'The Falcon's party of brave men has failed to return. We, the Silverwing Knights, have been entrusted with investigating the cause.

　When Felix told me this, I was both surprised and annoyed.

　With all the skills he had, he could handle most crises.

　On the other hand, it's quite conceivable that carelessness and arrogance could lead to him getting lost for no good reason.

　That's what the brave Falcon is.

'Unreturned ......? Don't tell me you've found a dead body or something?
No. Let me explain it to you in order. Lord Luke, you know the biggest difference between a brave man and an adventurer.
'Of course. You have the wrong people to get approval from.

　Felix nodded that he was right, but Sylvia didn't seem to understand, so she added a more detailed explanation.

The person who wants to become an adventurer must apply to a private organization, the Adventurer's Guild, to become an adventurer. However, a brave man becomes an adventurer by being appointed by a king and nobleman.
'That's right. Falcon the Brave was appointed on the recommendation of a certain nobleman who is a minister in the royal court.

　Other motivations for taking on dungeons are also said to differ.

　The brave take on dungeons in order to defeat beings that pose a threat to the nations of the earth, while the adventurers take on dungeons for economic gain.

　But this is not the biggest difference.

　Because there are brave men who fight the Demon King for rewards, and adventurers who have made a fortune may fight the Demon King for honor.

''And Luke-dono. To what extent were you informed beforehand about the purpose and schedule of the brave Falcon's quest?
The target is a demon tribe that calls itself the Demon King. The search period is planned to be two weeks round trip, and even if there is no success, we will return once. I was just a scullery maid, so this is the extent of what I was taught.

　In other words, if the original plan was to be followed, the brave men would have returned to earth a few days before I escaped from the labyrinth.

　Naturally, I wasn't counted among their forces.

　If I successfully reached my target, I was supposed to hide at a distance and wait for the battle to end.

'Thank you. Now let's continue our explanation.''

　--The brave men did not return even after the scheduled period.

　--A slight discrepancy is within the margin of error, and it seems that the royal palace was also taking a wait-and-see approach for a while, preparing for any eventuality.

　--But after a week had passed and there was no word, it was becoming more and more likely that something undesirable must have happened.

'The catalyst for the situation to change was a letter of protest from the Adventurer's Guild.
"Protest letters?
''The adventurer I hired through the guild ......, in other words, criticized me for unfairly abandoning you and putting your life in danger. It was only then that the royal palace realized that you were the only one who had made it back.
...... and the guild is the first to know that the brave men haven't returned, right?

　The brave are beings chosen by the royalty and nobility and do not belong to the Adventurer's Guild.

　So the guild had neither the means nor the need to figure out what happened to the brave men after they abandoned me.

''Originally, I should have asked you to speak with them immediately. However, a certain noble ...... minister and his faction who recommended the Falcon to the brave men objected to it.

　Felix cut off his words there once, and slowly and clearly pronounced.

'The brave Falcon must have been betrayed to death by Luke of the White Wolf Forest. We shouldn't give the great sinner any extra information--
W--
Mr. Luke isn't that kind of person!

　I was at a loss for words when Sylvia spoke up and took a bite out of Felix.

'Calm down, girl. I need you to hear me out.
But ......!
'Sylvia. Let's not argue until we've heard the whole story.
...... Yes.

　Reluctantly, after watching Sylvia put the contraption away, Felix resumed his explanation.

　--The Adventurer's Guild rebelled strongly because of their spear, and the information they provided was stalled, and the investigation was greatly stalled.

　--At that time, I, who knew nothing about it, had opened a weapon shop in Green Hollow Town, and was using the weapons I had defeated the dragons with to promote and attract customers.

'(It was probably the guild's concern that I couldn't tell them that they were in trouble with the palace over me. I was going through a period of mental health issues, so if I had known, I wouldn't have been able to bear it or ......)

　--The minister thought, 'I think they took the brave man's weapon,' and requested the Silverwing Knights to recover it without the eyes of the Adventurer's Guild.

'I think there was a pair of men who paid a lot of money to buy the example sword before. Actually, ...... Bradford, please take off your helmet.

　A large knight took off his helmet behind Felix.

　His true face was exactly that of the person who had been following the aloof blond man at the time.

　Sylvia rolled her eyes in surprise and I twisted my mouth bitterly.

　Then, that blonde man must have been related to the Order.

'You mean the ministerial class was working behind the scenes. ...... No wonder they can pay a large sum of money for ten large gold coins.
As it turns out, the minister was wrong in his speculation, but an unexpected fact has come to light.

　Felix's tone of voice became even more serious.

''After analysis by an alchemist, it was discovered that the constituent material of that sword contains divine silver (mithril).
"Wha...... Mithril?
'Mithril?　Um, Luke, what the hell is that? ......

