Legacy of the Living
"People, you say… how many?"
At Ulrich's question, Fritz closed his eyes again.
"Six… no, seven."
"And their appearance? Do any of them look like priests or knights?"
"Judging by their clothing, I don't think so."
Fritz explained that the third burial mound had five pits, and that the group had already arrived around them. Some were inspecting the inside of the pits, while others lingered outside.
"They don't seem to be affiliated with Giacomo."
Beatrice said as she scratched her cheek.
"That's likely. If they were sent by His Grace, there would be more of them."
Harald, the son of the old fence, nodded.
Archbishop Giacomo was searching for Yusuf's tomb, and unlike Ulrich's group—who merely passed through graves already dug by others—he was thoroughly turning over potential sites.
There were over twenty candidate locations. With only seven people, how long would it take to excavate and verify them all? To investigate properly, they would need far more manpower.
"Could they be other grave robbers?"
"If they are, I might recognize some of them."
Harald turned his gaze to Ulrich, as if asking what they should do.
"Well, we should confirm it."
"Will you meet them?"
Ulrich gestured to Roberta.
"Wait here. Roberta, you come with me."
He immediately spurred his horse toward the third burial mound.
After riding a short distance toward the horizon, a man loitering near the mound came into view. He noticed Roberta and Ulrich and turned, signaling to his companions. The others inside the pits came out. As Fritz had said, there were seven of them.
All seven wore thick quilted clothing, with no ornaments indicating status. However, they were all armed. Their seven horses were tied together nearby, and each carried weapons—longswords, axes—at their waists or backs. Roberta noticed the numerous nicks and scratches covering the hilts, guards, and scabbards.
"…Suspicious."
Roberta muttered quietly.
Without replying, Ulrich calmly formed a faint smile, as if putting on a mask.
"Greetings."
He stopped his horse in front of the group.
"I thought as much—you were here first."
The seven gazes swept over Roberta and Ulrich, but settled as the oldest among them stepped forward.
"You came after hearing the rumors too?"
"If those rumors refer to Yusuf's tomb, then yes. It's hard to ignore when His Grace has reportedly found a clue."
Ulrich said this with a smile as he dismounted.
"Have you gained anything?"
The man shook his head and jerked his chin toward the pits.
"As if. As you can see, it's all the same."
Sending a brief glance to Roberta, Ulrich checked the pits. Like the previous two burial sites, they were completely empty—deep holes filled with dry soil. After examining all five pits, he murmured, "As expected."
"Want to go down and take a look?"
"I don't think there's any need."
"…True enough. Just dirt pits."
The man shrugged and stepped closer to Ulrich. Roberta dismounted and moved behind him.
"Have you tried digging inside?"
At that, the man glanced back at his companions.
"No, not yet."
Ulrich gave a faint, wry smile.
"For people investigating tombs, your equipment seems rather lacking."
"That's not something you should be saying. What do you expect to do with just the two of you?"
"I'm not searching for a tomb, so it doesn't matter."
The man frowned.
"Didn't you just say you were looking for Yusuf's tomb?"
"I said I heard the rumors. I never said I was searching for it."
Ulrich shifted his gaze from the pit and stared directly at the man. The smile vanished, his expression settling into calm stillness. The man flinched at the sudden change.
"What you're after isn't a tomb—it's grave robbers, isn't it?"
The other six immediately changed their expressions, placing their hands on their sword hilts and axe handles.
"…You're sharp."
They slowly began to surround Roberta and Ulrich.
"It would be stranger not to notice, when you're not even trying to hide it."
"We had no intention of laying a hand on you."
"I have no intention of punishing you either."
Ulrich's tone shifted again.
"Then why pry and make trouble?"
"I was curious about something. Do you have an employer?"
The man's expression stiffened. He met Ulrich's gaze, then looked away and opened his mouth—likely about to give an order.
That moment became the signal.
Ulrich moved first.
The man stood only two steps away. Ulrich reached out and seized him before he could react. Even Roberta, who had anticipated movement, missed the instant—so the man, caught completely off guard, had his throat grabbed and was thrown straight into the pit.
"Wha—?" a weak voice escaped from the remaining six.
They had threatened them, but they were seven against two. And wearing quilted armor, they likely hadn't expected resistance.
Roberta didn't miss the opening.
The moment Ulrich moved, she charged forward. Her fist struck a man square in the face. His nose shattered, and he fell backward.
The remaining five hastily drew their weapons, but Roberta had already taken down another. She dodged a thrusting blade and twisted the arm of a third.
Meanwhile, Ulrich grabbed two others by the neck—one in each hand—and threw them into the pit.
Only one remained.
For him, it must have felt like less than a heartbeat. Watching his companions be subdued in an instant, his eyes widened before he dropped his sword.
#
Roberta bound the six fallen men and left them in the pit, then searched their belongings. Since she had heard they were targeting grave robbers, she thought there might be clues related to Yusuf—but there was nothing except a map marking burial sites.
The map was identical to the copy they had received from the old fence. They claimed it had been given to them by their employer, and the burial mounds they had already visited were marked separately.
After confirming this, Roberta handed the map to Ulrich.
"Who is your employer?"
At Ulrich's question, the man—his hands bound in front—frowned.
"…Who are you?"
"The one asking questions is me."
The man let out a long sigh.
"I don't know his name. He was a younger man than me—I've only seen him a few times."
He seemed to have no intention of protecting his employer, readily describing his appearance.
"And what did he ask of you?"
"To follow that map."
He gestured with his chin toward the map in Ulrich's hand.
"He told us to go around the tombs marked on it and gather information."
"About the investigation of Yusuf's tomb?"
"He told us to report regularly."
"So you targeted grave robbers?"
The man shook his head.
