Chương 127: Chapter 124: The Arch Imp's Interrogation, Part 1

Just so everyone had a chance to speak, Sue and I gave our testimonies to what happened last night. From what I last 'remembered,' I finished off my last load of the night into Erizora—I left this and other explicit parts out of my story when I spoke—and was too tired to cast [Clean] on everything, so I decided to leave it until the next morning. With Sue's help, we carried my Ogre slave's knocked out body onto the bed and put on the covers before we slid in underneath, with the Arch Imp snuggled close to me in a position for cuddling. I didn't notice anything strange up to then before falling asleep.

Sue confirmed my testimony while admitting she was the one that set up the spare blanket and pillow for Kalline while she was sleeping on the floor. Until she fell asleep, she didn't notice anything strange, either. My [Intuition] kicked in when she mentioned the both of us carrying Erizora to bed, so I knew that part was false, but putting the blanket and pillow for Kalline turned out to be true.

With the mystery of Nyra's altered memories still at large—according to most around the table—it was decided that we'd keep an eye out for any strange occurrences. I told everyone to be wary of those who may be observing us from the sidelines, and should we decide to split up for any reason, it was best to have our groups in pairs, at the least.

Once we were done with breakfast, we had to prepare ourselves for the meeting with Noire. I took this opportunity to be alone with Sue, telling her to join me in my room. I filled my familiars in on what was going to happen before telling Kenaka to stand guard from outside while Mametama looked after the others.

This was something I needed to confront on my own, especially since I was the one who allowed Sue to join us in our journey. I had to take responsibility as my adventuring party's, Twilight Sky's, leader as well as the sole male of my harem to handle this situation by whatever means necessary.

Sue sat on the edge of the bed we slept in last night, looking somber as she stared at the floor. I stood in front of her, hand on my tanto that was holstered on my side, ready to pull out at a moment's notice. Nyra has all her attention locked on the Arch Imp for any changes in moods. A [Soundproof] bubble made by yours truly was also erected to keep the conversation private. If anybody was coming in, Kenaka would let me know through [Telepathy].

"Sue, since our party will be taking this quest tomorrow, I want to go over how you may be spending your time during our absence," I started, using the upcoming quest as a way to break the ice.

To my surprise, the Arch Imp sighed and looked up at me, "You can drop the pretenses, Jinma. I know why you wanted to speak with me alone, and I want to come mostly clean."

"... So it's true, then. You … you're the one who altered Nyra's memories? And what do you mean coming 'mostly' clean?" I asked, furrowing my brow.

"I was planning on pretending like last night never happened, but I didn't think either of you would catch on so quickly. I must have underestimated Nyra's expertise in the workings of the mind, or maybe I was too careful in how I hid my tracks and overlooked something. Either way, I resolved myself to open up should something like this happen. So, to answer your question … yes, it is true. I'm the one who altered Nyra's memories last night, as well as yours, Jinma," she confessed with a straight face.

<Sue's carrying some dread, anxiety, and stress, but she's trying to keep a steady mind … she's serious about this, Jinma,> Nyra reported in my mind.

Even without Nyra or my [Intuition] skill, I would likely tell that Sue was telling the truth. Numerous feelings were welling inside me, but I kept them down and stayed calm. It was because I was sorting things in my head that I couldn't find something to say.

"As for what I mean by coming 'mostly' clean, while I do want to explain everything, I'm not in the right position to do so," Sue continued, "I can only answer certain questions you may have based on the current circumstances, so if you have anything you want to ask, speak them now. I'll explain whatever I can."

<Well, at least she's actually willing to cooperate. I kind of expected her to fight back a little bit, but as long as she's willing to answer questions, we might as well take up her offer and see how much of a liar she is,> Nyra suggested.

<I'm surprised you're willing to hear her out, considering what she did to you,> I commented internally.

I took a deep breath to calm myself, trying to relax my grip on the tanto, but not letting it go entirely, "Very well, let's start from the top. Who, or what are you? Is 'Sue' even your name?"

"'Sue' is what I'd like to go by for now, but it's part of my true name," she explained, I didn't sense any problems with my [Intuition] skill so far, "As for what I am, I am …"

"You are …" I trailed off, urging her to continue. The air in the room turned tense.

"I am … an agent of the secret service that directly serves the Demon King called 'The Dark Wind.'"

Aaaaaaaand my [Intuition] skill is going crazy.

"You don't have to call me out," Sue said with a hand up, "I know it's a lie, but it's the closest concrete answer I can come up with to say I work with Her Highness without giving too much away."

"So … is there a secret service called 'The Dark Wind?'" I asked.

"Yes, there indeed is one that goes by that name," she answered.

{My [Intuition] is saying she speaks the truth … and just how is this 'not giving too much away' of what she really is? And why does this secret service have such an edgy, chuuni-like name to it?}

"You couldn't say you're like, I don't know, one of the Demon King's Royal Guard? Some member of the Demon King's Administration Board? Or dare I say head of the castle's capable maids or something?" I asked, bewildered.

