Dark Fantasy: Super Coward Mode

“Hehe, why are you so surprised? You look like you’ve just met an outsider that really caught your interest!”

Yeah.

Seeing Agartha and feeling a mixture of fondness and a sense of her being a bit more developed was completely shattered by one comment from her.

And looking at her irritating remarks made me think, whether she’s getting better or not, Agartha is still just Agartha.

“Aagh, why are you hitting me!”

“I’m just so happy to see you.”

“What kind of person would hit someone out of happiness!”

“Here. Ah, I’m just so glad to see you! Can you hit me one more time?”

“Yikes, an outsider attempted rapist turned woman abuser!”

As I raised my fist to express my discontent at Agartha’s natural knack for slandering, she pretended to cover her head with her hands and acted as if she was being squeezed.

“Sigh, you’re still the same.”

“Of course. They say a person only changes when they die, right?”

“Right, that’s including being talkative.”

“…Even Mr. Tanton is like that?!”

If the Hunter had been there as well, I could totally have delivered a linguistic bombardment.

That’s a bit disappointing.

“You seem to be doing well. What have you been up to here?”

“Hmm? I told you before. I’m going to be active in the underworld.”

With that confident smile, Agartha said.

“When Mr. Tanton defeated the dragon slayer outsider, I also somehow secured my position here! That’s what I mean.”

“…Word has already spread all the way here?”

“There’s no secret in the underworld. I even know the color of the underwear Mr. Tanton is wearing right now.”

“…Don’t know that kind of thing, you perverted thief!”

Seeing my reaction seemed to amuse Agartha as she burst into laughter.

“Haha, just kidding.”

“…Right?”

“Of course, I could find out if I wanted to though.”

“Stop trying to find out!”

Why is she so obsessed with my underwear!

Is it possible her long life as a thief messed with her head?

“Haha, I think you could say it’s a group that has no information it doesn’t know. If someone sets their mind to it, they could find things out quickly.”

…Just how amazing of a place has she gotten herself into?

I might have just saved someone into a tremendous position.

Meanwhile, throughout the conversation, I kept noticing the moving arm that should have clearly been missing.

“By the way, how’s that arm….”

“Oh, this?”

Agartha quickly began to roll up the clothing covering her arm in response to my words.

And I saw it.

It looked like it was made entirely of bone, with no flesh whatsoever.

“Ugh!”

“…Why are you so surprised? It’s just a prosthetic arm.”

“Pr… prosthetic?”

Hearing Agartha’s answer made me not want to see it.

Bones are creepy!

But, if I acted all cowardly again, I could already predict how much Agartha would tease me, so I slowly turned my gaze toward the prosthetic arm.

And then I understood why she had asked why I was so surprised.

What I thought was bone was merely a structure made of strong iron.

Those tendons that looked so grotesque were just strings connecting her joints.

The strings were all heading toward Agartha’s shoulder.

“This joint implementation used some fragments of the outsider. It’s just that while muscles may not be applicable, the nerves can’t be controlled by human strength!”

Fragments of an outsider, how amazing.

What is this stuff that’s so versatile?

At this point, I began to think there might be a hidden business purpose behind the knights hunting outsiders.

“It was tough obtaining this too. It’s been about a week since I got this graft. I didn’t have a high position before that, so no one wanted to give me one. Ugh, I thought I was going to die from the discomfort.”

That’s right; it was definitely a procedure that seemed to have a ridiculous cost just by looking at it.

Above all, given that it’s a fragment from an outsider, there probably aren’t many in stock.

“…I’m glad to hear it. I was worried.”

“Huh? What’s this, Mr. Tanton? You were worried about me? Are you perhaps still hung up on me?”

“Yeah, well. Who would be happy to see their first companion in such a state?”

I had merely given a formal response, yet for some reason, Agartha was making a face reminiscent of when I accidentally ran into her in the underground prison.

Why, have I made another blunder?

“…If you hadn’t added that last part, I might have been misunderstood.”

Looking at Agartha’s bizarrely blushing face, I just tilted my head.

What could there be to misunderstand?

I just accepted it as it is.

As we bantered, we arrived at a tea house on the market street.

