Chapter 151 : Rat Hunting (3)
I said.
“Opening the sky……?”
“Yeah. The Supre King wants that.”
Open the sky.
The aning those words carried was never light.
“Why does he want to open the sky?”
Do you think a low-level grunt like would know the reason? Of course I wouldn’t.
“Proof that what you’re saying is real?”
“Then try torturing or sothing. Who knows? Maybe so decent nonsense will co out of my mouth.”
Bare chuckled.
“Reckless. Do you even know what’s beyond the sky when you say that?”
“No idea. I don’t know. But maybe the Supre King might know. If he’s stirring up sothing like this, doesn’t that an he knows there’s sothing beyond it in the first place?”
If his goal was to open the sky, it wasn’t too hard to guess what the Supre King was after.
“Is the Supre King after the Fragnt?”
“A Fragnt, huh. That’s fine too, but it’s uncertain. Who can guarantee that gathering Fragnts will let you reach that sky? It’s not easy to bear the danger of Fragnts in the first place. So rather than that, you’ve gotta use an easier and more reliable thod.”
An easy and reliable thod, huh…….
“So that’s the magic circle that was spread out across the Mülhen Granary Zone.”
“Could be, or maybe not. I’m just a low-level grunt, so I don’t know much. Most of what I said is just my speculation too.”
Bare kept cackling like a madman the entire ti he talked.
“What’s so funny?”
“Look at you right now. The Plague Mask that heated up the Bulletin Board turned out to be just the Empire’s dog—how is that not funny?”
The Empire’s dog…….
Was that how I had looked?
Even for , there was no need to bother correcting the misunderstanding, so I didn’t add anything more.
“Why do you follow the Supre King?”
Does a salaryman need so grand reason to follow the boss? The benefits are decent and the pay is decent, so I stick around.
“You think you’re working at a company or sothing.”
“It’s not that different. Over there I kept working even though it was dirty and pathetic because of my family, but at least here I don’t have to.”
Bare’s constant cackling gradually died down.
“You know. I’ve got a kid. If ti had flowed properly over there, he’d be old enough to start kindergarten by now…… but right now, he doesn’t have a dad.”
“Are you asking for pity or sothing?”
“No. I’m saying I absolutely have to go ho. I can’t raise my kid as a fatherless child, can I?”
The scenery of Earth I had seen beyond the sky surfaced in my mind.
Was it really a coincidence that Bare was bringing up a story like this now.
I didn’t think so.
“You asked why I follow the Supre King, right? Like I said, it’s because the待遇 is good. And more than anything, the company’s vision is pretty good too.”
“……Vision?”
“The Supre King promised.”
Bare added.
“When all of this is over, only then will all of us finally be able to go ho.”
***
After finishing the interrogation and leaving the prison, Edric was waiting out front, seated in a chair.
Since I was already aware that with Edric’s hearing, he could have heard the conversation inside well enough, I had roughly set up a soundproof wall in advance using the Orb of Water and Demonic energy.
aning that no matter how much it was Edric, he wouldn’t be able to know the conversation that happened inside.
“Judging by how long you were in there, it looks like the rat woke up.”
“Yes. I asked this and that, but I didn’t get any big gains.”
Since I couldn’t tell Edric about the sky or anything else related to the Ascension Stone Fragnt, it would be best to gloss it over to about this extent for now.
“For that, it was pretty quiet there.”
“Just in case, I took asures so no sound would leak out.”
“Hm, is that so? Well done.”
Rather than telling Edric a clumsy lie, saying it like this was better in many ways.
“Do you have any guess what the Supre King’s objective is?”
“I still don’t know.”
“Is that so? I thought you would’ve found out sothing.”
“But I did roughly figure out what kind of thing he’s trying to pull.”
“Oh, tell .”
“The Supre King will have prepared magic circles everywhere that could beco a battlefield.”
“Magic circles? Magic circles like the one that was in the Mülhen Granary Zone?”
“Yes. Probably.”
I selected and told only the information Edric could know, and needed to know.
“The Supre King will have made preparations to burn not only the Empire but even the Eastern Union too, by turning all of it into a battlefield. This war will have been for that from the start.”
“This war…… you an it isn’t simply a war to subjugate the Empire?”
“That might be the purpose of the kingdoms obeying the Supre King’s orders, but at least the Supre King who commands them will think differently.”
What was the Supre King’s objective?
I still didn’t know much about it, but if what Bare said was true, then the Supre King had probably seen, like , what was beyond the sky.
But a doubt remained.
‘If the sky really opens as the Supre King intends…… what happens to this world?’
Would we really be able to go ho, just as the Supre King said?
But if not?
Then this world and Earth…… what would happen to them?
Thinking about problems I couldn’t know the answer to wasn’t a way I particularly liked, but the sche the Supre King was plotting wasn’t sothing I could just let slide to the point I had to do sothing so aningless.
“Then finding and dismantling those magic circles cos first.”
“Yes. That’s the most urgent matter.”
“Hm, then we should also tell the commanders to avoid engagent with the enemy as much as possible. We can’t do exactly what they want.”
Edric said.
“But what kind of magic circle is it? A magic circle is, by nature, a circle for activating magic, but I don’t know that part.”
“It will be a human sacrifice magic circle.”
