Chapter 779 – Absence Case Log -3-

000

When a sonorous voice booming from high in the sky shakes the entire Asteris, the party members who were smoothly formulating a plan inside Maybelle’s mansion react differently.

Ha. While some people sighed, there were also others who smiled bitterly as if there was nothing they could do.

There were people who opened their eyes wide in surprise, and there were also people who burst into laughter.

“Really, this is not the time to laugh. What are you going to do? If Selena goes on a rampage like that…”

As Diora said this, she peeked outside her window.

“There is a possibility that he may be provoked by that and threaten you with the hostage he is holding.”

When Berlin said that as if he was thinking the same thing, of course Illenu’s expression hardened.

＂If it was a provocation by an incompetent idiot, they might be able to overlook it, but the opponent is a court wizard of the kingdom. Moreover, he is a person who implicitly indicates that he is collaborating with Cleon through his recent actions. She may not know that Emma has been kidnapped, but that is none of Initrad’s business.”

“Then someone should go and tell them to stop right away.”

After hearing Baylin’s words, she nodded and said yes.

After hearing those words, Diora sighed and placed her hand on her forehead.

“… It’s a bit difficult to stop Selena once she’s on fire, though.”

“But wouldn’t you be the best suited for that role?”

The person closest to Selena here was Diora.

Selena may have discovered that Drake, the dragon knight, was her, but it was Diora who had known her for the longest.

However, since Diora also knew Selena’s personality well, she also knew that it would take quite a bit of effort to convince her.

“Okay, okay. Because I will come back. Others are waiting here. I’ll be back at night at the latest.”

As Diora was receiving other people’s attention towards him, he muttered something like ‘I’m responsible for the tomboy I brought in’ and then snapped his fingers.

Then, in the empty air, the sound of metal clashing rang out, opening her space, and armor in the shape of something other than the human she usually wore appeared.

As Diora stood with both arms raised, the joints of her armor automatically opened and attached to her body, and a knight with a ferocious appearance, unimaginable from other forms of Diora, appeared in its place.

“He was truly a dragon knight.”

When Schrödinger said that, Dioraga-Drake turned to her, making a grunt sound.

“Huh? “Are you suspicious?”

＂Well, if you know what I usually look like, it’s not hard to get along with me.＂

For example, he doesn’t fit in at all with Drake, who has the image of being the strongest knight in the kingdom and a mysterious being who doesn’t open his mouth to anyone.

However, as if he was used to being treated like that, Diora said that the only people who knew his identity were Cleon’s colleagues and left the others in the mansion and went outside.

＂Where are you coming from!? Where are you hiding, you bats and mosquitoes! I am asking you to come out calmly and receive the iron fist of justice! If you don’t come out, I will come directly to you and tie each person to a rope!”

The surrounding residents are looking at Selena floating in the sky, still healthy and chattering, with wonder.

To them, Selena’s actions may have been because they did not know her meaning, but most of them smiled at her as if her strange people were bound to gather as her festival approached.

While the locals called Dio were watching, she rose into the sky using flight magic and got closer to Selena.

Then, Selena, who noticed the presence of Diora approaching her from the ground, suddenly stopped shouting and looked at Diora, her eyes sparkling.

＂Diora! I thought she had gone somewhere since morning and was nowhere to be seen!”

＂Shhh! Turn down her volume a little… When she looks like this, she’s not Diora, she’s Drake!”

＂Oh my… That’s right… Mistake, mistake…”

Selena covered her mouth with both of her hands and acted as if she was trying to contain her spilled words.

When Diora saw Selena’s behavior, she paused for a moment, then looked around at the ground around her and spoke.

＂What are you doing?＂

“That’s right, I was trying to ask for your cooperation too. Now, we have learned that a dirty vampire mercenary group called Initrad has entered and is hiding in Asteris!”

“Yes, Initrad. Those are terrible guys. But how did you find out? What is the evidence? “

As Diora spoke as if comforting her young child, Selena crossed her arms excitedly and talked about what she had discovered.

“First, the weather was nice today, so I went for a graceful walk. As I was walking down the street, I saw a place where people were gathered and chatting. When I got closer, I realized that there was a human being there, dried out and twisted like a mummy. At first, as a noble, I thought I would sprinkle water with all my might to help the commoners. This Selena, it comes to mind that she once received an education about vampires. Some vampires, when exposed to sunlight, the blood in their entire body evaporates, their muscles shrivel, and they turn into mummies! So, just in case, I restrained him, took him to the kingdom’s garrison, and gave him a few drops of my blood while he was restrained to make him recover. So, after seeing the mummy’s body gradually swell and take on a human form, I realized that my hypothesis was not wrong!”

