Through Alium’s letter, I learned that a priest from the Diana Order could be of assistance against the Undead.
If I were to receive help from Roran, the situation would greatly improve, but that was impossible.
There was no Diana Order in Roran.
If they are not there, I’ll have to move forward as best I can.
I folded Alium’s letter and set it aside while continuing with the remaining paperwork.
“Letter came!”
Iwaf entered my room with a single letter.
“Leave it there.”
“Hey, can’t I go outside the castle?”
For several days now, Iwaf had been persistently asking for permission to step outside the castle.
It wasn’t just a simple outing; he wanted to join the soldiers to hunt down the Undead.
“Do you really want to fight that badly?”
“No, I’m just feeling really cooped up.”
Ever since the first attack, the movements of the Undead had indeed been quite subdued.
Since Ahom had not sustained serious injuries, I thought they would get ready and attack again soon.
“Stop goofing around and at least train.”
“I’m not goofing off. I train every day, too.”
I had hardly ever seen Iwaf training.
I had caught sight of him stretching in the open space behind the lodgings occasionally.
I picked up the letter Iwaf had brought and examined it.
There was no sender’s name on the envelope, only my name written in the recipient’s section.
“Uh, this letter, where did it come from?”
“I got it from some soldier; they said it was sent from Kant.”
I opened the envelope and pulled out the letter inside.
It was written in a neat and elaborate handwriting.
It was a letter of distress not written by the party involved but by someone else on their behalf.
The sender was Epiro, and the person who drafted it was Maran.
Currently, the Kant region was an empty city, as most people had left.
Epiro had reportedly crossed into Roran while fleeing.
Being with Maran, it seemed there was no need for great concern, but it was Maran who had requested the rescue.
There were too many Undead to venture outside the city at all.
Though help was requested, there was absolutely no way to go assist the two of them.
Moreover, I had no idea when or from where this letter had been sent.
The two of them might have already escaped that city or returned to Latnia.
When I asked Iwaf when the letter had arrived, he replied it was around last evening.
Considering the letter arrived during the war, it could not have come by land.
Currently, everything entering Harfen went through the harbor.
There was a high likelihood this letter had also come by ship to the harbor.
The method of sending the letter was suspicious, given they couldn’t leave the city.
To rescue the two, I needed to at least ascertain their location.
Only one person would likely have this information.
I took out the Demon King’s horn from my pocket.
“Are you busy?”
“Yes.”
From the tone of voice, he sounded as if he had just woken up.
“Can I have a word with No. 5?”
“Wait.”
He stood up from behind the desk and looked briefly out the window.
“What is it?”
Turning at the voice from behind, I saw the adult Demon King sitting in my chair, legs crossed.
I pointed at the letter on the desk.
After glancing over the letter, the Demon King fell silent for a moment.
“Are you asking me to find out where they are?”
“Yes. Is it possible?”
“You can do it too.”
He suggested using tracking magic.
I hadn’t attempted it before, but I decided to give it a try.
I closed my eyes, envisioned Epiro, and activated the tracking magic, only to be blinded by a white light.
“It’s not working.”
“Is it because they’re a priest from the Order? What about the magic swordsman accompanying them?”
I tried once more but still couldn’t see just like with Epiro.
I shook my head as I looked at the Demon King.
“Fine. First, tell me about the two of them.”
“Do you remember the elf priest you saw in Kant?”
“Oh, that’s who it is?”
Having seen their face but not spoken much, I didn’t know their name.
“I’ll let you know if I find them.”
“Thank you.”
“But, it’s awfully quiet here, isn’t it?”
“Why is that?”
The Demon King filled me in on the situation in Raden and the other cities.
Undead commanders were appearing here and there leading attacks on the cities.
Citizens from the smaller towns were reportedly fleeing to nearby larger cities.
The larger cities were said to be overwhelmed defending against the Undead armies.
“There was a big battle not too long ago, but things have quieted down since then.”
“When was that?”
“Well, it feels like it was about a week ago.”
Other than the Undead soldiers wandering around the city’s outskirts, there had been no major activities since the first battle.
“Well then, that’s about the same timeframe.”
“What do you mean?”
“Cities in various regions began to be attacked around that time.”
“Isn’t that dangerous?”
“Well, everyone seems to be managing well.”
Knowing well the capabilities of the Undead commanders, I was quite worried about the other cities.
“It’s true that all the knight orders are held back to the south, so they do lack military strength, but don’t worry too much.”
The Demon King mentioned that he had sent some of his Royal Guard to several cities.
With them around, they should be a strong enough force.
“Well then, I’ll inform you of the result tomorrow.”
