I sat perched on the coffin and thought for a moment. At first, I had slightly misunderstood. I thought the people above were all imitating someone else, and that these corpses were the real ones.
But after lifting and pulling at a few of them, I realized. These bodies had no external injuries, nor had they died of old age. They were, quite literally, copies.
To put it simply, they were puppets, created to mimic the people above.
Spare bodies.
‘... Looking closely, they aren't the mass.’
I was lost in thought. I had heard of it before. The story of a city where everyone died without any external wounds.
At a glance, it was an ability of a similar nature to the mass, which could freely borrow the bodies of others, but it was different. In any case, there was a connection. This kingdom was connected to the Red Lotus.
‘Then with this ability...?’
The puzzle pieces fell into place in my mind. The prince—that puppet—was created to mimic me. And they swapped me out.
The king never noticed and raised the puppet as his own son. If so, it made sense that the king didn't think he had abandoned his son. He could just think that this was the son he had raised from the very beginning. ...
Why?
"What is their intention?"
To summarize.
The Red Lotus infiltrated this place about seven years ago, made these spare bodies down here, and did nothing but swap out a single prince. Thinking simply, they must have found out through some method that the me of this world, the prince, had tremendous talent, and they stole it. However, there was something I couldn't understand.
Then why did they lose me? I should have been quite important, but they failed to recognize me. Even the officers thought I was just some fallen one who popped out of nowhere.
Putting that aside, they could have overthrown this kingdom at any time. Perhaps it would have been easy to replace everyone. Why didn't they?
The reason they changed only one prince in seven years and did nothing else...
"... Ah."
The answer could be found in the empty coffins nearby. It wasn't just the prince. Several others had been replaced. ...
I was slowly starting to see why only high officials were in these coffins. Their goal wasn't to destroy the kingdom. Their true goal was to slowly devour it.
Looking at the half-empty coffins, I knew that day was not far off. But a smile spread across my face.
"This is..."
The situation is good. No, it was more than good—the perfect opportunity had arrived. I immediately headed up.
The banquet was still ongoing, and Karos was giving some kind of order to the surrounding knights. I walked up and tapped her armor.
"Let's talk for a moment."
"Yes?"
I took the bewildered Karos to an empty private room. As I used Tide Sense to check for any eavesdropping, she asked with a puzzled look.
"What is it?"
"This place is a Red Lotus den."
"... What do you mean by that?"
I briefly explained the situation to the startled Karos. About the spare bodies created by the Red Lotus on the floor below, my guess, and the reason for that guess. As she listened, Karos began to take it more and more seriously.
"That's the gist of it. Although there are still parts I don't understand."
"Hmm... what are they?"
At Karos's question, I scratched my head and answered.
"For example, why did they take seven long years, and why haven't they taken over yet? I would think they could just kill everyone and replace them with those puppets."
After a moment of thought, Karos spoke.
"Have you ever heard of the 'Devoured City'? I assume you haven't. It's slang we use amongst ourselves."
"The Devoured City?"
"Yes."
Karos spoke, a hint of anger in her voice.
"It's a word for some of the cities that fell to the Red Lotus. When you first observe a Devoured City, you don't notice anything strange. But if you watch closely for a few minutes, you can see the bizarre sight of every single citizen repeating one single action."
"Even if you enter, you can't talk to them, and no matter what stimulus you apply from the side, they just repeat the same action until, at a certain moment, they all suddenly die. They are horrifying cities."
"... Such a thing."
"There were about five of them. The Red Lotus are a far more cruel and heartless bunch than we think."
That was a fact I knew all too well.
"At the same time, it means that puppetcraft of theirs isn't perfect. But I heard the prince of this kingdom is growing up without any problems."
"It means he's a very meticulously crafted puppet. I don't think they can just create something like that at will. I believe this is a long-term project of the Red Lotus."
"So similar things are probably happening in other places, not just here."
"... Perhaps."
There was still a part that I found questionable. For instance, what exactly was I from the Red Lotus's perspective? But for now, that was a question to be set aside.
"First, we should get out of here, call for reinforcements, and report this to the Princess..."
"Wait a moment."
I grabbed the wrist of Karos, who was about to move hastily.
"Is there more to say? If it's something trivial, please put it off."
"This is an opportunity."
"Pardon?"
I explained patiently to Karos, who tilted her helmet.
"This is a first. They don't know of our existence, but we know of theirs."
"It's the sudden visit of an imperial envoy. They must have sensed something."
"But they didn't launch a preemptive strike. They know they haven't been found out. Or, they want to protect something. But if we retreat like this, they'll either prepare or retreat themselves. The lead we stumbled upon will be lost."
"..."
"This might be our first chance to land a blow on them."
After some thought, Karos tossed out a line as if to say she would at least hear me out.
"Do you have a clever plan?"
"We'll have to borrow their best method."
I replied with a smile.
"Let's cause a scene."
My plan was simple.
"We can't get caught."
"Pardon?"
"As I said before, it's clear they've invested seven years in this place. They won't want to give it up easily."
"From their position, they can't attack someone with the status of an imperial envoy."
