A/N: Okay, I need to clear up something- I thought I had seen character sheet of Aureole Omega, but I went back and noticed that it was a fan made thing which I had assumed wrongly was canon which is where I got the 'Immortal' job class idea from. Also, it is mentioned in the books that Aureole is an 'Immortal Human' but that her race is still human, so I'm guessing that 'Immortal Human' must have been some sort of racial level in the game, but the paradox with that is that the Elf twins have no racial levels as it is said that humanoid characters do not have racial levels. So is 'Immortal' a racial level or a job class? It is mentioned that Aureole is still human, so it would make more sense to be a job class but really... I don't know at this point.
So if you guys have any better ideas I'll go along with them.
Also, I noticed that little was given in the last chapter about Albedo x Suzuki which is what this fanfic is supposed to be about in the first place. I'll just go ahead and pretend that that was all intentional and was a metaphor to how Fluder was becoming a third wheel in their relationship.
To answer Azukka's question, he doesn't become colder the more he levels up, but he is slightly at more ease with killing, particularly things that aren't humans, because he is more used to it.
Within the most inner sanctum of the Slane Theocracy a Supreme Council meeting was taking place. The six cardinals as well as the Pontifex Maximus were gathered there. All of them were well above their seventies, but they still had a strange alacrity about them as if they were only half of their apparent ages.
Once the Cardinals were done cleaning the area and their clothes, the Pontifex Maximus started the meeting by saying, "And so, we once again profess our thanks to the gods, for protecting all of humankind and ensuring our prosperity."
It was the Cardinal of Fire who had called this meeting, and he spoke up next. "Our first matter is regarding the issue of Clementine and the Crown of Wisdom. Unfortunately, I can confirm that the Crown of Wisdom has been destroyed."
Immediately cries of despair rang through the room. The Crown of Wisdom was a one-of-a-kind national treasure whose creation could not be replicated- an object that allowed one to cast spells of the seventh tier without having to resort to large scale rituals. It had power greater than that of an entire Scripture- save only for perhaps the Black Scripture. As such, though all of them had been furious at the fact that it had been stolen there had always been the possibility of retrieving it, but now that slim hope had been dashed to bits.
"Are you certain?" the Pontifex asked.
"It is nearly certain," the Cardinal of Fire answered. "One of the magicians in the Magician's Guild of E-Rantel is a plant of ours, and he confirmed that the head of the guild destroyed the crown."
"What!?" the Cardinal of Light nearly jumped out of his chair. "What on earth could possess him to carry out an act of such madness?"
"The crown was being worn by a boy with a special talent to use magical items regardless of their usage requirements," the Cardinal of Fire answered. "Removing it would have led to the boy's mind being broken, so they chose to destroy the artifact instead."
"Despite knowing what it could do?"
"Indeed, they seemed to value the boy more than that item," the Cardinal of Fire answered drolly. It was clear that he thought that there was not a single human life which was worth more than that item- save for perhaps one of the God-kind. "The good news regarding that is we can recall the Windflower Scripture for now."
"What of the traitor who took the item?" the Cardinal of Water asked.
"She is reported dead, having been killed by the adventurer Suzuki Satoru," the Cardinal of Fire answered. That name drew the attention of everyone present. "Unfortunately, the body could not be recovered- and so we have no one's word to go on but his."
"Suzuki Satoru- the same man who wiped out the Sunlight Scripture?" the Cardinal of Darkness asked.
"The same," the Cardinal of Fire answered. "That is the next topic of this conversation- what is it that we should do about him?"
At the time, retaliatory action against the man was considered but ultimately decided against. As it was, the Sunlight Scripture had been sent on a secret mission on foreign soil, and so the Theocracy had to distance themselves away from the incident. When the Re-Estize Kingdom showed them "proof" of their mission by presenting them with armor belonging to the Sunlight Scripture, the Theocracy countered by saying that anyone could've easily made such armor.
But, this was not the only time they heard of this man. There had recently been news that the famed magic caster of the Empire, Fluder Paradyne, had left his position to become this man's apprentice.
The Cardinal of Wind stroked his beard. "This cannot all be a coincidence... First, this man slaughters the entire Sunlight Scripture. Next, he is involved in destroying one of our national treasures. After that, he convinces Fluder to leave his post as Imperial Magic Caster, weakening the Empire and making it more difficult for the Empire to conquer the Kingdom."
