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Two hours later .
We arrived at Boseil after as we came up with a plan along the way .
I don"t sense demonic mana anywhere as of yet .
"For the time being . . . Doesn"t look like there"s that kind of mana here . "
"Yeah . Just as expected . "
We went inside town of Boseil while talking .
We had already antic.i.p.ated that there would be no trace of demonic mana here .
Zadokilgias isn"t a type of demon who would resort to a direct confrontation right away .
Plan it out carefully and meticulously . . . then go fight once all of winning conditions have been met, that"s how Zadokilgias fights .
In a way, it"s the exact opposite of our strategy against demons .
Zadokilgias will hide itself until everything is set .
Were . . . Zadokilgias to readily show itself up, you should consider it a trap or a part of scheme .
Since this demon hasn"t done so . . . it must be not finished yet with preparations .
Conveniently for us .
"Have you girls memorized the plan yet?"
"Of course!"
"Perfectly!"
"Yes! . . . Even though it"s been so long since I used that . . . I"ll give it my all!"
We were having a conversation under the effect of soundproof magic while walking in the town .
The town is rather lifeless .
It"s like . . . Everyone seems to be starving .
Food lined up on stalls are mostly those that are cheap but filling, like raw monster meat and grain .
" . . . This town was famous for its good food, wasn"t it?"
"That"s what I heard, but . . . Uun . . . "
I see a lot of restaurants in the town indeed .
But most of them are closed .
"The yield rate must really have been padded to levy heavy tax . "
There were many stores that didn"t have a guest or downright closed .
Stores oriented for adventurers and cheap things seem to be flourishing . . . But stores that offer intricate food have mostly gone out of business .
They must be expensive . . . Or rather, none of the populace could afford stores that sell things at normal prices .
Business being bad is one thing . . . But this is just a whole other level of bad .
To the point that the town ruled by someone under demon"s control was doing better than this .
We kept walking in town while thinking that .
But we couldn"t find any trace of demonic mana .
It"s not like someone has died in the town either .
Business may be doing bad . . . but the town itself looks to be free of incident .
. . . We couldn"t find anything suspicious in the lord"s mansion either .
We didn"t catch a sight of the lord himself . . . but there were no suspicious s.p.a.ces or anything in the mansion like it was at Gravy Woods .
"Uun . . . I can"t find it anywhere . . . "
"Yes, absolutely nothing came up . . . Maybe the demon"s gone to another town already?"
"Nope, this fits just right . The fact that there is no trace of its mana or any kind of hint toward it actions is all but expected . "
Indeed, the possibility of Zadokilgias leaving for another town is not nil .
Doing so by flying would make it obvious . . . but we wouldn"t have any way to detect it if the demon just walked away while pretending to be a human .
If a demon as skilled as Zadokilgias was serious in trying to hide its mana, there"s almost no way to discern it .
Zadokilgias must have foreseen a subjugation unit that excels at killing demons being sent here after it scattered its mana all over the place right after it was awakened .
Zadokilgias would most likely win against such a unit . . . But its tendency to not pick the easy way to engage in combat is a bothersome quality of this demon .