After somehow calming the two down, we reached the conclusion to properly investigate tomorrow.
By then it was dinnertime.
“Brother, dinner is going to be shrimp chili.”
“Shrimp chili?”
Shrimp chili is a dish of shrimp stir-fried in a spicy sauce.
I’m not learned enough to know what “chili” in the name refers to, probably some magic term.
“I suppose it’s a salty dish suited after physical labor, right Yuzuriha?”
“I suppose so…Though I was hoping for your home-cooked shrimp chili instead…”
“Sure, sure. I’ll make some when we get back to the castle.”
Upon arriving at the executive dining hall where shrimp chili was prepared, I was met by the mine manager, vice manager, and one other person – apparently the accounting manager for the mine.
This guy was as bald and rugged-looking as the mine manager himself, so it sort of felt like a banquet of mountain bandits, .
At any rate, they seemed willing to give me a courtesy welcome, if only in form.
As for the prepared shrimp chili…it looked incredibly salty.
How salty? So salty that eating it would probably kill you from high blood pressure – the salt hadn’t even fully dissolved and was just floating on top.
After strenuous mining work, a bit of saltiness can make things taste better. But this was just excessive.
It was at the level where you wouldn’t even be able to tell if poison was mixed in due to the overpowering saltiness.
“……..”
The way the mine managers were snickering while looking at us was also concerning.
On the surface it seemed like they were wondering if we could handle the insane saltiness of their shrimp chili. But it also felt like they were hiding some secret agenda. So.
“Oh, look over there – a pale, white-haired vampire is wandering around!”
“What!?”
As everyone’s attention shifted outside, I swiftly swapped our plates of shrimp chili with the managers’.
Our plates to them, their plates to us.
Of course, there shouldn’t be any particular problem with swapping the chili dishes. Normally, at least.
“Sorry, it seems it was just my imagination. Shall we eat?”
—And some time after dinner began,
the three managers suddenly fell over frothing at the mouth.
8
“Wha-…could it be an enemy attack!?”
“No, that’s not it Yuzuriha.”
“As my brother says. These men likely tried to kill us with an excessive amount of salt in the shrimp, only to be done in by their own scheme. For such arrogant attitudes, they were ultimately too weak.”
“I don’t think so?”
As Yuzuriha mistook it for a long-range magic attack and Suzuha concluded they fell from salt overdose,
I explained the situation that made me suspicious of the managers’ behavior earlier.
How I took the opportunity to swap our shrimp plates.
And how after eating what was supposed to be our overly salty shrimp, all three managers fell over frothing at the mouth.
“So…you’re saying these guys tried to poison you, brother?”
“I can’t say for certain yet, but probably.”
“But why would they try to poison you after you became a nobleman? Wouldn’t that guarantee retaliation against their entire family no matter what happened? Even if these guys are idiots, there’s no way they’d do something so extremely foolish unless…”
“Perhaps they had already committed crimes they couldn’t turn back from.”
If their mithril smuggling was exposed, their entire clan would undoubtedly face severe punishment.
So it’s possible they tried poisoning even a nobleman to prevent their crimes from coming to light.
If they failed, their crimes couldn’t get any worse anyway.
“What do you think, Yuzuriha…? Yuzuriha?”
“Oh, yes?”
When I called out to her, the dazed Yuzuriha hurriedly turned toward me, her face flushed red.
“What’s wrong? Don’t tell me your shrimp was also…poisoned!?”
“No, it’s not that. It’s just…you saved my life again.”
“Huh?”
“Of course, I know it’s my own fault. You wouldn’t normally notice things like assassination attempts or poisoned food as a commoner. I’m glad you noticed, but I should have been the one to realize. I’m truly sorry.”
“No no, it’s not your fault at all Yuzuriha.”
“But that’s why I need to deeply reflect…and yet, I can’t help but feel overjoyed.”
“Eh?”
“I’m an incompetent woman who couldn’t protect you and instead had to be saved. And even though I know it’s wrong, whenever you save my life again, my heart just soars uncontrollably.”
When she said that while blushing and fidgeting, I was at a loss for how to respond.
In this situation, how should I reply?
Saying “That’s not true!” would be weird, but simply agreeing with “I see” also feels wrong.
That said, I have no intention of criticizing Yuzuriha.
After rapidly considering it in my mind, I decided to just barrel through assertively.
“Yuzuriha noticed things I didn’t, and I noticed things you didn’t. Isn’t that fine?”
