Chapter 144: Lily, the Total Airhead
By some miracle, Lily’s discerning eye had struck a chord deep within Ryu’s heart, and thus the group found themselves cooperating with the Kingdom Knights in their investigation of the Demonfolk.
Ryu had originally prepared an adventurer’s tag under the alias “Ryoma,” intending to use that false name for the duration of his stay in the Kingdom. However, after learning at least a little about Lily’s character, he found himself giving his real name instead.
Even if, by some slim chance, someone discovered he was the Viscount of Arden himself… well, Lily would probably be fine with it. For reasons he couldn’t quite explain, he felt strangely confident about that.
And so, beginning that very afternoon, he joined the investigation.
“First of all, what exactly does this ‘investigation’ involve?”
“For now? We circle around the places where the Demonfolk were sighted and where various incidents occurred. If we spot anyone suspicious along the way, we stop them and check their identity! That’s about it!”
“…Are the Demonfolk idiots?”
“No, their intelligence is on par with humans. Considering they’re dispatched across the continent, they’re probably at least as clever as the civil officials of each nation.”
“…Then wouldn’t they avoid the very places where incidents happened? Logically speaking.”
““T-That’s true………………””
Lily and her subordinate fell silent.
Ryu sighed deeply.
“First, how many Demonfolk are there? Why would they cause incidents instead of lying low? What’s their objective to begin with?”
“…Still unknown.”
“Then how did they cross the sea? Have you investigated suspicious vessels along the coastline? Asked the Adventurers’ Guild whether there have been sightings of sea monsters that might serve the Demonfolk?”
“…Not yet.”
“Are you operating under the assumption that the enemy is already aware of your presence?”
“…We are not.”
Ryu stared at her.
“Lily… don’t tell me you’re the instinctive type?”
“！？！？”
She stiffened visibly.
“Is the First Special Unit usually a muscle-brained squad thrown into hopeless battlefields?”
“U-Um… well… y-yes…”
Her answer came in a faint voice barely above a whisper.
The Kingdom Knights’ First Special Unit had been formed for a singular purpose: to execute missions in battlefields so chaotic that no amount of strategy could salvage them.
In such unreasonable warzones, detailed commands meant nothing. Only raw instinct mattered.
Lily’s heightened intuition—her warrior’s sense—had brought enormous benefit to her allies time and time again. She had saved the Kingdom from crisis on multiple occasions, and her pure combat ability was considered among the very best the Kingdom possessed.
It had been that same intuition—an inexplicable premonition—that foretold the Demon King’s revival and drove her to urgently volunteer for this port town investigation.
But because she rarely engaged in methodical inquiries, she simply did not know how to conduct one. And so she had spent her days circling incident sites aimlessly, disguised as a masked knight, accomplishing very little.
“So that’s why you were wandering around as a masked knight until we met.”
“Don’t say ‘wandering aimlessly’ like that…”
“Well, to fight the Demonfolk head-on, someone of captain level is indispensable. I’ll give you credit for that.”
“Thank you!”
“But everything else is unacceptable. Start over from private.”
“No!”
Esther shook her head in disbelief, gently stroking Homura on her shoulder.
“So she truly is a foolish child.”
“Gyau.”
(It seems combat ability and intelligence don’t necessarily correlate…)
“They called me a foolish child, Subordinate-chan…”
“Yes. You are a foolish child, Captain. And also someone whose years single equal her ag—”
“That’s unrelated! Waaahhh! You’re all bullying me!”
“From the Kingdom’s perspective, it’s like owning a highly useful large dog.”
“That’s not true! I’m just not used to investigations! I’m respected by the Knight Commander and some of the higher-ups! Well… not all of them, because even we think parts of the current leadership are a bit… questionable…”
“Well, you’re still far better than the royal family that randomly summoned a Hero and the idiotic knights who blindly shout ‘Long live the Kingdom.’”
“That doesn’t make me feel better…”
“It wasn’t praise. From my perspective, it’s all much of a muchness.”
“Waaahhhh!”
From Ryu’s viewpoint, Captain Lily was a cheerful civilian with unnecessarily high combat ability and dangerously sharp instincts.
Her subordinate was a nimble secretary constantly dragged along by the storm that was her captain.
“But if people like you operate under a truly capable commander, you’d become a devastatingly powerful unit. Doesn’t the Kingdom have anyone fit to lead you?”
“Hmm…”
(The Knight Commander… and Hero Saionji-sama… maybe just them?)
“…Two, I suppose.”
“Two, huh? So neither of them is involved in this investigation.”
“Yep. You’re quick.”
“I’m not an idiot like you.”
“You said it again!”
Incidentally, the Knight Commander was currently tied up handling the aftermath of the underground factory collapse, while Hero Saionji was confined to the castle, forced to focus on developing alternative forces to replace the airship and managing domestic affairs.
If either of them could lend a hand, the situation would be entirely different. But as it stood, Captain Lily and the First Special Unit were on their own.
—And then, by pure coincidence, Ryu had joined them.
Ryu Arden—the strategic monster whose intellect rivaled that of the Empress and Margrave Grace—had entered the investigation team.
What that truly meant…
“Now that I’m here, we’ll crush the Demonfolk quickly and squeeze information about the Demon King out of them.”
“You should be grateful to Ryu, foolish child Lily.”
“Gyau.”
“Wow, you’re really dependable, Ryu! And stop calling me a foolish child, Esther!”
“Let us all do our best. Single Captain.”
“Stop saying single!”
Then Lily froze.
“…Wait. Ryu, did you just say ‘Demon King’?”
(I don’t remember telling him that…)
“Yeah. I did.”
Ryu glanced back over his shoulder.
“…That’s why you came here too, isn’t it? Lily.”
A faint smile tugged at the corner of his lips.
“Y-Yes!”
(Does this mean I’ve just gained an overwhelmingly powerful ally to prevent the Demon King’s revival⁉)
Taking the lead, Ryu brought Lily and her team toward the coastline.
They would begin exactly where he had suggested earlier—by searching for suspicious ships along the shore.