It was clear what the Cardinal was getting at- the man named Suzuki Satoru seemed to be deliberately opposing them.
"Is it not possible all of them were, as a matter of fact, coincidences though?" the Pontifex mused. "First, he just happened to come across that village and save it. Second, he came across the situation with Clementine and fixed it. Third, it seems that Fluder left of his own accord upon meeting with him. This could very well be a result of a series of misunderstandings- as it is, I do not believe we have ever done anything to antagonize the man, have we? So he should not have reason to strike against us either."
There was some bickering and muttering, but in the end they couldn't really come to a decisive conclusion on whether or not Suzuki's movements were deliberate or merely due to chance.
"Well, I have received some interesting information on this magic caster," the Cardinal of Water said. "A former student of Fluder's has said that he can use magic of the eighth tier."
Gasps of disbelief rang throughout the room. To cast seventh tier magic the Theocracy needed an item such as the Crown of Wisdom, or to perform an unbelievably expensive magic ritual. What they had just been told was that there existed someone who could use magic of an entire tier higher than that almost as easily as one could breathe. Even in the Theocracy, they had just a single priest who could cast magic of the sixth tier.
"The intel seems to be reliable enough," the Cardinal of Water said. "Fluder does have a special talent to see such things. The acolyte was ready to trade this information with us in exchange for a position in the Theocracy."
"Hmm? Why so?" the Cardinal of Fire asked.
The Cardinal of Water had a strange expression on his face. "Apparently, this person had previously been a favorite to succeed Fluder Paradyne but had been passed over for the role. Out of spite it seems, he wished to leave his post."
"So... he sold out this information because he had been passed over for a promotion?" the Pontifex asked in disbelief.
It was hard to stomach that- but then again, humans like that did exist in this world. The Theocracy knew that humankind was too weak to exist divided, but there were people who felt safe enough to still fight amongst themselves. The nobles of the kingdom, for example, had readily sold out Gazef Stronoff.
"When one thinks about it, it does make sense though," the Cardinal of Light said. "We had granted Nigun that treasure of the gods- the seventh tier spell. Of course it makes sense that one would need to be a magic caster of a tier higher in order to defeat it."
The Cardinal of Earth shook his head. "That is where you are wrong- according to our surveillance at the time, Nigun was slain in a matter of seconds before he could even use that weapon."
This was harder to believe than the fact there was a magic caster of the eighth tier- even Gazef Stronoff could not kill the whole scripture that fast. "Indeed- Thousand Miles Astrologer confirmed that the Sunlight Scripture was wiped out in less than two minutes by a Bicorn." In other words, this man, Suzuki Satoru, was capable of creating a Bicorn which could wipe out the Sunlight Scripture in a few minutes. Given that summons were generally weaker than their summoners, this did not bode well.
"But wait- does that mean that that treasure of the gods has fallen into the hands of the Re-Estize Kingdom?" the Cardinal of Darkness asked, now visibly disturbed.
The Cardinals were quite disgusted with how the Re-Estize Kingdom had turned into a breeding ground for corruption and decadence and deemed it was better for the Empire to conquer it. However, if the Kingdom had access to a weapon like that, they could annihilate half of the Imperial Legions with ease.
"It appears that on the contrary, Suzuki Satoru took it for himself, and has already used it," the Cardinal of Earth said. "Of course, no one knows of the exact nature of that angel, which is above all others, but the many sightings from E-Rantel led us to piece together a picture of what it looked like. It appears that it was used in the fight with Clementine."
There was a lull in the conversation as everyone present realized that there was something that didn't make sense at all.
"If this man was so strong, why would he need that angel against Clementine? He himself should be stronger than that angel," the Pontifex said.
"Sadly, as of yet, I cannot answer that," the Cardinal of Earth said and shrugged. "It would imply he is weaker than Clementine if he had to rely on it, but had that been true, he would not have been able to kill the Sunlight Scripture like he did."
"Another question- you say that he could summon a Bicorn? But I was told that he was a necromancer," the Cardinal of Darkness said.
"He might've specialized in two lines of spells," the Cardinal of Earth suggested. "But enough about that- what is that we should do about him? We can ramble here until the sun goes down- but I see only two possibilities: we attempt to kill him, or we leave him be for now."
