Chapter 73: Forest Wave – Last 1 – Biggs ①

White hair with black mottled patterns. Red eyes. And completely naked.

She also has a good figure—not extraordinary or exceptional, but simply attractive in a normal way.

However, unfortunately, because her base form is that of a spider-woman, there is absolutely nothing erotic about it.

Liv looked at Guene with obvious disgust.

“…Smelly… woman.”

“Disgusting-smelling woman. Wait. Smelly!?”

“Tsk tsk tsk… Liv is… a woman with a sweet scent.”

“Don’t talk nonsense!”

Liv and Guene were pointing their swords at each other while exchanging insults.

It looked like they would start fighting at any moment—and they probably would soon.

“Geez, what a pain, y’see.”

“…‘Many-Faces’…”

The strange spider-woman beside me sighed.

Even though she looked like a monster spider, she was wearing plain clothes, which made her look odd.

Well, I guess wearing clothes is normal.

Still… why is it?

She looks more erotic with clothes on.

Usually it’s the opposite, but somehow she looks more sensual because she’s dressed.

The top was just some ordinary cloth you could find anywhere.

But the bottom was a mini skirt—was she trying to provoke something or what?

Putting that aside, this strangely erotic spider-woman…

She was a monster, yet not a monster. I immediately knew who she was.

“Many-Faces”—a being capable of transforming into anyone, young or old, male or female.

For some reason, I could always see through her instantly, but apparently she could even transform into monsters.

I knew she was in Heizen.

I had seen her before disguised as an elf woman at the Adventurer’s Guild.

I noticed her back then, but ignored it.

“Lo-long time no see, y’see.”

“Hello…”

We both bowed our heads.

And then “Many-Faces” said nothing.

I stayed silent too.

“How have you been, y’see?”

“Huh? Well… I’ve been doing okay.”

“That’s good, y’see.”

“…”
“…”
“…Um, thank you for earlier.”

“No no, I just called out on instinct, y’see.”

“But it really helped.”

“Glad it helped, y’see.”

“…”
“…”

The conversation wouldn’t continue. Hmm.

Maybe I should talk about the weather.

“Nice weather, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, y’see.”

It was a clear blue sky. Yes, very refreshing.

“…”
“…”
The conversation still didn’t continue. Hmm.

Right.

“Are you doing well, ‘Many-Faces’?”

“Huh? …Not really.”

“I-I see.”

That unexpected answer left me at a loss.

“…”
“…”
The atmosphere became awkward.

Realizing this, “Many-Faces” finally spoke.

“By the way, Wof-san, do you know a man with a red mask, y’see?”

“A red mask…? No, I don’t know him.”

I do know someone who wore a mirror mask, though.

“I see, y’see.”

“I know him.”

“…!”

A sudden voice came from an unexpected direction.

It was Guene. She had been clashing swords with Liv.

I’ll leave Liv to handle that.

Something about Guene now felt different, even after that sudden ambush-like interruption.

“You know him, y’see?”

“Of course. That cursed place we were taken from—that man in the red mask brought us there.”

“That cursed place?”

“A research facility where death was sealed away.”

“Wait… that ruins site?”

The abandoned city on the 44th floor of the Hydrangea dungeon.

Inside it, “Death Abstract” had been sealed underground.

So the daughters of the Sword Goddess were there… that actually makes sense.

Come to think of it, I remember something in the archive about fragments of gods and swords.

So the man with the red mask was part of a thief group?

But I don’t recall anyone that conspicuous among the zombies.

“Wof-san, you know something, y’see?”

“Yes. Due to various circumstances, that ruin no longer exists.”

It destroyed itself and vanished.

Guene frowned.

“What? That place was supposed to seal death.”

“I was the one who destroyed it.”

“…What…”

Guene was stunned.

I actually took it down through a full-force surprise attack.

“…Sky Form… Subaru… Akione Blade.”