Edric’s expression hardened stiffly.
“……I’ve heard there are mages who do that insane kind of thing, but I never thought soone called the head of the Eastern Union would do sothing like that.”
Edric shook his head.
“But what kind of magic is soone called the Supre King trying to complete even at the cost of making such sacrifices? Don’t you have any guesses either?”
“Yes. Unfortunately, I don’t.”
“Hm, magic with no idea where it will head…… there’s nothing more dangerous than that.”
Edric lifted his head.
“What will you do now?”
“I plan to et the Supre King.”
“……What?”
Edric spoke awkwardly, unable to hide his shock.
“……Uh, I’m not sure so I’m asking, but was soone called the Supre King, the head of the Eastern Union, soone you could just et because you wanted to?”
“Of course not, but I still have to find a way.”
“Ha…… you always surprise .”
What needed to be done was decided.
“Captain, please et with the Bernhard-side council mbers and the other commanders. Before I et the Supre King, there’s sowhere I need to go.”
“Sowhere to go?”
“Yes. I’m going to briefly et soone I used to know.”
“Soone you used to know…… co to think of it, I’ve never heard what you used to be before.”
“That’s…… well, later, when there’s ti, I’ll tell you slowly.”
Of course, it would be a story I’d appropriately adapt and make up.
“Alright. Then I’ll pray for your fortune in battle.”
“I’ll pray for your fortune in battle too, Captain.”
***
Before eting the Supre King, there was one preparation I had to make.
Naly, eting one of my past connections.
‘I should et that guy.’
Back in the days of World of Justice Online, I had quite a lot of connections.
Of course, most of them were bad connections, but even so, a few among them remained as good connections to .
Guar was also one of those good connections.
Guar was, even among Players, a rare person who held the position of lord of a land called Biarritz on the coast of the Eastern Union.
Even before playing World of Justice Online, he was a player who mainly preferred managent simulation gas.
From what I had briefly checked on the Anonymous Bulletin Board, he seed to still remain the lord there.
I’d heard that among the lord’s subjects, he was a decent lord with a pretty good reputation, or sothing like that.
Since Guar held not a small influence within the Eastern Union, if I could get his help, eting the Supre King wouldn’t be that difficult.
“Vell, where did you go?”
When I returned to the lodging to pack for the journey, Alicia greeted as she looked at .
“I had a quick errand. I have to go sowhere again.”
“Huh? Where?”
“Looks like sothing ca up.”
“Can’t I co with you?”
I knew Alicia would say sothing like this, so I tried to refuse like always.
But the mont I saw Alicia biting her lip tight, prepared to be refused once again, for so reason an inexplicable whim ca over .
“Sure.”
“……Huh? Really?”
“Yeah. It’s a long way, so hurry and get ready.”
“Ah, okay!”
Alicia brightened and hurriedly ran up to the second floor they were using as lodging.
I didn’t know if this was the right choice, but still, traveling as two would be safer than traveling alone, so it wasn’t necessarily a bad choice.
‘It’s still not certain Guar will cooperate willingly either.’
I was definitely quite close with Guar, and I had actually helped Guar several tis too.
But people naturally change, and there was no rule that Guar would still be the sa Guar I knew.
‘Still, there’s no other way.’
The existence of the Supre King was being kept so extrely secret that even Edric didn’t know until I told him.
A few Players had at least noticed his existence and passed along word, but there was still no information at all about what kind of person the Supre King was.
So if I couldn’t get Guar’s help, it was obvious things would get quite troubleso.
“I’m here.”
After packing and waiting on the first floor of the lodging, before long Alicia ca down.
But what I hadn’t expected was the presence of the piles of luggage next to Alicia.
“Yo, Vell. Were you trying to go sowhere leaving just us behind?”
“You’re trying to carry it all alone again. Did you forget we’re the sa Special Task Force?”
It was Conlan and Albino.
“What? Why are you all coming?”
“I heard from Alicia you had to go sowhere urgently. Then of course we have to go together.”
“……And you got permission from the captain?”
“Captain? Haven’t seen that old man for quite a while. Then doesn’t that make you the next one with command authority, Squad Leader?”
“Huh…….”
It was absurd, but strangely, that part didn’t feel bad either.
“Let make this clear: this trip is pretty dangerous. Even if you had ten lives, it still wouldn’t be enough.”
“Hmph, when wasn’t it? If it’s sothing you’re doing, it’ll be related to Bernhard too. I’ll help.”
“I still haven’t forgotten the debt I owe you. So don’t think about dying on your own terms.”
It seed Conlan and Albino had no intention of sitting this journey out.
Can’t be helped…….
Since Alicia was coming along anyway, adding these two didn’t seem like it would cause any special problems.
“Fine, do whatever you want. Still, wouldn’t it be better to tell the captain? If we just go, that’s desertion.”
“You don’t need to worry about that.”
At that mont, Edric appeared from sowhere and said with a hearty laugh.
“I hear you’re going to follow Vell. Good thinking. Truth is, my heart felt heavy sending Vell alone anyway.”
Edric laughed.
“You heard? The captain allowed it too.”
“Good grief…….”
If even Edric was saying that, there was no longer any grounds to refuse.
“Alright, let’s go.”
It was ti to head to Biarritz, the territory of Guar, one of my long-standing connections.
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