CH 525

A bright light shone into the room.

Bathed in the light, that couldn’t really be called morning sun anymore, Rei woke up in his bed.

Looking at the clock hanging on the wall, it was already past 10am.

As a high class in where aristocrats and wealthy merchants stayed, there were plenty of magic items used to ensure a comfortable stay.

For example, even though it was almost noon on a midsummer day, the room was still cool. The clock Rei was looking at was another such magic item.

「……I’ve really slept in. No, I guess it was a late night yesterday, so I can’t be helped.」

While scratching his head, Rei recalled the events of the previous night.

The investigation of the Marschel residence had come to an end around midnight.

After that, Rei and Elena promised Vosk to go to the Silva residence the next day and returned to the Golden Wind inn, where they promptly fell asleep, with Rei only waking up now.

「Ahhh……for now, let’s get breakfast. Or, should it be lunch?」

The lack of sleep combined with the temperature in the room, that was neither too hot nor too cold, made him want to fall back into his bed, but he still ended up getting out of bed.

By the time Rei put on his Dragon Robe, his head was completely free of drowsiness.

It seemed to be some function of the body that Zepairu had created, but Rei didn’t mind as it was convenient.

Thinking like that, Rei went down to the first floor where the dining area was located and let out a breath when he saw who was there.

Elena was sitting at a table, eating a breakfast of bread, soup, salad, bacon, eggs, and fruit.

That was expected, but for some reason, Vihera and Byune were eating the same meal at the same table.

For a moment, Rei recalled the grim atmosphere that had formed after yesterday’s fight against Oricule, but fortunately, Elena and Vihera didn’t seem to have any intention of doing the same thing in a public space. Feeling relieved, Rei ordered a light breakfast before sitting at the same table as Elena.

By the way, the main reason why the usually gluttonous Rei only ordered a light meal was because it would be noon in less than two hours.

「Oh, good morning. Did you sleep well last night?」

Rei nodded at Vihera as he sat down and looked around as he drank the chilled fruit juice a waitress had brought around before breakfast arrived.

Even though it was already close to noon, there were still quite a number of guests in the dining area, all talking with each other.

Just the other day there had been a conflict between the Silva family and the Levisor family, and now the Silva family had attacked the Marschel family. There seemed to be many people who were worried about various things.

「What is the Silva family thinking!? Could it be that they’re trying to control Exil!?」

「Idiot, that’s impossible. I know Vosk-sama, he wouldn’t want to do such a troublesome thing.」

「But the reality is, in a short period oif time, they’ve caused conflict with the Levisor and Marschel families. The results prove everything.」

「Actually, it’s not Vosk-san, but that chief butler……was he called Sanctions? He’s pulling the strings behind the scenes.」

「I see, rumors are he’s a smart man. Is he making his master dance to his will? That’s a possibility.」

「Hmm……it’s true that he looks quite sharp, but from what I’ve seen, he doesn’t seem like one to betray his master, does he?」

「If he’s sharp though, it wouldn’t be difficult to cover everything up.」

「Anyhow, it’s fine if the commotion ends like this, but if it continues, it might be better to leave Exil as soon as possible.」

「Now that’s just great. I only arrived at Exil three days ago and was about to start business negotiations.」

「Weapons……are no good. After all, it’s a labyrinth city, so the smithing skills here are quite high. Is food a good market?」

「But, I heard that you can get plenty of food from the dungeon? Especially monster meat, as well as all sorts of different things.」

「No, no, even if they have a bit of money, most ordinary people still buy food from other sources.」

「I’ve also heard that the guards have been sent to the Church of Holy Light……does that have anything to do with things?」

「The Church of Holy Light? Now that’s something unexpected.」

While ignoring the voices around him, Rei placed his glass of cold fruit juice on the table.

「Even if I did sleep well, we got back late, so it still feels like I don’t have enough sleep.」

「Is that so? Well, I heard from Elena, but it seems like you ran into a fair bit of trouble after Byune and I left?」

「Mm.」

Byune nodded as she brought a bite sized piece of apple like fruit to her mouth with a fork.

Elena had no intention of stirring up any trouble here and just nodded politely at Vihera and Byune’s responses.

「Yeah. Well……it’s not an issue, being a distant relative, but it doesn’t seem like he knows anything. Coming over and shouting around like that.」

The reason why she didn’t say words like the Marschel family or Vosk was because it would be troublesome if the other guests in the dining area started asking about it.

If there had only been adventurers around, she didn’t think that any of them would try to mess with Vihera, a battle maniac, Byune, the survivor of the Fraut family, and Rei, who had become quite famous in Exil recently. But, if it was a merchant, they would politely refuse to let them go until they got the information they wanted.

Of course, even for the merchants, the situation in Exil and the movements of the Silva family, who were at the center of things, directly affected their livelihoods, so it made sense for them to get as much information as they could.

(Well, maybe I’m over thinking it.)

Rei thought to himself as he looked around.

Nearby, many merchants were talking with other people in an attempt to get whatever bits of information they could.

There were adventurers among them, even those that had participated in yesterday’s events, but none of them seemed to be talking about what had happened, probably because they didn’t want to get tied up by the merchants.

「Thank you for waiting, here’s your breakfast.」

In the midst of all this, Rei’s breakfast was brought over by a waitress and he finished it before they all headed for the Silva residence, deciding that it would be better than being caught in something strange at the inn.

