Reincarnated into a Game As the Hero’s Friend

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After a bit of tea break, we continued the information exchange.

I asked Mazell, “By the way, I heard that you found a black gem again?”

“If you mean like the gem I found after battling Dreax in the demon outbreak, then yes, I found another one after defeating the demon commander.” (Mazell)

Black gem was the biggest mystery here since it didn’t exist in the game. Ah, I almost forgot to tell them that I also found a black gem.

“The black gem you found before is still in the midst of investigation in the capital. Actually, I also found a black gem in the Alea Village.”

“Really?”

Because of Feli’s interjection, I gave everyone a short explanation. I didn’t know what the heck this black gem was and why there was a black mage in the Alea Village. I was curious though since the Alea Village event didn’t happen in the game.

“I submitted the gem to the Duke so I don’t know what happened to it next.”

“We submitted our black gem too.”

Mazell darted around and Elrich and Laura gave him a nod.

“Supreme Priest-sama said that he felt an unknown mana from the gem.”

“I also felt the same. That thing is dangerous. I had also told this information to my grandfather.”

Hmm… Well, even if you said that, I didn’t know anything about the black gem, you know? Though I also got an unpleasant feeling from the gem. In the first place, why did you all consult me about this? Did you expect me to know everything?

“I can’t say anything for sure since I didn’t have a chance to investigate them. I will look more into it once I have time.”

“Please do so.”

My words were meant for Mazell but Laura ended up being the one who responded to me with a serious face and a bow. As I had said many times before, please don’t bow like that!

Since the history’s highest ranked saintess was so concerned about these gems, there was definitely something fishy about them.

Well, these gems were originally devils’ possessions so it would be more strange if there was nothing wrong about them.

“Do you have anything else to talk about other than the gems?”

“Even if you ask me that…”

I didn’t know what answer I should give to Luguentz’s question. I still didn’t know the current situation in the capital, so I couldn’t talk about the capital here. Ah, right!

“Actually, I used up all of my Skywalk so if you happened to get some later, can you share some with me?”

“Okay.”

Mazell gave me an immediate reply! Sorry for troubling you. It might be good for me to give them a hint about what would happen next.

“I am feeling concerned about the fact that demons could disguise themselves as humans and sneak into the temple.”

“Yeah, it is really concerning.”

Elrich nodded. The temple must also be upset about this since ‘wicked beings’ actually succeeded in infiltrating the sacred temple despite the barriers that they erected in the temple’s vicinity.

In the first place, since demons would be able to even break the mighty barrier in the capital, it wasn’t a good idea to rely on barriers too much.

“There might be other demons lurking disguised as humans so you better pay attention to the rumors you hear in the towns.”

“Right. It looks like we won’t be able to relax in towns from now on.”

“I don’t think the demons would constantly attack you in the middle of the town though.”

I replied to Luguentz while feeling strange. It seemed as if I missed something, but what? Hmm… let’s put that feeling aside for now and continue the conversation.

“Be careful when you hear about a person who changed suddenly, but no need to be overly cautious.”

“That’s fine?”

“Yeah, but don’t completely let your guard down though.”

In the game, the protagonist would hear information about ‘the personality of the mayor of that town changed suddenly’ before he and his party finally found out that the town mayor in the rumor was actually a demon disguised as a human.

I remembered that when the hero part reached the inn in the rumored town, the usual inn soundtrack played and the screen immediately jumped to the battle scene. The hero party probably got attacked in their sleep. 

Since it was a game, when the battle happened, the hero party were still wearing their armor and weapon but who would actually sleep with their armor and weapon in reality? Well, that didn’t matter now though.

I said earlier that the demons wouldn’t constantly attack them in the temple, but that didn’t mean that the demons would only attack them once or there were going to be only one demon. I’m sure that there would be more than one or two demons disguised as humans.

For example, the refugees. I highly doubted that the refugees knew all of their fellow refugees’ names and faces so there was a chance that a demon might be disguised as one of the 5,000 refugees. There was also a chance that there were demons disguised as humans among the travelers, merchants, and the adventurers who visited the capital.

In the game, Mazell was absent from the royal capital when the attack happened so I didn’t know how the capital fell into ruin. From what I remember, the refugees didn’t rebel in the game but I also didn’t know if they actually rebelled when the game Mazell was away from the capital.

Wasn’t the situation actually really bad right now? Someone urgently needed to investigate whether the demons had infiltrated the capital, the refugee camp, or anywhere else. Although it may seem that we had a lot of time until the attack on the capital, considering the amount of time needed to launch an investigation of this scale, the actual time we had left might be tight.

“Welner?”

“Ah, sorry.”

Mazell called out to me when I suddenly stopped saying anything. However, I didn’t want Mazell and everyone else to worry so I put on the best poker face that I could.

“I remembered something, so I ended up being lost in my thoughts. In any case, I’ll be counting on you guys for the rest.”

Although I wanted to investigate this matter as soon as possible, I didn’t have enough authority to do so. Wait.

I didn’t have enough authority? Why did it feel strange? There had been a lot of plans that I thought of but didn’t have enough authority to implement them so not having enough authority wasn’t something new. Did I miss something? Let’s slowly think about what I had put aside step by step.

…Ah! So that was it! That was the reason I’ve been feeling something was wrong all this time! I couldn’t help but to click my tongue.

“Your Highness.”

“Y..Yes? May I help you?”

Laura was surprised when I suddenly called out to her, but her expression immediately turned serious. I just clicked my tongue in front of a royal so I hoped she wouldn’t get mad for it. In any case, I need to urgently report my findings.

“May I trouble you to set up a meeting with His Excellency the Duke as soon as possible?”

I was glad it was still not too late.

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T/N:  In case any of you guys didn’t notice or forgot, for a while now, Welner has constantly felt and said ‘I think I missed something’, ‘I think there was something strange’ or something around that line and finally we would about to find out about what’s been bothering him!