Paradigm Parasite

I leave Aspizal and the others and walk silently along the giant fissure.

The wind blowing up from below shakes my fringes.

I stop after a reasonable amount of walking and check my surroundings.

... have we got far enough away from them?

"You can come out now."

As I say this, Savage breaks out of his camouflage and appears to ooze out of space.

"Have you seen any changes since then?"

I ask, and he reports that he was attacked by the monster in question not long ago.

After Savage left me, he spent his time hunting monsters around town, but yesterday - around the same time as the incident in the arena - he was attacked by one of the monsters.

Only one of them attacked him, so he was wounded, but he managed to fight back.

We also have an idea why it attacked Savage.

This one has been regularly remodelled, so its root reserves are probably top class amongst the ones under my command.

From their point of view, they're no different from the reincarnated.

We have to deal with the monsters, but the Durzain thing is a problem we can't leave alone.

We'll team up for now, but once this one is sorted out, there's a high probability we'll be in a fight.

In the meantime, I want to know what we have in hand.

The forces here are me and Savage.

The monster that I shot the root at earlier and a few beastmen I manipulated while pulling out their memories in the city.

The monsters are currently in the process of repairing their bodies because we didn't have enough time to do so.

In the meantime, they are underground and on standby.

That's about all we can do at the moment.

Well, we've been walking around for a while now, but they haven't attacked us.

Are these out of the way?

Or is it like they're going over there?

From Yonomori's attitude, I guess she's meeting up with Aspizal to discuss how to deal with me.

I'm going to pretend I don't know because it's mutually agreed that they don't talk about their true feelings.

Go ahead and talk about it behind my back to your heart's content.

But why am I being so careful?

I understood about the presence, but isn't it unreasonable for them to be so wary of me just because of that?

I was aware of it when I was working, I thought I was treating them normally, and I don't remember doing anything that would cause them any discomfort.

Could it be that they knew I was being wary?

It made sense when I thought about it.

It seems that they were aware of my identity, just as I was aware of theirs, and they were probably wary of me not speaking frankly.

Well, they were blatantly lying to me, so I would feel uncomfortable.

I thought about it that much, and I was convinced.

The relationship with Yonomori has improved somewhat after our earlier conversation, but the conclusion that it will probably break down in some way in the not-too-distant future also comes to mind.

Inwardly, I shrug my shoulders and say, well, that's okay.

It's a short relationship anyway. It's not a big problem.

But still, it is deep.

I look into it again, but I can't see the bottom at all.

I check my borrowed watch. There's still time to meet.

...let's check it out.

I instructed Savage to stay hidden and jumped straight down.

The body is pulled by gravity and sucked into the darkness with increasing speed.

The bottom is not visible.

Considering the trouble I had to go through to get up there, I decided that it would be dangerous to continue falling, so I used [Flight].

I decelerate and stand still in the air.

It is dark and hard to see the surroundings, so I activate [Fire I]. It becomes slightly brighter.

There is nothing suspicious about it, just a steep wall.

I touch it, but it is a hard rock - or is it not?

When I lightly brush the surface, a transparent shine enters my eyes.

...What's this?

I lightly scrape it with the handle of the halberd to check.

Is this a magic stone?

When I try it out and pour magic power into it, it gives off a faint glow.

Definitely a magic stone. And it's an unprocessed gemstone.

"Oh, come on. Don't tell me this is all of it?"

Just in case, let's check.

Activate magic [Water II].

I don't need the power, so I just sprayed water at random to remove dirt from the surface, and what I thought was a rock was revealed.

It was a magic stone. Moreover, it was a stratum itself.

It looks like it is in a clean state and free of impurities.

This kind of magic stone is used for various purposes and is in extremely high demand in Urs Laguna.

The magic stone reflects the light generated by my magic and shines transparently.

If I only had this, I could make a fortune, but ...... I don't need it right now.

If I'm ever in need of money, I'll remember this place.

Rise appropriately with water flowing.

...this is amazing. Is it mostly magic stone?

After going up for a while, the layer of magic stone breaks off and turns into a normal geological formation.

Considering the distance from the ground, it's not practical to dig it up from above.

When I checked my watch, it was time to hurry a little.

No luck with the monsters, but it wasn't a wasted trip.

I ascended all the way back to the surface.

"Oh, he's back. You're late!"

When I manage to get back just in time, they are already back and Aspizal is waving at me when he sees me.

"How was it?"

"Nothing special. It's been quiet."

I look at him and ask how it's going over there, and Aspizal shrugs his shoulders.

"No luck over here either. Azusa's also struck out."

Yonomori, next to him, nodded.

"There doesn't seem to be anything going on around here."

"Maybe. What are you going to do after this? Are we going back?"

"Yes, that's right. What do you think, Azusa?"

"I agree with ....... If there's nothing here, I think we should go back to the city. We can go back now while it's still daylight, and we can't just camp here, can we?"

"All right. We'll go back then. Roe is fine with that, right?"

I'll nod my understanding.

"Done. Let's go back to town. Then we'll use the sand, so you two come closer to me."

As we approach, Aspizal manipulates the sand and begins to move.

The pile of sand picks up speed and is quickly moving away from the fissure.

"I've been thinking. Why don't we meet the king?"

A little after we start moving, Aspizal suddenly says something like that.

"I can't imagine there's any need for that."

Why should we go to the trouble of creating more trouble?

