Beesekai [A Monster Reincarnation Isekai]

Déjà vu. That was a fun word Beelzebub knew thanks to Mom, but it wasn’t fun to experience. She was once again stuck watching the humans sleep, but this time, Ben wasn’t alongside her to share in her misery. Though, to be fair, he was stuck watching something far more dull.

“Bub. Bub. Bub. Bubbidy Bee bub.”

“If you don’t stop that, I will agree to train you and I will beat you up so bad you’ll be eating honey through a straw.”

It didn’t matter that Beelzebub didn’t know what a straw was - the point got across just fine, and Ben stopped his blathering. She turned back to the humans sleeping in the inn, dreading having to continue listening to Vlugh and Jey’s conversation again.

“Beel. Beel. Beel. Beeledy Bub bee.”

Beelzebub sighed. How was she supposed to try using her brain in this situation? She took a breath. Drawing on the experiences Mom was having recently, where she was learning to focus, Beelzebub tried to do the same. Tuning out the voices, the buzzing, and her burning desire to fight, she tried to think only of a single thing.

The humans.

Jey and Vlugh were talking, sometimes too loudly. It was the first shift of the night for the outsiders. Tonight, they were implementing a new system. Since the mercenaries were under heavier suspicion, Greyan was taking it upon himself to participate in each and every shift, only sleeping for an hour during the first part of each shift, then staying awake for the latter half. As a result, he was sleeping lightly, sat up in a chair, wearing his full suit of armor.

For all the human-ness, Beelzebub found the image of Greyan, leaning in his full armor and trying to rest a bit to be in top fighting shape, absolutely inspiring. This was a true warrior who devoted his life to the craft, using every tool at his disposal to-

“Damn. Focusing is hard.”

Beelzebub’s head hurt, but she realized the attempt to focus worked, at least to a degree. She decided to take things a bit more slowly and tried to focus on the conversation the two humans were having. Not that she thought they were interesting - she just wanted to practice a new skill Mom was learning to get stronger. And to drown out Ben.

“So, in terms of romance-“

“Nope.” Jey shook her head. “Herwen is completely hopeless. Never had a single relationship. Not casual, not serious, not nothing. But he’s a rich brat, so he’ll probably get hitched to some noble girl and be miserable for the rest of his life. Not that it would be much different from his usual self.”

Vlugh snorted. “He’s an… interesting guy. But I’m surprised the rest of you are so active. Socially, I mean. Not romantically. But that too.”

“I’m actually surprised you mercs are so cagey. The whole fantastical image of mercs with the freedom to do whatever they want. Or whomever. I mean, that’s the whole draw of becoming a merc in the first place, isn’t it? Plenty of Knights who tire of the grind eventually go out and become mercs.”

“As far as I’ve seen, that’s definitely not the real deal. My group is a bunch of random jerk-offs who have no other actual skills. Except maybe Rette, but her situation is kinda weird. So yeah, we don’t have good skills, so all we can really do is fight and do odd jobs. Hired muscle a lot of the time. Not much glitz and glamour in the job, so I don’t know why Knights would get into it. I grew up in Yiwi, in the poor part of town, and worse, I’m Drevan. So people are automatically wary. Though, to be fair, all I wanted to do as a kid was fight people, so when I lost to Yelah, I just ended up following her. And she was weird; she actually wanted to be a mercenary, since forever. Maybe because of Seiena.”

Jey tilted her head. “Huh. In the capital, the mercenaries are usually just guards. Though I’ve seen some of the lower-tier mercs do some odd jobs out in the farmland. But most of the fighting gets taken care of by the Knights.”

“So, what you’re telling me is that when a Knight gets tired of being a soldier, they can just get a cushy job as a personal guard? I bet they’re in high demand too, considering their history.”

Jey scoffed, but she smiled at the same time. The two eased into a lull, letting the quiet night and breathes of their comrades fill in the space. And Beelzebub hated it. She was trying to focus on something, dammit!

“So then,” Vlugh said, “I assume you always wanted to be a Knight? I mean, even if you’re not in the capital, everyone knows about them. Hell, if I knew about them sooner, I might’ve wanted to be one.”

“Me? Kinda. I’m too lowborn compared to the typical Knight, so it was more like a mildly attainable fantasy rather than an achievable goal. I was pretty lucky; my family got into the good graces of a Knight Commander when I was a kid and that gave me an in to the Royal Knight Academy when I was a teenager.”

