Demon General Meets Raidou
Ahh, extra work.
I did not want to do this, that was my honest opinion.
Even though as a general, there are many other things I could be doing to help His Highness.
This was my initial thought.
"Raidou, eh."(Rona)
"Yes."(Alec)
[TLnote: I don't know if it is Alec but since Alec is shorter than Demon Soldier A, I will use Alec.]
I thought there was no point in hearing about this person, but my intuition said to investigate this man thoroughly.
"A merchant who became an Instructor at the academy just by completing the practical exam… is this a joke?"(Rona)
"… No Ma'am, this is all true."(Alec)
"Fine, I first need an Identity at the academy. I have no choice but to infiltrate the academy and see for myself. I will change into the disguise in a little while, what was the name… Karen Frost?"(Rona)
"Is Ma'am going herself?"(Alec)
"There is no choice but for me to go, if it is a dangerous opponent, then I can kill him. I have to perceive how powerful this person is, what kind of thoughts this person has, and what methods are needed to kill him if the situation requires it. If you think that you are able to handle it, then speak now."(Rona)
"I believe that I will be able to do it."(Alec)
"If the person is at a level that you are unable to perceive, then sending you will be a waste of time, would it not? Besides, right now I am in the city and am not doing anything crucial, thus I am able to depart for this."(Rona)
"… I am sorry for speaking out of term like that."(Alec)
I already know the difficulty of the lecturer exam at the academy, and this person passed with only doing the practical exam. This practical exam is also something I have a rough understanding of as well. I believe only I could possibly complete this exam in this city right now.
…But a merchant being able to do it has an ominous feeling to it. I feel a strong discomfort from it.
"No, it is quite alright, I would like you to take care of other things, confirm the progress of the coming plan that we have prepared. I will want to see the full report later, so come by again."(Rona)
"Yes Ma'am. Leaving aside Raidou for now Ma'am, what should we do about those people?"(Rona)
"… I would like to ask you to do it, but for now leave it, we do not have enough personnel to carry that out yet. We cannot lose our established position in this town so quickly."(Rona)
"… Yes Ma'am."(Rona)
Alec, my subordinate, nods at my words.
Rotsgard is a fully hyuman city.
Hyumans are the enemy in this war, thus we cannot reveal ourselves in this city just yet.
We, who can use special illusion magic, infiltrated the town to prepare measures for a large scale upcoming operation.
Hyumans are very stupid. They do not use information or try to obtain information in this war, they just believe that the goddess will save them from this war. We, the demons, try to take any benefit we can, thus if we are discovered, infiltrating would be a large waste of time from the start.
Moreover, we have received information that a particular third party has joined us in this city, a thing different from the hyumans and us demons.
This third party is the reason I am here, and also what my men asked me about.
… The war is right now incredibly advantageous to the demons… but we have not won yet.
If I read something wrong or give false information, this situation could change at the drop of a hat.
That is why something like Raidou, an unknown factor coming in right now, is a pain.
But it is my duty, as a general to His Majesty, to investigate all factors.
"Leave it for now, I will think about it during this time."(Rona)
Those people huh, the Kuzunoha Company.
It is the new business in Tsige that has been rapidly growing in size.
That city is the only city that I do not have enough information about, I had people in the wilderness though.
Of course, they were handpicked by me.
But some time ago I lost contact with them.
I know something happened.
It is obvious something happened, but I do not know what.
I have sent many to survey the place, but they all either disappeared, or are too afraid to go.
The end of the world is a mysterious place, and anything can happen there, thus I cannot perceive what happened.
Tsige, the closest city to the end of the world, has the company.
I am quite worried about this company.
That city also belongs to one of the major powers in the world, Aion. That city does not discriminate against demi-hyumans and other species, thus it is quite special.
That country is the only country that tries to obtain information and analyze it. It is not on the level of us demons, but in less than 10 years they could easily rival us.
"In any case, we must focus on this town for the large scale operation that is coming up. This city contains the academy, the largest educational facility in the world, thus people who graduate from there are always people who influence the world. We must steadily develop the plan."(Rona)
"I will do this even if it costs me my life."(Alec)
Well, leaving that aside.
Raidou the lecturer and Raidou the merchant
I wonder how much fun you will be?
"Haaah, haaah…."(Rona)
My own breath was annoying me.
By using illusion magic of a higher level, I was able to get into the academy as the woman named Karen Frost.
