Chapter 323: Success

The bas.e.m.e.nt of the Nameless Kingdom. The first floor of the bas.e.m.e.nt, which is continuously being expanded like a labyrinth, has infrastructures such as water and sewage systems and the third floor is a residential area for the deprived people. But even deeper――at a depth of more than three hundred meters, there is a huge research facility that only a few people know about.

"We"ve been expecting you."

Yuu came down from the elevator and was greeted by a person wearing a plague mask, a mask that looked like a bird"s beak. The mask was black and she wore a black robe, gloves and shoes――black from top to bottom. If this person is not a child, then she is probably a woman of the deprived people or the fallen demons.

"Are you alone?"

"Yes. That"s the rule here"

There was no sign of Namari or Momo, let alone the boar man in charge of Yuu"s escort. Even the heads of various tribes were prohibited from entering here without permission.

"By the way, I hope that Cousin Vanamo is not causing you any trouble"

"She"s too serious. I wish she could relax a little more"

"Because she serves the king on behalf of the clan, I think it will be powerful"

"I don"t get it"

"Don"t say that, just look at me. I don"t know if I can say this, but there is no one in my family who is as good as she is. Besides, she has a pretty face, too"

"What about you?"

"What about me?"

"You"re young and I made you the director of the inst.i.tute, ignoring the recommendations of the chiefs. Don"t you have any objections from the adults?"

"No way. There are no fools in the inst.i.tute who would defy the king"s appointment"

Yuu and the girl chatted as they unlocked the magically locked door. This was the fifth door since they got off the direct elevator. There was a black skeleton knight on each side of the door and unlocking it required a key, a magic chant and someone appointed by Yuu. You can see how tightly controlled this place is. The cobblestone pa.s.sageway was wide and the ceiling was surprisingly high. The trees along the walls and the plants that illuminate the pa.s.sageway are the handiwork of Hisui. The natural light and the clean air, as if you were in a forest, made you forget that you were deep underground.

"We"re here"

As he stepped through the last door, he could see several stone research buildings lined up in an incredibly vast s.p.a.ce.

"Not even the land of the dwarves, who love the earth and its mines, would have such an underground research facility"

"I don"t know. Every country has its own secret research facilities, apart from the official ones"

"Even so, I don"t think it"s on this scale"

The two of them walked straight into the largest research building. The inside of the research building was divided into several blocks and you could see the staff in white coats working through the gla.s.s. The reason why they didn"t stop working when Yuu showed up was probably because Yuu had warned them about this many times before.

"So let"s get started――"

"Wait. I have something to give you first"

Yuu took out his usual basket from his item pouch and placed it on the table.

"What"s this?"

"Donuts. Eat it later"

The warden said, 「Donuts? I love it」 and opened the lid of the basket and quickly placed some of the colorful donuts, coated with chocolate and filled with cream between the slices, on a handkerchief, carefully wrapped them and put them in her pocket.

"Hey. Eat them together"

"I understand, but I"m going to show the king around now, so if I don"t save some for myself like this, the greedy staff will eat them all up"

She made a deliberate imitation of crying, but she didn"t look the least bit pitiful because of her appearance.

"I"ve been wanting to ask you, does that outfit mean anything to you?"

Yuu has always been curious about plague masks because they don"t have any skills attached to them, even when Yuu looks at them with his 『Magic Eye of the Spirit World』.

"I have herbs stuffed into the end of this beak"

"And?"

"It smells good"

The warden paused, as if to say, 「How is it!」.

"Show me around"

When Yuu showed no interest in the pest masks, the warden began to show him around, her shoulders slumping. In the first room, they peered through the gla.s.s and saw that the white-coated employees were disa.s.sembling the photomask. They were disa.s.sembling not one, but several of these precious instruments, judging from the number of parts on the table.

"There is no prospect of ma.s.s production or even commercialization of the copy eye tool"

"If it were that easy to put to practical use, other countries would have ma.s.s-produced them long ago"

"But we"ve already wasted ten of our expensive copy eye tools"

The number of magic eye tools that Yuu has collected from the Treasure Vault of Balue Voli Nox is seventeen. Ten of them are being disa.s.sembled for research purposes. If anyone who knows the amount of money and the military value of these tools were to see this scene, their face would have paled.

"It"s not a waste. As far as I can tell from the report, we"ve been able to figure out some of the technology. First of all, let"s try to put the black and white copy eye tool to practical use. After that, we"ll go for color"

"I"m sure your words will be a great relief to the staff in charge of the copy eye tools"

In the next room, there were a number of transparent cases on the table, each containing a different sized stone. You could say there was nothing strange about it――unless the stone was floating. The stones were stuck on top of the case as if to lift it up. The stone must have had enough strength to lift the entire case. There was a weight on the case to match the size of the stone.

"Did you find out anything about the floating stone?"

