163-157 The end of the assailants

No matter how much I searched for them since then, I couldn't find the slavers.

Many of the former slaves who were attacked by that slaver were seriously injured, but miraculously there were no deaths.

I had no choice but to drink the magic potion and heal the former slaves to the extent that they did not die.

''Even so, I didn't expect those that Master and Lionel slayed to be alive.

I thought I had killed them because they were slashing so vigorously at the time, but I was quite surprised that they were all alive.

'Luciel, take a good look. These guys aren't all slaves, are they?　The marauders are actually a coalition of slaves, bandits, adventurers, and private soldiers from somewhere else. They were trying to deceive the enemy and get information out of him.

''Information........Master. Still, wasn't it a little too much for you?

My mentor started laughing.

I tried to ask him without understanding what he meant, but Lionel also smiled with a grin and told me the answer instead of my master.

''Luciel-sama, no matter how much of a whirlwind it is, it's impossible to completely prevent that many total attacks. If you were standing on this front line in your prime, you wouldn't have been injured, but.......

'You have no idea, but don't spout lies to Luciel. I made it look like I was hurt on purpose, and so was this guy.

?

In my head? lined up.

'Huh~. If you create an advantageous situation by making it look like you've been cut off by a thin layer of skin, the person you're drunk with is going to be talkative on their own, right?

'That's the way it is. He made it look like he was injured, and when the mastermind finally came out, Luciel-sama came to him.

The Master let out a big sigh and told me that it was a strategy disguised as a struggle.

And Lionel explained the situation at that time, but there was something that didn't add up for me.

But was everything Lionel said earlier a lie?　I think that was Lionel's way of accurately assessing his master's condition.

When I think about it, I feel that something like combat intuition might have been dulled by Master.

........Master was often in the training grounds of the Adventurer's Guild.

Wasn't that to develop his battle intuition?　It's common in previous lives to lose the ability to do the things you used to be able to do as the years go by.

I don't know about the old master, but compared to the adventurer's days when he was fighting with his life on fire, it was quite conceivable that a master who had been in the adventurer's guild for a long time could become duller and duller in terms of skills and senses that were not reflected in his status.

The highest status value existed, but it was only the highest value and he didn't always spend time in that state.

Isn't Master still in a state of trial run where he hasn't regained his actual battle intuition?

I came to that conclusion.

''Master, have you regained your battle sense and combat instincts?　Didn't it also fit that your master deliberately cut off your thin skin to feed it?

Are you sure you have been training for combat?　I asked.

''Well it's just a little bit. These guys' individual abilities were so-so, but because of their extraordinary coordination, they had the combat power of the current A-ranked adventurers. Well, the bad news is that it's a coalition, so the timing of their attacks are not always the same, but there were some of the worst attacks where they attacked your entire group, so it was fun.

Seeing my anxious face, my master shook them off and gave me an analysis of my opponent and a report on the situation.

Rather, he realized that I was a fool for worrying about this battle madman.

''I don't know how strong an adventurer as strong as an A-ranked adventurer is, but I would have died a few times.

If it's going to kill you like that, you might actually die in training.

It's been a long time since I've seen those eyes and my knees are laughing.

I decided to change the subject.

Because if I don't, I'm going to die........

''So, but you didn't kill him well after handling so many attacks.

'At first I thought killing them was inevitable, except for those who were slaves and had no choice but to fight, they were weak. If it was just a matter of holding on to that, Luciel could have done it too.

Is that right?

Apparently, my master had approved of my growth.

'I've trained so much, I don't think the pain will knock me out, do you?　Now if we can just use our recovery magic to buy some time, it should be no problem.

Well, I didn't say I could fight.

Will I ever grow as a warrior?

''Luciel-sama, it's a whirlwind embarrassment. Your excellent assessment of the situation and your recovery magic saved me and others this time. If I had been a little later, I would have had to slay you.

Well, yes. Slaves are bound by a curse. Some of them must have been forced into slavery. That's why the disenfranchisement helped.

........I was thinking about this and that just now, but I was convinced that these two were in a different dimension.

They were probably thinking about nullifying the enemy with non-kill under that situation.

If it was at full strength, it means it would have been over without my intervention.

Well, when I think about it calmly, it seems natural.

But if that was the case, why didn't these two guys catch the slavers, I was curious about that.

''........But what I'm concerned about is that slaver.

'Luciel, I'll tell you first, because the figure we've been seeing is an imposter.

What?

I fired a stone's throw at him when I saw an opening, but he slipped through.

There must be a reason you didn't tell me.

Then I'll ask you a separate question.

''Well the reason you were targeted was probably because you bought the sisters, but aren't you moving too fast for that?''

''That's right. More than that, he's just aiming at that sister, and this is an unusual drop of force. Maybe he's after Blange.

What do you mean?

I don't know why he's going to be a blange.

