Now, the way I sensed madness was a bit weird, especially when it came to madness in objects or words.
I said it the previous time around, but being mad doesn't mean you're a bad person. Sometimes, it was necessary to be mad to have great ideas.
The thing is, even when the invention was made by a mad person, I don't feel any madness from such inventions.
It was clear why; while the inventor who thought of the idea might've been mad, the person who made the exact copy wasn't mad, and also the intentions behind the invention weren't mad.
In other words, since it wasn't made directly by mad hands and since the intention was good, I didn't feel any madness.
But I could feel madness from this drug I was holding.
This meant either one of two things: it was made directly by a mad person... or the intention behind the invention was mad.
I was going with option two. It was for the simple reason that the chance of a mad person making this exact vial was way too small to take seriously.
Now, let me repeat myself here.
This was a safe drug with no side effects, that had mad intentions behind it.
In other words, it was a drug that was very good at pretending to be safe, while working for a very mad goal.
'Since Jagon gave me this, I could guess he also thought that such a drug with no side effects was a bit too good to be true.'
I had to investigate this drug. Nobody knows where, how or what it's made of, since it's a trade secret, but I will have to find out.
'There's a non-zero chance that the mad organization and this mad drug are connected.'
Or I was hoping they would be connected, at least. Otherwise, my leads on the mad organization are zilch and nada.
'Maybe I could also track down Bennie and follow her every move, but that'd be a lot of work.'
That mad merchant used normal words to convey different ones. I wasn't good enough at staying hidden to listen in on every single one of her words.
I tilted my head.
"First things first, I have to find out where this thing is sold."
Doing that myself... was quite dumb.
I had almost zero doubt that there was some kind of legal or illegal way to gain that information.
All I had to give in return was money.
"Knowing just where it is sold shouldn't be too costly."
***
'No store. Instead, they tell people to meet up in special locations, and then make the deal there. They seem to only target wealthy people who can afford it. There have been attempts to capture or track them, but all have ended in failure. They continue business even with people who tried to capture them previously.'
That was the gist of the information I now knew.
'So they only care about money, it seems...'
They did not care what the person did to them in the past, they would gladly sell if given the money.
Or maybe, it's not money that they wanted, but those wealthy people using that drug was what they were after...
I digested the information and put it into the important corner of my memories.
Despite me deciding to start the investigation, I could only get surface level knowledge like that.
That was because I still lacked money.
With me unable to complete missions, the money flow has become slower, so my investigation has become slower too.
To make up for that, I once again entered the library after paying a small fee.
I decided to understand this world even more. It felt like not a waste of my time.
"Let's learn about this country, shall we?"
'Everything about Kemaito' was yet another thin book that I hoped would be just an introduction and nothing more.
――――――
Ever since the last battle against the Demons one hundred years ago, Kemaito was the nation who flourished the most out of all of them.
Most of that success can be contributed to the new rulers of the country: the White Wolfkins.
Among all Humans, the White Wolfkins are the strongest, smartest and the ones with the highest magical potential.
But despite that, they have only been placed on the throne after the last Demon battle. It was because of the customs that this country had, which only allowed the Royal Bloodline to inherit the throne.
After Kemaito's catastrophical loss against the Demons in one of the battles, the capabilities of the Royal Bloodline were put to question.
There were protests, but the matter was settled peacefully, with a competition of wit and popularity.
That is how Weisiera, titled the 'Queen of Rebirth', had come onto the throne.
With her personally leading the army, the Demons had been thouroughly pushed back, and Kemaito regained its former pride.
She was one of the few who managed to survive the last Demon battle, and she continued expanding and strengthening the country in leaps and bounds.
Her decendants have not disappointed the public either. Their rule has stabilized the now powerful and expansive country.
――――――
"Wow, the previous rulers actually willingly gave up their throne?"
That was the thing that surprised me the most. Sure, the tale of an extremely successful leader was impressive, but not rare. It was very rare for a king or queen to just give up their throne like that though.
I continued reading through the book, but there was nothing as impactful as that page.
I closed the book while still processing its information.
'Hmm... White Wolfkins are the strongest, huh?'
That felt unfair, but then again, what was? So it wasn't really that shocking.
Instead, it was more surprising that other races existed in the first place.
After all, survival of the fittest is a real thing. If there was a race that was the best at everything, why did other races not die out?
'There's the number advantage to think about, but it must also be the peace.'
Humans don't really fight amongst each other, since they have to worry about Demons at the current moment.
That makes it so that Humans don't really think of betrayal and such things, since they have a greater threat to fight against.
'...Or that's how it was.'
With a hundred years of peace, I wouldn't be surprised if the bad sides of humanity started appearing.
People who only know peace don't realize the danger and start doing dumb stuff like betrayal ― something along those lines.
Perhaps that is even the plan of the Demons. To wait until the Humans destroyed each other.
'Or that's the plan I would come up with if I was in their situation, at least.'
Anyways, all of this didn't matter to me, I was just thinking about nothing.
