My Reincarnation Skills Are “Playing With Dolls” and “Playing With Clay”, but What Am I Supposed to Do With These? C152

Episode 152 Earl's mansion

There were seven of us in total including Lina, but it was decided that we would be a bit too large to go to a noble's house without an appointment. 

“I guess it would be appropriate to call it a researcher and a guard knight.”

Lucien and Magdalea exchanged opinions, and it was decided that the only ones following behind the old woman were me, Lina, who was the size of a doll and was in a bag around her waist, and Magdalea and Buccini. 

I decided to have everyone else wait in a place with a simple table and chairs that looked like a gatekeeper's office, which was located to the side of the large entrance. Of course it was deserted, but... 

Since we have a party organized, if Lina or I are in danger or come across a monster, Lucien and the others will be notified. 

The old woman took me to the guest room, which smelled like it hadn't welcomed anyone in a long time, and there were two chairs for one person facing a large sofa that could seat about three people. was. 

The antique furniture was probably in good condition, but it had a distinctly aged and faded feel to it. 

According to my detection skills, there are signs of at least three or four people inside the mansion. Or rather, there were only signs of a few people. It's too small for such an aristocratic mansion. 

There was no sign of hostile monsters or thieves. That was a bit of a relief, especially in this creepy mansion. 

Soon, the presence of someone approached, and a middle-aged man entered through the door opened by an old woman. 

We stood up, bowed to the nobles, and introduced ourselves. 

"Nice to meet you, Earl. My name is Shiro Tsuzuki, a knight of the Elzark Kingdom, and this is..."

<Larkin Decarno Male 41 years old Knight LV10>

Although he didn't look particularly strong, he had a kind face and a toned physique, giving the impression that he was a proper lord. 

"Ah, no, I'm not an earl."

 picture? 

"I'm Larkin, the Earl's eldest son and the acting lord. My father, the Earl, is old and not feeling well, so I'll listen to him on his behalf."

"I see, I'm sorry..."

Magdalea talks about what she has been researching at the temple. 

“...I have also heard about that holy verse that protects against evil spirits.It is said that after the last Great Demon King War, an evil being remained in this area, and that he burrowed into the earth and disappeared. Takana”

It's probably passed down in the earl's family like an old tale. He didn't seem to think it was that important. 

"The story goes that our ancestors invited a high-ranking priest to recite a powerful holy verse to prevent an evil person from appearing on earth again, and they passed it down from generation to generation..."

"So it's been passed down since just after the Great War two hundred years ago..."

Maggie and Butch asked many questions while taking notes. 

Larkin left the room and brought with him a small old painting in a silver frame. 

There was a picture of a monk standing in front of a nobleman praying at a place that looked like the entrance of a cave, and there was something written in characters that I couldn't read. 

Maggie reads it out loud. 

"'The black one, the tyrannical one, the great insect that crawls on the ground, will never wake up, never leak, will never be resurrected...'?"

"That's right, those words have been passed down in our family. This is a picture drawn by the first earl who was entrusted with this area after the war."

"Do you know where this cave is?"

I asked Larkin, but he couldn't seem to remember. 

In the end, Larkin doesn't know much more than that, and there are no historical materials other than the pictures. 

When I told him that many monsters were appearing from the abandoned mine, and that the guild was planning to start subjugating them starting tomorrow morning, Larkin seemed not to know about this and sighed. 

“Although that area is outside of our family's territory, it is a place where we were once granted the right to collect taxes, so originally our family must maintain public order.I think so...”

The fact that they're in such decline, and that they have almost no servants, probably means they don't have that kind of power. 

Still, I'll check it out. 

"Isn't that cave an abandoned mineshaft?"

"...No, I've visited abandoned mines before, but I don't remember seeing anything like this. However, I don't know enough about it to say it's unrelated. I'm sorry."

There are a lot of things we're curious about, but there doesn't seem to be any more information we can get at the moment, so we said our thanks and decided to withdraw for now. 

I met up with Nolte and the others, left the mansion, and returned to the city while conveying the current information. 

"What are we going to do now? We'll only be anchored in Munica tonight, right?"

Rather than asking me, Lucien asked Magdalena and Buccini. 

"Well...I think this is something that should be investigated."

"That's right, investigating demons is our top priority as part of our role. To be honest, I never thought we'd actually run into each other twice."

Butch also agrees. 

We returned to the pier and completed the formalities for disembarking the Shiro Iruka Maru. 

They won't refund us a single penny, but the ship's fare will come from the investigation costs in addition to the escort fee, so it won't hurt our pockets, which is important. 

"What are we going to do tomorrow? We're thinking of participating in the guild's monster subjugation, but do you want to continue researching the literature at the temple?"

