Since five people couldn’t fit into the small room, Tenji decided to rent another room.
From the situation, it seems I need to stay in Kant for at least a week.
Suddenly, I recalled something Wizel had said before.
That he knew the location of a place where one of the Dragon’s powers was left.
As I stepped out into the lodging corridor, I called for Wizel.
“Did you call for me?”
“Yeah. You mentioned knowing a location before, right?”
“Yes. Would you like me to guide you there?”
“Can you tell me where it is?”
Wizel conjured up a map of the Xaihum Continent in front of me.
The small arrow was pointing to the deepest part of the Latnia Empire’s territory.
“Are you sure it’s there? Someone could have taken it.”
“They can’t take it.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“It’s a national treasure.”
The moment it is taken out, I would be declared wanted in that country.
“So, we have to steal it then?”
“Yes. You have the power to destroy a country, after all?”
“But that country probably has skilled knights and mages?”
“In that case, level up your skills and go.”
I asked Wizel where the other power was located, but he replied that he didn’t know either.
Aside from the olive tree bracelet, there are three powers in total.
One has been obtained, and the location of another has been found.
Since I couldn’t bring it right away, it was practically the same as not getting it at all.
“Nothing’s easy.”
“By the way, why don’t you use the power you obtained?”
“It doesn’t seem to react much.”
The power from the gem flowed steadily into my body, but there was no significant change.
My magic wasn’t getting stronger, nor was my physical strength increasing.
“It might be because of the potion.”
“Is my power really weak because of a mere transformation potion?”
“That potion is special.”
Indeed, when I drank the transformation potion, my appearance changed, but a part of my strength weakened.
The strong physical capability that is a characteristic of demon kind was currently at an ordinary human level.
To test the new power, I first needed to release the transformation.
Since Solche was nearby, I thought it would be a good opportunity.
I remembered that in the past, Solche had returned to their original form even after drinking the transformation potion.
“I’ll be right back.”
“Where are you going?”
“To the Information Department.”
As I stepped outside the lodging, I fell into deep thought.
In the Kant region, there were branches of the Information Department both to the west and to the east.
I wondered which branch Solche would be at this time.
First, I decided to head to the nearby eastern branch.
On my way to the eastern branch, I spotted the building of the Diana Order where Epiro stayed.
In front of the door, a sign indicated that it would be closed for a while.
I couldn’t help but be concerned about being almost forcefully dragged away by the knights.
Since it was something the Order’s priest was supposed to do, I couldn’t directly step in.
It had been quite some time since I had gone out alone.
Lost in admiration as I walked, I found myself at the entrance of the Information Department branch.
I tried to enter, but the door was locked.
“Is it the west then?”
A problem arose.
The eastern branch was right in front of me, but I didn’t know where the western branch was.
As I was about to return to the lodging, the branch’s door opened, and someone peeked out slightly.
“Who are you?”
“I came to meet Solche. If they’re here, please let them know.”
The way to approach the Information Department was very discreet; people don’t just announce it like I did.
Bam!
Two individuals in suits jumped out holding swords.
“Suspicious person.”
“We can’t help it.”
If they were guarding the entrance, they were likely still inexperienced or trainees.
In terms of skill, they would probably be a bit better or at the same level as me.
“Where have I heard that name?”
“I heard it from them.”
The two agents closed the distance simultaneously.
I quickly drew my dagger and blocked their attacks from both sides.
As our swords clashed and separated for a brief moment!
I could see blue dots in front of me.
Feeling a strange pull, I held the dagger against the dots, and the two agents’ movements halted.
“Hmm?”
Dropping their swords, the two sat down on the spot.
“Are you okay?”
Fortunately, it seemed their lives were not in danger.
“I’m going in now.”
I couldn’t help but think that it was questionable to have such incompetence standing at the entrance.
I entered the ordinary-looking house and surveyed the surroundings.
I searched the floor and walls for a secret passage leading to the basement and found a hidden entrance.
The mechanism for the secret entrance was surprisingly simple.
You just had to push the dining table aside and lift the floor.
Once inside the Information Department branch, there weren’t many people there.
I approached the bartender in the middle of the hall.
“Is Solche here?”
“They are at the headquarters now. Are you waiting for them?”
I briefly sat down to wait at the bartender’s suggestion, and he brought me a drink.
“I didn’t order this.”
“It’s a service.”
If I had entered formally, it might have been one thing, but I felt uneasy having taken down the guard outside first.
I wondered if they might come back and report that I had forcefully intruded.