'He had the eyes of an insane man those are the eyes of someone who has had someone important taken from him by some unreasonable force. Glandle is a country run by the Adventurer's Guild, it looks barbaric, but it's all about the rank of the adventurer. If they misbehave, the high ranking rankers at the guild headquarters will move to put out the fire, so harboring a grudge against a single individual doesn't turn into a thought that wants to destroy the world. ........Then, the opponent will be an organization, a nobleman, or a country. That sister is said to be from Brange, you know. We won't know what's actually going on until we get to the person in question, though.

He's really quick on his feet.

If it's an organization we can ask the marauders, who are supposed to be private soldiers of those two countries, later.

What makes you think it's Brange?

It's a hunch. But knowing where the sisters are and why they've been attacking us so relentlessly, and, more importantly, informing the private army there, it's an outrage of international proportions.

How can you deduce from a small amount of information when the battle has just ended?

Maybe this thinking is what makes him so great.

However, I was able to make one point that I was curious about.

''........If that story is right, don't I have quite a grudge against that slaver?

Wasn't that the Manifesto?

He did indeed name names and said he was going to crush my dreams.

Crushing my wonderful dream of living a peaceful life........

Well what's done can't be helped. More importantly, the treatment of these guys, what should I do about it?

If this was a common thief, I'd kill more than half of them as an example. It would take a long time to interrogate them. Well, since there's no choice this time, I'll have to carry it to Grandle and ask the professionals at the Adventurer's Guild headquarters to do it.

Half out of desperation, I asked my master about the raiders, but I was too afraid to ask him what they were professionals at.

We took three hours to return the way we had spent an hour coming, and after calling the slavers to the Adventurer's Guild headquarters and dropping them all into slavery, we decided to leave the interrogation to the Adventurer's Guild headquarters.

''Master, are you sure it's safe to leave it to the Adventurer's Guild?''

''Yeah. I don't care if Melatni's guild master is considered incompetent by the guild headquarters, I don't care one bit. If we do our research, we'll find the information we're looking for. We can owe them a debt of gratitude as a result.

This guy is a genius at thinking ahead.

'Is this the matter you've been looking into since yesterday?

Yeah. The trouble with this incident coming to light is that we'll soon find out that it's the result of poor management of requests and adventurers.

That's my master. I understand. What should I do?

'Well you don't have to do anything. Just make sure these guys don't get away with it.

'Yes. That's fine but no, thank you very much. I'll also instruct Lionel and the others to cut them down if they escape.

Yeah. Then wait a little longer.

Master said that and walked into the Adventurer's Guild.

The great thing about that guy is that he's making sure to get the point even there.

But still, it was good to see Master Brod looking happy for some reason.

''I've been spoiled by my master all the time... Lionel, if that slaver had succeeded in summoning me, what do you think I would have gotten out of it?''

If you're on the same level as your master, you can understand some things.

''Considering the fact that it was such a huge magic circle, a large demon, or even a demon tribe if it was a bad one, might have appeared.

''Well there were demons in the village before we stopped in Meratni, what do you think?''

I still stutter when I hear that it's a demon race.

As expected, if there is someone who can use that thing, it's a monster.

I thought the only demon tribe in that village was the Empire, but does that mean it might be different?

'It would be a different line than this time. The slavers this time must have been a summons to appear and subjugate a magic circle. Obviously, the rank of the demon race they fought was different.

''Come to think of it, I know the Empire and the Demon Territory are close to each other, but were there any battles?''

'Yes. We used to clash a lot until about twenty years ago.

''Well that wasn't the time when the emperor, vizier or great nobleman changed his generation or anything, was it?

You are well aware of the situation. After the last emperor's death, it was a new generation of generals. Well, it didn't matter to me at the time, as I was a general.

"...how old were you when you were a general?

'You were twenty. It's a long time ago.

When it was confirmed that Lionel was not an everyman, the master and the strong men came and told the raiders to enter the Adventurer's Guild and take them away.

''Luciel, the raiders will become slaves as it is. We've decided to have all of that trade amount deposited into your account.

Are you sure?　My master could have accepted it. I've been keeping up with Glandle and....

'Then buy him a drink while quieting him down so that everyone doesn't get upset when you return to Meratni.

''I understand. Yes, in case the new adventurers Keti and Kefin captured were tricked with no intention of doing anything bad, let them go. They should be able to start over.

Some of the new adventurers who had been dropped into slavery on the way back to Grandle were crying.

Seeing that, if they really didn't know anything about this case, they decided to ask to be freed.

Even if you're unlucky or something, if you feel saved, you'll be able to try your best to crawl back up from the bottom.

I decided to believe that.

''That's sweet. But if it weren't for that sweetness, I'd probably end up giving birth to a man like that. 'All right. I'll put in a good word for you. So now that we're halfway through the hour, what do we do?

'We can make camp, and we can move on. I think we should move on to the one where we can learn a little more than getting trapped again and stuck in a trap.

Oh, well said. That's my boy. Then get ready to leave.

Yes, sir.

Thus, leaving the attackers in charge of the Adventurer's Guild Headquarters, we headed to the ant labyrinth to hone our skills.