[Proofreader - Gun]
The base camp at the entrance of the Shadow Forest.
Mercenaries gathered in small groups were chatting quietly around lit campfires.
"They said it's a billion if we just catch him, right?"
"Wake up. How are people at our level supposed to catch a Level 7?"
"Right. They said they'd pay us just for confirming and reporting his location, so we should just aim for that."
Sure enough, the reason the mercenaries had gathered was because of the Commander of the Violet Brigade.
A bounty proclaimed by the Imperial Family, on a completely different level from trivial requests.
The fact that they could receive money simply by reporting his location was certainly attractive.
"But would he be in a remote place like this?"
"It's easier to hide in a place like a forest than in a city. Besides, the Shadow Forest can't be tracked with mana, so it's perfectly suited."
Hiding behind a tree and eavesdropping on the mercenaries' conversation, Oscar deactivated his hearing enhancement.
"It seems an event has opened up across the entire continent."
"Keuk, is that so?"
The Commander smiled bitterly.
Leaning against the tree, he let out a barely stabilized breath.
Watching him, Oscar asked.
"Are you alright?"
"More or less. The pain that felt like my entire body was being torn apart like earlier is gone."
"No, not that... I mean the current situation."
The situation where the entire Empire was chasing him to kill him.
It would inevitably be terrifying for an individual to handle.
Even more so for a demon who had surrendered to humans out of fear of being murdered by his own blood relatives.
"...That's also more or less fine."
"Really? Honestly, if it were me, I think I'd be a little hurt."
"It wasn't that kind of relationship in the first place."
The Commander stated flatly.
"The Emperor turning a blind eye to my existence, and my living quietly without betraying him... it wasn't exactly because we trusted each other."
The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
Therefore, two beings with a common enemy had simply formed a tacit relationship.
"I never thought this relationship would last forever. It was a relationship destined to end someday, and that time is simply now."
"Above all, it's my fault for getting my demonic energy discovered by that guy. There's no need to resent anyone."
"...Uh, well."
Oscar put on a slightly awkward expression.
Strictly speaking, his demonic energy had leaked out because Oscar himself had been in pursuit.
"Uhm, sorry."
"It's not something for you to apologize for. Is the Mad Demon doing well?"
"He's doing well. You know that dungeon called Utopia that appeared last time? After coming back from there, he changed a bit and..."
After sharing trivial talk for a moment, Oscar opened his mouth.
"If your body is okay, shall we slowly get moving?"
"...Let's do that. Where is the destination?"
"For now, the place I'm thinking of is a small northern city called Pervache."
"A city?"
The Commander revealed his doubt.
Since it wouldn't be enough even if they went to an unpopulated area, a city as a choice was incomprehensible.
"It's a place with a population of about 2,000, and there's a secret safe house belonging to the Imperial Family there."
"Wouldn't it still be dangerous? If the Imperial Family knows about it, there must be people managing it."
"It's fine."
He had said it was a secret safe house of the Imperial Family, but in truth, only Mister Emperor knew about it.
Because it was one of the places to hide in case a situation ever arose where the Emperor needed to evacuate.
"Hmm, seeing as you're so confident, you must have gotten a separate tip-off from the Emperor."
"Something like that."
Oscar quickly explained the plan.
"We'll obviously move through portal magic, but just in case, we won't go there all at once."
"Is it because of location tracking?"
"That too, and I think I'll need to periodically check on your body's condition as well."
He had been in so much agony just from being in the subspace for a brief moment.
Perhaps similar symptoms would appear with portal magic as well.
The Commander nodded.
"If my prediction is correct, just using portal magic will be painful."
"I thought so. What's the exact reason?"
"Hmm."
After pondering for a moment, the Commander gave an example.
"Let's assume our power is a rubber band. Normally, the distance between us is the length of the rubber band. And that level of pulling doesn't have any effect on each other."
The problem is the moment one enters a subspace.
"...Meaning an error occurs in the distance between each other instantaneously."
"Correct. Since the subspace you handle is probably not a place that exists in reality, it becomes impossible to define how far apart we are from each other."
