Infinite Dendrogram: Volume 12 Page 3

  “Thanks to you, we were able to go to the port city and back in one day!”

  “It’s in thE same coUntry, and it’s nOt like wE had to cross an endlEss desert likE in CaldinA. Going thEre and back in a dAy is child’s plAy.”

  ...The world must seem really small to those who can travel at the speed of sound, I thought.

  “BUt man, why evEn use a carriAge? I coUld carry yOu to GideOn in a flAsh,” Xunyu added.

  “Master Xunyu, that would be quite inappropriate...” said Canglong. “I am going to a formal marriage meeting. I cannot show up in the arms of another lady.”

  “That’s trUe.”

  Yeah, that sounds like grounds for an instant cancellation of the marr... marriage?

  “So, you’re heading to Gideon for a marriage meeting?” asked Nemesis.

  “Yes. The royal capital was unfit for the purpose for various reasons, so it will happen in Gideon instead.”

  “No, it isn’t the location I’m wondering about. Who are you set to marry?”

  “The second princess of Altar, Her Highness Elizabeth.”

  ...Excuse me? Canglong’s words seemed profoundly important to me. I was about to ask more questions, but suddenly the dragon carriage stopped.

  Looking outside through the window, I saw a group of armed people surrounding the carriage.

  ◇

  In Infinite Dendrogram, bandits and brigands were actually thought to be less common than you’d expect in a fantasy setting.

  The reason for that was the presence of Masters — the immortal beings who gained immense powers from their Embryos.

  The thing about Masters was that you couldn’t tell how powerful one was just by looking at them. There were children walking around with Superior Jobs, and jokesters in costumes summoning battleships and burning down entire forests.

  They weren’t all equally powerful, of course, but there were thousands of them all over the world. Accidentally attacking a Master would mean having to fight an immortal superhuman, which didn’t seem like a gamble most people would find worth taking.

  Because of this, there were only four types of people who would become bandits.

  First were the Master bandits. There were those like B3’s Mad Castle, which focused exclusively on other Masters, as well as those like Goblin Street, which would also attack tians, but they were unified in that they didn’t fear Masters as much as tians did since they were Masters themselves.

  Second were the groups like the Gouz-Maise Gang. They were organized and had many members, a handful of which could be notably powerful, giving them the potential to fend off most Masters.

  The third were the groups that had a great deal to gain by engaging in banditry. These included the bandits lurking around the trade route going through the Cruella Mountain Belt to the east of Gideon. In other words, they were so blinded by greed that they simply ignored the risks.

  And the fourth were the kind of bandits attacking us right now.

  “Kheheheh! Leave yer valuables and carriage right ’ere!” They surrounded us, said exactly what you’d expect to hear, and tried to menace us with weapons held high. Their weapons were crude, though, and their levels were probably low.

  It was pretty clear that they had become bandits and were now trying to rob us simply because they didn’t even consider the dangers of attacking Masters, or that even tians could be powerful. They probably just looked at Liliana in the coachman’s seat, saw a fair-looking lady, and assumed that this carriage was easy prey.

  However, even Liliana was a relatively strong Paladin. She’d been training hard during her days of watching over Elizabeth. As far as I knew, her level was over 300 right now, but even then, she was on the lower end of the spectrum among everyone riding in this carriage.

  They’d clearly chosen the wrong prey.

  Alas, it was already too late. One of those inside opened the door and stepped out.

  “HuhH? WhAt? Altar’s got bAndits this dAmn stupid?”

  “The hell’re... you... Ehh...?” Upon seeing who had stepped out, the bandits were at a loss for words.

  Of course they would be. They just saw an over four metel-tall anomaly step out of a carriage that seemed way too small for it.

  “I swear, if I see a single scratch on my goddamn ride,” said another... person who stepped outside, clad in ultra-heavy armor from head to toe.

  She bashed her shields together in a show of force.

