The Liberomancer [Isekai Progression LitRPG]

Zeke fidgeted in his chair. It wasn't often that he was thrown off balance - no, he was the more responsible, competent, older brother. It was usually Drake who ended up holding the idiot ball - though it was now firmly in his hands.

Then again, he felt that there was little that he could've done to prevent this from happening. His father hadn't told him this information before, and had simply said, "I'll leave it to you" when Zeke said he had a person in mind. With the threat of the dryads on the horizon, who had the time to conduct such an in-depth background check?

"Do you want me to get rid of his position then?" Zeke asked. It would look odd if they did so, but the consequences might be worse if they let someone like that run a crucial part of their operation.

"No," Lance said. "Whatever he's actually up to, he has to cooperate at least during the dryad invasion and might even be useful for now - so let him be useful to us. If anything, Zeke, attach some retainers to him to help him so that we can keep a closer eye on him. They may be able to catch him slipping up."

Zeke nodded. From his father's earlier behavior during the meeting that night he had thought that his father greatly approved of Stefan - then again, by now, his father was a seasoned politician. Even if one was not born shrewd, they would become such after having sat upon the governor's chair for so long.

"There are other issues with him," Lance continued. "For one, what country does he hail from? If he came from far away, how and why did he come here? He says he comes from a country called 'Libraria' - though he has sometimes answered with another name 'America'. Maybe this country is known by two names - but neither of them are listed anywhere no matter where I look. He seems to come from a country that does not exist. What kind of person comes from nowhere - a spy, that's who. But if he is a spy, he has drawn so much attention to himself that he could only be the most incompetent spy I have ever heard of. If one of my information agents behaved like this, they would've been sacked."

"Wait a moment," Drake said, adjusting himself in his chair. "Father, should not all of this also cast suspicion on the fact that he 'helped' us catch those two demonic Liberomancers? We handed him a demonic grimoire practically on a plate after that, and that too legally! What if he had known those two and simply sacrificed them to advance his own plans? He could've been the mastermind behind the whole event."

Lance scratched his chin. Drake's ideas tended to be disregarded simply because well, they came from him, but he actually had a point this time. "I hadn't thought of that - though I should reassure you both that the legal loophole which caused that to happen has been remedied. Demonic Liberomancer… it seems excessively cruel to betray your own comrades like that, though I suppose demonic Liberomancers never have much integrity to begin with."

"Father…" Zeke said. "I understand your position up till now - but I should also mention something in his defense. He got to the finals of the tournament while making new grimoires. He clearly has very good natural talent at making them on the spot - that can't be denied, enough to fight with Master Jiah Pei on equal footing. I can't see how he faked that."

Lance nodded. "True, true, but how do we explain everything else? Anyway, leave that matter for now, he has not done anything overtly wrong that I can punish him for, especially now that I have to acknowledge him as a Master Liberomancer. Not to mention the guild is fawning over some of the grimoires he's made and doesn't want anything to happen to their current golden goose. We will conduct a more thorough investigation into his background once this blasted dryad invasion is over. I just wanted to warn the two of you to keep a close eye on him."

"We will," Drake and Zeke both said at once.

"Good, good, that is all, you two should get some rest. We have a long day tomorrow - and a long day after that one as well."

Once I had run out of mana reading the grimoire I had been given, I went to sleep, though it felt like I had been woken up by immediately after by Granny Qi.

"The governor's son is here to see you again," she said. "Wake up!"

I got up, feeling a headache already from the lack of sleep, but I couldn't very well leave Zeke waiting.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Zeke was there, and I gave him a rundown of what had happened last night.

"Good work," he said. "Ah, I've managed to arrange for a few things to help you out."

As part of my new role of 'Liberomancer Conflict Mediator' (a title that had been created overnight), I was entitled to certain perks. That included use of a carriage, the same driver from yesterday waving at me, a page, two guards, and a lizardman secretary whose name closely resembled Eton.

