Chapter 142 (2/2)

「……Gordy. I have something I would like to ask of you.」

「As you command.」

「For a while, I would like for you to perform the duties of the Western General in place of Sancreed.」

「Ha?」

「This might be a case that concerns a God. That is why I will bring Sancreed with me.」

Gordy nodded, then turned her gaze to Ichika.

「As you command. Well then, during that time, I shall entrust the authority as Central General that I possess to Ichika.」

「I have received them.」

「Yosh, we’ll be jumping to the Western Army Headquarters, Gordy.」

「Understood.」

Vermudol and Gordy were enveloped in the light of Transfer.

While seeing off their figures, Ichika made a bow.

「Take care. The coordination for your departure to the Jiol Forest Kingdom shall be done for tomorrow morning.」

And then, Vermudol and Gordy were transferred to the Western Army Headquarters.

「……The King huh. Do you need something?」

Seeing Vermudol appear in his Western Army Headquarters office, Sancreed calmly asked that question.

「Nino has gone missing in the Great Jiol Forest. There is the possibility that some sort of large power is taking part in it. It is purely at the stage of being a possibility but……a God might be involved.」

Hearing the word “God”, Sancreed reacted with a twitch.

Sancreed also knew of the fact that Nino was performing intelligence gathering in regards to the Gods in the Jiol Forest Kingdom.

The objective of that was to meet with a God.

However, the method of meeting with the Gods was ingeniously obscured even in the Hero legends.

「What about the possibility of the Alva?」

「I naturally thought of that, but I can only say that I do not know. There is too much of a lack of information.」

「……That’s true too.」

After nodding, Sancreed turned his gaze to Gordy.

「In regards to the details of the performance of my official duties, you can ask my adjutant for them. While I am away, I entrust my authority as Western General to Gordy.」

「Acknowledged.」

After Gordy answered, a female Mazoku adjutant that was in a corner of the room made a bow.

「……So, when will we be departing.」

「Tomorrow morning. Right now, Nanalus is making the necessary diplomatic coordinations.」

He greatly wanted to fly over there even now, but after thinking about the relationship between two fellow countries, he couldn’t do that.

As long as he had chosen not to be an invader, but the path of friendship as a nation, at the very least, he couldn’t be an outlaw on the surface.

That is why, right now, he could do nothing but believe that Nino was safe, and follow the necessary procedures.

「Has the location been identified?」

Sancreed continued asking questions to Vermudol.

「It hasn’t been narrowed down completely. It’s better than starting from zero……I suppose that’s the level it’s at.」

「How about Magical Power Perception?」

「It isn’t impossible, but magical power is thrown out of order in the Great Jiol Forest, so the accuracy drops. That is the reason why much of that area is not traversed even now.」

Within the Great Jiol Forest, it is filled with magical power, so Magical Power Perception gets hindered by that thick magical power.

Furthermore, it’s even said that the magical power of the Great Jiol Forest bewilders people themselves, makes them lose their sense of direction, and if they untactfully go in too deep, they will never come back out from it again.

The story that the Great Jiol Forest research group organized for the sake of unraveling the mysteries of the Great Jiol Forest in the past was dissolved due to a large quantity of missing persons occuring was famous within the Jiol Forest Kingdom.

It seems that even the Hero Ryuuya’s party had wasted quite a long amount of time for the sake of exploring the Great Jiol Forest.

That was also a reason why Vermudol himself was going there.

For the average Mazoku, it was practically impossible to do Magical Power Perception within the Great Jiol Forest.

However, Vermudol was different.

With that powerful magical power of his, it was possible for him to forcibly perform Magical Power Perception.

Of course, the accuracy would fall quite a bit due to the forest’s magical power……but it was a lot better than not having it at all.

「Is there anything from the Great Jiol Forest research group that you mentioned before……or maybe something from the Hero legend that could be used as a reference?」

「If there were, I would have handed it to Nino. In regards to the Great Jiol Forest research group, since it was a disgrace of the nation, it seems that all of the relevant documents disposed of. Well, it seems that there weren’t any significant results to begin with though……Even in regards to the Hero legend, as expected, the important parts were obscured.」

There must have been some sort of dealings between the Hero’s group and the Jiol Forest Kingdom for this to have happened, but that was nothing but a guess.

In conclusion, there wasn’t a single sort of map of the interior of the Great Jiol Forest, and the location of the Great Jiol Forest was only displayed on continental maps.

This was the reason why the Jiol Forest Kingdom was said to be a natural fortress.

「Be prepared for this to become a considerably tough search.」

「I know. Let’s think about what we can do until our departure.」

Sancreed unfolded a map of the Jiol Forest Kingdom on top of the desk.

And then, the two’s discussion ended up continuing on until dawn broke.