8 – The Greatest Leader (3)
The three Devil Hunters sitting before me.
Jeanne Bernadotte
Nico Uldyr
And Gabriel Sis, who, after yesterday’s duel, seemed a bit more reserved.
After taking the high seat in front of them,
I stood up and looked at the face of the person we were all observing…
I looked at Ellie’s face, which seemed a bit difficult to look at straight after yesterday’s incident.
“Well, now I will tell you the mission you all need to do. Napolea.”
“Yes.”
Napolea unfolded the prepared map.
On the map, there was a red dot marked on a place located north from here.
“The location is here. It’s a village called Lukerong, about 20 kilometers north from here. It’s not that big, but it used to have a considerable population until recently.”
Ellie explained about the place.
Upon hearing this, I quietly smiled to myself.
“Lukerong… It’s a quite familiar name, right?”
It was one of the villages mentioned in Volume 1, and as Ellie said, although it’s not that big, it was a place where various quests were carried out.
Of course, it must have a different appearance now, as 30 years have passed since then. However, I couldn’t help but have high expectations knowing that I can actually visit that place in the game.
But…
“Huh? Ellie, what do you mean by the fact that there used to be many people there until recently… Does that mean the situation there is not good?”
Janne expressed her doubts.
In response, Ellie spoke to her in a quiet voice.
“Yes, according to the most recent information I heard, the residents of that place have already been annihilated by demons.”
“!”
“….What…?”
Ellie revealed an unexpected story.
Upon hearing that Lukerong, which was one of the backgrounds in Volume 1, had been captured, I immediately showed a momentary expression of confusion, and the others in this place were in the same situation.
“Ha… But isn’t the vicinity of Lucrone known as a safe zone? How could such a place…”
“I don’t have any specific information about it. The only thing I know is that the Devil Hunters from the northern faction who entered there were defeated and fled.”
“That… I see…”
The Devil Hunters stiffened their expressions at Ellie’s words.
And I, too, had no choice but to take the story quite seriously.
Generally, when Devil Hunters embark on a mission, they usually succeed and return.
In battles against demons, Devil Hunters were always in a position of advantage.
Even if they suffered near annihilation, they always managed to claim victory in the end.
The fact that such a complete failure occurred only in the latter part of Part 1 of the game meant that this incident was anything but a simple mission.
“There’s no guarantee that the settings in Part 1 and Part 2 are the same… Anyway, this is definitely not a normal situation.”
With that thought in mind, I continued to listen carefully to Ellie’s explanation.
“There’s no need to explain, but this is a very important opportunity. If the Devil Hunters from our central faction successfully complete the mission that the northern Devil Hunters failed, it will undoubtedly have a significant impact on the public opinion in this area.”
“If that happens, Lady Ellie can greatly weaken the influence of Viscount Lamotte, just as you desire.”
“hehehe…”
Ellie lightly chuckled, displaying an intriguing smile in response to Jeanne’s words.
It seemed like there were political factors involved in this incident, but from my perspective, it didn’t seem to matter right now.
What mattered was to successfully accomplish this mission and gain absolute trust.
I had no interest in anything else and saw no need to pay attention to it, so,
With thoughts focused solely on the success of the mission, I prepared myself mentally.
A carriage moving towards the Lukelong province.
The exterior was not particularly splendid, but due to a special magic, the vibrations inside were barely noticeable.
Inside sat four devil hunters.
At this moment, they took a break and were having a conversation with Gellard, their leader.
“I see. Jannu came from a commoner background, is that right?”
“Yes~ I was just a commoner among commoners. My father was a poor rural lawyer and my mother was just a farmer.”
Jannu told her story with an animated voice, sprinkled with light sarcasm.
It was to be expected, as even among devil hunters, there were prejudices based on social status in the class society of the Franz Kingdom.
Although Elli, who chose her, didn’t care about such things, there was still a part that couldn’t completely ignore it
However,
Gellard maintained a calm smile as he spoke towards her.
“It wouldn’t have been easy for a commoner to come this far. You must have worked really hard until now. Truly admirable.”
“Ah…”
Words of praise that felt sincere, not sarcastic.
Jannu felt a momentary surprise, but she continued speaking with her usual smile.
“hahahaha, I feel quite good when you say things like that. Anyway, I’ll count on you from now on, Master.”
