Chapter 142 (1/2)

Volume 2

The Simple Job of Only Perishing to the Hero Volume 4 Chapter 23

– 107.167.229.84

「……Say that one more time.」

「Y, yes! Nino-sama has gone missing in the Great Jiol Forest!」

Hearing that report, Vermudol pondered.

The Great Jiol Forest is vast, and is also a mysterious space that can make people lose their way.

When entering it, it probably wasn’t strange to be unable to contact anyone for about two or three days.

Moreover, Nino possessed an ability called 【Magic Eyes of Greenery] which made it possible to manipulate plants.

It was hard to imagine that that Nino would go missing even if it was the Great Jiol Forest.

「……You said she had gone missing, correct? Did Nanalus determine that?」

「Y, yes.」

In response to Vermudol who asked that with a quiet tone, the intelligence operative nodded while shedding sweat.

The intelligence operative had nothing to feel guilty about, but being in front of the Demon King, they felt like they would be crushed by nervousness.

「On what basis is she considered to have gone missing?」

「The movement of magical power characteristic of large-scale magic was sensed in the Great Jiol Forest. However, no remnants of the magical power was found, and the specific location of it has not been identified. With Nanalus-sama’s diagnosis, he thinks that it may have been Transfer Magic.」

「Transfer Magic……you say?」

In Vermudol’s head, the mysterious Mazoku known as Alva had come to mind.

The Alva had an unknown ecology, and despite being Mazoku, they were not under Vermudol’s control.

When Vermudol and Nino were in mankind’s territory, they had fought against the Alva several times, but would Nino allow mere Alva to invoke Transfer Magic so easily?

Thinking that far, Vermudol then remembered reports that were sent up from the intelligence operatives that were dispatched to the St. Altlis Kingdom.

The appearance of special Alva that were different from the normal Alva.

That’s right, by no means were the Alva limited to the form that Vermudol knew of.

For example, what if a powerful Alva that they did not know of had appeared.

And then, there was the possibility that it wasn’t an Alva, but some other……for example, something related to the Gods.

The Gods worshiped in the Jiol Forest Kingdom were the God of Water Aklia and the God of Wind Wyrm.

It was possible that Nino had discovered something related to either one of them, and was dragged into something troublesome.

「And so, how is the search going?」

「Yes. The intelligence operatives have been temporarily distributed to the vicinity of the Great Jiol Forest and have commenced searching……」

Nanalus’s response to the situation was correct.

And then, having received the report here, it is probably correct that Vermudol gives out the instructions on how to deal with this from here on out.

「……What are the movements on the Jiol Forest Kingdom side?」

「Yes, they are the same as usual. They show no signs of having noticed anything in particular.」

「What is the possibility of it being the friendship opposition faction running wild.」

「Yes, at the very least, limiting it to before and after the incident, they have made no suspicious movements.」

In other words, it seems that this was not the work of mankind within the Jiol Forest Kingdom.

In that case, as he thought, the possibility that something possessing power large enough to delay even Nino taking part in this was high.

If they knew the location that Nino’s whereabouts had been cut off, they should be able to handle it somehow……but there was no use in criticizing the intelligence operatives in regards to this.

If the intelligence operatives were to get close carelessly, Nino would have counter attacked them without confirming who they were and with no questions asked, and there was already a shortage of intelligence operatives as it was now.

「……Dammit, what should we do……」

Unintentionally, those words leaked out from Vermudol’s mouth.

It was simple to add more personnel into the search.

However, if he were to move too many people, as expected, the Jiol Forest Kingdom would also notice that something had happened.

Naturally, that would invite distrust towards the Zadark Kingdom.

That being said, it wasn’t like he could make a request to the Jiol Forest Kingdom side saying that a young Mazoku girl had gone missing and that he wanted to allow him to search for her.

To begin with, he would end up having to explain what that young girl was doing, and if that were to happen, they might end up learning that they were searching for clues about the Gods.

Having that known would be the most inconvenient thing to happen.

That would be the same as giving the faction opposing friendship with the Zadark Kingdom and the faction opposing Sarigan’s monarchy, which were lurking within the Jiol Forest Kingdom, the materials needed to form a coup d’etat.

「……Ichika.」

「Yes.」

「I will go. I leave the rest to you.」

After a bit of silence, Ichika quietly nodded.

That’s right, that’s all that could be done.

Even if alone, if it was the almighty Demon King Vermudol going, he would be able to cope with things no matter what happens.

「……Let’s see. Tell this to Nanalus. Tell the other party that I will be heading to the Jiol Forest Kingdom with the aim of incognito sightseeing……have him do that.」

「Yessir, right away.」

After confirming that the intelligence operative had vanished with Transfer Magic, Vermudol took up the Vale Blade that he had placed in a corner of the rear garden.