Golden Experience

"─ ─ Yeah. The size of my body is a little smaller, but I don't feel that much different from a tanuki."

In a mansion completely locked by a janitor, Ferres Quattle, a beetle cat, stood up with his back leg.

The tail was twisted and dextrously balanced, and the gentle steps were danced. Even so, he meant it, but it was actually an ugly repetitive jump.

With a small body, agility has a bonus even when AGI is low. Instead, LP and STR have disadvantages.

This cat, Ferres Quattre, was of course Professor Etty of the Forest.

"Well, let's find out. The secret of Merchiole in this mansion."

The attic was where the quattle was lurking.

The attic didn't seem to be cleaned, so it was the perfect place to hide away from the cleaners.

Because of this, it could not be described as a dusty and comfortable environment, but it can't be helped.

It seems that stairs such as ladders for climbing the attic are usually used, and it cannot be lowered and used in the cat's body.

But it's easy for cats to jump off the ceiling if there's only a gap.

It may have been a little noisy, but the professor jumped from the attic room to the warehouse upstairs.

Somewhat noisy, there are no residents around this mansion.

The other cats also stopped following Merchiole and alerted the neighborhood. If someone approaches the Mansion, we'll know soon enough.

"It's not a lie to say you don't seem to have any signs of people. I'm sure there's nobody here. I looked around upstairs and if I had a study, I would look at the documents and diaries... Ah, even if I find it, I can't flip this body..."

I can't use the inventory because it's not my avatar.

It may be quick to summon yourself here in the Summon Monster, but first you can look around and see where you can go. Sometimes it is more convenient to look like a small cat.

Even though they said they had infiltrated before that, if the documents and diaries disappeared, it would not be suspicious noise. Even if we could use the inventory, we can't take them away.

Normally, if you leave it up to the contractor to clean the house, you shouldn't leave anything to be seen in a normal place. If there is a secret about Merchiore here, it would be reasonable to see that he has a hidden room or something.

Looking at the floor plan from the hallway side, you can also notice unnatural spaces compared to the interior of the room.

"All right, one room at a time.... ah"

Cats can't twist the door with their hands.

You may be able to turn it by pinching it with your front legs, but even if you stand with your back legs, it won't reach the door knob.

"... I can't help it. Do you still want to" summon "the main unit here...? No, even if you build a hidden room on a normal floor in the first place, you'll soon find it, and there are only a few spaces that you can secure. Above all, if you say that it was originally a house prepared in the country, you couldn't put on a big gimmick of hiding rooms in the afterlife.

I wonder if it's in the basement. If you are careful not to damage the foundation of the Mansion in the basement, you can expand it, and there is no limit to its size. "

The professor decided to continue exploring the basement as if it were a cat.

It is not too late to call the main unit after you have done everything you can in the form of a cat.

It's not because the feeling of openness that you haven't worn clothes for a long time is clear.

The basement of the Mansion itself was not dedicated to it.

It was an underground reservoir like a wine cellar.

That said, the Kingdom itself is built on the ground, and since it is an underground reservoir of the underground mansion, it remains doubtful whether we can dare call it an underground reservoir.

"In the first place, the name of this kingdom is the underground reservoir ─ ─. Oh, there's a gap in the door. The cat was supposed to get through as long as it had a head, but I don't know."

It was precisely between the wooden pillar and the stone wall where the door was installed, but there was a slight gap.

The reason for the gap is probably because the pillar is broken and bent. Some of the stone walls also show signs of collapse, and the first floor gives the impression of being quite tired compared to the second floor.

It's a little uncomfortable to treat a mansion like this as a guest of state even though it's an asylum seeker.

If this was not the case when the Kingdom rented the Mansion to Merchiole, it is natural to assume that this happened after Merchiole took refuge.

Such damage can only occur if it is not deteriorated over time and if there is some major force applied.

A possible disaster.

"The house is about to collapse because of a disaster, a disaster, an earthquake! All right, we're through. It's true that if you can understand, right? The hairline has been a lot disturbed... Well, that's fine. I'll apologize later."

There was dust at the end of the staircase that passed through.

There is no dust in the middle because someone uses it regularly, but it is probably left at the end because it has not been cleaned.

In other words, the destination of Merchiole's visit to this mansion is the basement, where he has not let the janitors in.

"Bingo..."

