Mera didn't give up despite what I had said earlier. She insisted on persuading me to join her cause, which was to avert the disaster looming over the elf country. To be frank, I felt like it was a lost cause. If the general populace was content, why would I bother lending a hand? It was already strange for anyone to worship a guardian, and have one such become the head of state.

"Look, I already explained. I won't purposefully go to that backwater country for no good reason. It's not my job to overthrow the government, even if it's just one person. That is a hero's job."

I mixed in a bit of lie but I really didn't want to get involved. The Hero King was one thing, but the elf thingy was another.

"Then, please find us a hero. I'll do anything!"

"If your country needs one, a hero will naturally arise. So, if none has appeared, it's a happy country." I replied, trying to brush her off.

There were several indicators for the creation of a hero aside from the individual's desire to become a hero. One of that was the happiness of the people. How exactly that was calculated by the system was unknown to me. This meant that if a country's people were fulfilled and happy, there was not a need for heroes to exist. Even so, the system seemed to always make sure several heroes existed at any given time.

Anyhow, since Mera refused to leave until I did something, she became an temporary resident of my subspace. I didn't want to force her to leave either. As for her claim that she would do anything, I had no tasks prepared for her, hoping she would just get bored out of her mind and beg me to leave.

Putting that elf aside, I was a bit interested in the two fey beings. They were both originally citizens of the beastfolk nation. Their capture was considerably recent as apparently those prior had all been sacrificed.

One of them was, to my understanding, some kind of wereraccoon or werebear. I couldn't tell just by the appearance and I couldn't discern the species name like the native beastfolks. Either way, when she transformed, she was no different than a hulking black bear twice my height. Like all high level fey beings, she had acquired [transformation], though her transformation was far from perfect. Her ears and tail remained fluffy, and parts of her was covered in fur.

Her name was Mufy, a strange name.

Hmm... Maybe you can be Smoothie's friend. Let's get along!

The other was a winged wolf, or at least that was his original appearance. Capable of flight, with a humongous body, he was a terrifying hunter. His name was Vintelo, another unheard of name to me.

Hmm... A winged dog. I want a pet like him! Wouldn't it be amazing if I ride on him? That would be super awesome.

If I had arrived a bit later, those two might have ended up becoming chimeric beasts like ones I saw in other facilities. I didn't dare imagine what Smoothie would end up like.

As for the reason why two fey beings were captured, it wasn't because they were scouts but rather they couldn't escape in time when two of the kingdoms fell a while back. Instead of being slaughtered, they were captured alive.

None of the captives had been at that facility for long. It was said that no one survived past half a year marker.

By the way, when they transformed into their beast forms, they had to take off their clothes otherwise they'd get ripped. Of course, I covered my innocent Smoothie's eyes before that wolf man took off his pants in front of us to show us his transformation.  

In terms of intelligence, I would say they were on the average or lower end as neither of them were fluent in the common language. That wasn't a problem though because Smoothie could act as a translator via [sage].

Speaking of communications, none of the beastfolks could speak the common language, or they had bare minimum ability to speak the common language. The reason was that all of them were affiliated with the empire's military in one way or another, mostly scouts. As a precaution in case they were captured, the humans wouldn't be able to extract intelligence from them. Hence, none of them actually understood a word I said during my speech earlier. Smoothie, who was listening outside, had later came in to explain everything to them. To earn their trust, she even showed them my official positions within Vera.

"Do you all have plans going back?"

Smoothie was there to translate, thankfully.

How reliable... You sure have a knack for learning new languages.

I was always slow at picking up new languages. If it wasn't for a language download, I'd still be speaking like a three year old.

Anyhow, the replies I received from the fey beings and beastfolks varied. The fey beings generally weren't too attached to any land. They didn't seem to mind either way, staying or going back. Instead, they wished to understand their options a bit more before giving me the answer which meant they wanted to loaf around. As for those beastfolks, apparently they were extremely loyal to their motherland. After a short recuperation, they wanted to return to Grusia Empire and provide detailed reports to the higher ups.

"Very well, please keep this place a secret. Let me know when you're ready to leave."

The next day, they decided to be on their way. Actually, hardly any time had passed in the outside world but they didn't know that. I just thought it was funny that they were visibly holding their urge back to just punch a hole and get out of this place. They were thankful to me as not to pester me after I insisted they should rest for a day.

Seriously, I was providing such exceptional hospitality. Why would anyone want to leave? The food was superb, perhaps not to their liking, but I did my best to accommodate. Their beds were soft and comfy. I even had a proper bathhouse and washrooms constructed, with advanced flush toilets. Well, my place did lack entertainments, perhaps that was why.  

"Kanoko, I found a few of our captured scouts."

"You what?" She did a double take, not quite following.

Now that Vera was considered a frontier city, it was one of the places scouts in this region reported to. For those who had been captured or assumed killed in action, in order for them to return, they had to go through various examinations. As for what kind of examinations they had to go through, I wasn't privy enough to know. With that in mind, I couldn't just drop them off at a military base or in a city somewhere.

I repeated myself, "I found some a few of our captured scouts."

She slapped her forehead. "What did you do this time?"

"Hmm? Did Vorte not inform you already?"

"Yes, about you coming back later with an explanation. And... Really, what did you do this time?"

"Ahh... Right, we split up so he wouldn't know. Did Haelley not return then?"

"She did? Wasn't she supposed to be with Smoothie?"

"Ahh... I guess she hasn't reported in yet."

Currently, it was supposed to be the morning of the following day after I stormed the enemy's evil lair. Those winged beasts might be reporting in later to the military brass first before coming to see Kanoko. After all, there was an order to things around here.

Should I tell her the full story or keep it simple? I don't want to burden her elderly heart any more than necessary.

In the end, I retold my story in a very concise manner, slightly altered in a way acceptable to her. Basically, the captives managed to escape by themselves from that horrid facility, and I happened to be near the border. Since they were on the verge of dying, I lend them a helping hand. As to how they managed to escape, I had that part covered already by tampering with their memories.

"Oh I see... So, where are they now?"

"Ah, still outside the city gates. Should I bring them in?"

"You can drop them off with the city guards and have them explain the situation. Oh right, make sure to show the guards your seal."

"Great! I'll do just that."

"Teleportation is such a nice ability..." She murmured to herself deep in thought, her gaze casually gliding in my direction.

"Ehh..."

She let out a short sigh, "Figures. I can't even see your status anymore. You're beyond me now."

"Yeah haha..."

"I've gotten words back from my superior. Can you at least solve the border problem you've caused?"

"Ah... Can I just cover the surface?"

"Please fill them to the best of your ability."

"Okay, will do!"

Once those fellow beastfolks were in the hands of the city guards, I quickly finished the other task I assigned to me. In a few short hours, the border crisis that I had caused disappeared.

blanksphere

Thanks for pointing out those mistakes in my writing. The ending seems so close yet so far... Anyway, I try to keep a steady medium pace until we get there.