Chapter 1101

1101: Esmeralda's Alias

After defeating the undead calling himself Hideman, we returned to the castle to ask Derrick for more information regarding him. But when we arrived, we found a familiar face waiting for us.

「Fran!」

「Eliante!」

Eliante, the guildmaster of the capital.

However, she seemed a little angry for some reason.

「Good grief! If you’re visiting the capital, you should show your face at my place first.」

「I was gonna go after.」

「I know you didn’t have a choice! Just let me complain!」

We ended up taking Esmeralda’s request at the castle, so we didn’t get the chance to visit the guild yet. Eliante seems to understand this, but she still wanted to voice her complaints.

「Besides, no one is able to refuse that old hag’s requests. Though I have to say, I was really surprised when I saw your name suddenly added to the list of participants.」

「You know Esmeralda?」

「Well, of course, since she’s a former Rank A adventurer. She was already retired by the time I became guildmaster, but I’ve heard all sorts of rumors. Plenty of them are from the time she served the royal family too.」

Due to her behind-the-scenes job, Esmeralda rarely comes out in the open. That said, there were many incidents and legends that everyone recognized as Esmeralda’s doing.

「I suppose the most famous story is the “Blood Rat” one, which ended up becoming her alias.」

「Blood Rat? Isn’t Esmeralda’s alias “Dusty Throne”?」

「Famous adventurers, mercenaries, and knights can have several aliases. Just like how they call you Black Lightning Princess, but also the Black Cat Saintess, the Magical Sword Girl, etc. Oh, and I think they’re starting to call you Fleet Crusher in Bulbora.」

Eh? Fleet Crusher… Seriously? I mean, it’s not wrong. She did crush Raydoss’s fleet, with many adventurers acting as witnesses.

I guess it’s not surprising if the adventurers started calling her that. After all, she even took out three Water Dragon Battleships. It’s probably a much greater accomplishment than we thought.

「Esmeralda-san’s most famous alias is “Dusty Throne”, the one you know. She got that name for being able to completely dominate an entire region using her sand, all without moving from her seat.」

Back when she was adventurer, she apparently annihilated a large-scale kobold outbreak without even leaving town. After changing workplaces, she used her abilities to monitor the entire capital city, eliminating various criminals and spies. That’s how she earned the alias of Dusty Throne.

「And Esmeralda-san’s other famous alias is “Blood Rat”. I guess her haters tend to use that name more often.」

Esmeralda can even use her sand to kill. Call it assassination or what not, but she has apparently remotely killed criminals while they were in the middle of committing serious crimes. She shows absolutely zero mercy, not even to nobles, so many considered her incredibly dangerous.

As for her method of killing, she controls rats made of sand. These rats are normally sent out as simple scouts, but they can easily turn into assassins if ordered to bite someone’s neck. The sand rats get dyed red with the blood of their victims, which gave her the name of Blood Rat among the nobility.

「And she even calls herself Blood Rat sometimes too. Nowadays, that alias is probably more well known.」

「Hyah-hyah-hyah! I prefer the more intimidating alias, you see.」

「…! When did you…?」

「I am still a master spy, you know. Hiding my presence has always been one of my specialties.」

Eliante turned around in surprise, and saw Esmeralda floating at the entrance of the room. In addition to hiding her presence, her chair of sand could move incredibly quietly. That probably added to her stealth.

Fran and I managed to notice, but it seems like Eliante didn’t.

「Would you please send your requests through the guild?」

「Sure, here’s the request paperwork.」

「Not after everything’s already over! Good grief, you’re taking advantage of this pure little girl! I’m the one who’s going to hear snide comments from the other guildmasters!」

Woops, it seems we took a request without going through the guild. That doesn’t violate any rules or anything, but we don’t want to be viewed as disrespectful.

Well, Eliante seems to blame Esmeralda for tricking us, so I guess we’re in the clear.

「Say what you want, but isn’t this more convenient for the guild too?」

「How so?」

「The Black Lightning Princess has gotten quite the reputation in Kranzel by now. Exactly what the guild wanted, no?」

What are they talking about? Were there some kind of political issues in play? I guess the guild gains prestige if powerful adventurers become famous.

「…What are you after?」

「Hyah-hyah-hyah! Nothing, I’m only an old hag after all!」

「Y-You heard that?」

「I can hear anyone trash talking me in the capital.」

Esmeralda’s smile was so intimidating that I had to doubt if she was really joking. Perhaps realizing that she had nothing to gain, Eliante smiled bitterly and went silent.

「Grrgh.」

「Hey, should I report now? Or do you already know?」

「Oh, sorry about dragging you into such a long-winded conversation. This girl was getting a bit noisy, so I couldn’t help myself.」

「Nn. It’s fine.」

Eliante seemed like she still had something to say, but she kept her mouth shut. No doubt she realized further argument would not serve any purpose.

In the meantime, Fran reported to Esmeralda about all the information she obtained.

「Mm-hmm, pretty much exactly what I heard through my sand. This Black Skeleton Corps sounds like quite the annoyance. Since they consist of undead, they might be able to easily replenish their ranks.」

True, all they need are powerful corpses to make more undead. We just defeated their sixth seat, but maybe they can easily raise some substitute undead to replace him.

「I want to ask Derrick about Hideman.」

「I’ve already questioned him on the subject.」

It seems Esmeralda interrogated Derrick while we were on the way back. She heard that Hideman was one of the South Conquest Duke’s top spies, capable of appearing anywhere with his skills in stealth. Losing both Hideman and Derrick should weaken their intelligence network considerably.

「Hyah-hyah-hyah. You’ve done it again, Black Lightning Princess.」

「Nn.」

「Either way, I hereby declare your request from the government complete. Good job.」

「Nn.」

「Now you’re free to do whatever you please. If you want to stay in the capital, I have plenty of work that needs doing. If you’re headed north, I can write a letter of introduction to the lord of Alessa. Well, not that you really need one.」