Karen Frost was a very rich person and lived close to the empire. She was called a prodigy and had the power to be called that.
When I first learned of the name, I had thought about cutting off the bud before it was too late, but there was no need for me to do anything. She was killed at the hands of her own people.
As expected of hyumans, they never let me down.
The only thing I did was kill all of Karen's killers, thus you could say I took revenge for the poor girl, and then made her a substitute for me to use later on. I made it so that all who knew the event of her death was killed, and that she came back in one piece.
That was all I did.
Now using the name Karen Frost I attended a lecture that Raidou was holding, but this…
I know I am limiting my power much to the level of student, but this was completely ridiculous. I and the two other girls that joined the class, have been attacking Raidou non-stop.
No matter what though, nothing worked on him.
He pointed out what is bad and what is good. He also crushed the bad moves in an instant. Every single time, crushed.
I got a little hot headed by this situation and released a serious blow towards him, but it was a blow that I could pretend I got by fluke.
… I don't even need to explain, he crushed it again, he was slightly surprised, but then went back to pointing out what was good and what was bad.
This guy is definitely dangerous.
He is not just a teacher, but a super class magician.
He is the type of person that goes to the frontlines each and every time, and comes back looking like he walked through the park.
Only Io in our army can do that.
This type of person is the most dangerous in a war.
They have power, thus cannot be killed; they have power, thus can inspire troops; they have power, thus can kill all obstacles.
Also there is something else besides him…
I looked at the other side while trying to attack Raidou.
That side had the other students whom Raidou was teaching, they were fighting a monster.
A single man supervised them, a subordinate of Raidou.
I saw him and made a click with my tongue.
His subordinate's knowledge of magic was truly extraordinary.
I am pretty sure that man is equal to me in ability, and his equipment is also a high performance staff.
Add the advanced recovery magic he knows, and he becomes equally dangerous as Raidou.
Also the Monster that the students were fighting.
Again I was surprised by the actions of Raidou.
It was a Mist Lizard. A specie that lives quite deep at end of world, and as far as I know, are the strongest type of Lizardman.
I tried to gain their cooperation once, but lost many men and got rejected when we finally began to talk.
Raidou summoned one just like that.
Even now while I am thinking this, he is completely crushing every attack I and the sisters throw at him, whether it is spirit magic or regular magic, all of them are destroyed.
I thought that this would be quite easy, but as expected, anything that comes out of the end of the world is out of my range of expectations.
He is using some type of unknown language that allows him to cast magic instantly.
If this man has both his magic ability and Io's martial arts skills, then he cannot be called a Hyuman anymore.
This man will become a one-man army at that time.
He is a nightmare, I felt this from the bottom of my heart.
If this man is taken in by one of the super powers of the Hyumans, then no doubt we will instantly lose our advantage in this war.
I thought about punishing those demons that reported about this man when those stupid people from Limia were beaten down, but looks like they made the correct judgement, as expected of my men.
I do however….think that if we combine the demons and Sofia, we can kill this man, thus I still have some leeway in this situation, right?
"Ok, we will stop here."(Shiki)
Raidou ended the lecture after some time.
This man, if he is on your side, is the greatest weapon.
But him becoming that, for some reason, I feel that it will never happen.
I do not know the reason for this feeling, it is not intuition, but rather my sense of danger, I think...
"Thank you very much for the lesson…haah, haah."(Rona)
I acknowledge Shiki's ending of the lecture and give my thanks to Raidou, faking my fatigue to make it seem real to him.
While observing him I got this unknown feeling….is this….
I would like to say that it is my sense of battle developed from war maybe?
I know this was not a real battle and he will not kill us, but this was not the problem.
But rather, in the back of my heart and mind, I felt that if I let up even just slightly, I might actually lose my life here.
I do not know if I am mixing the battlefield with this daily life….
I feel that this person is someone whom you should not meet on the battlefield or in daily life.
Yep, let's not.
This is a creepy feeling.
I did not think about it before when I first met him, but now.
Any sign of power, aura or dignity…..etc.
Raidou does not possess, or rather I cannot feel it.
I only feel that the person in front of me is a normal person.
But I just observed how normal this person is.
Yup I should quickly...
Stop thinking about it.
I cannot make a judgement at this stage of the investigation, I do not have enough info.
I am getting impatient due to discovering something truly unexpected.
It was the same when I launched that blow.
Right now, I am Karen Frost.
