Preparing for the Magic Investigation

  The oldest chief looked at me frantically.

  “No! We cannot allow you to do such a thing for us……”


  “Please, don’t worry about it. It is better that fewer people know what is happening.”


  “That is true……”


  Danton said gravely.

  “But are you sure?”


  “I don’t mind. Besides, there is not much else that I can do now.”


  “In that case, thank you.”


  “Leave it to me.”


  Once it was decided that I would take on the roll, I wanted to discuss the steps to take.

  And there were some questions that needed to be asked.

  “How many merchants have access to this place?”


  “Indeed. If we are counting all of the beastkin tribes, I would say about fifty.”


  “That’s a lot.”


  “Well, there are twenty tribes.”


  So there were at least fifty merchants who came directly here to trade.

  And they came regularly.

  The beastkin wolves made a living by hunting vampires.

  They did not grow crops or raise livestock, which meant almost all of their food was bought from merchants.

  “Do the other chiefs know about this informer?”


  “Of course.”


  “Well then. Tell me about when and where these merchants come. I would like to go there in advance.”


  “Thank you. But, it would be best if you could do it without them noticing……”


  That would be difficult.

  If I wanted to find out if they had been Charmed, I needed to do more than just look.

  I had to use Magic Exploration, not Magic Search.

  And while it wasn’t impossible to use Magic Exploration without making direct contact, it was not easy.

  “They will likely know if you touch them……”


  “I see……”


  “Could I ask Kathe to help me?”


  “The wind dragon ruler?”


  “Yeah. I will have to tell her the secret……do you mind?”


  Danton and the old chief looked at one another.

  And then the old chief opened his mouth.

  “I do not mind if you do. But we cannot ask the wind dragon ruler to do such lowly work.”


  “So you have no problem with regards to the secret?”


  “Yes, of course.”


  “Then there is no problem.”


  Danton looked a little worried.

  “Are you sure?”


  “Don’t worry. Kathe wouldn’t do anything that she didn’t want to. I’ll call her now.”


  I left the room and searched for Kathe.

  “Gahaha! Here-here!”


  “Haha!”


  “Yay!”


  I could hear her and the children playing happily.

  I followed the voices and saw that Shia, Nia, Serulis, and Luchila were also there.

  Kathe was surrounded by children.

  They were hanging and swinging on her big tail.

  Kathe moved her tail up and down and side to side and seemed very amused.

  I felt a little bad since I had to interrupt them.

  “Kathe. Do you have a minute?”


  “Hmm? Very well. Children, we will play again later.”


  “Okay. Thank you!

  “See you!”


  Kathe patted them on the head.

  She was glad to have been able to play with them.

  Once Kathe was away, Serulis called to the children.

  “Okay, I’ll play with you now.”


  “Yay!”


  And so she played with the children. Serulis seemed to enjoy being with children.

  “So, Locke. What is it?”


  “I want to ask you something, Kathe.”


  “Hmm?”


  “Come with me.”


  And with that, I took her to the room where Danton was waiting.

  “So, what is it you want to ask me?”


  “Yes, about that……”


  And so I told Kathe that information was leaking from within the beastkin tribes.

  Kathe listened to this with a serious expression.

  “This is very bad.”


  “And so, this thing I want to ask you……”


  “You want me to take you to the other tribes?”


  “There is that, and……”


  “There’s still more?”


  “I want you to help me make some magic tools.”


  Wind dragons were good with alchemy.

  And alchemists were good at making magic tools.

  “I do not mind, but…… What kind of magic tool?”


  “I want to create a gate that uses Magic Exploration.”


  It was a magic tool that automatically activated Magic Exploration whenever someone went under the gate.

  I wanted to make it so that it would react to Charm.

  “I think that would be very difficult.”


  “I thought of asking the water dragons for help.”


  “In that case, maybe you can make it.”


  The water dragons were particularly good at creating barriers.

  They had barriers that blocked the dark ones. Perhaps the barrier could be altered to become a magic gate.

  With the alchemy of wind dragons and the barrier technology of water dragons and my own magic, perhaps we could succeed.

  “If Leea can’t leave the settlement, I was thinking about going over there asking her to teach me.”


  “Hmm. That would be good. I will also ask my dad to cooperate with us.”


  “Thank you. That would be a great help.”


  “I think we should get Philly to help us as well……”


  “But Philly is very busy right now.”


  “That is true.”


  Philly was in the middle of an investigation that the privy council had asked her to do.

  We could not ask too much from her.

  “Alright, then I’ll hurry up and go meet Leea! We have to make an appointment!”


  “Thank you.”


  “Leave it to me!”


  Kathe seemed very excited about the work at hand.