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Chapter 120: Bandit

About a month left until the Council of the Seven Sphin Nations. As a result of our discussions, we decided that two weeks would be required as a preparation period before leaving for the venue at the Imperial City of Ibrand. In which case, we would have only two weeks to make the journey.

This is certainly not enough time if we headed by “land route”. Well, I’m sure everyone will be wondering why we made such a plan in the first place then.

Well, that’s because this time we decided to use the “air route”. Most of the magic airships used by the Imperial Army during the war were destroyed beyond repair, but a few were able to be repaired. In addition, there were many mechanics among the prisoners, and so it seems that one of the 8 crashed ships have been scraped together and managed to take flight safely.

From the start, in order to ensure the safety of the council, it was decided that staff from the Arto Kingdom would supplement the behind-the-scenes staff such as waiters. But traveling by land with a scale of 100 people would take a really long time. Various problems such as food problems and safety problems will inevitably occur.

However, with an airship which can carry 150 and with a travel time of only 9 hours, these problems can be solved at once.

However, there was one problem in flying the airship. Lack of energy.

It takes a lot of energy to fly an airship. The energy it uses is an ore called magic stone. However, it seems that the normal method of replenishing mana with these ores will not be enough.

And so, we were selected. If people with a lot of mana, such as Yaou, Quereble, or myself inject our MP into the magic stone in turn, we can secure a round trip within two weeks.

During that time, we won’t be able to fight, but since the three of us don’t consume that much mana, a two week period should be fine.

I also told Kinu and the others about the departure date via telepathy earlier.

According to their reports at that time, Shinku and Drake had already reached level 60, and Shinku had successfully evolved into an Oni race called [Yashahime]. She seems to have passed out during her evolution, but they said she was not in any danger.

And although Drake didn’t evolve, his stats had improved greatly. Thus he was happy with that.

Kinu and Nelfie were currently level 59, but they should be able to reach the target level of 60 before departure.

I’m looking forward to seeing their status when they return!

Oh, come to think of it, there was an interesting report from Shinku.

That zombie-senpai was rampaging around on the 1st floor on the back of a golem. After that, he seems to have disappeared towards the outside of the dungeon while knocking down the golems around him.

Well, it’s the senpai, after all. So it must have a deeper meaning. But I’m a little sad that I can’t see senpai in the Ruins of Silence…

After the telepathy with Kinu and the others ended, Barbaru entered the core room.

「Ah, Aun-san. I was just about to look for you. I wish to discuss something. Is that okay?」

「Oh, Barbaru! It’s been a while! Or rather, you look so pale. Are you okay?」

「I’m just so incredibly busy! I’m so busy that my proud coat of fur became unkempt… Luckily, the civil officials sent by His Highness Ruzark are excellent, so it’s been a lot better lately.」

「I’m really sorry… I left everything related to the development of the town to you. Thanks to that, we’ve been able to strengthen our combat strength, so I’m really grateful for that. I don’t think things would have gone so smoothly without you.」

「Well, it’s fine. I’m doing it because I like it too. Ah, more importantly, I have something to consult regarding the adventurers.」

「Is there some kind of trouble?」

「That’s right. We’re currently under investigation, but recently there’s been an increase in the number of rookies and middle-ranked adventurers who have gone missing or died in dungeons.」

「Is that so? The lower floors were not set up with traps to prevent adventurers from dying, and I have ordered the monsters not to kill them as much as possible…」

「Indeed. So far, the mortality in the Plainevelt dungeon has been extremely minor compared to other dungeons. However, the mortality rate in the past month has been a bit abnormal. And when I looked into it, I found an adventurer party with suspicious money movements.」

「Does that mean that there are people doing some kind of banditry in the dungeon?」

「That’s the most likely possibility. It would be reasonable to think that they are deceiving or stealing weapons and items and selling them for money. And if my guess is true, they are even killing the victims in the dungeon so that no evidence would remain.」

Those who die within a dungeon will be absorbed.

For the time being, that function has been removed from the 1st floor, which is a part of the town, so as not to cause suspicion, but from the 2nd floor onwards, like all other dungeons, corpses are absorbed into the dungeon. By exploiting this, crimes in the dungeon can easily be disguised as accidents.

I myself have been deceived and killed in the past, so just hearing this is quite annoying. The culprit may think that “It’s the other guy’s fault for getting deceived”, but for me, the deceiver is undeniably in the wrong.

However, I don’t feel like killing the culprit in the same way either.

I shall make them receive just punishment…

「I’ll do some investigating from my side as well. Tell me about the adventurer party that’s acting suspiciously.」

「Yes, I thought you would say that, so I have already gathered the information. Please take a look at this report.」

「As expected of Barbaru, you work so fast! If I find anything, I’ll contact you by telepathy.」

「Thank you very much.」

After that, I transferred to the core room of the Plainevelt dungeon and shared the information with Irs.

The adventurer party under suspicion is [Crimson Plume], a four-man party consisting of a warrior, a swordsman, a thief, and a mage. All of them were A-rank

And their arrival at Plainevelt coincided with the time when the mortality rate began to rise. Moreover, after every dungeon exploration, they seem to have a high probability of selling blue-ranked weapons. This is pretty suspicious…

「Irs, can you detect these guys when they enter the dungeon the next time?」

「I can. Or rather, they’re currently on the 8th floor.」

「Seriously? Display a map and a video.」

The image displayed in front of me showed a small map dotted with red, blue, and yellow dots, and a video of four foul-looking middle-aged men.

The red dots on the map indicated the monsters in the dungeon, the blue dots indicated the adventurers, and the yellow dots indicated specific people. It seems that these yellow dots were currently aimed at the [Crimson Plume]. This sort of function operation is too complex for me to do, but the cores seem to be able to handle them.

Three members of the [Crimson Plume] people were hiding at the crossroads with 2 blind alleys in a passage, and the remaining one member seemed to be stationed a little further away for reconnaissance.

No matter how you look at it, this movement doesn’t look like they’re exploring, it just looks like waiting for their prey.

「There is no more doubt, is there?」

「They’re obviously moving differently than other adventurers.」

「The rest is how to deal with them when catching them in the act… Ah, yes! I’ve come up with a good idea! I’ll contact Yaou, so please let Barbaru know about the situation via telepathy.」

「Understood.」

Yaou, an S-rank monster who was summoned as the boss of the 30th floor, but no adventurer had reached that floor yet, and he seemed to be enjoying playing chess while talking to Quereble daily.

I’m sure he’d like to start fighting soon. And if it’s an A-rank party, I’m sure he can win easily even while holding back. Moreover, it is necessary to incite fear so as to lightly plant trauma in them. And that would be Yaou’s area of expertise.