“But you…”
“You and I are comrades – no, we’re practically of one mind and body now! So it’s okay if one of us fails to notice something, as long as the other does. Isn’t that how true comrades help each other? So there’s absolutely no problem this time either!”
“I-Is that how it is…?!”
“Eh?”
“You’ve accepted me as your partner to that extent…!”
For some reason, Yuzuriha became teary-eyed and touched by my extremely forceful logic.
I may have caused some misunderstanding,
but ah well, it seemed to work out.
“Alright Yuzuriha, let’s go detain all the miners and conduct an inquiry focused on the long-serving miners familiar with this place.”
“Hm? An inquiry is necessary, but couldn’t it wait until tomorrow? M-More importantly, when exactly did you start seeing me as your partner to that degree…?!”
“No, we should do it today.”
I had originally planned to start tomorrow, but the situation changed drastically with the mine’s top three incapacitated.
“We need to prevent any potential accomplices among the miners from trying to destroy evidence.”
“…I see. If there are accomplices who learn the managers were incapacitated, they may attempt escape or destruction of evidence tonight to avoid the inevitable execution.”
“Yes. We could keep the managers’ conditions concealed until tomorrow, but the mithril smuggling recipient may show up tonight. And if the managers don’t appear, it would expose them. What about you, Suzuha?”
“I’ll follow your lead, brother.”
After tying up the froth-mouthed managers just in case, we headed to meet the miners finishing their shifts.
At that point, I was inwardly relieved, thinking this would satisfactorily resolve the mithril mine issue.
…But that ended up being a grave mistake.
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT LOCALIZERMEERKAT.PAGES.DEV
9
After interrogating the miners, sometimes employing Yuzuriha’s secret knight torture technique “That Joint Doesn’t Bend That Way”, we synthesized the information: the mithril was being smuggled out secretly once a month on the night of the full moon.
I looked up at the reddish, full moon in the sky.
Meaning tonight was the night.
“As expected of you, brother. To think the black market deal was really happening tonight.”
“It was just a coincidence. I only suspected something was up since the managers were too hasty. It could’ve still been a legitimate deal.”
“No way, you know that’s not it. If they were legitimate, they’d come to collect during the day. Getting silver by mistake instead of mithril would be a disaster.”
“Ah, I see. So that’s why they do it on the night of the full moon too. It makes sense.”
We also found out the supposed location where the deal was taking place –
the innermost depths of the Stalactite Cavern behind the mithril mine,
The black market is said to take place where mithril offerings were made to ward off monsters.
To avoid danger and prevent them from fleeing if we approached in large numbers, it would just be the three of us – me, Yuzuriha, and Suzuha – moving to apprehend the mithril black market deal.
Well, as long as Yuzuriha was with us, we could handle anything.
That’s what I naively believed.
*
Eventually, we reached the entrance of the Stalactite Cavern and quietly entered while holding our breath.
It was a narrow cavern just wide enough for people to pass each other sideways while walking.
The rock surface was bumpy yet smooth – a characteristic of stalactite caverns.
“Suzuha, be careful not to slip.”
“Yes, brother. It’s pitch black, I can hardly see anything.”
“Endure it. Apparently, the shrine area has an open ceiling where we can see the sky.”
“But…considering they’re smuggling mithril, there should be a sizable number present, yet I can’t sense anyone’s presence at all…”
“You’re right…could it have been a dud lead?”
We whispered as we cautiously advanced deeper into the cavern.
After walking for a bit, we emerged into a wide open area –
a large, chamber-like space at the end of the narrow path.
The ceiling towered dozens of meters high with an open gap, allowing the crimson full moon to illuminate the chamber.
“……!!”
Numerous soldiers lay slaughtered across the chamber floor.
The mangled bodies of what appeared to be the regular soldiers of some nation were strewn haphazardly around the stalactite cavern.
And among them, Only one of was still ‘alive’
Only one of them locked eyes with me.
The figure silently standing at the far end of the chamber noticed me, grinned devilishly with a [Nihi], and began slowly advancing while fixing me with deep, bloody eyes even redder than blood itself.
“You two, get behind me–!”
“Brother…!?”
“You, don’t tell me–!”
My extremely tense instruction made the two of them realize something as well.
There was no mistaking – to think we’d face off again in a place like this.
The figure’s face was illuminated by the moonlight peeking through the clouds.
Snow-white hair reaching down to the waist.
Outwardly resembling a noble summer maiden.
But in reality, a legendary grim reaper that reaps the lives of all it encounters.
It was hard to tell whether the “eep” sound came from Suzuha or Yuzuriha.
The wandering white-haired vampire came charging towards me!
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