Maou no Hajimekata Volume 3 Chapter 5 Part 2
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Translator: DarkHeartedAlchemist Editor: Weasalopes
「Haaa…」
When Bran proclaimed that this time she was going to go herself, Folio the 『Inviter』 raised an astounded voice and scratched her temples.
「Well, if you say so, Yueloi-sama, then I guess there is nothing to worry about.」
Folio is a slave to Yueloi and a master of Radico. She is a member of the Winged tribe with fluffy green hair and feathers of the very same color.
「So, how do you plan to win?」
Folio was not really all that aquainted with Bran. All that she knew about her was the fact that despite being a demon she had the authority to command her master, and that she seemed to be extremely strong.
「What do you mean, how?」
Ah, so she haven’t even thought about that, Folio commented in hear head, watching as Bran tilted her head.
「I mean, I know that Lady Bran is very strong and all, but my Radico was pretty strong as well, but she was beaten so easily. That is why I think that it would be best if you exercised extreme caution if you really want to go next.」
Aur. According to Folio’s intel, the biggest weakness of this unknown man was a complete lack of direct combat abilities. If he wasn’t even able to defeat someone like Sarnak in a one-on-one battle, she concluded that sending Radico to finish him off would be much more cost-efficient than resulting to a more sophisticated trickery. That is why she ordered her to go get rid of him, since her strength and speed were enough to destroy anything that stood in her path up until now.
But this time, such a rough-and-ready policy proved to not be enough. Not only did aur neutralized Radico in a completely unexpected way, but he also managed to wrap her around his little finger and extract valuable information out of her by using some strange skills. As a result, it would be best for her to assume that right now he is in obtained every possible information about her and studied it carefully.
「Hmm, I see. Personally, I think you’re overthinking it too much, but I heard that you are Yueloi’s most trusted advisor, so if you say so, it is at least worth considering.」
「A-Advisor?! Nononononononono, what are you talking about?! I am just a manager at best!」
Folio was relieved that Bran was willing to listen to what she had to say, but that last bit made her shake her head violently in denial. Yueloi’s most trusted advisor? Even if she meant is as a joke, that was a little bit too much.
「A-Anyway, at least now we know that this guy is plenty of bad news, in more ways than one. For now we have confirmed that he possesses a skill that allows him to manipulate the 『Mother’s Wall』, to prevent appraisal, manipulate human minds, put up an invisible wall to prevent attacks from reaching him, to command monsters…」
Folio listed Aur’s abilities while counting on her fingers. Thinking about it now, isn’t winning against someone like him pretty much impossible? Wouldn’t it be better for them to just run, or agree to serve him obediently?
「Wait a second, an invisible wall that prevents attacks? I haven’t received any report that would mention such a thing.」
「Ah, that. Well, you see, the report mentioned that he has a skill that allows him to create a wall that defends him, but when I think about it, this description doesn’t match with the phenomenon that is actually occurring….」
But something like that shouldn’t even be possible, she thought. Folio shook her head and sighed.
「Lady Yueloi, don’t you think that the best possible way of countering that skill would be to attack faster than that wall is built?」
「No.」
Yueloi answered briefly, cockingbher head to the side slightly.
「My idea was to simply destroy that wall in its entirety.」
「M…」
「M…?」
「What a muscle brain!」 Folio wanted to shout, but managed to swallow the words right as they were about to leave her throat.
「Well, uhm… the thing is, that wall of his seems to have properties similar, if not downright identical to those of the 『Mother’s Wall』. Moreover, it seems to be in the state of constant deployment. Perhaps his talk about it emerging at the exact moment of the impact is just a bluff meant to deceive his enemies?」
In other words, he also has skills change the appearances of the things around him. Folio made another mental note, increasing her desire to just turn tail and run.
「Oh, but that means it will be easy to break.」
「… I see. Well, I guess one could look at it that way as well.」
Yueloi might be a muscle brain, but she is not a fool. Finally finding a positive in the sea of negatives, Folio exhaled deeply.
「Alright, now that that’s done, I will try coming with as many countermeasures to that skill as possible. By the way, Lady Bran?」
Folio asks, spreading the wings on her back.
「Is that rumor about you true?」
「And what rumor might you be talking about?」
Snooping around for the information about the skills of others was widely regarded as extremely rude. But it was a question that she really needed to ask….
「The one that says that you possess 「a skill to evolve your skills」.」
… even if asking that question meant taking the risk of being killed.
「And you know, Lady Folio is like, really smart and all.」
「That’s the tenth time I heard you say that.」
Aur was listening intently to the endless flood of words that was spilling out of Radico’s mouth. No matter how seemingly useless or insignificant, subjective or vague, that was still an enormous amount of information that would allow him to learn all that he could about his opponent, even the things that she wanted to keep hidden at all cost. Or at least that’s what he thought.
In the last few hours, Aur was able to memorize all of Folio’s favourite foods, clothes she liked to wear the most and all of her ticks and habits, but he still knew nothing about her skills and abilities. The only thing he was able to get out of her was that 「Lady Folio is very smart」. For Radico, she seemed more like a guardian than an actual slave master. But that was exactly what made it impossible to determine the specifics about her abilities and their exact number.
「Also, anytime I would end up in big trouble because I lost my hammer, Lady Folio would always find it for me!」
That, among other things, was what Radico was talking about for the past few hours without stopping. How could anyone lose such a giant thing on a regular basis was unknown to Aur, and he wasn’t even sure if he wanted to know. But now he knew one thing for certain: sending Radico here was a really brilliant move on Folio’s part, because Aur has effectively lost a few hours of his lifetime on listening to a torrent useless information.
When it comes to the information about Bran or Yueloi, little more than their names or things like 「She’s a very beautiful person」 or 「She’s so cool!!!」 came out. All in all, they learned little more than nothing from her.
「I wanted to attack that Bran directly thanks to the information obtained from her, but I guess it can’t be helped at this point. Now that we at least know that Nagia is spying on us, we have to no other choice but to go after Folio first.」
「About that, Aur. There’s something that’s been bothering me.」
Finally giving up on interrogating Radico any further, Aur began to formulate their next course of action, when Froro brought a certain matter to his attention.
「Did Nagia really leaked the information about us to the enemy?」
「Who else could have been but her? We even have proof!」
Sarnak spat out his irritated words. In fact, now that they knew she was a spy, Froro’s surveillance network has caught her escaping to the lower layers. If she wasn’t leaking their information, then she wouldn’t have any reason to run away like that. The facts spoke for themselves: no one other than Nagia could have been the mole. But even though she understood all that, there was something wrong with Froro’s heart.
「Froro. Remember what I have taught you.」
「Yes.」
The reality of their situation made her eyes all cloudy. And yet, she nodded at Aur’s words. Just because she wished for the things to go differently doesn’t mean that they will. But still… no. The more she remembered those words, the more a wave of indescribable emotions was sweeping through her heart. She felt like she was about to forget something very important.
「Radico. I want to meet with Folio so that I can thank her for bringing you to me. Could you guide me to her?」
「Yup, sure! Gladly!」
However, she didn’’t have the time to worry about what it was right now. As long as the difference in the amount of information obtained by both sides continues to grow, they will be at an ever-increasing disadvantage, so she fully understood why Aur wanted launch a preemptive strike.
With anxiety filling up her chest, Froro raised her head to the sky. Beyond that thick, stony ceiling was the lower layer of the World Wall, a whole new world where the non-slaves lived.
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