Chapter 369 – Letter from the Eastern Country

“This is for you, Ambassador.”

Just as we emerged from the labyrinth entrance after exploring the Blazing Fortress, the soldiers near the stone monument straightened their posture and saluted.

“Thank you for your hard work.”

When I returned their greeting with a bow, the soldiers responded with friendly smiles.

“The number of soldiers has visibly increased, hasn’t it? Father must be raising his level of alertness.”

Rosemary murmured this while climbing the spiral staircase leading to the temple, glancing back slightly.

“That’s right. Not just here, but we see them frequently throughout the city as well.”

“It must be because the day the Sealed Door opens is approaching.”

Ashley responded to Grace’s words.

“According to Theodore’s assessment… the demons were planning to concentrate their forces not on the door, but on breaking the Orb’s seal, wasn’t it?”

When Claudia asked thoughtfully, I nodded.

“Yeah. It seems the demons’ movements are changing according to the situation. Since we repelled Alvelinde’s attempted sabotage, we should assume they’ve detected that as well. If that’s the case… the enemy will probably become even more cautious.”

“How troublesome. Will they go into hiding, or refrain from making another move?”

“Well… King Melvin and I predicted they might try to operate from the shadows. But we’re also considering the possibility that they might attack when the Orbs are gathered and try to take them all by force.”

“So the increased soldiers are also guarding against that possibility.”

“I think so.”

I nodded at Sheila’s words.

Both King Melvin and I believe the main attack will come precisely when the Orb’s seal weakens—but that doesn’t mean we can dismiss other possibilities. So maintaining thorough security and training for the coming days remains unchanged.

“Them conserving their forces isn’t exactly good news for us… but it does have its advantages for us as well.”

Rosemary said while lightly opening and closing her feather fan.

“Because they’re concentrating their forces here, they have less capacity for operations elsewhere—is that it?”

“Yes. It means they’re less likely to interfere in other places. Even if Zadias has fallen and they’ve lost their foothold in Silvatoria… the demons would probably prefer not to cause disturbances over that matter right now.”

“That’s true. Conversely, we can understand their movements by observing the demons’ next moves.If they resort to tough measures early on, we can infer they have no time to spare for some reason. Since they’re a group of demons disconnected from our society, gathering information is difficult—but we should still be able to gain some from their past and future movements.

In any case, while considering such analyses, we’ll continue visiting the Blazing Fortress and conducting explorations that double as training to familiarize ourselves with that place. Even if this turns out to be a wasted effort, we’ll still be fighting monsters in the labyrinth, so it won’t be completely useless.

Parallel to this, we’re proceeding with training for the Sonic Cannon deployment and operation on the Sirius, developing counter-techniques against the Miasma Techniques used by Zadias and his group, and creating Magic Tools to enhance combat power by equipping Wyverns and Dragon Knights… but for now, let’s head to the Adventurer Guild counter to exchange the materials we collected at the Blazing Fortress.

“Hello, Heather-san.”

“Ah, hello, Theodore-san.”

I greeted the receptionist Heather and handed over the materials. While waiting for the exchange, Heather spoke to me in a slightly lowered tone.

“I have a message from the Guild Master. She said to send you to the back when you emerge from the labyrinth.”

“Understood.”

From Auria, then. It must be about what she asked me to investigate earlier.

“I’ll go have a word with the Guild Master.”

“Yes. Take care.”

After informing everyone, I headed to the back of the Adventurer Guild—to the office where Auria was waiting.

“Oh, Theodore. You came.”

“Yes. Hello.”

After exchanging greetings, I sat opposite her as prompted. The drink served wasn’t tea, but some kind of carbonated beverage.

“Ah. Is this something you purchased as a Magic Tool?”

“Indeed. I brought it as a personal item, but the Guild staff have taken quite a liking to it.”

Auria laughed.

“Well then. Let’s leave small talk at that and move to the investigation you requested.”

“Again… that was fast.”

“I sent letters via Dragon Palanquin to the eastern and southern Adventurer Guild branches. I had various contacts cooperate, you see. The sooner we get information, the better.”

Saying this, Auria opened a locked drawer and handed me documents… I’m grateful for this. I bowed to Auria.

“Thank you very much. I’ll take a look.”

“Indeed. I’ll fetch a map while you do that.”

I flipped through the stack of papers and read the contents. It summarized statistical trends, such as the number of vampire incidents occurring in the east. Starting from a certain year, the numbers increased once before visibly decreasing.

Auria returned with the map and said to me.

“You see there are numbers that increased once before decreasing? We interpret this as the visible numbers increasing as a result of confusion among the vampires and loss of control.”

“So the incident involving that noble family during the vampire disturbance was the trigger?”

“That’s right. Because of that, the vampire leader moved their base, and organized actions became impossible, causing lower-level vampire incidents to surface.”

“And the surfaced incidents were resolved… causing the number of vampire incidents to drop sharply.”

I think Auria’s assessment is probably correct. Considering that even before the incident, the occurrence rate was relatively high compared to other regions, they must have been successfully concealing things to some extent before the incident.

I turned the page. Data tracking how many vampire incidents occurred in surrounding areas after the incident. Comparing it with the map, place names, and occurrence numbers at various locations… you can see how the vampires fled radially. This was likely due to confusion from the changing situation. But after a brief interval—over time, you can see them moving toward the southwest.

