CH 59

59 – The Seventh Member’s…?

It was Night time.

「Sir Rain.」

Hearing my name called in a hushed voice, I opened my eyes. It was Eleanor. The moonlight shone on her silver hair, making it sparkle like something out of a fairy tale.「What’s up?」

「There is something urgent to discuss.」

「Got it.」

If Eleanor says it’s urgent, it’s urgent. I carefully climb out of bed, taking care not to wake up the little ones, and then take Mika out of her pedestal.

The white fox looked in my direction.「Take care of the kids.」I said.

『Understood.』It replied

I reach a hand out to Eleanor. Eleanor gently grabs a hold of it, and in the next instant, the surrounding scenery changed completely.

We teleported to the throne room – and many people have already gathered here. First was the person sitting on the throne. The Demon King, a giant of a man with purple hair and horns growing out of his head.

At the bottom of the steps leading up to the throne are Eleanor and I, who just teleported there.

Gathered to the left and right of the aisle were the members of The Seven, Louto, Vivi, Lejie, Monana, Florence, Leo of the Big Four, and a wizard of the same standing – as well as several other powerful people.

Simply by their aura or mana levels, it is clear as day that the people gathered here are no ordinary people.

「Sorry to disturb you at such an hour, dear boy.」His gentle and friendly way of speaking seems completely unbefitting for a person of such stature and royalty.

「Nah, it’s fine.」In the presence of any other king, my attitude would’ve been severely disrespectful, but the king himself allowed it, so all is well.

「As for you Eleanor, dear, you have done well.」

「Not at all, your majesty…」

「You see, I called everyone today because I thought that a secret meeting was necessary.」said the Demon King with as light a tone as ever. He sounds so relaxed that I wouldn’t be surprised if this was all about what to do for somebody’s birthday party or something.

However, the air itself was tense; so I waited patiently for the explanation.

「Now then, Vivi. The explanation if you please, my dear.」

「My lord.」Vivi bowed respectfully before opening her mouth.「Recently, there have been frequent occurrences of incidents centered around those with large amounts of mana.」

Incidents centered around those with large amounts of mana? I might have an idea about that.

「This is regarding the children rescued by the Hero Rain together with Eleanor of the Big Four. The girls themselves are ordinary children with no talent for magic, but there was a sacred beast in the hometown of the fox Demi-human girl. Her village was razed for the purpose of securing the spirit beast.」

Everyone gathered there, Eleanor and I included, had a pained expression on our faces. There are few who would not be pained by the thought of a child being unreasonably deprived of her hometown.

「Also, through further investigation, we learned that the hometown of the cat Demi-human girl had a stone known as a Magatama enshrined there. This played the role of shielding the town from the miasma with a barrier. However, this, too, was taken.」

「…」 

The fox-eared Ur isn’t the only one who had her hometown taken from her. There were those who were sold off by their parents and cannot go back, but there were also those that weren’t sold off but no longer have a place to return to. There’s also one more important condition to keep in mind. 

The miasma corrupts plants and animals, changing them. For people to stay close to human-shaped, they must live in places with pure, clean air – for example, the untouched Human Territory side, or this country that took it upon themselves to take me in, or the uninhabited island that we occasionally go to for some fun by the sea.

Safe areas are places that are either unsullied by the miasma, or places that have a barrier erected that repels the miasma; and currently, not all of those that retained a human shape in Demon Territory are under the protection of this country.

The white fox protected Ur’s hometown. The town was destroyed by the Demons who captured it, while Ur ran for her life only to be caught by Orcs.

「In addition, when we went to check on the pool of mana that we have under surveillance, it has already dissipated. Magic stone thefts and the kidnapping of those with high concentrations of mana have been occurring, but there have yet to be any traces of all that mana being used.」

A pool of mana doesn’t just disappear. If someone utilized their “nature to grant wishes” to realize their desires, the person who went to check on it would have noticed something. If it disappeared without a trace, either the observation results were mistaken or somebody came by and took it. Magic stones are stones that can store mana. If the stone is stolen, the thief can use the mana stored within.

As for those that were abducted, it appears that the Demon King Army already rescued them, but it was most likely for something like the sacrificial ritual that Eleanor and the others went through five years ago.

The common factor among all of these things is an abundance of mana.

「Are you saying that the enemy is secretly acting behind the scenes with the purpose of gathering an enormous amount of mana?」I asked.

Vivi nodded to affirm my question.「I believe that to be highly likely.」

「Now that I think about it…when I went to rescue the white fox, they were definitely siphoning mana out of the sacred beast.」

I reported this to Eleanor at the time, so no one was surprised. Then, at that moment, I heard the voice of someone who wasn’t in the room.「It is just as Sir Rain says. The enemy is gathering enormous amounts of mana…for now.」

Before I knew it, a woman with jet-black hair was standing next to me. She had a cold expression, Majin horns, slender arms and legs, a bountiful bosom, all wrapped up in a tight, black outfit.

She seems familiar…