Book 6: Chapter 32

「Eh? There weren’t any?」

Hearing Orel’s report, everyone that was waiting in Nefas’s room reflexively looked at each other.

「Ou, there weren’t any Goblin settlements within the designated range. There wasn’t even a speck of magical power of them.」

「However, that’s……」

Luuty came up with possible ideas within her head.

What she first thought of was the possibility that the group that Luuty and Sancreed had annihilated was all of them.

Since they had defeated that many of them, it wasn’t impossible.

Next was the possibility that the Goblins had moved in from an even greater distance than she expected.

This also couldn’t be denied.

In the even that really was the case, there wouldn’t be any settlements within the range that Luuty designated.

「Since it couldn’t be helped, I tried searching a bit in the nearby vicinity……but I did find a single empty settlement.」

Then that would mean, it should be thought that the surrounding Goblins have been annihilated.

In that case, unfortunately for Sancreed and the rest, the Goblin extermination would be suspended with this.

When Luuty was about to speak after thinking that, Orel continued on with some unexpected words.

「So……This is just a guess, but it looks like it’ll be much more of a pain than we first expected.」

「Eh?」

The settlement that Orel found still had all kinds of everyday commodities left behind, and only the Goblins were gone.

However, it was normally impossible that the greedy and distrustful Goblins would leave their settlement empty while leaving all of their stuff behind.

Being attacked by the obsession that their precious stuff would be stolen if they were to be away from their village is what the creatures known as Goblins were.

Even if the intelligence levels of the Dark Continent Goblins and the Shutaia Continent Goblins had a difference akin to that between heaven and earth, it was hard to think that even that sort of Goblin instinct would change.

In other words, something that surpassed the Goblins’ instincts had happened. It was only natural to think that way.

「Erm……The times where Goblins do peculiar migrations are, if I remember correctly, when they are chased by someone stronger than them……that was it, right?」

As Seira muttered that while remembering the lesson about it at the Adventurer School, Luuty supplemented her comment.

「Yes. More specifically, it’s when Bestia or Ogres show up……but even then, it’s normal that they would try to bring as much of their goods and property as possible with them.」

Even if an Ogre had gotten close enough until they were right before their eyes, Goblins would hold onto as much of their stuff as possible and escape with them, and that greed would turn into their weakness and allow them to be easily exterminated.

「……Just what in the world happened?」

Nefas’s mutter was exactly what everyone in that room was thinking.

The ones who attacked Luuty and Sancreed on the highway were unmistakably the Goblins of that settlement.

They possessed weapons that were impossibly splendid for normal Goblins, but apart from tht point, they weren’t any different from normal Goblins.

「I don’t know but……I’m getting a bad feeling about this.」

Something that was normally unthinkable was happening.

In most cases, that was an omen of something that wasn’t good.

With Luuty’s experience, she could somehow sense that.

「In any case, the Goblin extermination is suspended. I need to make an urgent report in regards to this matter……So let us temporarily disperse for now.」

Luuty clapped her hands, and everyone started moving all at once.

As a result of Nefas trying to pull Nino who tried to immediately go back, he received a blow to the pit of his stomach.

After making a sidelong glance at those two, Seira called out to Sancreed.

「Erm, Sancreed-san.」

「What is it?」

「It somehow turned out like this……」

「It’s not like it was your fault.」

Seeing Sancreed say “what are you talking about”, Seira made a powerless smile.

「No, look. It feels like this turned into a kind of uproar due to my selfishness……」

Certainly, if Seira hadn’t said that she wanted to fight, it wouldn’t have expanded into a talk about a Goblin extermination.

The conversation between Seira and Sancreed would have ended amicably, and although she didn’t know if Sancreed would have gotten what he wanted or not, but he would have gotten an answer and returned.

「There is no need to worry about that sort of thing.」

「Eh? But.」

「Sooner or later, the Goblins’ abnormal behavior would have been discovered. Rather than making a fuss about being too late at that time, it turned into a result where it was better that we discovered it now……maybe.」

Seeing Sancreed unable to make a definite conclusion, Seira giggled.