“You gave blood to a vampire and brought it back to life?”

When Diora asked her back, thinking that she had acted quite boldly – no, she had acted a little dangerously – Selena answered her with a smile.

“Don’t worry. Because he was restrained with ropes soaked in holy water and incapacitated.”

“… Ha. So? “

Still, as expected of a court wizard, Diora feels that her head is spinning extraordinarily, and asks to hear the next part of the story.

“The vampire came to his senses and tried to go on a rampage, but it was impossible! I personally poured a drop of holy water on him and tortured him to tell him about his true identity. Excuse me. I have a favor to ask. At first, he seemed to be able to hold on for a little while, but then he started crying because he was hurt to the point where there was a hole in his thigh where the holy water was dripping drop by drop! This is the method I came up with, but it’s still me! It’s so effective!”

＂…＂

Does this child know that there is a torture that involves dropping water one drop at a time on the forehead of a bound person?

Diora felt goosebumps running down her back as she thought that perhaps the ideas of geniuses might one day come to a conclusion.

“So. “You mean that guy gave away his information?”

“I only told you that I was a vampire belonging to Initrad. They said they couldn’t say more than that because of blood relatives.”

＂The oath of obedience of blood relatives. To make the vampires follow the rules of the clan they belong to, a curse of obedience is placed on their blood.”

When Diora tells the truth about what she knows, Selena also responds with ‘Oh!’ And nods her head.

“That’s right! That’s it!”

“… For a moment. So what did the vampire do? “I guess she’s still tied up in the garrison or something like that?”

Diora asks her that question because she feels somewhat uneasy about her.

Then, Selena smiled and spoke with her arms crossed.

“No way. The vampire made her sunbathe on the spot again, then told the priests to place several seals using holy magic, drive a stake through her heart, put her in a coffin, and bury her in the ground.”

＂Oh, oh…＂

Surprisingly thorough and complete treatment for her.

In order to completely kill a vampire, the surest way is for the same vampire to suck her blood, but her holy magic or light magic are also significant weaknesses to them.

If you inflict enough damage, you will eventually be unable to move your body, so your HP will never become 0, but driving a stake through your heart and putting it in a coffin and burying it in the ground to keep it in a state of 0.00001 is absolutely unacceptable. It wasn’t a wrong decision.

＂So, I found Initrad and sang a loud song in the sky like this… ＂

＂Let’s meet up! With the Five Elements Festival just around the corner, I can only think of one reason why a group of vampire mercenaries are entering Asteris.”

Could it be that this child also knows that Initrad is targeting Cleon and the others?

＂They must be so jealous of the Five Elements Festival that only humans enjoy, that they are trying to make a mess of it! I won’t forgive those despicable vampires! For the future peace of the Eastern countries and kingdoms…”

Puck! When the sound rang out, Diora’s hand snatch exploded at the back of Selena’s neck.

＂Ah.＂

Diora looks down at her own arm as if her hand had gone out without her knowledge.

Selena also realized that Diora suddenly hit her, and in her fading mind, she looked at Diora with an expression of astonishment –

＂Ugh, why…!?＂

Leaving only such a sad message behind, she lost her mind and fainted.

＂…＂

Diora held the stunned Selena in her arms, looking alternately between her own and hers.

“… Well, it doesn’t matter because I saved you the trouble of persuading me!”

And, with a carefree voice, he flew towards her station and went down to her ground.

001

“Selena persuaded me well to return to her station. However, since her voice resonated throughout Asteris, the government and military can also understand her situation and make moves, so she must be more careful in her actions.”

When Diora, who returned to Maybelle’s mansion, said that, the others also looked at her with exclamations of ‘Oh…’.

As for Selena’s personality, which was loud in the sky, those who heard about her from Cleon or had watched her previous speeches knew about it, so they all admired Diora’s resourcefulness in persuading such a reckless girl. Br〉

As if to stop them from being so admirable, Diora smiled and raised her hand, calming down her group like a singer silencing the audience.

Then, Diora suddenly realized that the numbers were not correct, and when she looked around the inside of her mansion, there were two people she could not see.

“Huh? But I don’t have Illenu and Schrödinger?”

