Chapter 143

After returning to the mansion, I headed to greet Lark .

I just explained that no one was seriously injured, and told him that Euris and the others would be back soon to give him a detailed report .

There were no problems, I see . Really, thats good, thats good . Im just so worried that something bad will happen again because of all the mishaps that have been happening

Lark nodded yes and patted his chest .

There was a problem, but Euris would explain that area well .

Speaking of which, who set up the detailed route for the magic beast thinning plan?

I want to make sure of this one .

Although I cant say for sure, there is a good chance that the person who suggested the route is the spirit user who turned Hamelin against us .

The place where the three units gathered was too much to bring to surround and carry out a surprise attack .

That might just be why they operated Hamelin, but at least it was someone who knew the details of the thinning plan .

A detailed route? Its hard to say It was decided by gathering a group of visionaries from the Private Army and the Alchemy Division, correcting each other . I could list them if necessary, but why would you ask about that?

I was a little curious . Um, the Alchemy Division as well?

I was told you were refused entry, though .

Yeah . Icarus is a very experienced and intelligent man, after all in times like these, I always ask for his wisdom .

Lark said bitterly .

He seems to be an excellent human being, no doubt .

However, it seems that he uses that as a good reason to run away from anything dangerous or hard to do

Who made the decision on the rendezvous point near the mountain?

What? Umm, It was Me If I remember . It was just right in position, and theres no way I could have made a mistake

it doesnt seem to narrow it down from here .

In the meantime, Ill ask around Euris too .

Its possible to get the route out from the people in the private army, and it might be dangerous to rely on too much information .

The blockade of the territory by Nalgarn, the attempted destruction of the Private Army by Hamelin, the damage to crops

If these could be brought about deliberately, it would have been easy to destroy the Fage territory .

The people who have the advantage of keeping them alive and not killing them are the ones who are in a position to control this territory after Larks authority has completely fallen away

When you think about it, it naturally narrows down the list of suspects .

There are people who are suspicious, but its not something that can be said easily .

If you are wrong, you will only end up alerting the culprit, and even if you are right, if you are resisted, you will lose your credibility .

If they get away without any solid evidence, or if they become mute, they will be unable to speak, leaving us with a bad taste in their mouths, which could make it difficult for us to stay .

That would be the end of it .

I could just tell Lark to be careful, but I dont think that would make things any better .

Im sorry to say, but theres no countermeasure that Lark can take at this point in time, and it would be a bad thing if he were to become aware of it, and as a result, the culprit could find out about it .

Id like to see Lark recover his territory or rather, Id like him to work on restoring his authority . Earnestly .

It seems that the enemy is a rather large opponent .

Until we have proof that we can finish them off, it would be better to let them swim .

Im not very comfortable with it, but its one thing to wait for them to give up and run .

After I finished talking to Lark, I headed to my room .

Mea had been given another room, but it wasnt even bedtime yet, so she followed me .

Well, Ill have to check on Hamelin .

Using the teleportation magic, he calls up the World Tree Ortem and places it on the floor .

He points the tip of his wand at the Ortem and chants the spell again .

Puppet, spit it out .

A mass of black haze escaped from the World Trees Ortem and fell in a blur to the floor .

The black haze quickly turned into a sphere, and two small, dull eyes floated in the air .

It should have been about the size of a persons head, but now it was the size of a handstand .

Kyu?

Hamelin leaned back and blinked .

I-, isnt she looking a lot prettier?

Ive sapped its strength, after all .

It was indeed too dangerous as it was, so I ripped off quite a few of the spirits that were building Hamelin .

I need to thoroughly manage it so that it dont try to collect the spirits and regain their power in the future .

Its eyes became two now, I knew it was because you broke its eyeballs

Its an indefinite demon, so it shouldnt matter, maybe .

Re-, really?

Hamelin rolled over and exposed his belly to me .

Perhaps it was a pose of surrender .

I poked its belly with my finger and it moaned, Kyu .

I poured my magic power into Hamelin and used the echoing magic power to examine the individuals information .

So its summoning crest is already severed .

Whats a summoning crest?

Its a mark that a spirit beast or demon can carve on the body of a spirit user they like . With the summoning crest, the spirit user can summon the spirit beast or demon whenever he wants .

If the spirit user still had the summoning crest of Hamelin, I could bring Hamelin in front of a suspicious human to confirm it .

However, right now Hamelin doesnt feel like his magic power is connected to any of them .

Perhaps he erased the summoning crest for fear of being identified .

Did he fail to summon it and guessed that Hamelin was in a state of captivity?

Since Hamelin is a demon of low intelligence, it would be difficult to get the original spirit user out of him .

Should we proceed with the search for the culprit at the same time, or should we prioritize stabilizing the territory for now?

Hamelin put his head on the floor and stopped moving .

Five long, slender arms sprouted and hung sluggishly and forcefully .

Two small, dull eyes crackled and blinked .

Its still kind of creepy, isnt it?

Mea hides gently behind me .

Yeah?

His arms seem to be dried out and his body appears to be slender .

It seems to be quite weak .

Maybe its because he was using too much power to drag a magic beast of that scale around, or maybe its because he was beaten up by magic, or maybe its because the inside of the World Trees Ortem wasnt very suitable for his body

Perhaps its hungry or perhaps its lacking in magic power .

It must have used up all its magic power in guiding the magic beast and maintaining its body under the attack, and then It was locked up in the Ortem with a warding effect, so It was unable to replenish its magic power .

I gather my magic power at my fingertips and bring it closer to Hamelin .

I dont want to overdo it too much and have him gain power, so I keep it fairly low .

The moment Hamelin approaches its face suspiciously, he stretches out his arms and bounded my hand .

He opens his big mouth and sucks on my fingers . It tickles .

And, thats as far as it goes .

Aaaaah!

I pull my fingers back quickly as I see Hamelins body swell .

Hamelin stares at my fingers in a hushed manner and stretches out his arms .

However, when you see it like this, Its quite cute .

When I press my fingers on his belly and rubs it, he stretches out his little thin arms and cackles saying, kyakkyakkyakkya .

Its surprisingly comfortable to touch .

Me-, Mea would like to touch it for a bit too?

Youre so susceptible .

I pull my arm back and Hamelin jerks upright, his eyes fixed on me .

Is it over? It was a questioning look in his eyes .

Mea, who had been hiding behind me, stretches out her arms so .

Meas fingers touches .

Ah its softer than I thought .

Right? Right?

After that, after a short time of poking around with him, perhaps its tired, it approached the World Trees Ortem, changing the shape of its body and goes into its mouth .

what are you, a hamster?