“Well, I don’t remember being responsible for your education… Anyway, I’ll count on you.”
With those words, Gellard drank a sip of water from the flask and fell silent for a moment.
Continuing, he shifted his gaze to the person who had been silently observing since earlier.
“Well then, next is our turn, Nico!”
“Y-yes! My name is…as I mentioned before, Nico Woodir… my hobby is reading… and my status is commoner, the same as before.”
“Even if you’re a commoner, your father is quite wealthy, being a substantial landowner and even involved in distillery business.”
“Oh… but why would you choose such a dangerous Devil Hunter job? Is it related to success or something?”
Despite the discrimination, Devil Hunters and soldiers were professions that officially emphasized skill first, and in that regard, compared to other occupations, they had a relatively higher chance of social advancement.
In that sense, it wasn’t uncommon to see children of wealthy merchants or landowners becoming Devil Hunters or soldiers.
However, Nico shook her head and said.
“Oh… no, it’s not like that… You see, my younger sister decided to become a Devil Hunter and ran away. So, I ended up moving around trying to find my sister, and somehow ended up like this…”
“Oh… so there was a personal reason for this as well.”
Though it wasn’t originally intended, as it turned out, it became a unique case that she got familiar with it and came to this point.
However, regardless of how it started, the fact that she belonged to Unit 3, which was classified as the elite among the central Devil Hunters, meant that her skills were genuine.
“Um… in that case, by any chance, did any of your disciples happen to be my sister?”
“…”
Carefully asking the question as she caught the flow of the conversation, Nico.
In response, Gelred maintained silence for a moment before speaking in a low voice.
“Unfortunately, I don’t know all the Devil Hunters in the North. I don’t remember many names, except for those who were my direct disciples.”
“But… still, if there’s anything you remember, please let me know, what is my sister’s name…”
-Creak!
At that moment, the carriage abruptly stopped.
As the sound signaling their arrival resonated, their conversation was inevitably interrupted.
The devil hunters disembarked the carriage and set out along the forest path.
Leading the way was Gelard, who knew the trail and cautiously advanced.
The other three hunters followed, carefully scanning their surroundings as they moved forward slowly.
Until recently, this area had been classified as a safe zone.
However, since the fall of the village, it could no longer be considered safe.
With the possibility of demons springing out at any moment, they cautiously released magical energy as they walked the path.
And shortly after.
As they reached the top of the hill, the problematic village came into view.
The sight of Lucron Village lay in complete ruins.
“It’s even more tragic than I expected…”
Gabriel remarked in a bitter voice.
The devil hunters quietly agreed with him and began to seriously discuss how they should strategize their approach to the place.
Regrettably, there was absolutely no information available about how previous devil hunters had been defeated there.
The Northern Devil Hunters had no reason to share such facts with their counterparts from the Central Command, and besides, the information they had was classified intel queried by Elly, making additional expectations unreasonable.
In the end, their only option was to begin their own investigation from this point and act upon what they would uncover, hunting down the demons accordingly.
However.
From the outset, they were met by challenges.
“…Hmm…”
“How is it?”
“I don’t feel anything… We might have to go deeper inside.”
Despite Gabriel having unfolded his magic, there was no trace of the demon’s presence to be found.
Considering a demon capable of annihilating an entire village and even causing Devil Hunters to retreat, it wouldn’t make sense for there to be just one or two demons at play.
Yet, to Gabriel, it felt as though the whole village was eerily empty.
“Haah… No choice then. Now that it’s come to this, we’ll have to go inside.”
It was unsettling, but the lack of any immediate detection also meant there might not be any immediate danger.
With that decision, Jeanne, along with the other Devil Hunters, was ready to descend the hill and head into the village.
But then…
“Wait.”
“…?”
“What’s the matter, Leader?”
Gelard suddenly halted them.
After examining the village a while longer, he slowly shook his head and said,
“No. It’s too early to make assumptions, we need to investigate a bit more first.”
“Yes, Master.”
With the Leader’s permission, the Devil Hunters began their approach towards the village in earnest.
In the midst of this,
Gelard stood with a slightly hardened expression, deep in thought.
“No, no matter how you look at it, it’s not possible… Even if we have bad luck, there’s no way those rookies would come out on their first mission…”