◇

...Spreading rumor about the jewel might have been a mistake.

I think about the Ropo thing earlier while looking at the stars from the roof of my mansion.

I couldn"t sense his presence until right before he spoke.
I"ve lost sight of his existence despite having put a marker on him.
His level is equal to greater demons".

He probably has concealment-type Unique Skill that"s powerful enough to elude another Unique Skill.

I also thought the possibility of him teleporting away chantlessly, but it"s impossible to hide from the marker column no matter how far you go.
Maybe dimensional transfer or locked s.p.a.ce--but even in the case with Yuika back then, it won"t let you hide from marker column.

Considering that, the highest possibility is that he has concealment-type unique skill after all.
Thinking from that, I can guess his ident.i.ty to a certain extent.

Hero, reincarnated person, demon lord.... perhaps, G.o.d or their apostle, I"m certain.

Still, if he has the perfect hiding skill, I wonder why did he leave it to his underlings to steal?
The success rate should be higher if he stole it himself.

Maybe there"s some kind of reason?

If I just confirm the AR reading from that time--

My stomach suddenly feels warm, so I throw my view down.

"Wlcome~?"

Tama is curling into a ball on my stomach.

"What"s wrong? Did you make a mistake?"

This time Arisa appeared by teleporting, and then silently put the head of me who was watching the stars on her lap.

"--A bit yeah."
"Isn"t alright to fail once in a while. You"re human after all."

Arisa comforts me sounding like a big sister while patting my hair.
How pathetic of me as their guardian to make them worry like this.

I should stop regretting and reflecting now.

--From now on I won"t get my priority wrong.

"You"re right."

I stand up while replying Arisa.

Now then, time to act--

◇

I went to the forbidden library in order to seek information.
Of course, as Nanas.h.i.+ that is.

"Hmhmm, hmm, hmmhmmhmm."

--I saw something unusual.
That taciturn princess is humming.

"--Ah"

The princess who notices me has her face reddened and then she shuts her mouth.

"You look happy. Did anything good happen?"
"Yes, a bit."
"Really. That"s good."

Apparently, the princess is happy that she gets along with Arisa and Mia.
Getting along is lovely, so they said.

I got to see the happy face of a beauty, so let"s get back to my original objective now.
I go to the six-armed golem and ask it to search for some books.

"--Here are the catalogs of forbidden water, fire, and s.p.a.ce magic, and unique skills that you wish."

I take the books that have been piled up on top of the desk by the living dolls into my storage, and search keywords such as, "Concealment", "Cognizance Inhibition", "Hiding" through Menu.

The majority of the hit are people who were good at Concealment and Hiding, I"ve found many famous people of the past like the thief hero, or the a.s.sa.s.sin king who had those kinds of unique skills, not only demon lords.
However, every one of those skills is just a skill that has the effect of annulling search-type skill, not that it could oppose search-type unique skills.

--I guess that"s to be expected, the sample size is too few in the first place.

There are also a lot of other useful-looking information, so I transcribe these forbidden books into the forbidden book folder of the memo pad.

From the forbidden spell catalog, I ask the librarian for the magic books that have the spells of [Complete Control over Blood] for Mia"s use, and [Dimension Shredder] and [Ash Flare] for Arisa"s use.

"Please pardon me. The books besides the s.p.a.ce magic one are currently being borrowed for reading."

--Reading?

Thus when I turn toward the princess who has resumed to hum again, I see that there are indeed the books that I asked the librarion for.
Looks like she"s not reading it now, let"s borrow it for a bit.

"Princess, can I have your time for a bit?"
"W-what can I help you with?"

The princess looks shaken, perhaps she never thought that I would call her.

"Can I borrow that book for a moment?"
"Eh, this book?"
"Yup, I"ll return it to you immediately."

Since the princess nodded, I put the book into my storage and transcribed not only the spells I wanted, but the entire book.
The princess seemed surprised about something when I was putting the book into my Storage.

"Thank you. Next, please lend me that book."
"Y-yes..."

After processing the second book like the first, I return the book to the princess.

--By any chance, I wonder if the princess is researching the spells for Arisa"s and Mia"s sake?

"....Um, Hero-sama."
"What is it?"

After thanking her and preparing to leave, the princess unusually talked to me.

"Is a demon lord going to attack the Royal Capital again?"
"There"s no oracle about it, so the Royal Capital should be safe right?"

I replied the princess who looks anxious, but I did not speak, "Some greater demon might be acting behind the scene though", out loud.

Still, oracle huh.

I heard in the duchy capital that there would be seven advents of demon lords.
I had heard it after defeating the wild-boar king in the duchy capital underground, so I though the remaining six were mistaken, but since I met the dog-head in the labyrinth city, it"s possible that demon lords might appear in the remaining five places.