Agartha ordered an espresso, I got a chocolate drink, and for Asti, I bought a fruit drink before we sat down.

I thought, of course, a Westerner would drink espresso, but Agartha immediately took a large cup and started pouring in water to mix it.

“Huh?”

“When do you plan to drink that hot and bitter coffee? You should cool it down and drink it quickly.”

…I can’t believe she even knows the definition of Americano.

I had to give her credit for this.

After each taking a sip of our drinks, we took a breath.

When was the last time silence felt comfortable?

“By the way, is being an information broker all you’ve managed to accomplish?”

“Of course not. I’m in quite a high position. Umm, I can’t say exactly what I do, but to put it simply, you could say I’m like a high-ranking commander. While I may not be in the top 20, I’m free from those kinds of people.”

She’s already risen that high?

Just how much hard work did she put in?

Perhaps it’s similar to how I might have been offered the position of “Mystic” after capturing someone remarkable, Agartha could be in a similar scenario.

“Then you shouldn’t be slacking off around here, right?”

“Not slacking off! I heard Mr. Tanton was coming here, so I cleared my schedule to see your face after such a long time….”

Suddenly pulling a sad face and covering her mouth with her hands, Agartha gave off an aura of inexplicable anger.

That was the typical Agartha response signal, letting me know this was undoubtedly a lie.

“Your ability to spin lies is still as smooth as ever.”

“…Tch, you caught me.”

Oh, look at that. She’s revealing her true feelings right away.

“Still, it’s true I missed Mr. Tanton. I wanted to show off how well I’ve done and check up on my subordinates since I had the time today.”

Even though we’ve now parted ways, aren’t we still somewhat of an underground prison party?

Agartha said that with a smile.

A high position.

It’s certain that there would be more to gain by buying information from Agartha rather than getting shabby information from other brokers.

And it’s good to have that friendship, making it easier to ask questions.

“By the way, who is that girl beside you?”

“Oh, this girl is….”

I was about to speak first, but suddenly Asti raised her head.

“I’m the maid of my master.”

…Asti’s social execution operation is still ongoing.

As proof, Agartha’s expression turned ridiculous.

“T-Tanton-san.”

“No.”

“Are you saying you now even have a slave…?”

“I said no.”

“My master isn’t a bad person at all.”

Asti said that while suddenly averting her gaze and speaking in a mumbling voice.

“…It’s just that I’m being… taught a lesson…”

“Didn’t I tell you to stop using that line?!”

“Wow.”

Agartha’s innocent admiration erupted, only to be met with irritation from the voice that followed.

“Looks like you’re even considering that kind of play now.”

“Graaaah!”

Even though I let out a voice of despair, the realization dawned on me that I had no ally at all.

“By the way, what do you want to know? Since you’re friends with Tanton, I’ll let you drink tea with me for free.”

With Agartha’s shocking proposal, I smiled and expressed my gratitude.

From now on, it would be better if fewer people knew about this.

That means it’d be better if Asti wasn’t around too.

“Asti.”

“Yes?”

“You see the kids playing over there? Go play with them for a bit.”

“Got it.”

Without any protest, Asti immediately headed to the children’s play area, and I was incredibly thankful for that.

Agartha looked puzzled at my actions.

“What is it that you want to ask that you even send the kid away?”

“…A murder case.”

I didn’t see the need to hesitate, so I jumped straight into the topic with Agartha.

Perhaps realizing the serious nature of the content, Agartha’s expression became serious.

With the atmosphere set, I began to speak.

“Have there been any incidents of child murders recently, like the ones involving kids like Asti?”

I knew roughly about there being outsiders involved with Asti’s background.

The way Asti didn’t panic when seeing Lia added to that notion.

And the gardener mentioned ‘that lady’ while looking at Lia.

Though it was just a hunch, I started thinking Asti and Lia might be connected to ‘that lady’.

Actually, I had almost asked her about the word ‘mother’ earlier, but I held back for fear of the situation growing larger.

Agartha seemed to ponder my question and dropped her gaze while taking a deep breath.

She fidgeted with her fingers as if sorting out her thoughts before nodding and finally speaking.

