Chapter 207 : Chapter 207
"Exlam might be more deeply involved with the Empire......?"
Muno's face was full of worry as he muttered those words.
The ill-fated relationship from the past that came looking for him just when he barely shook off the demon that bound his childhood.
Even now, as he chased and crushed the enemies one by one, reviving forgotten memories.
Exlam was an enemy he had to deal with if he wanted to live the rest of his life with peace of mind.
But if he had gone under the shade of the Imperial Royal Family.
"If he's a Seven-Star, he probably holds a pretty high position."
If Victon's guess is true, war might be the only way to deal with him.
"Damn it......."
Even if he could become strong enough to single-handedly threaten a guy who must be a Seven-Star.
Given the nature of his abilities, he was too far from assassination.
'I'll definitely get caught.'
This was the same for Imadi, who was responsible for the strongest firepower in the group's current strength.
The only possibility was.
"......Don't think too negatively, Lord Muno. At least it's a good thing that the Evil cult forces can't move right now."
Only the kind Lauel, unlike an assassin, but that was also just too much expectation right now.
"Whatever revenge you take on the Evil cult is fine. If you want, I will try my best to create an opportunity for revenge against that Exlam person. But I hope you don't escalate this matter, Muno."
"Victon......."
"This is a food problem. If our Empire becomes dependent on importing food from other countries, a war of conquest will never happen."
"Conversely, it could happen endlessly."
"Sir Imadi, that's too much of an overinterpretation......."
"That's not something you can guarantee, Victon. If the Empire started suffering from food shortages only in the last few years, it means the land's fertility held out for at least over a hundred years."
"A hundred years?"
"Yes. They say the Empire's expansion war stopped three hundred years ago, but didn't you tell me that the expansion of magical tools and the prosperity of large cities happened within the last hundred years?"
"Ah......."
That exclamation evoked a dangerous imagination.
"Could that be the reason why the old magic towers were built only in rough terrains? Perhaps our ancestors knew about this situation......."
Rather than Victon's mumbling words.
"If the rulers of the Empire start having dangerous thoughts, the entire continent will fall into an endless vortex of war."
Imadi's words bothered him much more.
"Anyway, even if there's no evidence, we should inform the neighboring countries."
"Muno......."
"Let the high-ups handle the aftermath. Victon, since it's come to this, you have to cooperate with me a bit."
"What?"
"If he is in the Empire, I have to enter the Empire. Who knows? Maybe if he sees me, he'll come out to catch me. So guide me."
Everyone's eyes widened at Muno's words that he would jump into the tiger's mouth himself.
"Lord Muno!"
"You really......."
"No, do you think I can be that relaxed even after all this? When the mission has already failed?"
"Didn't you say you received a mission to build a food import system? Officially, you can just pretend to focus on that."
"Can you just decide that on your own!"
"At least the rulers of the Kingdom of Trey right now will grant my request."
Trey refused to even announce that their Seven-Star died due to the Empire's scheme.
Then they should be able to give that much help to the benefactor who informed them of that fact.
'Helping with the food import system wouldn't be a bad thing for Trey either.'
No, would they refuse the Empire's help because of their pride?
Such a thought occurred momentarily, but he thought he should at least ask.
However.
"If it is to screw over the Empire, I accept."
Pruna and the temporary regents of Trey nodded without hesitation at the proposal.
'What the.......'
The pride of the desert. It was an answer that made him extremely curious about how that invisible thing applied.
But just with that, the group's next move was decided immediately, and as expected, it drew a positive reaction.
"Working-level staff for food imports is coming? Hmm. Unpleasant, but if even that is to screw over the Empire, then fine."
Pruna strongly agreed and attached only one condition.
"Just show your face to the working-level staff and leave, Inspector. After that, you can just create an illusion of the handsome knight and show it occasionally. Since you are at the age to enjoy yourself, going with the concept of not caring about working-level affairs....... should be fine, right?"
"Age to enjoy....... Kugh......."
Victon's face distorted at those words, but he had no choice but to nod silently.
* * *
"Do you trust me? Muno."
At the voice of Victon who came out to see him off, Muno smiled with a scoff.
"At least I trust that you won't stab me in the back."
"Why?"
"You, if you really intended to fight at the oasis, you would have aimed for that old man over there as soon as you saw me. Lauel or I wouldn't have been able to catch up with you like that."
At those words, Victon turned his eyes to look at Imadi.
He was covering a camel with massive flames.
- Whaaa!
- !@#!@.
Soon, exclamations burst out from the warriors watching the scene nearby.
If he is a Seven-Star Spirit Master using such amazing techniques.
"If I did that, I think I would have been grilled instantly?"
"You didn't know that old man was that strong. He didn't show much before."
"Heh, that is true."
"And I would have killed you without hesitation too."
At the added words, Victon's eyebrows rose nervously.
"Hmph. Do you think I would lose to just you?"
"Well. I'm not confident about catching you if you run away, but do you think a head-on confrontation is possible?"