"I thought being an agent sounded like a cooler cover," Sue bluntly stated while shrugging her shoulders, "This would also tell you that the Demon King does have a secret service that is currently undergoing a mission. You can relax as you have nothing to do with it."

<She's being … very oddly calm about this, and she's speaking the truth about you not being 'The Dark Wind's' target,> Nyra informed me.

"... How are you so certain I'm not their target? What evidence do you have to back up that claim if you're not one of them?" I asked.

Sue rested a hand on her large bosom, "I may not be one of them, but I'm the closest thing to them. You can say I was 'assigned' to watch over you as a secret agent if that helps you sleep at night. Just know that as long as I'm around, none of them will even look your way."

This Arch Imp seemed very confident about that fact, like it was guaranteed under her watch. It surprised me when everything she said turned out to be true, according to my [Intuition] skill.

It didn't look like she'll answer any more questions about her identity, though, so I shifted over to another subject that seemed to be in line, "Since you're so close to these 'secret agents,' do you happen to know anything about the secret message in those fliers yesterday?"

Sue widened her eyes in shock, "Just to make sure, can you specify what was in that secret message?"

I explained how I used fire to reveal the citrus-made invisible ink for the first part of the message, which gave instructions to apply magic to the flier that I then did before the second part, reading "I have finally found you", came up.

"Yaaay! So you did figure it out! I'm so happy!" Sue exclaimed before clapping her hands in glee.

"So, you do know about the secret message?" I asked.

"Yes! I was one of the people who wrote it, after all!"

"WHAT?!" Both me and Nyra exclaimed in sync.

Sue nodded in pride, "Yep, it was under orders of Her Majesty of course, that we put them on all the fliers before the Harpies scattered them through the kingdom yesterday. We set them up so it would only react to your mana signature, since you're the one that she's referring to."

"Were you the ones who used Rune Craft to make the magic circle that recognized me with Signature Magic?" I asked.

"Ahh, so you're aware of that, huh? It was actually the Demon King who crafted the magic circle onto stamps. This is so we could quickly apply them on half of all the fliers before writing the secret messages on them by hand. Ah, right, we had set up two different stacks of fliers ahead of time for different scenarios, but they all hold the same decree as was written yesterday. The Demon King then destroyed the stamps soon after the operation was done," she explained.

{Two different stacks ahead of time … so she was planning on giving the decree to the kingdom either way. For the other stack to not have the secret message, that must be for the case of when one of the demon citizens would bring me to the castle in person for a reward. There would be no point in leaving the message if the Demon King already has me in her castle.}

"Why did she destroy the stamps?" I then asked.

"This was actually so the Demon King's Ministry wouldn't trace the magic circle back to her, should we resort to using that stack that had the secret messages included. They didn't even know about her announcement until just yesterday."

<The Demon King didn't want her own Ministry knowing about her secret message? So, this was all discreetly organized under her direct instruction?> I asked Nyra in my mind.

<Apparently so, and if this is an undercover operation, the Demon King would have to put a lot of trust into the people involved to not give it away. Sue just happened to be one of the select handful that she can trust. Her actions are still questionable, but maybe there's some credibility to what she's telling us,> Nyra said.

"How many of you were there that helped the Demon King with this operation?" I asked Sue.

Sue looked up in thought, "If I remember right, there were about twenty of us who helped make those fliers. We had to make a lot of them in a short time, so it required a lot of hands."

"So, are the other nineteen of you back at Korangar or another city doing something else right now? Were any of them part of 'The Dark Wind'?" I asked.

"None of us who were there at the time came from 'The Dark Wind'. Where they are right now is variable, but they know of me being with you and won't approach you like I have."

{So it's some kind of secret network between them and the Demon King? Wonder what they all have in common that would have royalty put so much trust into them?}

<Who knows?> Nyra answered, reading my thoughts.

"Going back to the magic circle for a moment, I want to point out on record that it was Ume who taught me some of what Rune Crafting was," I said, "She's currently performing research to better understand what was written in the magic circle that would make its Signature Magic react to me specifically. Do you happen to know what mechanics or whatever is behind it?"

"Ah, yes, your beloved wife, Umeiyon," Sue said while crossing arms under her large tits, nodding to herself in thought, "Quite the intelligent one, she is, though I suppose that's to be expected of someone from the Dragon-Kin, which really tells how amazing you are to marry her."

"You even know about that?!" I exclaimed.

"Relax, I won't tell anyone about her secret. I don't want to make getting around the kingdom harder or more complicated for either of you and your party, but I figured I should tell you I know that much since we're on the subject. As for what's written in the magic circle to make it react to your mana signature, I'm afraid that info's classified," Sue said while shrugging, "Her Highness won't mind you two figuring it out yourselves, but that's all she's willing to open up to you on that front for now."

{What the hell, did the Demon King anticipate me finding out about her association with Sue and specified what she's allowed to reveal to me? Does this girl have some sort of appraisal skill like my [Size Up]? Was that how she found Ume's true identity? Just how much does she know about us? About me?}