Chapter 162: The Ultimate Guesthouse

In the city of Inotia, known for its buildings made of cream-colored stone, this particular structure, characterized by its predominant red bricks, stood out prominently.

With dimensions that seemed to rival the townhouses of any upper-class noble, boasting a three-story structure measuring around 30 meters on each side, it truly deserved to be called a “mansion.”

Although it couldn’t match the scale of the Inocenti family’s main residence, originally a fortress, it was still a headache-inducing close second in size.

“…It’s ridiculously extravagant. More so than our Boss.”

As Gascoigne muttered this while being guided along the long approach leading to the entrance, Yuu chuckled wryly, and the other members nodded in agreement within their hearts.

—

“Welcome!”

The remaining servants all lined up neatly at the entrance to greet them.

Suppressing his urge, ingrained as a Japanese, to bow deeply, Isamu managed a faint smile and lightly nodded in response.

However, any pretense of composure vanished the moment they stepped foot inside the mansion.

“Whoa…”

“Meow!”

“Wow!”

“Oh!”

“Hey!!”

“What the…”

Various exclamations involuntarily escaped everyone’s mouths. For reference, the sequence was Isamu, Orihime, Annemarie, Mizeroi, Tiramisu, and Gascoigne.

All their eyes were fixed on a colossal painting above the main hall.

Displayed prominently on the front of a large landing leading to the second floor, between two wide staircases, was a huge painting depicting Orihime and Cait-sith.

“This painting represents the eternal friendship between the Nashara Trading Company, the Nashara family, and Isamu-sama. Each is symbolized by Cait-sith-sama and Orihime-sama,” explained a formally dressed elderly gentleman to the stunned Isamu and his group.

“Oh, isn’t that Pietro-san? It’s been a while.”

Isamu greeted him upon recognizing the elderly gentleman.

Pietro was the manager of the Nashara Trading Company’s main store here in Inotia.

“It’s been a while indeed, Mr. Matsumoto. How do you do? This painting was commissioned to one of the kingdom’s foremost painters.”

“I see… It’s a magnificent painting, no doubt, but did it really need to be this large…?”

“What are you saying? To fully convey the charm of Cait-sith-sama and Orihime-sama, this size was absolutely necessary.”

“I-I see…”

Behind Isamu’s wry smile, Mizeroi and Tiramisu vigorously nodded in agreement with Pietro’s explanation.

—

“Now then, everyone, allow me to guide you to your rooms.”

With Pietro finishing his explanation of the painting, the servants all began moving in unison to guide Yuu and his group to their respective rooms.

Given the mansion’s grandeur, all 14 individuals were accommodated in private rooms on the second floor. Karina and Rudolf, the Klaufendamm household servants, felt greatly humbled.

“Please make yourselves comfortable.”

“Thank you.”

After Sori, their guide, left, Isamu stepped into his bedroom from the living room and was once again left speechless.

“Wow…”

“Meow!?”

“Huh!?”

“Ho!”

“Gasp!!”

“What’s going on…”

Various words spilled from everyone’s mouths again. Initially surprised, Isamu, Orihime, and others took a few steps backward, surprised by the poses and playful interactions of the enormous Orihime and Cait-sith figures.

“…I let my guard down since the living room seemed normal.”

What caught Isamu’s eye upon entering the bedroom side of the Junior Suite type was Orihime curled up sleeping by the bedside and Orihime sitting in seiza in the middle of the bed.

Additionally, Cait-sith was seated on a chair beside the bed, with Orihime and Cait-sith walking side by side on the large bay window.

“Wait a minute…”

Realizing something, Isamu hurriedly headed to the bathroom.

“Just as I thought…”

Sure enough, there was Orihime washing her face with her front paws.

“This is from the Divine Object series, right? There are probably similar things in the other rooms too. But how did they manage to get these? Well, being such a skilled trading company, they must have various connections.”

“Meow! Meow!”

Isamu tilted his head with a wry smile. While Orihime was initially surprised, she seemed delighted, mimicking various poses and rubbing against Cait-sith, thoroughly enjoying herself.

During dinner, they heard that indeed similar divine objects and prototypes were displayed in other rooms as well.

Annemarie, Mizeroi, and Tiramisu were delighted, but Gascoigne quietly sighed, muttering, “Isn’t this a bit too much?”

After dinner, when they asked Pietro, they learned that the Nashara Trading Company, informed via the Zambrotta Company, knew that the supply of divine objects was not meeting the demand. As a solution, they introduced several skilled seamstresses to create a new production line here in the Innocenti Marchioness’s domain, including the prototype for Cait-sith.