"Heh....... Shall I show you now?"
CRACKLE.
The moment red and black eyes suddenly emitted fighting spirit and grabbed their weapons against each other.
"Stop, stop it! What are you doing right now! You're not kids!"
At Lauel's scolding voice intervening between them, they had no choice but to shrink back with a whimper.
"Ahem. Hmph. Hmph. Anyway, I intended to say thank you for trusting me, Lady Lauel."
"Yeah right......."
Seeing Victon scratching his head awkwardly at Lauel's snort, Muno smiled again only then.
"At least you didn't counterattack even after receiving our attacks. So you deserve that much trust. Don't you?"
At those words, a bitter smile appeared on Victon's face.
Being trusted is always a good feeling, but he decided to help those who might stick a knife in his motherland based on that trust.
"......Are you serious about joining the Northern King's inspection team now?"
"Of course. The hidden guy is hidden, but shouldn't I cut off the remaining subordinates at least?"
At those words, Victon's red eyes stared intently at Muno.
It felt like he was trying to see if he was serious, but the black eyes facing him did not waver a bit.
"I don't know what you're thinking. Well, whatever. I'll sneak out after handing over the situation to the working-level staff. Maybe I'll arrive before you join."
"Then even better."
"The way across the border is......."
"I heard it several times. I know. Even the location where the delegation would be right now."
"......Good. Whatever you're thinking, I don't care, but keep your promise."
"I just need to deal with that Exlam guy. You said the Empire has no intention of going to war either?"
Muno answered like that, but he couldn't be sure himself.
- If the rulers of the Empire start having dangerous thoughts.......
Imadi's words weighed on his mind.
Suddenly, the moment his heart pounded when he first heard about the pollution of the Imperial land came to mind.
- The Authority of the Coordinator.......
Even then, just like now, the words Miya's mom(?) said flashed through his mind out of nowhere.
A baseless anxiety was creeping up that perhaps even if he dealt with Exlam, the current situation might not let him go.
'Right. That's why I have to grow even more.'
Muno gritted his teeth and put more strength into his toes.
Eating small-fry magicians is a waste of time.
However, barging into the Empire as he pleased to hunt high-ranking magicians is suicidal.
So there was only one choice he could make right now.
'Among the remnants of the Evil cult, how many 5-Circle or 6-Circle magicians would be left.'
He had a hunch that the sixth evolution would be possible if he ate two or three 5-Circles, or just one 6-Circle.
Muno pictured another possibility he could gain through evolution in his head.
'If that happens, can I face a Seven-Star?'
He couldn't be sure, but anyway, that seemed to be the best thing he could do right now.
As a bonus.
"......I'm also curious about what will happen if the Northern King, who lost his kin to the Evil cult, finds out about the Imperial Royal Family's plot."
Victon's expression hardened at those words, but.
The conversation ended there.
"Okay. See you then."
"I'll be waiting."
TAP.
The moment they turned away after bumping fists.
"Let's go, Lauel!"
"Yes!"
Muno began to sprint across the desert again.
Of course.
RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE.
"Sir Muno! Slowly! Slowly!"
For the rider of the burning camel, that sprint was still too much, though.
* * *
The group's sprint continued without much trouble.
The desert heat they had passed once was still painful but bearable.
"I will never be dragged by those iron chains again."
Although the process of Imadi getting a horse instead of a camel when crossing the Empire's border was slightly troublesome, it wasn't enough to cause a major disruption.
Since the group left the main road and sprinted straight towards the target, they didn't need to undergo inspections at every castle.
As if boasting of being the world's best nation, there were no bands of robbers or monster hordes in the Deus Empire.
"Daaamn it! Why am I suffering like this at my age......!"
Even the grumbling Imadi had no problem following that march forcibly as he was a superhuman.
When ten days had passed like that.
They could see the flag of the Northern King's inspection team.
- Hyah!
- Hurry up!
THUD THUD THUD THUD.
A chaotic sprint consisting of about a hundred horses without any cavalry or transport wagons.
"That brown mustache in the front, Teron Grond. That's the representative of the inspection team."
Lauel confirmed that face from a mountain far away.
So.
"Let's go."
"Excuse me, Lord Muno. For him to accept us now......."
"He'll accept us. He won't have a justification to refuse."
"What if he asks what we've been doing all this time?"
"We can say we were chasing the remnants."
"We'll be ignored quite a bit."
"Doesn't matter. Ignore some degree of provocation. What's important now is whether I can hunt the prey or not."
Prey.
Lauel looked worriedly at Muno, whose eyes shone as he said that word.
"After that......?"
"I told you. I'll convey it to the Northern King. What the Imperial Royal Family has done."
"Will they believe us?"
"Whether they believe it or not, that is the best thing we can do. Do you have any other opinion?"
At those words, not only Lauel but even Imadi shook his head.
The current conversation was just a process of reconfirming the already agreed plan.
"Good. Then let's go."
Muno began to sprint down the mountain towards the Northern King's inspection team.