Chapter 204 – Raven
Negotiations for an alliance with Mayer Griffith, the 5th Archon, the most important agenda of the demon delegation, eventually ended in failure.
In the first place, he hadn’t even thought of accepting our offer, so he was completely in vain as far as the Great Forest.
But he didn’t come back right away.
The second purpose of our coming here was to find out a little bit about the inner circumstances of Elven Wood, which was completely cut off from the outside world.
Currently, Elven Wood has declared war on the Demon King’s army.
In other words, this place was no different from an enemy area where a fight would break out, so it was also the last chance to dig up inside information before the war started.
After meeting with Archon, we returned to the accommodation and had a brief meeting in my room, which was a single room for security.
“Didn’t you properly install the wiretapping inside the building earlier?”
“Sure.”
At my question, Dorothea shrugged his shoulders and handed me an earphone-like object.
Since it is the official residence of the head of a country, it was clear that the wiretapping would be checked very meticulously.
However, if there is something that the elves, who are blind believers in magical engineering, have overlooked, it is that there are Dwarf-made wiretapping devices in the world that do not use any magic power.
I wanted to put a wiretap on Mayer’s office as well, but I gave up because I didn’t have time for that and the room was so clean that if I put a wiretap on it, I’d be noticed right away.
“I’ve attached three or four more as spares, so even if they get discovered, they’ll be fine for a few days.”
“That’s enough. Good work, Dorothea.”
I stroked the proud Dorothea’s head and praised it, then moved my gaze to the side.
“Heild, if you have information among the beastmen living in the outer castle, please connect them.”
“I’ll find out.”
This time, he looked at Sofia and said.
“Sophia follows Heald and helps him. If there’s a problem, he reports it to me.”
“All right.”
“Camilla has no one to protect her, so let her go with me.”
“Yes.”
“Lastly, Master…Well, he’s not the kind of person who will go around getting hit, so take care of yourself. Don’t just make an accident.”
“Yes.”
Since we only have about three days left to stay in Elven Wood, it would be nice if we could get some useful information out of it, but to be honest, I couldn’t help but worry.
This is because you never know what variables will arise.
‘I hope it goes smoothly.’
After muttering that to myself, I continued the unfinished story.
***
Basically, Elven Wood is very strict about the entry procedures for foreigners.
It wasn’t that the Demon King was in trouble because he couldn’t plant spies inside the city for nothing.
The reason was because of the unique closed immigration policy, and foreigners who were not citizens could not stay in the outer castle for more than 5 days unless there was a very special reason.
Even that, if we were not the envoys of the Demon King’s Army, there is a high probability that we would have been cut at the entrance because our identity was uncertain even before we set foot in Elven Wood.
One of the reasons why Elven Wood became so strict was that the outer castle’s population capacity had already reached its limit.
The elves, for whom Mr. Bondi was precious, had a hard time even securing basic labor compared to their advanced technology.
However, as magic engineering developed, a huge amount of labor was required in many places to maintain the city’s system, and as a result, the city’s capitalists began to turn their eyes to heterogeneous workers instead of expensive citizens, and with the active support of the Senate, heterogeneous An immigration policy was established.
Since that was already 300 years ago, the number of heterogeneous people living in the outer castle had already doubled compared to the elves living in the inner castle.
Although it is still a small land mass, only the population has increased explosively, so of course, from the perspective of the rulers, they have no choice but to be uncomfortable with the influx of a new population that they can no longer afford.
It is said that races other than elves do not have the right to vote, but if they increased here, it was certain that something really big would happen.
I think one of the reasons why Elven Wood declared war was this territorial issue.
Otherwise, there wouldn’t be so many homeless people on the streets.
***
After a brief meeting, we scattered to investigate information about the city in earnest.
And the scenery of the colorful night market I saw at night was colorless, Elven Wood during the day was a messier city than I thought.
“Nari, just pick up a penny.”
Homeless people sitting here and there on the streets.
Their races were very diverse, such as beastmen, lizardmen, and gnomes, literally the lower classes of the city.
I ignored the gnome beggar waving a tin can in front of me to get my attention, and moved forward in silence.
“It’s a little pitiful.”
Camilla, who was following me, muttered that, but I shrugged and said.
“But we can’t help them all. It’s best to pretend we didn’t see things like that.”
“…But it is.”
From Camilla’s point of view, who was a vagabond like them in the past and was taken away by the Demon Lord, it seems that she has no choice but to fall into a sentimental attitude.
Instead of giving her her comforting words, I quickened her steps a little.
If you disappear from sight, your interest in them will naturally fade.
And as expected, when we passed the main street, the homeless people disappeared.
Probably because it is advantageous to beg in a place with a lot of traffic.
“Then… Where shall we go first?”
Usually, the first thing that comes to mind when gathering information is a pub, but now it is broad daylight.
It’s not that there aren’t drunkards who drink in broad daylight, but it was obvious that it would be less effective than going at night.
Concerned, I decided to go to the best smithy in the city.
If you’re preparing for war, of course, you’ll need to secure weapons and armor first, so I thought the blacksmith was the perfect place to get related information.
I looked at the map I had brought from the inn and found my way there.
Fortunately, the smithy is not too far from where I am now.
Walk another five blocks using the alley in front of you, and you’re right on the corner.
“Camilla, let’s go over there.”
As I said that and pointed in her direction, Camilla, who had been walking close behind her, responded with a light nod of her head.
***
Unlike Nidavellir, where buildings were recklessly expanded and the back alleys were complicated like a maze, Elven Wood’s exterior was built as a thoroughly planned city.
After looking at the map, I went to the smithy and asked if it was possible to make a custom necklace using souvenirs as an excuse.
“I’m sorry, but it seems difficult to make orders for the time being. I ordered hundreds of armors from the inner city to prepare for war this time.
“I see. It’s unfortunate, but I can’t help it.”
Of course, this rejection pattern was the same even when I went to other blacksmiths, so I was able to easily infer one piece of information.
‘Looking at the delivery deadline set at the end of next month, it seems that there really isn’t much left before the start of the war.’
If Elven Wood’s declaration of war was nothing more than bravado, there would be no reason to rush supplies.
You’d be right to judge that he was really preparing to fight.
After finding some useful information, I decided to go to the market this time to get another piece of evidence.
If there is any sign that a war is about to break out, the first thing that will start to fluctuate is the price of food.
In the case of Elven Wood, which has a small domestic market compared to other countries, such signs must have been more evident.
‘The market is three blocks from here.’
I had just come out of the smithy, looked at the map, found my way, and went straight into the alley.
Normally, in a city with poor security, using the main street instead of the alleyway would guarantee safety, but now I am too strong to care about such things.
There were several passers-by in the alleyway, which had a strangely dark feeling, but all of them were unstoppable.
‘I wonder if it was too early.’
I was pickpocketed from the first day, and the streets are overflowing with homeless people, but I don’t think I’ll encounter robbers again here.
I and Camilla started walking down the alley at a brisk pace.
Just then, a beautiful elf woman walked in from the other side.
As befits the Elves, who are said to have many good men and women, even passers-by are beautiful.
Took!
At that time, perhaps because of the narrow width of the alleyway, our shoulders bumped into each other-
I immediately bowed my head and apologized.
“Oh, sorry.”
What landed on the back of my head was a sharp knife.
