CH 254

Courage ・ Devil King

The search for the remnant of the old Sydnia in the Demon Continent was carried out at a pace of two days search to one day of rest.

We continued the search as we shared information with Accuros at regular intervals.

During the breaks, I did not forget the work that needed to be done in Volton and the Sanctuary. When I showed up in Volton after too much time had passed, Papeck-san appealed to me with a pale face.

「Iruma-dono, the stock of potions has already been spent. And even just a few of the Sanctuary-made wine please!」

「I understand, I understand, so please calm down, Papeck-san.」

「O-oh, apologies for this one’s behavior.」

Once I promised Papeck-san that I would make sure to show up periodically, I somehow got him to calm down.

The Demon Continent search wasn’t progressing as much as I would have liked. We were able to discovered several stray dungeons and reported their locations to Ryuka-san, but none of them were related to the old Sydnia.

As we were investigating several monster nests, we explored a dungeon were shrubbery grew sparsely.

「……hm?」

「There’s around 20 individuals……?」

「Yeah, it would be great if it’s not a Beast King.」

We sensed a group approaching us, who were beating down monsters. Since it would become too complicated if it were one of the two Beast Kings, I tried detecting them more precisely.

「……their magic power is larger than an average person’s, so could it be the King of the Devil Clan?」

「The Devil King Gandalf then?」

Just as Sophia said, a group of red-eyed, blue-skinned Devils that grew two spiral horns were approaching us. A male Devil at the forefront that possessed more dignity had spoken out to me.

「Certainly you are Iruma-dono, are you not?」

「Yes, I am Takumi Iruma.」

「Umu, I am Gandalf who governs Rhodes. I have heard of you from Fraal of Accuros. It pains me to impose what should be our duties onto individuals of a different continent, however, I hope to have your understanding that we are unable to leave our nation for extended periods.」

「Not at all, as it is we who should be saying so. It would seem that those who had escaped from our continent had troubled you.」

「It should not have concerned Iruma-dono to such an extent. This continent’s affairs are affairs that ought to be dealt with by the nations originally in this continent. And Iruma-dono is lending a hand with this. As such, there is a necessity to apologize.」

Devil King Gandalf is……… huge. Beast King Guzhr is apparently much larger. His armor of muscles, high magic power, and gapless stance show he could be quite strong.

After that, I learned of the areas with dense magic power around Rhodes that King Gandalf had investigated and parted after comparing maps.

「He looked really strong, didn’t he?」

「Yes, including the soldiers he lead, I believe they’re quite the individuals.」

As Sophia and I followed the departing King Gandalf with our gazes, I once again felt that the saying that the rulers of this continent are the strongest of their nation were true.

◇

During our monster hunting expedition, I encountered the Human named Iruma whom I had heard of from Fraal of Accuros. Just in case, I had gone to greet him in order to keep up an acquaintanceship, but………

「Your Majesty, he was a somewhat gangly person, wasn’t he? They were all women aside from the Iruma chap.」

My stupid subordinate said something stupid. I involuntarily leaked a sigh.

「The women were also superior. They’re wasted on such a brat.」

「Haa~, are your eyes that bad?」

My words leaked out with sighs at my subordinates’ overwhelming degree of stupidity.

「Do not make light of Iruma-dono simply because he is Human. He repelled my Magic Eyes.」

「Wha, ……repelling Your Majesty’s Magic Eyes means…………」

Good grief, I shook my head when my subordinates finally realize the truth of the matter.

「That’s right. At the very least, in that group, Iruma-dono, the Elven Woman, and the red haired Human were powerful enough to repel my Magic Eyes.」

My Magic Eyes is able to see the status of my target. However, that is not for everything. It is unable to see the status of targets far different from my own strength. The last time my Magic Eyes were repelled was during a request to subjugate the boss of a monster nest that appeared close to three nations 20 years ago. That time, they succeeded with the subjugation at the cost of great sacrifice. They were beings that possessed strength no less than that area boss.

That realization had turned the subordinates’ blue skin even bluer. Of course that would happen, the area boss subjugated 20 years prior was a high ranking dragon, after all. Not a low ranking wyvern and mid ranking flying dragon, but a high ranking dragon. My eyes informed me that he was an existence equal to that.

If it was a wyvern or flying dragon, I could defeat it easily. However, higher dragon species are different. Be it with physical attacks or magic attacks, I can’t cause direct damage. I felt strength equivalent to the high ranking dragon from that time from Iruma-dono.

「You all, no matter what happens, never ever antagonize Iruma-dono and his party. In war, power in numbers wouldn’t lose, but the enemy may have other tricks up their sleeve.」

「Y-yes.」

That said, I thought there might be an existence with outrageous power that could upset the strength of numbers. But it was something that my subordinates did not understand. As Gandalf, the king of the Devil Clan, even if something was clearly superior to me, I could not afford to admit it in front of my subordinates.