Yggdrasil Mother | Overlord

VIII

* <  Third person's pov  > * 

"Welcome back, Seba- Sebas-sama what is that ?" 

"I found her." replied Sebas as Solution looked coldly at the beaten up girl in his arms, "I see. I doubt that you meant it as a gift for me. What are you going to do with it ?" she questioned, "What indeed ? Will you begin by healing her wounds for me ?" 

"Wounds... you say ? Could you have not left that at the temple, then ?"

"I could have. Imagine, me, of all people, not realizing such a thing." he said looking down at the girl then back up at Solution, "Shall I go dispose of it now ?" asked Solution looking away, "No. I have already brought her this far. We should think of some effective use for her." 

Solution looked up at Sebas stupefied. 

"Can I ask you to start by assessing her physical condition ?" 

"Very well. Right away." 

......

* * *  ˢᵃʳᵃˢʰⁱⁿᵃ'ˢ ᵖᵒᵛ  * * * 

"Pardon me." 

Renner turned to the door and smiled, "Morning, Climb." she greeted the boy, "Good morning Renner-sama, Aindra-sama, Fuyu-sama...  Etto.." 

"Oh, she's one of my team members." began Aindra, "This is Tina." finished Renner, "I beg your pardon. It is a pleasure to meet you. My name is Climb. I am extremely pleased to meet the renowned Tina-sama, of the adventurers group Blue Rose." 

"The pleasure's mine. Thanks for looking out for our fiendish boss." 

"Climb, why don't you have a seat before we start talking ?" asked him Renner, "But I am your bodyguard, so..." he hesitated, "It makes no difference to me." said Aindra and I nodded, "To me too." 

"Yes,  but... Aindra-sama, Fuyu-sama..." 

"I told you before, call me Lakyus. Because you're so special, Climb" flirted jokingly Aindra making Renner huff and me chuckle, "Please don't joke like that." retorted Climb, "Huh ? Joke ?" asked Renner confused as she stopped pouring tea in a tea cup for Climb. 

"Of course it was. Now, Climb is special, to be sure, but he's special because he's yours." said Aindra teasingly, "Jeez..." huffed Renner finishing pouring tea, "Go on, feel free to sit down, Climb. That nice tea will get cold." I said and he smiled slightly before sitting down. 

"Let's go back to what we were talking about before." 

"About Eight Fingers, right ?" I asked before Aindra continued, "You're with me up to the part where we burned the fields that we're growing the raw materials for Black Dust, right ?" 

"Yes. Lakyus, I really am grateful to you and your team. My brother and the nobles do nothing but quarrel among their factions, and if they keep allowing Eight Fingers to secretly do business behind the scenes of the kingdom, it will soon fall into ruin, and the kingdom will collapse from the inside. However, I do not have any influential backing, nor a military force at my discretion." 

"Eight Fingers has ties to the noble- no, to the royals as well, and if I'm to fight them, I have no choice but to turn to adventurers, such as yourselves." finished Renner and Aindra smiled at her, "Enough of that, now. We're friends, right ?" she said making Renner smile a bit before she turned to Tina. 

"Tina, let's have it." Tina pulled out a paper from her scarf and presented it to us. 

"We discovered this at the village where they were producing Black Dust. Can you tell what it is ?" asked Aindra and Renner took it, "This is a substitution cipher. Makes sense. The reason this was left behind...  .....was as a trap ? Or for some other reason ? If that were the case, they wouldn't use something so hard. Mm-hmm." 

"If that's it, I have a hunch that cracking this cold will be pretty easy." said Renner standing up and then going to another room, "Unbelievable." muttered Tina, "She says that she is powerless to help, but I don't know anyone else for whom the word 'genius'is a better fit." praised Aindra and I pouted. 

"Then what about me ?" I asked with a pout and she chuckled, "Sorry. You too could fit that word, though I think that 'prodigy' would suit you more." she said patting my head and I gave her a fake close eyed smile. 

'Don't touch me, you good for nothing of a human.' 

"Fuyu-sama, may I ask you a question ?" suddenly spoke up Climb and I turned to him, "You're already asking one, but go on." I said and he blushed before continuing, "Hum, I wanted to ask on why you're here today ?" 

"You don't like when I'm here ?" I questioned with a sad voice but a fake grin, "No, no, no ! It's just that I was curious as you usually come for some type of business. I'm sorry if I shouldn't have asked about it." he answered quickly and I laughed, "No, it's okay. Well, you're right that I was here for business but then Renner invited me to tea." I finally replied and then Renner came back. 

"I cracked it. It isn't a written order, but each one of these appear to be the name of a village or building. Seven of which are within the capital." 

"I wonder if these are Black Dust stockpiles, or other critical sites." said Aindra, "I doubt they would have anything that important written in code and left in an ordinary production site. It's probably bait." I spoke up. 

"Bait ?" 

"Bait ?" 

"Well, um, Eight Fingers is divided up into eight different organizations, right ?" asked Renner, "Such as drugs, slave trafficking, smuggling, and gambling. Rumor has it that each section has its own chief." confirmed Aindra, "Then I believe these are the bases for those other organizations. Their goal is to temporarily draw interest away from themselves." 

'I should go.' I thought as I look at the clock in the room, 'I have to go and visit Sebas and Solution before going back to my floor to end the reparations.' I suddenly stood up making the others stop talking. 

"I'm sorry Renner-sama, but I have to go or I'll be late to a meeting with my subordinates." I apologised and she smiled, "It's okay, I'm the one who is sorry to have asked you to stay when you're very busy. Take good care of your well being. I hope we meet again soon." she said and I smiled back, "Me too, Renner-sama." 

"Well then, good day to you all." 

After leaving the castle and entering an alleyway I quickly thrown up. 

"Ugh, disgusting. How could they call this tea ?"