This was right after the incident where those three irregularly brave men got upset.......

''I'm........uneasy.''

　I was tormented by a bewildering, vague sense of unease.

　The attempted theft of Mithril, where Pigalo, Zester, and Altamir went on a rampage.
　The three brave men themselves were seized and one of them disappeared in a form of self-destruction.

　That could be seen as the end of that incident.
　But the sense of crisis management I've developed during my time in the Demon King's Army warns me that it's not over yet.

　To begin with, there are too many things we don't know about that incident.
　There are too many things that have not been clarified.

　Who put brainwashing magic on the three heroes?　Who was the Red Cloak that took them away from under the Four Heavenly Kings?
　Where and who found this unheard of power-up method of feeding on the mineral mithril, which is essentially a mineral?

　The heroic Pigaro of The Sword destroyed himself due to the excesses of that method, but on the verge of annihilation, there were signs that he was cleverly forcibly transferred with the pretense of appearing to be 'annihilated'.

　However, on that point, what are you going to do with Pigalo, who has been disintegrated to the point where he is no longer able to help you?　This brings up a new question....

　The bottom line was that there were a lot of things I didn't understand.

''........It's weird!

　It's weird that there are things I don't understand.

　.........No, there are still things in the world that I don't understand most of the time, and I wouldn't feel good if I couldn't figure it all out!　is the domain of paranoia.

　But there are two kinds of mysteries in the world....
　One is an unimportant mystery that will not cause any problems if left alone, and the other is a dangerous one that will come back to bite you.
　The other is a dangerous mystery that will have its teeth in the ground if left unchecked.
　.....

　As for the mysteries that are OK to leave alone, we can leave them to the bored, curious scholars to solve.
　But the ones that are like a fierce tiger lurking in the shadows of grass, you have to take care of them by yourself.
　For my own safety.

　Now it's not just my life that's at stake. There are many lives beside me, including Marika and Gran, who live with me and are responsible for me.
　To keep them out of harm's way....

"Do we need to take the initiative in this matter?

　Before the enemy starts moving.

　So what should we do?
　What can I do to help?

　This is also now the head of the village of Lax, husband of Marika and father of Gran.
　He has a variety of titles and daily tasks to keep up with.
　I can't neglect that one.

A way to smoothly carry out your daily tasks while at the same time finding out the enemy...

　I thought about it and then it hit me.
　It would be more accurate to say that I remembered.

　There was also a situation like this when I belonged to the Demon King's Army and served as an assistant to the Four Heavenly Kings.

　I built a mechanism to investigate the movements of the enemy heroes while taking care of the selfish and difficult Four Heavenly Kings.

If it was still alive...?

　I decided to leave a little hope in my heart.

　A group of clogs leaving the village.
　It was a transport group that delivered the mithril weapons produced in Rax Village to the various major cities.

　Talk to one of them.

'Wherever you are, when you get to the city, can you put this out to the postman?

　I left the letter with him.
　What is written inside is just a normal letter.

　It's a normal letter that tells you how much they miss you because they haven't seen you for a while, or asks about the other person's whereabouts.
　However, to an uninformed third party, the message could only be seen as such.

　A secret code, discussed from the beginning, was designed to reveal a completely different meaning.

　What if the hidden true meaning could be conveyed to the only person who could read it....

◆

　A few months after I sent the letter....

　During that time, there was a lot of commotion about the Zeviantes' new building, and a ruckus about Radie's visit to the temple, but through all of that, the move I made finally came into effect.
　It takes a certain amount of time to achieve results.

　Someone came to visit me.

"If..........

　He is dressed like a traveler, with his head completely covered by a cloak.
　Just to be clear, this is not the red cloak that is rumored to be around.

　I've never seen this guy in person myself, but the one who came right in front of me was a more modest person wearing a very common linen cloak.

'I've heard that a person named John lives here...?
There's no one called Alan. No one named Alan.
''.........huh?''

　As we exchanged such an unintelligible conversation, a silence passed between me and the other person.
　But the silence immediately began to swing and heat up with emotion.

"Master Dariel!

　The traveler knelt in front of me.
　He took the cloak that covered his body. A fearless woman's face appeared from within.

'Long time no see!　...I didn't think I'd ever see you alive again...!
Okay, all right. All right, now can we stop lying down in public?

　This was outdoors in Lax Village.

◆

　The girl who came for me in the village of Lax.
　Her name was Selmet.

　This is still a genuine demon race.
　They belonged to the Demon King's army and were tasked with infiltrating human territory.

　In other words, she was a spy.

　She was one of the dark secret scouts secretly released by the Demon King's army.

''It's really........it's really been a long time......!　I didn't think we would ever see each other again...!
I don't want to talk about that.

　For now, I invite her to the village chief's house and begin the story that is piling up.

　The Demon King's Army's dark secret agent was organized to investigate the movement of the strongest enemy of the demon race, the brave.
　It's impossible to investigate the situation of the different races of humans, the enemy of different territories and races, no matter how you look at it from the demon territory.

　That's why there is an agency dedicated to it.
　That's why the Dark Secret Detective was organized.

　Fortunately, the demon race and the human race are completely indistinguishable from each other from the outside.
　They take advantage of this, forcing demons pretending to be humans to cross the border and live in human territory to collect information.

　This is how they can investigate the trends of the brave and the human race as a whole.
　The woman in front of me right now is one of those dark secret agents, and moreover, she is the woman who is in a position to lead them.
　She is also the one who controls the location of all the dark spies hiding in human territory and plays the most important role in sending the information she obtains to the Demon King's Army.

　When I was in the Demon King's Army, I often worked together with her, and we were very much like comrades in arms.

　This is the first time I've seen Selmeto since I quit the Demon King's Army.

''Oh no, really!　Never again!　I wish I could see you alive in this world...!
'All right, that's all right already...?'

　The joy of seeing her again was unusual.

　As I recall, she was disguised as a peddler, but she traveled around the human territory and communicated with spies around the country.
　Because she was the source of the spies, she didn't have a specific home base, and lived a life at the bottom, far removed from her actual title.

　That would be something that could never be carried out with extraordinary motivation.

　What you get as a result of your work, honor, admiration, respect, pride, and class.
　You don't get all of those things, and you have to go on with the difficulties of the bottom of the barrel, because that's what spies are for.

　Selmeto has been doing this job for nearly a decade and still never retires.
　I couldn't help but admire her strength of mind.

　The reason I called her, such an old acquaintance, was to ask her if she had any information about the mysterious Red Cloak.

　After all, they are the girls who make information gathering their full-time job.
　It's extremely likely that they have caught something unusual.

　But, well, it's not s*xy enough to get right to the point, so let's start with an ordinary topic.

'How are you doing these days?　How's the work of your spies going?
Master Dariel why do you ask such a question?

　Huh?
　Was that a boring topic?

　There's no way she doesn't know that I've been fired from the Demon King's Army. After all, this is a sector that specializes in information.

　How can she provide me, an outsider, with the Demon King's secret information?

'No, I'm sorry, I was relying on you too much for the familiarity of being an ex-companion...?
That is not what I meant!　Our master is still Dariel alone!　I'll get you whatever information you want, Lady Dariel!　But...!

　But?

'We don't have that power now!　Our intelligence agency has been dismantled by the decision of the Demon King's army!