Volume 2 - CH 383

9-17. Search

The shadow wolves lift their bodies out of the shadows and emerge onto the ground.

The moment all the shadow wolves come out, me and Uchikage fall to the ground.

“Chough chough ……”

“Hey …… you guys …… ……. You should tell them to hold their breath ……!”

“””Ah!”””

‘Ah’ my ass seriously.

What is with that smell?

There was a massive parade of food scraps and rotten smells.

It stinks too much in the shade, for real!!!!

Nah, I held my breath halfway through, but, well, I couldn’t make it!

They’re lingering in my nose!

Wait a minute, I feel so nauseous…… ugh, bleeeergh…….

For now, I take a bag of water out of my magic bag and drink it in one gulp.

I feel somewhat better, but I still feel …… sick.

I hand the bag of water to Uchikage as well.

After he thanked me, he drank it all up.

It can’t be helped.

“Sigh. ……. Ouren-sama, are you alright ……?”

“Somehow ……. It’s a good thing the smell doesn’t get on my clothes. ……”

“Right. ……”

It feels like I’ve already lost half of my energy. ……

Please let me take a break.

“I-I’m sorry. …… I forgot. ……”

“Tiara, what is that space ……”

“It’s the Shadow Wolf’s secret passageway. They bring their prey into that space and eat it. ……”

“No wonder it smells so bad.”

Apparently, the shadow wolf is designed to lose its sense of smell in that space.

That’s why I didn’t care about Tiara, who had changed into a monster, and apparently forgot to tell us.

The other two seem to have forgotten because this has become part of their daily routine.

Screw them.

Well, thanks to this, we are now in the vicinity of the Vulpan Kingdom.

I looked up and saw the city walls were just beyond the forest.

There is Reizen ahead of us.

Thinking of that, I felt my energy returning.

I stood up and stretched.

Uchikage also stood up.

“Shall we?”

“Yes.”

“Can you two go ahead and search first?”

“Hmm? What about Vid and the others?”

“We’ll set up a simple base here. Shadow wolf can come here in an instant. This may take some time. ……”

“Well, I understand.”

Well, I guess it will take some time if we let these guys search the vast Vulpan Kingdom, actually.

Uchikage will use his senses to move around, and I will use mine to investigate suspicious places in detail.

This is the best option for now.

Leaving the simple base, or rather, the assembly point, to the three of them, I and Uchikage decided to enter the Vulpan Kingdom first.

But first, we have to find the prince.

◆ ◆

Constantly expanding the haze manipulation over a wide area.

Furthermore, using ‘assassin’, one could eliminate the presence to the utmost limit.

From here on, we cannot talk verbally.

I and Uchikage will have to coordinate with gestures.

However, it was not difficult to do so.

In any case, I have emoticons!

And so I produced a little water, but Uchikage shook his head.

It seems this is not a good idea.

I let the ground absorb the water.

We are on the top of the city wall.

I was able to climb up to the top with Uchikage holding me up.

From here, I could see the inside of the Vulpan Kingdom clearly.

However, I could not see much beyond the third wall.

It seems that the land gets higher as you go to the center.

In the meantime, I decided to investigate this area.

It may not make much sense, but it was our first time here, so we had no choice but to search from one end to the other.

We still have some time left, so we will search slowly and carefully.

First, Uchikage concentrates on following the presence, and he points to a building.

I nodded and deployed my haze to search all over the inside of the building.

It was a small hut.

There are many houses in the vicinity, but nothing unusual at all.

There are various tools inside the hut.

Agricultural tools, cooking utensils, …… weapons, etc. seem to be there.

I don’t know why so many of these things are placed in such a small hut,…… but there seemed to be nothing else here.

I gave a small shake of my head and told him that I hadn’t found anything.

However, Uchikage nodded his head in acknowledgement.

He crossed his arms and began to think about something.

“…… that’s odd.”

“Oh, we can talk now?”

“Well, there doesn’t seem to be anything around here. Ouren-sama, are you sure nothing suspicious was found here?”

“Yep. There were only some farming tools, weapons, and cooking utensils. No one was around.”

“…… this might be a little tricky.”

“And what do you mean?”

Uchikage took off his blindfold and stared off into the distance.

“I’ve evolved into a Kijin, and I can sense their presence very intensely now. So there is no way I could have mistaken the presence I sensed earlier. Prince Kreis was certainly in that place,…….”

“But …… there was nobody in there?”

“Yes. So, I searched again. Then I felt the presence of Reizen-dono over there.”

“What ……? Reizen ……?”

“Yes, ……. Perhaps the presence of …… Reizen-dono is lingering at that spot.”

“Hmm?”

I’m not sure what’s going on here.

What is it that makes he think he was there”

“But if what Uchikage is saying is correct, it means that they are using some kind of skill to disperse tracking.”

Is there such a thing?

……No, I’m sure there is.

Because that’s what skills are for.

Anything is possible, so you have to assume that some things that you think are impossible are possible.

…… Oh, wait a minute?

How come Uchikage says there’s a sign of Reizen there?

“Hmm? Well then, Uchikage. Did you see any sign of Zero Tolerance on the way we came?”

“…… No, I don’t think so.”

“But is it still around here?”

“……, yes. That would be …….”

“Ah, …….”

It took us five days to get here.

Eight days if you include the day of the raid.

But Reizen left the Kingdom of Salettana eight days ago.

It takes 20 days from the Kingdom of Salettana to the Vulpan Kingdom. ……

So, normally, we would have arrived here in the form of passing the carriage that Reizen and the others would have been riding in.

On the other hand, if Reizen was in the Vulpan Kingdom before us,……

“It could be a mobility skill, possibly warp, or …….”

“I’d overlooked that possibility. I should have known when I felt a presence.”

“Either way, it doesn’t matter, as long as we get some answers. I’m not sure if …… he’s here too ……. This is going to get nasty.”

“That’s right. ……”

No matter what, the only thing to do now is to follow the trail of presence and find Prince Kreis.

I think it’s probably the work of a noble, so I want to quickly investigate the royal castle.

But for now, let’s give priority to the presence that Uchikage senses.

Tracking the presence.

Let’s give it a try.