Chapter 72: Area Sonar

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Translator: Soafp

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I shot a Condense Ray into the orc’s nest and evacuated outside the forest, waiting for the orcs to come out.

“It doesn’t seem like they’re coming out. Commander Grano.”

“Yes.”

We were standing behind the knights and the mage corps, watching the forest.

“El, are you okay? If it’s tough, just sit down.”

“I’m fine. Nii-sama.”

It had been about 30 minutes… It was too late for anything.

The one word “failure” came to my mind. No, I confirmed that it hit.

“Shall we send out scouts?”

“We’d like to, but… with the forest burning like this, it’s hard to know what to do…”

“Yes, we might be surrounded by smoke and in danger of death.”

“Aldo-sama, how far can the range sonar reach at maximum?”

“I’ve never done it, but I think about 1000 meter.”

“1000 meter… that might not be enough distance.”

“What are you planning?”

As we were talking, Commander Miroku asked.

Grano and Miroku decided on the future course of action.

“We’ll use magic to extinguish the fire until we reach the effective range of the sonar. Either way, we can’t go back without confirmation.”

“That’s true. It’s not worth moving such a large force if we don’t know the results.”

“Then let’s start extinguishing the fire from the front. Mage Corps, line up!”

The mage corps members took turns extinguishing the forest fire.

After about an hour, they managed to advance to a distance reachable by the area sonar.

“Now, I’ll cast the area sonar.”

With a range of 1000 meters, the magical power was abundant. They managed to investigate the orc’s nest, but there wasn’t even one orc there. Huh? Apart from orcs, there was a slight concern about someone showing up on the sonar.

“There are no orcs at all. It seems like all the survivors have escaped.”

Is this something to be happy about? A failure? It was difficult to decide.

“Well, we’ve crushed the nest, so is it a success? Or is it not good?”

“We haven’t done anything.”

Both the knight commander and the mage commander seemed undecided on the matter.

Apart from that, I had something on my mind, so I talked a little.

“I’m sorry, but there’s something I’m curious about, so can I borrow a horse for about 30 minutes?”

“If you’re going somewhere, I’ll come too.”

A reliable man, Harva, volunteered to accompany me.

“Thank you.”

I moved on horseback with Harva. Since only I knew the location, I took the lead.

After riding for about 15 minutes, the horses seemed visibly exhausted.

“There it is…”

“What’s wrong?”

“I see a merchant-like carriage ahead. If Yuri, the elf, is returning suddenly for some reason, that’s fine. But I can’t believe she would leave Faristea behind.”

“I see… Let’s conduct an inspection as the knight order. There might be a sudden combat. Be on high alert.”

“Got it. Also, try not to kill them if possible. I want to know about their connections.”

“Understood.”

Harva stepped forward and shouted loudly towards the carriage.

“I am Harva, Commander of the Blue Ring Knight Order. Inspecting the cargo. Stop the carriage.”

Despite Harva’s loud voice, the driver on the carriage continued without stopping and spoke.

“I apologize. It’s an urgent cargo. It must be delivered to the Cashew family immediately. If we forcibly stop the carriage, it might cause problems with the Cashew family later.”

“This is Blue Ring! Stop the carriage!”

Harva continued to intimidate with his loud voice.

“Harva, that’s enough. Step aside.”

At my command, Harva stepped away from the carriage. Seeing this, the driver on the platform expressed relief, thinking the situation had been resolved.

However, I activated Wind Magic and cut the part of the reins connecting the horse and the carriage.

“What are you… Do you think you’ll be forgiven for doing something like this?”

The driver shouted, but I ignored him.

“Harva, go for it.”

Following my words, Harva struck the side of the driver’s head with his sheathed short sword… Did he die?

The order “not to kill” probably applied to the sheath part.

I lightly cast the area sonar. Inside the carriage were two people – Yurisys and an unknown man.

I was concerned about Yuri being taken hostage. I used space kick to move onto the carriage’s roof, then cast the area sonar again. Confirming the enemy’s position, I fired two Wind Cutters through the carriage.

A scream echoed from inside the carriage, and a man with no arms came out. To prevent him from bleeding to death, I cast a healing spell and applied a hemostatic.

Although the two men caught my attention, Yuri was my main concern. Upon inspecting the inside of the carriage, I found her tied up, wriggling like a caterpillar. Seeing her struggling, I couldn’t help but burst into laughter…

Her red face and mumbling were even more amusing.

When Yuri was untied by Harva, the first words she said were “I’ll make you cry someday.” It was a good memory.

After that, I questioned Yuri. It seemed they attacked the mansion and kidnapped Yuri.

Hearing about the attack on the mansion, the killing intent from Harva and me reached its limit. Harva’s wife, Lush, and daughter, Ashera, were currently in the mansion. My family – Mom, Dad, Clara – were also there.

The thieves tried to justify themselves, repeatedly saying, “We haven’t killed anyone.” Apparently, if there were casualties in a noble’s mansion, the nobles would act recklessly without considering the consequences. So, for this job, they aimed to minimize killing.

The return journey took almost two hours, causing Miroku to become worried enough to come searching for us. Commander Grano and Commander Miroku were discussing future plans.

“We’ll confirm the nest when the forest fire has subsided.”

“I doubt there’s anyone left alive in this inferno.”

“We need to investigate what kind of high-level creature it was.”

“True. They say that the same high-level species tends to be born in the same place.”

It was news to me. So, is there a chance that another Goblin King is emerging in the Forest of Magic?

