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That day, a visitor came to Lyell’s residence early in the morning. It was a white haired and bearded tall old man. In other words, Maxwell. Maria was delighted that an old friend came to visit and invited him to the living room, offering tea.

Fina was still sleeping, so she couldn’t stay behind and went away.

“Lyell, apologies for visiting so early.”
“Don’t worry about it. But it’s strange for you to show up so early.”
“Even I wake up early in the morning, okay?”
“I know that much. So, why did you come? I was thinking of investigating the forest in the north today…”

He had been attacked by a Needle Beetle in that forest the other day. It was a monster that tended to act in groups, so there was a possibility that they had invaded the forest. To investigate that, he planned to gather young Adventurers of the village and set out.

Hearing that, Maxwell slapped his knee as if to say that was exactly his reason.

“That is it. I received such information from the Guild last night.”
“Oh, did my message from yesterday reach you?”
“Yes. So I went and had my subordinate investigate it during the night.”
“Subordinate… You mean the woman named Haumea?”
“Yes. Well, that is also her alias.”

Lyell did not know that Reid had reincarnated as Nicole. Instead he had been made aware of the made-up personna called Haumea. Maxwell did not believe that he could be deceived forever, but while they were pursuing this personna, their attention would be away from Nicole.

“Her spying and combat abilities are the very best. So you can leave that part to us.”
“I see. Well she is Reid inside, after all. Needle Beetles would hardly be his opponents.”

Perhaps this could be called glorification of the past. Maxwell was at a loss for words that Reid’s esteem had been rising among the rest of his comrades. But that was not the problem now. Reid had in fact already taken care of the Needle Beetles in the forest. And he had also finished investigating it, so Lyell could hardly find out anything else even if he went there.

And above all, Maxwell felt a sense of danger that a Devil species had come so close to the village.

“A-At any rate, I have already received the report back. She discovered the Needle Beetles and already subjugated them. But she could not find anything strange around.”
“Anything? That makes it all the more strange, doesn’t it?”
“Yes, it does. As such, I dropped by right away in the morning.”

Maxwell could use the teleportation spells, so he could literally drop by anytime. Moreover, he had far more magic and output power compared to Nicole, so he did not feel much of a burden even making a round trip to Raum.

“Since they are Devils, there should be a summoning circle or the summoner around. But there wasn’t.”
“Yes. In other words, there is a big possibility that the summoner had commanded them from somewhere far away to head to this forest, or maybe this village that is ahead of it.”
“The question would be for what reason, huh?”
“Indeed. Needle Beetles are group monsters. But they would be no enemies for you. If they knew that and still sent them…”

They were enemies that Reid… or rather, Nicole, had defeated without a single injury. As such, they would pose even less threat to Lyell who had regained his strength from the golden days.

Those who deified the Six Heroes understood that fact even better.

“So they would make me work on the Needle Beetles and do something in the meantime?”
“That seems like the biggest possibility. Still it is only a possibility.”
“Then I can’t go acting without a proper thought.”

The investigation squad was already made. They were just waiting for Lyell’s words to set out to the forest.

But now that he heard Maxwell’s prediction, he could not leave the village so carelessly. They could leave the protection to Maria but there was a chance that she could not handle everything, as she was dedicated to defense and support.

“As I am here, it would take an instant to return to the village. But if we leave the village, there would be problems with communication.”
“Yeah, we won’t be able to act on it immediately if something happens here. Let’s put the departure on hold for now and stand by.”

Listening to Maxwell’s advice, Lyell decided as such. He conveyed it to the person who came to get him, and they suspended the expedition. With this, the expeditionary force entered the waiting stage.

Following that, the two spent time discussing their personal matters. When Maxwell saw Fina who had just woken up, he broke into a broad smile and held her up. He looked just like an old man doting on his great-grandchild.

“I wonder if this is how I would feel if I had grandchildren.”
“You don’t even have a daughter.”
“Oh my, are you still going strong, Maxwell?”
“Hmm, what do you say I adopt Fina as my adopted daughter? Nicole too.”
“Rejected. I will not feel at peace unless it’s someone stronger than me, for both Fina and Nicole.”
“That itself sounds like a cruel harassment towards them. Would they not end up single for their entire lives?”

There were probably only a few individuals in the entire world who could win against Lyell. It was like he was sentencing them to a life without a partner. Maxwell complained in exasperation, but their conversation was interrupted by a messenger that had suddenly rushed in.

“I-It’s trouble!”
“What’s wrong, explain it?”
“Tau village to the west… Is under attack from monsters!”
“What!?”

Lyell was thinking that if there would be an attack, it would be on this village. So he could not hide his shock when he heard it happened to another village. In the meantime, Maxwell pondered about something while brushing his beard.

“I see… So they planned to separate you from this village, and then attack another village at the same time. The report would be delayed in reaching you, so rescuing them would get delayed even further. They were quite thorough with this, eh?”
“This is no time to be impressed by it. Let’s go rescue them at once!”
“Even if you tell me that, I have never been to Tau. I cannot use Teleport.”
“Kh, so we can only use horses, huh…”
“No, we can fly. If we use the Flight spell to the utmost, we can reach it faster than the horses.”

If they flew, they could ignore the roads and fly straight to their destination. Moreover, the speed of this spell rivaled that of the horses. So in theory, they would be able to reach their destination faster than the horses. But even so, it was slower than teleportation. For that part, there would be people they would not make it in time to save. That fact weighed on Lyell’s heart.