The Wrong Hero

Chapter 46 - (Re)payments

"Lord Shield? You're back early."

Dante opted to see Werner first before going to Rat or a healer. Aside from properly letting people know he was back, this was likely to be a more unpleasant experience.

It's amazing that potentially tearing off my arm and replacing it feels less troublesome than...well, anything. Do I just not want to talk to Werner about what happened, or am I just numb to losing an arm?

"How was your visit to the North Ferret Forest?" Werner asked, his eyes passing over the rest of Dante's party.

In response, Dante held up his left hand. "Funny that."

He told Werner about their time there, mostly sticking to the adventurers, mercenaries, and assassins trying to kill them.

"Outrageous!" Werner declared.

"Yeah, not something I want to go through again." Dante said, running a finger over his missing ones. "We also have a bit of an issue."

Werner nodded. "How did your assailants know you would be there at all?"

"Exactly."

The two most likely places were in Faubrey and here it Siltvelt. Dante didn't know how long ago the king planned on inviting him, so any number of people there could have found out. What's worse, someone in Siltvelt could be spying on him for Melromarc or the Three Heroes Church. Of course, the ones behind the waves could have done something, given how they seemed to have already influenced at least three cases.

"We'll petition Faubrey immediately to look into the matter." Werner announced.

"That won't be necessary." Dante shook his head. "After we rest for the night, I'll be going there personally. If anyone here knows where the Dark Guild is, I'd like to know. I'll be persuading the people there to tell me what I want to know."

"As you wish, Lord Shield."

Having the target in question walk into the Dark Guild would normally be dangerous, but Dante was confident things would be fine. In addition to his party's power and levels, the Dark Guild in Zeltoble had a no fighting policy while inside, oddly enough. He figured Faubrey would be the same.

"With that out of the way, I need to see Rat before anything else." Her assessment on his injury would determine what to do next.

"Oh, your alchemist is in the village with the rest of your party." Werner informed. "She needed her equipment brought to her the other day."

"I see." That wasn't a bad idea. With the use of the bioplant—and now a greater need for the camping plants—having her there full time would probably be necessary.

"On that note, I do have something for you, Lord Shield." Werner called over a servant. A few minutes later, she returned with a scroll. "This is the list of people who have done a service for you in your absence."

"Really?" Dante took hold of the scroll, figuring there might be a dozen-some names on it.

How many favors did I get? I wonder what was presented to Eclair. Was there really enough to have a whole scroll—oh god, this is much more than a dozen!

Dante watched as the scroll unfurled and fell to the floor. There were well over a hundred names on the list, along with which tribes they were from.

"Some of these nobles provided multiple favors, but I found it best to list them in chronological order." Werner explained as Dante read down the list of names.

"Werner, I was gone for five days! What happened?" Dante lowered the list to look at Werner. He was expecting accessories and equipment for his party, maybe a few donations for the growing village, but nothing like this.