Screech-
The bird that delivered the letter made a strange cry and flew away. Jake’s expression grew serious as he watched it.
“This method is wrong.”
“What is?”
“Records remain that in the past when magic wasn’t widespread, letters were delivered through carrier pigeons, but this was because there was no better method in terms of speed, not because it was safe. What if the bird gets hunted while flying?”
Klad chuckled watching Jake fidget anxiously.
It wasn’t unreasonable for him to worry like that. If this letter fell into the Duke’s hands and Jake’s whereabouts or future plans were leaked, even the opportunity they barely caught would be over.
It was understandable that Jake, who didn’t know much about ‘Neria’, would fret like this.
“That’s not a bird, it’s a monster. It’s stronger than it looks, so it won’t be caught easily.”
“A monster?”
Jake pressed close to the window and observed the bird flying far away. It didn’t look any different from an ordinary bird.
Judging from the sharply scratched marks left on the window the bird knocked on, it seemed to have sharp talons, but that alone wasn’t enough to definitively say it was a monster.
“Having a monster carry letters, that’s absurd.”
“Having a Sandworm guard a village makes sense?”
“Mm.”
Now that he heard it, that didn’t make sense either. If he hadn’t witnessed it with his own two eyes, he wouldn’t have believed it. Making Sandworms or bird monsters do work without even taming the monsters. Was this a unique ability that mages possessed?
He had never heard that mages could command monsters, but perhaps it was a realm only possible after surpassing certain limits, so it wasn’t known to the world. Maybe even the monster tamers who were said to appear once every hundreds or thousands of years were actually mages who reached that realm.
“It’s a monster that’s intelligent and relatively friendly to humans, so it can substitute for carrier pigeons. But be careful because if you try to touch it, you might get attacked.”
“Even if that bird is a monster, there’s still a possibility it could be hunted or the letter lost. If we have to continue communicating with Neria through birds in the future, it would be better to scrap the plan to meet him. If the letter falls into Father’s hands, it’ll become irreversible.”
“You don’t need to worry about that.”
As Klad finished speaking, whoosh, flames rose from his hand. The parchment in his hand was instantly engulfed in fire.
“Klad!”
Jake rushed over in shock. And forgetting Klad’s warning not to do things that would set his body on fire, he covered the parchment with his bare hand.
‘…Why isn’t it hot?’
Jake, who had tried to put out the fire with his bare hand, removed his hand with a bewildered expression.
The parchment didn’t burn in the fire.
Instead, blue letters were being inscribed on the empty parchment. As if the flames Klad produced were writing on it.
“A letter that can only be read through a special method, how excellent. Klad, if you hadn’t been with me, I would never have been able to read this person’s letter.”
If Klad hadn’t been there, Neria wouldn’t have sent a letter in this manner, but Jake, who didn’t know that fact, was noticeably disappointed.
Klad glanced at Jake like that and tossed out his words.
“It’s not that you can’t read this, it’s that only I can read it. Since I was the one who visited the Information Guild, it seems she sent it tailored to me, but if it had been you who went, she would have sent the letter tailored to you.”
“I see. Now that I hear it, I understand. I lack understanding of magic, so I thought the method of producing fire to solve the letter’s secret wasn’t just for you, Klad, but something that applied to all mages. I almost misunderstood.”
Klad confirmed that Jake’s expression brightened and held out the parchment. On it was briefly written the method to meet Neria.
“As expected, she seems to be in Audrit.”
“It says to order ‘roasted turkey with potatoes’ at a restaurant called ‘Forest of Abundance’ in the city of Audrit.”
It was a method that used a menu not available at the restaurant as a code. It was a very good method for secretly meeting someone you didn’t know well, since one could sit in the restaurant in advance and decide whether to reveal themselves or not after seeing who ordered the menu.
Though it was a method that was popular hundreds of years ago when the world had fewer alternative means of contact now.
“Do you have enough travel scrolls to go to Audrit, Klad?”
“It’s better not to use magic scrolls or magic with high mana consumption for a while.”
“Why?”
“The Emperor saw me use magic. By now, it should have reached the Duke’s ears too.”
