I Became a Childhood Friend With the Villainous Saintess

Chapter 92: Pursuit (1)

[Northern Mountain Range Garrison Report]

Classification: Critical

Reporter: Ranger ‘Zimmer’ of Outpost 3-2

Reporting Details: Progress report on the extermination order for the high-risk beast ‘Red Feather’

—---

Report Contents:

Successfully tracked and engaged the high-risk beast ‘Red Feather.’

Confirmed, as previously suspected, that it commanded a large number of beasts.

The scale of damage is substantial; future operations are expected to be severely constrained.

During the post-battle cleanup, it was discovered that many beast corpses had gone missing.

A search was initiated to determine if another beast was using the corpses as food, but due to the extent of the damage, the search was prematurely terminated.

—--

Special Notes:

Following the death of ‘Red Feather,’ beast activity in the Northern Mountain Range has greatly diminished.

It remains unclear whether the leader’s death ended the beasts’ frenzy early, or if other factors were involved—further research recommended.

Newly discovered unknown creatures have been identified; they will henceforth be referred to as ‘Wraiths.’

Although all detected ‘Wraiths’ were exterminated, the majority of Ranger casualties were caused by them.

The physical traits and observed characteristics of the ’Wraiths) are detailed in the attached documents.

—--

Conclusion:

Extermination of the high-risk beast ‘Red Feather’ successful.

Due to severe casualties among current Ranger forces, mission scope is under reduction.

Early induction of Ranger trainees currently undergoing training is requested.

(Important) The dangers posed by the special creatures ‘Wraiths’ must be formally discussed.

*****

A secluded part of the Northern Mountain Range.

Nezra stroked his chin and let out a low sigh.

“Lost a lot, huh.”

“They say it was a necessary loss.”

“I’m sure they do. Everything’s necessary once it’s done.”

Before their eyes stretched an endless sea of beast corpses.

Most had been torn apart by sword and spear, while others had arrows expertly embedded through their eyes.

Every last one of them had been felled by the Rangers of the Northern Mountain Range.

Decarabia suddenly seized control of Eric’s body.

“Hmph. Don’t even need the host’s permission anymore, do you?”

“Not like I ever needed a verbal agreement. This haul isn’t much to boast about, though.”

“Shouldn’t you hurry up? That kid’s mental state looked pretty rough.”

“It’s not much different from before I gave him a little shove. Our relationship is quite amicable, so there’s no need for concern.”

The Empire’s Rangers were formidable.

Fitting for an elite force trained in such rugged mountains, they handled the beasts swiftly and without wasted effort.

Even Decarabia’s prized minions hadn’t made much of an impact.

He had considered deploying them fully if needed—but he hadn’t expected things to turn out like this.

Had Eric‘s wraiths not intervened, the Rangers likely would have finished the battle with only minor losses.

And that would’ve been a problem.

They were too competent.

The search net tightening around Decarabia grew suffocating, forcing him to make a decision.

He handed over ‘Red Feather’ to the Rangers—

—But in return, inflicted catastrophic damage upon them.

“The troublesome Rangers should settle down for a while now.”

“And after that, you’ll just start rounding up the beasts in these mountains again. I came here thinking I could finally cut loose, but now? What a letdown.”

Nezra had been insurance—

A last-resort weapon, ready to slaughter every Ranger if needed.

Luckily, it hadn’t come to that.

No matter the casualties, the Rangers had achieved their goal.

And Eric’s existence remained hidden.

No—at this level, even insurance was unnecessary. Decarabia alone would have sufficed.

The carefully gathered beasts had been utterly helpless before the Rangers.

In truth, the ones who slaughtered the Rangers were primarily Eric’s wraiths.

It was proof of just how dangerous—and powerful—those wraiths were.

Worse still, they continued to grow stronger by the day.

I’m flying! I’m flying! I’m flying!

Where are we going next? Where are we going next?

I wanna go somewhere with lots of toys!

Even to a fellow demon like Nezra, they were horrifying.

The sight of the black wraiths cloaked in the skins of beasts was enough to trigger a visceral revulsion.

Unstable, seething with pure malice, and now supercharged with Decarabia’s magic—

It seemed the ancient Demon King was finally on the verge of realizing his ambition.

Nezra thought of the knight he had been awaiting.

Next time, they would surely clash with their full might on display.

It would be a battle fueled by the desire to avenge a father’s death—

—and it needed to be that way.

