Sekai Saikyou no Maou desuga Daremo Toubatsushinikitekurenainode, Yuusha Ikusei Kikan ni Sennyuusuru

Chapter 1. [Episode 24]
“Dark Night Investigation”

 

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Rena runs as the wind through the streets of Mildiana.

It took several days to get all the structures of the academic city, which covers a vast area, into her head.

The body, which had already become a demon, felt no fatigue. It was something that a human body could never do.

After continuing such research, Rena had one uncomfortable feeling.

“There is nowhere to keep a missing elf locked up.”

From the beginning, Rena thought it was man-made, and she has been investigating every nook and cranny of Mildiana’s numerous noble residences.

All the hidden rooms and emergency escape routes, as well as the hidden underground prisons, had been checked out.

Her technique not only makes her presence unrecognizable but also allows her to penetrate objects. Moreover, it is impossible for ordinary people, let alone elves and dragons, to detect her in this state.

The first thing suspected was kidnapping by the nobility.

Elves’ women were especially beautiful and valuable as slaves. However, although slavery is still practiced in the current empire, it is not permitted to enslave elves, and anyone who breaks this rule will be severely punished.

It is said that the empire accepted this clause offered by the elves when the alliance between the empire and the kingdom of Tsefte Aria was formed 100 years ago.

It feels like a different country from the empire Rena lived in.

However, it is said that there were still a certain number of people who wanted elve slaves. When it was discovered, the nobles were severely punished, and even their titles were taken away from them, leading to their downfall.

It is human nature to want to lay hands on the beautiful, no matter what the punishment. Therefore, Rena washed all the mansions and villas of the nobles above the rank of count, who would be able to crush any trouble, but she could not find a single elf slave.

And then the sheer number of missing elves came to her mind. What kind of facility would be able to hide that many elves?

No matter how wealthy a nobleman’s mansion may be, it is impossible to hide several hundred elves. Even if it were possible, it would be impossible to prepare food and drink to keep them alive without anyone suspecting anything.

Moreover, she learned during her research that the military had already conducted its investigation of the nobleman’s mansion. She heard such stories at several mansions.

All of the above forced her to reject the theory of a large-scale abduction of elves by the nobility.

They don’t even know how they accomplished the abduction of the elves in the first place. Using mercenaries and ruffians, it is certain that the story will leak out at some point. Such information would be promptly sent to the military, and the cause would be determined immediately.

The next theory, then, is that of multiple crimes, but this too is not convincing.

It seems that this Mildiana is certainly not the only place where elves have disappeared.

In this day and age, the disappearance of one or two people does not cause much of a stir, which is why it was discovered so late. It is only in the past year or two that the problem of missing elves has gradually begun to be rumored throughout the empire.

Especially recently, there have been so many disappearances in Mildiana that there is no longer a day that goes by when they do not hear rumors of disappearances in the city.

If there are simultaneous abductions of elves in various locations, it is difficult to understand why there has been a recent spike in the number of victims in Mildiana.

-There is no physical evidence anywhere, even though Rena’s sure that she senses some kind of intent.

The missing person just disappears one day and leaves no trace whatsoever.

In light of these conditions, Rena was standing at the entrance to a building.

The High School of Magic is located in the central district of Mildiana.

The entrance to the white structure, which looked like a temple, was supported by several columns. The building is quite old, and Rena knew it had already existed since she was in military school in the empire.

The High School of Magic is a facility that specializes in the study of magic. It is a facility where people with a large amount of magical power and deep knowledge of magic gather and are used for various purposes related to magic, from the creation of grimoires to the discovery of new techniques, and there are similar facilities in several other locations besides Mildiana.

It is a veritable sanctuary, directly controlled by the state, but at the same time, most of its internal information is not revealed because it is a military secret.

During the daytime, ordinary people can enter some parts of the building, but they can only get a small amount of information there. If someone wants to learn about magic, it is more effective to use the library.

“Lucifer-sama told me that Elves are the last drops.”

“The Last Drops.”

She had never heard of it, let alone heard of it herself, and decided that it might be a cryptic term for magic.

Because someone “as a result of the use of the last drops”, that word that terrible damnation – specifically the wings of madness – has fallen.

