I see. So there's that.


　I read the letter I received from the swordsman and shrugged my shoulders.

　It's a very good idea to have a good idea of what you're going to do, but if you don't have a good idea of what you're going to do, you're not going to be able to do it.

　This is the father who gave up on me. I'm sure he would have rebuffed my suggestion and attacked me without question, no matter how well we took the hostage. Considering that, calling him to the island is a relatively good result.

　However, it is clear that the conditions are favorable to the other side, as there is neither a method nor a description of the conditions for proving competence. If this was the case, it was quite possible that, after all, they had gone to the trouble of going to Onigashima, only to be given an unreasonable demand and told, "We'll still execute the demons here.

　I haven't even mentioned the treatment of the hostage, Cryer. It wasn't something that could be easily replied to by saying, yes, I understand.

　But there was no option in my mind to say no. This is because the date my father had instructed me to do so was the date of my mother's death.

　I was disowned by the Gokens and banished from Onigashima, and to this day I have never set foot on the island. Both disowned and expelled were punished by the head of the family. If I return to the island without having withdrawn that punishment, what awaits me is a more severe punishment.

　This is not someone who will allow you to get special treatment just because it's the anniversary of your mother's death. So, so far, the anniversary of her death had been celebrated in Ishqa.

　That father had clearly opened the door. Regardless of his intentions, there was no other choice but to ride.

　As a matter of course, I considered the possibility of a trap. For example, he could go after the sparrows that remained in Ishka while he was calling me to Onigashima.

　But a trap is something you set for someone to be wary of. It's impossible for my father to be wary of me, even if the heavens and earth were turned upside down.

　Above all, if my father had decided that he couldn't help but take out the sparrows, he would send out the Blue Lined Banner to take out the demon gate, even if he had to temporarily relax his guard. He wouldn't deliberately take a month off to coincide with the anniversary of his mother's death. Hence, this guess is off.

　Another possibility is that, yes, he will lure me to the island and cut me down.

　If they wanted to kill me on Ishka, they would inevitably have to divide their manpower from defending the demon gate. However, if you invite me to Onigashima, you can take me out without reducing the Demon Gate's defenses.

　He has decided that I am too cautious to come out by simply calling for me, so he is attempting to lure me out by gathering things together on the anniversary of my mother's death - yes, that's very likely.

　Now, as for the countermeasure to this, to be honest, I really didn't mind that at all.

　If this guess is correct, my father's aim has shifted from the demon man (sparrow) to me. That was a welcome change for me. The safety of the sparrow is what I need to secure as soon as possible, not me.

　If their goal is me, it's easy to deal with. It's not hard to see why they're so far behind when they've eaten the hydra, and if they're coming at you one-on-one, that's fine too. That's because they've recognized my strength.

　They've given up on me, saying they don't need a weakling, but they've decided they can't match me one-on-one, and they're going to attack me as a group - oh man, I'm smiling just thinking about it. If that happens, you might not be able to stop laughing because it's so much fun. The cause of death, unexpectedly, is death by laughter. This was no laughing matter.

　My throat shook and I enjoyed the afterglow of joy for a while.


"Well, we can't keep laughing at this forever. Well, we have one more month to go, so we'll just have to wait and see about Onigashima. I'm not sure if they are working on rescuing Crya behind the scenes.


　There was no need to panic here either. It's difficult to track down the whereabouts of Cryer since he's placed it in the depths of Titis.

　And there aren't many people who come to Ishqa now without a reason. It's not too difficult to find someone suspicious.

　--The first thing you can do is to get your hands on a new set of shoes.

　If Cryer leaves Ishqa without permission, it means that he has broken his bargain with me. It's the kind of thing you can eat without hesitation. Because as long as we're going out to Onigashima, there's no better way to keep the level up!

　In that sense, it's time to decide on an attitude towards Ilaria. That's another valuable candidate for a supply role.

　And deciding on a relationship with Ilaria also meant deciding what kind of relationship to build with Priest Sela.

　If I were to seriously seduce that priestess, I couldn't touch her daughter (Iria). Of course.

　There is a lot of work to be done. And that's not the only thing that's left to deal with.


We'll have to get a handle on Lord Dragnaut's story in a hurry.


　He mentioned the name of the leading nobleman of the Canary Kingdom and tightened his expression.

　There were two business matters that Lord Drugnot had conveyed to me, and one of them was about the Duke's second daughter, Claudia.

　It was when I slayed Jijinbo in the royal capital when the talk of keeping Claudia in my house came up. It seems like a long time ago now.

　This story was postponed with the outbreak of the Stampede, and then officially put to rest with the appearance of Hydra. As expected, no parent would want to send their beloved daughter to Ishka nowadays. The duke's letter was lined with polite apologies.

