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Chapter 13.

Denburg succeeded in escaping the forest.

When the pursuit squad returned to the village later, Hestia tried to find out what had allowed Denburg to escape. Although she was told that he had sent a fake letter to Gawain to thin out the encirclement, there were two factors that she couldn’t understand. First, how did he know where the third warrior division was located, and second, how did he arrive at the edge of the encirclement faster than she had anticipated?

The answer was in the stack of messages that had been exchanged between the pursuit team and headquarters. Denburg had taken advantage of the fact that Hestia and the pursuit squad had been using messenger hawks to exchange information. He had intercepted some of the messages after he had crossed the rift and when the encirclement was beginning to take shape.

This meant that he had been aware of her plan and strategy all along.

Since when had he known? Since when did Denburg have the opportunity to intercept messenger hawks?

After pondering for a while, she arrived at the answer.

After he had crossed the rift, she had moved her forces in a particular way to force him to move in a certain direction, towards the seventh campsite. Only then had she assembled the entire pursuit squad at the seventh campsite.

That was the only time when Denburg had the opportunity to see her messages. Because unlike before, at that point in time, even if he had known of her plan and intention, he would have had no choice but to move according to her plan. Besides, the direction she had planned out had corresponded with the path that he had to take to leave the forest in the shortest period of time.

Denburg had gradually changed the lines on the map Hestia had sent to the outskirts of the forest and had included locations where it was difficult to position troops. The maps he changed never reached her because the pursuit team had to read the maps she sent.

When he had realized this crucial point, rather than killing the messenger hawk that would arouse her attention, he had decided to use it to his advantage. As such, he paved an escape route for himself by moving according to her plan.

All this time, the pursuit team had been following Denburg’s orders, not Hestia’s. Of course, since he couldn’t copy her handwriting, the only things he could touch were points or lines drawn on the map. Nonetheless, by using the map, he thinned out a section in the encirclement and penetrated it by confusing the pursuers with false messages.

Hahaha!

It was her fault! Hestia reprimanded herself.

She had no excuse for this mistake since she had been checkmated hard. Forgetting the fact that Denburg could fly and intercept the hawks was a painful oversight. To think that his escape route and the messenger hawk’s path aligned with each other, she should have realized that fact sooner.

Hestia’s plan had a flaw—she had assumed that Denburg had been driven into a corner.

Anyhow, Doomstone was furious at the news that Denburg had escaped successfully. Due to this, Gallahad and Gawain were forced to receive Denburg’s punishment in his stead.

Gallahad shouted as he got spanked.

"Why aren’t you also hitting Leisha?"

Leisha turned pale at her brother’s cry.

Hestia clicked her tongue as she thought to herself, ’Brother, you’re trying to get Leisha killed.’

"Do you think that someone who can’t use magic freely in the forest should be punished on par with those who had no problem swinging their swords? Still, since it’s true that you lost Denburg outside the forest, Leisha, you should go kneel with your arms raised."

It was a valid point and a reasonable punishment.

"—Ok."

With a relieved yet gloomy face, Leisha went to the corner of the room and knelt with her arms raised high.

"Well then... what about Hestia?"

Oh my God! How could you target me, the weakest person in the village? Hestia was astonished.

"Ah, ah, ah, I feel dizzy—”

Hestia, who was standing next to Doomstone, gently lied down on the sofa while touching her forehead with the back of her hand.

When he saw Hestia acting like this, Doomstone became even more furious.

"How could you try to shift the blame to your sister like that? You’re asking for more punishment!"

"Fa... Father? Ahh! Ahh! Ahh!"

Along with the sound of being spanked, Gallahad’s shriek rang across the room.

Hestia thought that Gallahad got what he deserved after he tried to drag her along with him into this mess.

After a while of spankings, it was now Gawain’s turn.

"Come here."

Spank!

"Ugh!"

Spank!?

"Ugh."

Due to his pride, although Gawain did not scream like Gallahad, muffled sounds still leaked out of his mouth. Perhaps because he was more silent, he received fewer hits than his brother.

Gallahad looked unhappy, so Hestia wished her brother would learn that if he stayed quiet, the punishment wouldn’t last as long.

"Phew-."

Doomstone sighed as he sat down on his work chair. He then asked his oldest daughter, "Hestia, do you think we can get a hold of Denburg again?"

Hestia shook her head. "Father, I don’t think it will be possible. Even Elder Mirpa said to give up after hearing Leisha’s story."

Doomstone turned sullen.

"To be honest, I didn’t think magic could be that strong. Other than Elder Mirpa or Denburg, the other magicians in the village can be helpful when improving the quality of life in the village but are pretty useless when hunting for demons."

Doomstone’s words were correct.

"But Father, if you didn’t know before, why did you decide on Denburg as your successor?"

Doomstone answered Hestia’s question without hesitation.

"Because when he was only twelve, he caught a dragon without any help."

"What?!"

Everybody in the room was astonished. Despite assisting her father almost every single day, it was Hestia’s first time hearing about this. And Gallahad and Gawain, having gained adulthood for 4 and 5 years, still did not dare catch a dragon alone and usually went hunting with 3 or 4 of their most trusted companions.

