-Entor Kingdom’s Countess Tarlesta’s POV-
When I heard the report of one of my subordinates, I couldn’t help but throw the cup on my desk in frustration.
「hii!」
The sight of my frightened subordinate makes me even more irritated.
I can’t believe he screamed like that just because I slammed a cup!
But still, what should we do?
I never imagined that the barrier that was set up by the god of the forest would prevent us from carrying out our plan.
「Countess Tarlesta, please calm down a little」
Baron Ortor’s words made me exhale heavily.
I indeed need to calm down a little.
「Alright. Just to confirm, you check all the magic tools you gathered but none of them managed to even make a slight scratch on the barrier?」
How can there be such a powerful barrier in this world?
It seems strange that they couldn’t even get a scratch!
「Have you tried using monsters to attack it?」
「No, we haven’t.」
「What?」
The words of my subordinate brought back my frustration that had begun to subside.
Why didn’t you?
「And why haven’t you checked?」
Even Baron Ortor seems to have become irritated.
「If monsters attack the barrier, noise will definitely be heard even at a distance from the attack place. Using magic tool only makes a little sound so there’s no problem. However, if we do something loud, the gatekeepers will definitely notice it.」
Sensing Baron Ortor’s irritation, my subordinate hurriedly explained.
「Indeed, that’s true.」
Baron Ortor nodded in agreement.
Well, it’s going to be tricky if the sound of the attack makes the gatekeepers move.
Can’t we do something about the sound……
「I apologize for the lack of results」
I glance at my subordinates who’s bowing his head and let out a sigh.
From what I’ve heard, it sounds like they already did everything they could.
「You may take your leave」
「Yes」
I watch my subordinate walk out of the room and then I stir up my drink in one gulp.
The back of my throat is burning but it doesn’t make me feel any better.
「The god of the forest is getting in the way」
Crash
「Eh? What?」
A sudden sound resounded but when I looked to the corner of the room, I didn’t find anything unusual.
「Perhaps a book fell over」
Though it sounded more like something breaking.
Or did I hear it wrong?
Well, I don’t have time to worry about that right now.
「Baron Ortor, do you have any ideas on how to deal with the sound problem?」
Though I don’t think there’s any way to muffle the sound of an attack, it’s better to ask.
If only the god of the forest hadn’t put up the barrier, we could have easily gotten on with it.
Ah～, he’s a real nuisance, isn’t he?
「If it’s about that, how about we do it on the day when the gatekeepers on our side are on duty? It wouldn’t matter how loud the sound is with that.」
I nod my head at Baron Ortor.
The gatekeepers on his side?
「I was finally able to grasp the weakness of the gatekeepers at the east gate, which was closest to the forest. When it is time for them to guard the gate, let’s try to see if the monsters can enter the barrier. And if it turns out to be impossible, let’s just have the monsters attack the barrier. When they are the gatekeepers, it doesn’t matter how much make we do.」
As expected of Baron Ortor.
I didn’t expect him to grasp the weakness of the gatekeepers.
「Yeah, let’s do that. But still, how did you get hold of the gatekeepers’ weakness?」
「The east gate is the gate furthest from the capital and has the least amusement. They know it’s wrong but they still get into it.」
「Ah, gambling」
Baron Ortor smiles.
This guy runs gambling halls which are forbidden by law.
What I think is smart of him is that he makes the gambling halls not a place to make money but a place to gather information.
He could make a lot of money by inviting many beastkins to use his gambling hall but he only invites a limited number of beastkins.
Let them win the bet, get them drunk, and slowly win their heart until they are ready.
After that, he makes them juice like that at the gambling hall several times while slowly getting information out of them and grips their weakness.
In this way, Baron Ortor quietly reached out to the nobles.
He is just a baron but I wonder how many of the nobles are unable to resist him?
Fufufu, I’ll just ask him later.
「I didn’t know you were letting the gatekeepers in your gambling hall but, won’t there be any problem in letting them in?」
The gatekeepers aren’t so tight lipped.
Soon, words will go around.
「Those we are interested in are screened and if they are deemed acceptable, an intermediary will contact them. I tell each intermediary to do a test. If they pass the test, we will send them an invitation. We are very selective about who we invite and so far, there haven’t been any problem.」
That’s a lot of trouble.
Impressive.
「However, Countess Tarlesta, what if the monsters can’t get into the country?」
Ah, that’s a possibility, isn’t it?
The barrier of the god of the forest seems to be unusually strong.
「I guess we have to give up on those monsters」
It’s a pity that we won’t be able to use the method that Mage Nusur thought to deal a heavy blow to the country.
However, we’re wasting our time if we keep dwelling on it.
「Is that so?」
Is there any other way to wreak havoc?
Come to think of it, the reason we found out that our comrades couldn’t come back was because of the barrier the god of the forest had erected because of a letter that they entrusted to a merchant.
Perhaps if they are merchants not related to us, they could bring into the country the large amount of magic tools they bought from the elves.
「A merchant we can trust—-」
「I’m here to bring Batchu’s heads up.」
I was about to ask Baron Ortor if he knew a trustworthy merchant when an unfamiliar voice suddenly resounded.
「「Eh?」」
The unfamiliar voice made me turn my gaze to the place where the voice came from.
「Armearenier?」
The distinctive six eyes and body shape I had read about in books.
I felt my body trembling instinctively, feeling the powerful and dense magic power I had never felt before.
「Heads up desu」
Eh? Heads up?
I look at the small piece of paper that the armearenier is handing out to me.
Ah, someone’s coming to see me….wait a minute.
I don’t know anyone who would send an armearenier on an errand.
Also, who the heck is this Batchu?
Who is he?
An armearenier is the god of the forest’s……no way, did it hear what we were talking about earlier…….it didn’t, right?
I look at the place where I heard the sound earlier.
It’s okay, there’s no one or nothing’s there.
Yeah, there’s no way it heard us.
「Here」
「Hiii」
The power of the armearenier makes my body tremble.
Honestly speaking, I don’t want to accept it.
However, I feel that if I don’t accept it, the armearenier won’t leave.
I just have to accept it then.
Alright.
-0-
I managed to grab the paper with my shaking hands and the armearenier quickly moved away from me.
The fact that the armearenier took its distance from me made me feel relaxed.
Great.
Areh?
Why isn’t it leaving?
…….maybe it will not leave until it sees that I’ve read what’s inside?
I look at the paper that’s folded in two.
I look at the armearenier and see it staring at me.
I let out a small sight and gently open the paper to see what’s inside.
「Hii!」
The paper falls out of my hand.
What did I just read?
No, I must have misread it.
Yeah, that must be the case.
Because there’s no way anyone would say, “Wash your neck and wait, okay?”……
「Then, I’ve given you Batchu’s heads up so please, wait there.」
I watched the armearenier walk out of the door and hurriedly stuffed important documents and other things into my bag.
「We must escape」
「Countess Tarlesta? What’s the matter? What did that letter say?」
「Baron Ortor, we must escape. It’s not safe here.」
We have to get out of here as soon as possible.
「What happened?」
Baron Ortor picked up the letter I dropped and checked its content.
Then, he immediately turned pale.
「Countess Tarlesta, here’s, no, let’s escape right away.」
「Yeah」
We must get out of here immediately.
Ah, how could this happen?
We were so close to ruling this country!
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