Volume 2 - CH 379

9-13. Joining the others

Suddenly Uchikage stands up and everyone is equally alarmed to observe that I’m on the lookout for the rear.

However, I noticed that something coming this way was Lize, and I was deflated.

Rather than surprise, I was taken aback.

She appeared wearing the same loose-fitting white clothes as before, and she was out of breath like crazy.

“Wheeeeze….. wheeze…. You guys are …… so …… fast!!”

“You don’t say …….”

Lize’s appearance surprised everyone who was present.

The same goes for those who don’t know her.

There were probably the same questions running through their heads, but then Yurie opened her mouth.

“Wait wait wait, wait a goddamn minute. How did you get here?”

“Hha… eh? ….by ….running?”

“Are you saying you’ve been following the speed of a mounted dragon and a battlehorse?”

“Huh, what’s that, some kind of monster?”

Ahhh, is that why these guys are surprised?

Well, no shit sherlock.

Who is in the right mind to follow us by running.

Come to think of it, Rize was extremely agile. 

How long has she been running?

Then Maria and Roze held up their weapons.

The same goes for the three Shadow Eye members.

Oh shit, wait a damn minute!

“Wait, wait, wait! She’s on our side, so put your weapons away!”

“Eh? Is that so?”

“Believe me, it’s true. Although she is not an adventurer.”

They believed me for the time being.

The five of them put their weapons away.

This is what happens when people show up suddenly. ……

Or rather, how the hell did she get here?

And how did she know we were on our way to the Vulpan Kingdom?

Maria told me that only the top brass knew about this.

“So …… what’s up?”

“What kind of response was that ……. Oh, well! You know what? I can’t continue to be an outsider after hearing all that! You understand?”

“No, but you have Meryl. ……”

“I leave everything to Jigal!”

“Are you sure about that!?”

“It’s fiiine! I’ve already accomplished what I set out to do, and now it’s in my best interest to work with you guys to solve the case! It seems that Houenhasn’t regained his memory either!”

“””Houen-san have amnesia?”””

“Don’t say unnecessary things to confuse us!”

The three Shadow Eye members were surprised to hear each other’s voices.

Maria was also surprised when she heard Houen’s voice.

Come to think of it, I didn’t explain it to these guys and Maria. ……

That’s my mistake that everyone know this information

I’d better make sure to tell everyone about it later.

….. But well, anyway.

After hearing the story at Lurimkos’ place, she came to us like she’s no longer a stranger to us.

It’s nice for us to have more friends.

Unless she says something unnecessary.

For the time being, I decided to pull Lize along with me and talk a little further away from them, since I was afraid she would say something else unnecessary if I didn’t. I was sure they would be able to hear us if we were in this area.

They wouldn’t hear our voices if we were further away from here.

“*sigh ……. Listen, Lize. As you can see from their reaction just now, I didn’t tell those guys about the devil. This time it’s a team organized to deal with Prince Kreis and Reizen. Don’t say anything else. You’ll confuse them.”

“Oh, you are right. ……. I am sorry. I thought the devil was in the Vulpan kingdom and you were chasing after it.”

“Say what ……?”

“……Pardon?”

Eh? Wait a minute, what did she just say?

“Sorry, can you repeat that?”

“You know, I heard there was a devil in the Vulpan kingdom, so I thought you were pursuing …… it, so I came after you.”

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait!

Where did she get that information?

I grab Lize’s shoulder stiffly.

“Where did you get that information?”

“Where, where, if you ask where, I heard the ‘voice’ …….”

“I haven’t heard anything from ‘it’!”

“It said something about not being able to interfere …… or something like that. …… At any rate, the story about the devil came up, so ……”

I let go of Lize and had a deep thought for a moment.

Now that Houen’s memory has been erased, there would be no point in talking to him about it.

I have no choice but to sort it out.

We are now coming to the conclusion that the devil is not the enemy.

This is the answer that Houen managed to come up with before his memory was erased.

This much I can trust his words.

So there is some kind of enemy that is different from the devil.

But we don’t know that at all.

Even the devil is under the curse of not being able to speak of it.

There is no source of information at …… at the moment.

And?

The voice …… told her that the …… devil is in the Vulpan Kingdom?

Well, it is not surprising that those guys would know.

In fact, the prognostication in the Bamil territory was right.

I understand that the voices are trying to stop the devil’s activities.

It is quite natural for those who are in a divine position to come to that conclusion.

We should not let the world they have created be destroyed so easily.

That is how they thought.

“…………”

“……, D-did I do something wrong?”

“Hmm, no. No, it’s okay. You did a good job of letting me know.”

Did I make her feel uneasy?

I’m sorry about that, …….

But there are so many things I don’t understand, and so few things I do understand.

This information that Lize has brought to my attention is very important.

I would like to hear more about what was going on at the time.

“Lize, tell me about your conversation with the voice.”

“Eerrr okay. I met the voice of land. He was an old man dressed like a priest.”

“And then?”

I heard that the devil is trying to cause a war between the kingdoms of Salettana and Vulpan. I heard that Reizen was being used as well, so I came over to …… to check on him.”

“Also Reizen?”

“Yeah. It seems that he is forced to obey the slave mark. Also he said it was because of the devil.” 

I see …… So Reizen is really under the slave mark.

Then it makes sense why that guy really attacked us that time.

That means we have to do something about it.

It is not a curse, so the purification won’t work.

We have to find out how to lift it.

“……, the devil’s purpose this time is to provoke a war…”

“Sounds like it. Are we going to stop it?”

“……Let’s leave aside …… Lurimkos matter for the time being. The goal at hand is to rescue the prince and Reizen. As for the devil, we’ll think about that after …… all of our objectives done.”

“I see.”

To be honest, I’m not sure if this war can be stopped already.

I’m pissed at them for using Reizen and Prince Kreis, but let’s not contradict ourselves for the moment,…….

“I understand…….Follow us for now………… I’ll explain to everyone about you.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be helpful!”

“……”

I’m not so sure about that from a bloke who’s never been in combat before. ……