When I woke up Érica was making lunch the way I taught her and Ibuki is looking at her drooling, I can't see the others so they must have gone to investigate.
"(I've been oversleeping lately, I'm always the last one to wake up, I wonder if this is because I'm overworking myself so much?)" (I)
The day was like the previous ones, Érica practicing her fire magic, I taught martial arts to Ibuki and at the end of the afternoon I leave Ibuki training alone and I'm going to answer some questions about magic with Érica.
This time Diana and Kira came back long before nightfall, I'm worried if something happened to them so soon, but after seeing they aren't hurt I calm down.
I tell Ibuki to stop training and join us inside the hut, Ibuki doesn't have as much knowledge as I do and isn't as experienced as the other girls, because of that she doesn't contribute much to any of the discussions we do, but she's part of the group and I will not treat her differently from the others, they are all part of the group that I created in this world, they are the closest I have to family.
I don't like to think about how I would be alone, I have never been alone my whole life or I should say during my whole previous life.
Even though I was adopted and sent back to the orphanage several times, I was always treated well at the orphanage and I always had people who welcomed me with open arms like Father Mário.
He was the one who taught me that not all families are linked by blood, that's why I consider Ibuki, Érica, Diana, and Kira as my family, that's why I make my decisions not only thinking of myself but of them too.
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After they removed their gear and they all went to bathe in the river near here, we gathered in the usual room, sitting on the wolf rug on the floor in a circle.
"So what did you find out?" (I)
"We finally found out where the Undead are coming from, master." (Kira)
"Great job you two, where is it?" (me)
"It's not a simple master cave, it's a big dead tree trunk, there's a tunnel well hidden inside the trunk that leads to an underground cave." (Kira)
"So the entrance is well hidden, how did you find it?" (I)
"As we followed the clues the scent of the Undead became stronger and stronger, after a while the scent was strong and it continued enough for me to follow it without having to look for other clues." (Diana)
"That's how we found it so quickly, thanks to Diana." (Kira)
"During your investigations haven't you found any more adventurers?" (I)
"Deep in the forest hardly any adventurers come, but as we move the investigation areas closer to the city we start to see more and more adventurers." (Diana)
"But the master doesn't have to worry, none of them followed us and whenever one of them was around me or Kira would always notice them and Kira would hide out of sight." (Diana)
"Hiding in a forest is simple for me, almost every member of the Assassin Guild could do the same." (Kira)
"Why didn't you tell me before?" (I)
"Since we were investigating the Undead we think the master doesn't care about other information." (Diana)
"All right." (I)
"Now tell me, did you manage to confirm the number of the Undead?" (I)
"Thanks to my ability to sense a presence I could understand that there are between four hundred and five hundred Undead at least." (Kira)
"..." (I/Érica)
"We couldn't prove that the cave below that tunnel is connected to the mountains, as we can't go inside, but by the number of monsters inside, it must be there." (Kira)
"What shall we do now, master?" (Diana)
"..." (I)
Hmmm...
If what they are saying is correct, then the situation is bigger than I expected.
We're not in a position to do anything about it and even if I had I wouldn't put their lives or mine at risk for a town I've never entered.
"Diana, how are the quests you took with the Guild going?" (I)
"I haven't done any yet as I was too busy with the investigation, master." (Diana)
"In the next few days, I want you to try to complete them all." (I)
"If that's what the master wants, I'll do it." (Diana)
"But what about the Undead?" (Diana)
"Ey would already get to that point." (I)
"After you've completed all the quests I want you to go back to town and deliver the information you've discovered to the Adventurers' Guild." (I)
"Are you sure, master?" (Kira)
"Yes, I'm sure." (I)
"You can close the investigations, with so many enemies it doesn't make sense for me to risk your lives or mine." (I)
"Let the city of Valen solve its problems, we are already helping a lot by locating the underground cavern." (I)
"Now it's up to them to kill the Undead and confirm that this was the right cave, then close it if it's the right one." (I)
"I agree with your decision, master." (Diana)
"That's the best decision, master." (Érica)
"They have more staff and equipment to handle it." (Érica)
"Not to mention that there must be enough earth mages to help close the cave." (Kira)
"With that decided, let's focus on Diana completing her missions." (I)
"You two are still going out every day, but this time it's to hunt and not investigate." (I)
"While you hunt me, Érica and Ibuki will continue our respective training in case we need to fight the Undead." (I)
"Sounds like a good plan to me." (Diana)
"Do you have any predictions on how long it might take to complete all these missions?" (I)
"Hmmm..." (Diana)
Diana puts her hand on her chin and closes her eyes thinking about something, after a few seconds she opens her eyes and response.