"Their best course of action would be to handle this gently, without getting caught, and erase our suspicions."
"Mm, that's right. I agree."
"We must do the same. We need to repeatedly act like we're investigating, dropping hints that we have suspicions but no concrete evidence."
"However, we have to be good at showing we have no evidence."
"Yes. I suppose so."
"What do you mean, 'I suppose so,' Sir Karos? This is something you have to do."
"?"
Karos frowned, a reaction clear even through her helmet, and replied.
"I... am not good at such psychological matters. Can't you do it, Jern?"
"I can't be on the front lines. Fallen ones can recognize each other."
To be precise, only those of the same Great System as me. Even then, Suirak had barely been able to figure out that I was a fallen one. Most fallen ones wouldn't even realize I was in the same business.
Even so, it was unlikely they would place a low-level fallen one on a mission to take over a country like this, so I needed to be careful.
"Do your best to keep them from giving up. Ask questions at a level that would make them think, 'Huh? They came here without knowing much? This might be manageable,' as you talk to the nobles and plant information. The most important thing is that they must not know."
This was a job perfectly suited for Karos. Though she didn't seem too keen on it and suggested another plan.
"Can't we call for Dersia?"
"That only opens at night. Besides, this isn't a job that requires power."
I shrugged.
"If a monster like my Master came, the scales would tip in an instant. The moment they saw a 9-Star mage descend, they'd use every means possible to escape, and we can't have that."
The Red Lotus officer behind this had to be captured. If only to find out about my past. And to find out a few other things as well.
"In the meantime, I'll be distinguishing the puppets."
"Did the puppets have any distinguishing features?"
"No. In their resting state, I couldn't tell any difference between them and a normal human."
"Then what do you plan to do?"
"We know one person who is definitely a puppet, don't we?"
"... Ah."
Karos let out a low sound of realization. If I can't distinguish between a human and a puppet, I just need to find out their characteristics.
"I'll go investigate the prince. Please cause a good scene in the meantime."
"... I'm not sure if this is the right thing to do. If by any chance we fail..."
I spoke lightly to her, who looked slightly confused.
"If we fail? What happens?"
"Obviously, the outcome won't be very good. We'd be making a big mess of things, wouldn't we?"
"No. We have already won."
I shook my head and declared victory.
"We've already confirmed the existence of the puppets, and the ambition and goal of the Red Lotus."
"We found this place and stopped them before the kingdom was completely devoured."
"Even in the worst-case scenario, we've found out too much."
"It's enough to go back as is, but this is nothing more than casually casting a fishing line to see if we can get a bigger catch."
"Don't take it so seriously."
"Hmm... is that so?"
"It is. I'm counting on you, then."
"... Yes!"
Karos clenched her gauntlet as if she had made up her mind. What a gullible person, I thought to myself as I left the room. Of course, I hadn't really deceived her.
Most of it was true. The things I didn't say were a few things about the past. And that the final goal was the capture of a Red Lotus officer.
It wasn't that different. I walked, lightly blanketing the kingdom with my Tide Sense, and upon seeing some guards walking, I asked them.
"Hey, you there."
"Th-The envoy! What can I do for you!"
"It's nothing much, but do you know where the prince of this kingdom is? I'm worried since I didn't see him at the banquet."
"Ah... well. It seems he's feeling a little unwell."
The guards' words trailed off slightly.
A lie.
I nodded in acknowledgment.
"I see. I asked a needless question. Carry on with your duties."
"Yes, sir!"
I had already found the prince's room. I avoided the guards' line of sight and approached the vicinity, but unfortunately, there were more guards standing in front of the door. After a moment of thought, I entered the room next door, placed a hand on the wall, and focused my Tide Sense intensely.
"... Mm."
The prince was there.
[Hehe...]
He was sitting at his desk reading a book, occasionally letting out a creepy laugh. He was about my age, and his face... mm. Looking at him like this, he really does look similar.
There's a difference in hairstyle, and more importantly, I don't laugh creepily like that, but... I observed him for a few minutes, but I couldn't see any sign that he was a puppet. It was so natural it made me wonder, 'Is this really a puppet?'
He had a strange hobby of writing down his feelings in a diary in great detail and being happy about it, but even that was human-like. No wonder the king didn't notice his son had been replaced. Was there no way?
As I was pondering, the boy suddenly stared blankly into the air.
"... Huh?"
Then he suddenly became flustered and looked around.
"Wha-what is this? What is this??" ...
What is it? I didn't do anything. While I was baffled, guards entered from outside the room.
"Your Highness, what is the matter!"
"You guys can't see this...? This!"
"Pardon...?"
"Th-this, what is this? It suddenly appeared... over there too! It's over there too!"
"I-I do not know what you are talking about."
"..."
No, it can't be. I looked to where the prince was pointing. An eel was floating there.
A deep sea creature.
"You can't see this bizarre fish-like thing...? Really??"
Watching the prince make a fuss, I let out a quiet sigh. I couldn't deny it now. Since he was made to imitate me, it was perhaps obvious.
That puppet is— "It's only visible to me? Why...?" ...in the same place as me.