"Did I not tell you?"
"You didn't! It hurts!"
So I didn't tell him……
I smiled awkwardly and got the answer I expected to hear.
Thinking back, I have a feeling that I only told him my name.
I tried to cover this up with a smile, and Leo-san was like an actor with the way he retorted so vigorously.
Soon after, he was struck by Corinnsan.
"I will introduce myself again, I am the 【Saint】, Sei Takanashi."
Yup, I have mixed feelings about introducing myself as the 【Saint】.
But, does this mean that I have to introduce myself like that every time now?
If possible, I want to restrain from doing so.
I frowned inside and Leo-san looked uncomfortable before saying something that I couldn't understand, "Thank you for being thoughtful."
Corinnsan seemed shocked at Leo-san.
"That's why she can't join the mercenaries. Do you have any other questions?"
"Oh, no……"
"Then, that's enough, right? I also have business with her."
Captain-san judged that the conversation had ended and called out to Leo-san.
Even though he looked more relaxed than when he'd first arrived, he looked sterner than usual because he had a poker-face on.
I probably wasn't imagining things when I heard his voice sound a little snappy.
Leo-san must have felt the same because he decided not to say anything even though his face showed that he had something to say.
He bowed and then left.
"Well then, I guess I'll go back too."
"Huh?"
"You two have something to talk about, don't you?"
Corinnsan started briskly walking away, leaving me by myself, so I was surprised and called out to her. Then, she turned back and answered.
Ah, yes.
Captain-san said he had some kind of business with me, didn't he?
Corinnsan got that I had remembered and understood. She sighed in relief, turned around and headed towards the distillation room.
Only Captain-san and I remained.
"Are you in the middle of work?"
"Ah, no. I just finished."
I stared blankly at Corinnsan's back and then a voice called out to me from beside me.
I looked up and saw Captain-san looking at the flowerpots on the shelves.
His expression changed completely from the poker-face he had on into an apologetic one.
I quickly told him that I had finished working and he looked relieved.
"At any rate, you know the leader of the mercenaries, huh."
"Leo-san?"
"Yeah."
"I met him when he came to the distillation room to pick up some potions."
"I see."
"By the way, you said you had business with me?"
"Ah, yes. There's something I want to talk to you about. Standing here and talking is a little…… Let's move somewhere else."
I wonder what it's about.
It seems like the conversation will take a while since we're moving somewhere else.
Then, should we talk in a room somewhere?
I thought and he began to walk.
We talked about Leo-san for some reason while walking.
However, I didn't have much to say about him.
I only greet him when I see him and we would occasionally chat, but that was all.
So, I couldn't really answer even if I'm asked what I talk to him about.
When I said that we only talked about potions, Captain-san smiled.
Then, when I told him that the mercenaries complimented how highly effectively my potions were, he suddenly started laughing.
When I asked him what was wrong, he smiled and told me.
He remembered the time when potions were sold to the Knight Order.
Now that he mentioned it, the knights also reacted the same way the mercenaries had at the beginning.
I remembered that time and my mouth also drew into an arc.
Captain-san's aura also returned to normal while we were talking.
It's good that I didn't end up walking silently with just the two of us while he's edgy.
It's mentally painful to walk alone with someone while they're like that.
"He seemed really enthusiastic when he was recruiting you. Has this happened before?"
"No. This is the first time he's tried to recruit me."
"This is the first time……"
It seemed like he was thinking about something because Captain-san put his hand on his chin and looked down.
But, he probably couldn't come up with an answer because the wrinkle on his brown deepened.
"Do you have any idea why he tried to recruit you?"
"The reason why?"
It appears that he was thinking of the reason why Leo-san was recruiting me.
I already have a hunch.
"I healed the mercenaries with magic after they returned from subjugation the other day. I think it's because of that."
"With magic?"
"At first, I thought about giving them potions from the distillation room, but they said it would be a waste, so……"
I talked about what happened the other day, and the wrinkle on Captain-san's brow remained as he stared at me.
This look, it's the so-called, scornful look.
Erm, is it bad? It's bad, isn't it?