「It’s only a maybe?」

「It’s because it might already be too late. But, well, even in that case……it might be several times better than going around and losing even more of the initiative.」

Seira answered “that’s true”, and fell silent.

Like that, after staring at Sancred……she quietly called out to him.

「Hey, Sancreed-san.」

「What is it.」

「Sancreed-san, if you were to obtain an answer to the question you said earlier……」

「Yeah.」

「With that, I’m sure that you would become even stronger.」

Seira had seen the traces of when Sancreed and Luuty had annihilated the Goblins together.

From that, Sancreed’s strength could be grasped to a certain extent.

「That’s right. If I have that answer, I will surely go even further.」

「With that strength, what are you going to do?」

Sancreed thought about the meaning of that question.

And then, he immediately understood Seira’s real intention.

What would he do after becoming stronger.

「……It’s not like I’m scheming to destroy mankind.」

「That’s true. I also thought that might be the case, and I thought it would be nice if that were the case.」

Although she agreed with Sancreed’s answer, Seira made eyes that seemed somewhat distant.

「I see.」

「Un. That’s why, I’m sorry.」

「……I see.」

I can’t answer right now──Seira said that in a roundabout way.

That was something that couldn’t be helped.

Sancreed was a Mazoku, and Seira was a member of mankind.

Even if Sancreed and the others weren’t interested, for a majority of mankind, Mazoku were still a threat, and continued to be legendary monsters.

For Seira, who was an inhabitant of the St. Altlis Kingdom where the Hero Legend had strongly remained, Sancreed wasn’t just someone she was unfamiliar with, he was a 「Mazoku」.

The reason why Seira stubbornly insisted on the combat method was most likely because she had tried to probe the Mazoku called Sancreed even a little through Sancreed’s sword skill and way of fighting.

Even if Luuty and Nefas had introduced him to her as an acquaintance, in the end, Sancreed was nothing more than 「an acquaintance of an acquaintance」.

To have her suddenly trust him and talk about fighting techniques, that might have been an impossible story from the start.

Even with Luuty, it wasn’t like she had promised her full cooperation to the Zadark Kingdom.

They may or may not end up pointing their blade at each other.

「Erm. Well then, this is it from me, for today……」

「For today?」

「Ah, un. Erm……It seems the plan is to stay for three nights.」

「I see.」

Taking his gaze off from Seira who left the room just like that, Sancreed aimlessly gazed at the scenery outside of the window.

The hustle and bustle of the town could be heard from the windows where warm sunlight shone in from.

At the corner of the room, he saw Nefas being melancholic for some reason.

「……What might you be thinking about?」

Marin suddenly cut into Sancreed’s field of vision as he was indulging in reverie.

「So it’s you, Marin. Where are Nino and Orel?」

「The two of them have returned. For Orel-sama, it was because he was sleepy. For Nino-sama, it was because the idiot was annoying. That is what they said.」

「So, I guess that means you saw them off. Why did you stay behind?」

「Sancreed-sama, I thought I would ask if you would not be returning.」

「Me, huh……」

With how Seira looked earlier, even if there were still two days remaining, the result would probably be the same.

It would be difficult to pull out any sort of word from Seira.

That was the distance between Sancreed and Seira, the distance between the Zadark Kingdom and the St. Altlis Kingdom……and then, it was also the distance between Mazoku and mankind.

「I want to think about it, a bit more.」

「Is it something that will change if you think about it?」

Of course, nothing would change.

Vermudol, the Demon King, had spent a long time and devoted all of his power, and it had finally turned into a situation where they formed a friendly relationship with only the Jiol Forest Kingdom.

There is no way that anything would change with Sancreed thinking about it here.

Sancreed thought “but still”.

Even so, it wasn’t like there was no meaning in thinking about things. Rather, he needed to continue thinking.

About a method to close this distance he felt today.

Since that would most likely connect to the future that Vermudol was seeking.