The Skeleton Soldier Failed to Defend the Dungeon

”Will you accept it?”

A sudden question. Nexmond didn’t even explain what the cards represented, perhaps assuming I already knew after coming this far.

The captain smiled faintly. ”Since I don’t recognize you, I assume you’re not yet one of our members. Would you not join us?”

I thought the captain’d just be complacent to whatever I said, but he offered me membership instead. He drew out five cards, the same kind given to Yube Jinney and Blackberry. My goal had been full membership, but the casual way he produced five cards from his coat was astonishing.

”I thought you had to collect them one by one.”

Swish.

I pulled out two star-marked cards from my inventory and showed them.

”As I thought.” The captain nodded. Once he confirmed the guild cards, his wariness eased further. ”I judged you to be someone of value. You have been fulfilling a rather unique role. If you so wish, I can grant you full membership immediately.”

Yube Jinney and Varesi Blackberry had only one black card each. Compared to them, this man was extraordinary.

”Should I have come here sooner?”

”Are you so pleased to receive five cards at once? Yube probably has more than one card.”

”It seems like there are ranks within the merchant guild.”

”Mm... the ability you showed Yube was nothing more than Sword Energy or magic.”

Calling Sword Energy or magic ordinary was absurd, but since it was Isaac who said it, I could only nod.

The crow then said, ”For a man engaged in smuggling, your power is indispensable. Had you shown it to others, they would have emptied their coffers for you. Even without a card, they would have arranged your entry.”

”Hmm... Should I accept it right away?”

”Do what you want. You hold the power anyway.”

Power... Even if I died again, I could come here and join at once. Five cards, easily within reach. No need to wander from place to place or negotiate with many. The merchant guild’s membership had been pierced in one stroke.

However, instead of accepting the cards, I lightly stepped back. ”Well. I can’t just bite at bait without knowing what it is you people want.”

He was the one desperate. I could listen slowly before deciding. Speaking in circles was never my forte, anyway.

”What is your true purpose?”

The captain said softly, ”My apologies, but could we move elsewhere first?”

He gazed across the wide sea and called out loudly. ”All hands! Head into Kinis Harbor! Turn the bow!”

”Aye, sir!”

The full sails shifted smoothly.

”Ugh!”

Everyone moved briskly, except the one who had collapsed on deck, vomiting on an empty stomach.

”And that man?”

He was the one whose presence had led Isaac to discover this ship.

The captain glanced at him with a worried look. ”He is a researcher involved in the development of prosthetic bodies. Originally, he was to install one in Kirn Bay, but circumstances led us here instead.”

***

I followed him into the captain’s quarters.

”Alone,” the captain said firmly.

The first mate Mitsy sighed and halted their step. ”But...”

”Watch the outside for me instead.”

”Understood.”

Even his own first mate was barred.

Nexmond shut the door. ”I will tell you everything. Only, please join us.”

His eyes burned with desperation. From the beginning, he’d been far too submissive from the beginning.

I looked at the five cards in his hand. ”Why offer five at once?”

”There are three reasons,” the captain answered calmly. ”The first, of course, is your power. For those of us who must conceal goods, your ability completely overturns the rules.”

”Is that so? You seem to expect too much without knowing its limits.”

He smiled. ”No. Even if there are weight and space restrictions, it matters little.”

”Little?”

”Most of what we handle is small and delicate. What matters is piercing strict security and delivering it with precision.”

I had already planned to join, but my curiosity grew. What sort of goods did they send across the Empire? Where would enhanced bodies and such things be delivered?

”And the second?”

”Information. Without considerable intelligence, you could never have interfered in this incident. The raid earlier was too well planned. You surpassed even the border guard. To be honest, I cannot imagine how you learned it.”

That had been a mere coincidence, but there was no need to explain.

”All right. The third?”

The captain hesitated for a moment, then said with conviction, ”At the very least, I am certain you are not aligned with the imperial family. If you were, you would never set fire to distract the imperial army.”

”That’s rather blunt,” Isaac cawed in.

The captain invited me merely because I wasn’t aligned with the imperial family. Was it because we had just escaped from the imperial border guard? He spoke dangerous words as if they were nothing.

”Do you oppose the imperial family?”

His left brow twitched ever so slightly before he answered, ”Of course.”

”Why?”

The captain wore a peculiar expression, as if my question were absurd.

Slowly, enunciating each word with care, he murmured, ”How... could anyone... not despise something like that?”

