53 – Cloud City (3)
We quickly headed back towards the city, realizing the situation.
Fortunately, there were no signs of anyone following my hunch.
Regardless of our suspicions and doubts, if that was indeed real, it could lead to a serious problem.
A bizarre village where everyone had vanished? That wasn’t the priority right now. One wrong move, and an entire city might be in jeopardy. How can you predict what brainwashed people might do?
Returning inside the city walls, we immediately sought out the lord.
“Lord Yeobo, we need to talk!”
“Oh, you startled me! You must be the group of heroes. It hasn’t been long since you left. Have you already finished your investigation?”
“We don’t have time to explain. Do you have information on the scouts who went to that village?”
“Yes? Well, of course, I can provide you with that information, but there were quite a few soldiers who went on scouting missions. Are you sure it’s alright?”
“It’s not a problem. Just how many went out?”
In response to the saint’s question, he answered.
And we were left dumbfounded.
*
Approximately 190 people.
15 scouts in each scouting party.
It was the total number of soldiers who had gone out on 14 scouting missions.
Even accounting for some overlap, that was the count.
The attacked village seemed to be rather large.
It would be difficult to thoroughly investigate the entire village with just a handful of personnel.
Thanks to that, the initial group of only three scouts had grown to fifteen.
The determination of the scouts who had gone on the scouting mission also played a role.
The village’s incident was peculiar.
Given the resources and enough time, they believed they could uncover the truth behind it.
One of the scouts had kindled that determination within the lord, and he had gladly complied.
Of course, at that time, the lord probably saw him as an eager soldier, but now, in our eyes, he seemed to be thoroughly ensnared by the witch’s trickery.
Hearing the story, I said with a fresh tone.
“This is really messed up.”
“Hey!!!”
“Well, Hero, even if it’s a tough situation, speaking so vulgarly…”
What can I say?
The situation was f*cked up.
Lord Yeongju, realizing the situation, muttered with a despairing face as he looked down at the floor.
“In this world… Am I supposed to have left my soldiers trapped in a trap until now? Stupidly…”
It was a face filled with self-disgust. The saint opened her mouth to console him.
“Don’t blame yourself too much. Whether it was Lord Yeongju or anyone else, the same thing would have happened.”
I nodded. Lord Yeongju wasn’t being stupid.
He may have been careless, but if he didn’t know about the existence of the Goeusa, he would have been caught regardless.
After all, Goeusa was that kind of guy.
He smoothly set a trap and skillfully made it a trap that you would fall into.
By the time you noticed, you were already caught in the trap.
In order to help the depressed Lord Yeongju, I tried to steer the conversation back to something productive.
“More importantly, who were the first scouts to go? We need to find that out first.”
In any case, it is almost certain that these guys were brainwashed.
So it would be right to investigate them first.
Lord Yeongju barely regained his composure and opened his mouth.
“Yes, the first scouts were three people in total. Rickby, Nelby, and Kelvin.”
“They have easy-to-memorize names as a set.”
They seemed like names that were made up hastily, but it was easy to remember because of that.
With the information of the remaining 187 scouts and a few permissions we obtained, we parted ways with Lord Yeongju.
“Let’s start the investigation right away.”
When only the party members were left, Camilla spoke up.
“We don’t have much time. We don’t even know what that guy will do at this moment. We can’t just let people die like this.”
Indeed, she was worried about people right away, just like a knight would.
Surprisingly, it was Adele who stopped her.
“Wait. We can’t act recklessly. At the very least, we have to determine the scope of the investigation before we start.”
“Scope of the investigation?”
“Yes. How many people are we going to monitor? How many suspects are we estimating? Which areas are we going to investigate? We need to determine these things to make it a little easier.”
Indeed, she was thorough like a thief when it came to investigations.
But she overlooked one thing. To conduct such meticulous and specific investigations, the situation should have been controlled beforehand.
There are a total of 190 scouts that need to be considered with respect.
And these scouts were scattered throughout the Cloud City.
It is natural for them to interact with people in the meantime.
Perhaps they also need to protect the residents who may suffer secondary damage from these scouts.
Moreover, this is a city. Although it is on the outskirts, it was large enough to be called a “city.”
What is fortunate is that the ability of the monsters does not infect like a virus, but… it was insufficient for the five of them to monitor everything.
