Early the next morning, to the soft chirping of birds, Samael, Morgan, and Mari woke one after another, met in the living room, and had breakfast together.
At the table, Samael brought up the concern that had been nagging at him since the night before.
Morgan fell into thought for a moment, her brow furrowing slightly.
"Although we took a shortcut and saved some time, the crisis in Darlington still hasn't been resolved. We're pressed for time, so we can only wait here for three to five days at most. If we still have nothing by then, we'll have to leave immediately."
"So it would be best to take a two-pronged approach. We can search the area around Gloucester for clues related to the Chieftain of the Earth Clan during the day, then ask Muryan about it tonight, rather than pinning all our hopes on the Wing Clan."
Samael rubbed his chin as he made the suggestion.
"I've heard the Wind Clan is very well-informed. I'll go take a look around the Great Cathedral. Maybe I'll find something."
Mari was eager for a chance to get out and about. In a rare display of initiative, she volunteered for the task.
"Hmm... all right..."
Given this Incubus's long record of misbehavior, Samael had originally planned to refuse. Then it occurred to him that the fairies of the Wind Clan seemed to be just as rotten themselves.
So the Ancient Serpent simply gave Mari free rein to do as she pleased.
Either way, no matter which side suffered for it, he certainly wouldn't.
"According to Habetrot, some time ago, a horde of corpses that had split off from Darlington, along with quite a few Insects of the Abyss, entered the Nameless Forest and destroyed several villages. Apparently, they were eventually dealt with. The battlefield was somewhere northeast of Gloucester, so I'll investigate that area."
Morgan spread out the map and chose the area she had marked out.
"All right, then. Leave Barghest and Nock's safety to me. I'll stay in the city and gather information."
Seeing the Grand Sage and the Witch take the initiative so readily, Samael tactfully chose to remain behind and keep things under control, content to play a supporting role.
After carrying the burden so many times, it was exhausting. A rare chance to slack off should be properly appreciated.
Once they had settled on their plan, the three agreed on signals for contacting one another and a resonance spell, then left the forest-style treehouse one after another and split up.
After making sure Nock and his wife were settled in safely, Samael took Barghest out with him. Drawing on past experience and habit, he began with Gloucester's taverns, inns, marketplaces, and other bustling areas as likely places to gather information.
After all, where people gathered, information tended to spread quickly.
Unfortunately, fairies were energetic, curious, and terribly impatient. Samael not only failed to get much useful information out of them, but the noisy little creatures nearly gave him a headache.
The only place that left much of an impression on him was a tavern run by a certain fairy.
The owner was named Mike. He was rather taciturn, spoke with a strange accent, and his pronunciation was somewhat unclear, but his brewing and baking skills were genuinely impressive.
Ahem. That was beside the point...
What really caught Samael's attention was that Mike was a dwarf-type fairy, meaning he belonged to the Earth Clan.
In exchange for some useful advice from the perspective of a customer and a few culinary tips, the Ancient Serpent finally managed to get the owner talking and learned something useful from him.
Before disappearing, the Earth Clan Chief, Foul Weather, had apparently received some sort of prophecy from the Mirror Clan.
It seemed their target might already know why they had come and had deliberately gone into hiding, most likely to avoid them.
That made things troublesome.
Samael tapped his head, feeling a headache coming on.
With no other leads for the moment, the Ancient Serpent decided to take Barghest for a walk and let the little one burn off some of her boundless energy.
Before long, the large and small figures had wandered all the way to the outskirts of Gloucester.
The moment the Ancient Serpent loosened his hold, the dog-demon pup wriggled eagerly out of her swaddling clothes and began bounding around Samael across the lush green grass.
But Samael soon noticed that the little thing was not simply running around at random.
She was claiming territory.
Everywhere Barghest passed, faint wisps of gray-black mist lingered behind, radiating an imposing presence both within and beyond her domain.
At the same time, this voracious little "lord," having secured her newly claimed territory, enthusiastically began expanding outward, bringing an even larger stretch of grassland under her rule.
Whenever she encountered larger animals such as rabbits or birds, Barghest would widen her heterochromatic eyes and growl fiercely at anything that dared threaten her position as lord. If some stubborn creature refused to yield, she would even step in personally and defeat it with the iron fist of justice.
Under the campaigns of the "Black Dog Duke," the small animals along her path trembled in fear and surrendered at the mere sight of her, willingly becoming subjects of her fief.
Eventually, even several low-ranking fairies who strayed into Barghest's territory were forced to submit beneath the "Black Dog Duke's" tyrannical might. They tucked in their wings and cowered like quails as they underwent inspection.
Weak! Weak! Far too weak!
Weaklings, submit to your lord, to the mighty one who defeated you!
Fresh from her string of victories, Barghest strutted proudly along the borders of her territory on her short little legs, her tiny face brimming with indescribable pride.
As expected of the invincible Fairy Knight Gawain. She had been born with great ambitions.
Samael watched Barghest's campaign of territorial expansion with great interest. Whenever something particularly amusing happened, he could not resist taking out a Magic Crystal to record the scene as a keepsake.
"Awoo..."
Before long, Barghest finally grew tired of playing. Carrying the fattest rabbit she could find in her mouth, she trotted over to Samael and proudly presented her prey to her caretaker, showing off her accomplishments to the one who was, in a sense, her liege.
Then the little fellow closed her eyes and settled into Samael's arms, waiting to be rewarded.
Mm-hmm. Truly impressive, Black Dog Duke-dono.
Samael nodded with a smile. With practiced ease, he placed a hand atop the little one's head and gently stroked and scratched his way from her long golden hair down along her straight back.
The pressure was neither too light nor too heavy, and the pleasant tingling sensation left the canine utterly delighted. She promptly rolled onto her back, spreading her limbs almost completely defenselessly and exposing the soft little belly beneath her baby clothes.
As Samael expertly rewarded the "Black Dog Duke," he thought back over his past experiences and sighed inwardly.
Sure enough, most of the time, canines were easier to raise than felines, and they were more loyal too.
Still, he preferred catgirls a little more. Their fur simply felt nicer to the touch.
Besides, there were more positions to unlock...
Tamao rules!
After reaffirming his faith to himself, the scummy snake whose thoughts had wandered far off course tucked Barghest, now thoroughly satisfied and fast asleep, back into her swaddling clothes. Then he picked her up along with the large white rabbit and headed toward the nearby riverbank.
A bunny this cute obviously had to be barbecued!
Following the sound of running water, Samael entered the dense forest, intending to find the adorable bunny a suitably fine resting place.
"Mm..."
But a stifled groan from the flower bushes ahead made the Ancient Serpent's expression change sharply.
In the next instant, he shot forward like lightning.