“Is it going to be that quick?”
“It’s not like I’m the one doing the searching.”
The Demon King smiled lightly and vanished with a snap of his fingers.
I thought No. 5 would have quite a difficult time ahead.
I decided to seek out Leon to discuss this matter.
It was still early evening, giving me enough time to meet and talk.
Leaving the lodgings, I headed toward the town hall to find out where Leon was staying.
Though it was evening, many people were still coming and going at the town hall.
First, I checked the room we had held the meeting in.
If he wasn’t there, he would surely be at his lodgings.
When I opened the meeting room’s door, there were people inside, but none who seemed to belong to the Knight Order.
I grabbed a passing soldier and asked if he knew where Leon was staying; he pointed to one person.
A military officer appeared to be sitting at a desk and reading a book.
As I approached to speak, he closed the book and saluted me.
“Oh, what brings you here?”
“I would like to know where Leon is staying.”
“Just a moment.”
The officer took out a document and, after checking it, drew up a rough map for me.
“It’s right across from the park over there. You should find it easily.”
From the officer’s demeanor, I noticed that the position of the Knight Order was higher than I had expected.
It was on par with a division commander in the military.
Exiting the town hall, I walked toward the indicated park, looking at the map.
I quickly understood why the officer thought I would find it immediately.
It was a mansion slightly larger than the one Alex was staying in.
The surrounding buildings were modern, yet one stood out as grand.
Since the marked point on the map matched, I opened the mansion’s door and stepped into the yard.
Knock. Knock.
I knocked on the mansion door, sensing movement inside, and the door opened.
“What’s the matter?”
“I’ve come to see Leon.”
“Please come in.”
A man who appeared to be one of Leon’s knights guided me inside.
We passed through the living room, went up to the second floor, and stopped in front of a room.
The knight knocked on the door and informed Leon that I had come.
Leon personally came out and opened the door.
The interior of the room was decorated somewhat like an ordinary office.
Though I was borrowing the space, I had also made a few comfortable adjustments to the room’s layout.
Leon sent the knight away, closed the door, and headed towards the sofa.
“Please have a seat.”
Sitting on the sofa, I began to talk to Leon about the letter from Epiro.
“Well, a priest from the Latnia Order…”
“If we can pinpoint their location, can we go assist?”
“The magic swordsman accompanying them is Maran, right?”
“Yes.”
Leon pondered for a moment, stroking his chin with his fingers.
“If we can save him, it will be a great help to our forces.”
That answer was unexpected.
The Roran Empire and the Latnia Empire did not have a good relationship.
“Though he’s a magic swordsman from Latnia, you don’t seem to mind him much.”
“He usually operates in Latnia but apparently doesn’t have a nationality.”
I had heard of him wandering about, but this was the first I was hearing of him having no nationality.
If one had to classify him, Leon said he was more like a mercenary.
“When we confirm the location, how many will be going to rescue them?”
“For now, it’ll just be me and a friend of mine.”
“A friend?”
I hadn’t yet told Leon the details about Jema.
Jema wasn’t affiliated with the military or the Knight Order but was staying in my lodgings.
“More precisely, she’s a friend of mine.”
“Oh, is she the girl that Frey mentioned?”
“Yes.”
“Will just the two of you be enough?”
At Leon’s question, I paused to think for a moment.
Given that Maran had asked for assistance, the situation there was likely more serious than I anticipated.
It might not be something that just I and Jema could handle.
However, I couldn’t just pull all the Knight Order members away either.
“Right now, that’s all I’m considering.”
“I’d like to provide support, but you know we’re not in a very comfortable situation, right?”
Leon looked apologetic about not being able to help.
“Who will take charge of the 2nd Knight Order while you’re away?”
“Isn’t there only one person I can leave it to?”
If I left, it would make sense for the vice-captain, Riki, to take my place.
“The 2nd Knight Order always seems to have their leaders absent.”
“Seems like it.”
I didn’t plan on being away for long.
Since it was a rescue, the goal was to bring them back as quickly as possible.
“Wait a moment.”
Leon suddenly seemed to recall something and quickly stepped out of the room.
After a moment, Leon returned with a knight in tow.
“This is an apprentice from our Knight Order. You can take him with you.”
“Apprentice? Is that a thing?”
“To be precise, he’s my student.”
Since he was not a member of the Knight Order, it wouldn’t be a major issue if he fell behind.
“But we plan to move by flying.”
Initially, we would use teleporter devices, but after that, we intended to travel by flight.
So, the person I would take along needed to be someone capable of flying.
Iwaf had been among the candidates, but due to being a member of the Knight Order, I excluded him from consideration.
