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Kufar was heading towards the Holy Tree Kingdom of Forneus along with his comrades. It was the biggest kingdom of this continent located at its centre, as well as the headquarters of the World Tree Religion that worshiped the broken World Tree Yggdrasil.

They planned to secure the lacking sacrifices there, and while they were at it, also stir up trouble and sow the seeds of anxiety in the people’s hearts. Thus they moved forward with that goal in mind.

“Still, we really aren’t advancing as fast as expected.”
“We are on a walking trip, after all. We could’ve enjoyed the sights if this was a carefree trip though.”
“Well we have a goal now. I really wish we could use teleportation magic of the interference system now.”
“That spell still needs the user to visit the place once and record it into their brain. We would need to walk there once either way.”
“Good grief. Even magic isn’t all-mighty.”

Kufar walked while shrugging. Noticing that he was no longer looking as displeased as in the town, his comrades patted their chests in relief. They followed Kufar to Forneus as he walked with light gait. But then, a horseman suddenly showed up chasing after them.

“S-Sir Kufar! Please wait, I have a message!” Seeing them, the horseman called out.

Kufar recalled seeing his face before. It was one of their people that he had left in the north. Stopping his walk, he waited until the horseman caught up and addressed him.

“What’s wrong, was there a problem?”
“Y-Yes. Raid on Tau village… failed!”
“What?”

Raid on Tau was something they had chosen to replenish the sacrifices for the used up Devils. There was Lyell’s village nearby it, but they had dispatched Needle Beetles in the forest in advance so they would use the timing Lyell was out investigating them to attack it.

The reason they went out of their way to choose a village right next to Lyell was so they could cause turmoil in his sphere of influence, making people anxious. For that reason, they made it look like they were planning to attack his village so they could bait him to the nearby village where it would be hard to get in touch with him.

And yet, the raid had apparently failed, so Kufar could not help but be shocked.

“Could it be that he didn’t realize the Needle Beetle’s attack?”
“No, he had discovered one the day before and defeated it, so he knew about their existence.”
“Then, are you telling me that he left them be despite knowing the dangers they possessed to the village? Why would…”

Recovering from his astonishment, Kufar wondered in doubt. The messenger man provided additional information in the meantime.

“The summoner said that the Needle Beetles had gotten exterminated during that previous night.”
“A Devil species suddenly appeared near his village, so it’s plenty possible that he would decide to subjugate them that very night. But stepping into the night forest is quite a bold move. And it’s still too quick.”
“It seems that Lyell himself had not left the village. According to our spy, he had the vigilante corps stand by and didn’t leave the village that night.”
“Then who?”

At Kufar’s question, the man looked conflicted about his response.

“What’s wrong? If you have any information, don’t hold back and say it.”
“Yes sir, well… this is only a guess, but Maxwell had visited him the next morning. There is nothing strange in that itself, as Lyell had contacted him the previous night, but…”
“So you’re saying that Maxwell’s subordinates had exterminated the Needle Beetles and investigated the forest?”
“It is only my personal opinion, but that seems quite likely.”
“I see… so him again. What a disagreeable old man he is.”

Kufar then started pondering about something with a hand to his jaw. After thinking for a few dozen seconds, he asked the messenger man once more.

“Have we failed to gain anything from Tau?”
“No, we managed to get three people, but it’s far from our planned number…”
“Sokram was the dispatched Devil, right? What happened to it?”
“It was crushed by Lyell and Maxwell who suddenly rushed to the scene.”
“Maxwell again. He’s even more trouble than Lyell since he can appear wherever he wants. And three people, huh… That pretty much only makes up for the Needle Beetles and Sokram, doesn’t it?”

Hearing Kufar’s words, the rest of his comrades also raised their voices.

“He really keeps getting in the way of our plans. We really need to deal with him beforehand, don’t you think?”
“And how do you plan to handle someone of his caliber so easily?”
“But if we don’t do anything, that senile old fool will keep rummaging around. He could even show up in Forneus.”
“No, we shouldn’t get careless here. Let’s prioritize our advance for now. I want to maintain the status quo in the north.”
“Are you sure, Kufar?”
“Yeah. There’s trouble brewing there so their eyes should be focused on the north. There’s a low chance of them showing up on Forneus. So let’s at least succeed there.”
“Alright. What about the sacrifices?”
“Once you’re done with the fixed procedures, quickly compensate for our battle power losses.”
“Understood.”

Hearing Kufar’s instructions, the horseman messenger turned his horse around and dashed back. As Kufar look at his retreating figure, one of his comrades addressed him in discontent.

“Was it really alright to leave Maxwell be?”
“We don’t have enough power to do anything at this point anyway. And that includes me too… okay?”
“It is true that we can’t face Maxwell by ourselves. We need a Devil that’d serve as a trump card.”
“…Exactly.”

With a chilling smile, Kufar turned around.

Ahead of his gaze was a giant truck of a tree that reached up to the heavens. It pierced through the clouds, but it was snapped right where it was starting to branch off. According to the legends, the God of Destruction seemed to have broken it to subjugate the Demon Lord, but the truth was unclear.

Still, broken as it may be, it was still the target of faith. Kufar snorted with a displeased expression, and resumed his walk.

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