A few days after the letter arrived.
We're all ready to go and we're about to leave Photoren.

"Okay. I'm off then.

"Have a good day!　Have a good day!" "Have a good day!


I told them I didn't need to see them off, but there were many employees of the Chamber of Commerce gathered at the gate of Photoren, moving in unison to see us off.


I've left you in charge of the Chamber of Commerce while I'm gone, sir.

""Yes!" .

I'm sure you'll be pleased to know that I'm not the only one.
......I don't remember the Kaede Chamber of Commerce being an army.

...... There's something strangely well-organized about these employees.

In order to combat sabotage, we asked some of our employees to develop some combat skills, so we asked people from the guild to give us guidance. ...... When we came back, some of our employees were like that.

"Guild relations?

Mainly a guy named Gun-soo. There weren't many people who were directly instructed, but it seems that those people gave similar instructions to other people.

Mr. Gun-soo ...... sounds familiar.
Yeah. He's a nice guy, but he's a bit of a jerk.
He's a nice guy, but it's no wonder he's like that when he's really teaching. .......
And that tension is contagious, apparently.

Thanks to this, the defense of the Chamber of Commerce has been greatly enhanced. I'm sure you'll be happy to know that I'm not the only one.

...... So we can use them as bait without worry.

It's a good idea to have a good idea of what you're doing.
I prepared a high quality carriage and good horses, and increased the speed by not loading any luggage, but it will still take about five days to arrive.
This is not only for the purpose of my protecting Mercia, but also for the purpose of making it easier for the enemy to get to us.
I have already prepared for the interrogation ...... and welcome party for the attackers.
If we just beat them back, we won't know who is our enemy.

"Yes, sir. The guards should follow us, pretending to be careless so that the attackers can easily come out.

All right.

I'm on it.

This time, Mercia has prepared two guards.
I'm not sure what to do, but I'm going to do it.
Lake and Mathias. They were Decibatoreans, who looked like ordinary villagers you could find in any town.
Their strength is low, but they excel at spotting and fighting against others, making them ideal for this mission.
...... By the way, "low strength" by Desibatore standards means "a little stronger than the main class of other front-line cities.
The two of them, under our direction, began to steer the carriage or lie down on the back of it with sleepy faces.

And so we slowly approached the capital.
The first, second and third days were uneventful, but on the evening of ...... the fourth day, the day before we were scheduled to arrive, things moved.

Do you have a minute?

Before dinner, we were gathered in my room talking.
Lake, who had just returned from a reconnaissance mission, made a gesture to cover his ears.
Seeing this, I activated one of the artifacts that Catherine had made for me before I came, a muffling charm that prevents voices from leaking out.

What's wrong?

The well at the inn has been drugged.

Oh. At last.
I was worried that you might not come to assassinate me since you'd be arriving tomorrow.

"In the meantime, I've thrown a small anchor in the perpetrator's luggage. He seems to be a low-level guy, so we don't want to catch him and alert the authorities.

What do we do now?

Well, ......, why don't we just pretend we don't notice it and eat it?　That's a good idea.

Do you have the antidote?

I don't, but I don't need it. I checked the sleeping potion in the well and found that it is a slow-acting sleeping potion that interferes with a person's magic to induce drowsiness. ...... In short, it has little effect on the strong magic of the Decibatore. The concentration of the drug makes it only mildly drowsy at best.

Why do you need it?

It's a major sleeping pill. I'm not sure if it's a good idea, but it's a good idea. ...... And it's not well known that it's less effective against desibatoreans. There's no such thing as a daredevil trying to drug a desi battler in the first place.

...... So the strategy of letting your guard down with your appearance has worked.

I'm going to go with that then. I'll have recovery magic ready just in case. ...... What about Mercia?

I always wear an anti-poison magic tool, so I'm fine without it.

I'm not sure what to do, but I'm sure it's a good idea.
I'm not sure what to make of it.
I'm sure you'll be happy to hear that. ...... That means the potion they gave you won't work on any of us.

"Okay, let's go get some food. Sleeping pills are slow-acting, so if you go to bed too early, people might get suspicious. After dinner, we'll have a chat and if anyone feels sleepy, we'll start sleeping.

"Got it!

"Understood.

After confirming everyone's replies, I stored the magic tools in the item box and headed for the dining room.
When I appraised the water and food that came out, I found that it did indeed contain the medicine that Lake had mentioned.
The other guests were in a similar situation, so there was no doubt that the medicine had been planted in the well.

We then pretended not to notice the medicine, ate our meals, and returned to our room as planned.


But while we were waiting for the attack, there was one problem.

"Hey. How long does it take for that potion to work?

Two to five hours, depending on the formulation.

It's been almost five hours.

All three of us can't remember how long we've been asleep.
We're running out of things to do to pass the time.
However, we can't leave the room, because we'd be exposed as being in high spirits.

Maybe your medication was too weak. ......

It is possible that the magic of the potion was blown away by the magic of the ...... maple. It's a good idea to pretend to be asleep at this time of night. ...... Wait a minute. Do you hear something?

I listened carefully, and sure enough, I could hear what sounded like something walking.

"Footsteps. Ten of them.

And those footsteps are from a guy who knows some martial arts. I think they're attackers.

"......, hurry up and pretend to be asleep!　If they find out you're awake, they might call off the attack!

If they find out we're awake, they might call off the attack!

I'll pretend to be asleep.　I'll hurry up and pretend to be asleep!

We exchanged this conversation in a panic, then hurriedly lay down on the ground and started pretending to be asleep.
It's like students on a school trip who are afraid of the teacher's patrol.

"Soo, soo ......

And this is where Mercia's lack of acting ability is revealed. "Soo, soo ......," she said.
I thought Mercia was a relatively perfect human being, but I didn't realize she had a weakness in this area.
There are too many things wrong with her, but it's the assassin's fault for giving her a potion that doesn't work or has no effect. At the very least, it should have been written somewhere that the potion would take effect after a certain number of hours.
But fortunately, thanks to my low voice, the assassins didn't seem to notice me.
Suddenly, the door to my room was opened and about ten men with swords came in.

Good. It looks like the medicine is working.

But isn't the way you're sleeping unnatural?

...... Mercia's performance was immediately noticed.
You can see that the intruders' eyes are drawn to Mercia by the reaction of the tentacles.
It's a good idea to have a good idea of what you're looking for.
The result is black. They're all bandits.

Because they were drugged to sleep. It's not like natural sleep, of course. ...... Now the credit goes to me. ......?

I guess I'll start with the easy ones. I kicked away the intruder who tried to attack Mercia.
Two of the guards also moved at the same time, and the intruder (probably the leader, judging from the way he spoke) was blown up by the simultaneous attacks of the three of them.
The intruder (probably the leader from the way he spoke) was blown up by the simultaneous attacks of the three men, but probably because he was careful not to kill them. The intruder quickly got up and gave instructions to the others.

It doesn't matter how strong they are, as long as we surround them!　I'm not sure what to do.　I'll take care of the weak ones on your side by myself!

I'll take on the weak ones on that side by myself!" We looked at each other when we heard that poor instruction.

"Hey, Matthias, they're taking advantage of you.

Lake, too. ...... Well, it's Kaede that's being taken advantage of the most.

Why don't we just capture him?

Will do.



--About ten seconds later.
About ten seconds later, all of the intruders were captured and piled up in a corner of the room.
Now it's interrogation time.
It's time to use Catherine's magic tools.