“Even if we reduce the scope of the investigation, it is still too broad, isn’t it?”
“Mm… Wait and see. There must be a way to somehow reduce it…”
“Don’t you think it’s time to request support from the Empire…?”
“That means we have to wait here for a few more days.”
The voices of the party members exchanging their anxieties could be heard.
I sighed.
There was one way.
From Noble mtl dot com
Perhaps the party members wouldn’t be too pleased with it.
“There is a way to cover this extensive range…”
“What? Is it true?”
“Hmm… I can’t believe it. Is it real?”
“Yes. However, we need to move to a place that is not noticeable to people.”
That’s how we moved to the outskirts of the city.
Only the high walls were stacked, and there was no sign of any person in the corner of the city.
I left the party members behind and stood in front of them.
They were faces that wanted to see what I was about to do. I raised one hand and savored it inwardly.
‘Sigh, I wanted to hide it if possible…’
Well, it doesn’t matter.
After all, it’s a skill that I have to show someday.
I had no intention of hiding the skill frustratingly, fearing the future consequences.
Whoosh!
A purple magic circle appeared on my right hand. Dark black mana seeped into it.
It was the summoning magic circle that the training king had endlessly drawn.
The detection range of the training king’s senses surpassed several kilometers.
That was not only because of his excellent perception but also because he had learned some amazing detection magic.
It was only because of the little bug’s diligent crawling.
Ahh!
Soon, small compound eyes beetles poured out from the summoning array.
Over a dozen, appearing to be in the hundreds, even thousands.
The ones that looked like a single black ink quickly scattered in every direction.
It wasn’t a pleasant sight, but they would soon become my excellent eyes and ears.
“Now, let’s begin.”
The search for the mafia begins.
Ignoring the astonished gaze from behind, the party members pretended not to notice.
*
“What are you?”
“What do you mean?”
“How can you use martial arts? When did you learn?”
But it couldn’t be ignored that easily.
I tried to pass by without any trouble, but I was quickly caught within a few seconds.
Lily interrogated with a fierce expression.
I simply shrugged my shoulders.
“Well, if we have to get into details, it was around the time I left the Martial Clan.”
“Since then…? No, how did you learn? Tell me about that. Could you even learn it?”
“Well, martial arts is ultimately an ability that originates from magic, isn’t it? Besides, there were books related to martial arts in the Martial King’s library, so I thought they might be helpful and learned from them.”
Actually, I only captured the Martial King and received the reward, but I don’t need to mention that.
I thought it was a reasonably plausible excuse, but it seemed that she didn’t feel the same way. She scowled at me with an unpleasant expression.
“Don’t give me that nonsense.”
“Huh?”
“Do you think I’m a fool? It’s true that it started from ordinary magic.
But that technique was independently developed by Balkan and brought it to its peak. Do you think you can just easily use it like that? And what about your level of mastery? It’s not something that can be achieved in a day or two.”
“······.”
Indeed, she’s sharp. Must be because she’s a magician.
She knew how to see through the essence. Surely, this isn’t a summoning spell that can be learned in a day or two of practice.
I wish my essence could be understood like that.
It’s just regrettable.
Fortunately, I had prepared my excuse in advance, so I was able to remain calm.
“You’re a hero.”
“What?”
“The most talented being in the world. You’re overflowing with talent. I’ve seen you show off your skills. Why, even though you’ve never learned Camilla’s swordsmanship, you can imitate it so well.”
“···Ugh.”
For a moment, a bad memory seemed to come to Camilla’s mind as she furrowed her brow.
It was a ridiculous explanation, but it was true.
In fact, everyone acknowledged my talent to some extent.
When I first met the party members, I was weaker than anyone else, but within six months, I became a formidable combatant.
To the point where I could easily defeat two party members on my own. So, if I explain it like this, she won’t have anything to say.
“Oh, by the way. Don’t argue with me about not learning dark magic or unpleasant spellcasting. We’ve already fought for the same reason before, and it’s just boring to argue about the same thing again.”
If you want to refute that, show me something more effective and say it.
Thanks to that, I came out as the winner of this argument.
After saying that, I watched as the beetles spread throughout the city.
Now, all we had to do is wait patiently for them to gather information and wait for today’s job.
And so, five days passed.