A few minutes later.

We climbed to the rooftop of the tallest building in the territory.

If it followed the same cycle as yesterday, the green smoke would soon begin to blow in.

The smoke was Hyran Gois itself.

Offense spoke.

“It’s best to administer the antidote after we kill Hyran.”

“Why? Wouldn’t it be better to detoxify the residents in advance?”

“Someone might get caught up in our battle and inhale the smoke again. I didn’t draw that much blood yesterday.”

I understood what he meant and asked.

“You mean it’s hard to make more?”

“Yeah.”

“I see. I feel sorry for the suffering residents, but we will administer the antidote after Hyran is dead.”

“Mm. Then let’s finish this as quickly as possible.”

“But we can’t kill him today.”

Stagger.

Maybe it was just my imagination, but Offense’s knees seemed to wobble slightly.

He straightened up and said,

“Why crush the morale of your party?”

“I’m not saying it’s because you’re not strong enough. It’s because he’s hiding.”

“He might be hiding now, but won’t he show up when the time comes? He has to spread the craving drug to the townspeople.”

“No. He won’t show up.”

I explained the conversation I’d seen yesterday through the Eye of Omniscience between Idria and Hyran.

And how Idria’s strategy was literally: ‘Hide.’

Serein tilted her head.

“‘Hide’ is the strategy?”

“It’s a very effective one.”

“But why…”

“Idria predicted we would make the antidote from Hyran’s blood. So… actually, never mind. Seeing it directly will make it clearer. It’s about time, anyway.”

Then Neril spoke up.

“It’s not time. It’s already passed.”

“Huh?”

“Looks like Hyran really isn’t going to appear. It’s already ten minutes late than when the green smoke came in yesterday.”

“How do you know that so precisely?”

“Mages have a special trick that lets them count time down to the second. We need it to practice the timing of spellcasting.”

She continued with a serious expression.

“It’s been 11 minutes and 2 seconds.”

Everyone’s expressions hardened.

But they still didn’t seem to understand what it meant.

I sighed and said,

“Look down there.”

The others cautiously peered over and surveyed the territory.

The green smoke, about 11 minutes late compared to yesterday, had already turned the territory into a living hell.

“Gaaaaaah!”

“K-Kill me. Someone please kill me.”

“Heeheehee. Ehehehehe.”

“Shit! Please, just give me that smoke! I will do anything!”

“Why is it so late today? Ahh, heavenly god…”

It was worse than what we saw yesterday.

They had started harming themselves.

Some of them looked like they would actually die if left alone.

“W-What should we do? We can’t use healing magic, right?!”

“Offense. Detoxify them.”

Offense asked seriously,

“Will it be okay? Like I said, it’s hard to make more of this.”

“It’s fine. Even if Hyran tries to hide completely, he can’t avoid Xenia’s shared sight. Let’s prioritize detoxifying the residents first..”

“Alright.”

He pulled a vial out from his coat.

I spoke to Lisel.

“This region’s pretty dry, so it won’t be easy to summon water spirits.”

“Ah, right. You really know everything, Mr. Mide.”

“Use the horn. We are short on time.”

“Got it.”

Tap.

Lisel stepped to the edge of the rooftop.

Then she took out the horn to summon spirits and blew it powerfully.

–BWOOOO!

A clear sound echoed through the hellish scene below.

For a brief moment, the suffering residents turned their gaze toward us.

“Ugh… Who is that?”

“L-Lord Mide?”

“The Hero.”

“Haah… Haah… H-Hero, please save us!”

Normally, I might have given some speech, but with a heavy heart, I simply looked toward Offense.

Offense opened the vial and carefully handed it to Lisel.

“Ask the spirits to mix this into the rainclouds.”

“Okay. One moment.”

Lisel frowned slightly, as if she had a headache.

We couldn’t see them, but the horn’s call must have filled the territory with water spirits.

Controlling them one by one wouldn’t be easy.

“Erame. Natra. Geaevarrk!”

Offense’s vial floated gently into the air.

It drifted up into the dark clouds.

And moments later…

“Hotiare!”

Rumble. Crack!

A powerful thunderclap signaled the start of a rain.

Sssshhhhhh!

Soon, the deafening sound of rain filled the air.

“Oh, Celestial God…”

“Please, bring down your shield upon us.”

Even though no one asked, Xenia and Serein cast barrier spells.

Thanks to them, not a single thread of our clothing got wet despite the heavy downpour.

I looked down and shouted. Thᴇ link to the origɪn of this information rᴇsts ɪn novel·fire·net

Quick to catch on, Neril cast a voice amplification spell.

“Everyone, drink this rain!”

“Gasp. The Hero?”

“This rain is the antidote to the filthy poison that has addicted you! Once you drink it, the withdrawal symptoms will disappear!”

“Ooooooh!”

“Once your symptoms disappear, collect as much rainwater as you can! As much as possible!”

The residents didn’t answer.

They couldn’t answer.

All of them were staring up at the sky, mouths wide open.

To someone unaware of the context, it would have looked like a comedy.

Tap.

I turned back to the group and let out a deep sigh.

“Phew.”

Xenia cautiously asked,

“Mr. Mide, what’s wrong?”

“……”

“Sure, Hyran is still alive so it’s unsettling, but still, the townsfolk have been detoxified, haven’t they?”

“He will show up again once we leave this territory. He will poison them with green smoke all over again.”

Xenia seemed to have expected that and nodded.

“Right. That’s why you told them to collect the rainwater, isn’t it?”

“Exactly.”

“With that much rain, they will have enough to detox for weeks… so, can’t we just finish our business at the starting point and come back?”

“No. We can’t leave this place.”

Everyone tilted their heads in confusion.

“Ah!”