I was fully prepared to deal with insufferable people at all times, so knowing whether they exist or not doesn't matter to me.
I always judge with my own eyes after all.
***
"Please give me your card."
I raised my eyebrows.
I have now recovered, and was just about to take a mission, but as soon as I reached the receptionist lady, I was requested that.
"Sure."
Giving away my card, I didn't expect much.
But when I was given it back, my eyes widened.
"Excuse me, but... why was I given Trust?"
I also had my Level increased to 6, but that was nothing nearly as surprising as my Trust rising.
But despite me asking, the receptionist lady just smiled at me without answering.
The gears in my brain started turning and my jaw dropped.
'Don't tell me...'
This was because I saved that stupid kid?
"Your mission has been accepted. If you don't have any questions, please don't hold up the line."
I walked away while marvelling at the card in hand.
I gained my first Trust!
...But then again, the benifits of Trust were little, and the damage I recieved for saving that kid was huge.
It did make me feel better about taking that decision, it truly did.
But not by much.
I still wasted a lot.
With a still heavy but nonetheless lighter heart, I went on to kill some more monsters.
***
"Sorry, but no."
I nodded and didn't take it personally.
In the first place, it wasn't the first time I was rejected from joining a party, so there was no reason to be sad or angry.
'Not like I have the time to either...'
"So, Faun, I hear you're trying to join a party?"
I hear the voice of the tightrope walker.
"Yep. Not having much success though. I'm not sure what exactly is turning them off, but that's fine. I just have to keep trying. Eventually, I will succeed."
Next, I heard the voice of the desperate witch.
"I'm surprised you're not bummed out about this. I don't think I could handle being rejected so many times in quick succession."
She made a funny face.
And last, I heard the voice of the chivalrous pessimist.
"I'm not trying to lower your morale here, but shouldn't you focus on being a merchant? I feel you have way more success in that area."
Mitsuki was right, I had way more potential as a merchant than a fighter, even with the second best muscles in this world.
But I had to get into Mahogrand. And that was something you couldn't do with just money.
'Yes, money can definitely make the procedure smoother, but it cannot replace the procedure.'
After all, the prestige of an academy is also important. If they accept a person who barely knows magic just because of money, their status will drop drastically. They cannot afford that.
As such, I had to become stronger too.
And as much as I hated it, being in dangerous situations made you improve faster.
I wasn't sure how it worked, but I wasn't going to question it. Not with everything else I had to worry about.
"Say... how about you join ours?"
I looked at Souma in confusion.
"Me? Joining yours? I think you should be looking for a healer more than anything though? You've got every position covered except for that."
He nodded.
"Indeed, that is true, but finding a healer is... difficult, to say the least. A low Level party like ours could never hope for something like that."
That's true. Since a healer was a religious follower before anything else, it was hard to find one that would actually go out and fight. Especially one that was good.
Demand was high and supply was small.
"I still don't get why you would want me in your party though. You work together almost perfectly."
That was the truth. In fact, I would most likely hold them back more than anything.
"That is also the truth, but you see, we have realized something."
He stopped, waiting for me to ask the obvious question.
"What have you realized?"
"We are barely getting stronger. It is only when taking on challenges, like the last two times we worked together, that we actually saw a significant increase in our power. There was also the case where Mitsuki became stronger due to Spear Valkyrie's teachings, but that's an exception."
"So you want to take on more difficult missions? And what role do I play there?"
All of them looked at each other.
"""You are the perfect safety net."""
...
'...'
"..."
I closed my eyes in Thought.
'―――'
"Alright, please explain it to me."
I had a conjecture, but hearing it from them would be more definitive.
Mitsuki spoke up.
"I was the one who personally brought up taking you into our party, and I will say the reasons right now. As previously said, we need to take on difficult missions. But there's a problem; it's really hard to differentiate between difficult and impossible. I think you are the best at judging whether something is impossible or not."
Leila nodded.
"Right. If I'm gonna be honest, after Souma finished scouting for that 9 Level rescue mission, I thought it was impossible. And yet, you somehow managed to come up with a plan that not only was effective, but that was also very easily abortable in case something went wrong. That 'impossible' was turned into 'difficult but safe', all because of you."
Souma smiled wryly.
"To add to that, I feel like the ceiling for the 'impossible' becomes higher with you around. Not only that, the backups that you can fall on in case everything fails also increase."
I listened to them intently.
I rubbed my chin.
"In other words, what you're saying is... no need to heal as long as you don't get hurt?"
All of them nodded.
I looked at the ceiling in thought.
Basically, they were only adding me to their team for my strategies and not much more.
'Hmm... Yeah, I'm fine with that.'
They weren't trying to be subtle with what they wanted, and that was actually good for me. I liked honest people more.
And I doubt I could actually get into another party as strong as them.
'Two Level 7s and one Level 8. Yeah, I definitely won't ever get a deal as good as this one.'
"Sure, I'll join your party."
Just like that, the next chapter of my life started.
The most important one.