Foreigner Volume 9, Chapter 191

Volume 9 Chapter 191, Demonic Dragon ~ 06

　The Immortal Retainer (change from Immortal Family), led by the Immortal King, is a special group of beings who are abhorred by all living things.

　Although classified as a demon race, many scholars claim that they are a separate race from the demon race, being different from the six races of humans, elves, dwarves, aquatic creatures, and beasts.

　Although the Immortal King is at the top, they do not unite their retainer. In the first place, the Immortal King is a being transformed from a living being into their retainer. The king of immortals is different from the general Immortal Retainer that is generated by the negative power of a corpse.

　However, the king's body is capable of forcing their retainers to be subject to them unilaterally, and in that sense, they are considered to be different. In addition, the middle class and above do not like to be grouped together.

　They all have one thing in common: they have no life span and prey on living things. It is not known why they attack living things, however, as the life force they feed on does not become vitality. It is said that the beings attacked and killed by Immortal Retainers tend to become Immortal Retainers as well, and one theory is that they do this in order to increase their number of companions, but the truth remains unknown.

　Aside from the Immortal King, the beings below them are Vampires.

　However, there are three levels of vampires: the True Ancestors, the High Vampires, and the Low Vampires. The true ancestors are fearsome beings who use sorcery other than Holy ― some even advanced ＝ and have about 1000 soul.

　The High Vampires are the ones whose blood has been sucked by the True Ancestors and who have become their retainers. They are intelligent but have only half the abilities of the True Ancestor.

　The Low Vampires, who are sucked by the High Vampires and become their retainers, have almost no intelligence and look human-like.

　Both of them are vulnerable to sunlight, with the High Vampires burning and the Low Vampires turning to ash, but when they become True Ancestors, they also have the durability to withstand sunlight. The Immortal King's abilities are halved, but the conditions are the same for the True Ancestor.

　The bat hanging from a tree in the garden of the Viscount Maylander's mansion in the Sorcery city of Ares is a beautiful, Immortal Retainer called Yuki, who was ordered by her Lord to investigate the situation.

　She is a True Ancestor.

　However, she is a little different from ordinary True Ancestors.

　It is known that each vampire of a higher rank is caused by blood being sucked by a vampire of the rank above it, but it has not been determined how a true ancestor is caused. It is said that a human or an elf with a certain amount of soul becomes a True Ancestor as a result of having a strong attachment to this world, but the truth is a mystery.

　However, her birth is clear.

　It is because she was artificially created by her Lord.

　The True Ancestor that was created by the Lord to assist his own research. That is her.

　Yuki is currently in trouble.

(This is ...... weakened, isn't it?)

　After learning the name Sheryl Maylander, Yuki was trying to make some kind of breakthrough by contacting Maylander's family members, even if it was not possible to make direct contact with her.

　I've heard that Sheryl herself is difficult, but Viscount Maylander is mediocre, and I've thought of a few tricks, such as using 【Charm】 on her family―but so far, they've been crushed at every turn.　

　This is because the viscount himself rarely leaves the mansion, and his household members have only minimal contact with him, and they are always in a three-man team.

　The art of 【Charm】 is, as the name implies, the art of making one's partner a prisoner of one's own. Although at first glance it seems to be a convenient art, the duration is short (about 4 minutes), and it does not completely take away the opponent's rationality, so it is not possible to obtain sensitive information. However, it is possible to 【Charm】 a person and prevents him or her from resisting by using arts such as 【Truth/False Judgment】 and 【Mind Reading】, so it depends on how you do it. There is another advanced forbidden art called 【Brainwashing】, but its formulas are more difficult and it is not easily used.

　However, the trouble is that both 【Charm】 and 【Brainwashing】 are individual arts. It is extremely difficult to control several people at the same time.

　The family members seem to have been strictly instructed to always act in pairs, and time just kept passing by without Yuki finding any opportunity to take advantage of them. With two people, there may be an opening, but with three or more, it is not so easy. Moreover, the family members seem to be strongly told and have very little contact with other family members.

　I think it is wrong to say that the head of the family is mediocre―Yuki thinks. For no ordinary man could have been so vigilant, and no man could have been so trusting of his family that they would listen to his orders.

(This is getting us nowhere.)

　Yuki finally gave up on investigating Viscount Maylander's family directly, because of the needless vigilance that even the family members were subjected to.

　For example, she could have killed two of the three men and obtained information from the remaining one, but she is not allowed to do so by her Lord.

　There are a good number of nobles who visit Viscount Maylander's residence. The reason why there are so many for a single viscount is probably because they are seeking to contact Sheryl Maylander, who is said to be connected to Satoru.

　However, so far there seems to be no successful contact. She looks at the nobleman who is still coming out with his shoulders down and decides to follow him for the time being.

　A small bat hangs at the end of the luxurious carriage that has started to run. A bat with earrings hanging from its ears ― it's an odd presence, but nothing to be concerned about. The bat is not that rare as a sorcerer's familiar, and the earrings are also covered with a 【Distraction】 art.

