Volume 2 - CH 374

9-8. Guild Meeting

After leaving the inn, Uchikage and I headed to the guild.

For now, I’m going to expand the range of my haze and stay vigilant wherever I go.

By the way, it seems that Alena and Houen are currently at the Castle of Salettana to do some research.

Houen is the investigator and Alena is the escort.

The reason she is accompanying them is that Alena’s skills will be able to block the opponent’s movement.

They are investigating the route that the assassins from the Vulpan Kingdom have taken to infiltrate the castle.

No one has seen them so far, and they still don’t know how they got in.

It is possible that there are people with such skills, but if we start talking about it, there would be no end to it and everything would be taken care of, so I’ll just keep quiet about this.

I’ll leave that side to them for now.

If Houen is there, he should at least be able to find something.

Okay, we’ll go our way.

“Excuse me.”

Uchikage said shortly after knocking.

Without waiting for a reply, he opened the door to find Maria, Yurie, and Roze inside.

All three of them sighed in disappointment at the sight of me.

“You’re late.”

“Sorry about that. ……”

“Ouren-kun, isn’t this something bad? I mean, it’s about Reizen-kun.”

“You expected it?”

I was crossing my fingers, but when the guild master Maria said that, I started to feel uneasy.

That Reizen was on the enemy side. 

I did not think that much about it when I was talking to him, but on the way here, I realized it.

Reizen was always right next to Prince Kreis.

However, he was sleeping most of the time.

The butlers and maids could attest to that.

The problem was that Reizen and Prince Kreis had disappeared together.

And then they attacked us.

“Even though he was threatened and had no choice but to follow through, Reizen-kun attacked you and the Thunder Bow. That alone is enough to justify a penalty. In addition, the nobles and royalty might ask why he didn’t wake up before Prince Kreis was kidnapped.”

” Are you sure you won’t be able to stay here?”

“That’s right. But I’ll take care of that and make sure he doesn’t cause any more damage.”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

If he is being made to obey, he may attack again somewhere else.

Prince Kreis is taken to the Kingdom of Vulpan, and there is Reizen in the Kingdom of Salettana …….

Hey, wait a minute.

“Wouldn’t the enemy know that he betrayed us even if Reizen didn’t make a move? Besides, if they were that bad, Reizen could beat us at that time. ……”

“Perhaps a contract like that is in place.  I don’t know what it is, but… Everyone, didn’t Reizen-kun have some sort of mark on his arm?”

That’s right, and I remember that time.

However, I was confronted with him only for a brief moment, and I didn’t remember what kind of mark was there.

What could it be ……?

“And it was?”

“I have never seen it.”

“Same here, I haven’t seen it.”

“…….Somehow that kind of mark is a bit familiar……..”

“Hey, isn’t that-!”

“Yea. the slave mark.”

“Slave marks?”

I think the slave trader Dolce would know a lot about this kind of thing.

Eh, a slave mark though?

“I’ve never seen a slave with such a thing painted on them.”

“Combat slaves and common slaves are different, you know. A normal slave wears a collar. A combat slave would be in the way if they wore such a thing, so they use a slave mark to restrict their actions.”

“Are you saying that …… that combat slave’s slave mark might be attached to Reizen?”

“That’s what I mean.”

Seriously,……, if such constraints are placed on him, then he can’t act on his own.

But otherwise, there would be no reason for Reizen not to go wild. ……

But no one here has seen such a pattern.

Because it doesn’t seem to stand out.

I don’t have that kind of spare time in the middle of a battle and all that. ……

“If it wasn’t there, that’s fine,…….”

“But the guy that was with Reizen was really trying to kill Ouren, wasn’t he?”

“I thought so too.”

“That guy’s personality would never do such a thing, but I was certainly prepared to die as well. ……”

No, it’s a mistake to get in close combat with that guy.

Well, I didn’t know who they were either, so I was pretty serious about attacking them with Tenwari.

But they’re not being manipulated.

They just make him obey them.

Because he looked so lonely.

So I know that he is fighting with his own will.

Even if he is serious about us, there must be something he has to protect.

The only one I can think of is Kreis, though.

That still doesn’t add up, but I have to stop him.

I’m not so unreasonable as to keep my mouth shut after seeing a face like that.

“So, what are we going to do about it?”

“Right now, we are waiting for the emissaries of the Vulpan Kingdom. Well, I don’t think it will take too long.”

“Maybe Prince Kreis hasn’t arrived in the Vulpan Kingdom yet. It was only three days ago that he was reported.”

“So they haven’t gone after them?”

“Of course they’re chasing them. They are not a bunch of morons.”

Well, that’s also true.

In that case, an elite unit would be chasing after them, albeit impromptu.

“So, did any of them come back?”

“Not a single one of them made it back alive. Not even the scouts.”

“It seems that the enemy has someone who is a good scout. And there is one who is good at long-range magic attacks. How can anyone find them?”

“That makes sense.”

“Judging by the bodies of the scouts.”

About six dead scouts have been found in the last two days.

All of them had died from magical attacks, and some of their flesh had been gouged out.

They say there are some very powerful sorcerers out there.

“Therefore, I left it in Uchikage-kun’s hands.”

“Eh? Seriously?”

“Yes. I finished my investigation two days ago and yesterday when I returned  ……. As a result, I found the carriage that I thought Prince Kreis was riding in. But the carriage was empty, with only the coachman and the guards inside.”

“….. decoys?”

“I think that’s the most plausible explanation.”

The coach that they had been chasing was a fake, and they had lost track of where the real one had gone.

There are many roads to the kingdom of Vulpan, and it would be difficult to look for all of them now.

I guess it was a case of being found on purpose and having them chase after you. ……

That’s quite a troublesome thing to do, isn’t it?

“And you know what? I’m having them look into the people you fought with. So far we have no information.”

“That saves us a lot of trouble.”

“If you guys stay here, you won’t get attacked. They’re not going to think twice about trying to get into the guild.”

“So, what’s the plan?”

After Maria thought for a moment,

What she is holding now is a big hunting sword.

It’s a single-edged sword with a curved edge.

Then she explained to us her plan of action with her chest puffed out.

“We’re going to the Kingdom of Vulpan.”

“A rescue mission, huh? Sounds interesting.”

“Hey, hey, what about Reizen?”

“He’s not in town anymore, is he? If he was, you’d have been attacked in your sleep.”

“Oh, right. ……”

If you think about it, that’s true.

Well, the plan is decided.

The four Reitei, the two Thunder Bows, the guildmaster Maria, and the three Shadow Eyes of the stealth unit will be going.

A total of ten people would be involved in the mission.

Although it was a bit disconcerting to go to the kingdom of Vulpan with just these people, all of whom had no familiarity with the area, everyone was an elite group.

I had to trust myself to my companions.

“This time, the key is you, Ouren-kun!”

“If you don’t go with me, you won’t be able to stop Reizen.”

“Exactly! Then go get ready in two hours! I’ll go get the carriage!

“Ah, in that case, you’ll have to use my dragons.”

“Ooh! That’s good! Roze, you’re coming with me.”

“Got it.”

A rescue mission. ……

Well, in that case, we don’t have to wait for their demands!

Let’s get ready!