I quietly turned away from his gaze and heard a big sigh.
I'm sorry for everything.
I apologised in my mind and we reached our destination.
Captain-san lead me to the place where the knights were.
We entered Captain-san's office and I was urged to sit down on the lounge suite.
Since he brought me here, does that mean he wants to talk about the demon subjugation?
We sat down on the sofa, both let out a breath and I spoke.
"So, what did you want to talk about?"
"About the plans from here on out."
"If it's about the plans, then we'll be talking about the demon subjugation?"
"Yes, we've already completed the first stage of investigation, so we'll start the subjugation soon."
It's finally starting.
When the word "subjugation" left Captain-san's mouth, I switched to work mode.
I straightened my back.
I heard about it once before from the knights' reports, but they were still investigating the surrounding areas.
And, the investigation into those areas was completed yesterday.
After that, Captain-san told me about what he knew about the demons in this town.
The number of demons hadn't changed from the report I heard before.
There seemed to be as much as there were around the Royal Capital before.
According to the locals, there were more demons now compared to the past.
However, according to the mercenaries, they felt like the demons had decreased recently.
To be more specific, some people said that the demons have been decreasing ever since the Knight Order arrived.
They had an idea on what was causing this.
Captain-san smiled wryly and said, "It's like what happened at the Royal Capital," so all I could do was return his wry smile.
As for the number of demons, there seemed to have been a good change since we've arrived in Klaussner.
The problem lied within the quality of the demons appearing around Klaussner.
Higher-ranked demons, than what appeared at the Royal Capital, appeared in Klaussner.
Demons having a high-rank meant that they were strong.
I thought it was like a role-playing game that I played before in Japan.
In the game, stronger monsters appeared when you move away from the first town.
I wonder if stronger demons will also appear in this world the further from the Royal Capital you were.
Can't be, right……?
Leaving the jokes aside.
Even if the same amount of demons appear, the subjugation would, of course, be harder if those demons were of higher-rank.
The knights who were chosen to work at the Royal Palace were the best of the best, and there were a lot of strong people amongst them, but they've only been subjugating around the Royal Capital lately.
The demons that appeared in Klaussner were different from the ones that appeared in the Royal Capital, so they would need to change the way they fight.
Of course, it seems like Captain-san will take caution, but I think more people would get injured in this subjugation compared to when they subjugated in the Royal Capital.
There was also a limit on how many people you can heal with potions if the number of injured people increase.
That's where recovery magic comes into play.
"Then, that means I'll be joining the subjugation next time, right?"
"Sorry. There are people in the Court Mage Division participating in the subjugation this time, but not many of them can use recovery magic."
"I don't mind. I participated with the intent of doing just that."
Yes, my main job here was subjugation, making potions is a hobby.
I didn't say this out loud, but kept it in my mind.
"We searched around places that are possible to go to within a day, but didn't find the swamp in question. The demons are strong, but I don't think we'll have to deal with a lot at once like we did at the West Forest."
"The swamp in question?"
"The black swamp from the West Forest. I thought that there might be one here as well because of how fast the demons are increasing……"
I see, so they didn't find that swamp?
When I came to Klaussner, I couldn't activate the 【Saint】technique whenever I wanted, so I was honestly worried about what to do if they'd found the black swamp.
But, it was different now.
It was still a bit unrefined, but I can produce that golden magic now, so I'm a little disappointed that they didn't find a black swamp.
The number of demons around the Royal Capital decreased in an instant when I purified that black swamp.
If we found a swamp, then I thought that it was possible to solve Klaussner's problem in the same way.
The condition to activate the technique was very troublesome.
"What's wrong?"
"Huh?"
"Your face is getting a bit red, are you feeling……"
"I, it's nothing!"
I quickly shook my head.
Captain-san got even more worried, so I desperately tried to convince him that I was okay. I managed to convince him somehow.
There's no way I can explain why my face was getting red!
Translator: Blushy
Editor: Sam
Sam can’t edit right now… Hopefully he’ll be back by next week and I can release the first act of volume 3… If not…. Should I just release unedited? XD