After I reacquired my fairy maid Benet, we continued moving towards the demon king’s castle. The current stop was 50 kilometers away from it.

Before pushing forth towards the target I needed a FOB. A safe place to field my army, where the demon hounds would not bite the patrolling soldiers' heels, and where I would not have to worry about yet another commotion happening somewhere in the front/rear/anywhere, choose either, of the column.

I found a good spot at a relatively flat hill and made the army build a wooden fort. The fort will be used to station the troops, store the supplies, and as a place where I will be able to launch aircraft from complete safety.

The speed of building would be fast enough to complete the fort in two or three days, and without any interference the process was going smoothly. I was not worried about possible enemy attacks, because there are no enemy armies that can threaten the fort before it is finished. My air arm was not idling even during the nights.

I was walking around the construction site and looking at the working soldiers. Most of them were busy clearing the trees around because I managed to pick a spot which was not large enough for the scale of the construction, and was surrounded by dense vegetation. However, it is the best observation spot I managed to find from above.

Everything was so quiet that I grew bored in no time. After another patrol returned I decided to poke the demon castle and remind them of my existence. It was just a minor raid with small number of flights to test the defenses.

I was prepared to send some cluster bombs in case the demons set up a shield. Not that it will help them after I worked out an efficient scheme of breaking their ancient super-duper magic.

The raid did not encounter any resistance all the way until the castle. Even when the dive bombers dropped on it, no magic missiles were shot. Just as if there were no demons to counter me.

Without failing to live up to my expectations, the dropped bombs exploded before they should've, confirming that the irritating magical shield is there.

I harassed the demons with a couple of strikes and returned to my other duties. One of them is of course interrogation of Benet who is still trying to cover up the situation with Rin.

Right after I finished my wandering, I walked towards the maids who were cheerfully discussing something. They were talking almost simultaneously which is why I could not differentiate what each of them said.

They were so engrossed in their talking that they did not see me until I knocked Willow’s back.

“Good to see that you’re not wasting your time, I am sure I can be proud for having such ‘diligent’ maids. Care to tell me why you did not see me?” I asked the embarrassed trio.

“W-we… We have no excuse, Master!”

“I want you [Willow and Grace] to hold Benet.” After they cut off her escape route I began the interrogation.

“So, where is Rin?”

“I told you that I parted ways with her from the very beginning.” (B)

“And I tell you that this is not going to convince me. I can clearly see that you are not telling me everything. As much as I want to believe you, this is not the thing I will be lenient on.”

“F-fine…” With this she unbuttoned a part of her shirt and was trying to grab something there.

In a short time she found what she was searching for and took out a ball of cloth. When she did it I clearly heard two shocked sighs and when I looked at the girls’ faces I saw that they became pale and greenish.

“How… is this… possible…?” I’d never imagined that this can end up in such a way.

We stood in a complete silence for a couple of minutes. The mourning was over when Benet began her confession.

“We did part our ways but prior to walking away she said that she will go and settle a score. I found her… you get the idea, when I was walking into the demon territory. There was a merchant caravan I walked into by accident. When I actually saw what they are carrying…” (B)

[Could it be that smuggling of exotic goods is prospering in times like these? It can, yes, but I wonder why the ‘exotic’ goods are smuggled towards the demons and how they avoided my own detection.]

“Can she be saved?” That was the only thing that mattered for me. I can always punish the perpetrators for I have A LOT of time. If Rin can be saved then I should do whatever is possible.

“There is no hope…” Benet shook her head.

“Do you remember who I am?” I pounded my chest and pridefully reminded them.

“Even the gods have no way to save the dead, we can only accept that.” Benet was saying everything confidently but even she was not untouched by this loss. I wonder if we just have no idea how to save Rin.

I carefully took the cloth package and hid it inside my kimono. I will have to confront the demon king a bit earlier than I anticipated.