869: Sanatorium Underground

After we heard about Filuria, Sophie asked Fran a question.

「What is your purpose for coming to this town? Shouldn’t you be staying with that woman we rescued at Castel?」

Sophie had seen Fran nearly die trying to rescue Nadia, so she wondered why Fran left her side to come by herself to this illegal city.

「I’m looking for the black market slavers.」

Fran gave a light explanation of her situation. She also mentioned how illegal slaves were being trafficked in this city.

Sophie was surprised, but immediately nodded in agreement.

What she said afterwards made it our turn to be surprised.

「……There may be people in the Sanatorium who are connected to the slavers.」

「Do you know something?」

「I don’t have any proof. It’s just, I sometimes hear people’s voices coming from deep underground in this tower. I always thought it was my imagination……」

The voices were so faint that Sophie couldn’t be sure she actually heard anything. But if those really were human voices, that would mean the existence of an underground room she was never told about.

Now that Sophie’s level rose after the battle at Castel, further enhancing her hearing, she was able to pick up the voices more clearly than before.

Then, she said she had been hearing a male voice since the other day.

She couldn’t hear what he was saying in detail, but she was sure that she heard his occasional moans.

「At first I thought it was just a secret escape route, but I realized something when I heard your story. You mentioned earlier that the one of the dragonkin leaders disappeared, right?」

「Nn. Gazzol is missing.」

「Judging by the tone, I think the voice coming from the bas.e.m.e.nt belongs to a dragonkin man.」

「Really? So he could be trapped down there?」

「Right.」

I still can’t see a clear connection between Filuria stirring up a war and the black market slavers, but it’s obvious that she’s being incredibly suspicious.

I thought the culprit would be the blue cats working for the Beastmen Union, but the Sanatorium seems fishy to me now.

「Sophie, do you know how to get to the bas.e.m.e.nt?」

「I have looked for the entrance before, but I never found it. I think it might be in a place I’m not allowed into.」

「So where’s that?」

「Filuria’s and the other executives’ private offices.」

「I see.」

Those would definitely not be easy to check out. I guess Filuria’s room seems the most suspicious?

Bas.e.m.e.nts and underground pa.s.sages should be very difficult to build in secrecy. In that case, they were probably reusing structures that already existed.

Since Filuria’s room has been pa.s.sed down to the leader of the Sanatorium for generations, I could see it having a hidden entrance to an escape route.

Sophie’s gaze fell on Nelsh, who had remained completely silent up until now.

「Nelsh. Do you know anything about this?」

「I know nothing. I’m rather new here myself, after all.」

Nelsh shook his head. Sophie, the saintess, was directing her suspicions at Filuria, the highest authority in the tower, but he showed no signs of stopping her.

However, I could sense his concern for Sophie. He seemed to be more worried about Sophie entering a conflict with Filuria than he was about Filuria’s criminal activities.

Since she let Nelsh into the room in the first place, she probably placed a certain amount of trust in him.

「But Filuria-sama is……」

Nelsh muttered something with a difficult look on his face and seemed thoughtful. After a few seconds, Nelsh looked up and asked Sophie a question.

「Saintess-sama, what do you plan to do now?」

「I will find out what Filuria is doing and stop her, of course. I don’t know what she’s after, but we won’t make it through the antidemon season with an internal war.」

「……I am opposed.」

「You want me to ignore Filuria’s crimes?」

「Yes. If the Medical Director really has a dark side as you say, this would place you in great danger. Would it not be better to simply leave the tower without antagonizing her?」

Nelsh didn’t want Sophie to take any risks. Instead, he suggested that they should abandon the city and escape by themselves.

Sophie and Fran gave him a stern glare, but I have to say that I can sympathize with his argument.

Apparently, Sophie saved Nelsh from a near-death situation and he’s been her bodyguard ever since. Therefore, he was only loyal to Sophie, not to the Sanatorium or Filuria.

For him, Sophie’s safety comes first, just as I place the utmost importance on Fran.

But of course, Fran and Sophie wouldn’t listen.

「No way. I can’t let her get away with this.」

「Nn.」

「……Then let us at least act with caution. We do not want to take any hostile action until we are ready.」

「I know.」

Nelsh let out a light sigh and warned Sophie. He must have not expected his advice to be heeded in the first place.

「Let’s go back downstairs first. We can pretend to show Fran around as we look for the bas.e.m.e.nt. Did you have any means of exploring below ground?」

「I do.」

「Then maybe we’ll be able to find something.」

「Please refrain from doing anything too spectacular, okay?」

「I know.」

「Nn.」

Sorry Nelsh. I’ll watch over them too.

As we took the elevator back to the first floor, I noticed a strange buzz in the air.

And that was not because of the appearance of Sophie, the saintess. Everyone’s eyes were pointed elsewhere.

『There’s someone strong in there.』

（Making a lot of noise.）

There was a standoff between the security guards and another group near the entrance, and the tension was palpable throughout the floor. This group was dressed like knights, and the man at the front was quite powerful.

「The Order of Holy Knights requests an audience with the great saintess!」