"Do we even have anyone who could kill him?" the Cardinal of Light asked. "Fluder alone could outdo a single member of the Black Scripture, and if this man is far above Fluder's level, then we can assume he could slay eight or nine Black Scripture members with ease. We cannot risk that- and even if we were to use one of our God-kin, magic casters are rather tricky and could teleport away for theoretically forever while slowly killing away members of our order, or even our civilians, while we would be nearly powerless to stop him."
"And," the Pontifex answered. "If there is a chance that he isn't set against us, such a move will definitely cement him as our enemy. Not to mention that he is currently in the Draconic Kingdom, far away from the Theocracy. Without the Sunlight Scripture, it is not wise to send the Black Scripture so far away."
"We should also ponder another thing," the Cardinal of Darkness said. "Apparently, Suzuki has travelled to the Draconic Kingdom to deal with the invading beastmen. It would be a fruitful idea to let him finish off that enemy for us."
They had been forced to withdraw their troops from that country, but the fact remained that with the loss of Fluder, the Emperor would probably need to also withdraw his legion as well to consolidate his position and to help in the takeover of the Kingdom. This would lead to the Draconic kingdom eventually falling to the beastmen, and then they would move on to the Slane Theocracy and the Empire. Even if the beastmen stopped at the borders of the Empire, the influx of refugees itself could cause mass chaos.
Should this happen, the Theocracy would have no choice but to send more help to the Draconic Kingdom regardless of it causing weaknesses to appear in other areas- but it seemed that the source of the problem had decided to solve it as well.
"Can one man truly do anything against so many enemies?" the Cardinal of Fire asked.
"If he is as strong as suspected, then he could definitely turn the tide of battle at the very least," the Cardinal of Darkness said. "Reports are few, but I have heard news he had success near the city of Camelot."
The Pontifex mused, "What is this man then? Is he perhaps a God-kin who we have missed? Or, as it has been two hundred years, could it be that phenomenon yet again?"
The God of Earth had been a notorious womanizer in his times- and according to certain stories of tradition he had even partnered with demihumans and heteromorphs- something that was understandably left out of all publicly available religious texts. It could be understandable if he had a hidden love child somewhere whom the Theocracy knew nothing about.
"I think it is the latter," the Cardinal of Darkness said. "I have heard stories of a Goblin King, who was accompanied by an extraordinarily beautiful woman and slew dragons with a tree branch. Suzuki Satoru is said to also be accompanied by an world-class beauty."
"Regardless, I would choose to believe that his actions were as a result of wanting to protect humanity," the Pontifex said. "I have wanted to bring Fluder to our side for a long time- and this man accomplished it rather easily. In such a case, I would like to recruit him if possible. So shall we agree to watch him carefully for now?"
The others nodded, but some of them disagreed with the Pontifex's assessment that Suzuki might be someone they could turn to their side. The Cardinal of Wind in particular was still someone who couldn't bring himself to believe that Suzuki had done all of those things accidentally and wasn't actively trying to undermine the Theocracy for some reason.
"With that matter settled, let us move on to the next one," the Cardinal of Fire said. "We need for the Empire to conquer the Kingdom, but they will clearly have trouble without that famed magic caster. It would be prudent for us then to try to assassinate Gazef Stronoff to speed up the process. We may have failed once, but let us try again."
"Again? Will an opportunity present itself so soon?" the Pontifex asked.
"There is a way to create such an opportunity," the Cardinal of Fire said. "There is an organization within the capital of the Kingdom, and a faction of nobles, who would all wish for Gazef Stronoff to be gone. Have you all heard of the organization known as the Six Arms?"
"You've done quite well, Albedo," Suzuki said as he observed the second floor of New Nazarick.
Digging to make a third floor was now in progress, but as it was, there wasn't really any use for New Nazarick. Suzuki had chosen to mostly use it as a storage space but there was little to store. As such, Suzuki had decided to let Albedo decorate a part of New Nazarick, and he had been quite surprised by what she had done with her assigend area.
The rooms were all decorated with items that Albedo had bought from markets in the Draconic Kingdom- where they had been able to purchase things at rock bottom prices due to the economic devastation caused by the beastmen hordes.