For me, it's just a risk that more people know I'm a reincarnated person.

"I'm going to go talk to him alone then, and Roe can wait outside?"

"...... No, I'll go out with you."

That's what I had to say.

As long as there's no guarantee that you guys won't say anything unnecessary, it's better to at least keep them within earshot.

"Okay. But at the rate we're going, it's going to be night before we get back, so I'll see you in the morning."

"Roger that. I'll finish today when I get back to town."

As I closed the conversation, I let out a sigh inwardly, thinking that it was going to be troublesome again.

Administrative and development special zones under the direct control of the king. Commonly known as a special zone.

A corner of the country where various facilities built by the king are located, and is off-limits to all but relevant personnel.

Technological development and other research that is classified as state secrets is carried out in this zone, which is the most guarded place in the country, off-limits to all but staff, relevant personnel and those with permission to enter.

Trespassing is one of the highest crimes in the country, and permission has even been granted to kill people on the spot without going through the process of capture.

Surrounded by high walls, smoke rises boldly into the sky from what looks from a distance like a chimney.

Perhaps there is some kind of factory inside.

They were using asphalt to pave the road, and I wonder if they are making that kind of thing.

The next day we were there.

"... so? It's good that we came, but how do we get them to take us in? Like I said before, you can't just go in there without permission. If you're not good at it, you'll make more enemies you don't need."

"Yes, I know. I understand. So I'm going to meet him head-on."

The next day, we were on our way to the special zone where the king was supposed to be.

"I know it's a safe move, but do you think they'll go out of the blue and take you on?"

"It's all right, it's all right. Yes, and thank you for this."

Aspizal holds out a letter-like object to me.

"What's this?"

"Ask the guards there to give it to the king. I've written in Japanese that I'd like to discuss the situation briefly, and I'm sure they'd like the information, so I'm sure they'll take you up on it, okay?"

A few guards were standing at the doorway guarding the entrance and exit.

"...And you want me to give it to them?"

"Yeah. I don't understand the language. Roe is the best man for the job, isn't he? I've also written down the location of the accommodation you're staying in, so tell them to bring the reply to you."

Well, that's the way it's going to be.

I don't feel like getting on, but let's do it.

I received the letter and headed straight for the place where the guards were.

"Hey, this place is off limits to everyone except those concerned."

The security beastman says this as he carries the spear he is holding on his shoulder.

I slowly approach him and offer him a letter, appealing to him that I don't want to fight.

"Sorry. I need you to give this to the king, please?"

The beasts of the guard look at the letter I'm holding and give me sharp glances, checking for anything out of the ordinary.

They haven't let their guard down. Excellent.

One of them approaches and takes the letter.

"What's this?"

"I wrote to say that I would like to exchange information with him about the monster from the other day. If possible, I would like to talk to him in person, so please take a look at the letter and decide whether or not he wants to meet with me."

"May I check the contents?"

I nodded that I didn't mind.

I don't think you guys can read it, though.

"All right. I'll give it to him."

"Inside you'll find the accommodation where me and my companion are staying, so I'm sorry, but if you want to meet with us, it would be great if you could ask there."

With that, I leave and return to Aspizal and the others.

"Thank you. All you have to do now is wait at the inn and you'll be fine. I'm tired of moving around in the dark, so let's wait a bit."

"I've come here first thing in the morning, so I haven't eaten yet."

Yonomori rubbed her belly and suggested a meal, so I decided to take her up on it.

"It's good, isn't it? I need something in my stomach too."

"Yeah, I'd like that. I think there's a diner next to the inn, so why don't we eat there?"

Afterwards, we decided to have dinner in the restaurant attached to the inn.

"I feel like I'm being watched a lot."

"I don't like it. I don't like being stared at."

"Well, it's probably because of this."

A tower of plates piled up on the table next to us.

Naturally, it's a pile of empty plates after we've finished eating.

I've become even more fuel-efficient in this body, so aside from me, who eats more, the other two are not eating half as much as me.

It's not hard to understand why the Yonomori are eating as much or more than the Aspizal because of their size, but what does it mean that the Aspizal are also eating as much or more than the Aspizal?

Basically, beastmen are gluttonous eaters, but the amount of food we ate seemed to be quite a lot, even by their standards.

Thanks to this, the people around us are looking at us with curiosity.

To be honest, it's depressing, so could you please stop it?

"By the way, that letter, what exactly did you write?"

When I shake the conversation because I didn't want to eat in silence, Aspizal mutters ah.

"I didn't write anything important. I just wrote in Japanese that we are also being targeted by the monster and that we want to exchange information. It seems that they are interested in other reincarnated people too, so I think there is a high probability that they will bite."

"Really? It's like he's a powerful man, so it's unthinkable that he would be on the lookout for someone who might be calculating and trying to take over?"

"I can't say that there isn't, but I don't think you'd take a prominent position as king if you didn't really want to be involved. Besides, you saw that special zone, right? They're paving the roads, they're putting up factories, they're not trying to hide it. Given that, I think they'd rather wait for us to contact them, wouldn't they?"

"I agree with you on that one. I think it's too much of a target, being a state official, a civil servant."

Hearing this, Aspizal laughed a little, and the Yonomori next to him also let out a small chuckle.

"Ha ha ha. 'Well, I guess he's here, isn't he?"

"Looks like it."

When I looked at the entrance, I saw a beastman in a staff uniform scurrying around, looking for someone.