If it had been anyone other than Doomstone to have spoken these words, they would have already lost their cool at the person trying to lie to them.

Only now did it dawn upon Hestia why the elders had accepted the succession without any complaints. Come to think of it, it now made sense why her father had been so confident that Denburg could catch a demon that was comparable to a dragon.

Hestia took a small breath to calm herself down and continued to speak. "Denburg’s skill in swordsmanship is currently lower than Gawain’s, and his strength is lacking compared to Gallahad’s, so it must have been even more lacking when he caught the dragon, right?"

"Well, yes, you’re right. Back then, Denburg fought with both magic and martial arts."

"That’s not possible!" Leisha, who had been quietly kneeling with her arms raised, suddenly shouted.

"What is not possible?"

When Gallahad asked, Leisha rapidly replied.

"Using magic and martial arts at the same time could twist the magic power inside and kill you!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Listen carefully. Magic is the act of releasing and controlling magic power. In contrast, martial arts lock magic power inside the body to circulate it. Unless you have two brains, using both of them simultaneously will twist the magic power inside you and you could end up dead."

"But releasing sword aura also emits magic power, but you have no problem using it along with martial arts," Gawain said.

"Magic and sword aura are different. Sword aura releases magic power while thinking of the sword as a part of the body, so magic power returns to the body again. In other words, you are performing martial arts while considering the sword as an extension of your arm. That’s why the loss of magic power is low when you use sword aura. But magic innately releases magic power outside your body then attempts to control it. It’s fundamentally different from martial arts."

“—”

Hestia was convinced that she was the only one in the room who understood Leisha’s explanation.

"Let’s move on since it’s not important."

Leisha seemed to want to cry out that this was very significant, but whatever she wanted to say did not mean anything since Denburg wasn’t here.

"Since he was good with magic even back then, he’s most likely much more proficient at it now. Leisha, when you used magic outside the forest, how much did your efficiency increase?"

Leisha replied with her arms still raised. "Hmm, around tenfold? Since the magic I cast outside the forest contained power similar to spells cast by Teacher inside the village."

"Then can I assume that Denburg becomes ten times stronger outside the forest?"

Gawain and Gallahad were terrified by Hestia’s question.

Someone who could defeat dragons at the age of twelve had now become ten times stronger! If Denburg became older, he would really be a reincarnation of Doomstone.

"No, Denburg was able to freely use magic in the forest. The higher your level of achievement in magic, the more powerful it becomes.”

"So?"

"I’m not exactly sure, but he might be around 100 times stronger?"

"Hkk..."

Gawain and Gallahad groaned at Leisha’s words. It was no different from saying that no one could deal with Denburg other than Doomstone.

"Father, what do you think about the conclusion that you’re the only one who can catch Denburg outside the forest?"

"It will be difficult for me to go catch him."

Not surprisingly, the conclusion was that it would be difficult for Doomstone to go catch Denburg.

Doomstone was treated as a natural disaster by countries outside the village. Simply put, if he were to go outside the village, it was inevitable that he would be constantly observed and monitored by numerous countries. The countries he went to visit would be tossed into a state of national emergency.

Since he couldn’t go around causing a lot of diplomatic problems, it was difficult for Doomstone to go outside the village to catch Denburg.

"What should we do?" Doomstone looked at Hestia with sad eyes.

Since the tradition was to choose the strongest person as the tribe... no, the village head, it was impossible to think of anyone else other than Denburg for the position.

Hestia had thought that despite Denburg’s slight lack of power, he had been chosen as Doomstone’s next successor due to his smartness, but she had not expected such a drastic twist.

"—Since there is currently no means of capturing Denburg, the only viable option is to know his location and slowly persuade him."

"Then what should we do?"

"For now, we can send word to Uncle and ask him for help in the search. We’ll also send some people out of the village."

"How should we assign the personnel?"

"Although I wish I could go, it’s not possible since if I were to leave, we will have to stop a lot of projects that are already in process." While saying so, Hestia looked at her two brothers.

"Gallahad and Gawain are the most important forces in the village, and since they lack knowledge of the outside world, they can’t go either." She sighed.

She couldn’t even imagine what kind of accidents they would cause if they were sent.

Hestia looked at Leisha, kneeling and raising her arms with a tearful appearance.

"Since Denburg is a magician, let’s send Leisha as she understands magicians well, along with one of the most powerful warriors in the village as an escort. Additionally, let’s send someone from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with great knowledge of the outside world’s situation and their customs."

"Wait?! Me?!" Leisha stood up and cried.

Hestia nodded.

"You said you’re at a bottleneck anyway. Take this opportunity to experience the outside world and learn a thing or two from Denburg."

"Okay. Let’s send her according to that arrangement."

Doomstone’s words were the final confirmation.

"Contact us frequently. Don’t be afraid, should anything happen, the entire village will come to rescue you."

"Father, I’m more afraid of the fact that the entire village will be mobilized to go out."

Leisha, with a tearful face, gradually lowered her arms.