Paradigm Parasite

Chapter 181: "Audience"

"Um... are you the aspizal who gave me the letter?"

A beastman in almost human form, except for his ears, spoke to me. It looks like a fox or something.

They don't understand the language, so I handle it.

"That's the kid over there. I'm sorry, but my two companions are from somewhere else and don't understand the language. I'll ask them instead. Is the requirement a reply to the letter?"

"Yes, I understand. Um...?"

"My name is Roe."

"I'm sorry, I'm late. My name is Hasa and I am a civil servant here in Torkuluarb. I'm here to give you a reply to your letter. The king is going to meet you all."

I nod towards them.

They nodded back at me, as if they had just guessed it.

"When can we meet?"

"He says he will have time later this evening, so if you tell the gatekeeper about the situation around that time, he will let you in."

"Okay. I'll come and see you afterwards."

"No, I'll leave you to it."

After saying this, Hartha left the scene.

"He's going to meet you. He wants you to come later in the evening."

Aspizal explained to Yonomori, who seemed to understand somehow but was tilting her head.

"He didn't make us wait as long as we thought he would. I thought it would be a few days since he's such a important man."

I agree.

Such speed could be taken as waiting rather than light footwork.

It seems that what I said earlier was right on the money.

"It's just past noon now, so it's going to be another four or five hours or so. It's a good opportunity, let's go to the casino and kill some time."

I asked Yonomori what she was going to do. She nodded with a small exhale.

"Okay. You wouldn't listen to me if I told you, so let's go."

If Yonomori says she doesn't mind, then it doesn't matter either way, as far as I'm concerned.

"Then I'll just kill some time and go and see the king or whatever he is."

"You, what's going on?"

"What? What's..."

"No... no."

We left the casino and were on our way on foot to the special zone, where Aspizal was very successful.

He was undefeated in card games, so much so that the dealer fainted with a white eye.

He did this at several tables, and finally the manager of the casino asked him to leave, crying.

In the end, we were kicked out, but we were able to kill some time and warmed the pockets of Aspizal, so for me it was a subtle but worthwhile way to kill time.

But what's with that competitive streak?

It was so strong that I thought he was reading his opponent's mind.

I was watching from behind and it didn't look like he was cheating, so what did he do?

The questions are endless, but we're about to reach our destination.

Let's switch.

After telling the guard about the situation and being let through, the guide who was waiting for us takes us through the special zone.

The town is supposed to be the same, just separated by a wall, but the atmosphere inside and outside is very different.

First of all, the roads.

They are completely paved and not so different from Japanese roads.

The buildings are not made of stone... are they concrete?

"Are they reinforced? It's amazing that they've managed to recreate so much in such a short space of time."

"Yes, it is."

Aspizal is giving his impressions of the building, and I am agreeing with him.

I know what rebar is called, but is it something you can recognise from the outside?

I stare at the buildings around me, but I can't tell the difference at the moment.

What else is unknown, but there is a building which seems to be a factory, and the smoke is rising from the chimney in great volume.

Around the building, I could see the beastmen, who looked like workers, moving around busily.

It is hard work even though the sun is setting.

After passing through a block lined with factories, a magnificent building comes into view, unlike the surrounding buildings.

It appears to be the residence of the king.

We were taken inside, and after waiting for a few minutes, we were taken to a room that looked like a drawing room.

On the expensive-looking sofa in the room sits the beetle I saw in the arena.

"Oh, you've come. Sit down for now."

He urged them to sit on the chair.

Yonomori and the others, probably sensing this by their gestures, took turns to sit down.

The beetles open their mouths when everyone is seated.

"In the meantime, are you sure you're all Japanese?"

"Sorry, switch to Japanese. Aside from me, those two over there don't understand the language here."

When I say this in Japanese, the beetle lets out a small "Oh" and switches languages.

"Is that clear? Now, let me introduce myself again. I'm Hieda Kenzo. I'm the king here."

"My name is Azusa Yonomori. This one is Aspizal. And..."

"My name is Roe."

Beetle - Hie tilts his head.

"Aside from your sister over there, are the other two really Japanese? I'm surprised at how normal their names are and how they look..."

"That's right. But human-based people like me and Roe are pretty rare, aren't we?"

"Really? I can't play with this figure, so I honestly envy you that look. Do you still have to be eaten by humans?"

"It seems so."

"Ah. So I'm hopeless then?"

Hie scratched his cheek and sat back down on the sofa, as if he had regained his composure.

"We have a lot to talk about, fellow countrymen, but let's get down to business. I've read through the letter. Is it true that that monster is after us?"

