Chapter 50: Organizing the Information

After eating fugu sashimi, fried fugu, and the poisonous dishes, the hot pot arrived, so everyone gathered around it and helped themselves.

Of course, this one was poison-free.

“So, Linda, how did the information gathering go?”

We got down to business.

“That’s what I wanted to ask you about… How did things go on your end?”

“We did as you told us and talked to some sahagin at the souvenir shops and markets. They said Hiroshima is still dangerous, so we should avoid it. As for Shikoku, apparently the humans have retaken Tokushima. Humans are apparently doing business with demons in Osaka, too. I don’t know the details, though…”

That was about the extent of it.

“Hmm, hmm. Tokushima is interesting. Since we’re going to Shikoku to check on Ayaka-san’s grandparents, we’ll need to keep an eye on social media as well.”

“Yeah. There’s one more thing. The demons said they might retreat from Kagawa to Okayama. If that happens, humans will have completely reclaimed Shikoku. I have no intention of getting involved in the conflict between humans and demons, so that part doesn’t concern me, but I think it would make our route into Shikoku more difficult.”

We planned to cross the bridge from Okayama and go to Kagawa.

“It probably would. In fact, the routes through Hiroshima and Ehime are practically impossible right now. However, I doubt they’ll retreat that easily, so I think we’ll be fine. At the very least, even if we have to go around through the San’in region before heading to Okayama, we should still arrive in plenty of time.”

“There are a lot of demons who are pretty aggressive, too. I doubt they’ll retreat within just a few months.”

Hopefully…

“Yuu-kun, it’ll be fine. Right now, it’s Riku’s turn.”

Ayaka said that and nodded.

“Got it. That’s about all the information we managed to gather. Since our main sources were the sahagin working at the shops, most of what we heard concerned the Seto Inland Sea.”

“That’s more than enough. Elvis-san, what about you?”

Linda turned to Elvis.

“I asked some of the goblins I know. I showed them that picture of Riku, too, but there wasn’t any particularly new information. However, I was able to speak with someone who had moved here from Hiroshima about Jack the Ripper.”

Had they fled from there?

“What did they say?”

“Apparently, Hiroshima is in complete chaos. What’s being posted on social media is only a fraction of what’s actually happening. The frightening part is that these aren’t merely random attacks. There have been many cases of someone breaking into a house and killing everyone inside. Some of the victims were even powerful, high-ranking demons. They say the estimated death toll has already exceeded three hundred by a considerable margin.”

At that point, he was far beyond an ordinary murderer.

“That’s horrifying…”

“Kitaura-san, what do you think?”

We all looked at Kitaura-san.

“I could do it. Someone with a Rogue-type Job at least as advanced as mine could do it even more easily. I can erase my presence, after all, and that’s precisely what my abilities specialize in.”

I see…

“It must be one of our classmates who received a Rogue-type Job.”

“There’s no other possibility. We really shouldn’t go anywhere near Hiroshima.”

I agreed.

“There’s still more information. Apparently, because of all this, Yamaguchi has closed off the roads leading toward Hiroshima.”

“Closed them off, huh?”

The demons here must have been frightened as well.

“So, either way, we can’t go to Hiroshima?”

“Well, not necessarily… I’ve mentioned this before, and you probably know more about it than I do, but this country has a lot of roads. Even if they close the main roads, you can still get there by taking mountain roads and the like. With a smartphone, especially, you can find alternate routes. They know that, too.”

So there were always ways around the blockades.

“How long Jack the Ripper will remain in Hiroshima is another question… There’s a very real possibility that he could come this way.”

If you thought about it simply, there were four possible directions.

Shimane to the north, Okayama to the east, Ehime to the south, and Yamaguchi to the west.

“What if Jack the Ripper obtained information about the incident in Kumamoto? Wouldn’t he be able to come this way as well? Just as we did, he might connect us to what happened there.”

That was possible…

He could probably obtain more mana from those three hundred demons than we possessed.

“Linda, let’s leave tomorrow as planned.”

“Yes, I think that would be best. Then let me tell you about the information I obtained. It mainly concerns our route from here on. First, we can’t use the expressways.”

I didn’t like the thought of land mines anyway, so that was fine with me.

“Why not?”

“It seems the fighting between the demons and humans has damaged them. Apparently, bridges have collapsed in various places. If you drove along without knowing that, you could go straight over the edge.”

“That’s terrifying.”

“Absolutely not.”

“That sounds like something that would give me nightmares…”

“Seriously, no thanks.”

“From now on, expressways are completely off-limits.”

Yeah, yeah.

“Well, I thought the expressways would be difficult to use from the beginning anyway. So we’ll take the regular roads toward Hagi. However, as Elvis-san mentioned earlier, there are blockades in various places, so we’ll have to make detours.”

Detours, huh…

“What route will we take?”

Elvis took out his tablet and held it up so everyone could see.

“To put it simply, we’ll take the coastal route. Rather than heading east, we’ll go west first and then turn north. We’ll go all the way around before making our way to Hagi. It’s a little farther, but since we’re traveling by car, the extra distance shouldn’t matter much.”

So this was the coastal road he meant.

“Oh, the vampire at the hotel reception recommended the hot springs in Nagato.”

“She did mention that.”

Kitaura-san and Ayaka looked at each other.

“That sounds good. Let’s gather information little by little as we go. We need to be especially careful around the Shimane area since there are human towns there.”

That was the problem.

Would Linda really be all right?

“What time are we leaving tomorrow?”

“Hmm… Nagato isn’t that far away, so how about leaving around nine? Get plenty of rest today.”

“Okay.”

After that, we continued eating the hot pot while talking. Once we had finished dessert, we paid the bill and left the restaurant.