“…I’m not sure. It would be better to ask her directly.”
“Yeah, you’re right. Or maybe the other fellow…” The vague reply must have meant he felt the same way as Neia.
“But if there isn’t anyone, what will you do?”
“Hmm? Oh, I don’t need to do anything about it. If we could read information left behind by Jaldabaoth’s side, it might affect how we plan, right?”
When he explained something that anyone could have realized with a little thought, Neia felt embarrassed for asking such a foolish question.
“If there’s no one who can translate, then I guess we have no choice but for me to use my magic, but then we’ll have to really be on the lookout for Jaldabaoth—because if we encountered him while I was low on mana, we’d have to run away… But this does make me curious. It’s only one page; maybe we should read it.”
“It’s really all right?”
“Yeah, I’ll make sure I save enough mana.”
The king put on the monocle and looked over the document. It wasn’t as if there were any visible indications, but the magic must have been working. He seemed like he was able to read it. That said, he didn’t have any eyeballs, so all she could think was that he was probably reading.
After a short time, he took off the monocle.
“It really does use a ton of mana.”
To Neia, who had seen a priest grow unsteady on their feet after using too much mana, the king didn’t seem to have overexerted himself, but it was probably discourteous to compare him to normal casters. He must have a huge amount of mana.
As Neia was thinking those things, the king approached the other door, opened it slightly, and peered inside through the crack.
Neia picked up multiple faint breathing sounds and the smell of blood.
Clenching her bow, she tried to get between him and the door, but before she could, he thrust out a hand.
It meant Stay back.
“Hm…mm… Miss Baraja, this place was being used by the demons, not the subhumans. That document was about some experiments they were performing.”
“…Experiments the demons were performing?” Even before she asked, she knew it couldn’t be anything good.
“Yes. Things like cutting off one creature’s arm and attaching it to another or cutting them open and trading their organs. Starting from the precedent of these exchanges between blood relatives, they were observing what happened between humans and other creatures—not only subhumans, animals, too—if they did those things and then cast healing magic.”
“That’s horrifying! Sticking parts of a relative to someone sounds especially insane!”
“……So when they do those experiments, they need to keep the victims alive, at least long enough to discern the cause of death.” With that, he turned around and jerked a thumb at the door behind him. It was enough that Neia could guess what he was going to say next. “The victims are in there, alive but still sliced open.”
Even though she had anticipated it, the reality made Neia’s mind go black for a moment. Next came rage at the demons who had performed such inhumane experiments.
“Miss Baraja! Have the priests come on the double! And Commander Custodio and the other knights! Hurry!”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
In a corner of her mind, a voice asked if it was really okay to leave him alone, but it was an order from someone trustworthy, wise, and powerful. Surely, she didn’t have to worry. The voice died down instantaneously.
•
The priests opened the door and went inside. The way their shoulders jumped at that moment said more than words about how appalling and ghastly the scene was.
Neia was watching as the King of Darkness turned over the paper they had found to Remedios and Gustav.
“I want you to look at this. It tells the names of the people in there and what was done to them. There are these other documents as well, but it’s unclear if they are more of the same or something else, like part of Jaldabaoth’s plans. Can you read them?”
Remedios took one glance, frowned, and handed the paper to Gustav.
Gustav shook his head. “I can’t make head or tail of it. But you were able to read this one page, right, Your Majesty?”
“Yes, using a magic item. The issue is that the item requires a lot of mana—critical mana I need to conserve for the fight with Jaldabaoth. So I wonder if either of you know anyone who can read this. It could be someone with a literacy ability or even someone you think might be able to do it.”
“No, I can’t think of anyone. The southern nobles could be hiding someone who can, but I highly doubt it.”
“Oh… Then what should we do? I’d like for you guys to figure out how to read the rest of these.”
“Would it be possible to borrow your item, Your Majesty?”
“No. It’s one of my nation’s treasures, so it’s the same as how you can’t lend the sword at your hip so easily. To a caster like me, this sort of item is more precious than a sword.”
Remedios and Gustav looked at each other.
“Understood. Then we’ll do our best. Also, we have another issue. Apparently these orcs were imprisoned here. What should we do with them?”
The orcs didn’t come to attack the Sacred Kingdom; they were brought here by Jaldabaoth as captives. Questioning them wasn’t yielding any useful intelligence, so they weren’t sure how to handle them.
“Hmm…got it. Can you tell me where they are? You’re fine letting me take care of them?”
“Yes, thank you.”
Gustav gave simple directions. The city wasn’t that big to begin with, so it didn’t seem like they would get lost.
By the time Neia had memorized the general route, an exhausted-looking priest opened the door.
“Ohhh! How’d it go?! How are the people doing?!”
“We’ve at least cast healing magic on those who were alive. It was our first time treating people who had been so horribly abused, so we’ll stay a little longer and keep an eye on them. Then, if nothing is wrong, we’d like
