âBut that was an unrewarding mission. I went all the way out there and just slayed a goblin.â
âWell, better safe than sorry. Maybe the magic beasts are on alert too. The fact that Nalgarn is dead so suddenly makes me wonder if there is a more ferocious monster somewhere out there than Nalgarn. The wisdom of the wild is not to be underestimated.â
The troopers were walking around chatting and laughing.
They seemed to be feeling completely satisfied with their mission.
âWeâve found the third unit ahead! The second is likely to be beyond that as well.â
The man who was looking ahead with his far-sighted magic tool said with a lively voice.
Hearing that, a laugh of relief leaked out from the surroundings.
âUhâŚâŚ but thereâs some weird fog coming out. Well, I guess thatâs enough to get a clear viewâŚâ
âFog?â
I nodded my head as the man continued.
âYeah, they appear near these mountains sometimes. Because the mountains block the wind, the ground heats up easily during the day. When the sun sets, there is a big difference in temperature, and thatâs what causes the fog. Nevertheless, since the rains have diminished dramatically, itâs not something you see very often.â
âYes, the sun is going down, but isnât it still early for that kind of time? Is that the way itâs supposed to be? And why is it not raining when thereâs fogâŚâŚâ
âI donât know, itâs not a place I come to very often. Ah! Maybe itâs a sign that rain is coming!â
The man on guard says happily.
I move closer to Euris.
ââŚâŚ Wouldnât it be better if we turned back? It could be a doing of a magic beast, or possibly a demon.â
âHowever, since the other units are advancing ahead of us, we canât just retreat here. We could send out a message and move on, but Iâm not sure if the fog alone would be grounded enough to convince the captains of the other units to do so.â
âIs that soâŚâŚâ
âAnd if thereâs a demon that can disrupt the lives of magical beasts, it would be rather fortuitous if we could confront it now that our forces are assembled. Thereâs no way to miss out on this.â
Euris doesnât seem to take it too seriously.
Indeed, she does have a point.
Demons can be extremely fickle, or their thought processes are so far removed from humans that their movements are difficult to read.
A self-promoting fellow like Evil Bound would be easy to detect, but if a high-ranking demon is seriously hiding its presence, even I would have a hard time finding them.
If I can find a sign that can be detected, Iâd better kill it before it escapes.
However, the main purpose of this time was supposed to be reconnaissance for the next time around.
Although our forces are put together, weâre not at our best.
Even so, I would normally hope for this, and Iâd like to be enthusiastic about killing them, but for once, I have a bad feeling about this.
âCanât you send the message and change the rendezvous point as well? Then we can talk about it and while moving, and it wonât be a problemâŚâŚâ
âCut it out already, you pseudo-magician! Donât interfere with the way Captain-dono are doing things!â
Clark yelled, pointing his sword at me.
âHey, Clark!â
âYou also, Captain-dono! Donât you think thatâs whatâs so demoralizing the morale by letting a kid like this do whatever he wants, hey!â
Clark said as if to return his earlier statement of intent.
Euris looked around at the squad membersâ faces and then shook her head.
ââŚâŚ Indeed, if I hesitate, it will only add to their anxiety. Excuse me, Abel-dono, I will proceed this time.â
âŚâŚ That time when Iâm laying in battle with the goblins must have an effect.
Even from Eurisâ point of view, she couldnât change her decision based on my opinion in front of her subordinates, I guess.
Even more so after Clark poked me and made it clear where I stood.
We continued to plow through the fog and proceeded to the rendezvous point.
The fog wasnât thick. Visibility was bad, but it wasnât enough to interfere with walking.
I can feel some magic power from the fog, but itâs not a powerful one either.
Maybe it was just some kind of magical beast that has the habit of spraying water with magic.
There is something suspicious about it, but even if you say something now, they wonât listen to me.
ââŚâŚ And itâs much better than the sunshine?â
Thanks to the fog, itâs cooler and more watery.
Thanks to that, it helped me get back into shape.
The next time something comes up, I should be able to participate in the battle.
I canât say Iâm in perfect shape, though.
We arrived at the front of the cliffs, where we would soon be meeting.
