181 Elrich's Headache

Chapter 162:

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The next morning, Elrich tried to invite Kazuya to breakfast but was told that he had insisted on taking his usual morning run. Zwei served the duke his meal in his office while giving a report about the information they were just sent.

"Elrich-sama, we have two reports that you need to hear." Zwei received these reports early on and decided to start with the most important ones.

"Did ravens from the territory come?"

"Yes. Word came from Laura that Lady Sodina has left for the capital after the pillar of light was seen from the fortress. Two Knights together with five promising trainees are accompanying her." Zwei reported.

"Why didn't she take knights instead of members of the special units with her… Nevermind, this should be a test to see if she is capable of taking command." Elrich smiled. Zwei also mentioned that they took the fastest steeds in the fortress so there wouldn't be any problems if there were any pursuers. "What of the other report?"

"Princess Alicia has yet to recover from the injuries the hero has given her." Zwei in a more serious tone.

"What?!" the hardened duke couldn't help but turn towards Zwei.

"Even one of the bishops couldn't figure out why his healing magic wouldn't work. The princess is still bedridden and is currently unable to make use of one arm and her two legs. Basic medical treatment has been given for the meantime." Zwei continued.

"This is a problem…" Elrich crossed his arms. "If Kazuya-san was just another person, he would have been slain for even putting a scratch on Alicia. The king is swallowing this insult because summoning another hero this soon might not just cause a drought, it may just turn a big part of the kingdom into barren land."

Apart from the fact that the former hero Natsu had achieved peace with all the races, the former hero had hidden the method of summoning heroes in Edea because of the consequences to the environment when performing the ritual. Many other races were in favor of this because of their connection to nature and the example of the consequences in the southern lands.

The old temple of the hero was located southward in the territory of the Filodoxos Kingdom. It was once a research facility of one of the great sages who hid their base in the middle of a forest. After summoning many great heroes that saved Edea from multiple perils, the lush forests were now part of the southern desserts.

"It will not take long before they call upon the hero to ask about the princess' condition. I think it would be best if we ask him about it first."

"That's true. If we ask him and inform the castle, the relationship between the two wouldn't deteriorate any further. I'm afraid that Kazuya-san might just respond harshly if he's threatened."

"I'm surprised you are fond of the hero after being against the hero summoning Elrich-sama." Zwei smiled. He had assumed that Elrich would have been one of the people to be disliked by the hero.

"Though I respect the hero Raphael and have been putting into practice what he taught about his world's military, the fact that the hero summoning is a huge gamble repels me. Throughout history, we have only called upon heroes when we have no other options." Elrich shook his head as if he were disappointed.

"We have the full force of the Kingdom and our allies in case the demon king decides to break his pact. Calling upon a hero because of an unconfirmed threat is like playing your trump card too early in the game." Elrich continued.

"I believe that we got ourselves a hero unlike any other. One that is not easily swayed by the pleas of this world despite the king's implication that he will not be able to return if the problem is not solved. Kazuya-san is exactly what I envisioned a hero should be, someone who doesn't naively point his blade towards whoever was deemed evil."

"But, wouldn't that mean that he could point his blade against our kingdom?" Zwei was surprised that the loyal duke said such words.

"That will not happen. Didn't I tell you exactly what happened after Kazuya-san arrived in this world? If my guess is correct, the hero is still hiding a very important detail that no one has yet to realize."The duke grinned.

"The hero summoning…" Zwei recalled the report as well as the narration of the duke himself and suddenly realized something that had been overlooked. "He knew the common tongue… that means…"

"He is definitely connected to a person who has once been here. There should only be a select few of people that we know of that has come and returned back to the world where heroes come from, right?"

*gulp* Zwei couldn't believe it but neither can he refute it. All the records indicated that the heroes called from another world had always started out with difficulty because of the initial language barrier. The fact that Kazuya was not only able to use common language, but also be fluent in it means that he was connected to a person that has been to their world.

