A few days after the letter arrived.

When we were ready, we were about to leave Photo Len.

"All right, I'll be there."

"" "Welcome! Be careful!

I told you I didn't need a lift, but Photo Len's Gate is packed with a bunch of Chamber of Commerce employees and they're dropping us off in an undisturbed motion.

"I left it to the Chamber of Commerce while I was gone."

"" Yes! "".

Return the answer to Mercia's words without any confusion.

... once the Maple Chamber of Commerce was an army.

"... some strangely well-led employees."

"I was hoping to get some fighting power from the employees to counter sabotage, and I asked for guidance from the guild... and when I got back, some of my employees were like that."

"Alliance?

"You're mainly Gunsu. There were not many people who received direct instruction, but it seems that they gave similar instruction to others."

Mr. Gunsu... that's a name I remember hearing somewhere.

Yeah. Someone like Sergeant Oni who took the exam when I came to Photo Len.

He's a nice guy, but if Gunsu really coaches, it's not impossible for him to feel that way...

Besides, that tension seems to be contagious.

"Thanks to this, the Chamber's defenses have increased considerably. I have a Decibatolian escort so I can safely leave the Chamber of Commerce."

"... in other words, we can be friends with peace of mind."

I can fly to King's Landing as soon as I feel like it, but this trip is a carriage.

High-performance carriages and good horses were prepared, and the speed was increased by not loading luggage, but it still took about five days to arrive.

In addition to my purpose of protecting Mercia, this means that I dare to move around in an easy-to-understand fashion so that my enemies can reach out quickly.

Interrogating the raiders... and preparing for the welcoming party.

We don't know who our enemies are just to fight back.

"Yes, the guards should follow me, pretending to be alarmed, so that the attackers can be easily seen."

I got it.

Leave it to me.

This time, Mercia has two escorts.

I also decided to have someone "looks weak" escort me as far as possible so as to alarm them.

Lake and Mathias. Decibatoles who look like ordinary villagers in every town.

Although his health is low, he is excellent at searching for enemies and interpersonal fights, making him ideal for this operation.

... Incidentally, "low health" by the Decibatole standard means "slightly stronger than the mainstay of other front-line cities".

On our instructions, they begin to steer the carriage with sleepy faces and lie on the cargo platform.

At this rate, we are slowly approaching King's City.

There was no particular movement on the first, second, or third days... but on the evening of the fourth day, that is, the day before the scheduled arrival, things moved.

"Can I have a moment?

Before dinner, when I was gathered in my room to talk.

Lake, who came back from scouting, made a gesture to keep his ears shut.

After seeing that, I activate a magic tool called "silencing", which is one of the artifacts that Katrine created before coming, to prevent voices from leaking out.

"What's wrong?

"The well of the inn was filled with medicine."

Oh, finally.

I was worried you might not come to assassinate me because I'll be there tomorrow.

"In the meantime, I left a small anchor in the executor's luggage. I want to avoid being caught and alerted because it looks like it's on the bottom."

"What will you do in the future?

"That's right... how about you pretend you didn't notice and eat it? It's a raccoon operation."

"Do you have the antidote?

"I don't have it, but I don't need it. I checked the sleeping pills mixed up in the well, but it's a slow-acting sleeping pill that uses the magic of medicine to interfere with people's magic and induce drowsiness... In short, it doesn't work for the magically powerful Decibatoles. From the concentration, at best, you'll feel a light drowsiness."

"Why are you taking that medicine?

"Sleeping pills are a major medicine. After six hours, it disappears and there's no evidence left, and the Zunana grass healing medicine won't work.... and it's not very well known that Decibatolians are less effective. I didn't want to give the Decibattlers any medicine, but I didn't."

... that the apparently distracting maneuver worked.

Well then, let's do it. As a precaution, I have a healing magic... What about Mercia?

"I always wear magic tools to combat poisoning, so it's fine as it is."

Meanwhile, Mercia pointed to the little magic instrument that was hanging from her neck.

Apparently, it's an artifact with a powerful detoxification effect.

... that means the medicine won't work for any of us.

"All right, let's go eat. Sleeping pills are delayed, so you may get suspicious even if you go to bed too early. After dinner, we chat, but if anyone feels sleepy, we start falling asleep."

"" Got it!

"I understand."

After checking everyone's responses, I put the magic equipment in the item box and headed to the dining room.

If you look at the water and cooking that comes out, you can see that it does contain the medicine that Lake says is right.

The other customers are in a similar situation, so there seems to be no mistake in the information that medicine was placed in the well.

Then we pretended not to notice the medicine, ate and went back to the room as planned.

But while we were waiting for the raid, there was one problem.

"Hey, how long has that drug been working?

"Depends on the recipe, but it could be two to five hours."

"It's almost five hours."

None of them will remember sleepiness for long.

I'm running out of free time.

Anyway, when you leave the room, you'll find out that you're pinching, so that's not how it works.

"Maybe the medicine was too weak...."

"... the magic of the frog may have blown away the magic of medicine. You won't be suspicious at this hour, and it's time to pretend to be asleep... wait a minute. Can you hear me?

When I hear it clearly, I can hear something walking.

"Footsteps. There are ten of them."

"Besides, this footsteps, there's someone who knows martial arts. Isn't this a raider?

"... you're pretending to be asleep in a hurry! If they find out what's going on, the raid may stop!

"If that's the case, you can't hold the evidence!

"I see! I'll pretend to be asleep in a hurry!

We had this conversation in a hurry, and we fell asleep on the ground and started pretending to be asleep.

It's like a school trip student who's afraid to walk around the teacher.

"Suu, suu..."

And here, Mercia's inability to act was revealed. What are you going to do with your mouth saying, "Suu, suu..."

I thought Mercia was perfectly human, but I didn't know there was a weakness here.

I feel like a lot of things are too tight, but this is bad for assassins to give drugs that don't work or fly. I wanted it to be written down somewhere at least how many hours later it would work.

Fortunately, the assassins didn't notice, thanks to his low voice.

Suddenly the door of my room was opened and about ten men with swords came in.

"Okay, the medicine seems to be working."

"But isn't sleeping unnatural?

... Mercia's acting was about to be noticed.

I can see the trespassers' gaze gathering in Mercia.

Looking at the gap, I opened my eyes and checked [information manipulation analysis] to see if they were bandits.

The result is black. They're all bandits.

"I put him to sleep with the medicine. It's decided not to sleep naturally.... well, now it's mine...!?

Because it's easy to defeat. I kicked the intruder who tried to attack Mercia.

The two guards moved at the same time, and the intruder (probably a leader by mouth) blew up under a simultaneous attack from the three.

But you were careful not to kill him. The intruder got up immediately and gave instructions to the others.

"Kh... no matter how strong they are, it doesn't matter if they're surrounded! All of you, surround the frogs and kill them! I'll take care of those weaklings by myself!

After listening to the terrible instructions, we look at each other unexpectedly.

"Hey, Mathias, you're being licked."

Lake, too.... well, the most nasty thing is frogs. "

"In the meantime, why don't you tie him up?"

I'll do it.

--Then, about ten seconds later.

The intruders remained trapped and piled up in a corner of the room.

Interrogation time.

Here comes Katrine's magical equipment.