  “I haven’t heard of this happening too often after Ray crushed the Gouz-Maise Gang... so of course we’d run into bandits when I was transporting a foreign guest of honor... What a disgrace.”

  The last to come out was a weirdo in a mask.

  Apparently, some of the bandits thought that she looked somewhat normal compared to the other two, but then she drew her sword — The Primeval Blade, Altar — and the bandits fell on their backsides. Some even wet themselves.

  Even if they couldn’t Identify it, they could instinctively feel how terrifying it was.

  The bandits no longer had any will to fight. The three monst— Uhh, ladies had the kind of pressure that clearly showed how immense the gulf in power was between the two parties, even if they couldn’t gauge it exactly.

  “They’re probably the three scariest women in the kingdom,” Nemesis commented.

  “If you ask me, Miss Eldritch would be in the top three instead of either B3 or Xunyu.”

  “...I recommend against saying that to Azurite.”

  “...Oh, I won’t.” That aside, the situation was actually worse now than it would’ve been if Miss Eldritch was around.

  I didn’t know about Xunyu, but the other two were clearly in a bad mood. B3 was seeing red from the stress, while Azurite was irritated about the very existence of bandits in her country. This could easily become a whole lot more tragic than it had to be.

  Feeling that I had to stop it, I decided to leave the carriage as well.

  “Oh, I should prepare in case a battle breaks out,” I said, turning Nemesis into The Flag Halberd in case of debuffs. I then used Gardranda’s miasma and flame-spewing mouths, activated Gouz-Maise in case I needed extra MP or SP, donned Monochrome’s hood, and equipped my Storm Visage.

  As ready as I could possibly be, I walked out and started speaking. “B3, Azurite, calm down. They clearly lost all will to—”

  “I-IT’S THE LEADER OF THE MONSTEEERS!”

  “MOMMYYYYY!” The bandits looked even more terrified than before — screaming, fainting, falling to the ground and grinding their faces against it, or even trying to run despite being unable to even stand.

  “...W h y?” I tilted my head in confusion. They acted as if they’d just seen something even scarier than the other three.

  “Your appearance took it to the next level...” Nemesis sighed.

  “...Is it that bad? Even compared to them?” I wanted to argue, but the terrorized bandits acted as compelling proof.

  Thus, the bandits, terrified by our appearances, gave up without a fight.

  ...I’m so lost right now, I thought.

  We bound the bandits and waited for knights from the capital to come retrieve them.

  The tough ropes we used, by the way, were acquired by me rolling the gacha.

  At the moment, Azurite was using her Truth Discernment to question them.

  Apparently, they’d only made their banditry debut this very day. They were basically a bunch of village delinquents, and they hadn’t even finished leveling a single low-rank job.

  Well, considering that they gave up before anyone was hurt, they would probably be released with just some community service.

  ...Attacking the acting ruler of Altar and a foreign prince at the same time, though, was actually a very grave crime; since they were traveling covertly, though, the bandits couldn’t be punished for that. We’d asked Canglong if he was okay with this, and he approved.

  They’d also learned their lesson. According to Azurite, they were pledging to lead honest lives once their punishment was over.

  However, we had a little problem.

  “W-We... We captured a Master and took him to our base,” one of them said. There was another victim... and a Master, at that.

  Apparently, the Master had surrendered without any resistance, making them overconfident and leading them to believe they could take on a carriage driven by a knight. But...

  “A Master surrendered?” I asked.

  “Y-Yes! He was a Master! There was one of ’em Crests on his hand!” That was strange. Again, these bandits weren’t too strong. Even an ordinary member of the Gouz-Maise Gang was stronger than them. Anyone who could cross the Sauda Mountain Pass by themselves and deal with the monsters here would be able to deal with them, as well.

  Maybe the Master just wanted to avoid fighting people.

  “What’s the Master doing right now?”