Suzuki had to hand it to Albedo's sense of style- the place was decorated in dark colors but at the same time had an air of regality about it. He would have no problem in inviting even very high-ranked nobles to this place, he felt. It was also quite reminiscent of a place Suzuki knew all too well.
"Albedo, you styled this place off of Nazarick, didn't you?" Suzuki asked.
"I apologize Suzuki-sama but I couldn't find any objects that were near the quality of the Great Tomb, but I tried to replicate its style. Are you satisfied?"
"Indeed I am, and there's no need to apologize," Suzuki said. "You've done an excellent job with the tools you were handed."
The entire reason that they had time to hang around in this place discussing this was because for now, the Draconic Kingdom was pondering its next move.
Suzuki had managed to finish off the beastmen hordes near Vrael, and when he had visited Blackthorn, something odd had happened. Suzuki had decided to test out summoning Soul Eaters with a sixth tier spell, and he was able to bring about three of them.
The beastmen immediately broke form at the sight of them and ran away- something they had not done when faced with the Banshee Queen even though it had been stronger. Suzuki could only assume then that they had faced these monsters before.
Because of this, some of the beastmen, about five thousand or so, managed to retreat and were currently holed up in the city of Arya. The city had been taken eight months ago, and it was assumed that most of the people in there had already been eaten, but reports did say the beastmen had left at least some of them alive.
As it was, the administration of the Draconic Kingdom was now debating on what to do, and it seemed to drag on forever.
Honestly, since Suzuki had killed off around 50,000 beastmen he was quite tempted to tell the queen that they had already held up their end of the bargain, and that he and Albedo were now taking off. By now, the Draconic Kingdom's forces should have been more than enough to deal with the remaining beastmen. The reason he was in such a hurry to be done with it was because Suzuki had learned of something that piqued his interest quite a bit.
Several hundred years ago, a powerful Minotaur appeared, known as the Minotaur Sage, and based on his description, Suzuki assumed that this creature had actually been a player. The Minotaur Sage was a beastman who could reportedly crush mountains with the stroke of his weapon, and he had created a country where he forbade beastmen from eating humans. In addition, he was called the All-Talk Sage in countries where he was held in less regard, because he was able to describe certain inventions which were eerily similar to modern day devices, but couldn't find a way to make them, such as a box which kept the insides cool, i.e., a refrigerator.
The Minotaur Sage died of old age eventually, but he had three proper heirs amongst whom he split his fortune. Two of them ended up fighting for the throne, while one of them moved westward, where they had founded a new nation. Eventually, that nation too collapsed upon his death, and broke apart into three warring states.
However, what intrigued Suzuki was the fact that most of the treasure this third heir had was buried with him, and as of yet, no one had managed to retrieve it. The place was supposed to be well guarded with what Suzuki assumed were golems based on their description, so that anyone who entered would not leave to see the rising sun ever again.
If there was even a tenth, no, even a twentieth of a level 100 Yggdrasil player's inventory in that place, it would be worth more than the treasuries of several countries combined. Suzuki almost salivated at the prospect of getting his hands on such treasures, and as such, he had been quite tempted to leave the Draconic Kingdom.
But, it was a matter of only a few days up till now, and Suzuki felt that it would be against the spirit of the deal he had made with them to leave. He supposed it was reasonable to stick around for a few more days while they figured out what to do. Not to mention the story about the Minotaur Sage was just a rumor, and could end up being absolutely false. As they said, a bird in hand was worth two in the bush.
Suzuki was snapped out of such thoughts by Albedo saying, "Suzuki-sama, want to see my favorite room?"
Albedo led him to a room which was more brightly decorated than the others. There was also a crib in the middle, along with clothing of various style scattered about.
"Albedo, what is this?"
"It's a nursery room," Albedo said. "For our child!"
"C-Child?"
"Ah, you have a point, Suzuki-sama," Albedo said, blushing. "I should've said our children of course. I've already begun sewing clothes for both boys and girls!"
"A-Albedo," Suzuki said.
The thing was, for a while now, Suzuki had been thinking that it was time to take their relationship further, but he had forgotten that pregnancy was a thing for a while.
"Albedo, we can't have a child." Suzuki said.
"E-Eh? Why Suzuki-sama?" Albedo asked, and then glanced at Suzuki's crotch. "If you have any issues, I'm sure we can find a healer and then-"
"No, no, it's not that," Suzuki said. "Albedo, you're a demon and I'm a human. I don't even know if it's possible for us to have a child together."