What it means is that someone may have used the last drops as a catalyst for some kind of magic formula and ‘summoned the wings of madness’.

It was speculation, but Rena thought this was the most likely possibility at this time.

The thought of retribution or damnation for killing the elves never entered her mind. God doesn’t work that way.

And this would destroy the possibility that large numbers of missing elves are still being held captive somewhere.

The creature used as a catalyst for the ritual almost always vanishes from the world without a trace or dies quickly. As a result, it may save the trouble of keeping a large number of the elves that were brought all the way locked up.

And there is a possibility that magic is involved in the mysterious disappearance of a series of elves.

They disappeared without a trace. This can also be explained if a transfer technique is used. Rena herself had used the transfer technique to reach the border of the empire from Tenebrae, accompanied by Lucifer.

However, there is a problem with the transfer technique. It is difficult, and if used, it can be detected instantly by those who are skilled in sensing magic power.

The former point was particularly problematic. Since Lucifer is currently using a human body, everything from the quality to the quantity of his magical power is greatly weakened, and he is unable to handle the transfer technique. It is such an advanced technique.

Even Rena is strictly forbidden from using it in the empire because it requires the consumption of a reasonable amount of magical power and inevitably leaves traces.

If the culprit is a user of the transfer technique, he would not have left even a trace of it. That suggests the possibility that there is a better than Lucifer, not to mention a weakened Lucifer, who now has greater combat ability and magical power than he does.

Not only there is a strong reluctance to admit it, but there is no end of doubts about whether there are such tremendous users.

Rena believed in not dismissing the worst possibilities. She also had her idea that the less we want to admit, the closer we are to the truth.

Normally, she would terminate the investigation at this point and return Lucifer to Tenebrae immediately and then carefully monitor the situation in the empire.

…… but unfortunately, her beloved husband has a vice of being more strongly attracted to such unknown and dangerous things.

Whatever threat looms, she can’t help but worry, even though she knows that if he gets serious, it will all be over.

She is filled with a desire to forcefully take him away now that he has become slender, keep him in a safe place, and monopolize everything about him, from his care to everything else. If she could, she would like to spend eternity with him.

“…… Aaah, I miss you, Lucifer-sama.”

That’s where it hits Rena.

“No, no, no. What am I thinking when I am on duty?”

Now she must focus on what is in front of her. And then she has to successfully find something that will lead her to the truth and get praised for it. She endures the fact that her cheeks are about to naturally loosen.

Rena entered the Higher School of Magic with a face that was not quite tight.

And immediately she felt a sense of discomfort. She sensed a trace amount of magic throughout the stone floor. But that’s not the only thing that happened that was particularly unusual.

She puts her hand on the floor to examine it and found that some kind of technique was always in effect. It was pervasive throughout the entire interior of the Higher School of Magic.

It is a very small amount of magical power. But even so, it can be seen that advanced techniques were being deployed.

“Special technique. Around the 12th rank, I think.”

Special techniques are part of the magic that do not involve the seven major attributes and do not have offensive properties.

Many of them are extremely difficult to master and require an extraordinary amount of magical power, so an ordinary magician would not bother to learn them. This is because no matter how well they understand the techniques, they can never handle them themselves and cannot even destroy them.

The transfer technique that Rena can use is also one of these special techniques. And this technique, which spreads over the entire floor, seemed to be similar to it.

“Not triggered by human opponents? I am also a demon, but since I am only human in origin, that seems highly likely. That means ……”

When Rena was inspired by the idea of activating the technique, she felt some kind of presence coming from the entrance and immediately looked in that direction.

There stood a woman.

“Elf? Where have I seen that …… Oh, is that the receptionist who collapsed just from being stared at by Lucifer-sama?”

The bespectacled elf woman, with an inorganic expression on her face, walked slowly and stomped on the floor.

Instantly, the floor glowed and the elf woman disappeared without a trace.

“Gone. It still seems to be a kind of transfer technique. But why is she here at this hour ……?”

Rena switched that thought.

She has to follow the tail first. If she follows the magic circle throughout the floor, she may be able to get closer to the truth.

She puts her hand on the floor to grasp the details of the technique. She analyzed that there were limited activation conditions and poured her magic power into the floor.

And Rena also disappeared from the scene in an instant.

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