　When it comes to this, the duke's concern that he might displease me is useless. I have no intention of getting the duke's family involved in the mess with Onigashima, so the letter from the duke was a shipwreck.

　Besides, now that he ate Hydra and became a 'dragon slayer', there was no longer a need to use the duke family's influence to check the Adventurer's Guild. In that sense, there was no problem with Claudia's case.

　What was problematic was the other errand mentioned in the letter.



　Needless to say, this series of events has been conveyed to King Horus, the capital, and the noble courtiers are said to be pale with the gravity and awkwardness of the situation.

　It is said that the Duke is trying to calm the situation while encouraging such people. And among the many troublesome issues, the most important one for the Duke was to deal with the poison that was contaminating the Titis Forest and the Kale River.

　The spread of the poison was prevented by the fall of the Hydra itself, but the effects of the remaining poison alone were more than enough to bring down the Canary Kingdom.

　In response to this situation, Lord Dragnaut sought a solution outside the country. The Holy Kingdom is located in the southern part of the Canary Kingdom. It is said that in the south of this country, there is a vast sea of rot that is said to be caused by the corpse of the divine Hydra.

　I've heard about this in the past when I heard about the basilisk extermination, but at any rate, Lord Dragnaut thought that the Holy Kingdom knew a way to prevent the expansion of the rotten sea, so he sent an emissary to request cooperation.

　The Pope of the Holy Kingdom - apparently the Pope is the highest authority in the Holy Kingdom - responded to this envoy with open arms.

　According to the Pope, the Holy Kingdom has the means to create a large scale witchcraft.

　Of course, a ward created by a mere human cannot contain the poison of Hydra, the manifestation of incurability and impurity, so what they need is a catalyst.

　What is needed is a catalyst.

　A rhinoceros horn has been prized since ancient times as a tool for detoxification - an animal rhinoceros horn - but an ordinary rhinoceros horn is insufficient as a catalyst. The horn of a legendary beast that increased the efficacy of the horn dozens or even hundreds of times.

　It is the horn of the behemoth, the horn of the beast that increases the efficacy of the rhinoceros horn dozens or hundreds of times.

　The king of beasts (behemoths) was a gigantic monster with a physique as big as a city. Because of its size, the places where it can live are very limited. As far as the Canary Territory is concerned, the only place it could live is in the Catalan Desert, a magical beast habitat that rivals the Titis Forest and Mount Skim.

　Of course, just because something is possible doesn't mean it is definitely inhabited, and even if it was, it would be extremely difficult to defeat it.

　A large number of soldiers, a large number of supplies, and a large amount of transportation. Just getting all of these things together would be a challenge, and yet we were heading into a huge, unexplored desert that hadn't even been measured in total area. The worst thing that could happen is that we could lose all our troops and supplies in a single morning.


''Well we can't do such a big expedition when we're just in a state of turmoil with the Hydra and whatnot.


　I would like to say that such a substitute for the horn of the king of beasts (behemoths) would not be easy to find, but I had an idea.

　There is a girl living in my house right now with a powerful magical medium growing on her forehead. Two of them.

　I don't know if the horns of a demon man can replace the horns of the King of Beasts (Behemoth), but I don't know if they can't and originally, I don't know if anyone will ever think of trying it.

　The human rights of sparrows were granted by the Canary King in due course, and they are under no obligation to respond to unreasonable demands, but given the circumstances, there may be some who will run amok.

　It's a good idea to be careful what you do, but you should also be careful what you look out for," said Lord Dragnaut.


''It would be enough for me to smash the one who runs out of control, but how to tell the person in question...''


　If I tell her, that sweet girl might feel a strange sense of remorse. If I can just put up with it, other people will be saved - there's no reason to think I won't break my own horns thinking that way.

　That's what I want to avoid at all costs. I'd be happy to get on Klaus Solus and go take on the Behemoth, but it's not a good idea to leave Ishqa away for long periods of time under the current circumstances. Even a child could understand that.


If only there were three of us. One for Crya, one for the sparrows, and one for the Behemoth. That should solve everything.


　I scratched my head as I rattled off some rambling nonsense.

　Well, there's no point in complaining. Let's start with what we can do, one at a time.

　First of all, we need to survey the people at home. Especially the ones that are about to be killed by Cryer, we need to find out if they can live under the same roof as her.

　I stretched wide, then gathered momentum and stood up from my chair.

　Then I gave both of my cheeks a pat on the back. Suddenly, I looked out the window and saw a clear, cloudless sky. For some reason, I was a little relieved by that fact.