Suzuki regretted those words as soon as they left his mouth- Albedo looked so downcast that it seemed as if she might start crying.
"I-I mean, that's not the only reason though," Suzuki said quickly. "We might be able to, but the thing is that I'm worried if you're pregnant, you might not be able to fight for a few months."
Suzuki didn't know a lot about pregnancy, but he had remembered Touch Me saying that his wife had to go on maternity leave five months in. As such taking that as a baseline, Albedo would be unable to fight for up to four months.
And Albedo was far stronger than Suzuki was right now- so much so that he could not possibly risk benching her for a while. It was a bit selfish- Suzuki knew that, but until he could learn more about this world he did not want to bring about a child into it.
His own mother had died when he had been just five, and he wouldn't want any child of his to suffer something similar or worse.
Suzuki had originally been a bit jealous when his other guild members talked about their families- but he had known back then that he would never be able to start a family of his own. This was not too out of the ordinary in the Japan of 2138.
In this world though, it was assumed that nearly all people would have children eventually. His head was filled with the sight of Daniel with Enri and Nemu, but it was suddenly replaced with him and Albedo playing with a child whose face he could not see.
"Ah! I am so sorry, Suzuki-sama," Albedo said. She then rubbed her feet on the ground. "But- if we knew that making a child was impossible- surely you would have no problem... with us getting together!"
"E-Eh?" Suzuki said.
"If it is possible, then it's fine- but if not, Suzuki-sama can have children with a human women, and I'll raise them as my own," Albedo said. She suspiciously didn't mention what would happen to the human women after they had given birth. "And to be sure though, we'll have to see if a demon and a human can reproduce."
She had a strange look on her face- one which Suzuki had come to fear. It meant that the gears in her head were turning. Suzuki was worried about what she was planning.
It was almost as if she had someone in mind when talking about that... but that couldn't possibly be true, could it?
"But, Suzuki-sama, if the day comes when we are finally comfortable enough, will you grant me a child, if possible?" Albedo asked with eager eyes.
"I... I..." Suzuki began.
"Is it a promise?" Suzuki took a good look at Albedo's expression and knew it was a lost cause- but as it was he couldn't say that the thought of starting a family was something he was dead set against.
If anything, it would be something he would probably welcome, just not right now.
"Albedo, that might take time. Perhaps decades, or even centuries, but one day... yes, I promise you." Suzuki said.
Albedo's wings drooped a little. "Centuries...?" But then she perked up. "Alright, My Lord, I will wait as long as it takes before the two of us are ready!"
Suzuki exhaled. Crisis averted for now.
With that said, Suzuki had to wonder himself how long it would be until he would feel ready. Was it simply when he was max levelled? That could take forever.
If one plotted the XP curve with respect to levels in Yggdrasil, one would get a line with a very gentle slope. That is to say, the XP yield was very generous- but only up to a point. This smooth line had two abrupt drops in it. The first was at level seventy and the other at level ninety. In other words, his ability to level up would be throttled considerably once he reached level seventy and once again upon reaching level ninety. These were also the levels where players considerably gained new powers and abilities, one of which was the ability to cast Super Tier spells beginning at level 71.
He had managed to gain about 3.5 levels by killing the beastmen, though he kept one level in reserve as was his habit earlier. This ease at which he could level up would end soon, and not just because he would end up not having enough monsters to fight. As it was the number of undead which spawned in the Katze Plains was limited, though it was at the very least steady.
Not to mention even if he did reach a level as high as ninety, he would not be as strong as Albedo. In this strange world where there were many things such as talents and martial arts which were beyond his understanding, would he ever be comfortable benching her for a few months?
"With that said Albedo, you've done a great job with decorating. It looks wonderful." Suzuki said.
With a sigh, he made a mental note to check up on Nfirea. Perhaps the alchemist had a reliable form of contraception? Suzuki hadn't heard of any kind of birth control in this world, but maybe some kind did exist. As it was, he needed to be sure that it was a contraceptive that men could use. While he did not doubt her loyalty when it came to most matters, he couldn't be sure that she wouldn't "forget" to take it one day if he relied entirely on her.
Suzuki balled his fists in frustration.
