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Chapter 179: Advance Survey ①

~Nelfie’s Perspective~

After teleporting to the Alraine dungeon, I immediately exited the dungeon from the core room.

The sky was covered with thick clouds and it was raining heavily. With the sound of rain drowning out the faintest sounds, this weather was perfect for infiltration.

I have often acted alone in my life. Whenever I enter a town, I naturally survey the terrain, infiltration routes, and places to hide. And it’s also become a habit of mine since childhood to walk without sound and presence. It’s so ingrained in me that I can’t change it even if I started working with Aun.

The infiltration route I’m using this time was also a route that I found when I came to Alraine all the time in the past.

After leaving the Alraine Dungeon, I took a short detour and headed to the northern wall.

There was no gate on the north side of the royal capital and it was surrounded by high walls, but part of the castle wall was broken and it was low enough to jump over.

This was destroyed when Ibrudia’s magic airships attacked, but it was still neglected with low priority for reconstruction.

Thanks to that, I could infiltrate easily this time. You really never know how things will be of use sometimes.

「Now then… let’s start by finding out what’s happened to the people.」

While sorting things out in my head, I scrutinized what information Aun would want.

As the clan master of [Star Supremacy] and our party leader, Aun’s personality can be understood naturally after having spent so much time together.

Judging from his personality of saving the weak and poking his nose whenever there is trouble – regardless of what the man in question himself might say – what he is most concerned about this time is probably the people. Naturally, he’s probably worried about the king’s safety as well, but not because he’s the “king”, but because he’s “Ruzark’s father”. Nothing more, nothing less.

Even though I entered from the back alley, the town was strangely silent.

Observing the main street from the shadow of the building, I saw a pair of soldiers wearing royal knights’ equipment guarding the street. Considering the current situation, however, it is easy to imagine that those soldiers are rebels of the Fernando faction.

「Let’s lure him in and interrogate…」

I picked up a pebble on the ground nearby and threw it towards the opposite street. The two soldiers patrolling nearby noticed the noise and went into the back alley.

While observing them, I ran behind the soldiers along the roof and immediately slashed one of their necks with my dagger, and immediately crept behind the other person and thrust my blade at his neck without a sound at all.

「Don’t move… Raise your hand slowly and answer my question.」

「W-Who are you?」

「You have no right to ask questions. If you don’t want to die, answer all the questions truthfully.」

Saying that, I guided the gaze of the restrained soldier to his lifeless comrade.

「I, I understand! I’m begging you, please don’t kill me…」

「What is the current situation in Alraine, and what of the people and the king?」

「A-Alraine… is occupied by us, the Fernando army. The people have just finished gathering in the arena…」

「What about the king?」

「I don’t know about that… Our role is to patrol the city and guide the people to the arena.」

「Next question. Where is Fernando right now?」

「I-I don’t know about that! I think he’s probably in the castle…」

As I thought, this is the extent of the information that low-ranking soldiers are informed of… It can’t be helped, I have no choice but to collect information on my own from here.

「Is that so, please sleep for a while then.」

I cast Sleep Enchant on my left hand, and knocked the soldier unconscious.

I wouldn’t have had any problem killing him, but I thought that Aun would scold me for not keeping my promise, so I decided to put him to sleep.

「I’m losing my edge because of him.」

I noticed that my face had broken into a smile. While deeply thinking that I have also somewhat changed, I threw the two soldiers into a nearby hut to cover them up.

But I don’t have time to take it easy right now. I needed to collect as much information as possible in about an hour before Aun and the others arrive, and then scrutinize the information from there on.

Judging from the information currently available, Fernando is quite sharp. Precise planning and information control so that the attack on the royal capital and the attack on Plainevelt can be carried out with almost no time lag. And we can assume that he has the ability to grasp the situation and grasp the human mind since he was able to do it with the minimum number of people. If the times were different, he might have been called a wise king.

…But there’s one thing that bothers me.

「Why is it necessary to gather the people in the arena? For protection…or fear of a counterattack…?」

I observed the main street from the back alley and identified the movement patterns and routes of the patrol soldiers. From my position, the royal castle and the arena are in opposite directions. Given the amount of time left, it would be impossible to examine both of them carefully.

Then the priority should be…

「Let’s head to the arena. My instincts say something isn’t right.」

While calming my uneasiness, I took a deep breath, erased my presence, and resumed my movement.

I hope that this nasty feeling in my chest is unfounded.