Kuromaku Investigation Begins

"Thanks to the report I got from Ichika's, we've found out that the person making these is [Nayuta Shishido]… Does this name ring a bell?"

"Nayuta? Oh, wasn't that the girl who used to work part-time at our inn?"

"That's highly likely, I think. It's Shishido, and this is a magical tool."

Upon closer inspection, indeed there was a small engraving. Shishido was one of Leona's grandchildren, so it was recognizable to those who were in the know. Nayuta did have a memory of creating magical tools and trying to sell them. There was also a vague recollection of being threatened with a self-made, gun-like magical tool. It had been quite a while, so the memories were fading. Her older sister Setsuna was a battle junkie and often had mock battles with Niku.

However, Nayuta was supposed to be a dog-eared beastkin. Although she is a Wakoku investigator, beastkin had a hard time in the Holy Kingdom simply for being beastkin.

Even Toy, who was possessing Naana—a human assassin—and working as a maid, would probably have needed to wear a slave collar if she remained a beastkin. That's how low status beastkin were seen as.

"There's a possibility that Nayuta has been captured and enslaved… But, that's not important. Didn't we tag her?"

"Tag? Oh, right, to gather information through contacting her."

"You catch on quickly, that's exactly it."

If she was captured, we might be able to understand the situation. Even if not, we may be able to buy information by making contact.

It would actually be more convenient if she's a slave. We could receive plenty of information in exchange for the favor of saving her, and we could even buy her as a slave to extract unlimited information and get access to Wakoku's information.

"So, Rokuko, did we tag Nayuta?"

"I'm pretty sure we did. While I haven't recently, I used to tag everyone who came to the village. Especially those related to Leona, so I definitely tagged her."

"Oh, really? Good job, Rokuko."

"Hehe."

Rokuko beamed as her head was patted.

With that settled, they decided to use Nayuta Shishido as the starting point for their investigation this time.

 

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Kuromaku. Narikin opened the dungeon menu in the inn and checked the map.

A map of the town was displayed. According to what he had heard from his Master, there seemed to be a beastkin girl named Nayuta Shishido in this town. And since she was likely tagged, she should be easy to find.

… However, it appeared that there were several tagged people in this town.

"Huh? This is different from what I heard from Master. There are… five people?"

"There was specific name mentioned either, so we can't tell which one is our target… What could this mean?"

Rokufa, who was looking at the map with Narikin, glanced at NaanaToy.

"… I can't see this [Map] you're talking about, so this is just my imagination, but if you think about it simply, it could be a spy who has been to Golen, or an adventurer or merchant who has stopped by. At the least, there's no doubt that they had contact with Kehma-sama or have visited the village."

"I see. It's not just Nayuta Shishido who visited the village, huh?"

"… Shishido, oh, Nayuta is her name?"

"Hm? Oh, it seems so."

"Nayuta, Nayuta… Ah, I remember now. She's my sister. A dog beastkin I think?"

Come to think of it, Narikin remembered that NaanaToy was originally a dog beastkin, although he had never seen her in that form.

"Oh, so it was Naana's…—Toy's sister. Speaking of which, there was talk that her sister might be with her as well. Do you have any idea about her?"

"If you mean a sister, is it another Toy…? Or is it someone else?"

"It seems her name is Setsuna."

"Oh, I see, that one. Now that you mention it, there was someone like that."

NaanaToy recalled the sisters Setsuna and Nayuta. At the time she was shared information about them, they were said to be cursed by Leona and played with. She envied them.

NaanaToy was instructed by Leona to actively cooperate, so she openly told Narikin about these things as well.

"That's the situation. My information may be outdated, but I think I'll be able to recognize them if we meet."

"Oh? So you know her face?"

"… I don't know her face, but I'll be able to tell by her scent if I get close. Not through a sense of smell, but a sense of the soul, so it won't be a problem even with this body."

No matter what, they were descendants of the Chaos God.

"For now, if you tell me the location, I can go check… How about that?"

"Sure. It would be helpful if you were able to recognize her face. Can you do it?"

"… It's fine, but you're not supposed to let me go alone without supervision, aren't you?"

"Oh, I almost forgot. You should take Tran with you. If Tran sees her, Master should be able to confirm it later as well."

"… As I've said before, a small bird won't be a restraint for me, you know?"

"You won't run away, will you, Naana?"

"Well, no."

"Then it's fine, right? Right, Rokufa?"

"Yes, that's right. We're counting on you, Naana."

"Sigh…"

NaanaToy couldn't help but think that this couple was as naive and careless as ever. They were too similar to their MasterKehma and CoreRokuko.

Well, she was willing to cooperate as much as she was able, so didn't mind it much.

"Let me show you the map to go check it out… There are five candidates, see?"

"Leave it to me. Should I also look into the others a bit while I'm at it?"

"Naana, you're so reliable! I would love to learn from you."

"… For the record, I am an outsider. And you're even showing me the map… So this is how the dungeon function works, huh? Interesting."

NaanaToy confirmed the candidate locations on the map Narikin had set up for display. There were five candidates, but there was one place with two people together, so if the sisters were together, that was likely them.

"Showing me the town's map and letting me move around freely after checking the escape routes, you're quite generous."

"Really? I'd be happy if it brought you closer to Master."

"I wasn't praising you."

With a sigh, NaanaToy left the inn room to gather information.