After we ate breakfast, Dorgo said,
“If it’s true that they are not only making the Fool’s Stone, but also magic machines… It may no longer be enough to just defend this place.”
“That being said, we cannot allow the defense of the settlement to weaken either.”
Eric was right.
We didn’t know when there would be another attack.
“So we’ll have to continue to defend this place while searching for their base.”
I said. Goran groaned.
“Mmmm. You say that. But how can we find it? It will be hard to use Adventurers, you know?”
With the dark ones, especially vampires, there was always the issue of Charm.
It was a horrible fear, that Adventurers could be charmed or turned into thralls.
And if they put up a public request at the guild, then the dark ones would find out about it.
They may even set up a trap.
“Perhaps we will have to ask Shia and the beastkin wolves.”
“We could send an A-rank Adventurers party on a secret mission. The kingdom will pay them.”
“In that case… Well, it could work.”
Kathe had been silent up until now, but she now spoke with a grave look.
“I shall search from the sky as well.”
“Will you be able to find anything from so high up?”
“Surely it is better than not searching at all.”
In general, Kathe had a lot of time to spare. So it was good that she had some work to do.
“Kathe. Thank you.”
“Leave it to me!”
We continued to talk after that.
Ultimately, it was decided that Eric, Goran, and Dorgo would search for the enemy base.
Of course, Eric and Goran would be searching for it by sending out their subordinates.
“I will try to stay around here as much as possible.”
“Ruck, thank you.”
Leea said happily.
As Eric had duties at the palace, he returned in a hurry.
I also needed to return to the mansion to make preparations.
And so we all went outside of the palace.
“Ah, Mister Ruck!”
“Thank you for what you did last night!”
The water dragons all came running towards us.
There were about thirty of them today. The rest were probably on watch duty.
“Has anyone been hurt?”
“No one has, thanks to you! Everyone is fine.”
“No one was hurt badly. At worst, they will heal in a week.”
“That’s good.”
It was an intense battle. They could not avoid some damage.
“But all you water dragons were amazing. Not only did you fight the lesser and arch vampires, but you fought ten magic machines without anyone getting badly wounded.”
“Ehehe.”
“Oh, it was nothing.”
The water dragons all looked bashful at one. Their tails wagged up and down.
“Mister Ruck, your apprentices were great too.”
“They did so much!”
They were probably talking about Nia.
When I asked them, they apparently meant Serulis, Shia and Nia.
“We cannot help but miss some of the small vampires.”
“Ah, I see. Yes, I’m sure it’s easy to miss them when dealing with the magic machines.”
There were similar ambushes when I, Dorgo and Morris were fighting near the gate.
When we focused on the evil dragons, a vampire would suddenly appear.
Lesser vampires could not turn into mist, but arch vampires could.
It would be very dangerous to be attacked by arch vampires when you were distracted by the machines.
“It was those times when Miss Shia, Miss Serulis or Miss Nia would help us.”
As they talked about this, Leea started to pull at my sleeve.
“I did a lot too.”
“Really? That’s amazing.”
“Yes. It was quite impressive.”
Kathe agreed. Apparently, Leea had fought as well.
“You think so too, sister Kathe?”
“I do. I do.”
“Ehehehe.”
Then Leea said,
“Serulis, Shia and Nia also did so well for being so small.”
“Well, dragons and Vampire Lords aside, lesser and arch vampires are no match for the likes of them.”
“Exactly! It was amazing!”
“But you did well too, Leea?”
“Yes, but I am big. Shia and the others are small but amazing.”
Leea was very impressed by them.
After that, Kathe and Dorgo flew away and I returned to the mansion.
Milka was waiting for me there.
“Welcome back! Will you be eating breakfast?”
“No, sorry. I already ate.”
“I see.”
Luchila, Lord Gerberga, and Tama also came out.
“How was it?”
“Cluck-cluck.”
Lord Gerberga flapped his wing and flew into my arms.
I hugged him tightly.
Tama ran in a circle around me. I petted Tama as well.
“I would like to tell Philly as well, so can you gather everyone together?”
“You want me to call Master Philly? Leave it to me!”
Milka ran off.
Everyone quickly gathered together in the drawing-room.
Milka, Luchila, Lord Gerberga, Philly and Tama.
And then Shia, Nia, and Serulis joined us.
And so I explained to them what had happened the previous night.