Chapter 584 - Sixth Story: The Demon Realm East of Engrio's Royal Capital
It's now October, and Beatrix and I were called to the Royal Palace. They told us to go to Engrio.
It's to crush the entrance of the Teleportation Circle for transporting the bugs found in the Northern Gram wetlands, and if possible, to exterminate the Demon Race. Since the magic circle has been analyzed, we know the general area. It's the forest where I previously exterminated bees and spiders together with the Entrap Five. However, we don't know where in the forest the magic circle is. While wandering through the forest looking for the magic circle, we'll crush five... three of which are functioning... magic circles, and if possible, defeat the Demon Race that come out. It will likely be quite a struggle.
Normally, this should have been done at the same timing as the Ice Island, after the prospects for the Northern Gram wetlands were established. However, because Engrio was at war, coordination couldn't be taken. Since they have made a truce, we can finally move. If we do it, it's the winter when bugs, snakes, and frogs hibernate. It's about whether we can do it from now until next spring. By the time it gets warm, if the mainland epidemic has subsided, war might start again. If that happens, it might be delayed again. King Seldic himself won't do monster extermination. It'll surely be the church's monster extermination unit. So, if we can reach an agreement with King Seldic, the rest will likely work out. As a result of sending messengers, we obtained approval. And now, it seems the talk has become to do what we can.
Note that there is a promise with Serena. Regarding that, to the question of whether it's okay to burn down the forest with Megiddo Fire or Prominence since they'll likely be clearing the land anyway, she apparently said to stop. She was told not to cause a fire that would spread, although a few trees would be fine. King Seldic replied that the entire demon realm terrain has many wetlands and wastelands and is unsuitable for conversion into farms through clearing, and he is considering utilizing it as a place for fishing and hunting. With this, we know King Seldic has no intention of cutting down the forest. In other words, we can participate with peace of mind. However, this time we won't be conquering the entire demon realm. We'll just destroy the magic circles and fight only if the Demon Race come out at that time.
"I'm sorry, Jeanne. For having you go here and there. It's a lot of trouble."
The King thanked me. It feels like there's been a lot lately.
Certainly, I've been busy recently. Since the investigation of the secret book that started in July, I'm out of the country for most of the first half of the month. I have no time to settle down and do rat extermination.
"There's no need to meet King Seldic. Since the Henry Party is accompanying you, you just have to go to the designated inn together. Since you're all priests, it should be easy to do."
"Understood."
Finally, the expression 'Henry Party' has become officially recognized by the King. Well, the King of Primordia is making official permits under the name of the Henry Party, after all. He likely has no choice but to recognize it.
"Ah, this time, because of the location, King Seldic has apparently prepared powerful helpers."
Powerful helpers... I wonder who they are? Maybe the priests I fought with before?
"It's obvious. If we're going to Engrio, it's those five."
"The Entrap Five?"
"No mistake."
Are they... powerful? I'm sorry, but will it be alright?
We rode the bowl to the border in southern Nakanohara, and when we crossed the checkpoint, Carla and Annabella of the Entrap Five came out to meet us.
"Long time no see! Are you two doing well?"
"Jeanne, Beatrix, were you doing well?"
"I'm doing well. How about you?"
"It's been a long time, you two. Were you doing well?"
Powerful helpers, huh? I'm sorry, but is it really okay?
"Where are the other three?"
"At the garrison of the direct army. They were able to become light infantry. They even participated in the battles on the mainland."
When Beatrix asked, Carla answered and Annabella nodded. This relationship also hasn't changed.
Come to think of it, it's been over a year since we met.
"We can still only use basic magic, so we're still doing monster extermination."
Well, it's more strange to become an intermediate mage in less than a year.
"But you know, both of us have become two-spell users."
"Isn't that great!"
"Thank you!"
It seems Carla can use Fire and Energy Bolt, and Annabella can use Holy and Heal.
"What will you learn for the third one?"
The voice of a strict teacher was heard from behind.
"Ah! Eleanor-sama! Long time no see!"
"Eleanor-sama, hello."
The two of them jump toward her.
"It seems you two are working hard."
"Yes! I always do the training you taught me at least once before I go to sleep."
My, my, I don't think it's good to show that much enthusiasm.
Beatrix, who can see what's ahead, is also sighing.
"That's wonderful. Then, are you participating in this mission too?"
"Yes! We will accompany you. But, since we are weak, we heard it's for guiding to the inn and such."
"What's important is spirit. Let's see, shall we have you challenge something a bit difficult? The opponent this time is a high-level Demon Race. They are tough, but let's do our best, shall we?"
"Eh?"
My condolences. Both of them turned pale together, but there's no escape now.
