Okami Wa Nemuranai - Episode 54.1

“Please pardon me.”

The house aide of Wazrof, Fujisur greeted as he came in the room.

Fujisur closed the door once he was in.

He unfolded a large scroll he was carrying on the desk.

It’s a map.

Looks like they’re getting straight to the point.

It’s quite unusual for Manfrey to do that without even preparing tea first, thought Lecan.

“On the 25th of month ten last year, Earl of Daina sent an emergency message to the royal palace. This is, fumu, Lecan. I must ask you to keep the following a secret, we have magic tools known as <Mirrors of Nata>. It comes as a set of two, letters written on one piece will appear on the other. Erasing those letters on either pieces will get those letters erased on both pieces. All major cities in this kingdom house one piece of <Mirrors of Nata> with the other paired pieces installed in the royal palace. They are extremely important objects for military and economic purposes. Those at certain rank and position are aware of their existence, but they are kept confidential to the public. Please bear that in mind.”

“Got it.”

“The content of that urgent message was about how Dungeon City Daina is under attack by enemies coming from the north.”

“Hou.”

“Communication was cut off while we were still lacking information. We received no response when we tried to contact them through <Mirror of Nata>. Prime Minister Office dispatched spies. Those spies never came back.”

Lecan had experience meeting spies working under Prime Minister Office. They sneaked into a building guarded by Capital Knights head-on. Seeing as people with such advanced skill sets got caught, or killed, the other party must be highly capable at detection.

“As the PM Office was making preparations to dispatch another set of spies, reports from smaller townlords of towns neighboring Daina started pouring in. Daina nobles and populace have evacuated and taken shelter in those towns.”

“Fumu.”

“The refugees spoke of an army composed of bizarre people invading Daina.”

“How are they bizarre.”

“They had armors and weapons made from various magic beast materials.”

<TLN: Catch the latest updates and edits at Sousetsuka.com >

“Hou.”

Lecan glanced at Eda. Eda lightly nodded back.

“On the 15th of month one this year, three Daina Knights arrived at the capital. They brought messages from the invaders. To sum up, they are demanding us to give back their treasure.”

“Treasure?”

“Indeed. They called themselves Guido Empire. Guido Empire regards the Great Forest as a sacred site, they have a temple built deep within the Great Forest. 19 years ago, a group of people hailing from Zaka Kingdom raided that temple and robbed the treasure there. They demand us to give that treasure back and apologize.”

Lecan glanced at Eda once again. She nodded even surely than before.

“An envoy of the royal family was dispatched to Daina. This envoy managed to meet face to face with the supreme commander of the invader army. They speak a foreign language, but they have brought along descendants of Zaka People who got lost in Great Forest and began living in Guido Empire as interpreters. The empire apparently has no equivalence to Supreme Commander post in Zaka Kingdom, but the interpreter referred to him as <Thousand-headed Dragon>.”

“Thousand-headed Dragon?”

“In short, this individual holds the highest command in Guido Empire’s army. According to the interpreter, he is the strongest individual with the greatest authority in the army.”

“Hou.”

“This individual called himself the representative of the great Guido Emperor, Boudo the <Thousand-headed Dragon>.”

(Boudo?!)

Lecan was surprised.

However, he didn’t let it show in his face nor his word. It only came up as a strong light in his eyes lit only for an instance.

Manfrey didn’t miss that momentary light.

“What’s wrong?”

“Fumu. I jumped into a <Black Hole> along with another adventurer when I first descended to this world. My partner, Boudo. Guy apparently fell down someplace else. Been trying to reach him but I got no clue where he is.”

“What.”

Manfrey closed his eyes to gather his thoughts before opening them again soon.

“Actually, there were some points that bothered me in the envoy’s report.”

“What’s that.”

“The envoy couldn’t see this Boudo’s face since he was wearing a full-face helmet from his neck up, but his hands did not have beast-like thick fur, nor scales, they looked like human’s hands. Though he seems quite hairy for a human.”

“I must look hairy from this world’s human’s point of view, but Boudo’s even hairier than mine.”

“Mumu. Is there a chance for this Supreme Commander of Guido Empire Army to be the same Boudo as your adventurer partner?”

“No clue.”

“Uumu. Letting a <Descender> hold the post of supreme commander would be unthinkable in our kingdom.”

“Well, either way, not like it’s relevant to this, yeah?”

“It actually does bear some relevancy, but let’s put that aside for now. Anyway, this General Boudo said that retrieving this treasure was their emperor’s decree. Our envoy asked. ‘Do you have proof that those people who robbed the treasure truly belong to Zaka Kingdom’. General Boudo replied. There is a very high chance that it was perpetrated by this kingdom’s people, and even if that wasn’t the case, they were undoubtedly humans, thus Zaka King is obliged to hand over the perpetrators. If they turn out belonging to another country, we are to contact other countries and ask them to look for those bandits.”

“That’s some heavy-handed demand.”