Chapter 126 - Forces

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[Naoto point of view]

So that's the special orb granted by the new saint and saintess to them, no wonder she can afford to disguise herself lightly. Usually those high profile individual will resort themselves to some extreme disguise just to travel incognito, but she isn't

As the two of us take our first step into Kiserre, the sight of sea of human greet us, and as expected, there's no sign of non human in this old follower country.

We should start our investigation, but first thing first

"So, this person that they called The Behemoth Slayer, we ought to find him first" [Female paladin]

"I believe that's for the best" [Naoto]

The guard station at the Estel side of the open field dungeon, they slip out Ash whereabouts. They thought that I, among with other adventures that knew his whereabouts were to tell Ash about his siblings condition. Truthfully, I only knew that they're collapsing after they enter the ice dungeon, nothing more, nothing less.

Still, I do think meeting him now will be considered as beneficial as we can ask him what he had learned so far

As we keep traveling to find ourselves an inn, we keep on hearing about the mysterious disappearance of the replacement guild master. From what I can summarize, the first guild master contracted an illness alongside some highly trustable adventures and thus are currently treated at the church. And now, the replacement had gone missing, adding another layer of insecurities among the public

(I should ask some scholars for more details) [Naoto]

That lady right in front of us seems like one, as she keeps on writing down notes after notes, as if to preserve this very moment to pass it down for the next generation to read. I should ask her

"Lisa? Is that you?" [Female paladin]

"Aries!? What are you doing here! No, I can tell but why!?" [Lisa]

So, they already knew each other

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"Yup, that's when I put my mana signature onto you" [Khamishah]

"As expected, and Queen Rinz can detect it herself but not me. Now I'm feeling down" [Ash]

"Don't be harsh on yourself. Queen Rinz is an unexceptional magician after all" [Khamishah]

"Still, can't you just ask him directly? You know, I will put some of my mana onto your clothes so that The Queen will know I'm sending you here" [Crow]

"Where's the fun? Plus, this should be a valuable lesson for him" [Khamishah]

"Right..." [Ash]

Yeah, lesson learn, be vigilant all the time

"Your plan with Queen Rinz are simple, but for only us to storm inside is..." [Alaric]

"Agree, even with her support, this should really be swift" [Saint Louis]

"Not to mention, shall this person you call Agnes decided to turn all of the slaves into a monster at that moment..." [Bodyguard B]

"We are screwed. Maybe the four of you can survive but the rest of us will probably not" [Bodyguard A]

"Yeah, that's why we need as much help as we need" [Ash]

The Queen did give me the royal emblem and stamp as a way to persuade other into joining this, but I reckon that will still not be enough. Furthermore, we need to consider some spies among those whom we recruit

"Well, in any case, we should try our best to recruit only those that are considered trustworthy" [Crow]

"""Well...""" [Saint Louis, Ash, Alaric]

From the list of nobles given by Queen Rinz, Crow can persuade the other houses (preferably those which are not in term with them and are highly trustable). It might not be that much, but it's still better than nothing. As for the three of us...

"Yeah, how?" [Ash]

"Now that you mentioned it..." [Alaric]

"The three of us are all alone" [Saint Louis]

"Wait, I can understand the two of you, but Saint Louis, not you too?" [Crow]

"Pretty much everyone around here doesn't support me, and those who are have likely been caught by them, and met similar fate with those slaves" [Saint Louis]

"My, my apologies" [Crow]

Yeah, the three of us doesn't have that much connection here. I mean, I reckon those two will have one or two, but as for me, it's totally zero

We will just have to do our best then. If we can't recruit anyone, we might as well weaken them before the day comes for us to storm the castle. Alaric and I can just go around now and attack the knight and soldiers, wounded them as to prevent them supporting the castle during that day, but, we couldn't ask the saint to do the same

"How about the dark guild?" [Bodyguard A]

"That's too risky, plus, think of the aftermath" [Alaric]

"Also, I accidentally destroy them during my visit, so..." [Saint Louis]

"And how did you accidentally destroy them..." [Ash]

As it turns out, the two fallen prince of the demon kingdom uses the dark guild as a mean to enter this country, and since Saint Louis during his official visit stumble upon them, he defeated them hoping to squeeze some information, but alas, they're hardcore and won't even bulge a bit. They even shut down their brain voluntarily as to avoid memory dive spell (which honestly, is admirable). They are currently being imprisoned by the country, which mean they're now either working with them or being turned into guinea pig. Both sound probable. With their healing technique, they can just "reboot" their brain (albeit I reckon not all of them), and have them work for the country while the rest will just become a guinea pig

"Well, better start working I guess" [Ash]

"Same here" [Crow]

~Knock~

"I'm coming in" [Lisa]

Ohh, it's looks like Lisa is here, and quite early. I wonder why, and isn't that

"Long tine no see Naoto, I reckon Haliza and her family requested you to come here and investigate what happen here" [Ash]

"That's the case" [Naoto]

"Wait, Naoto, as in the A rank adventure from Malsia, who's call as the elemental archer!" [Bodyguard A]

"That's correct, however, there's one more powerful person with us today" [Naoto]

"That's!" [Crow]

"Ohh, it been quite some time since we last met, Female paladin, Aries" [Saint Louis]

"Pleasure all mine, Saint Louis" [Female paladin Aries]

This, this is one hell of a group...

"But with the two of them are here, that mean our chances of success will increase" [Ash]

""??"" [Female paladin Aries, Naoto]

"Ash, slow down a bit. At least introduce yourself before jumping into the topic" [Lisa]

"Yeah, sorry..." [Ash]