Lilia's Tale

Chapter 83: Mission

"An extremely important mission...And you want me to follow them?"

"That is right," he answered. "Are you ready to hear it?"

"I don't have a choice but to join it after all, so sure."

"Considering what we know about what happened yesterday, it is very likely that there is some kind of spy in the capital. The person that opened the portal. They might have flown away, however, so there is no guarantee that they'll be inside the city. As such, we will be checking the nearby forest as well, just in case. That is where you come in. Thanks to your ability to summon large amounts of goblins, you will be scouring the forest in order to verify that there is no demon stationed inside it."

"That makes sense. What about those three guys?"

"They will be checking inside the city instead."

"Yeah, that makes sense. Fine. When do we get started?"

"Now. Good luck, guys. If you find anything, report to me immediately."

"Yes, sir!" I said in a military tone.

"I will ask the questions I have for you after you're done scouring the place."

All four of us then left the castle, silently. They started talking as we exited.

"Do we have any idea on what the demon looks like?"

"Not at all. For all we know, if he's inside the city, he'll look human."

"At least if he's inside the forest we'll know it's him. I hope there aren't any adventurers in there, though."

"Should I make sure my goblins try to attack whoever they find to check whether they're adventurers or the target?"

"That might be a bit too much," Souji replied. "If you start attacking everyone you see, we'll have a goblin outbreak notice."

"Ugh. I don't need any more problems with the Guild because of my summons."

"Exactly. So, unfortunately, we don't really have any clues. Let's scour the place as we can and report to the General what we find, even if it's basically nothing."

We all nodded and went our separate way. Riogh took me all the way until the exit to the capital. It was the first time I was there, and I was taken aback by the grandeur of it. The doors were gigantic, very well designed, but also closed and guarded by four imperial knights.

We approached them and talked to them to explain our mission. They seemed to understand and opened the gates a little for me to exit. Riogh stayed inside as he still had work to do in the city, so I was left to my own devices outside. I was told to talk to the four other guards that stood outside if I had to go back in.

The road in front of the gate was surprisingly well build. It was paved, just like everything else in the city, unlike the dirt roads I had seen until now. The road itself was pretty large as well, with rope barriers on the sides. Probably to prevent people from going into the forest. that was on both sides of the road.

I wasn't sure, so I asked the guards how to go into the forest normally, and they told me to simply walk through the rope fences. They're here to stop people from going in there out of curiosity rather than stop much from going in.

I nodded and headed towards the left forest. Unsure on how large it was, I summoned around thirty goblins and ordered them to dispatch and spread themselves into the forest. I then went to the other side and did the same.

Once that was done, I waited near the entrance. The guards were confused as to what I was doing and asked.

"I have an order from the General to check the forest, so I'm doing that."