“A war of sorts?” Yuki repeated. He raised an eyebrow. “So not a ‘war’ war. Between two countries, correct?”

“Yes, my liege. Not a war between two countries,” Mathali nodded. “That would be unfortunate if that was the case.”

“It would be, indeed.”

“Yuki,” Akira said. He glanced to his side where she was sitting. “I can’t quite follow what this conversation is about.”

“Oh,” he said. “Well, I didn’t tell anyone about this so that’s to be expected. I sent Mathali to the border after our little briefing with Uriel. I asked him to investigate what was behind the sudden jump in deaths in L-taf members.”

“I see.”

“I didn’t say anything because I didn’t feel like it was important enough,” Yuki explained. “But it seems that maybe I was wrong. Mat, give me the report.”

“As you wish, my lady,” Mathali said, giving a small bow. “Where would you like me to begin?”

“Start where you first discovered new information relevant to your investigation.”

“Understood. The first place that I investigated where I found something of importance was in a small border town,” Mat said. 

“Which one?” Yuki asked.

“Yosef.”

“That’s right at the border. Entrance to the forest as well, no?”

“That is correct, my liege.”

“Continue,” Yuki nodded.

“In the city, there were a number of Taskforce members living there temporarily in an inn that I booked,” Mat said. “I eavesdropped on them while they were eating dinner I believe. They were deployed to the city to deal with disturbances in the nearby forest.”

“Keynal Strip, right?” Yuki asked.

“That is correct.”

“Okay. Go on.”

“I followed these people once they went on to do their assignment. They went right into the forest and seemed to be in search for something. I didn’t know for sure what that something was, but from bits and pieces I did know, they were searching for a monster of sorts. Later, they did find a monster. But from their conversations, it wasn’t the one they were hunting.”

“Do you know what they were hunting then?” 

“I believe is was an evolved orc of sorts? Possibly a High Orc,” Mat answered.

“I see. Then what did they find?”

“A sunburst. A rank C one from its look at that time.”

“Sunburst,” Akira repeated. “A bug like monster that has fire attribute attacks. Very weak physically with moderate intelligence. L-taf members should be able to defeat it within a few seconds provided it doesn’t self destruct.”

“Beautiful analysis,” Mathali praised. “As expected from one of my lady’s closest associates.”

“How much reading have you done?” Erica asked, directing her question to Akira.

“Just a few books,” she said, blushing a bit.

“Mat, continue.”

“Ah, my apologies. Like Miss Akira here said, sunbursts are not terribly difficult to deal with. I believe that the members thought that as well. Then some unforeseen events occurred. These events are the main reason why I came to the conclusion that a battle is inevitable.”

“And the events?” Yuki prompted.

“I saw before my eyes something I had never before observed. A rank C monster undergoing rapid evolution to the point where it became rank A in a matter of minutes.”

“Minutes?” Yuki repeated.

“Minutes my liege. The sunburst went from a common one to a queen in a few minutes. Such evolution shouldn’t be possible naturally unless a massive source of mana suddenly became available.”

“So what happened to the Taskforce members?”

“They managed to subjugate the monster,” Mat replied. “It took them awhile but they managed. However, they sustained quite a few injuries ranging from like burns to scorched limbs. Nothing that can’t be healed.” 

“I see.”

“Oh, I also would like to add something else, my lady,” Mathali continued. “I believe that that wasn’t the first time those Taskforce members had to deal with such a situation. Many seemed unsurprised and some even groaned from what I could hear.”

“That’s good to know,” Yuki nodded. “Rapid evolution, hmm? And not the first time they’ve seen it. Interesting.”

“How rare exactly is monster evolution like that?” Erica asked him.

“Extremely,” Yuki replied, looking towards her. “In fact, it’s almost impossible to happen. Like Mat here said, such evolution can only occur when a sudden concentration of mana appears at just the right place next to the monster.”