The second and third units were ahead of us.
I canât see anyone who had injuries.
They didnât seem to have encountered any major magical beasts.
However, there was something slightly strange about the second unit.
All of them have pale and are looking at us as if they want to say something.
ââŚâŚ Itâs him, that white guy from the first unit.â
âWatch out, if you put him in a bad mood, heâll take your head off. Just like that Nalgarn.â
âWhatâs that thing heâs sitting on? A monster from hell?â
âŚâŚ For some reason, theyâre blurting disturbing things.
Come to think of it, the second unit was the route to enter the range where Nalgarnâs corpse could be seen.
The captains of each unit stepped forward to inform each other about the situation.
âFirst Unit, Captain Eirs. We have passed through the eastern route as planned. The only thing we engaged was a goblin horde, all of which have been taken out. And nothing else of concern.â
âSecond Unit, Captain Caucus. Due to chasing a magic beast, we diverted off our route slightly from our scheduled route. The new route is just as I mapped it out. The engagement was a pack of hounds, but we missed a few of them. As you can see, there were no casualties, so what I have to report is thatâŚâŚ weâll have to wait until after we return.â
Obviously, Caucus looked at me before he said it.
I looked away for now.
âYes! Third Unit, Captain Maya! Going through the northern route as planned! No engagements, the magic beasts found in the farsightedness tube are a bunch of Sufis and medium in size! Due to the distance we had to travel, we made travel a priority!â
After the general report by the unit leaders, relief spread through the private army corps.
The goblins, hounds, and Sufis are all low-level magical beasts.
They donât pose much of a threat.
Besides, we could hardly find any other groups of magic beasts.
Not only were they all low-level magical beasts, but they were also encountered too infrequently.
Even though they had been so vigilant, the threat was less than a tenth of what they expected.
From the point of view of the team members, they would probably feel that they had been let off the hook.
However, that was why it was strange.
If the magic beasts were scared by Nalgarn and were running away, it wouldnât be surprising if they were concentrated here, near the mountain.
âItâs still kind of strangeâŚâŚâ
Shall I bring the World Tree Ortem to my hand with teleportation and start sensing it in earnest?
As he thought about it and held up his wand, he heard laughter coming from above him.
It was a high-pitched, ear-piercing voice that sounded like it had scratched the magic ore.
â-Kyahahahahahahahaâ
Along with the sound of laughter, a hint of dense magical power drifted out.
All at once, the people in the private army changed expression and began to look around.
âWha, what?â
âIs-, is this some kind of demon?â
âDonât panic! There are fifty of us now! Donât be intimidated by a mere demon!â
I looked up at the sky and there it was.
A shadow of a child, wearing a pointy hat, hovering in the fog.
âYou put up a fog as an intermediary to create a cognitive disorientation barrier, huh.â
If that was the case, why did he bother to show up and laughing loudly after putting up such a massive fog.
The reason is obvious. Because it already achieved its goal.
The childâs shade wavered, dissolving into the fog and changing its shape in a circle, a black foggy circle.
The figure was flat, not a sphere.
Large eyes and mouths opened from it, and it laughed out loud again.
â-Kyahahahahahahahaâ
In a circle, eyes and mouths start swapping up and down.
âThatâs HamelinâŚâŚâ
âHa, Hamelin, you say!?â
When I spilled, Euris, who was looking up at the demon alongside the other troop leaders, opened her eyes and looked at me.
Hearing Eurisâ voice, several other troopers screamed as their bodies shook.
Many of them would know about him since he was a famous part of the demons.
Iâve only read about Hamelin in books, but his outward appearance matches his features.
While Hamelin itself isnât much of a fighter, what is frightening is its nature.
It is often said that Hamelin has a vicious power that is no less than the âAngellâs Magic Mirrorâ, a magical tool called a negative legacy created by the wise man Angell long ago.
History tells us that only once in the past was there a spiritist who used Hamelin in a war.
It is said that a single unit dropped an impregnable fortress and the war ended without further ado, and the heroic spiritist was assassinated by powerful men who feared Hamelinâs power.
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