"It should take three to four days, master." (Diana)
"Be careful while hunting tomorrow, I'm telling you both." (I)
"I advise starting with the Undead missions, if we're right and they're coming through the tunnel then their numbers will increase over time, so better hunt enough for your mission now as the more time passes the harder and risky this mission will be." (I)
"The master is right, let's do this morning Diana." (Kira)
"Alright, thanks for the advice, master." (Diana)
"But we're still going to keep exchanging watch shifts during the night." (I)
"After this crisis with the Undead is over we can focus on the third prince of Cartoza." (I)
"Kira, do you know the date the third prince will travel?" (I)
"I do know, master." (Kira)
"He will leave the Cartoza Kingdom in twenty days, it should take him two weeks to reach the city of Valen before heading to the capital." (Kira)
"At least that was their plan, but we know he's going to be attacked along the way." (Érica)
"The attack will definitely be close to Valen, so we have time to make preparations later, now let's focus on the current problem." (I)
"Does the master have any more plans after we pass the information to the Adventurers Guild?" (Érica)
"I have one in mind, but let me confirm something with you first." (I)
"You can ask anything, master." (Diana)
"What do you think the Adventurers' Guild will do after getting the information?" (I)
"They will likely issue a special subjugation mission to gather adventurers to eliminate all the Undead." (Érica)
"After the Undead are eliminated they must issue another mission aimed at Earth element mages to close the cave." (Érica)
"Actually, master." (Diana)
"They should call some Higher Grade adventurers, probably about five Grade C and at least one Grade B." (Diana)
"Why you say that?" (I)
"There is much strong Undead in the underground caves of the mountain range, if one of them goes into the forest it will be a disaster." (Diana)
"As long as the cave is closed the Guild will want a High-Rank adventurer to guard the entrance." (Diana)
"They'll do it too to prevent many adventurers from dying." (Diana)
"If what you're talking about happens, do you think they'll ask you to join the special mission too?" (I)
"..." (Diana)
"Now that the master says that, they'll probably want me to join the quest, not only because I found the location of the Undead, but also because I'm one of the few adventurers who have experience fighting Undead." (Diana)
"Do you think you'll be safe on this mission?" (I)
"After becoming a master's familiar my strength has increased a lot, now that I've finally been able to use Ki, my strength should equal that of Grade C or +C adventurers." (Diana)
"Even if everything goes wrong I should at least manage to escape, but I believe there will be no problems with this mission." (Diana)
"Then I'll also want you to join the mission, I'm wondering what's in that cave, but remember that your safety is more important, if you think things are going bad, leave." (I)
"Your safety is more important to me than the lives of these adventurers." (I)
"Thank you, master." (Diana)
"Thank you for worrying about me." (Diana)
After discussing some more unimportant matters, Érica, Ibuki, and I went to the first watch.
We chatted while watching, we talked about Ibuki's progress in learning martial arts over the past few days, we talked about the explosion magic Érica thinks she should be able to use, and we also talked about maybe making her go hunting one day with Diana to practice her magic.
When it came time to switch shifts, Ibuki was still awake for the first time and didn't need me to carry her to bed, we woke up Diana and Kira, then went to sleep.