Paperwork was apparently a rarity at Draim's Nest. This was partly because the Dragons who ruled there and the members of the Devil Race serving as butlers and maids were all exceptionally bright.
It wasn't just general intelligence, either; their memories were staggering. On top of that, since they could process most affairs in their heads, there was almost no need to record anything on paper.
I see. And Prada was a member of that staff. Apparently, she was quite intelligent herself.
...Not that I was doubting her. It was just that the realization didn't exactly hit me with a bolt of lightning.
Those were definitely feigned tears. Yeah, I could tell.
Prada explained that long ago, she had read the Agriculture Diary and figured out its secret. That was why she had left the sentence on the back cover. But that raised a question.
"I have recorded the hiding place of the seeds in this book."
The phrasing "I have recorded" was what bothered me. Prada wasn't the author of the Agriculture Diary, after all. If that were the case, she should have written, "The hiding place is recorded here."
When I pressed her on it, the answer turned out to be simple. The sentence had originally been on the back cover from the start. However, it had been in a bad spot and had worn away until it was barely legible. So, Prada had merely rewritten it. By now, the original text had faded completely, leaving only Prada's rewritten version behind.
I see.
...Was it written in Ancient Devil Language to begin with?
"No, it was in the common tongue, just like the rest of the book."
Then why did you rewrite it in Ancient Devil Language?
"Oh, it was just a slip of the pen."
She gave me a charming smile, but I wasn't about to be fooled by that. Regardless, one minor mystery was solved. Time to tackle the big one. Prada knew where the seeds were hidden. Had she ever tried to retrieve them?
"Why on earth would I go out of my way for some seeds? Wait—hey, don't start patting my head all of a sudden!"
No, no, I definitely needed to pat her head. Good. That was the spirit. The mystery of the treasure map had been unraveled, but the treasure itself was still out there. More importantly, the spirit of adventure hadn't been lost. So, where was this hiding place?
"Um, if I remember correctly..."
Prada gave me the location she remembered, but it was a place name I'd never heard. I would need to look it up. Wait—Michael-san already knew where it was?
It turned out the seeds were hidden right in the middle of the Demon Kingdom and Fullhart Combat Zone. Right then and there, I decided to give up. I would just pass the information to the Demon King and wash my hands of the whole affair. Was I going to go get them myself? Absolutely not. I had no desire to go anywhere near such a dangerous place.
Prada... it was quite rude of her to claim there was nowhere more dangerous than the Forest of Death. It might have a scary name, but it really wasn't such a bad place. I told her she should come visit sometime. Between Rusty, Bulga, and Stifano, she wouldn't be short on conversation partners.
She said she wanted to see Rusty, but she'd rather pass on the other two. Ah, so they were rivals. In that case, I told her she'd better work hard enough to make sure she didn't lose to them. If she performed well, I promised I’d be open to improving her current situation.
I also told her to let me know if there was a specific job she wanted to do, and I'd consider it. She said she wanted to be involved in running an art museum. That would be a bit of a problem if she gambled away the exhibits, though. She insisted she wouldn't bet things that didn't belong to her, but I told her she should try to cut back on gambling in general, even with her own property. I heard her request and told her I’d keep it in mind. For now, she needed to earn trust through her current work.
I left the Goroun Company building and headed back toward Yoko's Mansion. On the way, I took a look around Village Five and noticed a heavy presence of the Security Team. It was likely an aftermath of yesterday's ambush. However, Pirika was nowhere to be seen. She was currently staying in the Village of the Great Tree to train for the martial arts tournament.
She was staying at an inn that had gone largely unused lately. I had offered her a spare room in the mansion, but she insisted the inn was more practical for her pre-tournament training regimen. As for that training... it wasn't going particularly well. She was suffering one struggle after another against the local Forest Rabbits. Galf and Daga had suggested she should be able to win, but it seemed she was just genuinely bad at anything that wasn't anti-personnel combat.
She was relying on World Tree Leaves to heal herself every single day. Even if they worked miracles, I really wished she wouldn't be so reckless.
I moved from Yoko's Mansion back to the Village of the Great Tree and returned to my own mansion. In the courtyard, I found Pirika alone, treating her own injuries. It looked like she’d lost again today. Since she was able to handle the treatment herself, the injuries probably weren't too severe.
Hm? Then I saw the four Older Sister Cats carrying something toward her. It was a rabbit. They dropped the carcass right in front of Pirika and gave her looks that clearly said, "This is how you hunt a rabbit, rookie."
That did it. Pirika started crying—really, truly sobbing. I decided it was best to pretend I hadn't seen anything and slipped away.
The next day, I saw Pirika being coached by the Older Sister Cats. Man, they were tough.