Garudeina Oukoku Koukoku Ki Volume 5 Chapter 6

“Sure is chilly…..”

Right now, Georg had marched quite a bit north of the Great Gardina Forest, to the land belonging to the empire.

Although he hadn't felt it immediately when he left, as soon as he crossed over one of the mountains, it instantly became cold. Luckily, the cold had no effect on his body.

“Guess I’ll see if I can find a city….And from there, if I can establish the foundation for connecting to some of the influential people there….”

He felt somewhat guilty over how he'd left his sister and subordinates in Gardina, yet he would also be a little regretful if he returned back without achieving anything.

Rather, he still recalled the heaps of scolding his beloved sister had given him the last time he had flown all the way south, only to play around before leaving.

Georg jumped up from the ground using wind magic and danced in the sky.

As he did so, he held onto the small antic.i.p.ation he had towards this new region.

“Hum… it’s fairly large, huh….”

After flying for a while, he discovered a city that seemed a bit larger than the city of Nidea. Possibly because it was considerably north, the area was covered with a light blanket of snow.

“Well now….I could enter the city, but if things turn out like Nidea……”

At that time, he had appeared right in front of them and pushed his way in using sheer force. If he did the same thing in this city, there was no guarantee that it wouldn’t lead to a panic. He didn’t know anything before, but now he was gradually becoming aware that there were occasions when he needed to be cautious of things.

“Should I wait until night…..?”

He decided to invade from the sky at night. And if it became too hard to see, it might be more effective to use light magic to camouflage himself.. Any deception should wait until the moment he landed in the city.

Thus, Georg landed in a suitable place a bit away from both the city and highway, and he decided to take a breather.

~~ That Night ~~

“Okay, let's get going.”

Georg flew with wind magic, then used light magic to change his body into a black color, reducing his visibility against the night sky  (as one might expect, making himself vanish like the stealth mechanic of a certain infiltration game, turned out to be quite difficult).) Then he headed towards the sky above the city. He was looking for someplace deserted, like a back street.

Before long, he spotted a place where it seemed people rarely pa.s.sed through, and landed there.

“……Or should I say that there’s hardly anyone here.”

Even when he looked out to the center of the city, the number of people was very spa.r.s.e. Maybe it was because of the cold or possibly there was another factor; in any case, he couldn’t reach a conclusion.

Thinking that it would be pointless to just keep standing here, Georg began walking again. He was looking for either a large-ish trading company or a mansion that looked like a home for an influential person. Yet, he would have no complaints if he met an inconspicuous lord, but that would require actually meeting one.

“Since guards might come after me, it would be much easier to go with merchants, right…..”

People like feudal lords and persons of influence were generally accompanied by regional soldiers and their own personal guards. On the other hand, trading firms and such weren’t supposed to do things like curtly drive away potential customers. If he were to be driven away, then this time, Georg would rather obediently withdraw.

What he was doing now was, at most, a simple reconnaissance, though he hoped that to Ferris, this would work as a flawless excuse….er, reason for coming here. If he could at least get a result where he wouldn’t be accused of running away after getting fed up with work, then she wouldn’t be able to say any complaints, regardless of her dissatisfaction.

“…..Though it looks like recently, she’s been in charge of finding me…”

Whispering that as he walked, Georg spotted a building that looked like a large trading company with its lights still on. On its signboard, 'Kartsev Company' was written.

“…..Guess I’ll start with this one.”

Since the city still hadn't reached the point of gathering demi-humans in earnest, he only wanted to seek out 2-3 places around the area.

Georg decided that this would be the first place and immediately went inside.

“I didn't have any particularly achievement-like achievements, hum….”

The next day, he went around to several companies after that, but all of them didn’t match what he was looking for. There didn’t seem to be any economic problems, but perhaps he should say that the problem lied in their humanity, as they gave off the feeling that not a single one of them could be trusted in any way.

After seeing the craftsmans.h.i.+p on the gold and learning of Georg’s true form, they had greedy smiles, grovelling behavior, blatant flattery, and on top of all that, they tried to hand over bribes. If you were to compare this to Georg’s trust in Ed, they all looked inferior.

“Well, it's one of the necessary skills for a merchant…”

But bribes were no good. Aah, them showing that they can bring out a bag stuffed with gold coins without any hesitation meant that they had financial power. But at the same time, he further comprehended the existence of this truth: a city was built upon bribes.

“If there were merchants like Ed, then they would have come up with something, I’d hope…”

Georg recalled the capable merchants who were now far away as he flew through the sky, lonely.

That feeling came just as Georg changed his pace, choosing a different route for his way back. However, at that moment, he didn’t know that it would cause quite a fuss.

“Oou!!”

Just then, he had been flying above the vast forest located at the foot of a tall mountain whose summit was covered with snow.

“An arrow of ice….? …Wha? Wai…..there’s so many of them!!”

All of a sudden, countless arrows made of ice came flying out from the forest, and Georg was right there, negating them with fire magic.

“Rather, what the heck is with them, reaching up this high….and they’re still coming!!”

George was flying meticulously, reaching an alt.i.tude roughly of 300m high. That was apparently the result granted to him through wind magic.

“On top of their magical accuracy and power, their eyes are also better….they aren’t human, are they?”

In the first place, humans, who were weak in magic, weren’t supposed to be able to do such feats.

“Watch…it…..Give me a break. I’m starting to get irritated…”

No matter how much he concentrated on dodging, there was an infinite amount of ice arrows flying. Georg concluded that there would be no end to this and decided to go on the offensive.

“I don’t know who you are or where you’re from….just you wait…..I’m coming for you!!”

He released his wind magic, and for the first time in a while, he transformed into his dragon form and nose dived towards the forest below him.