“Father must have already guessed that you’re a mage.”
“That’s right. But there’s a big difference between the enemy being ‘an ordinary mage’ and ‘a mage who can teleport in urgent situations without any casting whatsoever.'”
“You mean Father will also prepare accordingly now that he knows the opponent is skilled?”
“That’s right. Even I can’t completely hide the mana fluctuations that occur when using magic.”
So he means he can hide them to some extent even if not completely. Jake was once again impressed by that ability.
“If we use magic that would leave traces, it’s easy to be pursued. Until we get a certain distance away from the capital, it’s better not to use travel magic or combat magic.”
“If Father learns our destination when we know nothing about their information, that would be a big problem. I understand.”
Jake’s expression became serious. It wasn’t simply because he anticipated the journey ahead would become difficult.
“The problem is that Audrit is too far. If Father moves while we’re traveling there and back, it might become difficult to resolve the situation. If we head there only to fail to obtain proper information, there would be no greater loss than that.”
However, in the current situation, if they didn’t go find that person, the only remaining option was to sit and wait blankly until something happened.
Or else, they’d have to sneak into the ducal castle prepared to be in danger.
He was troubled. Should they request help from Neria? Or should they charge into the ducal castle even if reckless?
‘The probability of obtaining information is higher by visiting the ducal castle. However….’
The possibility of Klad falling into danger would also increase.
‘I’m not alone anymore.’
Now there were times when he needed to make choices that looked after his party, not just choices for his beliefs alone.
“Let’s go to Audrit after all.”
Jake made his decision while clenching both fists tightly.
“Right now it might feel like we’re falling behind, but if we find not just information but also the Hero’s Sword there, we can get ahead. Even if we don’t obtain proper information, we can recruit the person called Neria into our party. If we gain an excellent companion instead of information, wouldn’t that not be a loss?”
Jake refuted each of his previous statements himself and listed reasons why they should go to Audrit. Speaking them aloud like this made the current choice feel like the best one.
“There’s no time to delay. Let’s prepare quickly, Klad.”
“Alright.”
While Klad went to obtain supplies needed for the journey, Jake brought a map, spread it out, and reviewed the route to Audrit.
The existing option of ‘choosing places without temples to pass through’ had become meaningless since Jake was stripped of his Hero qualification. Now that he knew he couldn’t receive the Lord God’s help even if he stopped at temples and that the Grand Temple was on the Duke’s side, the Duke could also imagine that Jake would choose cities without temples.
Then what would be the best way to catch the Duke off guard and move?
There were too many possibilities, making it difficult to decide.
‘In the current situation, there seems to be no way to move while avoiding Father’s surveillance.’
It was regrettable, but rather, this was good. Since it had come to this, instead of circling around to avoid the Duke’s eyes, it was better to move in the shortest route without leaving as many traces as possible.
Could there be a better way to catch him off guard than recruiting Neria as quickly as possible, gathering information, and interfering with the Duke’s plans?
Having made his decision, Jake marked their future journey on the map.
Klad finished travel preparations more thoroughly than before and brought new horses. Not the pure white horse a Hero would ride, but ordinary brown horses commonly seen anywhere.
Wearing comfortable and sturdy commoners’ clothes and mounting the brown horse, they had completely become travelers.
“Wouldn’t it look suspicious to carry a sword while pretending to be travelers?”
“Just because you’re a traveler doesn’t mean you won’t encounter bandits or monsters. They also carry self-defense weapons, so it’s not strange to carry a sword.”
“That’s fortunate. I’ve become quite fond of this sword.”
Fortunately, magic that temporarily enhanced physical abilities left almost no traces, so there was no problem using it. After casting magic on Jake, Klad mounted the black horse he’d obtained together instead of riding the same horse.
It would be more efficient in many ways to move by riding the horse Klad drove together, but that option was rejected because traveling together on one horse when it wasn’t even a trip around the neighborhood would look suspicious. Those who traveled long distances that way were surely either fleeing or had strong obsessions with each other.
“Let’s go.”
The horses carrying the two travelers left the city and headed in the direction opposite the capital.
Toward where Audrit was.