“And such concentrations are nearly impossible,” Akira said. “Pure mana, when released in the natural world, gets dispersed almost immediately. There are so many things in the environment that can absorb mana so just because of that, concentrations like that are very rare. Then you have to consider how such a concentration of mana would form. That could only come from either a being dying that had a large capacity for mana or the mana was concentrated and then released all at the same time.”

“And both of those situations are rare. Combined with how mana works, it’s almost impossible,” Yuki finished

“Oh. So if so many are happening, then something weird must be going on, right?” Erica said.

“That’s what I’m leaning towards,” Yuki nodded. “I doubt it’s natural.”

“I wonder what’s causing it,” Akira said. “I never read about anything like this before. If it’s happening recurrently in that one forest, then this may be a problem.”

“Yes,” Yuki said. “If it’s just in that one forest, then a larger investigation into what exactly is happening may be needed. If we can find examples from other forests, then this is a problem that I can’t consider manageable by us. We’ll have to let the governments take care of this.”

“So we’re going to investigate some more?” Erica asked.

“Not yet. In the future, probably. I need to see if this is worth the trouble,” he replied. “If I investigate and find something, then I’m going to have to report it or deal with it myself. If I don’t find anything, I just wasted resources and time. So I need to consider this carefully.”

“Oh, I see,” she said.

“Uriel, are you there?” Yuki asked, raising his voice.

A glowing mass of holographic particles appeared before him in response.

“What do you need, boss?” Uriel said.

“Where are the L-taf members currently? The locations of their assignments?”

“I don’t know where most of them are since that information is on a completely different database that I have no way in yet,” she replied. “I do know the locations of direct government assignments.”

“And those are?”

“Do you want every single assignment or are you looking for something in particular?”

“Tell me where there are large concentrations of members. That should tell me enough.”

“The largest is within the Capitol. The second largest is within the Libra Taskforce headquarters,” Uriel said. “Besides those, there are moderate cells spread throughout Libra, most of them at the borders around the country.”

“How about the border to Keynal?”

“That particular border has the most. Three cells. Centered around Keynal strip.”

“So there’s something there,” Yuki said quietly to himself. “And the government knows it. Uriel, are there any other forests or borders that have an unusually high number of L-taf members present?”

“From what I see, no. Most have one cell stationed at the border and all of them are at their respective entrance cities.”

“That means it would be safe to say that there is something important in Keynal Strip that required such a response.”

“I would seem, so. I don’t know enough to guess so it could be from your rapid evolving monsters to some secret idol performance.”

“I hope it is an idol performance. Thank you Uriel. That’s all I needed.”

“Call me when you need me,” she said before disappearing.

“Mat. How would you feel about going back to Yosef?” Yuki asked.

“If you command of it, I will do it without any hesitation, my lady,” he replied immediately. 

“Then go. Report back in three months. I will be preparing for a tournament in the meanwhile,” Yuki said. “However, if something urgent appears that requires my attention, bring it to me immediately. Understand?”

“Quite clearly. Do you wish for me to go right now?” Mathali asked.

“Tomorrow. Go tomorrow. Get some rest first.”

“Understood. Is there anything you want of me currently?”

“No. You’re free to leave,” Yuki dismissed him. 

Mathali nodded and stood. Then he gave Yuki a salute and a bow before opening the door of the house and exiting.

“Why did you send him off to investigate?” Akira asked once the door shut again. 

“I weighed the possible results,” Yuki replied, turning to her. “Since I can limit my scope of investigation to one area, the time needed was reduced drastically. The chance of finding something also went up. So together, I believed it was worth the trouble to at least see if something required my attention.”

“I see.”

“But we won’t be worrying about that for a few months, hopefully,” he continued. “We should focus our efforts on training and preparing.”

“That sounds great,” Erica said. “If something does happen, I hope I get to do something.”

“If the opportunity arises, you’ll get something to do,” Yuki reassured her. “Anyway. Let’s get some sleep and call it a day. We’ll be training again tomorrow.”