"Ever since the lord's call went out, Mills has gotten lively again."
"Mercenaries are pouring in from all over the nearby areas. The innkeepers must be raking it in right now."
"The discovery of a new layer in the Mills ruin is breathing life back into the town."
I organize the information I've gathered so far.
The lord.
Mercenary recruitment.
Discovery of a new layer in the ruin.
It seems the lord is commissioning mercenaries to conquer the ruin dungeon.
That's why mercenaries are gathering in Mills.
There's a "ruin" here too…
Perhaps the remnants of a civilization that perished long ago.
From what I hear, it's become a dungeon.
"By the way—"
Another topic comes up at a nearby table.
Three men are sitting there.
"Did you hear about that?"
"Hear about what?"
"The rumor about the former knight captain who vanished from the royal capital of Nea Holy Kingdom."
"Former knight captain?"
"Apparently she's actually the princess of a high-elf country. It's somewhat well-known among mercenaries."
"I don't get it. Why would an elf princess be serving as a knight in a human country?"
"No idea about the reason. Anyway, there's a bounty on that elf princess now."
"But so what? I don't see where this is going."
"No, the wanted poster that came with the bounty notice is of an incredibly beautiful woman. She doesn't even seem like the same species as our women."
"Whoa!? What did she look like?"
"You can see it at the mercenary guild."
"All right, I'll go take a look later!"
"Nah, the guild's packed right now with guys here for the recruitment. A lot of them are rough types. You don't wanna get into trouble with them."
Mercenary guild.
So that building with the document-like mark is probably it?
An organization that arranges jobs for mercenaries.
Escort duty.
Monster extermination.
Thinking back, it was bustling even from outside.
Lots of people coming and going who looked battle-hardened.
"Still, most elves supposedly live hidden away behind illusionary barriers in remote places, right? You don't get to see the real thing very often."
"I hear both the men and women are so beautiful they make your eyes pop out?"
"Slave traders apparently go crazy trying to get their hands on them."
"By the way, are elves strong?"
"They borrow power from spirits to fight, apparently."
"Spirits? What's that?"
"Creepy stuff."
The drinkers' table is great.
Their voices get louder along with their spirits.
Makes it easy to overhear.
They get talkative too.
My real father was like that when he drank.
Places like this really are ideal for gathering information.
I myself don't drink, though.
"Speaking of which, did you hear about the Great Demon Emperor?"
The Great Demon Emperor.
The infamous evil threatening the world.
The reason 2-C was summoned here.
"It's the talk among mercenaries too. The great fortress Night Wall in the north fell, right?"
"Shocking, huh. Are we gonna be okay here?"
"What're you worried about? It's way up north."
"But if they keep pushing south… and if they join up with the monsters in the Great Ruin Belt, wouldn't that be bad?"
"Relax. When things get like this, Alion—where that goddess Vysis is—will move too. And this continent has monster-level knight orders and armies in every country, right?"
The shitty goddess's name comes up.
She really is famous.
"Yeah, true. So which one's the strongest?"
"The Radiant War Corps led by the Mad Beauty Emperor Falkendotziine is famous for never losing a battle, right?"
"Even after losing Night Wall, the Kingdom of Magnal in the north still has the White Wolf Knights."
"The Principality of Yonato in the west has the Annihilation Sacred Forces."
"Our own Kingdom of Ulza has the Demon War Knights."
"But still—"
"Yeah."
The three nod in agreement.
"The strongest on the continent has gotta be the Black Dragon Knights of the Bakoss Empire."
"No objections here."
"Just the Five Dragon Warriors alone are said to be worth an entire country's military power. And among the Five Dragon Warriors are the 'Strongest Human' and the 'Heroic Blood Slayer,' right?"
"A battle between the Black Dragon Knights and the Great Demon Emperor… as a man, you can't help but be curious."
"Speaking of which, the holy knight order that had that princess knight was from the Nea Holy Kingdom, right? That order had quite a reputation too. Famous for being all-women."
"Nea surrendered to Bakoss pretty easily though."
"Now Bakoss's territory is right next to Ulza, isn't it? Are we really okay?"
"I think Bakoss and Alion have a peace treaty with each other in between. Should be fine."
"Alion, huh. I wonder if they've already done that rumored hero summoning?"
"They're famous for not letting information leak to other countries. They might already have heroes from another world."
One of the men cheerfully bites into a bone-in meat.
"No worries! As long as there's booze and good meat, nothing's scary! Heroes and the Great Demon Emperor would be powerless before good booze and meat!"
"Exactly!"
"Even if the country falls, the booze won't!"
"Well said!"
"Cheers!"
"Wooo!"
Fueled by alcohol, the men chug down their drinks.
They've been drinking the whole time even while talking about the strongest.
They're pretty drunk now.
Their speech is starting to slur too.
The other customers are in similar states.
The useful information seems to be drying up.
"..."
Deciding I've gathered enough, I head back to my room.
I go up to the second floor.
Learning several new country names was good.
Well, knight orders and such from places other than Alion have nothing to do with me right now.
Not important information at present.
Seems they're just drinking topics here too.
"Get travel gear ready and leave Mills tomorrow…"
I'll rest for tonight.
Then—I stop in the hallway.
"Wait a second?"
The thing that had been nagging at me.
I think I figured it out.
I hurry back to my room.
"—Oh, but first."
I give part of the dinner I brought back to Pigi-maru.
"Pyu, pyuu〜♪"
Pigi-maru happily starts eating.
"Now then—"
I quickly take out the 『Forbidden Arts Compendium』 from the leather pouch.
I sit on the bed and flip through the pages.
I slide my finger across the paper.
My finger stops.
"…There it is."
I must have glimpsed it briefly before.
A fragment of that memory had remained in the corner of my mind.
That's why it kept nagging at me.
Probably ever since that woman mentioned it in the forest.
I hadn't noticed immediately because it wasn't the "first" one.
My focus had been too much on the first experiment.
『Monster Enhancement Agent Materials』
『Creation of Enhancement Agent Using Skeleton King Bone Powder』
『Slime → Effective』
『Used in second experiment』
『Skeleton King Habitat List』
『Mills Ruin (Deep Levels)』