  “He said we could collect a ransom for him, so we locked him in our base... it’s a shack nearby.” Ah-hah... He was probably planning to log out. We Masters could do that as long as we weren’t interacting with anyone or bound in some way. If captured, we could undo our shackles and move to safety after logging out. It was a way of both avoiding conflict and escaping safely. Though a bit roundabout, that was probably the Master’s intention.

  It was safe to assume that he had already logged out and returned to safety.

  ...Though, for all we know, he could’ve been a total newbie who’d only surrendered and spoke of a ransom because he was panicking. He might’ve not realized that he could log out. Maybe he was even still sitting, terrified, back in their shack.

  “Azurite—”

  “We have some time until the knights come. I don’t mind if you go check on him,” she said, understanding me before I could even say anything.

  “Thanks. I’m off.”

  And so, leaving the bandits to Azurite and B3, I traveled to their base. Riding Silver, I arrived at the shack in question in about five minutes. It was completely unlike the mountain fortress occupied by the Gouz-Maise Gang.

  “Well, they were the most troublesome bandits in the kingdom,” said Nemesis. “It isn’t a fair comparison.”

  “That’s true. Anyway...”

  According to the bandits, they didn’t leave any guards — only locked the place up. Sure enough, there was no one around, and the door sported a chain with a padlock on it.

  I casually pulled on it, and my STR, buffed by Gardranda, instantly broke it.

  “...Is the Master still inside?” I asked as I gently pulled on the door.

  However, something inside kept it from opening.

  “Who is it?” a voice from inside asked. It was far more composed than I expected.

  “Uh... I’m an Altarian Master who caught the bandits. I came to help.”

  “Ohh, thank you. I’m a bit busy right now, so feel free to come in and wait a moment.”

  ...Just to make sure, I’m here to help someone in need, right? I wondered. I pulled on the door again, and it seemed like whatever was holding it shut was gone.

  I was still careful, in case this was a trap. “...Pardon the intrusion,” I said.

  “...Is that truly the correct thing to say here?” Nemesis asked. Inside, I saw a person sitting on the bed ahead.

  It was a black-haired man slightly older than me. Pen in hand, he was writing something down on his memo pad. Seemingly in high-spirits, he didn’t even glance at us, as though focused entirely on what he was doing.

  No. That wasn’t right. We weren’t the only thing he wasn’t looking at — he wasn’t looking at anything at all.

  His eyes were closed even as he was writing.

  This strange sight left me speechless.

  He continued writing for a good few minutes before...

  “This gave me some excellent ideas,” he said. “I can’t wait for the result.”

  Finally, he opened his eyes, showing his golden pupils.

  Then, he took photos of what he’d written down.

  I was aware that photos you took in Dendro could be uploaded to devices on the other side as images. It wasn’t a function I’d ever used, but I could tell that he was really familiar with it.

  “Oh, sorry to keep you waiting,” he said. “I was on a bit of a writing spree.” Once he was done taking photos, he finally faced me. “You have my thanks for saving me.”

  ...That’s kind of a strange thing to say in this situation, I thought.

  Well, perhaps the gratitude was expected, but I’d just watched him lose himself in whatever he was doing to the extent that he hadn’t even looked at us. He probably didn’t need to be “saved” by anyone. The most likely situation here was that...

  “Umm, I’ll be blunt... You let yourself get kidnapped, didn’t you?” I asked.

  “Yes,” he answered without hesitation.

  It was more or less what I expected, considering how composed he was and how experienced he looked.

  “...Why did you do that?”

  “To acquire material,” he answered. “I happen to be an author in real life.”

  “...An author?”

  “Yes. I let myself be abducted to further my search for writing material.”

  Hearing that made me think of a certain party member of mine — Marie. She was a mangaka, and I’d heard that she was logging in to Dendro and roleplaying as an assassin for work-related research. It wasn’t surprising that there were more people out there like her.

  “You can’t experience being captured by bandits in real life, can you?” he asked.

  “Well... I guess not?”

  At least not in Japan, I thought. I got captured by Amazons in South America once, though.