The Draconic Kingdom's talks had dragged on for yet another week, and a week after that too. Suzuki had once assumed that the queen was an absolute monarch much like the Emperor, but she seemed to be closer to Ramposa than she was to Jircniv.
Then again, most rulers were far closer to Ramposa than they were to Jircniv- Jircniv was quite exceptional as a ruler, after all.
The nobles who lived furthest away from the cities ravaged by the beastmen said that by now most of the humans in the cities which had fallen were dead, and as such there was little point in trying to liberate those cities and overextend their own forces by retaking them. Rather than that, they should try to strengthen their own borders for now.
The nobles who had been displaced from their cities were furious at the above suggestion, and stated that it was necessary to drive out the beastmen once and for all, otherwise the beastmen, sensing weakness, would no doubt try to attack them again. Also, in the long term, access to larger amounts of land would help the country develop in the future and give jobs to many displaced refugees, many of whom were currently penniless.
There was a third faction, consisting of nobles who lived close to Camelot, Vrael, and Blackthorn. They all suggested that while the cities furthest away had most likely indeed been completely depopulated, the nearest cities still might have a substantial human population and they should be taken at the very least. Then, over time, they could concentrate on taking back the other cities.
Suzuki was of the opinion that the Draconic Kingdom should go ahead and take back everything as quickly as possible- but then again, he could say that because he was much stronger than the beastmen and he was in a hurry to get this over with. Technically, the Draconic Kingdom could rely on his strength- but the nobles seemed to be reluctant to do so.
The nobles had even been against Suzuki joining their war conferences in the first place, but a death glare from him settled that matter. Needless to say the nobles who objected to his presence were the ones who had not witnessed his power firsthand.
Many of them rallied against the queen for agreeing to hand over national treasures to Suzuki. Of course, the queen had jurisdiction over them, but the issue was that if she moved against the nobles she would lose their support. Some of them were egging her on to retract her promise to give Suzuki the promised payment- something that the Prime Minister assured Suzuki would not happen.
Pretending to be a kid had the advantage of many people being unable to move against her openly, but on the other hand- it also meant that few would take her seriously. It also meant that if push came to shove, they could force her to abdicate and claim that her promise to Suzuki was that of a child's and they didn't need to honor it.
The Adventurer's Guild of this country would not support Suzuki in this instance because he had gone behind their backs to make this deal. Suzuki also felt that they resented him either for this, or because Suzuki was far stronger than any of them. The only other Adamantite ranked adventurer team in the country, Crystal Tear seemed to particularly loathe Suzuki's team- with their leader Cerabrate being the most antagonistic of the bunch for some reason that Suzuki couldn't figure out. The man seemed to be far too angry for it to be mere professional jealousy.
Suzuki did not know this, but Cerabrate had gone so far as to spread rumors that all of Suzuki's accomplishments were exaggerations, and had actually been the result of Fluder Paradyne's magic, and that Suzuki was simply riding the coattails of the famed magic caster. No one who had actually seen Suzuki fight would've believed this, but misinformation, especially as it came from a reputed Amamantite was hard to counter. Many people simply found it easier to stomach that it was Fluder who had actually saved them, given how much they had heard of the man, giving some level of legitimacy to these rumors.
It was no wonder that no one within the guild wanted to try to gain Suzuki's favor- Suzuki was going to leave very soon while Crystal Tear would remain the top team of the country. No one would want to to piss off the latter to gain favor with the former.
Ironically, the only reason the nobles could talk like this was because Suzuki had thinned out the invading beastmen ranks and had sent them scurrying away. Earlier, when they had all been in danger, they had no choice but to band together in order to support the effort to save their country.
Now however, since the perceived threat was gone everyone thought it was the best time to start impeding in general affairs and bringing up their grievances.
To add to this mess, there was a fourth party they had to account for- the Eighth Imperial Legion. Since they were all professional soldiers, they comprised a large amount of the Draconic Kingdom's current military power. However, they had been ordered to defend the Draconic Kingdom, and before they would go ahead and risk their lives to take back territory for this nation, they had to communicate with Jircniv first. It even seemed as if they intended to withdraw now that the Draconic Kingdom was safe and were awaiting such orders.
Whether they would advance or stay put depending in large part on the legion's decision for now.