The glitched rubber band would pull strangely taut, and because of its nature to return to its original state, the Commander would be subjected to immense pressure.
"Wait, then does that mean the Great Emperor is also feeling a pain similar to yours?"
"...It seems you're thinking of something scary, but you won't get the result you want."
The Commander shook his head.
"The power I possess is relatively weaker than his. So my power is constantly trying to move toward him."
"I see, meaning only you suffer a one-sided loss."
"...Humans are terrifying."
"I was just thinking about it, just thinking."
The thought that if he forcibly shoved the Commander into the subspace and didn't let him out, both of them might die.
"Anyway, a long-distance spatial teleportation all at once would be dangerous."
"If possible, it'd be better to do it multiple times in short bursts."
"Alright. And about the Ten-Thousand Li Tracking Scent, how do we erase that?"
"It will be hard to erase right now."
The Commander said flatly.
"A special solution is needed to erase it, and to get that, we have to go all the way to the Yan Kingdom."
"Hmm... that's tricky. If so, is it possible to disrupt the location?"
"That's also diffi... no, it would be possible for a mage of your caliber."
The Commander, who pondered for a moment, took off his chestnut-brown coat and tore it apart—Riiip! Riiip!
He held out a handful of pieces that had been a coat just moments ago.
"The lingering scent of the Tracking Scent will be left on this coat too. Because it's clothes I always wear around."
"Ah, I think I know what you mean."
Receiving them, Oscar snapped his fingers.
-Chirp, ch-chirp!
-Ch-ch-chirp!
Noisy birds of wind fluttered their wings in his grasp.
Oscar divided the coat pieces among them and commanded.
"Fly at top speed. Each of you in a different direction."
-Chirp!
Eight birds of wind scattered in an instant and flew away.
The reason he specifically did not use spatial magic was simple.
If they appeared too far away in an instant, the fact that he was involved would be found out.
"Seeing as you always wore it, was it a favorite coat of yours?"
"More or less. But even so, it's just clothing."
"...Right, so does this solve the problem of the Ten-Thousand Li Tracking Scent?"
"No way. It can't be solved with such a simple method. It just slowed down their tracking speed inasmuch as the lingering scent was spread in multiple directions."
In the end, it meant they would still have to be chased by the Violet Brigade bastards as well.
Just then, the Commander, glancing at the base camp, said.
"The mercenaries have started moving. We should set off as well."
"Got it."
Oscar quickly pulled the strings of space and opened a subspace.
Simultaneously with entering inside, he shouted.
"This way!"
Jumping into the portal he had opened in advance, Oscar checked on the Commander the moment he came out.
"Hah, haah."
He had only been in there for barely over six seconds, but the Commander's breathing had become ragged.
He looked this way.
"How far did we move?"
"About 30 km."
"Let's... keep going."
After moving five times in succession after that, the Commander's condition worsened noticeably.
"We've arrived. Just rest for a bit."
While the Commander sat on the ground and rested, Oscar looked around.
True to being a cold northern city, Pervache's scenery was similar to Vince's.
If there was one difference, it was that the city walls here weren't very high.
'It's not the final line of defense anyway.'
In the northern part of the Empire, there are three large cities that play the same role as Vince.
[Proofreader - Gun]
One of them was 'Starfall', located further north from here.
'Is there any useful information?'
Oscar spread his hand open.
"Wind Archive."
He grabbed the summoned book and commanded.
"Summarize the five most mentioned stories in this city today."
Fliiiip!
As the book opened, the wind emitting from it flowed in all directions.
Perhaps about 20 minutes had passed; the scattered winds returned, each carrying a single sentence.
Scribble scribble, scribble.
The desired information was engraved on the blank page.
-Imperial Family to pay a bounty of 1 billion bells upon the capture or kill of the Violet Brigade Commander.
-Search parties expanded throughout the entire North. Notice for additional personnel recruitment posted in the Mercenary Guild as well.
-Unidentified battle traces discovered in the Shadow Forest of the North.
As expected, there were only stories regarding the Imperial Family and the Commander.