Because no shallow plan could hope to stand against him.

* * *

One of the profits gained from the Count Eshk’s Territory was that we had permanently engraved Baron Eclan’s face into our memories.

Already starved for real action, Isha readily agreed to help us, and surprisingly, Russell didn’t try to stop her either.

— “I’m worried, of course, but... I don’t want to stop my daughter from doing what she wants. It’s better if I just quietly support her from behind.”

Thanks to that, I could leave everything regarding Baron Eclan to Isha.

In the original story, Isha had been an outstanding assassin.

If I entrusted her with this, she would surely bring back sweet fruits of success.

Her skills were beyond doubt—

Even I couldn’t completely replicate her silent footwork and precise swordplay.

Still, it seemed Isha wasn’t all that interested in living as an assassin anymore.

However, when it came to Crescent Moon, the information guild, she showed quite a bit of enthusiasm.

Maybe that’s because Russell survived this time.

That alone had already created a big divergence from the original story.

In the original, Russell’s death had probably worn down Isha‘s spirit.

But not anymore.

Several days passed like that.

The Count, who had seemed on the verge of immediate retaliation, remained unexpectedly silent.

Instead, Baron Esquente burst back onto the scene, practically leaping out of his sickbed.

It seemed he couldn’t hear anyone telling him he still needed more rest.

No doubt he was still suffering from lingering hallucinations, too.

Yet Baron Esquente remained as lively as ever.

“Are you sure you’re ready to be moving around already?”

“You know me. Lying around doesn’t suit me. If anything happens, I’ll come flying, so don’t worry too much!”

“It’s not myself I’m worried about, it’s you. Really... are you sure you can handle things without us?”

“There won’t be any problems. This time, imperial investigators and priests from the Pantheon will be accompanying me. Unless someone’s completely lost their mind, they won’t dare attack me now.”

The Hibras Church was also steadily progressing through the official recognition procedures with the Pantheon.

Since the investigators would need to head toward the Baron Esquente’s Domain anyway, it made sense for Baron Esquente to join them.

Indeed, with the eyes of both the Imperial Family and the Pantheon upon them, even Count Eloran would find it hard to make any suspicious moves.

It was a kind of calm before the storm.

Or perhaps the eye of the hurricane.

If anything happened to one of the investigators, the Imperial Court would explode in outrage—

Meaning they couldn’t afford to deploy Nezra either.

The only unfortunate part was that the Rangers’ search operations had been suspended.

Apparently, while they had managed to exterminate that beast called ‘Red Feather,’ they had suffered heavy losses.

There had been no mention of Nezra.

No doubt either the Count or Nezra had made a move behind the scenes.

Still, it wasn’t all bad—

Dersian was stepping up in their place.

With the Rangers temporarily weakened, Dersian was the best person to act as a shield protecting Edelmarion.

“But if I do die, it would be nice if you decorated my coffin with fragrant flowers,” Baron Esquente said brightly.

“There’s a big tree behind my manor—maybe you could make the coffin from that wood?”

“Sorry, but we prefer to cremate bodies. We’ll just use that tree as firewood.”

“Come now! This is when you’re supposed to say, ‘No, if you die, I’ll be lonely!’ Is that really all there is between us, Sir Razen?”

Sirien cut off Baron Esquente’s nonsense before it got worse.

“You talk too much. Hurry up and go already. Everyone’s waiting because of you.”

“O-oh... Yes! I’ll get going now!”

“And don’t go getting hurt again. Stay in touch regularly, too.”

“Of course! You know how efficient I am at handling things!”

“If only you knew when to shut up.”

With that, Baron Esquente gave a deep bow, bending at a ninety-degree angle.

Ever since Sirien had revealed herself as the heir to Grand Duke Eilencia, Baron Esquente had been acting more respectful than before.

Apparently, even his brand of madness couldn’t surpass Sirien.

The person in question, meanwhile, was calmly reading a book nearby.

Come to think of it, the book looked different from the ones she usually read.

Judging by how early into it she was, she had only just started.

“What are you reading? There’s no title on the cover.”

“……It’s nothing important.”

“Another theology book? You know I’m not great with those.”

“Mm. This one’s just something I picked up out of interest. I’m not telling you what it’s about, though.”

Sirien let out a soft giggle.

Her smile somehow looked… dangerously alluring, and I found myself quickly looking away.

This is bad.

I can’t just fall for her like this, anywhere, anytime.

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