After returning briefly to the inn, I gathered Rose, Faf, Mew, Anna—who had been looking after the girls—and Zack, who had been training, and we all climbed onto Phoenix's back to head for our destination.
Arriving in mere minutes, what awaited us was...
"There really is nothing here at all..."
The landscape was divided clean down the middle: a vast wasteland on one side, and a dense jungle on the other.
Certainly, this was no place where ordinary people could simply settle down. Anyone attempting to live here would either have to be an extreme survival enthusiast or be driven by desperate circumstances.
It seemed the king genuinely intended to make Rose govern a territory with practically zero subjects. Ordinarily, one would assume Rose was utterly despised by her father. That was the natural conclusion, yet judging from the way the two of them interacted, that didn't seem very likely.
In the first place, if the king had no desire to cede the throne to Rose, he would have entrusted the evaluation to another senior retainer rather than the prime minister. Most likely, the prime minister had been chosen not only because he could make an impartial judgment, but also because no one could ever accuse that gentleman of foul play.
"Well then, first off, we need to secure some subjects."
"You make securing subjects sound so simple, but do you have any leads?"
"Nope, not a single one."
At my reply, Rose let out a long sigh.
"Let us return to the inn in the capital and formulate a plan."
And with that, she laid down our next course of action.
Upon returning to the royal capital, Rose proposed that we switch to a different inn. The reason was simple: there was far too much foot traffic at our current one, making it impossible to hold discussions in peace. Indeed, plotting out the royal selection in such a crowded place would be the height of folly. As none of the others had any objections, we decided to search for new accommodations today.
Our ideal inn needed to satisfy two conditions:
First, it had to be rented out entirely for our exclusive use.
Second, whatever we discussed could not leak to the outside world.
Setting aside the first condition of a private buyout, I had no clue where to find an inn that could guarantee total secrecy. Our only choice was to ask someone in the know.
Currently, we were standing before a building in the southwestern corner of the royal capital, where thuggish, rough-looking men frequently came and went.
"Master, you can't seriously be thinking of asking them, right?"
Zack asked me with an utterly exasperated look on his face, pointing out the blindingly obvious.
Incidentally, ever since I started instructing him, Zack had taken to calling me "Master." Even when I told him to stop, he refused to listen, so I just let it be. After all, titles were nothing more than labels in the end. It hardly mattered.
"Indeed. With folks like them, even if our questioning gets a little rough, it won't cause much of a stir, will it?"
"Doesn't that just mean you're itching to get rough?"
"That depends entirely on them."
This world runs on cause and effect. Those who stain their hands with blood must be prepared to meet an unsightly end when their time comes.
The same applied to us warriors. If someone lacked that resolve, they ought to lay down their weapons, turn away from the path of bloodshed, and live an honest life beneath the sun.
"Well, I guess that's just like you, Master."
Shaking his head, Zack flashed a ferocious, predatory grin and cracked his knuckles with a sickening crunch.
What was that? For all your complaining, you're looking pretty eager yourself.
I let out a breath and began walking toward them.
"Hey, hold it right there!"
As we reached the entrance, a burly man with frizzy hair and a slender, sharp-featured man with short hair and a scarred cheek stepped forward, leveling their sword tips right at the bridge of my nose in an attempt to intimidate us.
"Take us to your boss. Comply quietly, and I won't hurt you."
I delivered the ultimatum with the most refreshing smile I could muster.
"Aww man, see? We're nice guys."
Hey now, Zack, saying that while popping your knuckles leaves you with zero credibility. You need to flash those pearly whites with a refined, gleaming grin like mine.
Sure enough, the sight of a mountain of muscle like Zack made their expressions twitch nervously.
"H-Hey, we're being raided! You bastards, get out here right now!!"
A crew of several dozen heavily armed, rough-looking men swarmed out of the building.
Hmm, looks like things are playing out just as I expected.
I moved to take a step forward, but—
"Master, let me handle this. I've been itching to test out the power I just learned."
Stepping ahead of me, Zack slammed his fists together and focused his magic. In an instant, his entire body was enveloped in a faint, shimmering membrane.
Oho, his chantless activation has become quite natural. On top of that, is that Hardening?
Hardening—a form of enhancement magic that continuously covers the entire body in a membrane of magic power, altering its properties into something solid and rigid. In a sense, it was a spell born from the exact opposite concept of my Vajra Power, which fortified the body at the cellular level.
Reinforcing himself at the cellular level was likely beyond Zack's current technical skill. Thus, he had figured he might as well coat his entire body all at once instead. His combat instincts truly were remarkable.
At the very back of the crowd, a tall, bearded man with a shaved head had been watching Zack and me with a bored look, but—
"I wanna know what outfit those dumbasses belong to. Turn 'em into scarecrows and drag 'em inside!"
He barked the order to his men and turned back into the building.
Judging by that air of authority, he was probably the boss around here.
Relying on their overwhelming numerical advantage, the men's earlier wariness vanished into thin air, replaced by smug, complacent smirks.
The frizzy-haired thug approached Zack, arrogantly tapping the flat of his longsword against Zack's cheek.
"Boss's orders. Take a few slashes quietly, and you might just live through this."
He spat out his foolish threat with triumphant confidence.
"Idiot."
Zack reached up and seized the blade pressed against his face.
"Hey, don't try anything funn—huh?"
The longsword in the man's grip bent and twisted grotesquely right from the hilt.
Without missing a beat, Zack began crushing the folded blade with his bare hands, crumpling the steel as easily as if he were kneading a lump of clay.
As the surreal sound of groaning metal echoed through the air, the armed thugs surrounding us froze, utterly struck dumb.
"M-M-Monster..."
At the man's high-pitched, trembling gasp, the corners of Zack's mouth curled upward, baring his sharp canines.
And with that, the beast's rampage began.