I will soon be replaced by my men, thus I cannot do anything suspicious or it will blow the cover.
We have other plans that we must develop as well in this city.
I do not want the Hyumans to discover the demons just yet.
I cannot get rid of the advantage that we have right now.
Calm down...
Observe, Analyze, and then report, this what I have to do.
"haah….haaah"(Rona)
"Wow, Good work out there Karen, I am surprised by your ability, you are a great magic user."(Sif)
"Oh…Sif-san…..No, I am not, my attacks could not even touch the teacher…..I have lost all confidence…."(Rona)
As I was faking my fatigue, the Rembrandt's eldest daughter comes up to me and starts talking to me, and afterwards the little one also came.
"No, you were great, much better than me. Whether it was the bow or spear, he blocked them all with ease."(Yuno)
"I just happen to have a little more experience in actual battle than the two of you. I am still a student, thus I still have many things to learn, let us 3, do our best from now on."(Rona)
The Merchant Rembrandt's Daughters.
They have fighting skills and are the daughters of the powerful Merchant Rembrandt.
If they train diligently, then they will become quite the experts, though not on my level.
But there is a certain of lack of tension in this school, thus it is hard to imagine them becoming just that, is what I thought at first, but with the appearance of Raidou, they will change drastically.
Well, leaving that aside, while we 3 were talking, the other students joined us in the conversation and we got to know each other.
This is a fine atmosphere, I quite like it.
I remember my military school days from this interaction, how fun.
[Oh, Karen Frost, I have something to discuss with you, what are you plans for today?](Makoto)
"Umm, I only have this lecture for today."(Rona)
I was called out suddenly.
I try to tell my plans without giving away my surprise as much as possible.
I am prepared for this kind of thing, thus I am ready for this unexpected situation.
If he is inviting me to talk, then this will be good for my investigation.
But for some reason, he was approaching so suddenly and quickly…..
[Good, I have something that is bothering me.](Makoto)
"Oh, what is it Sensei?"(Rona)
[well, since you have time, accompany me for awhile.](Makoto)
"…..yes sensei."(Rona)
******
"umm.. Madam Rona, where are you going, you look slightly pale Ma'am!?"(Alec)
I have finally returned to my hideout from that damn shop Gotetsu.
I close the entrance to my office, with only my lone subordinate inside, and start taking deep breaths.
After taking those breaths, I clenched my teeth and threw everything on my desk to the floor in anger.
My anger did not subside, I kept smashing things and ripping papers for awhile.
My subordinate kept telling me to stop, until he finally got desperate and scared, even saying stop in a weak voice.
Damn it!
Damn it !!!
Raidou and the Kuzunoha Company!
Those people….! Damn it!
"Report!"(Rona)
"Yes, Ma'am."(Alec)
My subordinate is still trembling
But right now, this is more important.
"What is the Kuzunoha Company?"(Rona)
"Yes Ma'am, it is a newly registered company that has its roots in Tsige. Their main product is medicine and they dabble in weapons for adventurers and other miscellaneous goods. Oh yes, also they are Hiring Demi-human employees mainly."(Alec)
"….Is that all?"(Rona)
"No Ma'am, we have also received a new report that they have deep connections with the Leading Merchant in that city- Rembrandt."(Alec)
"I already know all this!"(Rona)
"hiii"(Alec)
"Rembrandt is not just the leading Merchant in that city. There is no ruler in Tsige, do you know why? It is because Patrick Rembrandt has full control of the city and is the true Ruler for that city. He has immense influence that makes him that."(Rona)
"But there was no such report."(Alec)
"Don't just take everything at face value, look deeper into every situation!"(Rona)
"I am Sorry, Ma'am."(Alec)
A rough voice.
No, it is my voice that is rough.
I could not control the emotions that I always concealed when talking to them.
