Hellmode ~A Hardcore Gamer Becomes Peerless in Another World with Retro Game Settings~

Ten days passed since Duke Drescalay was rescued.

They had spent nearly half a month in the building Patlanta loaned to them.

Allen's team was sitting on a long and thin circular table in the building, waiting for lunch.

"Is Lord Drescalay faring well?"

"Well, he's offered to help develop Heavy User Island, which is nice. Today he's been busy building a holiday home where himself and the empress can stay."

"Ohh! I wish I could go visit them!"

Princess Carmin sounded greatly excited hearing Allen's reply.

(She asked that early in the morning too, maybe it'd be best to send her to the island as well. Though that could incite weird suspicions.)

Princess Carmin had asked that same question during breakfast.

Allen had rescued the empress, the imperial family, and various ministers ten days before, but keeping them in this heavily watched building was a bad idea.

The building was being loaned to Clebeur, so Ignomas' knights could not enter willfully.

But every morning Ignomas' men would come to ask about the magic device.

It would be troublesome if the empress or Duke Drescalay were present when they came.

There was always a chance they would be spotted even if they tried hiding in a corner.

There were dozens of refugees too, making it hard to house all of them in the building, so Allen decided to use [Homing Instinct] to send them to Heavy User Island's merman city of Coure.

If they were left there with nothing to do, they would just start worrying about Prostia, so Allen had them help with the development of Heavy User Island.

They seemed to like the sight from the floating island very much, so they started building a holiday home they could visit again, once the issues plaguing Prostia were dealt with.

Having a plot of land for Prostia's imperial family sounded like a fun idea, so Allen gave them permission to build a detached holiday house with the other mermen.

The knights asking about the magic device also came a day after Duke Drescalay was rescued.

Allen answered that things were progressing smoothly, which was met with a "I hope you realize what will happen if you don't finish on time."

That was everything they wanted, so Allen decided to put on an ignorant air and ask "I heard a loud noise from the palace yesterday, did something happen?" but they answered saying it was not important or something Allen needed to know.

Allen assumed they were not allowed to mention the prisoners had escaped.

But he did not feel any suspicion from them, so Allen was probably being considered innocent.

Even inside the palace there was no one mentioning him as a suspect.

"And Cecile, are you sure there's nothing you want to do about what Kiel told you?"

Princess Carmin seemed satisfied hearing about Duke Drescalay, so Allen spoke to Cecile.

"...Did Father say anything?"

"Not really, if that's what Kiel wants, he's okay with it."

Allen had used a summon to make sure Viscount Grandvelle was not opposed yesterday.

"If Father isn't opposed, then I have nothing to say either."

Cecile said it was okay, if that was the decision of her family.

(I see. It's a pretty complex topic, and I guess there's things better left untouched.)

There was a report that came when Allen's Army and the Hero's Army began their joint training yesterday. The Holy Land was expressing their gratitude to Latash for rescuing them.

The king of Latash had little to do with that, but in this world usually a country would grant rewards when a citizen made a great contribution abroad.

There had been many such cases when Latash was not directly involved, especially during the war against the Demon King's Army.

But even without their involvement, Latash was giving them rewards as well.

-Dogora and Kurena went from being Honorary Barons to Barons

-The Grandvelle Family went from being a Viscount Family to a Dukedom

-The Carnell Family went from being a Baron Family to a Viscount Family

Thanks to that change, the portion of Grandvelle's territory that had been claimed by the king was returned to them.

Kiel was told of those three decisions.

Apparently the Five Continents' Alliance had pressured Latash's king into properly rewarding them.

Dogora and Kurena's titles also became hereditary that way.

They were told to start thinking of a family name soon.

There had been an ongoing conversation of making Grandvelle a dukedom since before too.

Cecile's latest efforts were all that was needed to settle the decision.

Kiel was the one rewarded the most. He was now regarded as the Holy Land's Pope Apprentice, and they claimed he had been the most helpful to them.

So his lost title of Viscount was reinstated, and all the territories of Carnell were returned.

Faced by that, Kiel brought forth one suggestion.

When Cecile heard that she made a complex face, but her father, Viscount Grandvelle, was in agreement with it, so she did not say anything.

As they thought of issues outside their influence, lunch was brought forth.

(Hm, Prostia's food is always delicious. Hopefully good food can help her calm down.)

During their trip to prostia they were mainly served soggy surface food, but after they arrived at Patlanta they were constantly served famous dishes from below the sea.

Today they were served what looked like flat dumplings with fish meuniere.

Those flat dumplings were always filled with various types of seafood, so it was likely Prostia's staple food.

Since they were underwater, dumplings were a far better option than rice that would just drift away, or bread that would get soggy.

"Ohh, Lucoman! This is always so good!"

(I like this Lucoman thing.)

As soon as it arrived, Luck began taking them with both hands and devouring them.

It was made with a grounded dough from the roots and stems from a type of seaweed known as Lucomar Grass. That was then filled with a rather sweet red bean paste, which was something Allen's sweet tooth could appreciate.