“…It’s confidential information on our side.”

“How can I not know about it?”

With my question, Agartha twisted her lips and smiled.

“Mr. Tanton doesn’t seem like the type to say anything strange, so I’ll trust you and tell you. But you absolutely mustn’t! Share this with anybody else! Especially the princess or the deputy director.”

“…Okay.”

Having received her confirmation, Agartha nodded before finally speaking.

“Rumors have been circulating about some fallen nobles living near the walls of Bandre Village and Ronan, who were murdered after buying slaves from illegal slave traders. The problem is, some swindlers operating in our name were selling those kids. Eyewitnesses say it was as if those kids wanted their ‘masters’ to suffer. They didn’t kill them all at once; they kept butchering their body parts before stabbing their necks just when they were about to die. Not a single person could resist those kids. Just how strong would one have to be to pull something off like that?”

Illegal slave traders, murders, butchering.

And they want their targets to suffer?

Plus, superhuman strength that isn’t childlike at all.

Some information was evidently overlapping quite a bit with Asti’s.

“Did you say there weren’t any unusual signs?”

“Well, I guess the kids who killed their targets completely vanished and were so thorough that they could barely be traced afterward. Even a kid that looks identical to them doesn’t seem to remember anything. No, it’s more like their memories were erased.”

The red aura Asti had displayed.

I had thought asking about it was wise, but unfortunately, she had no information on that.

However, I was able to gather one more piece of information.

The ‘assassin maids’ that completed their tasks seem to have their memories wiped or vanish completely.

It might seem trivial, but such small details can often be crucial.

“By the way, is it because the knights gave out another mission to capture something?”

“No, it’s not that…, I just wanted to find out from a personal standpoint.”

“Ah, I see.”

Agartha’s group seems to have classified the matter due to its ties with the slave traders of that organization.

Well, it’s not something I’d particularly care about, so I assumed I would probably forget it soon.

“Well, that’s about all I know regarding this matter. I hope that helps.”

“Yeah, in some ways.”

After all, just knowing that there are beings like Asti is enough progress in itself.

From this information, I could head straight to the library and look up references on outsiders.

For now, this has been alleviated at least somewhat.

#
Inside the tea house where Agartha and Tanton were chatting.

Someone was peering closely from behind a pillar.

A girl dressed in a maid outfit, for some reason, had a red aura flowing out from behind her head.

“…It seems so. Yes.”

The girl looked like she was mumbling to someone as she nodded her head and then withdrew the red aura.

“…Understood. Everything will be as you wish.”

She then proceeded to walk into the dark alley carefreely, as if nothing had happened.

#
“And is there anything else you’d like to ask? Feel free to ask anything. Opportunities like this are rare.”

And something else…

I figured Agartha wouldn’t know much about the record keeper either.

Ah, yes.

“I’m curious about the dragon slayer.”

“Oh! Just the other day, I imported all relevant information. You’re in luck, Mr. Tanton.”

Agartha made a gun gesture with her hand directed at me.

But what is the point of knowing that information?

Is she just a broker selling info?

I wouldn’t gain anything from it anyway.

“The horn of the dragon slayer, you know?”

“Yes.”

“What does it mean to the dragon slayer?”

“Say, the question of ‘what does it mean?’ is quite broad.”

“For instance, touching the horn.”

Agartha, hearing my words, sprayed the coffee she was holding on the ground.

Fortunately, it didn’t splatter on me, but my reflexes kicked in and I hit my knee against the table.

“Aagh, why did you do that all of a sudden!”

“Touching the horn, what does that mean?”

“Touching the horn or something like that.”

Agartha still seemed flustered as she pounded her chest with her fist.

One of the staff approached to ask if she was okay, wiped the floor, and left, allowing her to open her mouth again.

“Tanton-san.”

“Yes.”

“What’s the meaning of placing a ring on the opponent’s ring finger?”

“Um, it means to propose, right?”

At this, Agartha’s face turned to a mix of confusion and amusement.

“To put it roughly, touching the horn of a dragon is the same as putting a ring on the ring finger of a lover and feeling them up here and there.”

…What?

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