Kiers' expression, which was rather forcibly amiable at Asher's words until that point, hardened slightly. He began to speak in a tone of displeasure.
"This is quite offensive. Do you not trust our capabilities to gather information?"
"You're rather quick-witted."
"…."
Kiers glared sharply at Asher.
There was no reason for Asher to ask for their information. If there is, the only reason he would do so, was to test their competence of information, which could easily be deemed as an insult.
Information organizations and agencies eventually would learn their top secret information through infiltration of sorts. The classes information agencies were divided amongst each other according to their competence. It was the most basic thing to know when choosing an information agency.
"Your agency has been stuck and secluded in a small territory and has not seen much of the outside world. It's only natural for someone to want to know your capabilities don't you think?"
"No…"
Kiers denied it. However, clenched his fist with a face that hurt his pride.
"You don't need to worry about that. There is no information in the world that we can't find."
"Yet, you didn't even notice the Doppelganger."
"That was a different case…"
Kiers' eyes shook slightly and protested.
"We gathered information about the world in a closed environment despite the restrictions and scrutinizing eye of Balbaca…no- that doppelganger. From the most miscellaneous unimportant things to down to the inner workings of the territory. There's no such information we can't find."
Kiers spoke up. But, Asher still had a questionable look.
"Well."
"Such a skeptical little boy."
Kiers grumbled.
"Fine then, tell me what information you need. Stupid little boy probably wants some information about some pet cats…", Kiers muttered underneath his breath.
"I want all the Information you have on the heroes."
"What?"
Kiers paused and his eyes widened. Asher calmly continued.
"Especially the ones gone or that completely disappeared, find information about them."
Since 20 years ago, many heroes had disappeared, and some of them had even reappeared.
A more interesting case was Balbacca, who went missing 20 years ago, and came back as a twisted man. If so, then what about other heroes?
Originally, it had nothing to do with Asher. But something was bothering him. The sense of worry was gradually creeping up on him and he didn't mean to stay still about it.
It was because they were his few close friends.
"Uh- Um."
Kiers instead of giving a snarky reply like he had been doing up until now, shuddered at Asher's words.
"I didn't expect that k-…kind of information."
"That's why I asked if it was possible."
Any information about the heroes or their movements, was likely to be top tier information no matter what kind of intelligence agency Asher used. And unless it was a large guild, it would be hard for Asher to assume it was worth using.
Asher didn't think that this tiny little information agency could possibly find the information he wanted.
"Hm… heroes, their information?…Are there any more specific details you want?"
"All the heroes that disappeared. The focus should be on the whereabouts of Ian the Brave, who went missing and any kind of information relevant to changes going on in the North."
"…are you serious?"
"Of course."
Kiers completely stiffened at Asher's brutal first request to his agency.
"You don't have to overdo it since there's something else I need that you can do instead…."
It was too harsh a request for a small intelligence organization. But, Kiers shook his head.
"No, I can't just sit here and be treated like an incompetent fool."
"I didn't mean to."
Asher murmured, but Kiers clenched his fist with determined eyes as if he could not hear it.
"Okay. It's just information, so it will take quite a while. If it's only this much, I can definitely do it."
"Do whatever you want."
Asher wasn't expecting much because the next requests he planned, would most likely shock Kiers even further. Kiers grated his teeth as if he had read such signs from Asher's body language.
"I'll accept that you at least seem to know what information is tough to get. I'll only give you that much though you brat."
"Don't care, do your job and report back to me."
"So noisy, I'll be back when I get the information."
'He's rather easy to deal with.'
Asher murmured inwardly.
Kiers tucked himself into the alleyway. He turned his face around just before the shadow gradually covered him and his whole body disappeared.
"Oh, I have one thing to tell you."
Kiers grinned as he spoke in a taunting manner, still acting like a child. However, his next words were anything but childish.
"You'd better get ready soon. The monsters are coming."
***
There was only one thing when one thought of the words 'Monsters'.
Monsters, they were the human's natural enemy.
Asher thought that Lord Halvark would surely be preparing countermeasures. But he couldn't help but feel nervous that Lord Halvark might not be able to set up his defenses in time.
Asher returned to the training area.
Reika was huffing and drinking water.
"You're here? You're very busy these days."
"That's right."
Reika was standing gazing at him. Asher opened his mouth again.
"How much do you know about Monsters or Demons?"
"Monsters? I don't know. I just know of them, not like I've actually done research on them. I'm not someone from 50 years ago, and the information you can find on them is pretty limited in the libraries."
Asher gave a bitter smile. Monsters and Demons were difficult beings, yet the world almost seemed to want to forget their past with them and didn't at least prepare future generations if anything else similar to them arose to threaten humanity like they had once done.
"Anyway, it's safe to say that you don't know much, yes?"
"That's right."
Reika, a noble, was naturally very curious about things she didn't know or couldn't find in the history books.
But this also meant that if Reika only knew of the name 'Demon', most common folk wouldn't even know what they were.
'It's not good.'
Demons and Monsters were unknown to the general public. What if the Demons or Monsters, or even both, came in this situation? It was a bleak future, that much was for sure if they didn't do something soon.
"Well, it has been kind of weird these days."
Reika murmured as if she was thinking about something odd.
"The number of people who are experiencing nightmares has increased. The maids were talking about their nightmares just the other day and I found it weird how many of them were suffering from them. And…. I've been feeling like there's something disturbing my father, as he's been stuck in his room meticulously drafting plans for something. Does it have anything to do with them?"
"Hmm."
Asher recalled the words left by Van Ester half a year ago. The world was twisted. And when the Demon Lord died, both the Demons and Monsters that were spread throughout the continent, were eradicated off the face of the planet.
But, the world was changing once again.