Chapter 193
I asked Eric,
“What concerns are you talking about?”
“Before we get into that, I would like to move to someplace different…”
“Alright . ”
Eric would only say that if it was very important confidential information .
It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Shia, Philly, and Serulis .
But just knowing things could put them in danger .
So he was being considerate .
Just as we got up to leave…
“Mister Goran is still eating . We’ll leave the room instead . ”
“Sorry . That might be better . ”
Philly, Tama, Shia, Serulis and my apprentices all left the dining room .
“Cluck . ”
Lord Gerberga stayed in the dining room . He boldly poked his head out from my shirt .
“Groof?”
Grulf looked like he couldn’t decide whether he should follow Serulis and the others or stay .
“You can do whatever you like, Grulf . ”
“Groof!”
He wagged his tail happily and put his chin on my knee .
Once Eric saw that the others were gone, he began to talk .
“What I am most wary of is the timing of the enemy’s attacks . ”
Not much time had really passed between making the decision to attack their main base and actually attacking it .
However, the enemy had countered with a savage attack on the water dragon settlement .
If that was all, then they could surmise that the enemy had their forces hiding somewhere near the settlement .
After all, the water dragon settlement had been their goal all along .
So that would not have been strange .
“The problem is that they attacked the royal capital at the same time . ”
“That’s true, but… It was just a Vampire Lord leading a team of archs and lessers, right?”
Goran said cautiously .
“As there weren’t any High Lords, evil dragons or magic machines, it clearly wasn’t their main fighting force . ”
“Yes, you are right, Goran . They would only need one communication bracelet to be able to do it . ”
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Like Goran, I did not think it was so serious .
It didn’t seem that strange that they would have had some dark ones stationed near the city .
Of course, I and Eric and Goran were all thinking that the enemy had kept some of their fighting force nearby .
An ambush would have been possible if they had something to communicate with .
After all, these enemies had magic items that could break through the divine barrier . Those were among the rarest of items .
It would not be hard to acquire a communication bracelet since they were even sold in stores .
“It’s normal for you two to think like that . However, you are both wrong . ”
Goran and I waited in silence for Eric to continue .
“At first, I thought just the same as you two . However, the timing was different . The attack on the royal capital began before you did the Meteor Strike, Locke . ”
“Hmm? What do you mean?”
Goran looked confused . And so I explained it to him .
“It means that the dark ones knew that we were going to attack them . ”
“What? But surely there was not enough time for them to find out beforehand?”
We were all aware that there was an informer within the palace .
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The privy council was investigating it, but nothing had become certain yet .
And so, we had decided that it would be best to act quickly .
“Let’s think back on the moment we started to plan to attack the actual attack . ”
“Yes . ”
We tried our hardest to think back .
First, Serulis and the others had brought back information about the main base .
And then Dorgo and Eric were alerted with the communication bracelets and we gathered together at the water dragon settlement .
We prepared in a hurry and then went out to attack .
“I don’t know when the information could have leaked . ”
“…Maybe it was the beastkin wolves?”
Eric immediately shook his head at this suggestion from Goran .
“No, it couldn’t be . Vampires are their mortal enemies . It would be impossible for one of them to leak information to the vampires . ”
They would probably rather die than help vampires . That’s how they were like .
Not only that, but the beastkin wolves were immune to Charm and Hypnosis .
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“Of course, I know that . Informants, Hypnosis, Charm . It’s all impossible . But informants aren’t the only way that information can leak . ”
“Are you suggesting that they’ve been spied upon?”
“Aye, I am . ”
“Indeed, vampires above arch vampires are able to turn invisible… Locke, do you think it’s possible that they were watching the beastkin wolves like that?”
“It’s hard to believe . The beastkin wolves have a sharp sense of smell . Besides, those kinds of vampire illusions usually don’t work on them . ”
But Goran shook his head .
“That’s not what I mean . The beastkin wolves can tell who is a thrall, but they cannot tell if someone has been charmed . ”
“…That’s true . ”
“And it’s not as if the beastkin live completely independently, right? They have to trade with outsiders, such as merchants . ”
Goran seemed to think there was a possibility that a merchant from the outside had been charmed .
“But could some merchant from the outside really get information about the attack?”
“It does not seem very likely . But it’s not impossible, either . ”
Goran was right . It wasn’t impossible .
Eric said,
“Locke . Why don’t you go to the beastkin settlement and investigate? I know it’s a lot of trouble… But I hope you can do it . ”
It really, really was a troublesome job that I didn’t want to do . That’s what I thought .