Chapter 27 – What they believed (3)
Translated by : betterdays
Proofread by : ch17175
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Kiers’ expression, which was rather forcibly amiable at Asher’s words until that point, hardened slightly. He began to speak in a tone of displeasure.
“This is quite offensive. Do you not trust our capabilities to gather information?”
“You’re rather quick-witted.”
“….”
Kiers glared sharply at Asher.
There was no reason for Asher to ask for their information. If there is, the only reason he would do so, was to test their competence of information, which could easily be deemed as an insult.
Information organizations and agencies eventually would learn their top secret information through infiltration of sorts. The classes information agencies were divided amongst each other according to their competence. It was the most basic thing to know when choosing an information agency.
“Your agency has been stuck and secluded in a small territory and has not seen much of the outside world. It’s only natural for someone to want to know your capabilities don’t you think?”
“No…”
Kiers denied it. However, clenched his fist with a face that hurt his pride.
“You don’t need to worry about that. There is no information in the world that we can’t find.”
“Yet, you didn’t even notice the Doppelganger.”
“That was a different case…”
Kiers’ eyes shook slightly and protested.
“We gathered information about the world in a closed environment despite the restrictions and scrutinizing eye of Balbaca…no- that doppelganger. From the most miscellaneous unimportant things to down to the inner workings of the territory. There’s no such information we can’t find.”
Kiers spoke up. But, Asher still had a questionable look.
“Well.”
“Such a skeptical little boy.”
Kiers grumbled.
“Fine then, tell me what information you need. Stupid little boy probably wants some information about some pet cats…”, Kiers muttered underneath his breath.
“I want all the Information you have on the heroes.”
“What?”
Kiers paused and his eyes widened. Asher calmly continued.
“Especially the ones gone or that completely disappeared, find information about them.”
Since 20 years ago, many heroes had disappeared, and some of them had even reappeared.
A more interesting case was Balbacca, who went missing 20 years ago, and came back as a twisted man. If so, then what about other heroes?
Originally, it had nothing to do with Asher. But something was bothering him. The sense of worry was gradually creeping up on him and he didn’t mean to stay still about it.
It was because they were his few close friends.
“Uh- Um.”
Kiers instead of giving a snarky reply like he had been doing up until now, shuddered at Asher’s words.
“I didn’t expect that k-…kind of information.”
“That’s why I asked if it was possible.”
Any information about the heroes or their movements, was likely to be top tier information no matter what kind of intelligence agency Asher used. And unless it was a large guild, it would be hard for Asher to assume it was worth using.
Asher didn’t think that this tiny little information agency could possibly find the information he wanted.
“Hm… heroes, their information?…Are there any more specific details you want?”
“All the heroes that disappeared. The focus should be on the whereabouts of Ian the Brave, who went missing and any kind of information relevant to changes going on in the North.”
“…are you serious?”
“Of course.”
Kiers completely stiffened at Asher’s brutal first request to his agency.
“You don’t have to overdo it since there’s something else I need that you can do instead….”
It was too harsh a request for a small intelligence organization. But, Kiers shook his head.
“No, I can’t just sit here and be treated like an incompetent fool.”
“I didn’t mean to.”
Asher murmured, but Kiers clenched his fist with determined eyes as if he could not hear it.
“Okay. It’s just information, so it will take quite a while. If it’s only this much, I can definitely do it.”
“Do whatever you want.”
Asher wasn’t expecting much because the next requests he planned, would most likely shock Kiers even further. Kiers grated his teeth as if he had read such signs from Asher’s body language.
“I’ll accept that you at least seem to know what information is tough to get. I’ll only give you that much though you brat.”
“Don’t care, do your job and report back to me.”
“So noisy, I’ll be back when I get the information.”
‘He’s rather easy to deal with.’
Asher murmured inwardly.
Kiers tucked himself into the alleyway. He turned his face around just before the shadow gradually covered him and his whole body disappeared.
“Oh, I have one thing to tell you.”
Kiers grinned as he spoke in a taunting manner, still acting like a child. However, his next words were anything but childish.
“You’d better get ready soon. The monsters are coming.”
***
There was only one thing when one thought of the words ‘Monsters’.
Monsters, they were the human’s natural enemy.
Asher thought that Lord Halvark would surely be preparing countermeasures. But he couldn’t help but feel nervous that Lord Halvark might not be able to set up his defenses in time.
Asher returned to the training area.
Reika was huffing and drinking water.
“You’re here? You’re very busy these days.”
“That’s right.”
Reika was standing gazing at him. Asher opened his mouth again.
“How much do you know about Monsters or Demons?”
“Monsters? I don’t know. I just know of them, not like I’ve actually done research on them. I’m not someone from 50 years ago, and the information you can find on them is pretty limited in the libraries.”
Asher gave a bitter smile. Monsters and Demons were difficult beings, yet the world almost seemed to want to forget their past with them and didn’t at least prepare future generations if anything else similar to them arose to threaten humanity like they had once done.
“Anyway, it’s safe to say that you don’t know much, yes?”
“That’s right.”
Reika, a noble, was naturally very curious about things she didn’t know or couldn’t find in the history books.
But this also meant that if Reika only knew of the name ‘Demon’, most common folk wouldn’t even know what they were.
‘It’s not good.’
Demons and Monsters were unknown to the general public. What if the Demons or Monsters, or even both, came in this situation? It was a bleak future, that much was for sure if they didn’t do something soon.
“Well, it has been kind of weird these days.”
