Translator: Manga0205
「Not here……」
A giant wearing sparkling iron armor muttered that.
He breathed a sigh sounding disappointed, but only had a disappointment at the level of hoping for the next time.
This was a place where many trees that were chopped down were left behind.
The giant"s companion finding a Human here happened not long ago.
He immediately understood that a male Human armed with an axe was cutting a tree.
It was said that since it was the best chance, he immediately swooped down and killed him with a single attack.
The man asked a question to his companion that brought it back just like that and boasted about it.
He asked "What was that Human trying to do by cutting down trees?"
In the end, the giants didn"t know what the reason why the Human was cutting down trees even after discussing it, but they were able to understand that Humans would come to the forest in order to cut down trees just by looking at this place.
What was here were many stumps that were made after cutting down the trees.
They thought that they might have intended on living here, but in that case, it was only men that came here.
Also, they had not caught sight of any of them over the past few days.
By some chance, they might be on their guard, but in that case, he might need to go a bit afar in order to hunt Humans.
Thinking that, the Ogre caressed the two splendid horns that grew on his head.
「……Guess I"ll head back.」
While muttering that, the Ogre turned back.
*Gachari* The armor that sounded such a small metallic sound was nothing more than the weight of casual wear to the Ogre.
Even the sound that resounded from it, to the Ogre, it was a sound that he had grown accustomed to.
However, to the green young lady that was concealing her presence up in the trees, that sound was something noisy.
「……」
While looking down on the Ogre that was below her, Nino thought back upon the details of the strategy.
This place was the working area of the lumberjacks──It was a logging site.
Most likely, it was the place where the missing persons──or rather, the Humans who had become the Ogres" food had first started appearing, and was a place that probably entered the Ogres" patrol route.
The strategy that Shion made was extremely simple.
She would track the Ogre that came to the logging site and discover their base.
That was simply it.
And then, then one that could do that with the greatest probability of success was Nino.
It was possible for Luuty, who was a Sylphid which were strong in the forest, as well, but Shion purposely endorsed Nino.
This was not only because Shion was able to trust Nino, but also because he held expectations for the power of Nino"s ability, the 【Magic Eyes of Greenery】, which they had kept hidden.
「Mu.」
While looking down on the Ogre that was harvesting mushrooms, Nino thought.
This Ogre, just looking at it like this, it was a proper Mazoku.
She found it hard to forgive him for not being under Demon King Vermudol"s command, but she did not see any sort of shameful actions as a Mazoku from him.
He seemed to have more intelligence than a Goblin, and although it wasn"t to the level of the Beastia, it seemed that his fingers were dextrous.
That bunch of guys called Alva were out of the question, but depending on the situation, Nino felt that it would be alright for Ogres to fall under the command of the Demon King army.
They couldn"t enter as Nino"s subordinates, but if they were pressed into Sancreed"s area, they seemed like they could do a good amount of work.
「Umu」
Carrying mushrooms with a satisfied look, the Ogre resumed its progress.
Nino jumped from tree to tree chasing after him.
The sounds that should have been made as she did so were camouflaged by the plant manipulation ability of her 【Magic Eyes of Greenery】, or were erased.
Within the forest where the rustling of trees naturally resounded, unless a great amount of coincidences occurred at the same time, it was close to impossible to notice Nino who was using her 【Magic Eyes of Greenery】.
In fact, the Ogre didn"t notice her at all and walked while humming a tune.
「……Although it is misfortunate, it cannot be helped.」
With a volume that could not be heard by anyone, Nino muttered.
It could be said that the Ogres" misfortune was that they were born in this Shutaia Continent.
The existence of these Ogres itself made mankind anxious, and would connect to the Demon King revival theory before long.
When it becomes like that, the Hero would appear once again.
Of course, Nino personally had no intention of losing.
Seeing as how she was able to infiltrate this country, even if a Hero were summoned, the chance to kill them would come at any time.
No, on the contrary, she could make even the royal castle fall right away.
As for the reason why Shion didn"t implement that, even Nino understood that it was because Shion held something mysterious that was close to attachment to Humans for some reason.
It seemed that Ichika knew something, but no matter how many times Nino asked her, she wouldn"t answer her.
After actually coming to the Shutaia Continent, Nino also came into contact with Humans, but it was nothing but days of pain where she felt an unfillable trench.
They were overly embellished clumps of rotten poison that spouted out lip service.
Nino was unable to understand why Shion was attached to Humans which were inferior to even Amoeba.
……However, Nino felt that his attachment seemed to be fading little by little recently.
However, it was still not there yet.
Besides, she was able to understand the reason why Shion was aiming to avoid war with mankind, and consequently avoid the Hero Summoning.
It was for this reason that it couldn"t be helped right now.
「I"m back. Didn"t find any Humans.」
A place that seemed to be an open s.p.a.ce that was coincidentally made within the forest.
Seeing the group of Ogres that were there, Nino made a thin smile.
That"s right, it couldn"t be helped right now.
It also couldn"t be helped that she was moving in order to dispel the Humans" anxiety.
It also couldn"t be helped that she was travelling together with Humans.
It also couldn"t be helped that she couldn"t cut anyone down in this place in order to pretend to be a normal Human.
It also couldn"t be helped, that the Ogres of this place would be annihilated together with Humans.
「It can"t be helped……It is for Shion-sama"s sake after all.」
That is why, she muttered "Die" to them in her mind.
Like that, Nino return to the path she came through while a dark brilliance dwelled within her green eyes.
「……I have found them, Shion-sama. Their number is five……It is an acceptable limit.」
「Ahh, thank you for your hard work, Nino. Well then, I guess we should get going.」
Like that, Shion also returned a dark smile that no one else in the vicinity back to Nino.
Where they headed to was the location of the Ogres.
As long as Kain and the others were there, they couldn"t possibly go all out, but that would probably be enough.
Or rather, the current Shion didn"t feel like proactively defeating them.
His gaze was turned towards Sharon──towards the blue-haired young girl that was said to use Summon Magic.
「……I am looking forward to it.」
Shion softly muttered that.
Those words did not reach the ears of anyone other than Nino.