"The floating stone that the king took from the floating island was found to be converting magic elements in the air into floating power"

Just the other day, Yuu told the merchants, 「It might be faster to find a floating island with n.o.body and remodel it」, but it was a complete lie. In fact, they had already collected floating stones from the floating island.

"The alt.i.tude of the floating island will continue to rise"

"Yes. So I came up with a hypothesis. The concentration of magic elements. As the King probably knows, the deeper you go into a labyrinth, the more concentrated the magic element becomes. Then, isn"t the opposite true in the sky where there are floating islands?"

"Are you saying that the higher the alt.i.tude, the thinner the magic element might be?"

"Yes. Then it will maintain its alt.i.tude when the force of the floating stone is balanced by the weight of the floating island"

"Can it be applied to airships?"

"If we can figure out the power of the floating stones, we can surely apply it to airships, because the fuel that makes airships float will be the magic elements floating inexhaustibly in the air. As for the propulsion, we can use the engine of the magic ship to make it work. When the airship becomes a reality, we will be able to build an airlift system that is far superior to the large, high-cost avian beasts and wyverns that many countries are operating. Those of us in the military would have something to say about air control"

Flying monsters such as wyverns require constant care from the time they hatch from eggs. And if you want to ride them, you need to have a manipulator who can control the ferocious monsters with strict training. Since there were very few people who could take on these jobs, such as dragon and air knights and bird and beast knights and since it was difficult to train them, countries could not easily increase the number of knights and soldiers in their air forces.

"It"s a dream come true, but it"s predicated on whether or not we can create the same thing as the floating stone"

"As you say. If we could obtain floating stones in large quant.i.ties, it would be less of a ha.s.sle, but that would be difficult, wouldn"t it?"

"There are people who live there, you know. We don"t want to take away their habitat when we"re not even hostile to them"

"Its a pity"

The next room the warden led us to was very different from the labs they had seen so far. There was a huge bathtub in the center of the room with steam rising from it. Sweaty staff members were trying their best to stir the water with a hot water stirrer. The water was divided into two colors. The water was transparent and translucent――more like a jelly-like substance. The staff collected the cloudy jelly that overflowed from the bathtub into a tub, making sure not to leave any behind.

"I was wondering if it would be possible to increase the number of Cure Slimes for the ma.s.s production of gel potions? I"ve received reports that the current number of Cure Slime is insufficient, making it difficult to ma.s.s produce any more. On the other hand, the number of dirt slimes used in the water and sewage systems is too large"

The gel-like potion that Yuu was selling to the merchants was manufactured by mixing the body fluid secreted by the Cure Slime and regular potion in a certain ratio, followed by a number of processes.

""That"s difficult. Cure slime is a mild-mannered monster if you let it soak in hot water, but it"s still a rank 5 monster and a nasty one at that. They"re usually hidden deep in the crevices of rocks and even the Cure Slime here took a lot of effort to catch. They need to breed the Cure Slimes they have. Also, there"s no need to thin out the dirt slimes. The number of inhabitants will keep growing anyway. We"ll need them soon"

"Very well, sir. I will instruct them to do so"

After the Cure Slime bathtub room, the next room Yuu visited was the dismantling area. Piled up like a mountain were the corpses of bugs and other monsters. The staff was dismantling and sorting them while 『Appraisal』 them. There are mithril alloy skeleton knights standing by, just in case something goes wrong.

"How are Nina and the others doing?

"Nina and Lena are sulking in bed"

"Why is that again?

"They couldn"t capture the 『Insect Kingdom』by hitting a big mouth. They couldn"t beat the monsters they met on the 86th floor, so they ran back"

"I"m pretty sure that......Nina and the others took on the A-rank labyrinth with only four people, right?"

"You"re missing Momo, Koro and Ran"

"Isn"t that still a big deal? The pile of monsters there are the ones that Nina´s group defeated"

"Well. I"ve heard that other clans take on dozens to hundreds of people to conquer an A-rank labyrinth"

"It"s not a big deal after all. Speaking of which, have you heard from Nina, King......?"

"What?

"Marifa told me that they were talking to an old man in the labyrinth"

"I don"t know"

"It"s an A-rank labyrinth and the place they were talking about is the 83rd floor. I also heard that the old man was, unbelievably, alone. I don"t know what happened, but I heard that Marifa was acting alone in the labyrinth and Nina and the others don"t even know what Marifa was talking about with the old man"

"The 83rd floor of 『Insect Kingdom』alone? ......There was a ridiculous old man"

"Isn"t that suspicious, Marifa?"

"It"s not like she"s a little kid. There"s no need to pry"

"That"s very kind of you"

After that, Yuu proceeded to the back of the research building while discussing the status of the transfer stone and other research. As they proceeded through the more heavily guarded corridors, they arrived at the most important room in the research building.