Our job here was done. We decided to return to the Blue Ring.

To prevent the fire from spreading, a few mages and knights were left behind.

On the way back, voices like “What did we come here for in the end?” or “Shura is scary” or “Blue Ring is safe” were audible.

“El, thanks to your intuition, we were able to save Yuri. Thank you.”

“I didn’t do anything.”

“You handed over most of your magical power to me; that’s how we managed.”

“It’s just intuition.”

El gave a wry smile in response to my words.

“Well, let’s go back!”

Following the flow of the group, we headed back to Blue Ring.

This time, just like on the way there, El and I were given a horse to share. Considering it, I’m the direct grandson of the lord; it would be strange if I had to walk while the horse is available.

The journey back was uneventful. If I had to mention something, everyone’s energy seemed excessive, and there were a few scoldings from Miroku.

In about an hour, we could see Blue Ring. Even though I knew everything was fine, the worry didn’t subside.

El and I asked Harva to act as an escort and head to the mansion first. Harva also agreed, as he was likely concerned about Ashera and Lush.

With the permission of Miroku and Grano, we hurried back to Blue Ring.

When passing through the gate, I used my position to misuse my authority, telling the gatekeeper from horseback that it was an emergency.

In the city, we couldn’t run the horse. Although my heart was anxious, I walked the horse towards the mansion.

When we reached the mansion, El and I started running. Looking at El, his expression was grim. He must be worried about the same people as me – Marl, Dad, Mom, Clara.

Upon arrival, we shouted in the hall.

“Father! Mother! Clara! Ashera! Marl! Is anyone there?”

To my loud shout, everyone started coming out one by one.

(Ah, everyone is safe… Father, Mother, Clara, Ashera too…)

Finally seeing the well-being of my loved ones, I could breathe a sigh of relief from the bottom of my heart.

After that, the three of us – El, Harva, and I – rushed towards my father’s office.

“I also want to hear your side of the story, but it seems Al can’t wait to hear ours.”

“Yes, if you don’t mind, I’d like to hear…”

“I actually didn’t know about all this until it was over. You can get detailed information from Ashera and Roland”

“Understood.”

“Now, let’s start with what we know at the moment…”

Roland then shared the information. There were five thieves in total, one dead, two captured, and two escaped. Their objective was Faristea, Yuri’s abduction, and Ashera’s heroic actions. I decided to stay silent about Yuri’s involvement; it seemed better not to complicate matters until the story was finished.

“That’s the overall picture of the incident. We couldn’t identify the mastermind among the two who escaped. Yurisys is probably not alive.”

Once Roland finished speaking, I began to share my part.

“After firing the Condense Ray into the orc’s nest, I used the Area Sonar to confirm the orcs. That’s when I detected Yuri’s response.”

“What? Then Yurisys is alive?”

“Yes, she is alive. And by the way, we also captured the two thieves.”

“Ha-Hahaha… What the… Is Al a hero?”

Although Dad praised me, I couldn’t help but self-mock inwardly; what kind of hero messes up like this?

“It’s all just a coincidence. She happened to be caught by the Area Sonar.”

“Even so, everything seems destined…”

Receiving a look from Dad, a mixture of admiration and a hint of fear, I continued to report about the orc extermination. Adding explanations from El and Harva, I went into detail about the mission.

As we were discussing, the entrance became lively.

“It seems like the main force has returned.”

“Yeah, let’s go and see the emotional reunion of Yuri and Faristea.”

Everyone left the room and headed towards the entrance. Yuri and Faristea were hugging each other, shedding tears, and speaking in Elvish. I could barely make out my name in their conversation. Following that, terrifying words like “make cry,” “weakness,” and “make fall in love and abandon” were strung together.

Feeling a shiver from Yuri’s words, Dad took control of the situation.

“This incident, despite not causing harm, is a failure on the part of the Blue Ring family. We deeply apologize for exposing our guests to danger. We will make amends for this responsibility at a later date.”

Although it was an unavoidable situation, when assigning blame, it naturally fell on Blue Ring, the person responsible for security.

“You must be tired today. Please rest and recover.”

Everyone probably had their thoughts, but it was best to return to our rooms and take a well-deserved rest.

Back in the office…

The current members are me, El, Grano, Miroku, Dad, and Roland.

Harva dismissed the knights early and left with Lush and Ashera on their way back.

Though it’s essentially a report from me, they seem to want to confirm the finer details. We went through the same report again.

Miroku and Grano’s reactions to my exploits against the orcs, discovering and defeating the thieves, and even rescuing the hostage made it seem like they wanted to ask, “Where did this hero come from?”

Where did El and Harva disappear to?

After finishing the report for Dad, as we returned to our rooms, I returned half of the magical power to El.

“Isn’t it enough already?”

El responded with a wry smile,

“Yes.”

We parted ways in front of the office. I headed to my room for some rest, while El seemed to be going to Marl’s room.

Marl apparently joined the fight this time. Her injuries seemed to have healed with recovery magic, but there was also emotional care needed. Hopefully, nothing serious happened.

I decided that at this point, it would be better for El alone to go. We said our goodbyes in front of the office, and I went to my room, lying down on the bed.

There would be investigations to conduct, such as the reason for targeting Faristea and the “monster attraction” when returning to Blue Ring – was that also the work of those guys? The name “Cashew” that the thieves mentioned when they tried to stop the carriage was intriguing.

As I lay on the bed contemplating, fatigue seemed to catch up with me, and before I knew it, I had drifted off to sleep.