Chapter 219

Chapter 219 Strongest Sage, Successfully Snuck In

『This is a piece of magic tool, isn't it? Maybe it's a piece from the one attached on that box?』

『 . . . Looks like it . 』

I analyze the magic circle inside the piece .

Only a few parts could be read as it's only a fragment . . . but this was a part of the box's magic tool no doubt about it .

『Which means, we can find out where the dolls come from if we collect this right?』

『Yeah . We might find out where in the river were the dolls set afloat . . . but even if we did find the location, there's a high chance that place is also a disposable one, so no guarantee we would find the demons there . 』

『Disposable . . . How can you be so sure?』

『The size of this box . At most, there would be 10 dolls inside . Weighed at around 1 ton . . . Just enough to be carried on a wagon, there's even the clasp . 』

I point at metal fittings on the edge of the box .

These are fasteners to prevent something falling out of a wagon .

These things wouldn't be needed if the demons carried the boxes themselves .

In the current world, carrying 1 ton of luggage per wagon is optimal .

Any more and the wheels would sink in, making it harder to transport, any less and it would be a waste to not carry more .

『You figured out that much just from looking at the box . . . . Then there'd be no point in collecting these pieces . 』

Ruli looks at the piece in disappointment .

However, it's not completely meaningless .

『No, we can use it as a last resort . Even if the people who transported the dolls are disposable, we can still ask them where they got the dolls from and go from there to trace the demons . 』

『Last resort . . . You mean, there's a more efficient way to find the demons?』

Alma asked me .

Nice deduction .

『Exactly . . . Specifically, the source of life forces . There's not many ways to collect mana from tens thousands of people . I've got an idea about it already . . . But let's save that until after we get in the empire . We're on top of a river separating national borders right now . 』

『I forgot!』

Alma started to run toward the other side of the river bank in a hurry .

Even if this place lacks surveillance, stopping for a long time on top of a river with a good view would still risk us getting discovered by the enemy .

If a soldier simply passed by the path next to the river, they'd see us .

. . . Well, I'm constantly looking out for any suspicious mana reaction close to us, so it's not actually a problem .

Thus we managed to slip through the imperial soldier's surveillance network, and arrived at Saihill Empire .

『I can see a town . . . But I don't see anything like an outer wall around it?』

『It's a town in a rural area after all . I think it's called Ecial or something . 』

I approach the town .

Currently, we're using magic to trick people's eyes, so they won't find us .

. . . If we're up against demons, they would instantly see through this level of camouflage . . . but they're probably not around these parts .

After all, it feels like this entire town is treated like a disposable tool .

While thinking that, we managed to get into the town .

『Will this camouflage do the job all right?』

『Considering the atmosphere here, no one would notice us unless we open the door to their house . 』

The magic we're using erased our presence, but it did not apply to the presence of things around us .

Thus, if we open a door or something, it would look like the door opened by itself without anyone around .

Aside from that, vibrations and air flows produced from us stepping the ground and moving would still be there, so someone skilled enough could still notice us . . . but well, I don't sense anyone that good around here .

The stuff about war seem to not have been circulated among the civilians, atmosphere in the town feels laid-back .

. . . If Eis Kingdom launched a counteroffensive, this town would be the very first to fall victim, and the people here probably are not informed even that .

『Monster Outbreak Warning?』

While we were walking around the town, Alma looked at a paper posted on a private house and made a puzzled voice .

Here's what written on the paper .

――――――――――

Presently we have acquired information about outbreak of monsters around Ecial .

Knights of Kinisis House have been dispatched to exterminate these monsters, civilians are to refrain from going outside the town as much as possible .

The parts around Eis Kingdom are especially highly dangerous, citizens are barred from entering .

――――――――――

『 . . . Wait, were there monsters in the area around Eis Kingdom?』

『There were, but not in great numbers . . . It's undoubtedly a pretext to deploy this 『Knights of Kinisis House』 . 』

Looks like the ploy even extends to the knights .

I have no idea about this 『Knights of Kinisis House』, but judging from the name, it's probably a band of knights that belongs to an empire's noble .

That noble must be cooperating with the demons .

Not sure if they're being used unknowingly or knowingly, either way, we should assume that this Kinisis House is hostile .

While thinking such, the four of us walked around the town while collected information (mainly mana reactions and stuff) .

The dollmaster seems to be quite careless, we gathered some interesting important magical info .

And about 30 minutes after we entered the town .

『We've got enough . Let's go storming in there . 』

『Err, to the blue warehouse in the suburbs right?』

『I think that was way too obvious, maybe it's a trap?』

Alma and Ruli asked me when I said that .

This blue warehouse is exactly the place we're going to raid, but I never actually mentioned anything about it while we were walking around the town .

Ruli is one thing, but the mana camouflage on this blue warehouse is so bad that even Alma who's not that familiar with magic tools noticed .

. . . Or rather, feels like they never have any intention to hide it .