Chapter 4.
After running at full speed, I took out my watch when I arrived at the second campground drawn on the map.
12:03 p.m.
The spell should have been lifted by now, which meant that the corpse of the demon as well as the letter I left behind should have been found.
On the map, it was possible to see that I had run almost two days’ worth of distance by looking at the position of the second campground on a 10-day long trail. Taking into account that I had been running for four hours now, it meant that I had been sprinting at 70 to 80km per hour.
This monstrous speed made me wonder if I had been born as a monster instead of a human being. This was a distance that would have taken the Ministry of Foreign Affairs two days to travel. Of course, the officials in the ministry would have walked leisurely while carrying the weight of dozens of demons. For someone with a normal body in their past life, it was quite encouraging that I could travel this much distance in a single morning.
The map showed that the distance to the city where the Ministry of Foreign Affairs usually traded was about 1,000km away as the crow flies. This was a distance that took only two days to traverse for people back home running at full speed. But there was a large canyon in the middle of the line, and it was the big detour around it that greatly added to the actual distance.
Until now, I had been following the route of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by looking at the map I took from their office to leave as few tracks as possible. Since it was now time for me to start getting chased, I had to forge my own path into the forest rather than follow this route carved by the ministry.
Hereon, it was a race against time.
-o-
Hestia calmly mulled over the current situation.
‘Denburg ran away from home. Father is furious that his most beloved child betrayed him.’
In all truth, Hestia was not very shocked. This wasn’t because she didn’t love her brother. Who did not love their family? She had known well beforehand that Doomstone’s expectations for Denburg and the latter’s own future aspirations were in conflict. As such, this came out more as a disappointment than shock.
Whenever Doomstone was having a hard time, Hestia assisted him by playing the role of the village’s advisor. He trusted her completely and heeded her advice. That was why the village could sway back and forth based upon her words.
The present situation had put Hestia under a great deal of pressure. She was only eighteen, but a simple word from her could affect those twice or thrice her age. The fact that one word from her could hurt people, even to the point of sacrificing themselves, terrified her.
According to a book kept in the village library, a leader had to be grateful to his subordinates sweating for a cause.
Then how should she feel about those who were bleeding for the cause? Did she have to be thankful? Fearful? Or perhaps, numb to it all?
Hestia did not know and it was likely that she would never find out. She hoped that she would never have to know. She was very sympathetic with Denburg running away from home, but she was filled with disappointment at the same time.
Although Hestia respected her father, she also felt that he was too ignorant. Doomstone went about things without ever considering the repercussions of his decisions. But her little brother was different, he went beyond being just smart and was wise as well.
Denburg could think of things that wouldn’t even occur to her and speak of things she wouldn’t dare to say. If he were to become the head of the village, she could escape from the responsibility of advising the village and the perpetual fear that one mistake of hers could lead to its destruction.
‘I apologize in advance, my youngest brother. I can’t accept you escaping from home. This is for the sake of the village and also for myself. Forgive this unkind sister,’ Hestia thought to herself.
"From now on, I will be directing this operation." Hestia declared before an army of fifteen hundred strong.
Gawain, who was leading the pursuit force, nodded and Gallahad urged Hestia to speak faster.
"Denburg most likely first travelled by following the route on the map."
With a confused face, Gallahad asked Hestia, "Why? Traveling on the route will be faster since it’s maintained, but he’ll be finished once we start chasing after him. Denburg definitely expects to be chased. Isn’t it more likely for him to have left the trail from the very start?”
"As you said, I’m sure Denburg is expecting to be chased. However, following the route drawn on the map has an overwhelming advantage compared to forging a path in the forest from the beginning. Firstly, you can shorten the time to get out of the forest. Secondly, you can move without leaving a trail behind."
"How?"
Hestia pointed to a footprint on the ground and asked, "Can you tell me who made those footprints and when they were made?"
Gallahad and Gawain both shook their heads.
"It’s the same in the forest. If you follow the route, it’s impossible to tell if the footsteps were from Denburg or an official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Thirdly, it’s possible to temporarily reduce the number of pursuers that will be chasing after Denburg."
"What do you mean?"
"Although I expect Denburg to have travelled on the route, it’s also possible that he might have travelled on his own path from the very start. As long as that possibility exists, we have no choice but to pull out some personnel to find out where he first started.”
Gallahad made an expression that clearly revealed he didn’t understand, but Gawain seemed to have somewhat grasped the gist. Thanks to his experience of looking for demon trails during hunting, the explanation seemed to be a tad easier for Gawain.
"Brother would know. If you want to hunt in the forest around the village, you need to know the location of the prey. It’s a gigantic forest though."
"Right."