"….Ok, remember to always read the reports and then start to analyze, look for connections, and infer those connections until you arrive at a conclusion, understand? Here is my order, Everyone and anyone will stop what they have to do and are doing, and put full attention in investigating the Kuzunoha company."(Rona)
"What are those people?"(Alec)
"...They knew everything. They knew my name, all inner workings of the demon race, about the Dragon Slayer, all of it."(Rona)
"No, this is not possible!"(Alec)
"I also thought this at first, but my thoughts were quickly put to rest. I talked with them, and it seemed like all the information we have is already in the palm of their hands. I got them to even say the name of the Dragon Slayer, Sofia, as well as the Dragon, Lancer. They also knew our names and several projects we have been doing!"(Rona)
"If so, then this Kuzunoha Company is the intelligence agency for Aion…."(Alec)
"Do not make up conclusions without definite proof! That inference can be done by a small child, you are relying on too little information to confirm that inference. Right now we do not have anything we can use to deduce that it won't be just speculation. Try to infiltrate the Rembrandt company, and use their intelligence agency to get information as well. Leave Rotsgard empty for a while, the plan is already set and in motion, we just have to wait now. Investigate the Kuzunoha company with everything we have."(Rona)
"But is the original purpose you were here for already done?"(Alec)
"Yes, I have managed to do something about that. For the time being, I do have some leeway and we need to fill this leeway with concrete evidence."(Rona)
Raidou.
This will not be the end of it.
I will not make a formal report to his majesty until I have concrete evidence to support it.
Personally, I am still not sure what you are, but I do know that I want to punch you in the face.
But of course, as calmly as possible.
While thinking this, I become involved with the Kuzunoha company, the mysterious company that appeared in front of me.
******
"This is impossible…!"(Alec)
"...."(Rona)
The information we collected on the Kuzunoha Company from both here in Rotsgard, and also from the city Tsige.
It was quite the large amount of reports.
It was my subordinate, Alec, who said impossible. He is the head of operations in this city.
I feel the same way as him when I read those.
But….I am much calmer than last time.
I also expected something like this from the reports.
"The merchandise that the Kuzunoha company sells is coming out of nowhere, the spies have kept tabs on them 24/7, yet they do not know where the goods are coming from. The amount of merchandise they have during the morning, and then the sales report that they turn in do not match. I do not believe they have any hidden warehouses. Spies also sometimes see new people of the company come out from the store. They have kept records of all people that leave and enter the city, and all people that leave and enter the Kuzunoha company. Thus they have no idea where these people are coming from, huh?"(Rona)
My men tremble at me reading the report.
"The spies also lose track of said personnel sometimes as well….."(Rona)
"I am sorry Ma'am."(Alec)
"The spies also heard the strange conversations which the employees held in both stores, they kept talking about that it is cold or warm…..even how to grow crops…I wonder…what it may be."(Rona)
I seem to have arrived at one possible conclusion, but this is quite difficult to say the least.
But this is the only truth left.
"…..They seem to have the conversations on the same days in both cities, or close together in time…."(Rona)
"I did not think of this possibility, but the special connection between Tsige and Rotsgard….."(Rona)
"But Ma'am, that kind of long distance communication is difficult even for us….."(Alec)
"No, for example, you can make contact by sending a continuous transition of letters or something."(Rona)
"But Ma'am, everyone in the store has these conversations, it is not about shops either, they discuss similar private life conversation as well."(Alec)
Since Raidou is able to use summoning magic, there is also the possibility that he can use teleportation magic at a practical and operational level.
I do not believe they use this method to deliver products, because the larger the object the harder it is to teleport.
But if it is something as small as a letter, then it will be possible.
However, this still does not explain the reason behind their conversation topics, why the weather?
I wonder if they are talking about a place in the end of the world.
Or maybe it is their base.
And all of them seem to be able to talk through this and use thought transmission.
Also, none of them ever discuss anything about work. Why?
Are they afraid of spies?
"Are they on alert?"(Rona)
"Ma'am?"(Alec)
Of Course Vigilance.
They are on alert from spies.
It is so obvious.
Why did I hesitate…..!
"Wow….."
I could only say that.
Of course, this is natural.
If we are spying, then it is natural to be vigilant of other spies.
I know this, because we do it as well.
The fact that the Kuzunoha Company is wary of spies tells us….not much, but something.
"They must have a way to spy on others too, but very discreetly."(Rona)
"….Wa"(Alec)
The depth of their knowledge and skill still cannot be grasped.
The movement of their employees cannot be grasped.
The possibility of a third base is still unknown.
The distribution personnel and the attention to meticulous detail from the individuals is known.
….We are done here.
"I am going back immediately. Do not anger the Kuzunoha company, just observe them closely."(Rona)
I have judged that it is time to report to His Majesty.
This is not a good report, but a bad one.
They are a threat.
They are an opponent whom you should never take your eyes off.
I have to report about them.
I have discovered something new in coming to Rotsgard.
This was a valuable piece of information that I am glad to have discovered.
Now just think of this as the harvest, leave this city to report back to the demon lord...