246. Banquet (1)
“Ugh! Schluss! Long time no see!”
“Nice to meet you, Duke Damian.”
“It is an honor to meet you, Your Excellency.”
Hurlocker, who was approaching Schluse with a lot of over-trembling, shuddered and withdrew his open arms.
That bastard.
He told me to pretend to be a friend, but now he was ignoring me.
After exchanging greetings with the duke and greeting the chancellor and Atatürk, Schluss finally turned his attention to Hurt Locker.
“Yes. Long time no see.”
“hahahaha. If you are a close friend of His Excellency, please tell us in advance.”
“It was sent for preliminary inspection, but I can’t reveal it.”
“Ha ha ha…”
That was the setting.
It was just a coincidence that Hurtlocker came into contact with the duke as soon as he came to the desert frontier, but it soon turned out to be a thorough plan.
Meanwhile, Atatürk froze as he saw Damian laughing.
Somehow, I couldn’t filter out Schluss Heinkel’s spy and ended up approaching the Duke.
“Could you introduce your group?”
“My escort is Edengart Trier von dem Schulzenburg, and Erica von der Lichtenburg, who has come to study the magic of the East.”
“Huh. Does Schluss Heinkel really need an escort?”
“My escort is strong enough to defeat me.”
“I’ve committed a great disrespect. Since you’re a woman, I thought you were just an escort in name.”
“If I hadn’t said that, it wouldn’t have been such a big deal.”
“hahahaha.”
Atatürk, who had been listening to the conversation from behind, closed his eyes tightly.
He knew that even if Damian used a flirtatious tone in any situation, he would be different when dealing with superiors.
It was to the point where I wondered if I might have a disease that would kill me if I didn’t say everything I thought inside my mouth.
“A brief tour of the desert frontier is prepared. If you don’t mind, I’d like to take you to the inn after the tour. How about it?”
“Let me accept the favor.”
“And I plan to prepare a banquet with dinner in the evening. I would appreciate it if you could attend. I want to treat you to all the delicacies of the desert.”
“It’s dinner. I’m looking forward to it.”
Schlus Heinkel was a little surprised by the tremendous hospitality, considering that he had come without saying anything.
As if she knew it was coming.
If it wasn’t for that, she might have been waiting for the ceremonial event at any time.
Either way, Schluss decided to enjoy everything on offer.
There was no such thing as too urgent to be skipped, and rather, there were parts where the operation proceeded only after experiencing all the events.
“First of all, let’s go see the huge oasis. A spring that never runs dry. It is the source of life that feeds the people by producing 80% of the food in the desert.”
On the other hand, there were people who watched from afar with observation magic.
Carefully examining the faces of the party one by one, they—
“Huh?!”
When Schluss’s eyes met directly, he was startled.
The spell was destroyed immediately.
“Ah. I was intercepted.”
“Bar, just now. Could it be that Schluss Heinkel intercepted it?”
“No way. How do you detect a spell on that street and even destroy it? It must have been caught by a magician belonging to the police.”
“Isn’t it?”
The elves sat around and talked seriously.
A blessed land that produces 80% of desert food.
The economic center where all goods and money come and go.
If such a desert frontier was in the hands of humans, the elves had no choice but to live as slaves to humans forever.
These are the elves who gathered to break through the absurd situation.
Originally, they were plotting a rebellion to appoint the daughter of the tribe that ruled this land as king.
“Rather than that, what should I do now? Schluss Heinkel is out.”
“What should I do? I’ll hold my breath and stay quiet for the time being.”
However, in the midst of work, Schluss Heinkel suddenly visited the desert.
The ruler of the battlefield who single-handedly cuts through thousands of beastmen warriors who are famous for their ferocity.
While he was in the desert frontier, it was almost certain that everyone would die the moment a rebellion broke out.
“So you’re going to stay quiet? We’ll have to gather information.”
“What kind of information are you gathering. Are you talking about Schluss Heinkel?”
“Of course. Isn’t he the second-in-command of the Empire? If we can talk about his intentions, he can predict the Empire’s policy.”
“The man’s information is important whether the rebellion succeeds or not.”
At some point, opinions gathered to approach Schluss Heinkel and collect information.
As a man who could move thousands or even tens of thousands of soldiers with a single word, knowing his intentions could have been of great help to the rebellion.
For example, if he knew that additional Imperial forces were planned to be stationed in the desert frontier, he could speed up the plan to launch the rebellion before that date arrived.
“So the question is who goes.”
“Hmm… That’s all.”
“What? Me?”
The elves looked at each other and then looked at only one person.
A woman sitting in the seat of honor.
Compared to the others, her much brighter skin indicated her high status.
“Doesn’t the princess also have the status of a dancer?”
“Hey! That’s because he joined the circus for a while when he ran away!”
“At that time, the chushin dance became famous and popular in the desert. Perhaps Duke Damian will be looking for the dancer at the banquet…”
“Are you crazy? You want me to go there and dance? In that outfit then? Ugh! No! No!”