It reminded him of the desserts his grandparents in the countryside of his past life would make every time he visited them.

"We should cultivate this in Coure too."

"Ohh! I like that idea!!"

Heavy User Island had been active for half a year, but they still lacked any outstanding produce.

Lucomar Grass could grow abundantly in narrow spaces, leading to copious harvests, so it was a fine crop to cultivate in a small and narrow place like Heavy User Island.

Whenever Allen got a chance to go out to the city, he would buy a large amount of seeds.

(Hm…oh? This…)

"You seem to be having fun now. Say, what happened?"

Allen's face changed in an instant, which made Shea curious.

"Oh, it's nothing. I just feel like my Skill Level might go up any time now."

"Is that so?"

Allen would never get tired of raising his Skill Level, and even enjoyed it.

He gladly did it even while eating. Here he was surrounded by royalty, so anyone would try to mind their manners, but everyone was already used to Allen's antics.

Though Princess Carmin and Knight Commander Iwanam could not see the Grimoire.

They were both in the room, so Allen tried to not act too secretive about things, since that could lead to conflicts with either of them.

There were times when they would need to weigh in on Allen's plans too after all.

Princess Carmin and Knight Commander Iwanam had seen the Insect A summons, and understood Allen's power. They did not know the details of how he was listening to things inside the palace, but they were filled in with whatever he found out.

(I can't allow myself to stop bringing my Skill Levels up, even if the situation is a bit tricky.)

In his past life, if Allen was ever stumped and could not find a key, he would try to learn some magic spell to open the door, using brute force to solve his problems.

He was starting to think this was a similar situation.

He had continued looking for Bek during those last ten days.

Half a month passed since the coup in Albahar, but he still did not feel any closer to Bek.

It was like he no longer cared about attacking Albahar, and simply vanished into thin air.

Bek was nowhere in the palace, so Allen broadened his search radius.

He was starting to investigate the other beastman countries other than Albahar.

The continent where Albahar stood was populated by various beastman countries of different sizes, some of which considered Albahar their enemy.

Meanwhile Shea had an increasing sense of dread.

"I'm doing everything that I can. Try to not get impatient."

"I know. But if Ignomas's army keeps growing in size and power, his plans might materialize."

Ignomas was under constant surveillance from the Fish D summon, and he was still working to make Prostia his own empire.

He kept bringing in nobles from outside Patlanta, and making them swear allegiance to him.

He relaxed taxation laws, and opened Prostia's coffers to buy the support of others.

Prostia's imperial family no longer had any power, the First and Second Armies under his hand.

Ignomas had dethroned the imperial family, but the nobles would be spared.

He was giving them money and reducing their taxes to win them over.

And those nobles dissatisfied with Prostia's imperial family also easily joined Ignomas.

There were a handful of nobles who opposed Ignomas for betraying Prostia's emperor, but that faction was gradually getting smaller and smaller.

Apparently seeing Prime Minister Agiley, who had served Prostia for many years, siding with Ignomas had a great effect on them.

Ignomas was now hoping to use the magic device Allen brought as a powerful bargaining chip.

It was a magic device worth nearly all of Prostia's national budget.

He was also verifying just how much money would be saved by having the device running.

All of that was making Shea worry and sense danger, which stopped her from eating.

A lot of blood was spilled when Ignomas took over the palace, but after that the First and Second Imperial Armies surrendered without bloodshed, given his plans to invade the surface.

Then he used money to buy the support from the nobles near the capital.

Ignomas had successfully taken over the throne without wasting any manpower.

He had tried to keep as many of them alive as possible, just so he could invade the surface.

Shea could understand that as well, not wanting to give up the lives of soldiers when they could be put to a much better use later.

And all the money he spent on nobles could be recouped by looting the surface after attacking.

Ignomas' actions lined up with Duke Drescalay's story and information.

The only large discrepancy was Bek's disappearance.

If everything they heard about Ignomas was true, then he would likely attack Albahar first.

Bek would appear again, with an army of mermen, and complete his takeover. He would destroy all of Zew and Shea's hopes of becoming Beast King.

He would wear the three items that formed the Beast King's Emblem and proclaim himself as Beast King to the people of Albahar.

Most beastmen acted on instinct and force, so they would likely recognize that as the act of a strong ruler.

(Is that really all there is to it though?)

There was something else bothering Allen, a possibility he could hardly put into words.

"Maybe we should just take down Ignomas?"

All Cecile did usually was to punch Allen, but now she was seemingly using her brain for once.

"Maybe, but we should leave that as a last resort. We need to let Ignomas go with the flow a little more, there's still information we could get from him. Oh wait!!"

(Letting Ignomas go with the flow, because he's a fish! That's so funny!)

No one seemed to understand Allen's joke.

It was easy to take down Ignomas, which would effortlessly stop the invasion of the surface.

But Allen felt like it was better if they did everything else in their power before doing that.

As they conversed, and ate, and Allen continued gaining Skill Experience, the log entry Allen awaited so much finally appeared on the Grimoire's black cover.