"Ooooi, Naise!"

Morning at the deputy governor’s residence.

I called out to Naise, the master of the house, in a completely relaxed tone. The maids looked shocked.

A suspicious man who casually calls the lord by his first name.

Yes, that would be me.

"Good morning. Breakfast is already prepared."

Naise greeted me with a gentle smile.

Normally, no one would dare address the master of the house without honorifics. Yet he didn’t reproach me at all.

It showed just how important the strange guest and his servant beast he had suddenly invited were.

"Morning, Naise. Actually, my chicks picked up some really bad info. I want to tell you about it right away."

I spoke as if it were nothing important.

Do I sound like a capable detective or what?

"...That sounds like something I should hear immediately. Barbara, we’ll take breakfast in the office. Just prepare some light snacks and drinks."

"! ...Understood."

Barbara, the maid, looked surprised for a moment but quickly bowed and efficiently went to prepare everything. I glanced sideways at Irina beside me... I want a capable maid like her too.

Squeeze squeeze squeeze!

"Oof!"

Irina, isn’t the grip strength on my hand a bit too strong since yesterday!?

"Please, this way."

Naise opened the door to the office and ushered us inside.

Excuse me~

Whoa, it’s a proper office! Behind the desk were neatly organized but towering stacks of documents.

However, it looked like we’d be having our meeting on the expensive-looking sofa across from the desk, with a table in between.

"Please take a seat."

Following Naise’s invitation, Irina and I sat down, along with the chick on my head. By the way, Chick Captain had been sleeping with Logan in the stable outside, but came along because of the emergency report from his subordinate. He was currently perched on Irina’s shoulder. The reason he wasn’t on my head was that he had yielded the spot to the chick who brought the urgent information so it could explain the situation.

Incidentally, for the chicks, being allowed to perch on my head is apparently a great honor — something like a status symbol or object of admiration, according to Chick Captain. The chick who brought this report had excitedly said, "I get to perch on the Boss’s head!? I’m deeply moved!"

"Straight to the point, Naise. One of my subordinates picked up some outrageous information."

"What kind of information?"

"In the northern slum district, several people were overheard discussing plans to carry out terrorist acts in this town."

"...Terrorist acts!? Do you know what kind of acts they were planning?"

"What do you say?"

『Piyo piyo pipii!』

"They were planning to scatter poison and make a lot of people suffer."

"How terrible... When and where exactly?"

『Piyo piyoo!』

"Other subordinates are currently monitoring them in groups. We’ll get a report as soon as they make a move."

"Then we’ll wait for them to act and arrest them the moment they try to use the poison!"

"Yeah, that seems like the most reliable way. If we catch them now, we can probably only charge them with possession of poison."

Just then, another chick returned.

『Pipipiii! (They’ve started moving!)』

"Alright, looks like the enemy has begun to move. I’ll head out first and catch them in the act. Naise, contact the guards and bring the guard unit. The chicks will guide you to the location."

With that, I left the residence.

"Logan!"

『Hah! Right here!』

Logan bowed respectfully.

"Emergency situation. Carry Irina and follow the chicks’ guidance while leading Naise. I’ll go ahead through the sky."

Damn, I should’ve let the entire Fang Wolf tribe into town. With them, we could’ve suppressed the slums instantly.

Oh well, no time to waste.

"Chick Captain, guide us with your subordinates. Sylphie, lend me your power! "

Yabe’s body wrapped in wind and floated into the air.

"Guide me!"

『Pipii! (This way!)』

The chick and the mysterious creature known as Yabe flew across the sky at tremendous speed.

...

"Keeeeh~ Kekke! If we dump this poison into the well, it’ll be game over for them!"

"Aniki! This is awesome!"

"How many wells are we hitting, Aniki?"

"Hah? There’s still ten more after this! Hurry up and dump the poison in— wait, whoa!?"

Before they knew it, Yabe had silently descended from above and was standing behind them.

The three men around the well were shocked by the sudden appearance of Yabe.

The man who seemed to be the leader was tilting a bottle of poison, about to pour it into the well. I had been quietly watching the whole thing.

"W-what the hell are you!?"

"Oh, so that’s the poison. What kind is it?"

"Huh!? How do you even know it’s poison!? And like hell I’m telling you!"

The leader flew into a rage. What a simple-minded guy.

"I see."

With a quick shup! I snatched the poison bottle with a tentacle.

"Eh!? When did you—!?"

I tossed it straight into my sub-space compressed storage.

[Poison Water Drake Venom]

[Details: Lethal poison. Lethal dose for an adult male is approximately 3g. 50g in the bottle. Current total held: 1462g]

"Oh..."

It’s the same extremely lethal venom from the poisonous lizard I encountered at the spring before.

"You guys are the worst. This is a highly lethal poison. This is mass murder. Death penalty for sure. So you might as well spill everything now while you still can, yeah?"

"What can one guy do!? Hey! Since he saw us, we can’t let him live! Get him— huh?"

The leader turned around, but the other two men were already collapsed on the ground.

(By the way, while I was talking to the leader, I simply extended two tentacles from the ground and strangled the guys behind me.)

"You bastard!"

The man swung a knife at me. Of course, I caught his wrist with a tentacle and slammed him into the stone pavement like a fly swatter.

"Gahaa!"

Easily neutralized. Trouble should be prevented before it happens, after all.

Naise then arrived with the guards. Good work guiding them, Logan.

"Yabe-dono, what happened to the criminals?"

"Neutralized. Here’s the poison they were carrying. It appears to be Poison Water Drake venom — extremely lethal."

"What!? Poison Water Drake venom is very rare and difficult to create antidotes for, making it an extremely troublesome poison. It doesn’t cause instant death, but the time until death is relatively short. I’m truly glad we stopped them before the poison could be used. Thank you so much."

Naise looked visibly relieved as he thanked me. No problem. You treated us to a feast yesterday, after all!

"Haaah~ Hahaha! Did you really think this was over!? Idiots!"

The leader-like man, who was being restrained by the guards, suddenly started shouting.

"What do you mean?"

"Our terror plot in this town failed, but it’s already begun in Felbane!"

"N-no way...!"

Naise was speechless. "Already begun" meant a terrorist attack in Felbane — the fortress city where Count Coruna, the lord of this region, resided.

I grabbed the leader’s face with my gloved right hand.

"Is it the same method in Felbane? Who’s your boss? What’s the goal?"

"Hah! Like I’d tell you— Gyagyagyagyaaa!"

I squeezed his head like a vice in an iron claw grip.

"So, is it the same method in Felbane? Who’s your boss? What’s the goal?"

"Gagagagagaga!"

Crunch crunch crunch!

I think I heard a sound that shouldn’t be heard and saw something that shouldn’t be seen.

"Yabe-dono, leave the interrogation to us."

Naise called out.

"Naise, is there a way to urgently contact your superior?"

"Unlike the royal capital, we don’t have communication magic tools here..."

Naise bit his lip. He was clearly worried about the Border Count and the fortress city.

"Then write a letter to the Border Count as fast as possible. Explain what kind of person I am and give a summary of the attempted terrorist attack in Sorenariini. Hurry."

"Understood!"

He quickly instructed the guard captain to extract as much information as possible from the criminals.

"Let’s return to the deputy governor’s residence immediately!"

We followed the running Naise back to the residence.

Once I receive the letter, we’ll depart for the fortress city of Felbane at once.