　As the horse-drawn carriage rocked through the rattling rows of nobles' residences, Yuki glanced at one of the residences. The crest on the gate was familiar.

(Come to think of it, this emblem is the emblem of the previous High Mentor――)

　The mansion, surrounded by a high brick wall, was still in good condition. The former residence of the sorcerer, who was for a long time the High Mentor of the Academy of the Wise, and who is believed to have died at the hands of the "Foreigner" Satoru.

(There may be something left.).

　A bat flapped its wings from the carriage.

　Honestly, she did not have high expectations. However, as soon as the carriage entered the mansion's premises, Yuki, who is a True Ancestor, was horrified.

「......What?」

　Huddled in the shade of a large tree, she broke out of her 【Mimicry】. The naked body of a beautiful, pale-skinned woman appeared in the shade of the tree.

　The bat's throat is not suitable for pronouncing sorcery, and only a small amount of sorcery can be used. Normally, she would be able to perform intelligence work while still a bat, but that would be dangerous ― her intuition was correct.

「A winged lion (Gryphon)!? Why is it here!?」

　Yuki was surprised to find that her intuition was correct when she saw the large beast tribe moving toward her with a high-pitched roar. Perhaps the large beast in the sky had noticed the intrusion from the moment she entered the mansion's grounds.

　As soon as Yuki twisted around, a sharp claw struck the spot where she had just been.

「『Flame Wall』!」

　Reflexively use magic to surpass―the large predator was engulfed in flames and let out a deafening squeal.

　Beast tribes other than fire-controlling types fear fire as an instinct. The current art may have only caused a little damage, but it is not inherently wrong as a way to deal with the beast tribe. But Yuki realized that she had failed.

「Tsk!」

　A wall of flames rose up on the grounds of the mansion, which should have been empty. It was as if to indicate that there had been a trespasser with her own hands. With a flap of its wings, the Gryphon rose into the air. Not only that, but she can also see several security golems heading toward her.

　There would be no problem if she was just going to exterminate them. But Yuki is not here to fight. With her eyes fixed on the Gryphon floating in the air, Yuki grits her teeth and decides to retreat.

「『Transfer」』

　The Gryphon, seeing that the insolent intruder had suddenly disappeared, raised its voice sharply again. After a quick look around and confirming that the intruder had not appeared, it slowly lowers its large frame to the ground.

「Javi!」

　The voice of the woman who is the proud master of the sky beast tribe rang out. With a sweet voice, the Gryphon, Javi, looks at its current master, who seems to have arrived in a hurry.

「Burns ...... intruder, huh? Are you all right?」

　While stroking Javi's neck as it came up to her face, she check the state of its injuries. Its wings are burnt, not a serious injury, but it is a fair amount of damage.

　Sheryl looked at the marks from the fire art the intruder must have used. It was probably a 【Flame Wall】, but it felt a little strange.

「Sheryl-sama」

　It was Derek who rushed to the scene. Sheryl and Derek are the only ones who can fight in this house. The old man who works in the kitchen could use some help, but he is too old to be counted on as a fighting force.

「Derek, I'm sorry. Could you please go get me a tight-lipped practitioner who can use the Holy Arts?」

「Understood. Intruders?」

「Looks like it.......I don't even know what they are, but apparently, they're difficult.」

　How can you know that if you haven't seen it? Sheryl points her finger at Javi's slightly charred shoulder area at the look on Derek's face.

「They can hurt Javi and get away with it, you know? Can you do that?」

「That's a bit impossible」

　Derek quickly turned his head to the side. It is said that it is reckless for a man to fight a Gryphon of the Javi class. It would take five or six high-level knight-class men to fight them on equal footing.

　The church would probably not be able to perform a 【Healing】 art on a Gryphon. There are many clandestine Holy Art practitioners here and there for such occasions. Derek is an old and powerful man, so he must have connections.

　But still ― Sheryl chuckled to herself as she stroked Javi's neck, trying not to touch its wounds.

「That's not the only reason why I thought they were a difficult opponent. ......」

　Sheryl, herself is a gifted and recognized sorcerer. Her greatest strength is in the mental system, and she has graduated from the intermediate level and has a foot in the door at the advanced level.

　In other words, as was the case with Satoru, she can sense magical tremors. The moment Sheryl heard Javi's warning cry, she immediately grabbed her weapon and went to the scene, but on the way, she felt a faint magical tremor.

　It was so small that it did not even affect the surrounding houses.

　A magical tremor is a fluctuation that occurs when more than 500 magic powers are used at once. The tremor she felt was probably somewhere around 500, but even in this Sorcery city where the Academy of the Wise is located, there are not so many practitioners who can cause a magical tremor.

　The fact that she was dealing with practitioners who could cause such a magical tremor―Sheryl embraced her own arm as she felt a chilling sensation.

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