Reika murmured as if she was thinking about something odd.
“The number of people who are experiencing nightmares has increased. The maids were talking about their nightmares just the other day and I found it weird how many of them were suffering from them. And…. I’ve been feeling like there’s something disturbing my father, as he’s been stuck in his room meticulously drafting plans for something. Does it have anything to do with them?”
“Hmm.”
Asher recalled the words left by Van Ester half a year ago. The world was twisted. And when the Demon Lord died, both the Demons and Monsters that were spread throughout the continent, were eradicated off the face of the planet.
But, the world was changing once again.
Suddenly, there was a sharp, high-pitched scream that rang out from outside the training area. Reika jerked her head along with Asher in the direction of the scream.
“What was that Asher?”
“We’ll find out soon.”
Asher put the sword inside it’s sheath and calmly walked outside the training area. Near the gate leading out from the estate, there was seemingly a band of merchants that were shouting at the people around them, terrifying them.
“I know what I saw! And crazy as it seems, it’s true! Those little things attacked us!”
“What’s going on?”, Reika asked as she and Asher had approached the commotion.
“Oh, Lady Reika.”
As Reika approached, the guards near the gate bowed politely. She was probably the most polite noble these common people had met; a stark contrast to the heir of the estate Luke, who had gone silent ever since the encounter with Asher.
“Your name is Luban, right? What’s wrong? And why is the number of people with you so small this time?”
Reika knew his face because he often came to the top of the estate to do trade with their territory as a merchant. It was normally a fairly large troupe that was guarded by high numbers of mercenaries.
But now she couldn’t even see ten people around him. Luban, the merchant atop his carriage frighteningly and unknowingly raised his voice as his face paled, remembering what he had seen.
“Monsters, monsters! W-We faced monsters that attacked us!”
“Huh, monsters? What do you mean?”
Reika’s face crumpled. It was the first time she had heard something so ridiculous coming out of this man’s mouth.
“I don’t even know anymore…ahh- ahhh! There were so many of them! Small little ferocious creatures. Monsters I tell you!”
“Calm down.”
Reika grabbed the sword by her waist and spat out in a cold voice.
“Sit down and talk coherently please. Describe to me exactly what you saw.”
The shaking eyes of Luban gradually subsided. He slowly opened his mouth.
“…I’m not sure either. They weren’t human, but not beasts either. They killed the mercenaries with us and looted our wagon. We’ve managed to escape.. but Ugh….”
He clattered his teeth. They were neither humans nor beasts? Reika tilted her head in confusion.
“That.”
Asher, who was still listening, opened his mouth. It suddenly became deathly quiet when he spoke. He asked calmly.
“Were their skin green and did they have long ears?”
“Oh, that’s right. How could you….”
“It’s a Goblin.”
“Goblin? What’s that?”
‘It’s already happening.’
Asher sighed quietly.
***
Fifty years ago, Ian the Brave had shouted with his sword stuck in the chest of the Demon Lord, who had opened a rift into their world.
“You will either die here by my sword, or you will go back to where you came from. Those are your only two options.”
The Demon Lord at that time replied with a cruel grin on its face,
“It’s your victory for now you human, but just wait…. Enjoy your peace while it lasts.”
At the same time, all the demons and monsters that had come through the rift were transported along with the Demon Lord as he fled with his wounds. As the Demons fled with the Demon Lord, the world also forgot the existence of the monsters that had come through the rift.
They had been terrorizing humanity for hundreds of years, but when they were eradicated over 50 years ago, humanity wanted to forget the scars they had left, and forced themselves to forget and their future generations.
If the peace had lasted forever, it wouldn’t have been bad to do so. However, peace wasn’t and it was clear to Asher. Humanity was going to pay the price for forcing themselves to forget, and it would be huge.
“So what are we supposed to do?”
“Monsters? What are you talking about….”
“Are they animals or not?”
“I was told it was a Goblin. I think I heard about them when I was a kid….”
In an instant, the estate became a loud and crazed atmosphere. Those who vaguely remembered and those who forgot about the monsters completely, began to argue with each other.
“…do we have to fight them?”
There was a sudden silence when someone’s words were spoken. The eyes of those who all stopped their squabbling, were filled with fear at those words.
The Halvark estate was near the capital, so it was far from being a warzone. There were guards on standby at the territory, but none of them had any actual combat experience and were only managing security.
Asher sighed lightly at the sight of the frightened workers and townspeople outside. Maybe the other noble territories weren’t that different.
“Just let the guards deal with them….”
“How could you say that?”
“My son is a guard! You want my son to fight those things?!”
“Isn’t that the guards duty you idiot?!”
“What’s wrong with you…!”
“Quiet!”
Reika frowned and shouted loudly. The workers and townspeople gathered outside the estate went silent.
“Nothing is certain for now. They might come here, or they might just be passing by. First, send someone to inform the capital. Everyone else should go back to their places and get some rest. Luban and your people can come with us to the estate since you do not have anywhere to stay right now.”
“…I see.”
The people were dispersed. Asher clicked his tongue as he saw the fear in their eyes.
Humanity was scared of a fucking goblin? Just how weak had they become? Asher was disgusted at this.
‘Ian, if you’re still alive, please come back.’
Suddenly, the last words of the Demon Lord that Ian had told Asher about, came to mind.
‘Humanity should enjoy their peace. But it won’t last forever.’
And the words were now being proven to be true. Asher looked around him and felt his eyes turn cold.
Chapter 27 – Fin