Volume 2 - CH 385

9-19. Information Sharing

As we killed our presence, me and Uchikage left the Vulpan Kingdom.

Reassured that no one had noticed us, we headed for the place where Shadow Eye stayed.

While walking, I thought about it.

How did we move this time?

Tracking the presence was interrupted by the discovery of Prince Kreis.

As a result, we were unable to determine where Reizen was.

It would have been helpful in the rescue operation if we could have identified the enemies that might be around him. ……

Well, there’s no way they’d leave Reizen near the hostages, would they?

Hmmm, maybe we should have pushed a little harder to locate Reizen and find out the enemy’s base. ……

But if Reizen and the enemy don’t gather, rescuing Prince Kreis itself will be easy.

I suppose we should move for the purpose of rescuing him as soon as possible.

What else should we do about Reizen’s slave mark……?

It seems that combat slaves are not supposed to oppose their masters.

If we find the master and make him cancel the contract or kill him, the contract will be nullified.

However, we don’t know the master who is making Reizen obey him.

If we catch the devil and ask him, will he answer us? ……

…… I’d like to do something about Prince Kreis before confronting Reizen for this.

I’ll have a talk with them about this as well.

When I went back to the place where Shadow Eye had made a simple base, they were still working on it.

Tiara is sticking her hand into the shadow and fiddling with something.

The other two were putting their hands on her back, as if they were pouring magic power into her.

“They’re back!”

“Eh, you’re back already!”

“We’ve been working for quite a long time, huh?”

“I thought it was going to be a long day. …… This one will be ready to open in a little while. Please wait a little longer.”

“I understand.”

I’ll rest a little until then.

Leaning my back against a rock in the vicinity.

As soon as I let my guard down, I felt a rush of fatigue.

Well, I thought I was pretty tired even when I was in the middle of working. ……

Relaxing too much is not good.

Uchikage sat down on the ground and began maintaining his weapon.

Before the mission, I’ll make sure to adjust my weapon as well.

“……”

“…… Ouren-sama, is there something wrong?”

“No, it’s just this Hakuryuzen. I was wondering how the name came to be.”

“I also don’t know what determines the name.”

“Is that so-“

I’ve been indebted to this guy for a long time, but I don’t understand the reason for the meaning of it’s name at all.

I can somewhat understand Kageorochi, the shadow serpent.

The blade is black and it is a Wakizashi, so it has a name like that.

A serpent lurking in the shadows.

It sounds like a name that would help me out in a pinch.

And then there is Hakuryuzen …….

I never really thought about it, but maybe Hakuryu means me?

Because it was made for me?

But what does the word “Zen” mean?

Moving forward?

Is that what it means?

I was thinking about it while I was cleaning the sword, but I still don’t understand.

I mean, you shouldn’t be thinking while cleaning a sword!

Oh shit, that was close!

“It’s connected!”

“Oh.”

“Shall we head over now? I have a report to make.”

“Alright.”

Vid calls us over, and we get up and walk over to Shadow Eye.

At a glance, nothing has changed.

But the Shadow Wolf’s tunnel is still connected to the other side.

The Shadow Wolf peeks out of the shade.

It looks cute at first glance.

Who’s the good boi, here here here.

“Seriously, why is it obedient to Ouren-san like that? ……”

“What are you talking about ……. Here is the good boi, *pat pat pat.”

“Hurrrr”

I wonder if it’s like to be stroked this much?

Tiara summons the shadow wolves again.

Riding over these boys, we entered into the shadows again.

This time, I hold my breath.

But that wasn’t necessary, as soon as we were sunk to the ground, we immediately appeared on the ground on the other side.

I thought it took us quite a while to get there. ……

Is that tunnel distorting time and space?

No, in this case it was warped.

I looked ahead and saw Maria a little surprised when she noticed us.

“That was quick. ……. No, I expected it.”

“What were you guys doing?”

“Warming up.”

“Hee.”

Rackrackrackrackrack!!!!

I heard a sound like a tree being snapped off by a large crane or something.

How could such a sound be echoing in such a place!

When I looked in the direction of the sound, I saw that Alena was floating and deforming the tree while Roze was teaching her something.

What are they doing?

“…… is that sorcery?”

“Yes,……, it seems so. I’ve never seen a skill like that before. ……”

“It’s not gravity, it’s telekinesis.”

That’s not something I want to fight with,…….

But it doesn’t seem to have much lasting power.

The floating tree fell to the ground with a whack.

Alena seems to be breathing heavily.

She must be very focused.

“Haa…… haa…….”

“If you can do this much, you’ve done well. But it may not be usable in battle yet.”

“W-why not?”

“Because you’ll soon run out of breath, and it’s probably difficult to catch a moving enemy, isn’t it?”

“Uh….. right……”

Roze’s point seems to have been spot on.

If she could use such a strong technique, it would be more difficult for her to handle. 

The two of them also noticed us there.

The training seems to be temporarily suspended, so I’m walking toward them.

“That was quick, wasn’t it?”

“Thanks to Uchikage. Where is Houen …… and Yurie?”

“Dunno. I’m sure they’re probably warming up somewhere.”

“That’s good.”

“So, how did it go?”

“Not everyone is there, but that’s okay. Let’s see…”

Then I told everyone in the room about the information I had gathered on-site.

Reizen is currently living in the Vulpan Kingdom.

The Church officials may be involved in the war against us.

And the location where Prince Kreis is being held captive.

When the church was mentioned, Maria and Roze made difficult faces.

“This is the kind of information we’ve been gathering.”

“Was Reizen-kun in there?”

“We couldn’t find him. We could have looked for him, but Prince Kreis has a higher priority, so we came back to report on him first.”

“I see. …..sigh ……  the church, huh. ……”

“J-just as expected, it’s going to be a pain huh?”

“That’s right. I don’t know what they believe in, but believers are very troublesome. To them, the word of the priest is synonymous with the word of God.”

“No shit. ……”

I guess it depends on the place, but they say that’s the way it is in the Vulpan Kingdom.

It’s going to be a hassle after all. ……

Is there a possibility that we will end up fighting with the church if we try to rescue Reizen?

Couldn’t we do something about that?

When I asked that, Roze answered.

“Under normal circumstances, it would be difficult. But if the devil is guiding them behind the scenes, the church would indeed not be able to say that they are borrowing the devil’s power. ……”

“In that case, would there be fewer enemies?”

“I don’t know…….It would depend on how the devil appears. If it doesn’t show itself, then the whole church will be against it.”

“Do you think there’s a chance they’ll show up?”

“Hmmm………”

They’re going to blame it on the idea that it was a human being who did it.

They don’t involve themselves directly, but manipulate behind the scenes. ……

This is what happened in the Kingdom of Salettana.

Up until the middle part.

“…… we have a lot of enemies. Since we are in an impromptu situation, the Vulpan Kingdom must be in full battle stance.”

“That’s true.”

That doesn’t change what we have to do. All we have to do is not to be found.”

“That’s a flag.” (similar to : don’t jinx it)

Don’t jinx it, seriously.

NO, I’m not kidding!!