Chapter 9.

There was one more piece of information I gathered during the pursuit. Seemingly a thick encirclement was underway. Although I encountered squadrons in every direction, the encirclement wasn’t in place yet. This meant that the pursuit squad knew the direction I was taking.

How did they know?

Let’s take a step back for a bit. Since Hestia was in charge of the whole pursuit, the success of the pursuit squads had to be due to her instructions. She had to know the path that I was taking.

How could she know that?

I was stumped. No... let’s look at it another way.

I was heading in the direction of the cave to escape the cold during the night. The reason being the blanket I’d brought along was thinner than expected.

Wait a minute! I stole this blanket from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs! That said, there was a possibility that Hestia was aware of my situation.

Dammit! Was my destination revealed too?

Gawain saw me flying over the rift. So it was quite possible that Hestia figured out where I was headed to and was now forming an encirclement around the vicinity of the cave.

I finally understood. Just like I had predicted, Hestia had dispatched people over the opposite side of the rift as a precaution. Their purpose was to find my landing position in case I flew over it.

Additionally, while I was flying over the rift, she must have discovered the blanket I brought was too thin to keep warm during the night. She had probably stumbled upon this fact while looking for reasons as to why I would head directly towards the rift. Eventually, she proceeded to decipher my movements based on this new finding and laid out this trap for me.

I had made a critical mistake. I was under pressure, and eager to escape from the pursuit as fast as possible. Thus, I ended up revealing my destination to her.

But two other questions still bothered me.

First, how did she know where I had landed?

In order to give the impression that an encirclement was formed in this manner, she must have had information on my starting and landing point. The guards I knocked out earlier shouldn’t have woken up yet, so how could she know where I’d landed?

Second, why would she pretend like an encirclement was being formed when it would be easier to just surround and capture me after I arrived at the cave? It was obvious that capturing me at the cave would be better both in terms of efficiency and safety, so it didn’t make sense that she would use this kind of a ruse.

Ah, I really had no idea! Nor sufficient information.

I knocked out the guards in front of me and changed my direction.

Dammit, I might have to sleep in the cold again tonight!

-o-

It had been two days since Denburg ran away from home. The sun was going down, and the pursuers would be soon preparing to call it in for the night with the sole exception of the warrior squadron led by Gawain. This unit would continue to move throughout the night.

This was imperative in order to catch Denburg. However, no matter how fast the warriors were, it would be wee hours when they reached the seventh campsite.

Hestia’s order stated that they should be ready at the seventh campsite by 7 a.m., but that also meant the next order would only arrive then. Gawain, although he didn’t use his brains often, should be aware that their future movements would be hindered if they actually arrived exactly at the deadline.

While Hestia was apologetic that Gawain and his squadron could only get three or four hours’ worth of sleep, she was helpless in this matter. After all, they were the key force in catching Denburg.

Hestia was sipping tea and examining the map when Doomstone called out to her.

"Hestia!"

"Yes, Father."

Hestia was worried that her father would blame her for having yet to catch Denburg, but Doomstone smiled kindly at her.

"It looks like you’re having a hard time because of Denburg."

"No, I’m having fun since it’s been a while since I played chess with him."

"Oh, you mean the chess you guys play with multiple boards?"

"Yes, although I have a slightly higher win rate, it’s only a tiny difference with 52 wins and 48 losses.”

"Haha, I have trouble playing chess with only one board, but it looks like you guys are having fun.”

"A game with just simple moving pieces isn’t suited for you. However, Father still has his absolute intuition.”

That was absolutely true. Doomstone’s intuition was actually terrifying. For instance, if he were to examine a map and was asked to choose where a mine full of minerals could be located, his gut instinct would choose the correct locations most of the time. Thanks to this sixth sense that could transcend animal instincts, the village was overflowing with legendary mineral resources such as Adamantium, Orichalcum and Mithril.

In addition, he was also able to make profit from numerous exchanges with the empire by correctly predicting natural disasters such as massive demon migrations or droughts. Thanks to Doomstone, the village was currently in its golden age.

As his child, Hestia had the obligation to make this era even richer and most importantly, sustainable. To fulfill that obligation, it was vital that Denburg succeeded Doomstone.

"By the way—" Doomstone sat down in front of Hestia. "—As you said, Denburg is heading to the cave. Don’t you think it would have been better to surround him at the cave instead of faking an encirclement along his route?”

Hestia spread a map to explain. "This idea did occur to me, Father."

"So why didn’t you—?"

“There were certain reasons why I couldn’t." Hestia began to lay down the details over a cup of brewed tea. "First of all, he doesn’t know, but records show that this cave has a demon capable of fighting a dragon. There is a high chance he will encounter this demon if he decides to sleep in this cave.”

Doomstone shook his head. "Denburg isn’t a weakling. The fact that he is still running away from the pursuit right now is proof of this.”

