The conference room in the Orsted offices.
There, I sat directly across from Orsted.
On both sides, the faces of Eris, Roxy, Sylphy, and Zanoba could be seen.
Roxy is keeping the record of proceedings.
"——Is what happened."
I gave Orsted the report of the last sequence of findings all at once.
Gisu, North God Karlmann III.
When I told him that the two of them were discovered in the Kingdom of Biheiril, he was in a good mood.
It never came from his mouth, but he had an atmosphere as if he wanted to say "Good job!"
I also continued my report in high spirits.
"…"
However, as soon as I reported that Ruijerd has been discovered, that good mood disappeared.
To put it plainly, his expression clouded.
"… Ummm, is something wrong?"
He seems kind of mad, but kind of not.
Seeming like a negative aura was overflowing, he glared at me.
After all this time, just being glared at won't cause my legs to quake.
However, if I don't know the reason, I become a little anxious.
"… In the Kingdom of Biheiril, the Ogre God[1] is also there."
Ogre God.
That reminds me, Ogre Island, where the Ogre God lives, is to the east of the Kingdom of Biheiril.
No, I didn't forget.
However, I need a confirmation.
"Didn't you say something about the Ogre God becoming an enemy easily?"
"The current generation Ogre God has been a disciple in a past loop."
I see.
Then, the chance that Gisu's location is a trap has increased.
Alternatively, Gisu's objective may be the Ogre God.
Even if we discuss that in the conference room we won't understand. Not unless we go there directly.
However, we are currently in the conference room.
Let's focus on things that can be discussed in the conference room.
"I'd like to discuss our plans from now on, that included."
"Yeah."
"For the present, we have this many materials gathered, so I don't think putting it off and not going to the Kingdom of Biheiril is an option."
For the time being, I'll present my strategy.
"There is the chance that this is a trap by Gisu, or rather Hitogami. However, we don't know when we'll have another chance to catch Gisu, who keeps running about, so this could be seen as the perfect chance. I regret not being able to call out to the Sword God, but I think I should head to the Kingdom of Biheiril. Is this okay?"
"I have no objections."
In any event, as soon as hearing of Gisu's discovery, Atofe began moving on her own.
I didn't hear what route she'll be taking, but I'm certain it will be awhile before she arrives.
One or two months, or possibly longer.
In order to meet up with her, as well as to tell the people there about her, going to the Kingdom of Biheiril is unavoidable.
"There are 4 things we need to do.
Find Gisu, and crush him.
Find North God Karlmann III, and persuade him.
Find Ruijerd, and persuade him.
Find the Ogre God, and either persuade or crush him.
In that order of priority… if that's okay with you? Orsted-sama."
"… Yeah."
Personally I'd like to meet Ruijerd before anything else, but even so the North God should be first.
As for the Ogre God, it would be easiest if Atofe ran into him when crossing the sea.
If I don't get in contact with her, that's probably what will happen.
Or rather, how should I go about contacting her?
I don't think there's any way other than the communication lithograph established at Fort Necross.
… Well, it may be better to put off thinking about that until Atofe arrives. Or rather, there may be no other option. Not having a means of emergency contact is pretty inconvenient.
"Furthermore, upon locating Gisu, if his gathered war potential is high, I'll call in for reinforcements for our side."
The enemy is in the Kingdom of Biheiril.
However, if after gathering my forces in Biheiril, if he turns out to not be there anymore[2], I'll look like the boy who cried wolf.
I'm sure it's something that happens from time to time, but trust in us will still lower.
"I don't think it'll be too late to call in reinforcements after Gisu has been discovered."
The enemy is there, and we're going to have a decisive battle.
It's better not to call in our allies until after that has been decided.
If we repeatedly discover Gisu, call in allies, let him run away, and disperse, and are unable to gather any allies when the time is right, it would be meaningless.
"For that sake, I think we should establish teleportation circles at each location for calling in reinforcements."
The Kingdom of Biheiril is a small country, but even so it has three large cities.
The capital Biheiril.
The second city Irel.
The third city Heilerul.
"In the vicinity of each of the three cities, I will set up teleportation circles."
I throw a glance at Roxy.
"The number of people who can accurately draw teleportation circles are limited, but I thought something like this might happen, and asked my great teacher to prepare a number of teleportation scrolls. Applause, please."
A thunderous applause began.
Confetti danced and fell on Roxy standing on stage.
Roxy held a mic while waving her hand to her fans from around the world gathered in the hall, and they fainted one after another.
In my mind, at least.
"Regardless of whether we do or don't discover Gisu, we'll cut off all his escape routes.
We'll send people to the neighboring countries and monitor the highways.
For this, we'll use the Rudo Mercenary Corps. here in Sharia."
Rinia and Pursena.
Aisha will also move, I'm sure.
"Once the escape routes are closed off, we'll search for Gisu. As soon as he's found, we'll call in reinforcements and crush him in one go."
What's important is being certain the enemy is there.
After that, is to make sure the opponent doesn't run away before our forces are gathered.
Fortunately, Biheiril is enclosed by forests, mountains, and the sea, and doesn't have many neighboring countries.
It won't be that difficult to prevent him from escaping.
Of course, when Kishirika found Gisu with her magic eye, she sensed the presence of Hitogami.
In that case, the chances are high that she was detected by Hitogami in return.
There's a chance that he has already escaped.
If Gisu is still gathering comrades like he said in the letter, he would probably even be able to break free through the forests.[3]
Securing the surrounding countries is just for peace of mind.
"I see. Then who will establish the teleportation circles?"
"Let's split the work. The three of us will divide the locations between us."
"… Wouldn't that be a problem, though? After all, Rudi's the one being targeted."
"Yeah."
At Sylphy's words, I nodded.
Putting whether or not to believe it aside, Gisu's letter said that the one being targeted is me.
If I act independently, it's quite possible for me to fall into a trap.
The danger of being divided and conquered exists too.[4]
"However, thanks to Orsted-sama's bracelet, I can avoid Hitogami's surveillance.
Gisu and Hitogami can't sense me or Orsted-sama, or the people around him.
Nonetheless this is Gisu we're talking about, he may be able to find me with anachronistic methods.
In other words, finding me with normal information-gathering methods.
That's why I'll disguise myself.
Before I'm discovered, I'll quickly establish the teleportation circles."
Regardless of whether or not it's a trap, I shouldn't show myself too quickly.
Thus, I'll use a disguise.
Even disguised, if I gather information to try and find Gisu, I'll be exposed sooner or later.
However, I'll be able to avoid a scenario where immediately after entering the country, I'm surrounded and destroyed.
If I'm lucky and go about it well, even if Gisu has placed a trap I can still take the initiative.