“Greyan?”

“This idiot? Nah. It was a short lady, Knight Commander Galas. I haven’t seen her in years.”

“Did you have to mention her height?”

“Since I was lowborn,” she continued without missing a beat, “I had to work hard at the Academy. And when I say work hard, I mean kick the ass of anyone in my way. I made it through with brawns, not brains. Maybe that’s why Greyan selected me to join his personal squad.”

“Really? You’re strong enough to beat up everyone who was trying to become a Knight?”

“Sure, why not? Well, maybe there were a few times that some gossip helped to soften them up, but I had one of the best combat records in Academy history. Of course, that was at the time. There are some people I graduated with that became stupid powerful. Like Meyara. I would never, ever, ever lose to her while we training, but now? I’d give her a solid 40% chance of winning.”

“Hold on. Gossip? That seems like it involves brains of some kind.”

“Oh, I’m just good at talking about people. But that’s not important. To be fair, those skills do help with some missions, but something like this calls for brainpower only Greyan could work with.”

“On that note,” Vlugh said, “you’re being pretty chill about this whole situation. I’ve gotta be honest, things aren’t looking great for my buddies and I. Not that we did anything wrong, obviously. But things are getting really heated, all because I suggested looking in that stupid shoe store.”

“Yeah, I don’t know, man. If you are actually guilty, I’d call you incredibly stupid for suggesting it. Clearly, Greyan isn’t sold on your supposed guilt either, precisely because it would require a monumental dumbass to expose themself like that.”

“Gee. Thanks.”

“Cheer up dude. We’re trying to say you can’t be that dumb.”

Jey kicked Vlugh in the shin, probably harder than intended, because Vlugh let out a yelp of pain. After grumbling for a bit, Vlugh went back to being pensive.

“I’m just confused about what Greyan suspects. He and Meyara seemed to be thinking about something when I mentioned some of the other possible combinations I came up with for the code. Do you know anything about them?”

Jey shrugged. “I wasn’t listening, but Greyan did mention something about the ‘Rose of Ethos’ to me. I have no clue what it is, though.”

“That’s because you dedicate your brainpower to idle gossip rather than important subjects like history.”

The gentle tone of Greyan’s voice was so sudden it caused both humans to jump a bit in their chairs. Greyan hadn’t even moved. The only sign that he was awake was a slight change in his breath and his eyelids only being half-closed.

“Like I was telling the merc, I don’t got much in the way of brains.” Jey grumped, settling back in her chair. Vlugh also tried to relax, but now that his innocence was more in question than ever, he found it hard not to squirm under Greyan’s gaze.

“I won’t go through that argument again with you. Anyways. Since neither of you two seem to care at all about important historical events that have affected the world we live in today, I have no choice but to educate you. Honestly. Meyara knows this; why can’t you all?”

Greyan spoke in soft tones, as if trying not to wake somebody from their slumber. Which, to be fair, was probably exactly what he was doing. It was just that the other two humans weren’t so considerate.

“The Rose of Ethos is now known as an event that occurred about 60 years ago. I would hope you know that is in the earliest days of His Majesty the King’s reign. This was right after King Yiwan inherited the crown from his father, and at the young age of 15 had to contend with the mounting discontent his tyrant father had built over the past half-decade. Despite his age, the King became a veritable warlord, using his powerful Mind and loyal followers to maintain an iron grip over the vast, tumultuous kingdom his father suddenly left him with. Of course, he was still a boy. Many did not agree with his rule. Cue in Rose of Ethos. They were a mercenary company that had helped King Yiwan the Second, His Majesty’s father, establish the Kingdom of Somuia as we know it today, and were one of the first mercenary companies to become a partner of the Kingdom.”

Vlugh waited for a pause in the explanation and finally found it. “So, Rose of Ethos was a merc company? I thought it was the event. Man, merc companies have been around for a while. But why’ve I never heard of them before?”

“It is precisely because of the event that stole their name that they are rarely talked about. At some point, the mercenary company devised a brutal strategy to undermine the young King. While Somuian history scrolls will explain their motivations as purely malevolent, jealous, and angry that their hard work of the last 15 years had fallen on the shoulders of a child, I believe there is more to the story. Sure, all of those things are probably true, but it’s interesting that the only records of the leaders of the Rose of Ethos at the time of the event are found in foreign scrolls.”

