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“I’m sorry for making you wait. Given the time, I had already retired for the day.”

The one that arrived and sociably spoke to me was a well-fleshed man on top of being as tall as Maxwell.

He had an order on his chest, and the sword on his waist was also well-decorated. I couldn’t see any practical equipment on him, so he might have been a guard leader by name only.

That said, he seemed sociable enough, so we should be able to hold a proper conversation.

“Oh, you need not worry. Everyone here has treated me well, so the time went by fast.”

I took the lead in the conversation. If Maxwell did it, there was a chance that they could figure who he was based on his voice. He has talked to the guards here several times during the Evil Dragon subjugation.

As the guard leader sat in front of me and pulled out the interrogation documents, I started to explain the situation.

“So to sum it up, you came to the Scion mountain range for the Fang Wolves, but then discovered a suspicious group?”
“Indeed. At first, I thought they came to hunt the same prey as us, but they seemed to have too many children with them, and I started to suspect them when they did not descend the mountain even as nighttime came.”
“And when you followed them, you discovered that they were conducting a Devil summoning?”
“That’s right. Moreover, the children seemed to have been enslaved by using a drug. Fortunately, this skilled magician—Err, Aste, managed to protect them.”
“Aste?”

I couldn’t introduce him as Maxwell, so I just borrowed Aste’s name. Hearing that, Maxwell repeated the name in wonder, but I elbowed him in the stomach and made him quiet down.

This might have looked like an elderly abuse, but this old man wouldn’t be hurt by something like this. Despite going on and on about being bad at close combat, his body was quite sturdy.

“Ghh!?”
“Oh, what could be the matter?”
“N-Nothing, I just choked on the tea.”
“Ahh, it is too hot. Please be careful.”

Even as the man chatted with us, his hands didn’t stop recording what he heard in the documents. It was quite amazing that he was managing to stay in the text field without even looking down on it.

Perhaps he had been assigned to the captain post due to his skill with documents. It was quite plain, but it also meant that he had continued making steady results.

“You said the children had been drugged, but do you know what type of drug it was?”
“I daresay it was the Living Doll. They did not react to my words, and they looked and acted like dolls.”
“Living Doll… Another forbidden article.”
“Indeed. As such, I thought it would be bad to leave them be.”

I put a hand to my cheek and leaned my head to the side to look slightly troubled. That made the nearby guards sigh in admiration.

Ha ha ha, quite sexy, aren’t I? You youngsters wouldn’t last a second in the face of my lady mode.

…Saying that made me depressed, though.

“Aste dispelled it with the Antidote spell, so there should be no longer a danger to their lives.”
“I see. It would have been better to leave one to definitely confirm the crime… However, leaving a drugged child would be quite pitiable.”
“Thank you for your understanding.”

Living Doll did not bring danger to one’s life. So, as he said, it might have been better to carry one of them without dispelling the toxin. However, the guard leader didn’t blame us for our careless action, showing his understanding.

“We can get that information out of those men. It appears that they have gone under harsh torture.”

The man had been carried here with his lower half still exposed to the world. In other words, everyone could see his genitals burned due to my Warm failed edition spell. It wasn’t hard to guess what happened after seeing that.

“W-Well, I suppose we should call it youthful indiscretion… That is the face of a foolish man who harassed a young maiden with sexual statements.”
“That means, you did that?”
“Uh… W-Well… Yes.”

After digging my own grave, I dropped my head in shame.

Of course, this was all an act. As if I would feel ashamed of burning his thing this late in the game. Still, I thought a girl of my age would normally have been embarrassed about it, so I acted the part.

As expected, the young guard nearby held his nose and turned away. His face was flushed to the point you’d wonder if he was alright. I could even see blood tickling through the gaps of his fingers holding his nose.

It seemed that the bashful figure of a maiden was too much stimulus for the youngsters.

“Sigh, hey you. I’ll give you half an hour so go cool your head.”
“Huh, That’s… I, e-excuse me!”

He seemed a little reluctant, but the young guard gave a bow and rushed out of the room. It seemed that blood rushed to his head there. Quite a sinful appearance I have.

“Apologies for that. These youngsters aren’t used to seeing beautiful girls.”
“Calling me beautiful… I am honored.”
“This is a frontier, so everyone is familiar with each other inside the town. Seeing a beautiful person like you is too much stimulation for the young knights.”
“Are there so few people in this town?”
“Yes, even after the danger of Colchis has gone, the fact that it lived nearby remains rooted. As expected, people willing to live here would decrease…”
“You could increase the sightseers instead.”
“Sightseeing… That never crossed my mind. I see, taking people to sightseeing tours to Colchis’ nest with the knights might be worth considering.”
“That is quite a bold idea.”

Even I didn’t expect him to suddenly jump to the idea of making the Evil Dragon’s nest a sightseeing area. I just voiced a wild idea, but the people of this town seemed to have quite the tough nerves.

“Oh, right, I still haven’t heard your name.”
“Ah, I am called Haumea. You can find me at—”

I gave him a random inn and name to record in the documents. Naturally, I didn’t really reside in that inn, so it would be impossible to contact me.

It would be a problem if they kept calling me over and over as well. Besides, the important ones here were the men I brought, not me.

Moreover, if my name reached the central figures of this kingdom, someone even more troublesome could come rushing here. It was better to withdraw as quickly as possible.

“I understand the situation now. We will investigate this ourselves. I will contact you for the details at a later day, so I hope you will remain in this town until then.”
“My apologies. My circumstances compel me to hurry, so that would be difficult… Could I give you the Guild registration number of my friend instead? It is someone like my guardian. I wander around all the time, so it would be easier to get into touch with them instead.”
“I see. That reminds me, you did say you came to hunt Fang Wolves. Alright then, I shall send the details to that number. I might need you to come here once more, however.”
“If the circumstances allow it, I will come as fast as I can.”
“That would be great.”

This registration number was not mine but Maxwell’s. From now on, it would be unrelated to Nicole.

Haumea was something like Maxwell’s spy, so it wouldn’t raise any suspicions even if they arrived at Maxwell.

On top of it, it was my plan all along to give them this number.

And with that, we threw the follow-up investigation at the knights and decided to return to the mountains.

Author’s note: Cool your head = Come back after quick enlightenment. (TLN: indirect way to say go rub one out)