In fact, Hero Hayato is currently pursuing a demon lord in the weaselkin empire.

After getting the [Chant Orb] at the auction and I become able to teleport to any places with s.p.a.ce magic, I"m thinking of checking the places in turns.

Come to to think of it, where were the remaining places of the oracles?

If I remember right, Sera"s oracle points to another continent, the others are on the Holy Kingdom Parion on the western part of this continent, Weaselkin Empire on the eastern part of the continent, and the Ratkin Princ.i.p.ality on the northeast part of the continent--If I"m not mistaken, that one should be close to the [Maze of Trazayuya] where Zen was hiding.
The last one is the Kingdom of Yowok that has occupied Arisa"s kingdom.

Yowok Kingdom.... I feel like I"ve heard something about it from a rumor.
It should be on the neighborhood of Bishtal Dukedom that revolted. And also, the younger brother of Marquis Kelten who"s under suspicion of doing coup d"etat should be the prince consort of Yowok Kingdom.

....Perhaps, demons are involved in those suspicious stories?

When I"m able to chant magic, I"ll go to check Yowok Kingdom first thing first.

"....Then, why are you checking past heroes and demon lords?"
"Even though the Royal Capital is alright, they might appear in other places. And also--"

Using this opportunity, I talked about the peculiar hiding skill that Ropo used to the princess who"s well-read.
The princess searches her memory while having a difficult face.

"A thief that can null Hero-sama"s Enemy Search Unique Skill is it.... Perhaps he used some kind of artifact that could teleport or hid him in the boundary?"

Fumu, there"s the possibility of him using some Artifact-cla.s.s item too huh.

Opinions from other people really are important after all.
Getting a new view point like this is a hit, but for now, I tell her that it"s not that kind of item.

"Even if he used such item, I would have still known where the opponent was."

However, it"s also possible that he has combined concealment item and his own superior hiding skill.

"Then he might have been annihilated during that moment."
"Annihilated?"
"Yes, one of the greater demon that Ancient King-sama fought should have that kind of ability. "

Looks like I"ve overlooked it since I searched only with "Unique Skill" as the keywords.
....Or rather, isn"t it bad for him if he was annihilated?

"What kind of ability is it?"
"It wasn"t pa.s.sed down in detail, but it seems there was a greater demon that could appear before Ancient King-sama in an ever-changing form like as a human, a demi-human, or an animal, befuddling him--"

The princess picked out that from the bottom of her memory to tell me.

"--the ability that can create such things is called 『Mock Body Creation (Create Avatar)』."

◇

After hearing more details from the princess, I hunted for information regarding [Mock Body Creation] ability from the forbidden library.

It seems to be a skill that creates a mock body which has the same skill as the user and then the user possesses it.
Looks like it"s different than the body clone the sakuramochi demon from before was using.

It seems the main body is defenseless during the creation of the mock body if left as is, but fighting using it with no penalty is such a big advantage.
It"s not an exaggeration to call it unfair.

It"s written in the book that the demon was defeated by the breath of the heavenly dragon that was together with Ancient King at that time, but the state of the affair is written vaguely.

I guess I"ll go ask the person concerned herself.

◇

I tell the members of Echigoya Firm that the special training will be on break today, and for them to strive to better themselves their own.

In addition, half of the executives whom I had sent to gather materials in various branch offices absurdly replied that they had finished their missions.
They are this capable yet they couldn"t succeed as explorers and were caught by the lost thieves....

I told the girls that I would pick them up tomorrow evening, and for them to just kick back and relax on some high cla.s.s inns.

Now then, before I go to Fujisan Mountains to gather intelligence, I"ll have to ensure the safety of our girls.

If there"s a possibility of a greater demon, I"m afraid of them getting surprise attacks during their sleep.
In order to have relieving sleep, sleeping in the tree house of Boruenan Forest should be good.
This place is the safest place besides being near me.

"Good evening, Lusan."
"Welcome back, Satou-san. We"ve prepared the bedding."
"Thank you very much. I"m sorry for asking a big favor so suddenly."
"No, this is nothing much."

Aze-san who"s quick to go to bed at night is fast asleep already, so it"s only Lusan here.
Pochi and Tama are already sleeping, so Liza carry them to the bed under her armpits. s.h.i.+ro and Crow are sleeping happily on Nana"s chest.

"Then, I"ll be going to Fujisan Mountains."
"Understood. Take care okay."

Sent off by Arisa and the others, I leave Boruenan.

It might be nice to rest in Boruenan Forest for a while after the auction.
We"ve been working too much lately haven"t we.