“Anyways, their plan was thus: they would slowly but surely destroy the population of the capital and the Knights while pinning the blame on the King. They poisoned water supplies with subtle traces of toxic metals, they infected foods with Mind-numbing parasites, and worked tirelessly to interrupt trade with the city. There’s little record of how any of this was achieved; for example, even today, parasites capable of numbing people’s Minds are practically unheard of. But it was all happening. For weeks, the capital suffered, and they had no idea what was going on. Even the Knights, once loyal to their King, began to turn on him. It was nearly the end of the short-lived Kingdom of Somuia. But then, in the course of only a single day, the King resolved everything.”

“Huh? How’s that even possible? They had no idea what was going on, right? We can barely even solve a murder in a week, and the King solves a whole conspiracy overnight?”

“That’s the King for ya,” Jey said, puffing out her chest. Though it deflated soon after. “The merc has a point, though. Without any clues, that whole thing seems impossible to solve, especially in such a short time frame.”

“That’s part of what makes the story so interesting,” Greyan said. He finally moved, leaning back further in his chair.

“Nobody truly knows how the King figured it all out. But I have a theory. Rather, it’s my mentor’s theory. He’s the one who taught me how to think critically and carefully. As the story goes, the King miraculously discovered the source of the capital’s suffering and rode out with his Royal Guard of the time to the Rose of Ethos’ company headquarters. Nobody knew what he was doing, or why he was visiting a company of mercenaires. And then, he proceeded to slaughter every single member, except, famously, the rank-and-file staff. Lo-and-behold, the capital’s suffering comes to an end. The Rose of Ethos became an event where a building was painted red in retribution, rather than the name of a band of mercenaries. And the remaining members dispersed. The end.

“So, what is my theory? There are two important things to note about the Rose of Ethos: the surviving members, and the years that follow the event. There is no record of the people King Yiwan spared, supposedly to protect their privacy and to let them lead normal lives. However, I think they went on to do something interesting.

“You see, the Rose of Ethos was one of the key events that cemented the young King as the permanent ruler of Somuia, both for the legend that surrounds it and the fear that stems from it. Oh, and the intelligence gathering capabilities of the Mind Inquiry Service. Weren’t expecting them to show up, huh? Well, neither was anybody else. In the years following the Rose of Ethos, where King Yiwan’s rule underwent a solidification, the MIS were, at some point, established as a public agency. Supposedly to keep a leash on previously unrestricted mercenary companies, so that there would never be another Rose of Ethos. But there is evidence to suggest the organization existed in those years between the Rose of Ethos and the stabilization of Somuia. My mentor believes that the surviving members of the Rose of Ethos were actually secretly informing the King of the company’s actions, and so he spared them, then proceeded to recruit their talents to form an intelligence gathering organization. Over time, I’ve come to question some aspects of the theory. Why turn rank-and-file staff into the founding members of a highly secretive, highly capable government agency? How does revealing some secrets translate to such skills? And how did they become so powerful so quickly? So many questions.”

Greyan began to stroke his beard, but Vlugh and Jey were at a loss for words. They either stared at the ground or at Greyan, mostly unmoving. Eventually, Vlugh found his voice.

“That’s… a crazy story. And a crazy theory. So, is it a weird coincidence that I found those words in the message?”

“I’m not sure. Meyara and I suspect it might have something to do with our original mission. But if that’s true… In any case, that is related to something else I have been concerned abou-“

Suddenly, Greyan shot up, startling the other two humans once again. He lunged at the window and put his ear against it for a moment before throwing it open before Vlugh could even react. At first, there was silence. Then Vlugh thought he heard something familiar.

Beelzebub broke her focus. Ben was no longer at his post in front of Seyorohon’s shoe store, and was instead shaking her shoulder and pointing somewhere deeper in the town. The intense focus had left Beelzebub a bit groggy, so she had to shake her head a few times to see what he was freaking out about.

Faint crackles and pops. The most distant sound of voices. And a bright orange glow, distinctly out of place in the dead of night. Somewhere in the heart of Lemonholm, a fire was raging. And Beelzebub had no idea why.