"May I open the door?"

As she asks, the warden grasps the beak of the plague mask tightly. Letting the scent of the herbs reach her nose. When Yuu gives his permission, she unlocks the door. As the thick door slowly opens, a strong odor that makes you want to hold your nose tangles around your body.

"Could you please tell Torcher-san? She knows we"re short on experimental subjects, but she won"t give them up"

The warden angrily walked into the room. The vast room was lined with countless beds, each one separated from the others by a transparent sheet. On each bed was a corpse――no, an undead body, fastened with restraints. They weren"t just any undead. They were undead for human experimentation, equipped with five senses, including the sense of pain, thanks to Yuu"s undead magic. These people exist only to examine the effects of new drugs and magic and the course of treatment for their symptoms.

"I"ll let Torcher know you"re coming"

The undead had their mouths sewn shut with thick thread to prevent them from speaking. They were the privileged and the powerful in life. Even though they had killed innocent people and other races for their own pleasure, it was still too cruel a punishment. A normal person would not be able to maintain a proper state of mind at the slightest cry of anguish or plea for forgiveness coming out of the mouths of the undead. However, the staff here continued their experiments with an unconcerned expression on their faces.

"How is the progress of the research I asked you to do?"

"It"s not going well, sir. I"m sorry that we haven"t been able to produce satisfactory results after spending an enormous amount of money, 200 billion madoka so far"

"Continue research when 200 billion becomes a trillion. I will prepare the money and the necessary materials"

"I understand. But is it really possible to create a body......without a soul?"

"I told you that there was a country on this island called the Zantharin Magic Kingdom, right?"

The warden nods silently.

"It"s a country where the remnants of the Kanmurida Kingdom got into the center and were created"

"Many of the research materials I gave you were leaked from the Zantharin Magic Kingdom. They were scary people because they were repeating horrific human experimentation so that this scene could be seen as a playhouse"

"Did they have an end goal in mind?"

"They were trying to create something that existed"

"............Are you kidding me?"

"No joke. The Kanmurida Kingdom, they were serious about their research. It"s not that I don"t like it. These aren"t the useless undead you see here, you know. It"s disgusting to imagine how many lives have been lost"

"The same species will reject you just by connecting your hands and feet"

Having conducted many human experiments, the warden knew how reckless it was to connect the bodies of different species.

"But they didn"t stop experimenting. After a lot of experimentation, they even created new kinds of monsters, like artificial vampires and werewolves"

"Were there any success stories?"

"The base was a cheap and strong beastman. The cells of high ranking monsters, ancient giants and dragons were incorporated into it――"

Yuu paused there.

"There are success stories"

"So you"ve succeeded in creating something that exists?"

"No, they succeeded, but they created a monster that doesn"t even resemble anything that exists. Isn"t that right? No matter how strong the monster is, it"s still a beast. Anyway, there have been successful experiments with chimeras that fuse multiple such creatures. It would not be surprising if we could create a soulless homunculus――a fresh golem, right?"

"How does the King intend to use the Fresh Golem?"

This was something that the people working in this laboratory had been wondering about for a long time. Creating fresh golems is fine, no one is against it. After all, they had all the money they could spend on precious materials. The experimental subjects to be used were the hated human race, all of whom were no better than animals. Why should they be concerned? However, they have not been told how to use the Fresh Golem once it is completed.

"Mountain castle――do you know what"s on the top of the mountain?"

"It is, of course, the World Tree"

"And who"s beside the World Tree?"

"Namari say it"s a meat ghost"

"Meat ghost......is a terrible name for it. That"s okay. I"m going to use it for him and one other person"

"Another one......?

"He"s not gonna like it. But that"s enough"

The warden finishes her report on the research without knowing who the other person is referring to.

-------------------------------------------------

"What did the king say?"

After Yuu left, the staff called out to the warden who was resting in the first room.

"He told us to proceed with the research without haste, as he would prepare everything we needed"

"I see"

A sigh of relief escaped from the others.

"So how long will the king be here?"

"He will return to Comer tomorrow"

"What? I"ve got a lot to tell him"

"I wanted to tell him about my anti-appraisal techniques"

"It"s funny that he"s coming back. This is where the king returns"

"If you"re dissatisfied, produce results"

No one could argue with the warden"s words.

"I have more research to do――"

The warden stood up and was about to leave when someone put his hand on her shoulder.

"What"s with the hand?"

"Take out your donuts"

"These are my donuts"

"I thought the king said they were for everyone"

"Yes, Yes! I heard him say that!"

"Did you take many of them by yourself?"

"............I"m the warden, remember?"

"I don"t give a s.h.i.t!"

"No, No, No! You need sugar to keep your brain working!"

"Ah! The warden"s getting away!

"Don"t let her go!"

The staff members chased after the warden who was quickly running away.