Chapter 251 – Meeting up with Lavia and PaulaHikaru met up with the girls who arrived later than him. Since the Grand Hotel chain had a branch here too, Lavia booked a room there.
The hotel was huge, able to accommodate a thousand people. Dark-brown wood was used for its interior, creating a relaxing atmosphere.
「Drake"s still asleep, huh?」
Hikaru frowned as he watched the drakon sleeping in Paula"s arms. His stomach had shrunk in size considerably, one wouldn"t even think he swallowed something whole.
「I think he"ll wake up soon.」Paula said.
「Probably… Sorry, but could you look after him a bit longer?」
「Of course.」
Paula accepted the task and happily carried Drake to the bed. After that, Hikaru explained everything that happened so far to the girls.
「So you"re thinking that these people from Grand Dream are not looking for war.」Lavia said.
「Yeah. What do you think?」
「Hmm, I"m not sure. I think it"s possible for a grudge to remain even after 500 years.」
「I see.」
Their tenacity would be terrifying if they came all the way here out of unjustified resentment.
「What are you planning to do now, Hikaru-sama?」Paula asked.
「Gather intel, I guess. We can"t make a move unless we know what they"re after or what kind of equipment they possess.」
「But they"re out at sea.」
「Hikaru, you can"t be thinking of using that.」Lavia looked shocked.
「Ah, no. I don"t plan to use that.」
He was referring to the fire magic written on the grimoire they received from Katy. Lavia tested some of the spells on their way from Forestia to Pond. Every one of them had its quirks.
For example, Flame Drop was a spell that produced a bright, super-hot white flame as small as a pinky nail. All it did was trickle down; not enough to melt metal precisely, and not suitable for starting a fire. The drop of flame simply melted the ground and sank deeper and deeper.
There was also Flame Laser, a spell that shot fire in a straight line, but with a powerful recoil at the caster. Hikaru went numb when Lavia tried it and got blown ten meters away.
Flame Mist created fine dust-like flames, causing air temperature to increase a bit. It didn"t have any other effect. And yet despite that, a slight mistake in mana control would result in the flames exploding one by one, engulfing the caster in fire.
No wonder it was too much for her and she gave it away instead. But Hikaru thought of a way to utilize them. He explained it to the girls, but it didn"t look like they liked the idea as it was too dangerous.
「I was thinking of using a small boat. My Stealth"s range should be enough to hide the boat too. I"ll get close and board their ship.」
「But aren"t their ships too far out for just paddling? How are you going to get there?」
「That won"t be a problem.」Hikaru gave a faint smile.「They"ll come closer.」
The only news they received was that the questioning wasn"t going well. Once again, the four nations" leaders and the Church"s representative were gathered in the conference room, one with no windows and located deep in the mansion.
The agenda this time for Patricia was “sharing the same sense of danger” and “making a swift decision”. She believed disaster would befall Ville Zentra if the invaders came to land. If that happened, it would surely affect Ponsonia and Quinbland, or even Bios and Einbeast.
Now they needed to discuss how to deal with the enemy. Permission had been granted to bring in armies to Ville Zentra. Kaglai immediately dispatched his troops, while the troubles in Ponsonia and Forestia"s distance delayed their troops" departure.
「No one"s listening in on this room, right?」Marquedo said, laughing weakly.
She was probably joking. It wasn"t as though she was mocking the inadequacy of Patricia"s security. After all, the enemy had that magic item that made camouflaging possible.
「Yes, we"re fine… I think. That"s all I can say about it. Our soldiers are on alert and moving around poking every spot with long sticks.」Patricia answered bitterly, most likely irritated by the fact that it was the only measure they could take against invisible enemies.
「Hmm. How"s the a.n.a.lysis on the magic item going?」
「Well it"s only been a day, so we can"t really tell. Right now though, they"re clueless.」Patricia answered.「By the way, Kaglai. What was this optical something that your mercenary was talking about? How did he see the spy?」
「I do not know.」
「What? That"s a problem, then.」
「Then just ask the man himself.」Kaglai said.「Silver Face, you are here, yes?」
Silver Face—Hikaru—was indeed in this room, which was bigger than the one yesterday. As always, there were only three bodyguards per nation, leaving a lot more s.p.a.ce. No one noticed Hikaru hiding behind a decorative plant with his Stealth on. Quietly, he stepped out and deactivated his Stealth. Patricia looked at him with a startled expression.
「You were here the whole time?! How"d you do that?!」
「I can"t answer that question.」
Most of the guards glared at Hikaru. Only Selyse looked fascinated. It looked like she wanted to talk to him so badly, but kept her mouth shut, knowing this wasn"t the place. Instead, Kudyastoria, who was beside her, spoke.
「I apologize for calling you a different name yesterday. We have met before, haven"t we?」
She thought the boy who fought Lawrence and Silver Face were the same person.
「I can"t answer that question.」
Admitting wouldn"t really benefit him, so Hikaru played dumb.
「There"s no need for that right now, Lady Kudyastoria.」Patricia said, and turned her attention to Silver Face.「What is this optical thing you were talking about? Don"t tell me you can"t answer—」
「Our eyes function by focusing light into our retina. The optic nerve then carries signals of light, dark, and colors to an area of the brain, which a.s.sembles the signals into images. Optical camouflage works by focusing light that"s reflected from some other source, instead of the one you"re supposed to be looking at. I think that cloth conceals what"s inside it by redirecting light. As a result, you can"t see what"s supposed to be in front of you, but something else.」
Patricia"s mouth hung open.
「…I"m sorry, what?」was all she could say.
Hikaru heaved a sigh.
The Supreme Leader flushed.「You suck at explaining, okay?!」
「Calm down now, Lady Zylberstein.」Kaglai said.「Silver Face, can a magic item do what you just said?」he asked.
「I don"t know. But since the device actually exists, there"s no other choice but to examine it, right?」
「I see… So how do we find anyone who might be using this technology?」
「Find someone who excels in Detection. Optical camouflage only deceives the eye. It can"t conceal smell, temperature, sound, life force, and even mana.」
「Detection, you say…」
Only very few people possessed Detection skills. There were many people with Instinct, however.
The leaders seemed to be pondering over what Hikaru said, suggesting they had people in mind. There should be at least one or two people among their subjects who had Detection type skills. The problem was, low-level Detection had a range of only ten meters.
「I don"t think this is the time to be worrying about that, though.」Silver Face said.
「What do you mean?」
「They should be making a move soon.」
「A move? What is your basis for this?」
A messenger entered the conference room. Ten warships had appeared in Ville Zentra"s waters.