“Kya—! What is this sudden increase in weight…!?”

Liv’s blade had turned black.

“Mm… don’t… look away… look only at Liv… fight me…”

“Everything is heavy, you damn woman!”

So that was gravity. No wonder it was heavy.

“I see, y’see… so it’s gone…”

“Many-Faces” looked disappointed.

Then I remembered something.

“Oh—but I know the place it originally came from, or rather, the traces of it. I checked it before with the Knight Commander of the Explorer Knights.”

“Really, y’see?!”

“Yeah. I can tell you where it is.”

“By the way, who exactly is that man with the red mask? I understand he’s part of a thief group.”

“He calls himself Biggs, an alchemist, y’see.”

“An alchemist…”

Another Job Relic user like Haiyaan.

I have a bad feeling about this.

“Though I doubt that’s really true, y’see. I think he’s a fraud. He received funding from various places but produced no results, then ran off with the remaining money, y’see.”

“So you’re chasing him because of that?”

A client of the request might also be one of the sponsors.

‘Shapeshifter’ gave a wry smile.

“It’s not something I can say, y’see. But it seems he wasn’t just a simple fraud, y’see. What we’ve confirmed through our investigation is that Biggs used the funds he ran off with to join a band of thieves, y’see. And then he led that band to a certain location. After that, their whereabouts became unknown. Only Biggs has been sighted since then, y’see. Furthermore… it’s been confirmed that Biggs made contact with Laada of the Jinryuu family.”

“…Laada…”

So it was connected to that as well.

I suddenly thought about the information that Puramankurabu-san and Garad-san and the others had about heading into the forbidden land.

Maybe it all came from Biggs.

Then isn’t Biggs basically the root cause of everything?

And why is that mastermind not here right now, Biggs?

“After that, he left Haizen, and his trail goes cold from there, y’see.”

“The place you’re talking about… is the ruins city, isn’t it?”

“That’s what I think as well, y’see. Do you know what happened to the thieves’ band?”

“They were wiped out. The leader became a zombie, and there was a necromancer, but he turned into a lich and was defeated by Agaro-san.”

“…I see, y’see.”

In truth, all that’s known is that the thieves’ band caused trouble.

But… if he really is the root of everything, then it’s only natural to think this way.

Maybe the destruction of the thieves’ band and the relocation of the ruins city were all Biggs’ doing.

Isn’t Biggs basically a walking calamity?

“And so I will head to that ruins site, y’see. Thank you for the information, y’see. I’m sorry I can’t repay you properly right now, but I will pay you later as an information fee, y’see.”

“Eh? Is that okay?”

I hadn’t expected to be paid.

“Information is a commodity, y’see. For me, information is the seed of work, y’see. Please accept it without hesitation.”

“Thank you very much.”

“You really do have good information, y’see.”

“Well… I tend to get dragged into all kinds of things like this…”

I gave a wry smile.

“Secret technique: ‘Winged Chaos’!”

“Hmm… Sky Form… Subaru… Asterope Blade!”

“What—her sword split!? Wait, dual wielding is cheating!”

The panicked Guene’s sword danced through the air.

And then she fell onto her backside.

“…Liv wins.”

“Guh…………I concede.”

With a blade pointed at her, Guene admitted defeat.

“It looks like it’s over, y’see.”

“Seems so.”

I already knew Liv would win.

Compared to before, Guene’s spirit—her aura, her fighting intent—had strangely weakened.

Or maybe, this was her true self.

And, oddly enough, I had learned an unexpectedly peaceful truth amid all this.

Damn you, Biggs.

Still held at swordpoint by Liv, Guene spoke bitterly.

“…Kill me!”

Eh? A sudden “kill me”?

I was honestly surprised she said it so naturally.

Well… following that mysterious inner voice is honestly annoying, but—

“I have some things I want to ask you, Guene.”

Let’s talk.

Daughter of the Sword Goddess.