As I looked around and saw the awe in people's eyes staring at me, I felt quite guilty.

Sorry, but the abilities you all need to cultivate, I obtained them just by grinding and leveling up. Please don't look at me with admiration, it makes me uncomfortable all over…

But I couldn't convey my thoughts to them, so I could only nod silently, as if agreeing with their words.

But what really bothered me was the ability given by the "Swordmaster of Magic". It's great to be able to reduce magic consumption by 20%, but it's impossible to fight properly when one hand is holding a book and the other is holding a sword. Then what's the point of having magic robes?

Isn't this just a waste of time?

Sigh, I can only make slight use of it when casting large-scale magic, otherwise there's really no way.

"Cough cough, let's get back to the main topic, shall we? After all, the threat of the demons hasn't been eliminated, and discussing my identity is meaningless, isn't it?"

My words made everyone quiet down, and the report on the eradication continued.

There were a total of 23 mercenary groups, plus my own mercenary squad, for a total of 26 large-scale demon kills. Basically, all the large-scale demons near here have been wiped out.

But at the same time, the mercenary groups also suffered some losses, mostly among the low-level mercenaries.

...

I always feel like the overall situation is similar to what I deduced. The overall level of these people who use demons to advance in this world... What are they really thinking? What's the point of doing this?

And according to what they said, the locations where these demons appear are distributed in a ring around Blue Lake City... It feels like they are purposely placed there for others to deal with!

"In that case, the large-scale demons near Blue Lake City should be exterminated. Thank you all for your help, the citizens of Blue Lake City will not forget your assistance."

President Maristodo summarized with a smile. Although she actually said a lot of irrelevant things, I skipped them while lost in thought.

"Ah, but this kind of thing is really annoying, the work that should be done by the national guards ended up falling on us. Really, our mercenary group also pays taxes."

Suddenly, one of the mercenary leaders started complaining.

"That's right, they don't care about the war on the mainland, their own home is almost destroyed by demons, yet they are still fooling around."

This complaint caused the meeting room to descend into chaos, with everyone venting their frustrations.

The national guards are actually a general term for all the city guards, territory guards, national patrol guards, and imperial guards. Some countries also have private mercenaries, who are usually employed by the powerful nobles on top of their own territory guards. These mercenaries are usually dispatched by large mercenary groups operating outside, and some mercenary groups specialize in this kind of business.

According to what the president said earlier, most of the national guards have been commanded by the kings to the eastern border cities, so there is a shortage of troops, and they are unable to exterminate the demons, right?

It sounds like a joke...

"Really, I'm thinking whether I should permanently move to cities in other countries. This country's ruler is no longer capable."

"But that's pointless."

I interrupted his words directly.

"My squad came from the Ais Empire, and we encountered the Hell Spider Flower along the way. But according to what you all said, it seems that you had seen that demon before that, which means it went directly from Blue Lake City to the forest in the old Duoge Academy ruins... Although I don't know why, it's obvious that the positions of these demons aren't actually fixed. Other cities might have demons appearing too."

"Are those monsters mobile? That's really troublesome. Why would those monsters come out of the deep mountains and forests? Are they going for a walk?"

"Perhaps that's the case, President Maristodo!"

I turned to look at her.

"Yes?"

"You previously mentioned that there was a pre-battle meeting before the expedition. Can I assume that you also sent people for preliminary reconnaissance?"

"Are you referring to the monsters? Well, we only confirmed the locations of those monsters based on testimonies from merchants and mercenaries, and then we dispatched the expedition teams according to the possible routes those monsters might take."

"I see. Does anyone know where those monsters actually come from?"

"They probably come from the ancient forests. After Duoge Academy disappeared, no one was taking care of the forests surrounding it. The northernmost part of those forests is connected to the fractured mountain range and the forest sea. The monsters probably came from there."

One of the mercenaries spoke.

"... Is that so? But those monsters live in their own territories, why would they come out? This indicates that there is something attracting them. Moreover, when the monsters attacked the city before, they did so in an organized way. This means that we can assume someone is controlling the monsters and attracting large numbers of them to attack the city."

Although I thought maybe some of the people had thought of this possibility, perhaps because I still didn't have a good understanding of this world, I couldn't understand why they didn't speak up.

"That makes sense, but how could creatures like monsters, who rely on instincts to survive, accept orders?"

"No, no, no!"

Another mercenary exclaimed.

"Orcs actually have a small flute that can control some monsters to some extent using certain melodies. Maybe..."

He was interrupted as everyone looked at him with pitying eyes.

...

Could it be that everyone already knew this but didn't want to mention orcs?

"If it is orcs..."

"The country would be facing an unprecedented crisis."

Hey hey hey, you guys are overthinking it. It's just a group of annoying guys who want to let you compete against each other. It probably has nothing to do with orcs.

"Maybe someone just got hold of that flute. It's not good to jump to the conclusion that it's orcs so quickly, right?"

I immediately raised an objection.

"Well, if you don't want to dwell on it, then please give me this task, President."

I said with a smile.

"I'll go search the forest for evidence of where those monsters come from!"