"I understand…" Zwei's impression of the hero that answered their summons changed tremendously. What Zwei thought was a clever boy with a ton of potential turned out to be someone whose league wasn't even close to his. "Should I call Kazuya-sama for a private talk after he comes back?"

"Make sure he is free before doing so. I don't want anything to go wrong with our discussion so please pay attention to his mood." Elrich ordered.

Kazuya was the type of person Elrich thought was a perfect choice to bear the title of hero. The only problem was, this was not the type the kingdom preferred since what they wanted was a person that wouldn't question anything they said.

"P-pardon my intrusion!" Acht entered the room looking flustered.

"What's the matter?" Zwei frowned after seeing her losing her cool.

"K-kazuya-sama has brought back with him two injured people who he said have tried tailing him in his morning exercise. T-they look to be members of the 'Royal Shadow'" she explained.

Zwei and Elrich looked at each other and exchanged strange looks. They couldn't blame Acht for reacting like she did. Only a day had gone by yet the hero had started his second day in this world with another blow to the Royal Family.

"I understand." Zwei didn't mind Acht's reaction anymore and had her lead them to the unexpected visitors.

"Lead us to them." The duke couldn't help but smile once he heard that the secret force that was a copy of his elite unit had suffered while tailing one of his guests.

Very much like the Steel Wolves unit under the duke, the Royal Shadows were the secret forces the crown had under their control. They would usually act as the eyes and ears of the capital but there are cases where they are sent to take upon secret missions issued to them by the crown. These missions were very sensitive in nature and very few people even knew of the secret force's existence.

"Where is he?" Elrich asked where Kazuya was after entering the room where the servants put the 'guests'.

"Kazuya-sama left the responsibility of discerning their identities to us. He said that he will return after cleaning himself up." Neun replied to the duke and kept her calm.

Though not everyone knew about the existence of the Royal Shadow, the ones who did knew that they worked under direct orders from the castle. Even the duke himself wouldn't be able to make them speak if they claimed that they were under orders of secrecy.

Some of the servants were aware of the current tension between the Eberbach house and the royal faction so they couldn't help but be nervous at the fact that this may end up furthering the tension between the two sides.

"How is their condition?" Elrich entered the room and asked one of his subordinates that had his hands covered in blood.

"It's strange. It looks like they were pierced with something thin and circular. I have never seen a weapon like this before. What is even stranger is, healing magic doesn't seem to work." The servant showed the bullet wounds on the shoulders and legs of the two men.

"Healing magic is ineffective you say?" Elrich couldn't help but give a smirk before turning to Zwei who understood that this was a good chance.

"We've applied first aid but…" the subordinate explained as Elrich and Zwei approached the patients.

"Why were you following the hero?" Zwei looked at one of the men in the eye and asked.

"Do we need a reason to observe anyone we see suspicious?" The man replied sarcastically. "a person wearing strange clothes while roaming around in the nobles district is more of a reason for us to keep an eye on him."

"What a load of bullshit." A voice coming from the door made its way inside. "I am very sensitive to gazes so I could tell that you people were tailing me the moment I exited the duke's household." Kazuya walked in wearing a black tracksuit and scoffed at them.

"You…! Do you even know who we are!?" the man didn't care about his open wound and glared at Kazuya.

"I don't care who you are. Do you know who I am?" he retorted. "I won't even question you dogs on who your masters are. Just make sure to tell them this; their actions aren't helping in making me give their request a favorable answer."

"…" the man immediately closed his lips. No matter what the hero did, it was their failure for being detected and captured. He was aware that their superiors would be more than willing to execute them to please the hero rather than defend them to gain his ire.

"Oh, and one more thing… The only reason why your wounds are on your body instead of your head is because I don't want to bring the duke unnecessary trouble. My actions yesterday are proof enough." A cold smile came from Kazuya that made the wounded men think that he was a villain rather than a hero.

"May I have a word with you?" the duke spoke to Kazuya.