While I was resting at the bar, one of the guards from the entrance came down.
Upon seeing me, he walked over with an excited expression.
“You! Get out of here right now!”
“What’s the matter?”
“This person is a trespasser. An intruder!”
His shout chilled the atmosphere around us.
I wondered if I was about to have to fight again when the entrance opened, and Solche rushed in.
“An intruder? Where are they?”
It seemed the remaining guard outside had informed Solche that there was an intruder.
The agent inside pointed at me.
Solche quickly seemed to grasp the situation upon seeing me.
“They are my guest.”
Once the situation was sorted out, Solche led me into a private room.
Solche, seated, invited me to sit anywhere.
“You can’t just show up at the Information Department branch unannounced.”
“Am I just anyone?”
“For now, are you not a civilian?”
In truth, I didn’t have the right to enter the Information Department alone.
I had simply followed Aila in, hoping they might let me in.
Had I not been the one to initiate a fight, I would have left quietly.
Ultimately having won, I chose to relax and go down to the branch.
“They won’t let you in unless you come with the chief or the Demon King.”
“Do the agents know the Demon King’s face?”
“Yes. Unless it’s just the entry-level people outside, most of them know to some extent.”
However, there’s a rule that if they meet outside, they should pretend not to know, even if they do recognize the person.
Remembering someone’s face is easy.
Since it’s extremely rare for the Demon King to visit the Information Department, most people push it to the back of their minds.
“So, what brings you here?”
“Oh, right. There was something from before.”
I asked Solche how one could return to their original form after drinking the transformation potion.
“It’s not difficult. You just need to suppress the potion’s power with mana.”
“Does it have power?”
“The potion’s energy suppresses your overall strength, and you need to suppress it with mana.”
Solche explained the technique simply and suggested I try it right away.
I closed my eyes for concentration and focused on my heartbeat.
Even without using mana, I could clearly feel the mana circulating my body.
The problem was that I needed to find the energy of the transformation potion.
“It doesn’t seem to be there?”
“Look carefully. You will feel that it’s suppressing your power.”
From head to toe, as the mana flowed through me, I felt something blocking it.
It was located just slightly below my solar plexus.
A yellow light, akin to the potion’s color, gathered and spread energy in all directions.
“I found it.”
“There are two methods. One is to suppress the energy with strength, and the other is to use mana to carry it out.”
The first allows you to temporarily release the transformation, while the second detoxifies the potion’s energy.
Since I wanted to temporarily release the transformation, I decided to suppress the yellow light’s energy.
“Phew!”
It felt like a great sense of liberation as the blocked breathing pathways opened up!
I fluttered my wings gently and wagged my tail vigorously.
But there was one problem.
In the body of a human female, only the features of a demon were manifested.
“It feels like strength is welling up in me, but why does my form remain the same?”
“How much of the potion did you drink?”
“I’ve drunk a fair amount since I drank it every time during missions.”
“Drink it in moderation. If you drink too much, you won’t return to your original state.”
“Does that mean I’ll turn into a demon?”
“No. Your gender may change.”
That’s why the transformation potions are divided into male and female variants.
Accidentally drinking a few times doesn’t matter, but if someone consistently takes them on purpose, they could change.
“Isn’t it fine to just drink the male version?”
“Hmm. I haven’t tried it, so I wouldn’t know.”
It seems no one takes such incidents seriously.
Perhaps it’s because they believe it can be fixed with magic.
That was why Aila had also been made to consistently ingest the opposite gender’s potion.
However, I wondered what she’d do if such symptoms showed up since she couldn’t use magic properly.
“Is it okay to look like a demon in Kant?”
“Well, it might catch people’s eyes, but since the east and west are adjacent, everyone is probably used to it.”
I had learned how to temporarily release the transformation.
I no longer needed to feel troubled by my inconvenient physical state.
I thanked Solche for their help and left the room.
The two agents who had been guarding the entrance earlier looked a bit surprised when they saw me.
“So you were a demon?”
“That’s why I thought I could take you on.”
“We’re still newbies…”
It was true that their skills weren’t particularly exceptional.
This likely indicated that the Information Department was lacking in personnel.
Once outside the Information Department branch, I decided to try using my wings after a long time.
As my body had grown, my wings had also become much larger than before.
As I gently flapped my wings, dust rose from the ground.
Applying force to my legs, I leaped lightly into the air and soared several meters in an instant.
With my wings now moving, I rose into the sky and looked down at the ground.
As I gazed intently at the city of Kant, my eyes landed on a specific spot.
