Chapter 32 – Rescue

According to Sheila’s information, shortly after Snake Bite was captured, the Adventurer Guild conducted an investigation of a building near the harbor, but unfortunately, that ended up being a dead end.

Because communication with Snake Bite was cut off, I suppose. Fearing that information would leak during the Magical Inquisition, the culprits at the base must have fled.

However, Sheila apparently has information about other suspicious bases where servants of Count Cardiff’s household have been seen coming and going, in addition to the places Snake Bite frequented.

In that case, before going to the Adventurer Guild, I should first scout those locations. Even if I’m going to cooperate with the Adventurer Guild from my side, we won’t get anywhere without sharing a certain amount of information first.

Guided by Sheila, we arrived at a building surrounded by high walls in the South District. We observed the situation from a street some distance away.

“That building?”

“Yes. But there are lookouts at the entrance, making it difficult to infiltrate.”

“If we monitor those lookouts… wouldn’t we be able to obtain evidence connecting them to Count Cardiff’s household?”

“As far as I’ve been monitoring, those lookouts live inside that building, and there’s no shift change. No servants from Count Cardiff’s household have appeared since then either. It doesn’t seem like they’re bringing in living supplies either…”

I see… Just like with the Black Transference Stone matter, there must be someone on the enemy’s side who possesses Summoning Magic or similar techniques and knowledge. And they seem to be quite skilled at that. Considering that the Adventurer Guild hadn’t been aware of the Black Transference Stone’s existence until now.

Even if they fled from the harbor base, by making full use of teleportation magic, they could move through the city without being seen, and they could handle supply deliveries and personnel changes inside the building.

I don’t think they’re usually that thorough… but their alert level must have increased significantly since Snake Bite was captured.

“Well, I understand.”

Caduceus, who had separated from my shadow, slipped through the alley and climbed over the wall… entering the premises. I kept my vision linked. It consumes a bit of magical power to maintain sensory synchronization, but it’s necessary.

“Just now…?”

“Did something happen?”

“…No”

Sheila made a suspicious face.

…She’s quite perceptive. It seems she sensed something when I moved Caduceus.

Since I don’t know if I can trust her or not, I want to keep my cards hidden, so I’ll keep Caduceus’s existence to myself for now.

Anyway, I’ll have him continue with the infiltration investigation of that building.

Let’s go talk to the Adventurer Guild. If necessary, we could also ask Rosetta to use her connections to get Prince Albert involved.

When we left, Sheila looked back several times. She seems quite reluctant to leave.

Well, I get it. Her friend might be captured in that building.

Since they already had one failed investigation, even if I talk to the Adventurer Guild now, I don’t know if they can act immediately, and if teleportation magic is used, there’s a possibility they could escape again.

Given that there’s a Magical Inquisition, they probably took precautions like not giving information directly connecting to their superiors to the perpetrators, or maintaining multiple bases, so I can’t say for sure that there’s no next base.

“What happened with the Snake Bite matter?”

I headed to the Adventurer Guild and asked this after a brief greeting to Heather, the receptionist. Sheila said she wouldn’t accompany me and would wait instead.

“…Shouldn’t you stay out of such matters?”

“Well, I appreciate your concern, thank you.”

She probably doesn’t want to talk about people who hunt fellow adventurers to a child adventurer.

“I obtained information about a building where Snake Bite’s associates were seen coming and going. It would be ungrateful of me to keep silent.”

“…Is that true?”

“Yes”

I’ll keep the matter about Count Cardiff to myself for now. It wouldn’t be surprising if it’s known that I’m having trouble with Count Cardiff’s household, and I’d be in trouble if they thought I had ulterior motives for bringing it up.

“Understood. This isn’t the appropriate place to discuss this, so let’s talk in the back room.”

I glanced at Sheila, who was pretending to look at the request notices while watching us, then headed to the back room of the Guild.

“I’ll call someone higher up than me, so please tell your story to them.”

“Understood”

While waiting for Heather’s superior, I sat in a chair and focused on linking with and directing Caduceus.

If they’ll escape when detected, then there are other methods and countermeasures.

After concentrating my consciousness on the “other side” for a while, there was a knock on the door and Heather entered with an elderly man with white hair and a white beard.

“Lord Oswald, this is Theodore Gartner. Theodore-kun, this is Vice-Commander Oswald Coppard.”

Oswald Coppard. Another big shot has appeared.