Since Nicolette had approved it, the timing was coincidental with Isamu and the others departing Klaufendamm.

Currently, divine object production was only conducted in the northeastern part of the kingdom, so establishing a production line in the southwest with guaranteed quality was highly appreciated.

With the puppet show about to be released soon, Orihime’s popularity within the faction was expected to skyrocket even further.

Arranged the previous day, the next afternoon, Isamu and the group visited Margrave Innocenti’s mansion.

“This mansion seems difficult to attack…”

Passing through the fortress-like mansion gate and approaching the carriage house, Gascoigne muttered. Isamu had a similar feeling, even from a professional’s perspective.

“Welcome, Isamu. I hear you made quite a splash over at Lubinda as well?”

Smiling, the host, Nazario Innocenti, extended his hand.

“Good to see you again, Nazario-san. It was all thanks to everyone’s hard work; I didn’t do much myself.”

Isamu chuckled while shaking his hand.

While Isamu and the others had been passing through Count Eriksen’s territory, it seemed they had received a message from their neighbor, Margrave Balsham.

“That’s not true at all. Thanks to the new magic tools, it was much easier to hunt wyverns.”

He said with a laugh.

“Oh, that might have helped a bit. But it ultimately depends on the skill of the users, so it’s thanks to everyone.”

With a slight shrug, Isamu replied.

“Well, as always, Isamu. Our borders with the neighboring countries are a bit tense, but it’s good to strengthen our forces.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. I want to share some of that information. It just so happens that Eleonora’s confidant is here too. Well, please come in for now.”

After glancing briefly at Gascoigne, Nazario led them into the mansion.

“For the past month or two, there’s been an increase in monsters coming from the borders with Zun and Kempbach.”

The Innochenti territory almost entirely faced Kempbach’s borders to the west. Part of its north also bordered Zun.

As there were no proper roads, just steep mountainous terrain, it wasn’t an ideal place for starting battles.

Nevertheless, due to occasional monster incursions, they had stationed a rotating company from border defense with Kempbach to the region.

“Not just from Zun but from Kempbach as well?”

Isamu frowned at Nazario’s words.

“Yes. While there’s a nominal border line between us and Kempbach, it’s more like a single area from the monsters’ perspective. But… there might be something behind the scenes when considering the relationships between both countries and us.”

“Exactly. Lubinda agrees that we should be cautious. However, without concrete actions observed beyond that, we can’t afford to move rashly.”

Nazario said with a serious expression.

Currently, since they weren’t in a state of war with either country, simply reinforcing the border defenses because monsters appeared could be misinterpreted as preparing for war.

“We’ve started preparing for immediate response just in case.”

If they gave any pretext, it might indeed lead to actual warfare, so they could only continue to observe with some reinforcements.

“In such a situation, Isamu’s magic tools for enhancing our forces without increasing our personnel are extremely welcome.”

This time, Isamu and the group planned to sell five magic cannons and one spear gun to Margrave Innocenti’s household defense.

They had not expected these to be deployed for combat so soon, as it was only intended as samples before their journey began…

Both were portable, so they were a critical deployment near the suspicious border for the Innocenti family.

Afterwards, they discussed divine objects and magic stoves, taking a break before proceeding to demonstrate the magic cannons, spear guns, and magic-driven cars.

Previously, they had demonstrated a dummy exploding orb at the Innocenti household, but at that time, factions hadn’t formed yet, so they had shown a detuned version.

This time, witnessing the full power of the official exploding orb for the first time, both Nazario and the Knight Commander Mercurio were wide-eyed.

“So, what you showed us before was a degraded version. I never imagined you could create something like this…”

“I’m sorry. At that time, there were no factions formed yet, and we hadn’t obtained Selfers-san’ approval…”

“No, it’s clear now that we shouldn’t show this to anyone we can’t trust. Knowing Isamu can draw that line reassures me in a way.”

Nazario chuckled rather than blaming Isamu for his surprise.

“I appreciate your words. So, these magic cannons are devices used to launch these exploding orbs over long distances. When I showed them to you before, we discussed the issue of range, and this resolves it.”

After thanking them, Isamu proceeded with the demonstration of the magic cannon.

With a loud bang, a dummy exploding orb traced a parabola through the air, eliciting cheers.

Previously, the demonstration of the exploding orb had been kept secret, but this time, since it was not, knights who were free watched from windows overlooking the practice grounds and the backyard of the mansion.

The training ground in the mansion’s backyard wasn’t very large, so the range was about 100 meters or so.

“The maximum range is about three times this. We’re planning to use them for base defense and siege scenarios, but they’re not too heavy, so they could be used in field operations as well.”