In addition, as the guards of the thief trap, I"ve left ma.s.s produced bronze golems, scarecrows for surveillance, and small gargoyles for pursuing.

◇

On a straight line, the nearest place to Fujisan mountains is Muno City.
In Nanas.h.i.+ form, I teleported to the wall of Muno City with Unit Arrangement, and flew with Flash Drive to the border of the territory on the direction of Fujisan Mountains.

I"d like to have a base for teleporting in on the border of the territory, so I search for some handy ruin using Map.

"Fumu, an abandoned fort used by thieves as their stronghold huh--"

There"s no one who hears my muttering.
Looks like the restoration of public order doesn"t reach far out here.

Spending too much time on it would be annoying, so I used [Spray Gun] used for the executives" power-leveling to neutralize the thieves, captured and tied them skillfully with [Magic Hands].

[Unit Arrangement] only covers Friend Units, but it seems that neutralized people like this can be moved together with the unit as captives.
I push the captured thieves to the territorial army and then I go back to the abandoned fort earlier with Unit Arrangement.

--Yup, this is convenient.

Next time, it might be interesting to tame some griffons that thieves avoid and let them nest on the fort.

I dance through the sky while thinking such things, heading toward the sacred Fujisan Mountains where snow remain.

◇

I use the [All Map Exploration] after a long time not using it once I enter Fujisan Mountains.
It seems Tenryu (Heavenly Dragon) and Mito are in the shrine on the mountaintop. Mito is the only human here, the other living beings are only dragons, monsters and beasts.
The monsters are located only on the foot of the mountains, there are dragons from the middle to the top.
Looks like there are more than a hundred lesser dragons, seven adult dragons, and one elder dragon.

I thought of hiding my presence, but it"d be bad they thought of me as someone who was plotting of doing something bad to Mito and Tenryu, so I go toward the shrine boldly openly.

--As the result, looks like it"s a failure.

The dragons are coming to me, simply because they can"t forgive someone who enters their turf.

Lesser dragons that are smaller than their counterparts in the lower layer of the labyrinth soar in the sky one after another.
Adult dragons and the elder dragon have come from the shrine.

"GUROROROWWWWN", so the vigorous roars of the dragons shake the mountains.

I don"t want to hurt the dragons who have become a rare species because of me.
I"ll make use of t.i.tles and make them become obedient. I put the t.i.tle [Friend of the Black Dragon].

"KISSYWAAAAAAA"
"BWAOOOOOOWWWWN"
"GUROROROWWWWN"

Their roars become even more intense than before.

I rudely thought that the black dragon Heiron was hated, but I feel the excitement of, "True friends exchange blows with each other", from their eyes.

--I forgot that the dragons are fundamentally battle junkies.

I don"t mind keeping them company if there"s only a few, but I"m worried that I"d fail at holding back when there are these many.
I change my t.i.tle to [Natural Enemy of Dragons], and fly past them with Flash Drive while the dragons are flinching.

It seems the dragons here have less guts than the evil dragons, the instant I changed my t.i.tle, their bodies were stiffened out of fear and they fell one after another to the mountain slopes.

....I wonder if I made the wrong choice?

The mountain slopes become full of big holes, but since the health gauges of these dragons haven"t been decreased in the least, they must be playing dead.

The adult dragons didn"t fall down, but they glide through the sky while turning away not to meet my line of sight.
The tension in the air feels like they"re thinking of something rude, like their life will be over if their flapping wings even attract my attention.

I felt slightly guilty about it, so I apologize in my heart when I pa.s.s them.
I"ll treat them to some whole roasted goats in a banquet later....

While thinking such a thing, I moved toward the shrine with Flash Drive.

Tenryu (Heavenly Dragon) appears from the shrine, spreads her wings and makes a threatening pose.
This one has a lot of debt from me, so being slightly rough should be fine.

『GROROROROROWWWW--』

I change my t.i.tle to [Natural Enemy of Heavenly Dragons] and take the wind out of her sails.

『--KYUUWNNN』

....Are you a puppy?

◇

Tenryu turned tail and disappeared into the back of the shrine.
I know wherever she is from the luminous point in the map though, so there"s no problem.

I calmly land on the shrine floor.

The inside is warm as if the cold outside is a lie.
It"s probably under air conditioner magic.

While advancing the uninhabited corridor, the points that indicate Mito and Ten-chan are reflected on the radar.
Beyond the long corridor, the two appear in greece toglike clothing.

"Are you the bad kid who"s bullying the dragons--"

Mito who"s holding a broom while taking an imposing stance looks quite gallant.
Now then, I should clear up the misunderstanding before we talk.