"It's true. It's no coincidence that it appeared in that arena. Four of us reincarnated people were all over the place. It must have seemed like a good feeding ground to them. And maybe you heard their voices too."

Hieda also seemed to have an idea of what was going on and gave a small nod.

"I thought I was hearing things because people around me were saying they couldn't hear anything, but I guess you guys could hear it too. But still, no bait. That seafood's purpose is to eat us?"

"Probably. At least we can be sure that they are after us."

"What makes you so sure... that they're after us, but where did you get the idea that they're going to eat us?"

Aspizal smiles.

"That's my opinion. As for being targeted, the three of us were hanging around outside the city and they attacked us, so there's no doubt about it."

Aspizal added: 'It was a great bite.'

In fact, we only had to wait a bit before they attacked us.

"I didn't know they were doing that. Were you guys all right on your own?"

Hie says this in dismay, but Aspizal smiles in return.

"Azusa and Roe are both very strong! I had plenty of leeway."

"Yeah, I see. I've managed to kill one of them too, but there was a casualty. I've been thinking about how I can counteract that. To be honest, I was a bit weak because I didn't have enough information, so thank God for that."

"One? No other casualties?"

I couldn't help but interject.

Hieda looked at me a little surprised because I had been silent until now and suddenly opened my mouth, and then nodded small.

"Oh, when we found out that they were moving underground, we put officers at equal intervals in different parts of the city. It's noticeable because after they move, the ground sinks and small tremors occur. It's a pain because the city has hardly tampered with the ground, so there's no way to prevent it."

Hieda slammed his fist into his palm in frustration.

"If you're talking about the city, does that mean you've got countermeasures here?"

"Well, it's not so much a countermeasure. I can't go into details because it's classified, but there's an underground facility here. It's quite deep, so if they come this way, we'll know immediately. We've got security posted, so unless they come in too deep, they'll be caught by our vigilance."

"Wow. You're doing a lot of different things."

Hieda laughs at Aspizal's words, saying: 'Well.'

"At first, I was confident in my skills, so I just wanted to rise to the top, but when I took on the position of king, I found that pioneering and development projects were interesting. I found myself building factories and things like that, and the people's approval rating went up a lot. It was kind of fun."

Hie's words are filled with emotion, and at the very least you can sense that he is attached to this place.

"I'd love to go on and give a big lecture about our environmentally friendly projects, but first we have to deal with the immediate problem. Let me ask you straight to the point: how do we make them go away?"

"Well, we can't give you a definite answer, but Roe's view is that the ones that have appeared so far are messengers - in short, they're like worker ants - and there's a mastermind controlling them."

"What? Are you sure about that?"

Hieda leans in.

Hey, close close close. Keep that face away from me.

Why do they all come so close to my face?

"It's just an opinion. It's not a sure thing."

I reply, somewhat shrugging.

Well, I've extracted the memories directly, so I'm pretty sure.

"You say this, but I think I can trust you."

Can you stop raising the bar without any evidence?

"So you're saying that if we don't take out their masters, they'll come out again as many times as they want?"

"They will. There will be a limited number of them, so it's not like they're infinite..."

I shrug my shoulders and include in my statement not to take it completely on faith, but Hie nods broadly.

"No, that alone is pretty useful information. At least we have a clear idea of what we need to do. We just need to find the mastermind of it and beat him to death."

I nodded.

Seeing this, Hieda clears his throat with a small cough and corrects his residency.

"So? What are you going to do now? You're not just going to give me the information and be done with it, are you?"

"Yes, that's right. I actually came over here for something else, but that can wait until after you're done, and I can help you if you want."

"I'd be happy to help if you want. From what I've heard, if you can kill that monster on your own, you're a force to be reckoned with, aren't you?"

"Yes, but to a certain extent we'd like your permission to do what we want."

I didn't want to be integrated into the chain of command, so I interrupted there.

Hie also nodded without any particular resistance.

"I'm not going to ask you to join the chain of command. But it's okay to think that at the very least you'll align with us, right?"

"Yeah, we'll share information with each other and do whatever we want without interfering."

"Good. Good. It's easy to understand. The point is that you'll work on your own without instructions and without interfering, right? I'm glad that I don't have to do anything."

That's surprising.

I thought it would be something that would tell me to follow instructions without any hesitation, but....

Hieda exhales a small breath, perhaps sensing my doubts.

"When you're in charge, you know. Sometimes it's important to take a stand and leave it to others."

Hie then prefaces his statement with.

"I know you guys don't want to do anything to us. But that's just for now, isn't it? And this monster riot happened at the same time you came to this country. Don't you think it's harsh not to suspect anything?"

You're right.

"Can you tell me about yourselves this time?"