19 Chapter 18 - Guild Trouble...

** Chiba Eichi's point of view **

I stare in disbelief at the scene in front of me. Some mere seconds ago, I was in front of a section of the Devil's den forest. Now, all that is left is an enormous crater.

Let me explain from the start. A year has passed since the war with Elvania. After reporting everything to the king, he requests If I could snoop around in the guild. He believes that some bad influences were secretly kept in them. After my snooping, I found that he was correct.

Some of the workers in the guild were passing quests which have not been given by the guild master and tested for suitability. The guild offer quests from everyone; however, quests only get accepted via a tremendous test. The last step in this test is to go by the guild master, who can reject any quest he deems unworthy.

Since the noble didn't give any information but the quest, it should have been automatically banned and removed; but these workers were paid off, allowing the quest to move straight to the quest floor.

This mysterious man is still a mystery; however, the workers in question have been removed and punished. The other workers and guild masters are working on eliminating the quests; however, one quest got accepted by a team of two. My job is to stop the adventurers who took this quest.

The quest they accepted is a bad one too. It is a job to burn the Blue Devil's Den forest. Typically, no one would pay mind to cut some trees down from the den, but burning the woods is another story. Especially now since we know the Blue Devil existence is real.

I ran as fast as I could to get to stop these people; however, as I made my way through the forest, I noticed smoke off in the distance. I move closer to the smoke when I saw three people. One of the people was casting some magic. As I run to stop them, some invisible wall stopped me. It is probably a barrier of some sort.

All I could do was stare at the three figures, which allowed me to see their faces better. I could feel my body get colder. My face went pale too. The male who was about to cast magic was... the Blue Devil. It seems the adventures have already pissed off the Devil. I tried yelling to get their attention, but I was too late.

My vision instantly got converted into smoke and dust. I couldn't see anything. It took a couple of minutes for the smoke to disperse, but what was left was... nothing.

There was an enmorous crater, maybe with a radius of 1 km. In the middle of the crater was the Devil. The other figures are missing. I assume that they died from that explosion.

That is what has happened... Currently, I'm staring blankly at the scene. After blinking a couple of times, I finally return to myself. I move to the crater and start to cast nurture magic. It took an hour, but the land began to reform back to normal. I planted some trees and then made my way back to the castle. Over time, that area should return with lots of vegetation in a matter of years.

As I run back to the kingdom, I begin to think. 'That Devil... We might need to start to plan on doing something about him.'

...

Once I return to the kingdom, I request an audience with his highness immediately.

"Eichi, how was the investigation?"

"It was somewhat successful... As you stated, some noble was planting quests that said to give lots of money, but it demanded ridiculous objectives. The workers who allowed this to happen have been terminated and sent to prison. The remaining workers and guild master have removed all the quests; however, one got out to some adventures.

"The quest was to burn a section of the forest to find Elvania. I tried to go and search for them; however, when I did find them..."

"Did something happened? Wait... Don't tell me..."

"Yeah... The Blue Devil was already there. I tried to stop him, but it was too late. In an instant, a huge explosion occurred and left a huge crater. I fixed the crater, but the adventurers are lone gone."

"I see... I bet that some part of that quest was to upset the Devil instead of hunting the elves."

"If so, they accomplished it. Though, I think they had a bigger goal. I don't know, though. Maybe they wanted to make humans the enemy of the Devil?"

"Possibly. Alright, thanks, Eichi. We're going to improve security around here. Inform the guild master and tell if that all quest will need to be reviewed. This can not happen again! We are already on thin ice. One wrong move, and our kingdom is a goner."

"Understood! I'll take care of it now. Glory to the empire!"

I took my leave and went straight to the guild. As I walk, I thought who could have done this and if there was any other big picture...

...