「As expected, it’s impressive.」

Rei muttered as he looked out from inside a carriage.

It seemed to have already spread through the city that there had been a conflict between the Marschel family and the Silva family the previous night.

A conflict between all the governing families of Exil had occurred in such a short time.

In that sense, it was only natural for the residents of Exil to be concerned.

However, unlike the conflict with the Levisor family, during which the family head had run away, the conflict with the Marschel family had broken out after nightfall and hadn’t been any fights in the city, so things were calmer than before.

It probably also helped that the Silva family was the one family that really did any governing of Exil and had gained the respect of the residents.

「I aggree. But……there’s no doubt taht the Kingdom will get involved. Maybe it’s just the begining of things getting really noisy.」

Elena responded to Rei as she also looked out.

Vihera sat to the other side of Rei, the opposite side of Elena, while Byune sat on Vihera’s lap.

In addition, Set and Yellow weren’t with them.

Rei had gone to the stables and asked if Set wanted to go with them, but he had chosen to continue enjoying his sleep and had stayed back in the stables along with Yellow.

Rei and Elena decided that there was no need to force the two of them to come along, so they just left them slowly drifting off to the world of dreams.

Byune, who had been looking forward to petting the two of them, didn’t display any change of expression on her face, but she still looked somewhat lonely.

Before long, Byune reached out to Vihera’s thin clothes and gently tugged them.

Vihera’s clothes should have been quite dirty from yesterday’s battle, but right now, they looked just as good as new.

As for the rest of the passengers in the carriage, a male passenger glanced over at Vihera as they pretended to look around, but Vihera herself didn’t seem to care at all.

Since her getup was originally intended to attract people to fight, she naturally didn’t care about the gazes of men who weren’t even adventurers.

Of course, it would be a different matter if they were looking at her with an overtly lascivious gaze.

On the other hand, a male adventurer, who knew who Vihera was, desperately tried to stop himself from looking at her.

Vihera had a wry smile on her face as she understood what Byune wanted to say to her and nodded.

「Hm? Ah, right……hey, Elena. What will happen to Exil from here on?」

Elena thought for a moment before speaking.

「Well, this is just my guess……but it probably won’t be the same as before. At the very least, the Marschel family will probably collapse. That’s fine, right?」

At those words, Rei, Vihera, and Byune nodded.

It was an unavoidable outcome considering the mess they had caused.

(Thinking about it, the man who came to the Marschel residence yesterday made a lot of noise……but, if he continues to do that down the road……things will go from bad to worse for him.)

The face of the man who had been shouting at them yesterday passed through Rei’s mind, but Elena didn’t seem to notice as she continued on.

「In that case, there are two possible outcomes I can think of……no, three. In any case, there may be a few more restrictions, but that will mainly be for the higher ups, I don’t think the residents of Exil will feel much different from how they’ve been living up until now.」

Byune nodded silently at Elena’s words.

As the Fraut family was no longer in a position to govern Exil, it was easy for her to accept the idea.

「Next, there’s a possibility that the Kingdom will revoke Exil’s autonomy and send a noble to govern the area. This will change the governing structure. Depending on the noble dispatched, it might be easier to live here than before, but vice versa, some nobles might raise taxes in order to pocket more money for themselves.」

At those words, Byune frowned slightly, and Vihera, who liked Exil’s free atmosphere, spoke with a sigh.

「……I don’t know about the former, but if the latter happened, it might turn into a rebellion in the worst case. Because of the dungeon, there are a lot of adventurers, and if that happened, I don’t think the nobel sent here would be able to do anything about it.」

「I guess. And, even if a good noble were to be sent here, there would definitely be less freedom than now. For example, if you were to fight in the city, guards might come over right away.」

「That would be the worst.」

For someone like Vihera, who loved to fight, Elena’s words were the worst thing that could happen.

At the same time, it might drive many of the adventurers who like Exil to leave……the driving force of a labyrinth city.

Of course, not all adventurers would leave Exil just because things got more troublesome. Some wouldn’t move out because they had family here, people they knew, or for other reasons.

However, Exil wasn’t the only labyrinth city that existed, there were many others. That being the case, there would definitely be fewer people who would continue to stay in Exil despite the worse conditions than those who would leave.

Ordinary residents might hesitate to move out of Exil due to the presence of monsters and bandits, but adventurers were a different story.

In the first place, many of the adventurers currently in Exil came from other places, so they probably wouldn’t hesitate to move back out.

And, it was a truth that if the number of adventurers decreased, so would the number of merchants who visited.

「Yes, I agree. But for my part, I dont’ think the chances of that happening are great. If things go badly, the amount of tax paid by Exil, while contributes a significant amount to the tax revenue, will drastically decrease. It’s hard to believe the Kingdom won’t consider that.」

Hearing Elena’s words, Vihera and Byune both gave a sigh of relief.

「So, what’s the last possibility?」

Hearing Vihera’s question, Elena shrugged as she spoke.

「They will leave the autonomous city as it currently is. If they could do that, the magic items and materials obtained from the dungeon would remain the same as before, as would tax revenue……but honestly, that would be difficult.」

「……Well, two of Exil’s three governing families have been causing issues.」

「Mm.」

Byune agreed with Vihera as she murmured with a disappointed expression.

The carriage rolled along as they conversed liek that……and eventually, they arrived near the Silva residence, their destination.