Chapter 275 (1/2)
Vermudol received an urgent report in his office.
On their way to the Canal Kingdom, Kain and Ein ended up in combat with goblins wearing a type of armor that fused with their flesh along with a special type of goblin known to be similar to ogres. Kain’s party had no trouble in taking down these special goblins, but they’d resurrect soon after, and a herd of Alva appeared as well. Upon finally defeating all the enemies, a sorceress from the Canal Kingdom Imperial Court named Mazenda appeared. After she left, Zwei attempted to follow her but lost track.
「…I see. Mysterious goblins and mysterious equipment. And the Alva that just happened to show up at the same time…」
「I’m interested in this Mazenda person, but the Alva are the bigger concern here.」
「Yeah.」
Vermudol nodded with a wry smile in response to Rokuna’s words.
The Alva always had a decent level of intelligence, but according to Nino’s report, there were special types of Alva with intelligence that far surpassed that.
In that case, it should be assumed that there’s a specific reason why they appeared there.
「Maybe they were trying to hide the secret to the goblins’ method of resurrection?」
If they really did resurrect, that would be a frightening technique. It would mean that someone had the ability to manipulate their lives.
「I think it’s a bit too soon to call it resurrection. There are some ogres that live even with their heads cut off. If those special goblins had the same tenacity as those ogres, then it wouldn’t be too surprising if they could regenerate their limbs in some way. But there’s no doubt that the Alva have something to do with all of this.」
「Right. It’d be safe to assume that they’d be related to those goblin assassins as well.」
The goblin assassins were another nuisance that Vermudol had been encountering.
They’ve been appearing all across the Shutaia Continent, and they’ve been operating as a group with clearly defined orders.
It was clear they were acting as an organization, but they’ve yet to find out where their base was located.
They’d appear completely out of nowhere, and if they think they’re about to fail, they’d kill themselves. Their corpses don’t remain, either.
It was very similar to how the Alva disappear when they die as well, but there was no concrete proof.
Whenever Vermudol had the free time, he would secretly go to the Shutaia Content to see if he could figure out the identity of the Alva using his Status Confirm magic, but each time he went over there, they never appeared.
「Alva, huh… Tch, they just keep causing more and more problems.」
「If we go to that Dimensional Gap or whatever, then maybe we’d be able to solve those problems.」
They knew that the Alva’s base of operations was a place known as the 「Dimensional Gap」.
But the only possible means they had of getting there, Ykslaas’s 「Dimensional Castle」, had completely lost its power and showed no signs of regaining it.
「There hasn’t been any progress on the Hero Legend analysis either, right?」
「Nothing. It’s likely that it only emphasized the pretty parts of the story. Nothing about the Dimensional Gap is mentioned other than its name.」
The Hero Legend has made mention of the 「Dimensional Gap」 and the 「Dimensional Castle」.
But there’s no way that the Hero Ryuuya could have just used Transfer Magic to teleport to some place with no clear location.
In that case, there must have been some method he used to get in there.
But no matter how much they investigated, they couldn’t find any clues.
Well, no, they did have one of the Hero Ryuuya’s party members, Luuty.
But Vermudol had yet to fulfill his promise to her. The promise that she wouldn’t cooperate until he had proof that the God of Life Philia was behind all of this.
「Well, we’ll just have to do our best to deal with these problems as we go along for now.」
「Right. The more these suspicious incidents start piling, the closer we’ll get to seeing what the Alva are after.」
It almost felt as if the Alva’s goal was purely just to cause chaos, but there must be something that lies beyond that.
「…But I have to say… Kain, huh…」
「You’ve met with him before, right?」
「Just for a bit.」
Kain’s relationship with Ein was working to their advantage.
By being with Kain, they had many opportunities to gain information on the Canal Kingdom that wouldn’t normally come from the Intelligence Group. It gave them many important hints as well.
「I feel pretty bad for him. Not only does he have his hands full with the Alva, he’s being thrown straight into the struggles between countries. Not to mention he’s involving himself with us Mazoku as well. There’s not many people that have so much stuff going on in their life, you know?」
「You have a point.」
In a way, you could say that Kain Stadias’s life was just one nonstop disaster.
If you look at it another way, you could say that Kain’s path crossed roads with all kinds of different people.
「The future, huh?」
「Hmm? What are you talking about?」
「Just thinking to myself. I wonder if he ever chose the path he wanted to choose…」
At that time, Kain was thinking about what he should be doing.
It was likely that since then, Kain had gotten himself involved with all kinds of fights and struggles. As he went through all of that, it could be said that his possible options for the future increased.
From what he heard from the reports on Kain, Vermudol surmised that he was someone that put in everything he had in what he did, and treated his bonds with his companions very dearly.
His tendency to treat everyone equally reminded Vermudol of himself, but there was one thing that made the two of them very different.While Vermudol had a general rule of treating everyone equally, he still had a clearly defined order of priority. It didn’t seem like Kain had anything like that.
For example, if there was some hypothetical situation where both Ichika and some Mazoku subordinate he wasn’t familiar with were in danger, Vermudol would do all he could to save both of them.
However, if he knew for a fact that he’d only be able to save one of them, then he would most definitely prioritize Ichika.
That was both one of Vermudol’s weaknesses and his strengths.
That sense of priority he had assisted in helping him making quick decisions on the spot.
「Anyway, it’s nothing important… More importantly, tell Ein to continue her duties. This is a good chance to investigate the Canal Kingdom.」