"Don't misunderstand. We did go after grave robbers, but we never took lives. We only pressured them to get information about the tombs. If it looked like there was nothing to gain, we didn't even bother."
"Like you," he muttered—but Ulrich simply looked down at him without expression.
"And the information we've gathered so far isn't much. Just a few burial sites we hadn't found before. Not a single one related to Yusuf. And yet, the archbishop is increasing manpower and accelerating the investigation."
There were only four remaining candidate sites for Yusuf's tomb—and yet he was increasing personnel? Roberta pressed her lips together.
"No need to talk about the tombs any further. I'd rather hear about your employer. Is there a way to contact him?"
"There's a village called Lecce. We agreed to meet there at the beginning of every month to report. It's only a few days away—if you leave now, you won't be late."
The man's gaze shifted to Roberta. She stared back blankly, wondering if it was really alright for him to reveal this so readily. Perhaps her thoughts showed on her face—the corners of his lips curled upward.
"The ones in that pit know it too. There are six of them, not just one or two. Someone would talk eventually. Better I just spill it myself."
"Wise."
The man muttered a sarcastic "Thanks."
"Anything else you want to ask?"
"No, that's enough."
Ulrich untied the rope binding his hands.
"…You're letting me go?"
The man looked at him in disbelief.
"If you hadn't done anything foolish to begin with, we wouldn't have fought at all."
At that, the man's expression twisted, though he swallowed whatever he was about to say—perhaps thinking that Ulrich had been the one to provoke them first.
"Stay far away for a while."
"I will. If you go after that guy, it'll obviously be blamed on us."
Watching the man descend back into the pit, Ulrich mounted his horse. Roberta followed suit. In the distance, Fritz was approaching with Harald and Beatrice.
#
"I heard you fought."
Beatrice stopped her horse in front of Ulrich and asked.
"It was nothing."
Ulrich answered casually. Over his shoulder, the seven men climbing out of the pit were plainly visible, but she did not press further.
"Harald, do you know where a village called Lecce is?"
"Lecce…? I believe it's to the east of here."
Harald added that it lay not within the Bishopric of Langen, but in a neighboring territory.
"We should head there."
Ulrich turned his horse eastward.
"Do you think that employer is connected to Yusuf's tomb?"
"He's more likely connected to the archbishop than to Yusuf."
The archbishop? Roberta blinked.
"Is the employer one of the archbishop's people?"
Ulrich shook his head.
"No."
Then he continued:
"Roberta, why are we here?"
Naturally, it was to find Yusuf's tomb.
"…Because if we find Yusuf's tomb, we might understand the archbishop's situation?"
Archbishop Giacomo was suspected of defecting to the Jokuster Empire, which stood in opposition to the Holy Church. Ulrich wanted to confirm why he had begun acting suspiciously.
And in that process, they had learned that the turning point came after an unknown fairy visited the Grand Temple—and the archbishop began searching for Yusuf's tomb.
"Correct. More precisely, I believed that if we understood what relic lay within the tomb, we could understand the archbishop's intentions. But if we examine it from the beginning, a question arises."
Ulrich stroked his chin thoughtfully.
"After meeting the fairy, the archbishop sought out a fence. Why do you think that is?"
"…Why?"
Roberta tilted her head. The obvious answer would be, "because the fairy influenced him," but that didn't seem to be what Ulrich was getting at.
"The fairy may have set him in motion. But why go out of his way to find a fence?"
"…Because fences possess various records about Yusuf's tomb?"
Narrowing her eyes, Roberta looked at Ulrich riding beside her.
"How many people do you think know that the archbishop is digging through burial mounds?"
"Quite a lot. Fences and grave robbers, of course—and even among the citizens, there would be many."
Harald answered from behind.
"They may not know exactly which locations are being investigated or where will be searched next, but the fact that His Grace is investigating Yusuf's tomb must be widely known."
"And doesn't that seem strange? It's impossible to silence everyone, but it is possible to delay and control the spread of information. This is the archbishop's land. If he truly wished, it would be far less widely known than it is now."
Was Archbishop Giacomo deliberately spreading the rumors?
"Don't you think so?"
Harald pondered briefly before answering.
"Yes. We've discussed it among ourselves a few times. That perhaps His Grace is throwing out bait while conducting the real investigation elsewhere. But we haven't found any concrete leads—so it's only speculation."
"A reasonable conclusion. But I think differently."
Ulrich added:
"Because I know one more fact than you do. About the relic. You don't know what relic Yusuf took with him. So you simply assume that something extraordinary lies within the tomb, and that the archbishop would naturally seek it."
Ulrich had said before: "Yusuf did take relics with him, but as far as I know, they weren't anything remarkable." Of course, things might have changed after he parted ways with Yusuf—but Roberta considered that unlikely.
Hadn't Yusuf melted down his own sword and turned it into a ring when he gave up thievery? Would someone with such a mindset return to stealing later? And what kind of extraordinary feat would he have to accomplish afterward to obtain such a powerful relic?
"Wait…"
If the archbishop's goal wasn't Yusuf's tomb—or its relic—
A possibility, one she hadn't considered before, suddenly surfaced. Her lips felt dry.
"Could the act of investigating the tombs itself… be bait?"
Roberta saw a faint smile form on Ulrich's lips.
Correct.
But if that hypothesis were true—then who was the target?
"Bait doesn't have to be aimed at just one person."
Ulrich spoke, as if reading her thoughts.
"It could be aimed at groups as well. After all, more than individuals might be interested in such relics."
"So it could be an organization."
"It's only speculation."
His tone was light. As if acknowledging that the archbishop might truly be searching for Yusuf's tomb—or that the employer they were heading to meet might have nothing to do with him at all.
And yet, Roberta knew one thing for certain:
Ulrich's deductions had never been wrong.
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