“Circumventing Verdgar and heading southwest—something like that?”

“They probably avoided Verdgar because of its good public order. The south had a period of chaos due to a certain king’s oppressive rule, making it ideal for vampires to hide. There are still areas in confusion even after succession changes due to conflicts with the Duoveris Cult.”

“And similarly, they joined forces with the Duoveris Cult operating in the shadows—”

“That possibility exists.”

I flipped through more papers. An unopened letter appeared…

“You can open it. That’s also something you asked me to look into.”

The contents there were somewhat different from the previous papers with dates, occurrence numbers, and place names. It concerned the eastern country’s—the noble family where the vampire disturbance occurred.

“I don’t mean to pry… but is this about Grace-dono, after all?”

“Yes.”

I nodded in response to Auria’s words. Auria probably suspected some connection between me and vampires, but I’m grateful she created this situation of meeting privately one-on-one.

“I see. That’s why I haven’t looked at that report about the noble family yet. Since I’ve guessed and realized it, I feel it’s not my place to intrude further.”

“That’s… thank you. For my part, until now I didn’t have much foundation myself, and some years had passed… but recently, opportunities to approach the east have arisen, and demon clues have appeared in the south with vampires involved, so I can no longer remain completely unrelated.”

I paused, took a breath, and then continued.

“If there are old connections involved, I want to understand the circumstances to avoid unexpected situations. If it’s something related to her, I want to handle it as she wishes, and I want to be of help to her too.”

“I see… It’s reassuring that you’ve decided so clearly.”

Auria smiled at my words.

“These materials…”

“You can take them with you. Since it involves demons, it falls under the Otherworld Ambassador’s discretion, and King Melvin has requested we provide maximum cooperation.”

“Thank you. I’ll make good use of them.”

Saying this, I stood up. Auria was looking at me, so I returned her smile.

“Then when I return, I’ll first try talking with Grace.”

“Indeed. That would be best. Proper discussion now can prevent bigger problems later.”

Bid farewell by Auria’s gentle smile, I left the Guild.

“Grace. I’d like to talk with you for a bit, if that’s alright? There are some things I want to confirm.”

When I spoke to Grace like this after returning home, she nodded quietly.

“Yes.”

Consulting everyone about everything might be desirable—but first, as a matter of principle, I should convey the contents to Grace alone. The decision about whether to discuss it with everyone should also be Grace’s alone.

Everyone seemed to understand this point, and when they sensed from the atmosphere that it was a serious matter, they nodded. Yeah. Everyone’s been through various things too.

Well then, first let me create an environment where we can talk alone.

I moved to the Japanese-style room with Grace. Everyone would wait in the living room.

“This talk is—about what we discussed at your mother’s house before.”

“It’s about me, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. Just to be safe, I asked the Guild to investigate vampire disturbance statistics… From the numbers, we speculate the vampire leader from the eastern country moved south.”

“—South. The Duoveris Cult?”

Grace’s eyes widened slightly, but she seemed to understand why I was bringing this up. If the Duoveris Cult and vampires have joined forces, when we head south, Grace might encounter someone connected to her past. Grace would probably accompany me wherever I go. So she needs to know. She should know, but—.

“Yeah. I want to avoid unexpected situations… but that’s not the main reason. Maybe I’m just being unnecessarily nosy. So, Grace, if you don’t want this, we can stop this conversation here.”

But even so. When Grace told me about her mother before, she looked nostalgic… with a gentle expression.

And Grace’s father too. He probably tried to protect his wife and child. Grace knows that too.

So I… wanted to create an opportunity for her to choose whether to learn about them. It’s hard to put into words. Or perhaps… I just want to give something back to Grace, who has supported me.

But at my words, Grace shook her head. And said.

“That’s not the case. It’s—about my parents, isn’t it?”

“Yeah.”

“I… The place I want to be is always by Theo’s side. So, to learn about that… I’ve deliberately avoided knowing, fearing it might cause trouble due to my origins. But if Theo has investigated it for me, there’s no reason not to hear it. I’m happy.”

Saying this, Grace placed a hand on her chest and smiled.

Looking into Grace’s eyes, I nodded and handed her the letter I received from Auria. I’d already confirmed whether the contents were appropriate to show.

“Flamsteed…”

The Flamsteed Count family. That was the name of the noble family where the vampire incident occurred. And the name of the Count family whose head and family went missing. This alone isn’t conclusive evidence… but it contained the names of those involved and the family crest. The names of the missing head and his wife.

Grace traced the letter with her fingertips, then closed her eyes and hugged it to her chest.

“Yes… I know this name, and this family crest. Long ago—I’ve seen them…”

Saying this, Grace hugged me.

I also gently hugged Grace back and stroked her hair. It felt smooth, as if slipping through my fingers.

“…Thank you, Theo.”

Eventually we separated, neither sure who initiated it, and then Grace nodded.

“Let’s tell everyone.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. I think it’s something we must do.”

“Understood.”

I also nodded, looking into Grace’s eyes. It’s information to protect everyone too, and she probably doesn’t want to keep secrets. Yeah. I understand.