of breathing in the first place, it was merely a remnant from when he was alive.

But Charmol was in such an unsettled state that even such vestiges resurfaced.

“Damn it… That hunter bastard…”

At first, he had just considered him another of Blanc’s toys and sacrifices.

But the more he investigated him, the more Charmol sensed some destiny approaching.

The sole survivor of the raid he had orchestrated 7 years ago.

The one chosen by the woman he yearned for.

Moreover, he had ruined Princess Bari’s plans and even made her come asking for his help.

He sensed some ominous web of fate.

Above all, what bothered him most was that he was a mere weak lower-ranked hunter.

Because Charmol himself had been the weakest behemoth 500 years ago, when behemoths were most numerous.

“Blanc is… mine… I won’t give her to anyone…”

*    *    *

I underwent all sorts of examinations and interrogations for several more days.

They kept calling me around all day checking especially if any curse remained in my body, if I was rotting somewhere as an undead, if my memories were intact, and so on.

And finally today, they said I showed no particular abnormalities and I could leave the isolation room at last.

Though they added that I should come back immediately if I showed even the slightest signs of progressing into an undead or Beast.

“Ah, sunlight…”

The blue sky, bright sunlight, everything felt so refreshing and sweet.

Though I wanted to sit on a bench somewhere and bask in the sun for a while, reporting my return came first.

I went to the administration office after a long time.

“Excuse me.”

“…”

Crowty happened to be sitting there.

Hera wasn’t around.

“…Sigh.”

Crowty let out a heavy sigh as he walked toward me.

“Sir Crowty. Today I’m back to-“

“You idiot!”

“Ack!”

Crowty’s knuckle struck my head.

“Just what kind of mess did you get into?!”

“W-well, that’s…”  

“Going to another country to meet a strange sorcerer? Getting locked up by the Heresy Inquisition Department? Exposing Marquis Bluebeard’s heresy charges?!”

“It just happened…”

“How can such things ‘just happen’?!”

Crowty wrapped his arm around my neck and squeezed hard.

“Gack!? W-wait…”

“Do you, huh?! Know how my heart dropped every time I heard news of the trouble you caused?!”

“I-I’m sorry…”

“The whole Order is in chaos because of you alone right now!”

Well that is my fault… Yeah it is…

“Phew, phew! The most well-behaved one causing so many major incidents… Hah…”

Crowty released his arm and heaved another big sigh.

“…I’m sorry.”

I took off my hat and bowed my head to him.

But Crowty picked up my hat and put it back on my head.

“So… what happened?”

“…He died.”

“I see… That’s regrettable. But I’m glad you returned safely. Though there are more procedures you need to go through, take today off and get some rest.”

“Yes. Thank you. And…”

I took out the mithril dagger I had kept until now and held out the handle to its original owner.

“I survived several times thanks to this.”

“…That’s good.”

Crowty took back the mithril dagger.

I expressed my gratitude to Crowty once more before leaving the administration office and heading straight to Workshop 1.

“Ah, well. So it’s you.”

The attitude of Workshop 1’s craftsmen had changed somewhat from our last meeting.

They must have already heard stories about me.

“Well um…”

“I put the Hand Cannon you gave me to good use.”

“Oh?”

“For something that could be carried so easily, it had excellent firepower.”

“Ah, that’s good to hear. No, I suppose that’s to be expected since Sir Corsis designed it himself.”

“Yes. It served me very well on this mission. As for points of improvement, there weren’t really any…”

I explained to the craftsmen how the Hand Cannon performed.

I had promised to tell them about any improvements needed and how it felt to use after all.

The craftsmen’s mood also heated up again as if nothing had happened once we started talking about weapons.

“I see! We’ve heard your story well. However…”

“Yes?”

“Hand Cannon, you say – it didn’t have an official name yet.”

Come to think of it, that’s right?

Hand Cannon was the mass-produced weapon in Blue Paper Moon, and what I had used was an unnamed prototype.

“But it seems like a fitting name. I’ll mention it to Sir Corsis.”

Does this count as interfering with the story too…?

Anyway, I left Workshop 1 and visited Workshop 3 on my way past.

“What a sight.”

That was my pure first impression looking into the workshop.

