episode_0053

After assessing the situation, we headed straight back to the city.

Fortunately, no one contradicted my guess.

Whether you doubt it or not, if it’s true, it’s really a big problem.

A town where everyone mysteriously disappeared? That’s not the time to worry about that. If we were not careful, the whole city could be destroyed. Who knows what a brainwashed person would do?

So we went back inside the castle walls and went straight to find the lord.

“Look here, Youngju!”

“Oh, surprise. It’s the warrior’s party. It seems like they just left, but the investigation is already over?”

“There is no time to explain. Can we get information on the scouts who went out to that village?”

“Yes? Oh, that’s fine… But the number of soldiers who have gone on reconnaissance missions so far is quite a lot. Is that okay?”

“That’s okay, but how many are there?”

He answered the saint’s subsequent question.

And we couldn’t help but gape in surprise.

*

About 190 people.

15 shamans per reconnaissance mission.

This was the number of scouts who went out during a total of 14 reconnaissance missions.

Even including duplicates, it’s this much.

The village that was attacked seemed to be quite large.

It was difficult for just a few people to investigate the entire village.

Thanks to this, the number of scouts that were initially sent out was increased from only three to 15.

This also included the will of the soldier who went on a reconnaissance mission.

The events in the town are bizarre.

If you give them enough time and manpower, they will figure out the truth.

It is said that a scout made such a request to the lord, and that he gladly complied.

Of course, to the lord at that time, he must have just seemed like an enthusiastic soldier… but to our eyes now, he just looks like someone who was completely fooled by the puppet master’s trick.

After hearing the story, I spoke refreshingly.

“This is fucked up.”

“Hey!!!”

“Yes, warrior. No matter what, speaking so bluntly is a bit···.”

What should I do?

It’s true that it’s fucked up.

The lord, who had grasped the situation, muttered while looking at the floor with a blank expression.

“Oh my goodness… So I’ve been letting my men fall into the trap all this time? Stupidly…?”

His face was quite self-deprecating. The saintess opened her mouth to comfort him.

“Don’t blame yourself too much. It would have happened to anyone, not just you.”

I nodded. It wasn’t that the lord was stupid.

Even if you were complacent, if you didn’t know about the puppet’s existence, you would have no choice but to suffer.

That’s what a puppet master was like in the first place.

They lay traps very naturally and cleverly make you fall for them.

By the time I realized it, I was already in a trap.

I tried to return to a productive conversation, at least for the sake of the depressed lord.

“By the way, who were the first scouts to go? I need to know that first.”

First of all, we have to consider it almost certain that these guys have been brainwashed.

So, it would be right to investigate those guys first.

The lord finally came to his senses and opened his mouth.

“Yes, there were three people who first went out to scout: Rigby, Nelby, and Kelvin. That’s the three of them.”

“It’s an easy name to remember as a set.”

It was a name that seemed like it was made up hastily, but it was easy to remember.

After obtaining information on the remaining 187 scouts and some authority, we parted ways with the lord.

“Let’s start investigating right away.”

When the party members were left alone, Camilla opened her mouth.

“Time is running out, even at this moment, I don’t know what he’ll do. I can’t just leave people to die like this.”

As expected of a knight, he starts by worrying about people.

Surprisingly, it was Adele who stopped her.

“Wait. You shouldn’t act blindly. At least you should set the scope of the investigation before you start.”

“What is the scope of the investigation?”

“Yeah. How many people are you going to monitor? How many suspects are you going to estimate? Where will you start and where will you investigate? It will be a little easier if you decide on these things.”

As expected of a thief, she is thorough in her investigations.

One thing she overlooked was that, by the time she could do such a detailed and detailed investigation, the situation had already happened.

The number of scouts that need to be monitored is 190.

And these scouts are widely scattered throughout the cloud city.

In the meantime, it is natural to interact with people.

Perhaps we also need to protect the civilians who may suffer secondary damage from those scouts.

Moreover, this is a city. Although it is located at the edge of a remote area, it is large enough to be called a ‘city’.

The only good thing was that the puppet master’s ability wasn’t contagious like a virus… but it wasn’t enough for just five people to monitor them all.

