CH ss - 31

[Alfine: Tragedy Room]

Along with Frontier Count Lloyd, we came to the scene where the large number of human bones were found.

The place where the bones were found is the area that Maribel said that it was caved in so it couldn’t be passed through.

The area is also where the large number of adventurers who had come down to the Abyss Hole were mobilized to remove the rubbles before the arrival of the knight order.

We were also helping, but to think it was discovered after we returned to the surface to rest…

There is no light at the end of the caved in area, but thanks to the lantern illuminating the way, we can see the depths of the pitch-dark passage.

Maribel said that this facility seems to goes around the Abyss Hole, but…

Looking at this, it might be true.

With the knight at the lead holding a lantern in his hand, we pass through the caved-in part and proceed to the opposite side, and then we see a door.

“The human bones were found in this room. The smell is so bad inside, so the door was closed after the discovery.”

“Umu, open it.”

“Yes sir!”

The knight who is urged by Frontier Count Lloyd opens the closed door by pulling it.

There are several skilled escort knights accompanying us in the surrounding.

Even the light isn’t on, as expected, it seems that the ‘electricity’ doesn’t reach this place.

Everyone is nervously looking at the knight opening the heavy metal door.

When the door gradually opens while making a rusty noise, a rotten odor leaks out from inside, and the unpleasant odor stimulates the inside of my nostrils.

This is… really bad.

What a terrible smell…

The knights around me start to cover their nose with the cloth they brought, so I also imitate them in order to suppress the nausea that welled up within me.

Eventually, the door opens, and what appears before us are a large number of semi-skeletonized corpses, completely skeletonized corpses, and decaying corpses lying on the floor in the room illuminated by the light of the lantern.

“This is… what a terrible sight… with just a glance, I can see that there are more than a hundred corpses here…”

“Lloyd-sama, the escorts will check the safety first, so please wait.”

Meiss stops the Frontier Count Lloyd from getting inside and order his subordinate knights to get in first.

“I’m used to seeing skeletons and mummified bodies, but decayed bodies might be impossible for me…”

Looking inside the room, Meila seems to feel sick at the sight inside and quietly turns away.

“It sure was a correct decision not to bring Maribel. We’re talking about that girl here, if she saw this, she would probably make various conjectures.”

“You’re right. It might be as Onee-san said…”

Among the decayed bodies, there were some with tails and ears reminiscent to that of beastmen when they were alive.

Perhaps Maribel’s father is among them…

Just that, to identify an individual may be difficult if they are so decayed.

More than 100 bodies, including skeletonized ones, are piled up in the small room, and they don’t even wear anything that can identify their identity.

“From the looks of it, it is safe to say that they are the beastmen that the little girl called Maribel said were working here.”

After the escorts have confirmed the safety, the Frontier Count Lloyd also enters the room and begins to inspect the corpses in detail.

“That seems to be the case. From the appearance of the decayed bodies, it seems that they were brought here and killed from behind.”

“Do you think it was to seal their mouth?”

“I think that possibility is high.”

Lloyd and Meiss grasps the situation while inspecting the bodies.

I had reported all the stories I heard from Maribel to the Adventurer’s Guild, so information that Maribel’s father and the others disappeared with the Abyss Walker-like creature and dubious people about three weeks ago seemed to have reached Frontier Count Lloyd.

“Guessing from the report, due to the search for the Abyss Walker, someone did this in case someone found this place. They didn’t want anyone to find out what they were doing here, so they ‘disposed’ those who were working here, or something along that line, huh.”

“When you put together various reports, such a scenario sure seems to be the most applicable here.”

“In that case, the other party may have an organization that is familiar with various information backing them. It was said that they were working normally until three weeks ago; learning that they might be found out, they immediately took action.”

“…Is there someone from the kingdom’s side helping them?”

“Since this is involving Abyss Walker, I don’t want to think in that direction. Although with the existences of the new type and this facility, there are many parts that would not be possible without a collaborator from the kingdom’s side.”

The faces of the surrounding knights listening to the conversation between the two darkens when they heard that there might be a collaborator on the kingdom’s side.

Because the Abyss Walkers who caused the Great Invasion should be the existences most detested by the people of the kingdom.

Are there really people helping the organization that brought along such creatures, I wonder?

Such a question floats in my mind.

[What do you think of the two’s talk, Meila Nee-san? Do you think there are people in this kingdom who would cooperate with the organization that has Abyss Walkers?]

[Let’s see… There is a possibility that there are people cooperating without knowing that the organization is actually doing shady acts in the shadows while having a different side on the surface.]

Meila’s answer is really a blind spot.

Cooperating without knowing, huh…

In that case, is there a possibility that Gile’s staff was cooperating without knowing it?

I told the Adventurer’s Guild that I had reported everything, but there was one thing I didn’t report.

It was that I fought creatures that looked like Abyss Walkers wearing full-body armor at the secondary residence of the commander of the Royal Guard Knight – Gile in the Royal Capital.

Of course, I have told this story to Meila, who knows that I am Sword Master Alfine.

The reason I didn’t tell them was because I couldn’t be sure whether the creepy knights that I fought were Abyss Walkers.

It was because every parts of their bodies were covered with eerie armor, and when I happened to destroy the armor, I just saw in a glance the black scales and green blood it shed.

It’s not about self-protection, but when it comes to talking about it, I would have to talk about my identity, so I couldn’t say it at the moment.

Please let Maribel’s father be alive…