Chapter 214 Strongest Sage, Astonished

 

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"We've prepared documents detailing the present situation on the desk over here. If you'd please."

Five minutes after Biffgel came looking for trouble.
We've all gathered at Baron Relaia's residence.

Apparently, it's normal to use the lord's residence as a council room for low ranked nobles who don't have a public office.
Progress of battle, supply situation and combatants are written in minute details in the documents.
It's very well done for a combat report.

However... This isn't the kind of info I need.
What we need now is a clue that will lead us to the one pulling the strings of these dolls.

"Were there any human in the enemy rank?"

"We did not find even a single soul. We have defeated 320 dolls and zero human so far."

"...I see. That's a problem."

If there's no human among the enemy, these dolls are most likely moving autonomously.

In cases like this, dealing with the dolls itself is relatively simple.
If there's a problem in the magic circle that governs the dolls' autonomous actions, focusing on it should make the dolls easier to deal with.

One famous method is by dropping the automaton dolls in water.
If the action of [Swimming] does not exist in its set autonomous actions, the dolls will attempt to move their legs pointlessly even if they don't touch the grounds.

If there were humans among the enemy rank, they could have revised it on spot, but if the dolls are completely automatic, the act of destroying them itself is pretty simple.
Though I don't think they've made such an obvious mistake, however, it still means the tide is in our favor.

Yet, what's easier is strictly the battle.
If we want to look for the mastermind, it's of course easier if there's a human among the enemy.
If there is a human among the dolls, that would mean they're connected to the dollmaster, thus going from there would make things easier for us to find out the dollmaster's identity.

...Well, considering the situation, we'd be better off infiltrating Saihill Empire than investigating the domestics.
Now that Viscount Regido is here, he should be able to handle protecting and dealing with things inside the kingdom.
We'll leave all the bothersome stuff to the viscount and concentrate on gathering information ourselves.
<TLN: If you're reading this novel at any other site than Sousetsuka .com you might be reading an unedited, uncorrected version of the novel.>
That aside...

"Are you sure this chart is not a mistake?"

I pointed at one document on desk.
The document details about today's locations of battle, victims, number of defeated dolls and those who did that.

The problem is the chart that lists those with excellent combat records.
First place is Castor, second place is Reich, third is Irijis, fourth is Dezaia.

So far so good.
The first place, my father is as strong as the knight commander, second place, my brother has learned chantless magic, so of course they'd take those spots.

I don't know the third and fourth places, so I have nothing to complain about.
The problem is the fifth place.

Fifth Place: Biffgel Hildesheimr.

That's what written there.
What kind of joke is this.

"...A mistake? The document has been double checked by multiple supervisors, I'd like to think that there is no mistake..."

"Which means, Biffgel took the fifth place in doll subjugation?"

According to the chart, Biffgel defeated four dolls.
Far less than Castor with 50 dolls, and Reich with 32 dolls... but that Biffgel, fifth place?
Since there were around 120 people who participated in the battle, I thought Biffgel would get around 110th place or something though.

While thinking that... Baron Relaia replies.

"Biffgel Hildesheimr indeed defeated four dolls. He was quite a force for he is a Glory Crest bearer capable of using 『Heat Ball』."

This 『Heat Ball』... if I'm not mistaken, it's one of chant magic spells.
In Second Academy, it was categorized as a mid-class spell before I introduced chantless magic there.

『H-Heat Ball? I don't think that spell has any practical use in real combat... 『Heat Ball』 is that spell that needs a long chant and consumes a moderate amount of mana yet is only as strong as weaker spells right?』

『That spell might have completely fallen out of fashion in Second Academy, but it was one of the better spells with chant magic. There's a world of difference between chant and chantless magic though...』

Just as Ruli and Alma pointed out, 『Heat Ball』 is ultimately a chant magic.
It's not even as strong as beginner level chantless magic even though it consumes moderately lot, as a result, there's no one in Second Academy that's still using it.

You'd get treated as a potential force just for being able to use such spell huh...
This kinda takes me back.

...Well, it has only been a year since the people in this era started to use chantless magic, so it's not that long back.
Even today, Glory Crest is still hailed as the strongest except in a few places like the Royal Capital.

"Still, Castor is as monstrous as always."

"Are the two of you acquainted?"

"Yeah. Actually, there's no one in the Knight Order's top
brass who doesn't know Castor."

Looks like Viscount Regido knows my father Castor.
Castor, so you were famous...

Viscount Regido speaks while I'm still thinking.

"So long Castor is here, we should be able to hold off the dolls... the problem now is how to go about doing our counterattack... Baron Mathias, have you got an idea?"

Viscount Regido asked for my opinion without hesitation.
Responding to that, I give him an answer that I've got in stock after consulting with the girls.

"How does having just us infiltrate the empire sound to you?"







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