第１８３６堀：敵の住処はどこなのか？ (Part2)
"Oh, my apologies. I am Yuki, serving as consort to Her Majesty Seraria."
"Y-Yuki-sama!? The top brass of Weed are all here!"
"Well, this matter is simply too significant to ignore. It involves the Intercontinental Exchange Alliance, after all."
Well, their surprise is only natural. It’s rare for the two leaders of Weed to participate in a meeting together. Then again, thanks to this communication link, Yuki and Seraria can coordinate without needing to travel. I suppose the difference in our environments plays a part in that.
"I-I see."
"Besides, the Grand Master is listening in too, isn't he?"
When Yuki addressed the Grand Master—who shouldn't have been there—the old man replied.
"Oh? You caught me?"
"Obviously."
"G-Grand Master, you as well?"
"Naturally. This situation has escalated into a major affair that threatens to drag Weed into the fray. Since the plan involves the branches as well, I cannot simply turn a blind eye."
"Well, certainly. Now, regarding the current situation: the location where the enemy monsters are being kept remains unknown..."
"Indeed. I have heard. The map has been sent to us as well, but surely there are other locations, are there not?"
"Other locations? But, there aren't any other places where one could hide people..."
"Ah, what about villages?"
Yuki never holds back when he speaks his mind. Not that I can blame him; it’s our own failure for not realizing it sooner. Still, once the implication sinks in, it’s chilling.
"Disguised as a village, gathering monsters?"
"Bingo, Nina. Whether they were built as villages for that purpose or the original villagers were displaced, we don't know."
Tch. He didn't explicitly say they were eliminated, though that’s the obvious conclusion. Not that there’s anything we could do about it even if he had.
"If that’s the case, excluding the Village of the End, I’ve never heard of any villages near the forest with storage facilities large enough for that."
"Indeed. As Sia mentioned, if they are keeping at least fifty monsters and feeding them, they’d need at least double that number to maintain the operation. That would require a village population of over a hundred."
"...That might even exceed the scale of a typical village."
"Indeed. Well, they have no intention of turning them into towns, and there’s no need to worry about the surface appearance of the villages, is there?"
"As the Grand Master says. If they prioritize secrecy, they could easily build facilities deep within the nearby forests or excavate underground."
I see. Honestly, it’s startling that they can even think in those terms. Yuki is practically a specialist in that field, I suppose. And the Grand Master... well, he is a legendary adventurer; he must have seen his fair share of such hidden places.
"I see. Since there are many villages with little contact, much like the Village of the End where the disappearances occurred, it wouldn't be strange for such places to exist. Though, you really should have shared that information with us, Old Man."
"Can't you call me Grand Master properly? Besides, I hadn't realized they were going to such lengths to conceal them."
Oh? Is Wishy close with the Grand Master? Then again, plenty of people call him 'Old Man.'
"True. When we were tracking the disappearance cases, we investigated other villages, but we only did interviews. What about you, Nina?"
"Same here. Kishua and the others arrived separately, but..."
"I haven't heard any such information. The villages didn't seem that developed."
"Yes. Our priority was converging on the Village of the End, so we didn't look too deeply into the others."
"In that case, we need to investigate the villages. We’ve practically found them already."
"Indeed."
"Agreed. The villages with almost no requests are likely the ones."
Before we could even provide an answer, Yuki, the Grand Master, and Wishy had already reached the conclusion.
"Sigh, there's no point in us dragging our feet here. So, how shall we proceed?"
We’ve been allowed to take it easy up until now. It’s our job as the ones on the ground to close the net. Kishua is surprisingly militant. Well, considering she’s from Roday, where that old man Blade resides, it’s not entirely out of character. Ah, I should mention again: she’s a petite girl with short hair. Despite that, she’s the big-sister type who looks after Nina. And Wishy is a beauty who looks like she’d be right at home in a qipao.