"So when you hunt, you usually look for tracks of the prey rather than searching for the prey itself."
"Really?"
"Yes. So when you think of our youngest brother as prey, you can’t just search the entire forest. First, you have to find tracks of him. Right?"
When Gawain sought her confirmation, Hestia immediately nodded.
"Yes, that’s right. And when looking for traces of Denburg, it’s more efficient to look around the vicinity of the village rather than blindly starting to look inside the forest."
Gallahad seemed to finally understand. "Gawain, how many people do we need to look for tracks around the village?”
Gawain thought for a moment and answered, "At least a hundred. If you want to be serious, we would need the entire warrior force."
"That many?"
Requiring that much manpower went beyond her expectation. The village was certainly large, but she would never have expected it to take all five hundred warriors for the search. According to her original estimation, only fifty warriors would be required, but now it seemed like her conjectures needed some adjustments.
"Denburg has mastery over magic. It will be hard to find him if he tries to hide his tracks. Especially since I often taught him how to hide his trails and move around without leaving any tracks behind.”
Hestia bit her lips lightly.
"A hundred warriors. I can’t do more than that."
A hundred warriors who could roam the forest filled with demons as if it was their own backyard was a commendable force.
"Okay."
Hestia then began to explain while simultaneously wrapping her head around the complicated situation.
"Fourthly, he can slow the chase down. Didn’t you just say that it would take more than a hundred warriors to search for his traces around the vicinity of the village? But considering that he may deviate from the route in the middle of the journey, it will take several times longer to pursue him and track him down.”
"Wait. You think that Denburg will deviate from the route in the middle of the journey?"
"Yes. There is a 100% chance that Denburg will change the route. The time he leaves the route will most likely be around the time the demon corpse is discovered in his room. There will be around a ten-minute deviation starting from noon."
"What makes you say that?"
At Gallahad’s question, Hestia took out the letter left by Denburg.
"Based on what is written here, Denburg wants to reduce the range of possibilities to read our movement."
"What does that mean? What would Denburg do after reading our movements?"
It wasn’t surprising that neither Gallahad nor Gawain understood. Hestia also had to read the letter again and ponder over its meaning.
“Gawain, when do you think a prey feels the most threatened?"
"Hmm, when it confronts the hunter? Or when an arrow gets stuck inside its neck?"
"No. It’s when it realizes the existence of the hunter. When confronted by a hunter, tension is high, and when an arrow penetrates its body, fear is predominant. Denburg is a prey who knows the existence of its hunters now. As the prey, the wisest solution is to make the hunters move according to his wishes."
"Then you mean that all your plans are already intended by Denburg?"
"Yes. Denburg would have most likely anticipated how I would plan the operation after I read the contents of the letter."
"Then shouldn’t we not move according to your plan?"
“No. Denburg is trying to predict our movements by even exposing himself. Since he is handing out such juicy bait, we have no choice but to take it. If we were to not take it and make a mistake, we might not be even able to get our hands on it.
Inwardly, Hestia was filled with admiration. This was as expected from Denburg and it made her feel frustrated. In a nine-sided chess battle with a hundred and twenty moves, his technique continuously forced his opponents to jump into a trap that they were clearly aware of.
"Denburg probably left between eight and nine in the morning."
"Why do you say that?"
"It was about ten minutes to seven when he had breakfast. I remember it because I set the birthday table myself. And after seven-thirty, all of the family members went to work. So he must’ve brought the demons to his room only after that. Since the Ministry of Foreign Affairs checks the number of supplies before they close, as long as Denburg did not leave during the night, it would have been around 8 a.m. when he stole the map and money."
"Makes sense. If you tried to leave the house at night, you would be immediately caught by Father, who has a perception superior to that of demons. By the way, someone should’ve come to work at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the morning, so how did he steal without being caught?"
"The ministry’s warehouse is located outside the workplace, so it would have been easy for Denburg to steal from them."
"Then it means he deviated from the route around three to four hours after he left the village."
"That sounds about right. So, around what point do you think he went off the route?"
Hestia wasn’t very strong and she wasn’t certain if she could even win against a 10 year old. Therefore, it was difficult for her to gauge Denburg’s strength.
As Gallahad and Gawain mulled over it, they came up with different answers.
"If it’s three hours, it should be around the first campsite; if four, it should be around this vicinity." Gallahad pointed towards the area between the first and second campground, nearer to the first campground.
"No, if it’s Denburg, it wouldn’t be strange for him to reach in between the first and second campground in three hours. If four hours, it’s possible for him to reach the second campground." Gawain flatly rejected Gallahad’s deduction.
It was a big deal that the two of them had such different opinions. The distance they spoke of was too wide to accommodate both opinions.
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