He said it would be okay for Ursch-kun and the others to follow me, so the four of us headed to the royal palace.

On the premises of the royal palace, from the building where the government officials are located to the white tower in the back of the royal palace, a small passage and a stone warehouse covered in ivy were hidden. In the warehouse, there was a hidden passage under the stairs, and there was a stone basement in the back.

By the time I got there, the knights of the Imperial Guard stood at equal intervals and guarded it, but not only the Imperial Knights but also several magicians gathered in the basement. Surrounded by those people, Chris-sama and the queen were sitting on the sofa and waiting. There’s no way a luxurious sofa was installed in a place like that, so they must have brought it all the way there. Thank you for your hard work, squires.

The queen sat on the sofa with her legs crossed and her body leaning on the backrest, and opened her mouth.

“I’ve been waiting for you, Isabella. I also wanted to go out into the city and confront the viscount, instead of sitting in this basement. It was so annoying that I couldn’t go outside. But I’m glad that you guys were able to deal with it safely. From what I heard, the ability of adventurers in the relatively peaceful royal capital has not yet been abandoned. Well, it can’t be compared to the adventurers at the forefront of Lambert territory.”

As she talked about it unilaterally, the queen stood up and walked to the barrel surrounded by flowers in the back of the basement, sat shallowly on the barrel and hit it with one hand.

“Well, I’m sorry to ask you to come right away, but could you appraise this barrel? Both the high level [Penetration] and [Appraisal] of the magic division have failed. I know this is the [Prison of the Soul], but I can’t confirm it. By the way, I want you to check if it can be safely removed and purified.”

Chris-sama also stood up and whispered when he came to us.

“. . . . . . I only saw fragments of Viscount Hillson’s memory, but . . . . . maybe this is the [Prison of the Soul] with his wife, and the flowers offered around it are definitely brought by Viscount Hillson. . . . . . But my skills are supposed to be kept secret. . . . . If it’s not evidence to prove the identity of the barrel, I can’t prove it’s safety. . .”

“No proof of safety, Queen-sama, she’s sitting on that barrel. Is it okay-”

“. . . . . . . For the time being, it seems that it is necessary to formally confirm with a third party with skills that can respond. . . . . .”

It can’t be helped, I agreed to appraise the barrel. Just in case, I decided to have Ursch-kun appraise it with me as a double check.

Well then, [Greed King] Mammon-sensei, please!!

{[The failure of the Prison of the Soul]

Ingredients ∨

A living person: 1

Unicorn Horn: 1

Horned rabbit horn: 1

10 circulating grasses

Wyvern Scales: 100g/powder

Rich person’s skull: 1/something that doesn’t have chipped teeth

Elf’s right ear: 3/200 years old or older

Arlaune: 1/The shape of the root looks like a girl

Ancient slime acid: The amount that fills half of the prepared [Coffin of Sloth]

Coffin of Sloth (∨): 1/The size that can hold all the above ingredients

2 pieces of fish, half digested

Several kinds of vegetables are half digested and difficult to distinguish.

*The soul is completely decomposed and converted into an energy body.

*Some of the skills remain without being completely disassembled ∨

Residual skills: Inheritance special skill [Both hands of the Gluttony King, Beelzebub] ∨

*The skill is half destroyed by the [Coffin of Sloth], and it is impossible to appraise the effect. The skill is completely irreparable.

There was one of the ‘Great Sin King Skills’ in a place like this!! Moreover, if you destroy the [Coffin of Sloth] in a half destroyed state, it will completely disappear or you will feel like you didn’t win. No, it’s not a non-war victory. If we didn’t fight the Colors Collector, it wouldn’t have appeared, it might be a good idea to think of it as a rare skill. But one thing that bothers me is. . .

“Ursch-kun, why did this [Prison of the Soul] become a failure?”

I was curious, so I asked Ursch-kun in a low voice. Then Ursch-kun answered as a matter of course.

“I guess it’s because there are ingredients that are not in the recipe. When you make a stew, if you put in grapes of coffee that are not in the recipe, it’s the same as failing. Now I understand why the [Anti-Soul Necklace] created by the magicians became inferior. They failed at getting the soul that can be used as a material.”

Once again I looked at the [Failure of the Prison of the Soul] in front of me. Dresses and socks must have been what Lindsay-san was wearing. Come to think of it, I was also put in a barrel with my clothes on by Lucy. Is the semi-digested food the contents of her stomach? I guess it wasn’t much time after the meal. Flowers and a rabbit. . . I’m sure Viscount Hillson put it together for her. Viscount Hillson probably didn’t think that what he put in for her would cause her soul to break down.

Ursch-kun muttered a little in amazement.

“Viscount Hillson may have had the ability as a magician, but he wasn’t cut out for creating things.”

After watching the [Failure of the Prison of the Soul] for a while, he called out to the queen.

“Some of the soul has melted and turned into an energy body. And the ancient slime acid. If you pay attention to that, there is no problem destroying it.”

When the queen heard that, she nodded and gave instructions to the people around her.

“I see, then let’s crush it loudly. I don’t know how the energy body works, so it’s dangerous to destroy it in the royal palace. Take it out of the Royal Capital as soon as possible.”

Then the royal magicians around her put a shield around the barrel as soon as possible and started preparing to carry it out. It’s quick and there is a feeling that they don’t want to leave such an unknown thing in the royal palace forever.

Geese, who had been silently watching the situation until now, opened his mouth.

“I’m glad my father isn’t here. If he were here, he would have said that he would like to take it back to the research facility of the magic division and investigate.”

What’s that? I’m really glad that Geese’s father, the magic division chief, wasn’t here. I didn’t tell the queen, but as long as the [Both Hands of the Gluttony King, Beelzebub] skill remains, I would like you to deal with it as soon as possible.

As I was thinking about that, the queen stood in front of us.

“What about you guys? You have been deeply involved in this case, if you want to see it through to the end, I’ll allow you to follow me to the point where that barrel will be disposed of.”

At those words, we jumped at the opportunity.

“”””Thank you very much!!””””

It was a while after the sun went down that we left the outer wall of the Royal Capital and arrived in the wilderness. In the middle of the wilderness, we watched what was supposed to be [Prison of the Soul] as it was surrounded by defensive walls and were burning in the flames of purification. Something like a pinkish green aurora overflowed through the gap in the broken barrel that couldn’t withstand the flames of purification. It went up to the night sky like a staircase, and as soon as the barrel burned out, it disappeared.

In this way, the battle between us and the Colors Collector completely came to an end.

In the end, even if Viscount Hillson had taken the necklace to his wife, he wouldn’t have been able to revive her. It really irritates me that after all that he did, it would have all been for nothing no matter what. There was never a chance of him bringing his wife back because he did the prison of the soul wrong in the first place. And then continued to do it wrong for a hundred years so he couldn’t even get souls, just energy bodies. So much waisted life. I completely understand Ursch’s amazement at Viscount Hillson’s inability to simply follow a recipe.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter and thank you for reading!