Before going through the door to the basement vault, there was a pale light in the kitchen using the sparkle of the example, so the brightness was secured, but the door was wrapped in darkness.

It will be difficult for humans to get down the stairs in this darkness, but Ferres Quattle, who has the "Night Eye" or the cat, is not blind at all.

I was right to infiltrate the cat. The inability to access the door knob is a minor problem.

Before I could go down the stairs, I arrived at a wine cellar with a low ceiling.

That's what a normal underground reservoir would look like. However, it is not unnatural that people who rule a country should have regular business in such a place.

There's definitely something here.

The professor began his search for wine cellars by relying on "Night Eyes".

It wasn't just wine that was on the shelf, it was a bottle of some sort of vegetable. I wonder if it is soaked in vinegar, but the smell like pickles is slightly leaking from the cork stopper.

The cat's instincts made me more conscious of smelling the bottle than exploring, but I managed to endure it and kept exploring.

Fortunately, we quickly found the object of interest.

It is not the result of a professor enduring temptation.

The quote that approached the shelf was because the floor collapsed and the hole was about to fall.

The hole is where it's meant to be, probably where Merchiore visits regularly.

It is a size that people can easily put in. Looks like there's a lot of space in the back of the hole.

Looking at the way the floor collapsed, I think it collapsed from an earthquake or something, just like the entrance to the vault. As a result, it led to a cavity in the basement of the Mansion.

"The broken flooring is folding up like a staircase. I don't know if this happened by chance or if Merchiole did it later. Let's get down first."

The underground of the Underground Kingdom's Mansion, and the cavities underground, were as elongated as passages, and the trampled dirt roads were easy to walk even with the cat's body.

Rather than being natural, it is a passage that feels like someone has dug it, such as a snake nest.

If that floor had collapsed in a catastrophic earthquake and connected to this passage at that time, would Merchiore have discovered it at that time?

And I found something down the aisle, and it inspired me to rule the kingdom on behalf of the king.

Or maybe the Golden Order has something to do with the "Lord" that Merchiore worships.

The aisle was slightly curved, but I know the approximate direction. This passage runs towards the castle.

The hypothesis of the professor, that the king is locked in the center of the castle, has also resurfaced here.

The confinement itself was still carried out in the castle, but the entrance and exit itself were outside the castle. In addition, it is the basement of the house managed by Merchiore himself.

I nod to the fact that no one noticed this for a long time.

After walking for a while, I finally saw the light at the end of the aisle. It seems like it took a long time to walk carefully with the cat's feet, but it would be a short walk if people walked normally. Since the mansion is not so far from the castle, the aisle is probably just below the castle.

If the king were here, it would be quick.

With that in mind, we continued, and there was still a large space ahead of us through the aisle.

Somehow I can feel what I've seen.

I had a similar impression when I first set foot in this underground kingdom.

The scale is different, but so is the body of the professor. Unlike that time, now is the cat's gaze.

But the sight I saw this time was completely different from the beautiful underground kingdom.

What stood there blocking all the sights was something the professor had not even imagined.

"─ ─ I can't believe this... Why is this here...?

I see! The center of the castle is ─ ─ "

In other words, not everything that Merchiore said at that time was a lie.

And when I first saw the castle, the impression that the professor had unconsciously felt was not wrong.

"... what's at the root of that... In the meantime, we also used the main unit to conduct an" appraisal "─ ─"

The professor's consciousness was interrupted and he woke up in the blacksmith's nap room bed.

Looks like he was forced back to his spirit.

It would be reasonable to assume that someone attacked us at that moment and Ferres Quattle died.

I rushed to check with Mauricio, but Merchiore was in the castle. The killer is not Merchiole. I wonder if there were any other allies. Certainly none of Merchiole's family has been identified, but it has not been proven to exist. Nor is there anyone to help you, even if you were not a family member. The other Silver Cardinal is suspicious.

This was careless.

The fact that the Mansion does not usually show signs of people. And only Merchiole will be in and out.

From these things, I thought it would be safe to keep an eye on the area around the Mansion. I thought there was nobody there right now.

However, there was not necessarily a separate entrance, and more vigilance should have been exercised.

"... it is possible that the opponent has learned of our existence. At least the fact that there are cats exploring the castle will have been discovered. ─ ─ Damn, this is a breakdown. We need to report this to Miss Rare as soon as possible."