　Somehow I managed to calm down and explain about mithril to the confused Sylvia.

It's a valuable metal that has a tremendous affinity with magic. I'm sure you'll be able to get permission from the palace for everything from mining to sales, and if you don't have a permit, the worst thing you can do is to go to ...... for death.
Death. ......!

　Mithril. Also known as divine silver, it is a mysterious metal that has been described in many old myths.

　It looks similar to silver, but unlike silver, it is also excellent as a material for weapons and armor, and is said to enhance its performance by adding magic power to it.

　It is not mined in ordinary mines, and is only rarely found in dungeons.

　Due to its preciousness, handling it requires permission from the king, with felony penalties for malicious offenders.

Smuggling and trafficking of Mithril products. The minister has pushed the charges here to the fore and extracted a concession from the Adventurer's Guild, ''We have entrusted the Silverwing Knights with the investigation into the White Wolf Forest Rooks.''
...... So today, you guys came along.

　The unexpected turn of events gave me a light headache and I pressed my forehead with my hand.

　This must have been the reason why the Adventurer's Guild hadn't said anything to me until today.

I'm not going to be able to tell you what to do," he said, "but His Majesty the King is defending the Adventurer's Guild and we are a knight's group belonging to the Royalists. We are at odds with the minister of the matter .......
'Such an Order was put in charge of the investigation after the Minister and the Guild made mutual concessions to each other. ......

　I'd be lying if I said I had no idea what Mithril was at all .......

　It's the inner wall of the labyrinth in the dungeon "Thousand Year Corridor of the Abyss".
　It's a good idea if that was actually made of mithril, and I had unknowingly [disassembled] and [synthesized] it.

　But in that case, how much mithril exists in that labyrinth?

''Currently, the faction that suspects you is claiming that they have eliminated the brave men in order to monopolize the mithril found in the dungeon. From what I've heard from the guild, though, I can only assume that it's impossible in terms of ability: ......

　That's true.
　I was the weakest guy in the party.

"Mr. Felix, let me get straight to the point. Let me get straight to the point. How am I going to prove myself wrong?

　That was no longer my only concern.

　The safety of the brave party had long since passed from my consciousness.

The minister in question has been warned by His Majesty the King about excessive interference in the investigation and has vowed to drop all future interference if the Mithril motive theory is wrong.
I mean, I'm not going to be persistently suspect if you overturn it.
'Yes, sir. And for that reason, we would like you to tell us where on earth you got your mithril and how you got it.

　I cross my arms and ponder for a moment.

　From what I've heard so far, it seems like Felix is working to prove that I'm not the cause of the heroic non-return.

　Otherwise, he wouldn't have given me such a polite explanation of what happened to me to this day.

　Even if it was an indirect attack on a minister of a rival faction, that's good for me.

'The manufacture and sale of mithril is also not a crime if it's deemed 'appropriate to assume you didn't know'. In that sense, too, disclosure of how the mithril was obtained could be proof of innocence.

　There have been several cases of adventurers who accidentally collected mithril in a dungeon and sold it off because they thought it was just silver, but were not charged with a crime.

　Apparently, the key to judgement was 'it was a place where no one knew that mithril could be collected' or 'he sold it for an unbelievably low price for mithril' and so on.

　The former, of course, and if you were selling something that could be sold for a very high price at a low price, anyone would think that you didn't know about it," he said.

'Mr. Felix. Felix, explain one more thing. The little knight who was with you guys clearly saw me as an enemy. Is he also staring at me as the murderer of the heroes?
'No, Garnett has a strong dislike for mithril traffickers for personal reasons. It has nothing to do with the matter of the unreturned brave men.

　So that attitude was due to those charges?

　The entire knight's group doesn't seem to have any idea that I killed a brave man, after all.

...... Okay, I understand. I will tell you everything I know. To be honest, I couldn't believe it happened even to me. ......

　I prepared myself to explain what had happened.

　Felix looked genuinely surprised, but he didn't reject my testimony.

It's hard to believe it, but if you can prove it, it would be a powerful piece of evidence. Would you mind if we could come back at a later date and take the samples in our presence?
'I didn't want to dive into the dungeon for the time being, but there's no substitute for a backbone: ...... Okay, I'll ask you to be present.

　Felix and Bradford promised to examine the scene and politely walked away.

　I thought I heard Garnett cursing outside the store, but it quickly faded away.

'Hah ...... it's been a hell of a ride. How can you assume there's a mithril in a place like that ...... [analysis] doesn't even support things you've never seen ......?

　No way, no way.
　I didn't expect the events of a month ago to turn on their fangs in this way.

"The brave guy ...... cut me off to explore and you haven't returned, what do you mean ...... I hate you, I really do.