Recalling the humiliating experience of the day, the princess’s cheeks turned red.
She made her debut as a dancer under her pseudonym to conceal her identity for a while, a name now famous in the desert.
She is said to be a goddess who dances like a butterfly.
After her debut, she hadn’t appeared for several years, but it was obvious that Duke Damien would find the goddess at this banquet, as he did every year.
“The only ones who know the face of the princess are either dead or us! You don’t have to worry about your identity being exposed!”
“He knows. Ataturk…”
The princess’s teeth were grinding.
Ataturk. That damn traitor.
If it wasn’t for him, this land would still belong to the elves.
The princess crinkled her expression as she caressed the key hanging around her neck.
“The banquet hall is an open place. I will watch from the outside with observation magic and send a positive sign if Atatürk isn’t there, and a danger sign if he’s there, so don’t worry too much.”
“But it’s too dangerous-“
“Please, princess! Only the princess can do this!”
“Haa…”
As the elves all bowed their heads to her, the princess sighed.
She was risking her life to do this.
Some have already been caught and imprisoned or even killed.
However, as a member of the royal family, I couldn’t just be trembling.
“Tsk. Okay. I can’t go.”
“Excellent!”
“You made the right decision!”
“Huh.”
Fearing that the capricious princess’s heart would change again, the servants quickly praised her until their saliva dried up.
The princess sighed heavily and walked in front of the mirror to make up her mind.
‘You have to do what you do right. You can do it, Celica.’
***
“No artifacts detected… Not one.”
Erica gave her thumbs up as she walked around the large room, inspecting every piece of furniture, walls, and even the floor.
It was only then that I was able to breathe a sigh of relief.
“Open the barrier. To level 1.”
“I don’t have enough mana right now, so it’s going to be difficult to open the 1st class right away.”
“I put magic into the core. The rest unfolds on its own.”
“How long did you keep it… Huh?!”
Erica’s eyes widened when I confirmed her spell.
I wouldn’t be surprised since it contains 300,000 mana.
With Erica alone, she had to collect 100 days.
Erica’s eyes instantly lit up with excitement, and soon a solid barrier began to form around her.
Whether it’s physical damage, sound waves, or magic waves, it blocks everything, but it’s a barrier that actively transmits communication magic.
You’ll need to bring some annihilation cannons to break through this.
“Master! Look at this! The bed here is so soft!”
“A shower room in the desert…”
“Guys. Would you like to stop watching and get together for a while?”
It was only after I warned them that the guys who had been looking around the room gathered one by one at the large table in the hall.
Trie, Erica, and Hurt Locker.
It was a combination that felt different just by looking at them gathered in one place.
It would be even more bizarre if gin got stuck here.
“I looked around while sightseeing and found something strange.”
“Huh? Strange?”
“Erika, you were so busy eating that you didn’t know.”
“Again! Again and again, they give me something to eat!”
“I definitely got the feeling that the military was over-deployed, Master.”
Trier made a point.
The number was too large to be a force for simple security maintenance and traffic control for distinguished guests.
That’s all.
Looking at it with Observation Magic, it was discovered that many troops were stationed throughout the city in the first place.
Since military forces, not even police forces, were spread out like this, it reminded me of a city in the middle of a war.
“I heard that tensions have risen here since you disappeared. Didn’t the elven tribes unite to cause a war?”
“That’s why there were a lot of troops before I disappeared. According to Hurtlocker’s report.”
Hurt Locker, who was silent with his arms crossed, nodded.
If what he reported is true, Damian has recently increased the number of enlisted men to an excessive extent.
The garrison is overflowing, and even though it is distributed in various facilities, it is often noticed by citizens.
“I guess I was trying to hunt a mine.”
“Mine?”
“Duke Damian was quite enthusiastic about gathering information about Mine. Especially about Mine called Travelers. He really likes Mine and even collects trivial information, but… It seems to me that he is chasing an assassination target. It looked the same.”
It was a keen guess.
It’s true that Damian is actually chasing the Traveler to kill him.
Even by breaking the peace agreement between demons and humans.
However, the reason is not that important, so I decided not to reveal it here.
“What. That aside…”
It bothers me that Damian fidgets behind me, but it shouldn’t be too much of a problem.
It’s Atatürk that’s really important in this operation, not Damian.
So, as long as there are no strange variables, I should be able to make Atatürk move the way I want.
“Hmm?”
“What is it?”
From noble mtl dot com.
“Correspondence from Jin.”
At that time, a wave of communication magic flowed in.
I received it right away and converted it into audio.
-I stole a key from Atatürk! I have to be able to tolerate it because I go sloppy. I think it’s very important because it looks gorgeous. Where is the key to the safe? Good job Is it not worth the commission fee? Right?
“Damn it…”
“What? Why?”
I ended up slapping my forehead.
A weird variable just came into being.
Where does it go if I stay still for a while?