When I asked Maggie and Butch, they looked at each other and Butch answered. 

"If you don't mind, I would like to accompany you on the subjugation. I feel like there might be some connection between the monster in the abandoned mine and the story about that painting, and to be honest, there are only a few historical materials about the temple, and I've already seen most of them. ...”

Before leaving Parthea, both of them had registered as beginner adventurers at the guild in Partepolis. 

And, before leaving Partepolis, we had him join our party in the shallow levels of the Herat labyrinth, so he could gain some experience in combat, so I have a good idea of ​​his abilities. 

Butch can serve well as a vanguard against Orcs, and Maggie can also use the HP recovery "Biogen", so it wouldn't be strange to bring her in as a healer in the rear. 

Both of them have become able to use bows to some extent thanks to Lucien-sensei's practical training. 

"Okay, but why don't you ask the adventurer's guild about the conditions for participation? There may be level restrictions or something like that."

"Yeah, that's fine."

When I returned to the adventurer's guild and said, ``I'd like to participate in the joint subjugation in the morning,'' they looked at me as if I was curious, even though I was an outsider. 

This quest is a voluntary initiative of the Adventurer's Guild. 

The commercial guild gives us some money in the name of maintaining security on the trade routes with the surrounding area, but it does not become a client, so the guild has to come up with the compensation from its budget and it is used for level 5 to 10. The price is 3 silver coins per person, and 5 silver coins for LV11 and above. 

Therefore, the adventurers who live in this town participate partly out of a sense of duty and partly to protect their living space, but it seems that it was unexpected that an adventurer who happened to be staying there would join. 

"Master, as a knight, you want to help the people of the city who are in trouble."

When Nolte explained that, he was half-seriously impressed and felt a little uncomfortable...but thanks to him, the people in the guild started to have a favorable attitude, even though it was a mixed party of demi-humans from outside. 

“Nolte, you did a great job.”

"Yes, it looks like I'll be there for a few days."

I'm secretly having this conversation with Lucien. 

However, thanks to the lenient participation requirements of ``Level 5 or higher,'' Maggie and the others were able to participate without any problems, but the level of the adventurers in the guild was quite low, and with this, stone golems and the like were really difficult. Will it be okay if I come out? I became worried. 

Also, it looks like there will be undead, so we need to take countermeasures against them. 

I asked the staff if the guild was thinking about anything, and they told me that some people from the temple would be joining us tomorrow, and they would be able to apply ``purification'' to their weapons. 

Certainly, if you apply anti-undead purification to a normal weapon, it will be effective against zombies to some extent. However, it only works to a certain extent, and its duration is limited, so don't be overconfident. 

When we updated our armament with Deva, we also bought some silver weapons that could be used as trump cards in the fight against the undead. That said, there are two silver daggers and about twenty silver arrowheads...it's really quite a bit. 

Because it's expensive. You can't buy silver weapons that often. 

However, Lucien, me, and Lina in monk mode can use magic for the undead, and Maggie and I have made some pills infused with "sacred essence," so we should be able to use those. 

Maggie's medicine production skills are as expected, and she taught me various ways to make medicines that I didn't know. 

In exchange, we worked together to create a potion that could only be made by an alchemist, and divided it into piles. 

Furthermore, when I left Paltepolis, Professor Delos, a veteran alchemist, gave me two books on alchemy written in Western language (even I could read them if I tried) as a farewell gift, which was a big deal. 

　

It describes how to use and practice alchemy, which I didn't realize until then because I was just doing trial and error on my own, and I think my actual alchemy skills have improved considerably. 

As Munica is a port town, there are many inns, and just off the main street, you can rent a room with breakfast and dinner for just one silver coin. There were only rooms for two people, so today I shared a room with Lucien, who was on duty. 

Nolte and the others won't tell me how they decide on the rotation, but since that was the beginning, Maggie and Butch aren't included. And maybe because Carmilla becomes a priority around the full moon, she's usually Nolte or Lucien. 

And, if you're with Lucien, it's guaranteed that you'll be halfway through the "strategy meeting time." but···

"When we were waiting in the Count's mansion, Carmilla once said, ``It stinks, the smell of corpses.''

It's too gory for pillow talk. 

"I also felt the presence of death, or something like that. However, there was no sign of any malicious intent or monsters, which is strange, but I didn't feel any danger."

“A dead body is buried there, or the Earl was actually already erased… something like that?”

It's like a mystery. 

"Hmm, I thought about that too, but according to Shiro, his son is a fairly decent person, right? I'm sure there are still some secrets in the earl's family..."

We talked about what we came up with, but in the end I still feel like there are still too many pieces of the puzzle missing. 

I fell asleep while listening to Lucien's musical voice, which was pleasant to my ears.