"Good morning, I am a Rank One Liberomancer, but I can read and write in both the languages of the lizardmen and humans," Eton said. "I would be happy to assist you in whatever manner I can."

That was helpful as my new position involved a lot of paperwork and bureaucratic nonsense, which was greatly hampered by my inability to read either of the scripts used in Arconia.

Come to think of it - the whole idea earlier of becoming an earl seemed rather ridiculous when for all practical purposes other than creating grimoires or reading them I was just as illiterate as most peasants. Documents were written in normal text, and a translation device could do nothing about them.

"Oh," I said to my page. "Could you run off to the Liberomancer's Guild to let them know that I got a grimoire from Granny Qi?" It was a Rank Three grimoire, so even if it was a gift, there was still a small tax to be paid and the Guild had to be informed. There was a small chance they would not approve the transaction, but I couldn't not tell them about it. Because if I didn't and used [Grand Fireball] the question would naturally arise as to how I had learned it - was I going to tell them that I had written a third original grimoire that just so happened to teach a spell that was well known around Arconia? I had a feeling that would be very suspicious.

There was no way to avoid showing [Grand Fireball] given how useful it would be for fighting the dryads. I briefly considered just winging it and not doing so, but ultimately did not consider it worth the convenience of avoiding a minor hassle.

It was best to avoid trouble like that. My page came back a while later saying, "The Guild not only said that the transaction is fine, but given the current circumstances, that the usual tax is waived too."

That surprised me. This was one of the few fees that the Guild did not waive, even for Rank Three Liberomancers. It was barely a drop in the ocean compared to the actual cost of a Rank Three grimoire, though, so very few people complained - it was likely the guild did not care during these times as they knew how valuable another Liberomancer with [Grand Fireball] was going to be in combat.

I did my best to try to finish reading the grimoire as soon as I could, but it was a bit difficult to squeeze in with all the other things I had to do.

While my official title was 'Liberomancer Conflict Mediator' I felt like I should've more accurately been called 'Inter-species Negotiator' given that I was also tasked with dealing with things mostly not involving Liberomancers.

A group of lizardmen spearmen were practicing on ground 'reserved' for human spearmen? The lizardmen refugees thought that the humans were getting better fish than them? A group of lizardmen thought that the humans were writing 'evil slogans' against them on signs since they couldn't understand human letters? I was called for all of these issues and more.

Honestly, I felt more like a babysitter overlooking a bunch of rowdy kindergartners given the nature of most of the squabbles I was dragged into rather than a manager of anything.

Other than putting out these small sparks before they snowballed into large fires - most of my time was spent in solving logistical issues between the two factions. Things one side had too much of or not enough of which the other side needed to provide or wanted: whether it be leather, fish, blankets, or wood.

Not only that, but communicating battle strategies between the two factions fell into my job description as well.

Because of this, people were constantly coming in and leaving my headquarters (formerly known as Granny Qi's house) and so my office (formerly known as Granny Qi's dining room) was rather messy all the time despite Granny Qi's efforts to keep it tidy. Unfortunately for her, I could create a mess far faster than she could clean it up.

I could tell that while Granny Qi put up with this given the importance of my work, she was clearly not happy with it.

It wasn't just her who was in a sour mood - lots of people throughout the city had multiple complaints, most of them just buried them deep within themselves. Especially now that the dryads, and evidence of their slaughter was drawing near.

Bodies began to turn up in the Arconia - floating downstream from where the dryads had thrown them in to dispose of them. I don't know if they threw them into the river in order to get rid of them, or to possibly strike fear into our hearts before attacking.

I think more likely than either of those two explanations was the simple theory that they did not care where they discarded the bodies, and some of those which they dumped happened to end up in the river.

Men, women, and children, all exsanguinated by the dryads and then tossed aside carelessly like kids would do to empty juice boxes back home. They had been granted no mercy and there had been no negotiating with this enemy.

There had only been a few bodies on the first day that they appeared, but later on, the number increased to the point where hundreds of them could be seen floating along the river even from the city walls.

Most of the dumb complaints I had been receiving quieted down after that.