“…You’ve truly created something incredible. I had asked you to side with us because I feared the consequences of revealing its capabilities. I thought I understood from your words alone, but this is no simple matter.”

Nazario sighed at Isamu’s explanation. Just like Lubinda, those familiar with war understood the terror of this magic device.

“Now, this is the spear gun. When using a lightning javelin, just hitting the target is effective, so the effective range is about 300 melts. With a regular javelin, I think it would be about half. It’s twice as fast as ballistic magic.”

Since horizontal shooting would hit a wall, they aimed almost straight up for the test shot, which again drew cheers.

“Even with a regular javelin… it’s quite a threat, but this lightning javelin is downright unfair. It’s like firing a lightning sword used in the tournament.”

“That’s right. It’s designed to counter powerful or large individuals. However, that means its attack range is narrower.”

After finishing the explanation, they spent time until dinner lecturing Nazario and the knights on usage, with Gascoigne and the restless Orihime at the center of mock battles.

The dinner party at the Innocenti territory was conducted in a stand-up format, inviting squadron leaders and above from the knights to foster camaraderie at the grassroots level.

“Tomorrow, the plan is to delve into the ruins, right?”

“Yes. There might be unexpected discoveries, so we’ll see.”

As they lightly drank, Nazario and Isamu conversed.

“Where would be the most recently discovered ruins, or the oldest ones?”

“As for the oldest, it would be the ruins around where you last delved with your group. That was the first set of ruins found around here. For the newest ones, they’re near the borders. But even so, it’s our liberation zone.”

“Thank you. In that case, I’d like to visit the new ones near the border.”

“Understood. I’ll have a guide sent out, so take care.”

Armed with information from Nazario, Isamu decided to dive into the ruins discovered about twenty years ago.

The next day, guided by a knight from the Innocenti family, Isamu and his party set out for the ruins aboard a magic-driven car.

After about four hours of travel, they spotted a small hut standing alone amidst a rocky desert.

Next to it, the ground seemed to open up, and a sentry-like soldier stood guard in front.

Seeing the strange vehicle approaching without any horses, the soldier hurriedly banged on the hut’s door, his face tense, and he readied his spear.

Another man, likely a replacement, emerged from the hut holding a spear.

However, their expressions changed to relief when they saw a knight descending from the peculiar vehicle, clad in armor bearing a familiar crest.

“My apologies for startling you. These are guests of our lord, coming from Klaufendamm.”

“Th-thank you for your service! Klaufendamm, you mean the winners of the recent tournament, right?”

“Yes. Currently, the strongest knight order in the kingdom. By the way, all the members of the winning team are here.”

“A-all of them…”

As the knight chuckled and explained, the soldiers stood agape.

“Oh, and the captain of the Eriksen family’s knight order, who came in second place, is also with us.”

“…!”

Unable to speak, the soldiers merely blinked in shock.

If soldiers were high school baseball players, these knights were professional baseball players.

Among them were knights who had won in the recent tournament and the captain of the renowned mercenary knight order, known for being the strongest, akin to active Major League players.

It was no wonder they were frozen in place when suddenly faced with such formidable figures.

“Um… are you all right?”

While unloading their luggage from the magic-driven car, Isamu asked with concern.

“Yes, they should recover shortly. Please take care on your journey. Oh, about this magic car—rest assured, we’ll take responsibility for keeping it safe.”

“I see. Thank you very much for your help. It shouldn’t be more than three or four days at most until we return.”

“Understood. Best of luck!”

After thanking the saluting knight, Isamu and the others left Rudolf behind in the magic-driven car and headed into the ruins.

“Whoa, this one’s pretty quick!”

Gascoigne dodged attacks from a massive ant-like monster with obvious enjoyment.

They had been exploring the ruins for about a day and a half, moving between the first and second underground floors.

The monster Gascoigne was battling with such gusto was called the Ogre Ant, a giant ant-like creature that walked on two legs.

With reasonably tough exoskeletons and strong strength, some individuals wielded weapons, making them formidable foes.

While the primary inhabitants of these ruins seemed to be Ogre Ants, they functioned with division of roles, showing various types of ants.

The particular creature Gascoigne was engaged with had sharp stone-like knives in all four arms, which it rapidly wielded against him.

“Here we go!”

Despite his rugged appearance, Gascoigne deftly dodged the monster’s attacks and swung his enhanced Ferris I with force.

“Gigigii!!”

Half of its two right arms were severed, causing the Ogre Ant to emit an unpleasant, metallic grinding sound.

Enraged, it swung its remaining left arm wildly, but Gascoigne didn’t miss the opportunity, effortlessly circling to its right and cleanly beheading it.

“Hmm… this magic sword is just too exceptional.”

