Fingers of Chaos

It was the next day. As expected, the prince failed to solve the riddle and they decided to return home.

"Let's try one more time! Please, just one more day!"

"No way."

The prince was throwing a tantrum, but I'd already compromised once. I couldn't go along with it any further.

I just wanted to go back and see Rokuko and the others' faces… It felt like I hadn't seen them for quite a while.

"Kuh, fine… We'll come back and dive again another day though?"

"Yeah. We could probably manage without Uuma-dono next time."

"Well, it was certainly a challenging experience!"

Jangalia let out a sigh of resignation at the other three men. Hang in there man, don't forget it was you who gave in and made us spend the night here.

On the way back, everything went smoothly and we even managed to hunt another Iron Golem along the way. The three men stuffed it into their [Storage] and we brought it back with us. Iron always sold well, after all.

With that, the temporary party came to an end without any issues. I received a relatively generous share as compensation for the trouble and returned to the inn, feeling somewhat appeased.

Finally, I undid the [Super Transformation]. God I'm tired.

"Welcome back, Kehma. Good work."

"Yeah… I'm home, Rokuko."

Rokuko greeted me and hugged my head tightly. Her embrace was soft and smelled nice.

I didn't resist and let Rokuko hug me as she pleased, savoring the long-awaited reunion with her.

… Wait, maybe that's not the best way to put it? That's the sort of thing that'll get me killed by Haku-san.

"Don't worry, hugging is allowed."

As if reading my mind, Rokuko continued to hug me and casually brought out the [Divine Blanket]… Ah… I can't resist… zzz…

Rokuko had put me to bed and I woke up feeling refreshed the next morning.

"Good morning, Kehma."

"Ah, yep."

I was in my room when I woke up, of course. Rokuko was also there, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

… By now, being soothed by that blanket could be called a conditioned reflex. I'd become completely accustomed to it in the Demonlands.

"So, what about the prince and his companions?"

"Ah, they're going deeper into the dungeon today."

In the end, it seemed they were heading back to the Puzzle Room without me. Although I'd joined them temporarily, I hadn't been particularly helpful. In other words, they should be able to manage without me. And they did.

… I wonder what drove them to go that far.

[Mugugu, that answer was wrong too…!]

[Are we going to camp here again?]

They were once again held up. This puzzle gimmick was very effective. Make one mistake and you're stuck for a day. Powerful.

"By the way, Kehma, we don't need to dispose of them right?"

"There'd be a problem if we did. Like… an international-level problem."

Well, if a prince of the Daido Kingdom were to die in our dungeon, we'd probably have investigators coming from Daido and things would get complicated fast…

"Imagine if the prince died here… Leona's minions would spread from Daido and the whole world would be in chaos."

"Ah, so that's what you meant by an international issue."

"Let them do their best to round up and contain those [Rencarnates] or whatever they're called."

If possible, I'd like them to crush Leona's mysterious plot or, at the very least, let it dissipate moderately so she doesn't end up doing something even more troublesome. I hope they'll return with some achievements and pass some sort of legislation to regulate the [Rencarnates].

"It'd be nice if we could prepare some achievement for them since we're in a position to."

"Oh, how kind of you, Kehma… did you have any achievements in mind?"

"Well… we have time, so let's think about it while keeping an eye on them."

I should send a letter to Haku-san, just in case… No, maybe Dolche-san could prepare something nice for them since she's already here?

Watching the princes on the monitor, they were roasting and eating marshmallows at their puzzle room camp.

… I feel like this is the first time I've seen marshmallows in this world. Did the [Rencarnates] create them?

I wanted to eat marshmallows for the first time in a long time, so I used DP to get some and decided to eat them with Rokuko.

As we roasted marshmallows with a [Fireball], Ichika caught the scent and barged in, but that was fine with me.

 

＊ ＊ ＊

 

In the basement of the church, I talked to Dolche-san about various things.

About Daido, Leona, and what I had learned from the princes. A lot of things. Since there was no need to hide anything, I shared many details. I think there was a lot of overlap with the information Dolche-san already had, as I had reported much of it to Haku-san.

The only thing I kept hidden was the fact that I had fallen asleep while being hugged by Rokuko.

"Which is why I'd like to give them some suitable achievements and send them away, Dolche-san."

"… What a chaotic issue… how troublesome… I didn't realize that's what was happening in Daido…"

Dolche-san sighed. She seemed to be aware of the [Rencarnate] disturbance but didn't know the details behind it.

"Was it due to that chaos that my subordinates weren't able to get a hold of the situation…? Moreover, that director of the Magic Research Institute is clearly suspicious from how you described everything…"

"Huh? Now that you meantion it, he does sound suspicious."

Regardless of whether there was memory manipulation or not, how did he determine whether someone had reincarnated?

"There's a possibility that the prince and his companions were brainwashed by the director and had convenient information implanted in them… No, if that were the case, it would match the information we have… It's better to recognize the director of the Magic Research Institute, Toy Tindalos, as a minion of chaos… Assuming that to be the case, we can't trust the testimony of that Daido prince… Damn, this is troublesome. This is exactly why chaotic issues are so…"

"…"

Oh, I get it. He's obviously going to be able to tell if they're reincarnated or not if he's one of the culprits.