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Chapter 13.1: Night of The Festival
The sun had set by the time Reiji returned to the mansion. Dinner had already been set, but Chiyuki and the others still decided to wait for Reiji’s arrival.
「Surviving Striges huh…」
Chiyuki looked over with a cold piercing gaze towards the person sitting across the dinner table. Reiji simply ignored her gaze as he nonchalantly ate his dinner, he didn’t care about others’ ill intent, and certainly not Chiyuki’s.
Naturally Chiyuki knew about that too, she understood that Reiji was someone who didn’t truly care that much about these matters, but she at least wanted him to worry about the situation.
「Yeah, it seems that flocks of zombie goblins and orcs suddenly appeared last night, right outside the rampart. Doesn’t that mean there are surviving Striges who created them?」
Striges were a type of monster that looked like the combination of a female human and an owl. They were also the monsters that should’ve been exterminated by Chiyuki and the others around one month ago. At the time, when they had checked the Striges’ stronghold after the extermination with Nao’s ability, they had found no survivors from that group.
Right now, the only things in their stronghold should be the undead interceptors created by those Striges.
（Did those undead go out of the Striges’ tower on their own?）
Chiyuki considered this possibility.
However, she quickly dismissed the idea, the undead shouldn’t be able to move without a master’s order, and the ones who had the power to give them orders were the Striges, but they were no more. Unless, some had managed to fool Nao’s perception and survived the extermination.
All the current evidence pointed towards the Striges, they definitely are the culprits.
But, Reiji pointed out to Chiyuki and the others that the Striges were only one of the many candidates for the culprit.
「What are we going to do then?」
「Yeah, let’s defeat those Striges for the sake of this kingdom.」
Reiji flashed his usual smile as he spoke.
「Hump, for this kingdom… so this is princess Almina’s request, huh.」
Reiji nodded obediently.
（It seems Reiji went sightseeing with princess Almina when we were enjoying the hot spring. What did they do during that time?）
Chiyuki assumed that Almina requested for the zombie elimination during that time. But, she also knew that Reiji was lying to them about what he did during that time, because there was no need for them to put on a disguise just to enjoy the festival.
In short, if it was just a normal stroll, then it should’ve been known by others. Owing to his secrecy, Chiyuki could already guess what those two did. That was another reason she had sent Reiji many glares.
Though Reiji was already popular back in their world, he became even more popular after coming to this world.
Anyhow, the humans in this world were constantly under the threat of monster attacks. That’s why Reiji, who always exterminated those monsters, was a hero for this world’s humans. He saved many of them from monsters.
But, Chiyuki knew that the ones Reiji intended to save were only women. And in the end, he would always get along with those saved women.
As a result, Reiji had made so many men cry after their stolen lovers.
But, CHiyuki set that matter aside for the time being since that wasn’t their main issue.
「So, where are the Striges right now?」
「Who knows.」
Reiji raised his hands, telling them that he also had no idea.
「Good grief…」
Chiyuki massaged her temples upon hearing such an unreliable reply.
In the previous incident, the Striges really were the culprit and it was easy to locate the Striges’ nest.
But now, they didn’t even know whether the culprit was really the surviving Striges or not.
「Geez… who are we supposed to defeat when we don’t even know the culprit.」
Chiyuki muttered in frustration.
（I’m shocked that he can so easily make that kind of promise just because the other party is a princess. Well, maybe it can’t be helped since he’s the hero but, shouldn’t he at least start looking for the culprit? I hope he didn’t make any promises when we still have to deal with the Dark Knight’s matter.）
They would literally be screwed if the Dark Knight came while they were still looking for the surviving Striges.
Thus, Chiyuki was racking her brain, looking for the best way to resolve this situation.
「Well, we’ll manage it somehow.」
Reiji let out an optimistic smile.
Chiyuki glared again at Reiji.
「In that case, take this matter more seriously since this is your responsibility.」
「I’m always serious.」
Reiji replied with a languid voice.
But, Chiyuki couldn’t see him taking this matter seriously.
「But, I don’t feel like looking for the culprit behind the undead outbreak.」
But then, Reiji added an unexpected remark.
「What do you mean?」
Chiyuki asked with a surprised look on her face.
「There’s no need for us to look for them, don’t you think?」
Reiji nodded obediently.
「Why do you think so?」
「Because they’re going to come to us. That will be the best timing to resolve this situation in one swoop, including those undead.」
Chiyuki couldn’t help but agree since Reiji was right.
「Yeah, that’s the easiest way indeed…」
This was one of the rare occasions in which Chiyuki agreed with Reiji.
Though they had no idea who had created the horde of undead, it was correct to assume that they were up to something big.
This method was definitely faster than trying to look for the culprit who hid in god knows where.
（It seems Reiji is trying to imply something.）
Reiji hated mundane work such as gathering information or searching. He would rather the problem come to him rather than him going to look for it. As such, he never tried to stop an incident from happening, he moved only after it happened.
But once he made his move, the tables would turn fast.
The only issue with his method was the collateral damage that occurred since he only moved after the incident happened.
Not trying to prevent an incident, but resolving the incident as soon as it happened. That might be what made him be praised as a hero who saves the day. [ED: What is this bullsh*t?!?!?!]
「Let’s slowly take our time.」
Chiyuki thought that Reiji’s suggestion was right.
「Hey, Chiyuki-san. If it turns out that there are still Striges in that tower, then…」
Shirone suddenly interrupted Chiyuki’s train of thought.
Shirone implied that there were still living Striges in that tower.
「Well, you might be right but…」
「In that case, we just need to check that place.」
「You’re right, just to be safe, let’s check that place again.」
Chiyuki replied as if she was only half-interested in doing that.
「Such trouble… it’s a different story if we’re allowed to destroy that tower though.」
Though Reiji said such a remark, these extreme measures were possible with his power, but the aftermath would be extremely troublesome.
「If you do that, we’re going to lose the only clue that would help us find out whether there are really surviving Striges or not. Searching it properly by entering the tower is the only way.」
Chiyuki opposed Reiji’s idea since destroying the tower would only hinder their progress to search for the culprit behind the zombie outbreak. That’s why she suggested using proper means this time, searching in the tower.
But, searching inside that tower itself was really troublesome since its interior architecture was almost like a maze. If one didn’t live in the tower, they could stay lost within it for a very long time. In addition, there were numerous zombies stationed inside the tower.
As a matter of fact, the above reason was the main reason why Chiyuki didn’t insist on searching the tower.
In addition, the result for that search might be unrelated to the zombie outbreak. That’s why it was an extremely troublesome job.
It wasn’t only Reiji, even Chiyuki started to regret the fact that they didn’t just demolish the tower during their previous visit in Rox Kingdom and be done with it.
「Should I go check the tower tomorrow?」
「Are you sure, Shirone-san? I mean you should leave this matter to Nao-san with her superior perception senses.」
Shirone’s perception senses weren’t that powerful, thus Chiyuki thought that such a job was more suited to Nao with her superior senses.
Chiyuki gazed at Nao as she spoke.
But, Nao shook her head as if to say that she didn’t wish to do that job.
「C’mon, I’m just strolling for a bit since I’m itching to swing my sword too…」
「Aaah, I see…」
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TN: I’ll Take vacation next week 16th-22nd August. More details in foxaholic discord server.