"Sure." Kazuya, Zwei and Elrich left the treatment room and entered the dining area. "What is it you wanted to talk about?" he asked as he was served breakfast and Elrich was given tea.

"It's about your weapon. Our healing magic doesn't seem to work on the wounds caused by it. I was wondering why that was?"

"Unlike Edea, Earth does not have an abundance of mana. It does exist but it is so scarce that people think of mana as a myth." This didn't come as a surprise as records did indicate that the heroes summoned in the past were unlike Kazuya who were unaware of what mana was.

"However, there are people that have the ability to control it. My enemies are one of them so my soul weapon inflicts injuries that makes it so that any spell that uses mana to heal it is nullified." Kazuya explained calmly before adding another detail. "It seems my lack of combat abilities was compensated by a convenient soul weapon."

Elrich and Zwei were a little startled when they heard Kazuya share an unexpected weakness. It was a weakness that they thought the hero didn't have from the way he's been acting so far. It made the duke have mixed emotions because it showed that the hero had given them a bit of his trust.

"Is there any way to treat it?" Zwei put himself up to the task to know the answer they were looking for.

"Normal medical treatment is the only way I know of. Depending on the rounds I use, stitches may be necessary." He replied without hesitation.

"You can't make it so that they can be healed with magic again?"

"It isn't like they can't be healed with magic once they get injured by me. Only the wounds caused by my soul weapon won't be allowed to heal in any way other than the body's own healing abilities." Kazuya paused. "Why?"

"You see…" the duke explained the report they've gotten earlier about the princess' wounds baffling the church's healers.

"Oh, I almost forgot about that girl… A princess huh…" his expression changed for a bit before comically shrugging his shoulders.

""??"" The two were confused as to how Kazuya treated this matter so nonchalantly.

"This world's nobles sure have a funny way of asking for favors. Kidnapping, blackmail and now stalking? I'm amazed at the difference of values of different worlds." Kazuya spoke sarcastically.

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"Sadly, I have no words to refute that." The duke sighed. "To be honest, if it were not for my suspicions or if the kingdom was indeed in a situation that we couldn't handle on our own, I would have been one of them."

"I appreciate your honesty." Kazuya's mood was able to lighten up because of Elrich's words. "I would have responded more favorably after I've gotten a good grasp on the situation but… everything currently stinks of a conspiracy."

Elrich and Zwei flinched. They shared the same sentiments. The fact that the kingdom and the church who were usually at odds with each other working this amicably together tells them that they were up to something.

"I would rather not be used as a weapon that is thrown away or disposed of after having lived its use. Do you understand what I mean Elrich-san?"

"I do. It may not mean much, but I feel really apologetic for how they have acted." Elrich sighed as he felt ashamed of how the king himself has handled the situation so far.

Kazuya was indeed different from the heroes they have read about. The actions that they have seen so far tells them that the crown has plans to take complete advantage of a hero's innocence. This currently ended up backfiring because Kazuya was sharper than an individual that was supposed to be living in a peaceful world with no wars.

"I don't mind it if you share the treatment method with them but please tell them that if they want me to treat her myself, then they would have to ask me nicely." Unlike Kazuya's gaze, his mouth smiled.

"I plan to attend a meeting with the king later this afternoon so I will pass on the message as well as concerns of my own regarding the current matters."

"I see…" Kazuya felt some relief. The current situation was devolving into a state in which he would have no choice but to go up against the crown. It would make it harder for him to clear some of his goals so it wasn't ideal for him to do so.

"Can I have or borrow some of this world's currency?" Kazuya suddenly changed the topic.

"Money?"

"Yes. From what I observed from the people at the parade, the clothes I have will only stand out. I wouldn't be able to move around the common districts without making a fuss so I wanted to purchase some stuff for my own use."

"Ah I can make arrangements for that. I will ask the two maids to accompany you and help with anything that you may need."

"Thank you. (It will be troublesome with two escorts but I guess I can return the favor right away)"