839: The Illegal City and the Sanatorium

「I could hardly believe it when I sensed your presence, but it really is you. You look like you’re doing well too, Master――Not that I can really tell. Anyways, nice to see you guys again.」

『Yeah, nice see you’re doing fine too. I can’t really imagine a guy like you getting injured though.』

「True. I am disgustingly tough.」

Ashwrath laughed in a self-deprecating manner and shrugged.

This man was so tough that he can’t even kill himself. To be more precise, he always goes berserk when he takes a certain amount of damage, with his super regenerative powers healing all his wounds.

He probably had some bad experiences in the past, so this was a very delicate subject. He had a bit of a sensitive side to him, despite his boldness.

『Oh, so how long have you been here?』

「I crossed over to Gordicia right after we parted ways at the capital of Kranzel.」

「And Velmeria?」

「She’s here in town. Frederick’s here too.」

『So Frederick’s on this continent after all.』

Velmeria was the half-dragonkin who had been manipulated by Fanatics into a fierce battle with Ashwrath at the capital. She most likely would’ve been punished if she stayed in Kranzel, so Ashwrath took her in.

Her follower and guardian, the half-dragonkin Frederick, disappeared shortly after that incident.

I had assumed he went after Velmeria, and it turned out I was right.

「They’re both doing fine. Well, something came up, so they’re currently in hiding.」

「Hiding? Why?」

「You ever heard of the Dragon King Syndicate?」

「I have.」

「That makes things faster.」

Apparently, Velmeria and Frederick have infiltrated the Dragon King Syndicate. They noticed some dragonkin acting suspiciously and were trying to dig into the reasons why.

Ashwrath was sort of cooperating with them, but they generally worked separately. He took care of them to some extent since he was responsible for bringing them here, but he never acted like their boss or anything.

「So what brought you guys to this city?」

「I’m here to destroy the black market slavers.」

「Those guys, huh?」

After Ashwrath’s mutter, Fran’s eyes lit up.

「You know them? Where are they?」

「I can’t say I know where they’re hiding since I’ve only bumped into them once.」

He explained how he had witnessed a kidnapping that took place in another city. However, he had no idea who was behind it all, since he just handed over the culprit to the security there.

「I’ve heard the rumors about them being in this city, but I don’t have any info on them.」

「I see…」

「I’ll let you know if I find anything though.」

「Please do.」

Ashwrath must have understood Fran’s disappointment, so he made a serious promise.

「In return, let me know if you get any good info too.」

「What kind of info? About the Dragon King Syndicate?」

「That’s fine too, but what we really want is info on the Dragon King. We, or rather Lady Velmeria and Frederick, are very interested in him.」

「The Dragon King? Not Trismegistus?」

「Yeah. The man who calls himself the Dragon King recently appeared and is apparently trying to incite the dragonkin into doing something.」

We’ve heard a little bit about the Dragon King. The dragonkin thugs who picked a fight with Fran in Nocta mentioned him.

But we’ve only heard of his existence, not anything about his location.

『Why are Velmeria and Frederick searching for the Dragon King in the first place?』

I’ve heard they’re originally from this continent, but I wonder if that has anything to do with it.

「Did you know anything about Velmeria’s mother?」

「I heard she was an important person on this continent.」

「I guess you could call her important, but she had some sort of special role. The rumors say the Dragon King is after her because of that.」

Not only was she involved, but her mother was right in the middle of it!

「Velmeria’s mother――Tilanaria, I think? Anyways, they wanted to protect her, so that’s why they’re looking into the Dragon King and his men.」

「I see.」

「How about we share any good info we find with each other?」

「Nn. Sounds good.」

『I’d have suggested the same thing if you didn’t.』

「I’ll give you one piece of info right away. Well, more like advice. Avoid going against the Sanatorium as much as possible.」

『That thug from earlier said something about the Sanatorium too. Was it some kind of union of healing magicians or something?』

「It used to be.」

Back when the city was founded, the Sanatorium started as a group of professional healers. Potions were not readily available on this continent, so healers became widely valued.

They protected themselves by forming a clique, and treated everyone equally and ethically for fair prices. That was how the organization started.

At the same time, they used their influence to mediate the bloodthirsty outlaws, maintaining the peace within the illegal city.

But at some point down the line, they started doing more than just that.

Not only did they mediate between the criminal organizations, but they too became more connected to the underworld, and even developed their own fighting force.

Over a long period of time, they had slowly transformed from just being a bunch of healers. They were now the most influential organization in the city, both publicly and behind the scenes.

Despite the rise of the Dragon King Syndicate and the Beastmen Union, the Sanatorium remained the largest in the city.

As Ashwrath said, there was no merit in opposing them.

「You have to be especially careful with the one they call the saintess. The Sanatorium made her their figurehead a few years ago, but she’s the most dangerous of the bunch.」

「…What’s she like?」

「I’ve never met her personally, but I hear she’s a young woman. The saintess herself isn’t that bad, just her security force is incredibly radical. They treat her as if she’s the most important person in the world, and I heard that some guys got chopped to pieces for getting too close to her.」

『Sounds pretty bad.』

「Yeah. If anyone so much as lays a finger on her, they’d probably incite the entire city into a lynching. I haven’t been hearing about her lately, so I don’t know if she’s still in town though.」

『We’ll be careful, and stay away from the saintess.』

「Nn. If she’s not my enemy, I won’t attack her.」

「Never say never, huh? That’s Fran for ya…」

Ashwrath chuckled, but this was no laughing matter. Fran would never forgive anyone if they cooperated with slavers.

I can only pray this saintess chick lives up to her name!

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