As he skillfully dispatched the creature, Gascoigne’s expression turned somewhat dissatisfied as he tilted his head.

“I’m not entirely sure about his swordsmanship, but Gascoigne-san, he’s quite strong, isn’t he?”

Isamu asked Felix in a quiet voice, having observed Gascoigne’s performance in battle so far.

“Yes. I knew he was quite skilled to begin with, but since getting used to the enhanced type, he’s noticeably stronger than during the royal tournament or joint extermination missions.”

Felix replied with a surprised expression at being asked.

Indeed, despite facing a considerable number of Ogre Ants so far, thanks to Gascoigne’s efforts, there hadn’t been a single moment of danger. One might even question who the real “ogres” were.

“Still, this place… it’s been constructed quite intricately and tediously,”

Gascoigne muttered as he wiped his sword clean, a sentiment that Isamu agreed with.

“Yes, this layout was a bit unexpected.”

Unlike previous ruins they had encountered, this one had many areas where natural bedrock was exposed. The underground first floor was significantly spacious with numerous small rooms, and what added to the complexity were the excessive number of staircases.

Almost every small room had a descending staircase, and besides those, staircases were scattered throughout the corridors.

They were meticulously descending into each one to investigate, only to find that most led to similarly sized small rooms of about 8 tatami mats (a traditional Japanese measurement).

There was nothing particularly noteworthy inside; the walls contained embedded lockers, but all the magic tools presumed to be for opening them had been irreparably damaged, rendering them inaccessible.

“If only the magic tools presumed to be attached to these doors had been left intact, they might have provided some hints… Why would someone deliberately destroy them? It’s frustrating.”

Isamu was unusually annoyed, understanding that it was pointless to force open doors without knowing how to use them.

However, as they were considering concluding their exploration on the second day, they finally stumbled upon an undamaged locker.

It was in a room accessed through a door that had been partially bent inward, and Orihime had managed to squeeze through a gap large enough to see inside. She made a “nyafu” sound as if not entirely displeased with what she saw, prompting Mizeroi to break down the door with his weight-adjustable hammer.

“Hmm. This security mechanism on the locker is quite different from the touch panels we’ve seen in previous ruins. Comparatively, one might say it’s quite old-fashioned.”

The security on the locker, the first one they had seen properly, consisted of a physical box with ten buttons.

“I suppose if you enter the correct number using these buttons, it’ll open.”

As he spoke, Felix examined the box carefully, finding nothing else apart from the buttons and what appeared to be a magic stone for activation. Naturally, touching the stone did not activate it.

“Hmm… besides this, I can’t see anything else of note. Should I try to dismantle it a bit?”

Inserting a knife into the gap, the box easily opened with a click.

“Well, this is surprisingly simple… Huh? Hmm?!”

As he looked inside and saw the magic circle depicted within, Isamu’s eyes widened.

“W-what’s wrong?”

Annemarie asked with concern.

“Uh, well, I can read up to the functional circle. I can read it, but there’s hardly any function in it.”

“What do you mean there’s no function?”

“See those buttons on the outside? If they’re pressed six times, they’ll just pass the contents to another magic tool further inside. Probably, whether the number matches or not is determined by the magic tool inside.”

Answering the question while replacing the activation non-attribute magic stone, Isamu started it.

With a familiar startup sound, “fon,” the startup circle, and the functional circle lit up, and the magic tool started.

“Yeah, that’s right. Hmm, after all, it’s the same as the previous ruins. Within the allowed attempts, the correct number must be entered.”

“If it’s six digits, there are a million possibilities… Even assuming three chances, it’s quite difficult.”

Willem looked up to the sky with a sigh.

“Well, let’s give it a shot anyway. I’ll start with the top three standard passwords, but sorry if they don’t work.”

Smiling wryly, Isamu pressed the buttons. “123456,” “111111,” “000000,” trying the top three password combinations, but none of them were correct.

“Hmm… So it didn’t work after all…”

Isamu sighed heavily, shoulders slumping.

“Well, can’t be helped. It’s not like it was going to hit right on the mark anyway. Hey Isamu, even after three wrong attempts, there doesn’t seem to be any particular change, is that how it is?”

“Huh?”

Upon hearing this from Eto, Isamu looked at the magic tool and magic circle, but there was no change from before the three wrong attempts.

“Could it be…”

Isamu seemed to hit upon something and began entering numbers again casually. From “22222” to “33333”… stopping after entering “99999.”

“…Haha, hahaha, it seems like there’s actually no limit on the number of attempts! With this, we might be able to make something happen!!”

Saying so, Isamu took out a memo and started sketching something energetically.

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