53 – Friends (4)

Lyria also followed me at a distance of about three paces.

Opening the iron door, I entered a hall with a high floor and a sense of openness.

Light streamed in from the large windows, and large-leaved tropical plants were adorned all around.

It feels like a resort for aristocrats.

One thing you can know at a glance with just a first impression is that the owner here is a very rich man.

A short-haired woman approached me. Soon after, the gatekeeper gave her a hand signal.

The woman who got the signal said to me.

“Come this way.”

Then he pushed open the golden door in the middle of the hall and stepped inside.

Passing through the dark hallway, an open space was revealed.

Immediately, the strong scent of herbs and hot steam blew into my face.

There were huge hot spring baths on both sides of the central corridor we were going through.

There was a huge hole in the ceiling through which all the steam was escaping.

The enormous steam spewing out from the entire building seems to have all come from the hot springs.

“Wow… .”

Lyria looked around in admiration and bowed her head in surprise.

It was because people were enjoying the hot spring bath in the nude.

Men’s and women’s baths were divided around the corridor, but they did not completely block the views of both sides. It is a structure that can be stolen anywhere if you want to.

In the back, there are hot spring baths with a more luxurious and secret structure.

And when we reached the end of the corridor, the bobbed-haired woman who was guiding us stopped.

A large door blocked the way in front of us.

A huge serpent that looks like the symbol of the organization is embossed on the door.

“You can go in.”

The woman stopped Lilia from following me with her hand.

“No one but the person concerned can enter.”

I said to Lyria.

“I’ll be back.”

I opened the door and stepped out. There was a courtyard leading from the main building to the annex.

I crossed the courtyard and stood in front of the annex. After taking a deep breath, I opened the door, and hot steam blew in again, warming my face.

I shook my hands to blow off the steam, and the first thing I saw with my eyes open was the woman’s back.

“…?”

A woman without a thread is soaking in a hot spring alone.

And on both sides of the bath, escort knights were lined up.

On the back of the woman exposed out of the water, the same snake as the one on the gate is tattooed.

The woman said without even checking my face.

“Come on.”

“… .”

“I heard that you put the name of Elizabeth?”

“… That’s right.”

“I don’t know who I am and tell such obvious lies. It looks like the liver has come out of the stomach.”

“You’ll change your mind when you see what I brought.”

The woman slowly got up. A dizzying curve was revealed through the hot steam.

With her back to me, she walked forward and came out of the bath.

Attendants brought towels to dry off and put on gowns.

“I am not interested in that. Could it be something stolen?”

The woman reclined on a long sofa made of snakeskin-like material.

Only then did I meet her eyes.

He has the impression of looking young, in his early to mid-twenties.

“Are you willing to listen to me?”

“No, I’m getting less and less interested.”

Damn it. What are you doing? bathroom owner? high-ranking nobles? colossus?

I never imagined that I would face such a sweaty situation. I was vaguely expecting something like an eccentric magician who runs a magic tool shop or lab.

It’s my judgment mistake. If I had known this was going to happen, I would have dug up the information thoroughly.

“If you weren’t really interested, you wouldn’t have let me in here at all.”

She took a pipe from the table next to her and lit it.

Then he bit into his mouth for a moment, then let out a long puff of smoke and spoke.

“Haa, I was expecting a little since I heard that the apprentice of the great wizard has arrived. Not very good.”

As expected, I knew all about my identity.

“What were you expecting?”

“Well, something I didn’t expect?”

“I just came here for a light business.”

“It’s never light enough to come to me. And do you want to achieve only what you want? Aren’t you supposed to satisfy my needs too? Only then can the exchange be established.”

“I brought enough money.”

“Do you think I look like someone in need of money?”

“… .”

this. I feel like I’m being pushed unilaterally in a battle of strength.

I took out Silverin’s letter from my chest. I hope this helps with the negotiations.

“Master asked me to pass it on.”

“Hmm.”

One of the attendants took my letter and handed it to her.

The woman, without reading the letter, tossed it into the flames of a decorative flowerpot beside it.

“… !”

“… Obvious and boring.”

I swallowed. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen someone so blatantly hostile to Silverin.

I know that Elizabeth’s introduction is a lie, and I don’t seem to have good feelings for Silverine, so what is the reason for inviting me like this?

“There is no reason to be here any longer. I will pass that doctor on to the professor.”