These were contents he had expected to some extent.
So, feeling rather more relieved, he skimmed through the following sentences.
-Northern fortress city Starfall, external communications cut off since this morning.
-In response to pouring complaints, the Yellow Tower announces they will restore the communication failure as quickly as possible.
"...Hmm?"
Did the mana communication on Starfall's end go dead?
Oscar nodded as if it were no big deal.
It wasn't just a day or two that the Yellow Tower bastards had only paid attention to the capital and other major cities.
'Still, if it's a city the size of Starfall, the Imperial Family should be sensitive about it, right?'
The Empire is currently an armistice nation.
Meaning, places like Vince and Starfall, which are the foremost defense lines, must be able to be contacted in real time.
If the Yellow Tower couldn't even manage that much, the Imperial Family would ruthlessly strip away their monopoly on the communication business.
"Phew. I feel a bit more alive."
The Commander, whose bulging veins had subsided, approached with a slightly more relaxed face.
He looked at the book Oscar was holding and asked.
"Any useful information?"
"Hm? Well, just talks about the world chasing you. And there's one more thing."
Oscar explained about Starfall's communication failure.
"Hmm, how about asking the Emperor regarding that matter?"
"His Majesty?"
Oscar, pondering for a moment, nodded.
He had to share their current location anyway, along with the information that he had safely rescued the Commander.
"Hold on."
Taking out a communicator, Oscar infused it with mana.
Beep— Beep—
But the communicator only let out a regular beeping sound and didn't connect.
Checking the communicator, Oscar muttered.
"It seems like not just Starfall, but the communication networks across this entire northern region have gone down."
"That's a bit strange. Is it not working at all?"
"Yeah, it looks like communication is impossible for now. However, just sending a message should be possible."
As he continued to try, a signal finally went through for barely a few seconds.
A moment later, the sound of connecting with the other party was heard.
-Bzzzt... bzzt... scar. Where.
"Hello?"
Oscar replied, stealing a quick glance at the Commander.
"The connection seems bad right now, so I'll keep it brief. I've safely rescued the Commander, and we are currently heading to the Imperial Family's safe house in Pervache."
-...Bzzzt, bzzt.
"Hello?"
It felt as if the voice was being muffled even more because of the piercingly cold wind unique to the northern region.
As Oscar concentrated mana into both his ears, Mister Emperor's voice could be heard intermittently.
-...Bzzzt. North...
"Yes, that's right. Our current location is Pervache in the North."
-...Bzzt, bzzzt. Combat... dangerous...
At the continued words, Oscar nodded his head.
"Yes, combat inside the city is dangerous, so we will avoid it as much as possible."
-Click.
Beep— Beep—
Oscar frowned at the communication that had been cut off again.
"Tsk, those Yellow Tower bastards. Receiving all that support from the Imperial Family, yet this is their communication quality."
"Is it okay?"
"Yeah, since the report is done. It should be restored by tomorrow at the latest. Let's move to the safe house."
Under the cover of the dawn's darkness, the two moved, weaving through the alleyways of the city.
"It's here."
"For an Imperial safe house, it's too... shabby. There's even dust piled up."
The Commander frowned in the alleyway between the dilapidated old buildings.
Just as he said, the door, which looked like it hadn't been opened in a long time, was even rusted.
"That just means it's that much of a secret location. Now, let's go in."
"Do you have a key or something?"
"It can be opened with a specific mana code. I've memorized the code value in advance, of course."
The moment Oscar, having quickly entered the mana code, grabbed the doorknob.
Waaaaail—!
A loud emergency alarm began to ring.
Flustered by this, Oscar stuttered an excuse.
"N-no. I'm certain this is the right mana code, though?"
"Oscar."
Shh. At the Commander's gesture of covering his lips with his index finger, he lowered his voice.
A moment later, the Commander, having perked up both ears, raised his head and muttered.
"This alarm isn't coming from this building."
Waaaaail—!
That alarm ringing loudly enough to pierce the ears, was a sound ringing throughout the entire city.
[Proofreader - Gun]

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