He was one of the NPCs who appeared in BFO, and he’s famous enough to appear in books in reality. He’s the Vice-Commander of the Termwills Adventurer Guild, and during his active days, he was called by the epithet Sword Saint.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Theodore Gartner.”

“Hmm. I’m Oswald. Well, make yourself comfortable.”

I sat facing Oswald.

Heather seemed quite nervous though.

“I heard you have information about the Snake Bite matter.”

“Yes. I was thinking I shouldn’t get too involved in that matter, but since the investigation based on information obtained from Snake Bite ended up being a dead end. But before I share the information, there’s something I want to ask.”

“What is it?”

“Are there people purchasing Red Transference Stones? Have you investigated that angle?”

The Black Transference Stone is probably a processed product made from the Red Transference Stone, and if they’re planning to use it for profitable kidnapping to gain benefits, they would need to collect Red Transference Stones. Meaning, there should be people purchasing them from the Adventurer Guild.

Sensing what I wanted to say, Oswald closed his eyes and nodded.

“We have. There seemed to be someone who commissioned multiple adventurer groups to purchase Red Transference Stones… but after the investigation into Snake Bite ended in failure, they’ve disappeared, probably having become cautious.”

…I see. As expected, Count Cardiff’s household wouldn’t make purchases directly, huh? The person giving instructions probably knows the situation to some extent. They might be directly connected to Count Cardiff’s household.

“Then, the information from me. The building’s location is in the South District—”

I conveyed the building’s location. Oswald raised the corner of his mouth and asked.

“I have a question for you too. How did you obtain that information, and from whom?”

Well, I haven’t explained the process. There’s no way for him to judge.

“I can’t answer that.”

“Oh? Why not?”

“To protect the informant. Please infer their identity from that. They’re a friend of the victim in this case.”

“…The Thieves Guild?”

“I can’t say. But since there was an agreement with the Adventurer Guild, I didn’t give information to them, and instead brought the information I obtained from them here. Given that, not revealing their identity is the same as keeping the promise of secrecy with the Guild, which I believe is a line I should maintain.”

My role is just to act as a bridge.

“…Quite eloquent, aren’t you? Don’t you think I might suspect you and subject you to Magical Inquisition?”

“I don’t particularly mind, but I think you won’t have the time for that?”

Anyway, the source of the information will come out soon, or it will become unimportant and get swept under the rug.

“What do you mean?”

“From my perspective, I believe that discovering and rescuing the currently imprisoned people should take priority over procedures like verification. Evidence collection can be done thoroughly after forcibly bringing the case to light.”

I placed my hand over my left eye and checked the situation on Caduceus’s side.

Over there, Caduceus was currently slipping through keyholes, unlocking cells, and helping the imprisoned victims escape.

The jailer, having noticed the abnormality, reached for the sword at his waist, but Caduceus, having hardened, pierced his limbs just enough to not kill him or let him escape, leaving him rolling on the ground.

There aren’t that many personnel in the facility. Let’s inflict appropriate pain and smash them. They’ll become witnesses too.

In other words. If I let Caduceus run wild inside that facility, destroy the equipment, and let the imprisoned victims escape.

Evidence destruction or escape. All such clever tricks become completely impossible. The moment Sheila told me the location and the infiltrating Caduceus found the victims, I considered it our victory.

After that, evidence or testimony connecting to Cardiff will probably emerge from the remaining evidence or perpetrators. If that happens, Maurice won’t be in any position to bother with me or Ashley.

“Upon investigating that facility, I’ve already discovered the victims. I’m currently having my Familiar run wild to help the victims escape. We’ll need to arrange personnel who can解除 Subjugation Magic.”

The moment he heard my words, Oswald stood up and told Heather.

“Send skilled people to that location immediately. Hold off on storming in for now. But if they detect obvious abnormalities, that’s a different matter. Support the rescue. For解除ing Subjugation Magic, it’s the monks of the Moon Temple. Hurry with the arrangements.”

“Y-yes, sir!”

Heather rushed out of the room.

Oswald smiled and plopped back down into his chair.

“You do quite interesting things. If the victims hadn’t been found, you weren’t planning to mention the Familiar, were you?”

“Well… that’s right. To add, if it weren’t for you, Lord Oswald, I might have refrained from mentioning the Familiar and just helped the victims escape. I’ve heard stories about your younger days too.”

Oswald is a self-made man, more reckless in his youth than I am in this case, known for his bold and open-hearted character.

At my answer, Oswald shook his shoulders and laughed.