And for some reason no one in this world seemed to trust the Message spell and communication had to be carried out with people running around- add this fact to the whole mess and it was easy to see why Suzuki was becoming so frustrated.
"Alright, if they're going to keep doing this," Suzuki muttered to himself, but also to Fluder and Albedo. "I say we go ahead and tell them we're going somewhere for a few days."
Suzuki had spent the days touring the city of Blackthorn, but there were only so many times that he could visit the tourist attractions and dine out before they became tiring. It didn't help that the city's inhabitants were going through tough times from an economic perspective, so when Albedo and he went on expensive dates and the such, they were often the only people there. Such a thing had never happened when they had been in the Re-Estize Kingdom or the Baharuth Empire, and it made Suzuki feel kind of guilty.
Suzuki didn't approach the meeting area however, he instead went back to his hotel to talk to Baron Moss and Baron Eisley. The two of them had been assigned to work with Suzuki, but Suzuki could tell that they were none too pleased to essentially be functioning as messengers for him.
Nonetheless, they greeted him with polite smiles.
"Ah, Moss-dono, Eisley-dono, there is a matter that has come up. I intend to deal with it, but I will be back in a few days," Suzuki said, getting straight to the point.
The two of them were quite taken aback.
"But, Suzuki-dono, what is it that came up so soon?'
"Suzuki-dono, you might be needed in the upcoming battles."
"I understand your concern, but I can easily teleport back here if I am needed," Suzuki said. "As it is anyway, it will take you a few days to mobilize your forces anyway even if you decided to act now, so I don't see the problem with handling a small personal matter. I will be leaving an Elder Lich summon of mine in my hotel room, please tell him if you need me and I will appear."
Suzuki left before the two of them could pile on any more protests.
There was a small risk that this could be seen as him abandoning the job, and perhaps the nobles would pounce upon this opportunity to try and deny him payment- however, he really doubted it- and as it was, the treasures he was after were worth far more than anything he had seen in the treasury of this country.
Of course, if he really was bilked out of his righteous payment, he would destroy this country. It seemed though that there were a great number of nobles who were unaware of his power and so had swallowed the idea that stories of his valor were greatly exaggerated (and that possibly Suzuki was taking credit for feats which were actually performed by the famed magic caster Fluder Paradyne)- and perhaps also assumed that Crystal Tear would be able to stop him since technically both were of the same rank.
They were greatly mistaken of course.
Nothing like this would've happened if they had decided to create their own country- even if their country was as small as the village of Carne, they would still be granted far more respect than what they were currently being given, Suzuki thought bitterly. Right now, many nobles saw him as little better than a mercenary or travelling magic caster. The fact that the Adventurer's Guild here was not backing him up only emboldened their actions against him.
Of course, perhaps if Suzuki had approached this situation from another angle rather than barging straight in and fixing the problem, he could've bargained far more strongly and such a situation wouldn't have arisen. He would need to put more thoughts into his actions moving forward- he really should have perhaps asked Albedo regarding the political situation of this country before making a move. She had probably incorrectly assumed that he had already figured out what to do.
But, enough of thinking about that. If there was even the slightest possibility of gaining high tier Yggdrasil items, he would take it, and he wanted to think about the loot he could gain instead.
He took Albedo's hand and grabbed Fluder's shoulder. Both of them nodded to show that they were ready.
"Greater Teleportation!"
"Is this report accurate?" Jircniv asked.
"Indeed," Nimble responded.
"To think- he was able to finish off over fifteen thousand beastmen in a span of less than an hour," Jircniv said as he finished rereading the report from the Eighth Legion. "Clearly he had been holding back during his fight in the arena."
Jircniv leaned back in his chair, thinking of what to do. The mere thought of this problem was enough to make his stomach ache, though it passed away rather quickly.
He could not recruit Suzuki, and the man was far too dangerous to be left alone. Not to mention he had dragged Fluder Paradyne away.
There was nothing he would have liked better than to have that man destroyed- and as he thought that a plan slowly began forming in his mind.
Earlier, he had deemed it too risky, but that was if he relied on the Iljaniya. There was another thing that he could try first.
A/N: I forgot the names of all Six Cardinals and went to the wiki where it also wasn't written, meaning no one cared enough, and even when I went back to the text I couldn't really bother with them and so I just called them by Cardinals here.