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Right as the kids fell asleep, Maxwell took the opportunity to explain the situation to the adults. Normally, they would have to be vigilant all night and constantly keep a watchman, but this time, they were forced into sleep by Maxwell… Through magic.

“Heh, suspicious fellows above us?”
“I already retired, so gimme a break already, will you?”
“I finally got a respectable job too…”

Mateus was motivated by his curiosity, while Argus and Bauman were looking depressed instead. That said, Mateus had to stay back now.

If we removed him from the protection team, it would raise concerns.

“Mateus, you’re staying behind, okay? And I’m not gonna forgive you if I see a single injury on Michelle and others.”
“Then, how about I mess with them without an injury…?”
“Ok, I should really kill this guy here.”
“Hold it now, Nicole. And Mateus, you should stop making such remarks.”

With Maxwell’s intervention, Mateus decided to drop his teasing. His life depended on Maxwell’s whims, so he wouldn’t want to actively oppose him.

I also stopped myself on the verge of entering combat mode, and settled down.

“So, our duty is to protect these kids?”
“The Sleep spell I cast on them was set to high effect. They would be sleeping soundlessly until morning, but that also increases the necessity of watch-keeping.”
“So our Nicole here is an exception to that rule?”
“You should be aware of her skill yourself.”
“…You have a point.”

Mateus nodded with a bitter expression. He probably remembered getting wounded by me, followed by a fight with Lyell.

“Is this like a gifted education for the daughter of heroes to be a hero herself?”
“Something like that. Magic theory is important, but so is practical experience. As such, I plan to take Nicole with me for the sake of her future.”
“Can I not come with you as a guard?”
“You? Even though you might stab me from behind?”
“If I did that, I’d be dead though.”

Mateus who was under the Geass spell was forbidden from leaving the capital without permission, as well as injuring any of the Six Heroes. Maxwell was the one who brought him here this time, so he avoided the Geass effect.

“However, if you sacrifice yourself like that, the other two would be free. It would be strange if I was not cautious.”
“I have no intention of dying for someone, you know? Much less for these two…”
“That was pretty cruel of you, boss!”

Argus complained but Mateus didn’t seem to care at all.

Maxwell left a familiar behind just in case, and then, we decided to head for the summit. Kabby would’ve been helpful at times like these… But Maria who was in her final month needed someone who could use magic to be by her side. Leaving it to Cortina alone made me a little anxious so I left Kabby to help her with the nursing.

Before we departed, Maxwell left a teleport point that worked as a mark indoors. It was similar to the teleportation spell that Aste used. As expected of Maxwell, he already made that technique his.

With that, we could return to the desolate hut instantly as there was nothing to prevent teleportation there. It could also serve as an emergency escape point.

After leaving the hut, we flew up into the sky with Flight. The reason why we chose to fly instead of walking was partly due to my fatigue from the daytime.

That said, flying in the sky with no obstructions left the risk of being detected, but we were already behind them by half a day, so we needed to make haste.

To decrease the risk of detection as much as possible, we flew at a high altitude and overlooked the land from there. The mountain at night had no lights, only a dark rocky area stretching on.

We had a fire lit inside the hut, but it wasn’t seen from high above, either. It seems that Cloud did a good job plugging holes in the ceiling.

“Cloud seems to be fit to be a carpenter, doesn’t he?”

I praised his good work. There was only darkness below. This meant that there was no risk of the hut getting attacked by anything from above. However, there was also something strange to it. And Maxwell noticed that fact.

“Wait, Reid. Our bonfire aside, is it not odd that we cannot see the one the other people would have made?”
“Hmm…?

Now that he mentioned it, there was little vegetation beyond us. And there was nothing similar to our hut, either. That meant that those people shouldn’t have had any means of hiding their bonfire from the skies.

And yet, we couldn’t find anything resembling it from above, which made it strange.

“Could there be a hut somewhere that we don’t know of?”
“Or perhaps they used Earth Wall to block the light… Or maybe…”
“…They entered the Colchis’ Nest, huh?”

We cleared out its nest thoroughly. There shouldn’t even be a single scale of it left inside. Dragons had a tendency of collecting shiny things, so it had some treasure gathered there, but we gave it to the United Alliance.

In other words, there was nothing notable there right now.

“There shouldn’t be anything there… But maybe we are wrong.”
“Shall we check it?”

Maxwell was also there during our battle. He could easily blow the entire nest to smithereens as well. But I shook my head at his suggestion.

“No, the enemy might be hostile. Rather, the fact that they are sneaking around in a place like this makes that the more likely option. If we fly into the nest, we could get spotted by them and they might turn hostile on us. I’d rather avoid any danger.”
“That is true. Then I shall send my vision there.”
“Send your vision?”
“It is part of the Perception magic system. Different from a familiar, this allows you to send only your sight to someplace and peer into it. The problem is that I would not be able to see around me while casting it.”
“If you can do it while flying, then please do.”

He really had all kinds of tricks up his sleeve. This is why I was so reliant on him. Responding to my request, he constructed a magic circle and cast the spell.

“Crimson five, Gold six, Jade six—Magi-sight.”

Based on the chant alone, it seemed to be quite a difficult spell. I guess it was somewhere between mid and high grade.

After he finished his chant, a dark sphere emerged nearby him. Soon enough, it left his side, then flew around me, and finally, at my feet and looked up my skirt.

I quickly held my skirt down and smacked him in the back of the head.

“Give it a rest, you degenerate old fool!”
“I was simply joking a little…”
“Give it a rest and get on with the ******* scouting.”
“I feel malice in your words.”
“Just do it already.”

He shrugged and sent the black sphere towards the Evil Dragon’s nest. It blended through the dark of night, making me lose sight of it. It was probably even better suited for searching in this darkness compared to me.

“Hmm?”

After a while, Maxwell murmured. I responded to his sudden voice.

“Did you discover something?”
“There is a man standing in front of Colchis’ nest. It seems that they are inside.”
“What could they possibly want with that place after so long… Is what I think, but it’s as we expected. At any rate, no choice but to check it out.”
“That seems to be the case.”

Maxwell quickly canceled his spell and gained back his vision. And then, we faced the direction of the Land of Fate and commenced our flight.