Golden Experience

Being within a neighboring country, the city named Hugelcup was quite far away. Even flying at a moderate speed to match Blanc, the trip there took about a full day. It felt somewhat similar to the speed of that pigeon caught in Hiers the other day.

This implies that even if you were to send a pigeon, it would take a whole day, exceeding the distance usable by messenger pigeons. In that case, it’s reasonable to assume that there aren’t many countries sending pigeons to neighboring nations.

“Hmm. But what if there are people who can [Control] pigeons? It wouldn’t be a problem, you can just release them again even if they die. It might be a bit risky, but they could be made to do it to some extent.”

“Well… I can’t say it’s impossible.”

According to Deas, [Control] imposes a burden on the body. If that’s true, one should be cautious about the number of familiars. Deciding to make a pigeon one of them is quite a courageous decision.

However, when the fate of a city or a nation is at stake, it wouldn’t be surprising if someone took such bold actions.

“Blanc, you’re amazing…”

“Ehh, hehehe~”

Blanc often points out things that I might overlook when I consider them alone. Even on social media, she tends to focus on threads that others might deliberately avoid. However, it has proven helpful thus far.

“Oh, I’ll protect you perfectly!”

“My, how reliable.”

Soon, a large castle-like structure comes into view. With such a large castle, it’s likely ruled by a noble close to the center or someone who has achieved significant feats.

In that case, the possibility of what I initially thought—that the royal family successfully escaped into exile, relinquishing sovereignty in return—might still be valid.

── No, it’s too early for that.

Flying this far in the air took about a day from Erntal to here. Even if the royal capital is closer to this place, it would be impossible to reach here by land in just one day.

However, if the knights here were to kill the Hiers royal family, depart from this city simultaneously with the destruction of the capital, assassinate the royal family, promptly retake this city, and inform that player, it would be a complex scenario.

For this to be possible, they must know in real-time that the capital of Hiers was destroyed, and that the royal family left the city for exile. What means could make such information flow seamlessly?

“…No. I can’t shake the feeling that this is a trap targeting me.”

The motive is unclear, and there’s no sense of intent to deliver information to our location.

“Hmm. I still think something’s suspicious. Anyway, we’re about to reach the city. What do we do? Storm that castle?”

“No, that’s… I came here for the knight, or rather, the noble who is its owner. I kind of rushed here without a plan. What should we do?”

Despite it being a coincidence, I had acquired information I desired desperately. In addition, the fact that I was out here with a friend was something I found exhilarating.

“For now, let’s land discreetly on the outskirts of the city, use [Charm] on a random resident, and brainwash them for information gathering.”

“Well, Rare-chan, being inconspicuous with that appearance is impossible, right? And is that really called gathering information? It’s more like closer to drug-induced confession, category-wise, don’t you think?”

“Oh, with Light Magic and [Camouflage], I can conceal my appearance.”

There seems to be a difference in opinion between us about information gathering, but I guess that can’t be helped.

“Okay, let’s go with that. So, let’s find our first ‘collaborator’!”