  “People have the power of imagination, but it’s more difficult to imagine something you haven’t experienced and digested with your own brain. Each and every word and sight you experience first hand feeds your imagination.”

  I could understand his point well enough. People could only really imagine what they saw, heard, and felt for themselves. Words you’ve never heard could never surface in your mind.

  “And this is why I am here,” he said. “There are just far too many experiences that can only be acquired in this world.”

  “...That’s true.” I did agree with him. There were indeed many things, both good and bad, that existed here, but not back on Earth.

  “And that’s why being captured by the bandits was a precious experience to me... Oh, speaking of the bandits, how will they be punished?”

  “Putting your situation aside, they’ll only get some community service.”

  “Oh. I approve of that, too. I’m not entirely sure how Altar’s legal system works, but I won’t press charges. In fact, I would like to thank them.”

  “I see... Hm?” His words just now made me feel like something wasn’t right... But why?

  “That aside, I will take my leave now. Sorry for bothering you today.”

  “Oh, no worries.”

  “Pardon the late introduction, but my name is F. My job is High Secretary.”

  “Oh, right. I’m—”

  “I know you. You’re Ray Starling the Unbreakable, and Nemesis.”

  ...That video really did make me more famous... or infamous... than ever, huh?

  “I should also thank the bandits for giving me a chance to meet you. I’m so glad I was kidnapped.”

  That’s not the kind of sentence you hear very often, but he seemed to mean it.

  “I’ll be going now. Let us meet again, if fate decrees it so,” he said as he left the shack.

  That was proof that he indeed had the power to walk through this mountain pass on his own.

  I watched as he disappeared in the woods.

  “Why the serious look?” Nemesis asked.

  “I feel like I know someone with a similar vibe to him,” I said. He reminded me of someone, but I couldn’t put my finger on who.

  “Is it not Marie? Authors and mangaka are similar professions, no?”

  They have a similar reason for playing and share a similar “indifference,” but I feel like Marie’s shadiness is different than his. And... something just doesn’t feel right about him.

  “There’s no harm in wondering about him, but for now, we should go back. The capital’s knights should arrive at the carriage soon.”

  “...Yeah.” We were currently on an escort quest to Gideon. I’d save thinking about F for later.

  Chapter Two: Battle for the Penultimate Throne

  Prism Rider, Ray Starling

  We were greeted by Gideon’s immense outer wall, which I was actually kind of nostalgic for at this point.

  There were fireworks bursting up above the city as if it was New Year’s. Did they have something to do with the upcoming battle between Tom and Kashimiya?

  Once I led Azurite and Canglong to the count’s mansion, the quest was complete. If you ignored the freezing cold atmosphere created by Azurite and B3, the sudden bandit attack, and the encounter with F, I would say that it was fairly uneventful.

  When Azurite rewarded me, she said that she might call for me again tomorrow. Also, after both she and Canglong had entered the guest house, B3 heaved a particularly long, deep sigh. The trip seemed to have taken a heavy toll on her.

  “...You were really tense, huh?” I asked.

  “Of course I was. My position in Altar depended on how well that quest went,” she said. “Unlike Eldridge, I actually want to stay in the kingdom.”

  Apparently, she thought she was on the verge of being added to the wanted list. Honestly, I really doubted that Azurite would go that far. It seemed like she was just trying to get a feel for Masters like B3..

  Following the incident at Quartierlatin, Azurite had decided to rely more on Masters, but whether that went well depended on both tians and Masters, not just one side or the other.

  Altar had both worlders and ludos, and each and every one had their own outlook. I’d heard that most of the participants in the previous war were worlders, but it was clear that the kingdom also needed the ludos to stand a chance in the upcoming round two.

  This quest was like a test. She entrusted B3 — a ludo and a PK terrorist — with an escort quest to see how she would behave. The dragon carriage thing might’ve been just a front. Even if B3’s ride was insanely good, the kingdom surely had a fair amount of dragon carriages that would have been well-suited for this trip.