“The two went back to the mansion for a moment. Did you say there are tools you need to bring to hunt Initrad…”

“If that were the case, I could have brought it with me when I left earlier? It seems like you were in quite a hurry. Well, if your only traveling companion was kidnapped by vampires, that would have to be the case.”

As Diorado muttered as if he understood Illenu’s situation, the front door of her mansion opened, and Illenu and Schrödinger came back, as if he had timed it just right.

Neither of them brought that much luggage, but judging by their full pockets, it was clear that they had packed a lot of things.

“Oh, you came first. I saw it, Diora. In the end, her hand goes out.”

＂Sleep…＂

When she raised the corners of her mouth and spoke as if someone had seen her ‘persuading’ Selena, Diora was embarrassed by her words and blushed.

“Well, that’s right. Should I say that my hand went out without my knowledge…”

“What? Because it is the fastest means.”

Illenu spoke as if she understood and told Schrödinger to take out the items she had brought and put them away.

Silver dagger, holy water, blessed ash, purified stake.

When something like a basic set of tools for hunting vampires continues to hang out of the two people’s pockets, Baylin looks at it and stands back with a frown on her face, as if she feels a little upset. 〉

“Do I really need to display that inside this mansion?”

“Ah, sorry. You were a vampire too. But in order to distribute it to each person, it has to be like this.”

When Illenu responded to Vaellin’s complaint, Kanan seemed to have seen the tools used by hunters other than herself for a long time. She raised a silver dagger and used her fingers to measure its length.

It is a short dagger that is only about the length from her elbow to her wrist, but because it is made of silver, it is quite fatal to beings such as vampires.

“Unlike dragons, vampires can be hunted with small tools like this.”

“No, maybe it’s because dragons are unique, but I don’t think most hunters need such large tools.”

When Drayne briefly retorts to Kanan’s words, the last thing Illenu brings up is-

It was something that was a bit different from the previous tools.

It had a trigger like a crossbow, but the top was like a small cylindrical cannon. When Diora’s eyes lit up with curiosity, Illenu was talking while looking at it.

“This is the weapon Emma used before she was cursed. A magic tool that fires bullets that can neutralize vampires. I brought it here in case it might be of some help, but is there anyone among these who might find it useful?”

＂I’m a little good at marksmanship…”

As Dryene smiled and scratched her head, Kanan shook her head while pointing at her own bow.

“I have my own bow, so it’s okay.”

“If you say that, I think windows are easier to use too.”

When Diora shook her head as if she didn’t like such long-range weapons, Illenu turned to look at Schrödinger.

＂Uh, me?＂

“You basically fight with your bare hands, wouldn’t it be better to have some sort of weapon?”

＂Is that so…?＂

Schrödinger was a little persuaded by Illenu’s words.

To tell the truth, when she took out that magic tool, Schrödinger saw her appearance and thought, ‘As always, she looks cool.’

“How about listening a little and thinking about it? Weight, length, etc. I think it’s not a bad choice as long as it doesn’t interfere with the existing movement.”

And as she said, Schrödinger lifts the magic tool and tries to check its texture.

Then, the moment her hand touched the magic tool.

Schrödinger quickly let go of the gun as he felt something bad from the chills running through his body.

＂… What’s wrong?＂

“Well, I don’t know what it is, but… I feel like the magic tool is rejecting me.”

＂…＂

Ilenu then grabbed the magic tool himself, but since it was nothing, he passed it around to others as well.

Then, like everyone else, she grabs it once and then immediately releases her hand, revealing that the only one among these who can hold Emma’s magic tool is Illenu.

“It seems like there are still more secrets left. I wonder if Lila knows something about her…”

“Well, well… Anyway, the only one here who can use it right now is Illenu. Let’s keep it with Illenu, just in case.”

When I said that to Dio, her shoulders shaking for a moment at the feeling of being rejected by a tool that she had experienced for the first time, Ireneu also answered as if she understood and placed it back on the desk.

Then, he looks out the window, confirms that the sun is still high in the sky, and tells everyone.

“We will act as soon as the sun sets. Raid Initrad’s stronghold and retrieve her kidnapped Emma. Tonight’s hunt is not about annihilating them, but securing Emma’s safety first. Got it? “

When someone tells him that, he nods as if others know it too.

Now, if you have any remaining worries-

She hoped that Selena wouldn’t come to her senses until the operation was over.