Black Iron Magician

Chapter 487 Encounter

「That’s definitely Alezel, right?」

「Oh, you could tell?」

I bumped into someone. As soon as the other person said that, Nell brilliantly drew out the correct answer.

「Yes. Even before she changed the way she speak, she had a habit of feigning ignorance in a strange way when she was in trouble.」

「You are watching other people properly, huh….」

As Nell said, the one I met at the corner was Alezel. ‘Why is there an elf here? Or rather, I’m surprised that elf exists in this world,’ while I was thinking so, Alezel seemed to be panicked.

『Y-You see, the back door was opened a little. I tried to close the door out of consideration, thinking that it was careless. But my clothes got caught around here, and I accidentally walked into the building. Yes, I’m not someone suspicious. I’m just a passing beautiful elf girl, ehehe.』

『Wait, stop talking. I’m not going to catch you.』

『…… Huh? Are you not someone working in this castle?』

『What about you?』

『『………』』

I was dressed as an Elderado soldier, so it seems that Alezel thought I was a soldier. I was able to calm down thanks to her acting strangely.

Alezel, who was disowned by the elf village at that time, was working as a thief just like her job. I remember she called herself a chivalrous thief. I acknowledge her courage to trespass into the den of evil. But would a chivalrous thief put the stolen money and goods in their own pocket? No, they wouldn’t. In the end, she was a genuine thief.

『I see, you were brought here as a slave, huh?』

We hid under the beds in a nearby room to share information――

「――Hey, what do you mean by bed!? You got into bed with Alezel!?」

「No, no! It was under the beds! Under two beds that were lined up separately! Talking in the middle of the passage would make us stand out, so we hid there and explained the situation to each other!」

That was close, I was about to meet the biggest crisis in my life. Her fist reached the tip of my nose. Vakala, my judgment was correct. Then, I did my best to regain my composure and continued talking.

『Then, can you help me carry my luggage?』

『Carry your luggage?』

『Yes, I’m going to get some treasures from the castle. I’m also going to get some important research materials and anything else I can sell! Let’s vent your grudge here!』

『My grudge….』

However, I was able to borrow various things, such as money, equipment, items, and information, without any worries because I met such a thief, and I was determined to live my life fighting against unreasonableness at any cost. Moreover, she had an escape route, so it would be strange not to cooperate here. I took Alezel’s suggestion and decided to get revenge with her.

Since she has lived for a long time, Alezel was about level 6 at this point. To be frank, I was just a burden, but I did the best I could.

「Hmm, that’s unusual. I thought I Alezel would just abandon you without any hesitation if you were just a burden.」

「Well, even if I had no memory of myself, I still had the knowledge of another world. I used my head to the fullest and kept proposing various bad things so that I wouldn’t be abandoned. In short, I was the brain and Alezel was the executioner. When I think about it now, we were shining bizarrely at that time.」

「It’s the kind of shine that you shouldn’t do too much….」

Whatever it was, it was a light for us. We were sneaking around in the dark, but we were shining.

Anyway, we packed the stuff in the bag with a storage function that Alezel brought, and we set foot in the underground laboratory to put the finishing touches. It was about time for the people to find the soldiers we had knocked out along the way, so we decided to plant a bomb here, just to stall them a bit. By the way, we got the explosive magic item in the castle. Good grief, what a dangerous castle.

『Well, I’m so impressed by your cleverness. You kept coming up with all kinds of ideas that would never occur to a chivalrous thief like me.』

『Just move your hands. We don’t have much time, so set it up quickly――hm?』

『What’s wrong?』

『Err, this is a human being, right?』

In Elderado’s underground laboratory, there were large glass tubes, so large that a person could easily fit inside them. The inside of the tubes was filled with translucent liquid, giving the impression that they were doing something bad. And there were humans inside those glass tubes.

『They have familiar faces. Maybe they were the ones who got caught with me.』

There were four people in the glass tubes. They were girls about my age, all naked. I didn’t feel any sexual sensations, either because they were in an unidentifiable device or because they were in an extreme state. But I stared at them for a while.

「Deris?」

「No, you’re wrong. It’s not like that. Can you stop smiling while putting your hand on the handle of your sword? Listen to me first, there’s still more to it.」

I hurry to tell the rest of the story. Oh no, the blade is burning…!

『I wonder if they were doing some kind of evil human experiment? Are you trying to save them? But it seems that they are already dead, you know?』

『…… I can use dark magic, and there’s a magic that turns corpses into allies. Can I use it on them?』

『Oh, that magic. But even if you make these slave children your allies, they will only slow you down, you know?』

『You see, according to the research materials found there, these girls were brought here to create enhanced human beings. It seems that they died in the process, but if we could get their corpses to be our allies, they could be quite reliable, don’t you think? In a way, they are research materials, so I think it will lead to stealing important research results.』

『Hmm, you’re right! Okay, let’s give it a try! But I’ve turned on the detonator, so make it quick ♪』

『What!?』

Then, I took them out of the glass tubes and used the magic on each of them. Perhaps because I was concentrating desperately in an environment where there was no turning back, my first zombie creation went well and I succeeded in taking them out as allies. I didn’t have much time before the bomb exploded, so I had the four of them put on whatever gear they could find around the place and we immediately escaped using the escape route that Alezel had prepared.

「Hey, are those girls the ones from the guild?」

「Correct. They are the dismantler Ii, Aru, San, and Suu. I was surprised when I moved them. They could work better than me at that time, and they played an important role as shields for the weak me.」

「…… Deris, didn’t you take them with you out of pity?」

「I mean, they looked really sturdy.」

「………」

No, I understand, so don’t look at me like that. At that time, I was trying to survive by all means. They still hate me even now because of that, but I’m still doing their maintenance to atone for my sins, you know? They are always in perfect condition, you know?