Workshop 3 was in complete disarray.

The blueprints stuck on the walls and floor looked like they had been scrawled by someone mentally unstable at first glance.

Not only that, but moldy bread and bottles containing strange liquids were scattered in corners.

And in the middle of this pigsty, Zepetia was curled up sleeping on a blanket spread on the floor.

I sighed and went inside.

“Hey.”

I nudged Zepetia with my foot.

“Ugh…”

“Wake up.”

“W-what… Why does it hurt if this is a dream…”

“What dream. I said wake up.”

“Go away… You traitor…”

I pulled Zepetia’s ear.

“Eyaaaaah?!”

Only then did Zepetia open her eyes properly and look at me.

I couldn’t help but flinch for a moment when I saw those eyes.

They were completely the eyes of a dead person.

“Why does a noble lady scream like that?”

“N-now I’m having such vivid dreams?”

“Why do you keep talking about dreams since earlier? Did you dream about me?”

This time I grabbed and pulled both of Zepetia’s cheeks.

“Uuugh… Stop it…”

“This isn’t a dream, it’s real.”

“That hurts… So this is real… W-why did you come here.”

Zepetia rubbed her freed cheeks with her palms and asked in an indifferent voice.

“When you don’t even care about someone like me anyway.”

This is just ridiculous…

“Pinocchio is my only friend.”

“What?”

“My research is nearly complete now. Soon, a perfect automaton will be born.”

Zepetia jerked her chin toward one side.

There was something like a golem that looked quite similar to the behemoth-level boss ‘Automaton Pinocchio’ from Blue Paper Moon.

The massive brass body and thick arms, and the characteristic long nose…

…There’s no nose?

Maybe because it’s incomplete.

“This is all I have in the end… No one truly accepts me anywhere. Even the Order just wants to use my research…”

I grabbed Zepetia’s shoulders firmly.

Zepetia jumped excessively as if startled.

“Did you really not know anything?”

“Know what?”

“I… No, let’s talk about this later. I’ve been very busy lately. I went all the way to the neighboring country, you see.”

“Neighboring country?”

“Yes. It was a rather long… mission. So, are you done with the moonstone and bloodstone research?”

“…Mostly.”

“Did you perhaps also figure out methods to imbue items with magical power?”

“Yes. If applied well… Huh? How did you know about that?”

“Well, I brought someone who might be able to help with your research. They should be at least as smart as your grandfather.”

“That’s impossible! How could such a person exist?!”

“That’s why it took me so long to find them.”

I’ll need to coordinate stories with Maia later.

“Did I perhaps do something unnecessary? If so, I’m sorry.”

“Huh? Oh, no… Did you really find such a person? F-for me? Ah! So that’s how you knew about the method to imbue magical power…!”

“Yes. She knows a lot about moonstone. But it seems she’s been researching somehow on her own.”

“I-I’m sorry! I just… When you suddenly stopped coming, I thought maybe you had no more business with me… N-no one else comes here except you.”

Though Corsis seemed to visit occasionally, it was probably mostly to press her for results.

Zepetia’s social skills are so poor that she often makes strange misunderstandings on her own.

Though born noble, she was probably treated as an oddball by her family – nice to have around but not missed if gone.

That’s why they didn’t stop her when she followed her grandfather who had become a behemoth to do strange research or when she said she would go to the Order alone.

Moreover, if she hadn’t heard any news even though I had caused such an uproar in the Order, it meant she hadn’t properly communicated with anyone since returning from the old laboratory until now.

Thinking about it that way made me feel sorry for her.

“I’m really sorry for coming so late.”

And somehow… she resembled Chris.

He, too, lived alone after retirement, unable to adapt to society, with no job or friends.

His mental state grew increasingly unstable, and though I wanted to pay more attention to him, I couldn’t and felt sorry.

…And just a little bit, I had thought that Chris might one day take his own life.

“Oh, no. Hehe.”

Whether knowing my feelings or not, Zepetia grinned broadly like before.

If only Chris could have smiled like this too…

“I’m sorry for doubting you too. Eugene would never do that to me…”

Though that smile felt slightly off, this should do for now.

I probably avoided Zepetia’s corruption event with this too.

“Hehehe…”