“No matter how much I narrow the scope of the investigation, it’s still too broad?”

“Ugh··· Just wait. If you somehow reduce it, there will be a way······.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to ask the Empire for support right now···?”

“Then we have to wait here for a few more days.”

The voices of party members in agony can be heard.

I sighed.

Well, there was a way.

This is probably a method that party members won’t like.

“There is one way to cover this wide range···,”

“What? Really?”

“Hmm··· I can’t believe it. Is it true?”

“Yes. Instead, you should move to a place where people can’t see you.”

So we moved towards the end of the city.

A corner of the city where there are only high walls and not a single person in sight.

I stood in front, leaving the party members behind.

They looked like they were watching what I was going to do. I raised one hand and smacked my lips inwardly.

‘Ugh, I really didn’t want to show it······.’

What happened?

It’s a skill that has to be shown at some point anyway.

I had no intention of hiding my skills in frustration for fear of being hit later.

Wheeing!

A purple magic circle appears in the right hand. Black magic powers seep into it.

It was the magic circle of summoning that King Chung had been drawing over and over again.

In Chunghoeseong, the detection range of Chungwang was probably over several kilometers.

It’s not because the guy has great intuition or because he learned some awesome detection magic.

It’s just that his little bug was crawling hard.

Hwaaak!

Soon, small one-eyed bugs poured out from the summoning circle.

A number that appears to be in the tens, hundreds, or thousands.

Those guys, who looked like a single black paint, soon scattered in all directions.

It wasn’t a very pretty sight, but they’ll be my great eyes and ears from now on.

‘Okay, from now on.’

Start looking for the mafia.

I tried to ignore the party members who were looking at me with astonishment from behind.

*

“What are you?”

“What is it?”

“How can you use the art of loyalty? Since when?”

But it’s not something you can just ignore.

I tried to pass by without doing anything, but I ended up getting caught after only a few seconds.

Lily frowned and demanded.

I just shrugged.

“Well, if I had to be specific, it would have been around the time I left Chunghoeseong.”

“From then···? No, how did you learn it? Tell me from that. Was that something you could learn?”

“Yes, isn’t loyalty also an ability that started from magic? There happened to be a book about loyalty in King Chung’s study, so I learned it in case it would be helpful.”

In fact, I got a reward for catching Chungwang.

I guess there’s no need to say that.

I thought it was a plausible excuse, but she didn’t seem to feel that way. She scowled with an unpleasant expression.

“Stop talking nonsense.”

“Huh?”

“Do you know who the fool is? It really started out as an ordinary magic.

But that technology is something that that Balkan bastard developed on his own and brought to the top. Do you think that’s something you can learn and use right away? And what’s that skill level? It’s definitely not something that can be done in a day or two. ”

“······.”

He is indeed sharp. Is that because he is a wizard?

I knew how to see through the essence. This is definitely not a summoning technique that can be achieved with just one or two days of practice.

I wish you could see through my true nature like that.

It’s just a pity.

Fortunately, I had thought of an excuse in advance, so I wasn’t too flustered.

“You’re a warrior.”

“What?”

“The most talented being in the world. This is what I mean by talented. Didn’t you try swordsmanship and it worked? Why, you’ve never even learned Camilla’s swordsmanship, so how can you imitate it so well?”

“···Ugh.”

Camilla frowned, as if a bad memory had come to mind.

It was a ridiculous explanation, but it was true.

Actually, they all acknowledged my talent.

When we first met, I was weaker than any of the party members, but in just half a year, I became a full-fledged combat force.

It’s to the point where even if two party members attack, she can still win. So if you explain it like this, she has nothing to say.

“Oh, by the way. I won’t accept any objections like “It’s black magic, it’s a bad spell, so you shouldn’t learn it.” We fought for similar reasons last time, and it’s boring to fight again with the same reason.”

If you want to refute that, show me something more efficient than this.

Thanks to that, I was the winner of this argument.

As I said that, I continued to watch the one-eyed bugs spread throughout the city.

Now all we have to do is take our time and wait for the guys to ask for information and give us what’s available today.

And so five days passed.