After five days, the group of five arrived in the city of Wokka.

Because they arrived at night, they decided to meet Paul and Kain in the inn.

When the meal was over, Bagil gathered everyone in the wide room borrowed from the inn, and said, while desperately restraining his anger.

「I understood the aim of the criminal」
「Is it true, captain?」

Asked Paul, who wasn’t informed until now.

「Yeah, the mastermind behind this case is probably a member of an advanced magician family」
「Captain, that is……」

Gris wondered if it was okay to say it, but before Bagil managed to answer, Waltz asked:

「Captain, so what is the purpose of the criminal?」
「Mass production of magicians」
「No way….」

Moras noticed something and made a surprised face. Kain also seemed to notice, so he asked Bagil:

「Magicians and girls….」 [¹] 「That’s probably true」
「Something…..So terrible…」

Hearing Kain’s words, Eliera, the only woman, understood the criminal’s purpose and showed an anger on her face. Gris also seemed to understand and lost his words.

「Probably, the criminal is committing a crime under the request from the Freestan’s advanced magician clan. In Freestan, your position is determined by your ability」

Bagil’s conclusion was: mass production of magicians.

The criminals are trying to raise the fighting power of their clan by making magicians breed with kidnapped girls. Then Bagil said:

「The mastermind if a member of the clan that uses fire magic」
「Why?」

Waltz inquired Bagil, he was also interested how he managed to narrow it to this extent.

Therefore, Bagil properly explained the reason.

「There were many magicians with fire attribute among the ones who were kidnapped. Perhaps they tried to raise loyal children with fire attribute」
「This might just work…」

Eliera agreed. However, she doubted that it was just that.

To his puzzled subordinates, Bagil said that he would explain everything tomorrow.

「I will go to church tomorrow and investigate advanced magicians, mainly of fire attribute. If found, we will head there and free the hostages. In the worst case, we will need to battle it out, be prepared」
「「「「「「Roger」」」」」」

The meeting ended at this point and everyone dispersed with complicated expressions.

The next day, when Bagil went to the church, the top brass of the church had a meeting.

When he learned about that, he told everyone to standby and entered alone.

Restraining his anger, Bagil opened the door with a loud noise.

「Please excuse me」[²] 「Who are you? We are in a meeting now」

The five men who were in the room raised a criticizing voice.

Of the five people, two were dispatched from the Holy Church and the other three were representatives of the Freestan. One of those three, a man of fifty years old, said.

「Outsiders should stand back. There is an important meeting」
「Toz-dono! This person is one of the thirteen apostles, Bagil Eight-sama! 」
「What?」

Hearing Torban’s words, the man named Toz looked at Bagil with incredulous eyes.

His attire was precisely of one of the thirteen apostles. Immediately changing his attitude, he said:

「That was rude of me. What brings you here? 」

Seeing his change in the attitude, Bagil goes straight to the point.

「I want a list of advanced magician families adept at fire attribute」
「Why would you want that?」

Toz was naturally interested why one of the thirteen apostles needed such thing, but Bagil could not answer.

「I can’t say. Nevertheless, this is my request as one of the apostles」
「I understand」

Having said so, Toz left the room and brought something like a file.

This was a list of advanced magician clans of the Freestan.

There were quite a bit of the families, but Bagil only chose those of the fire attribute.

However the was still a dozen left, Bagil had no choice but to narrow it further.

「Which of these clans have abundant funds?」
「These six」

You need funds to establish a criminal organization. Toz pointed at the six clans, but it was still too many. Bagil further asked:

「Which of these six clans are capable of operating in dark territory?」
「Only these two, sir」

It came down to two clans. With this, he can proceed, but he still asked.

「Were there any suspicious movements from one of these clans?」
「Yes, the Gursber family is behaving suspiciously lately……How did you know? We just planned to discuss it during this meeting………」
「A lot of thing happened, so how could I reach this clan?」

Bagil thought that this was it. With a strong desire to save the kidnapped victims, that is why he immediately asked that.

「In this case, it will be easy, they are quite close」
「Then can I ask you to guard the surroundings of Gursber family」
「Why?」
「In the worst case scenario, I will have to eradicate the Gursber family in the name of thirteen apostles」
「That is….」

Hearing his words, everyone understood. Is seems that Gursber family is in the center of a very big case, big enough to attract the Holy Church.

「Understood」
「I appreciate your cooperation.」

Bagil said so and left the meeting room.

Then he rejoined with his squad and headed for the Gursber family.