chapter 26

At the bottom of Zaigan Valley, I was fighting a horde of goblins.

With it being a Skill Prohibited Area, I couldn’t use any skills here. However, the goblins weren’t that powerful anyway, so I didn’t face much difficulty.

I cut down the last goblin.

And just like that, it was over…

However, I didn’t get much experience from it.

Speaking of which, the wall seems to have changed shape from before

It was almost as if it was calling me to climb it.

“…Hm?”

I suddenly felt someone looking towards me from above, so I raised my head to check but found was no one there. I thought it was just my imagination, so I continued moving.

I did not notice the people looking down towards me.

Watching him had actually been a white-haired man and a purple-haired girl.

“I see… so this is the person that was transferred here.”

“…but I can’t find the goddess that Ines put in charge of transferring him.”

The man who watched me fight earlier muttered with interest.

The girl looked unsatisfied, but….

“They should be up there, right? Should we crush them?”

“We’ll simply keep watch for now. When they directly face us… that’s when we crush them.”

“Understood.”

The man smiled wryly, watching my back as I walked away…

Meanwhile, at the same time…

Sixteen returned to a certain facility.

When she walked into the facility, a number of girls that looked like her, as well as a hooded man at the center, could be seen.

“Sixteen, you’re back.”

“Master, I apologize, but I failed to eliminate our target.”

The monitor showed an image of me as she reported the mission failure.

“Don’t worry about it. He’s the classless adventurer we’ve been hearing rumors of.”

“He holds a strange power called Skill Copy…”

“Him…” Sixteen said as she remembered my face.

“And he is with Rifill Gheil, the princess of Gheil. Alright, One.”

“Yes.”

After the man called out “One,” a red-haired girl kneeled down.

“Take charge of Two to Ten and bring them with you.”

“Understood.”

The girl called One brought nine girls along with her, and left.

The man saw them off and called out to the blue-haired girl next to him.

“Fifteen, I’ll call on you when the time comes.”

“Understood.”

As Fifteen bowed, the man spoke to Sixteen as well, who was right beside her.

“Sixteen, go rest. It’s alright. You did well.”

The man patted her head, then he stood and left.

Afterward, Fifteen stroked Sixteen’s head.

“We’ll definitely succeed. Just be patient, Sixteen.”

“Fifteen…”

Smiling brightly, Fifteen walked away, and as she looked from behind, Sixteen’s face was wrought with sorrow.

After walking for a while, I finally found a cliff I could climb up.

“I’ve gotta hurry and meet up with them…”

This cliff was quite steep…

It’d probably take a lot of time to climb it.

Mumbling and complaining, I began to climb up the cliff….

As I was struggling to climb the cliff…

Meryl and the rest arrived at Aquarth, and talked to the city’s mayor.

“Welcome to Aquarth, Princess Rifill.”

“Apologies for the delay. A certain robed figure attacked us in Zaigan Valley…”

Captain Gil, Glenn, and Meryl rose up from behind Rifill, who was sitting in a chair.

“As expected, the robed figure in Zaigan Valley…”

“…and thanks to my excellent bodyguards, I’m safe. Do you know anything about that robed figure?”

They dared not to divulge the information that the robed figure was a magic doll.

“No… the number of people coming to this town has decreased because of this figure… Merchants have also been attacked, so it’s difficult for them to bring food and other supplies to us…”

“We already know. We are in this town partly to investigate the incident. Where is the noble in charge of this town?”

A white-haired man entered the room, excusing himself, and bowed to Rifill.

“It’s been a long time, Princess Rifill. I am Keith Rifapein.”

“Indeed. You haven’t changed since last we met.”

Rifill bowed her head slightly and tried to get more details from him.

“Anyways, Keith, how are you handling the Zaigan Valley case?”

“For now, I’d like to block off the road to the valley. If we don’t, more people will die…”

“But wouldn’t that block the routes to this town as well?”

“We’ve taken care of that. We’ve already started construction on alternative routes.”

“I didn’t see any construction sites, though?”

Keith was silent at Rifill’s question.

But his expression quickly calmed.

“If that’s the case, would you like to check them out? I’ll show you around.”

“No need. I trust you. I only came here today to discuss and resolve the matter. Once I return to the castle, I will inform Father, and we will devise a more substantial solution.”

“Thank you.”

Rifill stood up and left the room.

Afterward, Captain Gil also left…

Not even the mayor noticed, but as Keith saw them off, an evil grin could be found on his face…

After Rifill left the room, she went down the hallway.

As she was walking down the middle, Captain Gil asked her something.

“Rifill-sama, I’ve heard some bad rumors about Keith…”

“Father had already told me… but I can’t make any bad moves without proof.”

“Understood… Would you like to tell Meld-sama about the identity of the robed figure?”

Rifill thought for a moment, then answered quickly.

“Of course I’ll tell him… Other than that, I need to find out who made the Sally Doll.”

Glenn and Meryl, who hadn’t said a word until this point, started to talk.

“On top of that, that Keith guy looked a bit suspicious.”

“G-Glenn-san! That’s impolite!”

Meryl warned Glenn about being slanderous.

Seeing them bicker, Rifill laughed.

“A lot of nobles are like that.”

“Even Rifill says so, huh…”

As they talked about such trivial matters, they left the mayor’s office.

“From the looks on your faces, I’m guessing the talk didn’t go too badly.”

I smiled as I leaned against the wall at the entrance.

Seeing me, Rifill and the rest’s expressions lit up, and they came to meet me.

“Aruto!”

Well, coming to meet me would’ve been good enough, but Rifill came up and hugged me.

…stop, I beg…

“O-oi! Rifill!”

“This is punishment for worrying me! Seriously…!”

The gazes from my surroundings were painful…

I looked at Glenn and Gil for help but got smirks in return…

I went to look at Meryl, but she puffed out her cheeks and glared at me.

Why was she glaring at me?

“Anyways, should we go back to Gheil? Let’s return quickly.”

If we return through Zaigan Valley, though, we might get attacked by Sixteen again…

“By the way, Aruto-kun. How’s the girl doing?”

“After I fell down, I lost consciousness. I don’t know where she went after that…”

“I see,” Gil said as he exhaled.

Well, I did talk to her for a bit, but that was something I didn’t want to talk about.

She… Sixteen… looked lonely.

That’s what I thought.

As we talked, we exited the town and headed to our carriage…

Somebody fell in front of us.

Captain Gil immediately protected Rifill, and as we stood in the resulting cloud of dust, we opened one eye and looked for our assailant.

When the dust cloud cleared, there was a girl with red hair and green eyes.

Aside from the hair, this person was…

“Sixteen?!”

She looked exactly like the one I talked to at the bottom of the valley.

“Negative. I am One, a prototype of this ‘Sixteen’ you speak of.”

Sixteen’s sister!?

There’s a whole line of them…!

Nine identical girls came down after One.

Oi, oi!

So these are Sixteen’s siblings!

“Armed Series Troop… here to capture Rifill Gheil on our master’s orders.”

We were overcome with shock at One’s words.