The powerful helpers were, in addition to the Bishop who was the main force of the Demon Lord subjugation unit we were with last time, another Bishop who also participated as a main force, and two super-high-level mages. More than half of the active hero candidates have been reproduced. By the way, the remaining three... a scout and two warriors... are apparently stationed in the Duchy of Roland. Furthermore, two bowl users. And one more person, Falstaff-san. He's King Seldic's teacher of sword skills and tactics, and a former main force of the Demon Lord subjugation unit. They apparently formed a temporary monster extermination unit.
"Long time no see. Henry-sama, Eleanor-sama."
"Ya, Falstaff! It's been a long time."
"Falstaff. It's been a long time. Is there any change?"
He says it with his usual sluggish feeling. I give my first-time greetings to the others.
Even so, King Seldic is quite thoughtful to send Falstaff-san.
"It's reassuring that you are participating."
"I'm just a spectator. I've already retired, you see. His Majesty is just saying whatever he wants."
I heard that those who went on expeditions to the mainland need rest, so there are no warriors. It seems he was drafted instead. My condolences.
"This request is that the opponent is the Demon Race. You've accepted another challenging job."
The requester is the Medioland Royal Capital Great Church. Of course, the reality is it's a request from the Northern Gram Royal Family. Since interaction between the Royal Families is still cut off, they likely went through the church. Normally, it would be better if Henry-sama and Eleanor-sama, who are royalty, didn't come to the fore, but the Henry Party is treated as just a group of traveling merchants. It seems even the Medioland Royal Capital Great Church has recognized it. It feels like the sophistry has reached its limit, but it's likely too late to say anything now. If they felt like it, it's a group that includes the current Queen of Sertoria, the princess first in line for the throne, and the Crown Princes of Finis and Northern Gram, and a great noble of Regnentes. There might be some kind of political power too.
By the way, the reward also comes from the church. It's a success reward, only the regular fee for when the Demon Race is defeated. If we defeat two, it'll be a hundred gold coins. No matter how many other monsters we defeat, nothing will come out. We'll split that among the participants. However, the Henry Party, who should be civilians, are apparently unpaid because they are royalty and their direct subordinates. The treatment is really hard to understand. On the Engrio side, the church priests are also apparently unpaid. Carla and Annabella are helpers, so the two of them are treated as one person's share. In other words, we'll divide a hundred gold coins into eight shares.
The site is east of the Engrio Royal Capital, so the Engrio bowl user guided our medium-sized bowl. Thanks to that, we arrived at the inn on the evening of that day. Procedures and such had been done by Carla and Annabella, and the arrangement for dinner was also finished, so it became dinner while having a briefing.
At the briefing, what we would do and how was reconfirmed. In short, we have to identify the location of the magic circles, for which we only know the general area, destroy them, and subjugate the Demon Race, but it's a vast forest. It's like grasping at clouds.
"Since we know the general location, we'll start with reconnaissance. It'll be a power reconnaissance from above using the bowl, though."
The Engrio side is surprised at Eleanor-sama's bold proposal. We shouldn't have passed on the method of hiding one's presence to Engrio and Morandine yet. It's no wonder.
"Won't we be attacked with magic?"
"If we are attacked, we can identify the opponent's location."
There are several super-high-level mages. If the opponent activates magic, we can identify their location.
"T-That's certainly true, but..."
Who will be the decoy... They are likely thinking that. They are looking at each other's faces. After all, it's inside Engrio. Moreover, the proposer is royalty. It's understandable that the Engrio bowl user, who would normally be selected as the decoy, turned pale.
"I see, you intend to have Bishop Jeanne's wall of Light blow away the opponent's magic."
"That's right. As the Bishop knows, with Light, you can block the opponent's magic and also counterattack with attribute magic."
It's the Bishop we were with before.
In other words, I'm confirmed as the decoy. It's always the case, though.
Beatrix pokes me with her elbow, and a stir goes up from the Engrio contingent. They said they wanted to see the thing called the wall of Light, so I actually cast it and had them observe it for a while.
"They probably won't just place a magic circle in a place where there's nothing. There should be some kind of clue, like a grove of trees for a blindfold, a cave, or a crack in a rock. Let's start by looking for such places."
At Eleanor-sama's words, everyone except for two people nodded powerfully.
At night, we practiced looking at distant objects in an enlarged view by casting Sight.
The target is the light of two large candles placed by the window. We made it a pass if they could see it properly in an enlarged view in the darkness even if the bowl moved away.
"Now, I'm casting it. Sight!"
It's practice riding Eleanor-sama's medium-sized bowl. We took a sufficient distance. I wonder if they can do it. I explained it in words, but everyone is half-doubting.