The first to realize it was Neril.

She clicked her tongue and opened her mouth.

“So this is Idria’s strategy?”

“Most likely.”

“Damn, that’s clever.”

Adwin asked,

“Sis, what are you talking about?”

“Look down there.”

“Huh? Gasp!”

The building we were on was surrounded by the territory’s residents.

To put it more bluntly, we were encircled.

Offense, sweating nervously, spoke.

“Even in this heavy rain, their eyes look murderous.”

“Yeah.”

“Now I get it. To them, we’re their lifeline, right?”

“Exactly. The rain will eventually stop, and the water they have stored will eventually dry up.”

“……”

“To the residents, that hellish addiction and withdrawal is a inevitable future. Now that they have been detoxified once, they will never want to go back.”

As Lisel once put it, it was like a life of slavery without chains.

So what would they want?

It could only be one of two things:

‘Either kill Hyran and eliminate the root of the problem… or…’

[Don’t tell me.]

‘Yeah.’

I sighed and said,

‘Or we stay in this territory forever.’

After the rain stopped, we had an audience with the lord.

His clothes were soaked through.

Which meant that even a noble of count rank had stood in the rain, mouth open like a madman.

‘That’s how desperately he wanted to escape the addiction.’

Anyway, now that he had come to his senses, the lord cleared his throat lightly and spoke.

“Ahem. I’m sorry to meet you in such a state.”

His tone had changed to formal speech, a sign that he now recognized me thanks to the antidote incident.

I replied,

“No need to apologize.”

“Hero… hmm. May I call you Lord Mide for now?”

“Of course.”

“The antidote rain you and your companions created… its effects were extraordinary. It wasn’t just masking poison with more poison like before.”

“……”

“I could feel it with my own body. The poison is literally gone.”

I gave a small nod.

Then the lord asked with a cautious tone,

“By the way… will that green smoke come back?”

“I don’t want to lie, so I will be honest. It will come again.”

“Could it be… the reason it didn’t come today is because you’re in this territory?”

“……”

“You are called a Hero across the continent. And surely that smoke is the work of some wicked Demon King. With a Hero here, the smoke wouldn’t dare show… I think it’s a perfectly reasonable assumption.”

I scratched my head and answered,

“Well… I guess you could see it that way.”

“Ooh! As I thought!”

Grab.

The lord took my hand.

And with a desperate, pleading tone, he begged,

“Then please, I beg you, stay in this territory.”

“My lord…”

“Please, I’m begging you. What do you want? Money? Jewels? Land? Weapons? Just name it.”

Thud.

He even dropped to his knees at my feet.

To someone who had experienced that soul wrenching withdrawal, I must have looked like a literal god from the heavens.

“If you wish, I will even give you my title.”

“That’s too much…”

“I mean it. I would rather die than return to the life of a beast I lived before.”

“……”

“This isn’t just my plea.”

Tap. Clatter.

He rose from his seat and walked over to the window.

Then he pulled aside the curtains and opened it wide.

“WAAAAAA!”

“Hero! Hero, are you really there?”

“My lord, please hold onto the Hero!”

“You mustn’t let him leave! Never!!”

It was madness, a frenzy.

Trail swallowed a groan.

[This is bad. If you try to leave, they will tear you apart.]

‘I could leave. I could ride Agril and fly out, or knock them out one by one and force a path.’

[But if you do that…]

‘Yeah. My reputation will tank.’

At the very least, I’d never be called a Hero in this territory again.

No, it wouldn’t stop at just this one territory.

Fuelled by desperation, the residents would start spreading rumors: “Mide Mohan abandoned us and fled.”

And rumors like that would only make me look more like a “fake hero.”

[But you can’t give up the oracle just for this one territory.]

‘Right. If I don’t resolve this by the deadline, I will have no choice but to leave them behind.’

[…]

‘But that also means, if I solve it before the deadline, it’s all good.’

[Heh. Now that sounds like you.]

I asked Xenia,

“How much time do we have left?”

“A full day and a bit more. Roughly… 28 hours?”

“We have to find and kill Hyran in 28 hours. Start the shared sight.”

Xenia gave a determined nod, accepting the heavy burden.

She opened the window and summoned Agril.

Fwoooosh.

The wind Agril stirred slapped against my face.

Just then, commotion rose from the residents below.

“Uwaaaah!”

“N-No! He’s leaving!”

“Damn it! If you go, I’ll just bash my head in and die! I’m not joking!”

Xenia squeezed her eyes shut and forced herself to ignore their cries.

Moments later…

She dismissed Agril and returned to us.

With a very sullen face, she said,

“He’s not anywhere.”

Huh?

That’s… a bit of a problem.

“What’s the range of Agril’s vision?”

“Enough to cover this entire territory. Hyran must have left Atrium.”

“True, their plan falls apart the moment his location is exposed.”

That’s what I said, but my gut told me otherwise.

Even if he left the territory, we’d find him soon enough if we searched while flying on Agril.

They would know that too, they wouldn’t make a pointless move.

‘Hyran is definitely hiding somewhere within the territory.’

[But shared vision didn’t find him.]

‘Agril’s eyes aren’t perfect. Remember in the Avis territory, it couldn’t even find Ariena hiding in Offense’s shadow. We only found her after breaking the sorcery…’

…?

Ah!

A bolt of realization struck my head.

Wait. But… how is that even possible?

[What? Don’t keep it to yourself, share with the class.]

‘Hang on, let me gather my thoughts. Even I can’t believe it yet.’

For now, I should wrap things up here.

I turned to the lord and said,

“We will be leaving tomorrow.”

“Lord Mide!”

“Ah, please let me finish.”

I raised a hand.

“I mean, we will erase the green smoke by tomorrow.”

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