Hestia agreed with him. "Yes, you’re right. Denburg is strong, and if he tries his best, I think he could eventually become stronger than Gawain or Gallahad. However, he hasn’t slept properly in 2 days. He’s been running around in an unfamiliar forest and crossing the rift probably consumed most of his magic power. It’s safe to say that he’s most likely exhausted by now.”

"I still believe that he would be able to defeat that demon," Doomstone said with conviction.

Hestia supplemented him with a nod. "Yes. Additionally, he is clever, so if he found out that he wouldn’t be able to defeat the demon, he would just run away. However, I don’t want him to get hurt."

"Well, the demon is certainly dangerous." Doomstone stroked his chin and concurred with his daughter.

"The second reason is that there is a high probability that we could lose track of him."

"How is that so?" Doomstone tilted his head.

"If he were to enter the cave, there is a high chance that he would be forced to fight the demon. In that situation, Denburg will probably choose to run away from the fight."

"Run away?"

Doomstone’s face was filled with incomprehension, but Hestia was certain about her conjecture.

From the villager’s point of view, Denburg’s aversion to fighting was considered quite strange. Someone like him wouldn’t recklessly fight a demon when they encountered one without prior warning or preparation.

"Yes. If he runs away, given that he intruded upon the demon’s territory, it would most likely give chase. In such a scenario, there is a very high likelihood that the pursuit members forming an encirclement outside the cave will encounter the demon as well."

Hestia pointed at the map and moved the horse piece that symbolized the current pursuit squad.

"When that happens, the demon and the pursuit members will engage in battle, and Denburg will take that opportunity to slip away again. What will remain are traces destroyed by the battle."

Most of the pursuers who crossed the rift were guards rather than warriors. Not to mention the guards, even for the warriors, finding the lingering trails would be an arduous endeavour.

Of course, there was also the possibility that the situation would proceed differently from what she expected. Should Denburg choose to fight the demon rather than running away, it would be a piece of cake for the pursuit squad to catch the battle-worn lad.

But it was also inconceivable that Denburg would choose to fight against the demon given that he spent such a huge amount of magic power flying over the rift.

"The warriors who will arrive late won’t be able to follow the remnant tracks.” Doomstone nodded in agreement.

Since her father was convinced, Hestia did not mention the third and last reason, which was basically reversing the current situation.

Up until now, Denburg had predicted the actions of his pursuers using the letter he had left behind. If there had been no information left behind, he would probably have been captured already. However, now that Hestia had a complete grasp of his actions, she could take this opportunity to use the pursuit squad to control his movements instead. In fact, pretending to form a dense net around him by sending pursuit squadrons in his direction was also a strategy to force his movements. He would soon realize that this wasn’t a complete encirclement and change his course. But the direction he would choose would be the route she wanted him to move in.

Hestia had ordered the pursuit squad over the other side of the rift to invest half their manpower into creating an encirclement between the cave area and the cliff. Once Denburg changed his course, they were ordered to advance towards the seventh campsite.

The other half had been ordered to pursue Denburg. It was obvious that the pursuers consisting entirely of guards wouldn’t be able to capture Denburg. However, she was now able to control the direction he would proceed in.

It was a great merit that Hestia now knew his route. Rather than forming an encirclement around the cave like Doomstone suggested, it was also possible to form an encirclement enroute to the cave. In fact, this strategy had a higher chance of capturing the target. To be more precise, this was the strategy with the highest success rate.

However, Hestia gave up on this method because there was one variable she could not account for. And that was Denburg’s remaining reservoir of magic power.

Denburg had most certainly spent a lot of magic power to fly over the rift. However, the calculations she made during his flight over the rift indicated that there was a possibility of his magic power reservoir being relatively intact.

Hestia was oblivious to Denburg’s total reservoir of magic power. Even Elder Mirpa, the top magician in the village, was unaware of this fact. Given his usual personality, Denburg would have most certainly made prior calculations to ensure that he would have a reserve of magic power. He would have made sure to conserve at least 5% of his magic power even if he ignored changes in the climate and the distance across the rift.

That said, it was possible to predict Denburg’s total reservoir of magic power according to this theory. Taking into account today’s weather over the rift and the atmospheric conditions of the forest, along with his estimated total magic power reservoir, the theory deduced that he could currently have as much as 30% of his magic power remaining.

Of course, she could not be sure. It was possible that the margin of error was large or that the prediction could be wrong entirely. But this was 30% of Denburg’s magic power, a monster that could kill 40 demons in a single day without sustaining any injuries. He had probably used his magic power without any conservation when he had been killing the demons, but that was still 40 demons. It did not matter what type of trap had been set, or what kind of methods had been used, the power of 40 demons could not be underestimated.

In other words, to capture Denburg, there was a need to drain more of his strength.