CH 236

Chapter 236 – Two Viewpoints

TL: Sponsored chapter (1/2)

“Master is different from those humans. Rather, you hate humans as much as Oremia does.” (Yofel)

“…Again, I’m human too. I don’t know if he’ll acknowledge me.” (Yofel)

“Master, you even acknowledge monsters like us, don’t you?” (Yofel)

“That…” (Bouchi)

“Most likely… the reason why Belzedor told Master so much was because you had Familiars like Shiki-dono and Kaza-dono by your side. Many humans hate monsters and try to get rid of them. Well, in the other world, it would be hurons instead of humans. But Master is someone who wants to communicate with monsters.” (Yofel)

Well… that was because they were companions to me. Shiki and the other Familiars were only by my side because they had been purchased by me. But I had them by my side because I needed them.

“Whatever the reason, I’m sure that Belzedor and Oremia would think it’s a good thing that you don’t treat monsters roughly.” (Yofel)

“…I see.” (Bouchi)

“If you’re that worried, I will naturally go with you to speak with Oremia.” (Yofel)

“…No, you’re right. I’ll believe in what you say.” (Bouchi)



The next day arrived.

It was ten hours after my encounter with Belzedor, and Sayuri and the others hadn’t taken any extreme measures yet.

After returning from the island, I immediately went to the church as Torimoto and observed the state of the religious order.

As for Otaka’s and Kuzuhara’s groups, I had told them through Enjou to not act out against Belzedor, so none of them had entered the jungle.

But the only worry was about other people taking action. There might be some communities out there who would try to take action to protect their homes and land.

The jungle was teeming with monsters, so it would be unlikely for any ordinary community to be able to reach Belzedor.

Since sending the [Search Papers] out, I hadn’t heard anything from them. Since they could travel at Mach 3, they would be able to find Oremia even if he was in the north or south pole. If they couldn’t find him, it was probably because he was hiding somewhere…

I hoped that they could find him in another day or two at most, but…

At that moment, there was a knock at the door of my room. When I opened the door, I saw Shakuhara and Saniwa at the entrance.

They told me that Sayuri was looking for me and that she wanted me to go to her office right away.

I agreed and followed them towards her office.

Once we arrived, I heard voices from the other side of the door.

“―No, we have to do something!”

“No, we can’t. It would be suicidal to randomly send our forces into the forest when we haven’t even finished our investigations.”

“That’s being far too cautious! The forest is still expanding! If we leave it unchecked, this place will be swallowed up sooner or later! This isn’t the time to be complacent!”

“But that doesn’t mean we should send ourselves out on a suicide mission. There’s a limit to what we can do alone!”

“That’s why I was saying that we should use those men! They even said that they wanted to protect the city, didn’t they?!”

“Like I said, we should take that into account and think about this cautiously!”

It seemed that two people were arguing.

I knocked on the door, and once the voices had quieted down, Sayuri’s voice echoed from inside, giving me permission to enter. I opened the door and said politely, ‘pardon me for my intrusion’.

Inside, Sayuri was seated behind her desk, and the two blue bandana women—Kagaya and Aoyama—were glaring at each other.

I see. It was these two who were arguing, huh?

“You wanted to see me about something?” (Torimoto)

“Pardon me for calling you here, Torimoto-san. As a matter of fact, there are two viewpoints in the religious order at the moment.” (Sayuri)

As was made apparent by the argument, the religious order was split into two sides. One side was saying to enter the jungle immediately, find out the root cause of the encroachment, and eliminate it. The other side was saying to remain silent and adopt a wait-and-see attitude.

Aoyama was on the faction for watchful waiting, while Kagaya was on the faction for taking immediate action.

“I see. What do you think about this, Sayuri-san?” (Torimoto)

“I think both sides have their own merits. As Kagaya-san said, the sooner we find out the cause of the erosion, the sooner everyone’s hearts will be at ease. However, Aoyama-san’s opinion that it is too early to move is also correct. We haven’t investigated the jungle enough, and there is a high risk that things would turn out poorly.” (Sayuri)

Indeed. I also thought there was good reasoning behind both opinions. After all, a place precious to them was about to be encroached upon by the jungle. It was normal for them to want to do something as soon as possible. On the other hand, however, if they made a poor move, they might end up in an irreversible situation.

“I called you here to ask you for your opinion, Torimoto-san.” (Sayuri)

“Right! What do you think, Torimoto-sama?” (Kagaya)

Kagaya cut in somewhat, leaning in closer to hear my opinion. Huh? Wasn’t this person uncomfortable around men?

Moreover, she was giving me a somewhat expectant look. I couldn’t help but feel strange, since I hadn’t really talked much with her and she hadn’t used honorifics with me in the past.

“Well, let’s see… Kagaya-san, do you have a guess as to the cause of the jungle’s encroachment?” (Torimoto)

“Of course. It would be inefficient to search around in that vast forest without a clue.” (Kagaya)

“Hoh, then what do you think the cause is?” (Torimoto)

“I am 80-90% certain that it is that giant tree.” (Kagaya)

…Well, that much was to be expected. It was obvious, since the encroachment started after Belzedor’s appearance. And there was the matter of sheer impact of the tree’s size. It would be strange not to think that it was related to Belzedor.

“I see. If it was indeed caused by that big tree, how would you stop the encroachment?” (Torimoto)

“In the end, it would probably be fire, I suppose… If we burn it down, then…” (Kagaya)

If they did that, it would surely incur Belzedor’s wrath, and he might kill Kagaya and all of the followers with her.
RECENTLY UPDATES