"Concentrate on what you want to see. If you wish to see it better, that part will become larger. Right now, you can faintly see the light of the candles, right? If you wish to see that better, the flame of the candle will spread to fill your field of vision."
As I'm saying it, one or two people burst out laughing. Gradually the number of people laughing increased, and finally, everyone started laughing.
"It's true. I'm not lying."
You can't do it unless you do it seriously.
When I tried to explain again, Eleanor-sama restrained me with her hand.
"It's a pass if you can see Henry's ten consecutive funny faces illuminated by the candle light. Since everyone is laughing, it's a success, isn't it?"
She says it without even changing her expression.
I-I see...
The next morning, we set out.
When we arrive at the forest, we gather once. As per the procedure, I cast Sight on everyone, and we split into bowls and set off.
There are four bowls. In the low-altitude area, in Wilson-san's medium-sized bowl, the Henry Party plus Entrap Two, Beatrix, and I were on board. In the upper air, the Engrio side rode in two bowls. The command is Falstaff-san. A super-high-level mage and a priest are riding in one. They will attack the Demon Race lured out by the decoy from a distance. Since they are small, they can also increase speed at once, and since they are preventing magic detection with Magic Reflection, a surprise attack will also be possible.
The search range is quite wide. A hilly area covered in forest with the west as the base extends long to the east in a horseshoe shape. The eastern end is a wetland, and horses can't enter. They apparently advanced with riverboats, but got stuck halfway. However, the Demon Lord's army also didn't come out, or didn't sortie.
From the results of analyzing the magic circles, one place in the center of the western base, one place on the northern side of the two sides extending east from the base, and one place in the central western part of the hollowed-out center are suspected. The two places that were sealed seem to be one place on the southern side and one place in the central eastern part of the center.
"Let's look for the ones that were sealed first. If we understand why they were sealed, it might be a help for the search."
According to Eleanor-sama's guess, since the southern and eastern sides are where Engrio regularly does monster extermination, there is a possibility that the Demon Race removed the magic circles. In other words, it should be thinly guarded. It'll be just right for seeing how things are.
We fly to the southern side. In the horseshoe-shaped hilly area, there is a valley in the middle and mounds like hills continue on the inside and outside. Since they likely won't be on the outside, we first flew over the valley. In the upper air, two of our allies' bowls are flying inside the sun as seen from here. There's almost no worry of being found.
We scout while flying slowly over the forest. While looking at the map, we go to the place Engrio uses for bug extermination.
I was wondering what they used for bait, but it was leftovers mixed with beans and a dried meat pot. If it's leftovers, boars will come; if it's a dried meat pot, bears will come. The area around the forest is a wasteland, and they apparently lure them out to that wasteland and exterminate them. It's safe because they don't have to enter the forest.
"Um, we also came here in the summer. During the war, I think. Since the scouts were mobilized in large numbers and went on expeditions, it was to fill that hole. When we used dried meat at that time, it went well. Since then, it's been popular."
Come to think of it, we had such a talk. Rats, foxes, and wolves can be lured with chicken carcasses, boars with leftovers mixed with beans, and bears with a pot. Since the main shop regularly sends carriages to Engrio and also exports dried meat for bear hunting, Carla and Annabella should be able to get it.
"How did you do it until then?"
"Um, it seems they were going into the forest. We couldn't possibly do such a scary thing."
When Eleanor-sama asked, Carla answered.
Going into the forest is the way a normal hunter hunts, I think, but...
"Going into the forest is something a normal hunter does."
The merciless mage said it bluntly.
"Because Red Bees, Red Ants, and spiders are everywhere in this forest. It seems they aren't around here... but, you never know when they'll make a nest..."
"I see, sorry, sorry, the demon realm here wasn't easy, was it?"
"Y-Yeah."
Bugs, huh? Come to think of it, the reason the conquest of the Northeastern Forest and the Demon Lord's cave isn't progressing well is also because of the bugs that well up in large numbers.
"What did you just say?"
It's Eleanor-sama.
"Heh?"
It was so sudden that Carla is also confused.
"Is it true that there are no Red Bees, Ants, or spiders around here?"
"Eh? Ah, yes. The local hunters were saying so. But... you never know when they'll make a nest..."
"I think hunting with bait is good. Safety first, after all."
"Right!"
Carla is happy, but Eleanor-sama seems to have noticed something.
"Let's listen to the story of a nearby hunter once. Carla, Annabella, please guide us to the nearest village."
"Heh? Ah, yes."
Just like that, after contacting the upper-air unit through the magic circle for sending letters, we headed to the nearest village as guided by Entrap Two.