Chapter 177: The Retaliation Commences


    <em>Why?</em>


    I wonder to myself why things turned out this way.


    Right now, I am touring therge cities in Valkyra Kingdom. We’re going around the country through Tsubaki and my teleportation magic.


    The start of this was when Sophia and the girls talked about eradicating the people who attacked me. Including Undine and the Great Spirits, our girl group apparently held an emergency meeting and decided to retaliate against the opposing force.


    Without dy, Sylph made use of her Wind Spirit retainers, Dryas asked the cooperation of the Tree Spirits, and even Gnome used his Earth Spirit retainers for intelligence gathering.


    As a result, they seemed to have identified the organization that attacked me, and Sylph says she’s sure this is probably it. When I said「No, probably won’t cut it」, she replied with 「There’s no problem being wrong with a criminal syndicate, you know.」. Watching that exchange, Sophia and the girls were of same opinion and nodding.


    And we arrive at the present. That criminal syndicate appears to have bases set up extensively in Valkyra Kingdom, Lomaria Kingdom, Samandour Kingdom, and Triaria Kingdom. Even the Spirits didn’t discover the headquarters, so they decided we would go around and crush the bases inside Valkyra Kingdom.


    This organization looks like it has extremely inhumane upations, like thievery, murder, uwful human trafficking…………. Have I been dyed by this world too? I wasn’t unsettled getting rid of them. If they are left to do as they please, good people would only meet harm. Promptly deciding what is evil ismon sense in this world, but as someone who’s beginning to ept that, I feel my views on ethics and morality as a Japanese is bing exceedingly weak. Unlike me whose body changed from my previous life, it feels like Akane, a normal high school student, is adapting much faster. Women are so resilient.


    There is a bar in the outskirts of a slum in a city in Valkyra Kingdom. This bar where no respectable person approached is one of the bases of the dark guild 『Moonlight Owl』. The dark guild Moonlight Owl is an organization that has bases all over the continent and works regardless of its legality or illegality. That was one of the bases that suddenly became the hunted.


    In the corner of an alleyway darkened by the set sun, I was asked to appraise the people entering and exiting the bar found by the Wind Spirits.


    I don’t usually appraise people. It’s not like I could just see the person’s status values even if I appraise them. I’d only be able to see the name, race, level, job, and titles of a person who doesn’t purposely show their status. Since I can’t see the skills a person possesses, I’ve never had to use it on people[1]. My appraisal is very useful on things though.


    What I found out was that everyone who entered the bar had murderer and rapist in their titles. It was definitely the gathering spot of the criminal syndicate. It’d be strange if 100% of the people in a bar are criminals, after all.


    Once it became known that everyone there was found to be guilty, Kaede soundlessly headed to the bar under the cover of darkness. Maria followed to back up Kaede. Kaede and Maria were wearing 『Overcoats of Existence Concealment』 which had two enchantments, Inhibit Perception and Enhanced Stealth skill, so if they erased their presence, they wouldn’t be discovered first.


    Inside the bar that had less than 10 people, Kaede’s threads danced soundlessly.


    The men were restrained in an instant, unable to let out even a peep. Kaede’s paralytic poison deprived their bodies of freedom.


    As a result, I shuttled the men from the bar that was dominated in less than 5 minutes by Kaede’s threads to a temporary basement built in the outskirts of Volton city.


    Sophia had said “This is surely the organization that attacked Takumi-sama, but it is necessary to investigate the background of the incident”.


    The members of the criminal syndicate that were sent to the Knight Order’s station were apparently interrogated relentlessly by the contact on Margrave Volton’s side and Sophia and the girls. As I was asked not to be near there, I worked hard in the development of the Sanctuary.


    The syndicate bases we’re going around crushing are of the dark guild called 『Moonlight Owl』, and they’re said to be thergest dark guild in the continent.


    Margrave Volton said that His Majesty wants to take this opportunity to eradicate the influence of 『Moonlight Owl』 within Valkyra Kingdom with the intention to inspect the documents like the ledgers left in the bases to crack down on the nobles andpanies involved in crimes.


    From the day we demolished the first base, all bases of the 『Moonlight Owl』in Valkyra Kingdom were destroyed within one month.


    The headquarters of 『Moonlight Owl』 in a border region of Triaria Kingdom was slow to realize the development within Valkyra Kingdom and ended up losing their position in Valkyra Kingdom.


    The boss of 『Moonlight Owl』 , unable to grasp what happened at the beginning, had sent subordinates to their bases in Valkyra Kingdom many times, but all of them had been apprehended by Valkyra Kingdom’s intelligence division whom had been monitoring the already exposed bases.


    Even so, he never thought that the impetus for all this was triggering Sophia and the girls’ wrath after Takumi was attacked.


    ***


    <b>Footnotes:</b>


    1. How could he have seen the skills of Sophia and Maria back then, then?