As I was about to leave, the woman said.

“Who wants to go?”

visor!

The escort knights drew their swords in unison and aimed their swords at me.

Read at noblemtl.com

Judging by the provocative reaction, it seems that he is curious about me.

“Can’t you just leave?”

“You stepped into the tiger’s den. You should ask my permission first. Because here I am the king and my word is the law.”

“If I don’t get it right, I will have to see blood.”

“I guess it doesn’t matter what happens to the cute girlfriend you brought?”

“… What are you going to do?”

“It depends on what you do.”

I will come this far

“What do you want?”

The woman spit out smoke from her mouth with her half-closed eyes and gave the order to the lady-in-waiting with a grin.

“Call the canal manager.”

The lady-in-waiting nodded, went out through the side door, and brought back a middle-aged man with long hair like seaweed.

The middle-aged man got down on one knee and said to the woman.

“Did you call, Miss Ella?”

“Let that friend take a look at the groundwater.”

The man glanced at me with viper-like eyes and grinned displeasedly, baring yellow teeth.

“Khehehehe. I will do as you command.”

The man took out handcuffs with long chains like a leash from his waist and put them around my wrists.

Then I started searching my body. He took out a bag of gold coins, a mask, a list of herbs, a meteorite bracelet, candy, and even an Eternian ring and confiscated them.

With all the knights pointing their swords at me and mentioning Lyria, I couldn’t resist blindly.

weird. I can’t do this.

“… .”

The canal manager grabbed me by the chain and pulled me like a dog leash.

“Follow me.”

Two escort knights drew their blades and followed behind me.

I quietly followed the janitor.

I passed through the corridor and came to a bathtub where the water was drained. When the canal manager manipulated the magic stone on the wall, one wall of the bathtub began to move.

Inside, there was a hidden stairway leading down to the basement.

The caretaker led me down and started down.

After going down for a while, an underground waterway with a grid-shaped passage appeared.

The canal manager knelt down to the escort knights and said.

“Now I will take care of it myself.”

The escort knights exchanged glances with each other and went upstairs.

It’s not completely dark thanks to the magic stones hanging on the walls. Steam, spider webs, rat bones, insects and mushrooms are reflected in the occasional beam of light.

The nasty smell of sewage stings your nostrils.

The caretaker went deeper into the aqueduct and stopped where the area was divided by a thick barbed wire.

The janitor unlocked the iron bars. Then he stuck to me and punched me in the stomach.

puck!

“Cuck!”

A sharp pain radiated from the abdomen to the back.

Damn, it hurts so bad

“Isn’t the welcome ceremony a bit overdone?”

“noisy.”

He punched his stomach again.

puck!

I gritted my teeth and received the fist with my body.

Indiscriminate violence followed.

Only the dull sound of hitting fills the aqueduct.

After the janitor finished the proper steaming of his fists, he kicked my back and pushed me into the cage.

I fell straight forward.

I think doing this with someone who has done nothing wrong is crossing the line.

I spat out bloody saliva and said,

“… When you play with your fist, do it while watching people.”

At this, the manager giggled and laughed at me.

“Take care of the situation and make fun of Agari.”

The caretaker picked up a pebble and threw it into the deep darkness inside the cage.

With a thump, the pebble echoed through the dark space.

Soon, something in the darkness made a nervous cry as if waking up from sleep.

squeak-

“…!”

“Take care.”

The caretaker locked the bars and left.

The strange sound echoed through the aqueduct again.

squeak

And the sound of heavy footsteps began to approach me. Soon after, it was revealed in the faint light of the magic stone hanging on the wall.

Bizarrely huge torso and short legs. Clumsy outer skin as if a stone was embedded in it. A forearm as thick as a log.

It was a witch. If I remember correctly, it must have been a rock troll.

I’ve heard that some cities train rock trolls and use them to dig tunnels.

I never imagined I would see it in a place like this.

Kruck! Krrr!

The rock troll was on high alert with a strange intruder.

The troll, which had been glaring at me to death, started stomping its feet as if it were about to come at me.

Is this woman named Ella planning to kill me?

Is it okay to act recklessly like this? I feel out of place. what am i missing?

I slowly got up and checked the ceiling and the ground.

It won’t collapse even if you make a little fuss.

First of all, you have to deal with the threat in front of you.