He went on. ”We want civilization, ruled by order and system. We do not wish to live under an era where a sacred, untouchable authority allows a select few to press down upon all others. We have no intention of serving wraiths.”

”Then what do you plan to do?”

”We will develop the commercial networks we lead until they grow strong enough to shatter the society of wraiths.”

There was conviction in his words, the kind that had endured countless moments of doubt. A belief that the world must change. That some things had to sink into denial, while others had to rise to be affirmed.

”So that’s why you’re hunting for talent...”

The captain nodded. ”The wraiths will never vanish willingly. For this social revolution, for this cleansing, we need power. It doesn’t have to be limited to merchants. If there is potential, we reach out.”

”Hmm...”

Did Yube or Blackberry think the same way? Strong ones who belonged nowhere. It was clear this world had never welcomed them warmly.

There was a reason the black card had been offered to me. It was membership I’d sought out from the beginning. Refusing it now would’ve been laughable.

Still, there was one flaw in their plan I had to point out. ”A war will break out soon.”

A war that’d sweep across the entire continent. No matter how one tried to profit from it, there’d be no region spared, no safe distance.

”The Demon King will descend as well. Your networks and foundations will collapse in ways more horrific than you can imagine.”

Heroes would rise within the ruins. I doubted the merchant guild would find joy in a world where those half-divine beings consumed everything. Their ideals would fail.

The captain, who had maintained composure to the end, blinked blankly at me. ”Wha...”

Isaac snickered beside me. ”Heh-heh.”

His head tilted to the side before he suddenly straightened again, as if regaining his senses. ”Did you say... Demon King?”

”Hey, you hit him with too much at once. Ease into it, will you?”

Damn it. Even if he was an important figure within the merchant guild, there was no way conversation about the Demon King could flow so naturally. I had grown too accustomed to speaking freely with Isaac. Seeing the captain’s startled face, I realized my mistake too late.

”You at least know war is coming, don’t you?”

Nexmond nodded. ”Of course. But I have heard that Embermere is preparing a perfect response.”

”...”

So he knew that much. A perfect response, was it? Everyone placed their blind faith in Gith-Za-Rai. The emperor who traveled the realm was a fake, and the necromancer would be slain. How would he react if he learned that?

”That plan will fail.”

”...!”

I testified to the future. My firm tone left the captain unsettled. A tangle of emotions flickered across his eyes, like a book with its pages shuffled. Yet, he didn’t deny it outright. Slowly, his gaze steadied.

”Considering all you have shown me, I think it might be possible. You must see far more than I ever could,” he said. ”May I ask what your intention is, then?”

”I want to stop the war.”

For now, that was enough. To clear the ongoing scenario, this had to come first. Would I even want to prevent the descent of the Demon King afterward...? But if I did, Lady Succubus would vanish. Looking back, she had always been strange. Even if my feelings for her remained unchanged, a vague and troubling suspicion had begun to stir.

Clatter.

I shook my head. I didn’t want to think about that yet.

I forced it aside and continued the conversation with the captain. ”I, too, intend to oppose the imperial family from a base in the Empire’s south. Today I only came to confirm your intentions, but...”

Rustle.

I gathered the five black cards the captain had offered loosely into my hand. ”It seems we can form a more cooperative relationship than I expected.”

The complicated emotions on his face gave way to joy. ”I will have you registered at the embassy as a member immediately, and announce it at the next assembly.”

So they hold assemblies as well?

It was fortunate I hadn’t claimed to know someone like Blackberry, whom I hadn’t yet met in this life.

The captain asked, ”How much do you know about us?”

”You acquire goods, don’t you?”

That was what Yube had told me. From the rare and costly to things money could never buy, or when someone required transport.

Nexmond nodded. ”Correct.”

”You could say that nearly everything in this world can be procured through us.”

”This... world?”

I looked out the window. White foam crashed against the hull. The sea sold nothing, yet the waves carried the weight of human greed and desire. From what was tangled in the ocean, to what fell from the skies, to what was harvested above and mined below.

The captain nodded. ”Yes. We are a collective that includes the Free Confederation and even Ember’s merchants.”

I’d suspected it when I saw they smuggled advanced reinforced bodies, but this confirmed it. They weren’t confined to the Empire. And Embermere, too? That’d explain why their reach extended far enough to know of Gith-Za-Rai’s plan. What else could they bring from there?

”And...” The captain’s gaze shifted further east as he said pridefully, ”It takes time, but we can even acquire goods from a world far to the East. We can transport them for a steep price if you’re willing to shoulder the risk.”