After Quina finished listening to my explanation, her face showed so much surprise that even I could recognize it. Well, the average person wouldn’t be able to tell, but I’ve been studying Fran’s expressions every day, and Quina was rather similar in that regard.
（You are saying that Saintess Sophilia was the owner of a divine sword?）
『Right. I never could’ve imagined that her harp Lauda was actually the divine sword, Oratorio.』
However, according to the list of divine swords I saw a long time ago, Chariot and Explorer were similarly not “swords”. Chariot took the form of a baton, and Explorer was a monocle.
Weapons forged by divine blacksmiths are customarily called “divine swords”, but many aren’t even swords to begin with.
（So she used her divine sword enhanced magic song to awaken everyone’s powers? ……That doesn’t sound like a simple matter.）
『Yeah, it was really something. My Fran developed a skill called Divine Beast Form, and Mea was in a state called White Beast Form. Also, Lind awakened completely as a divine sword.』
（You mentioned that the backlash from the effects would be unknown…… I doubt those will be minor.）
Quina muttered as she glanced anxiously at the sleeping Mea. Despite maintaining her usual tone of voice, she was still very concerned about Mea’s well-being.
Unlike me and Fran, who took on reduced repercussions thanks to Fenrir and Announcer-san, the states of Mea and Zefmate were still up in the air.
Then, I asked her something that was bothering me.
『Where were you the entire time, Quina? It seems you were acting separately from Mea, but I never heard anything about it.』
（I suppose there should be no issue informing you. I was investigating the illegal slave trafficking ring.）
Mea said her goal was to investigate and exterminate any beastmen involved with the slavers. It seems the conspicuous Mea and Zefmate were in charge of looking into the Beastmen Union, while the stealthy Quina was responsible for the behind-the-scenes investigation.
『Did you find anything?』
（I did. Taking advantage of the current commotion, I managed to capture quite a few members. As suspected, the blue cats were behind it.）
It seems the illegal slavers had been operating secretly under the cover of their identities as adventurers, citizens, and merchants. Since they’ve been in the business for so long, they had places to hide everywhere.
（The slavers never attract attention to themselves in order to avoid the slightest bit of suspicion. Also, they only capture slaves when they are most likely to get away with it, such as during the antidemon season. That explains why they have been able to stay hidden for so many years.）
However, the recent crackdown on slavery by the Beast King brought about a major change to the organization. His actions closed off many of their routes for selling slaves, so they had no choice but to develop new ones.
These new trafficking routes were not so well concealed, so Quina managed to track them back to the source.
『New routes, you say?』
（The shipment of slaves to the Kingdom of Raydoss via the dragonkin.）
I’ve heard stories about Raydoss buying slaves. They were said to be used for experiments, mining labor, and a bunch of other stuff.
Fran too, might have been sent to Raydoss if she hadn’t met me. It seems their lust for slaves reached the illegal slave market of Gordicia, causing the slavers to screw up big time in covering their tracks.
『Hey, so can you pass us some info on the slavers too?』
（Fran-san was a former illegal slave, if I’m recalling correctly……）
『Yeah. We were also tracking the slavers, but it’s been rough trying to find anything on them.』
（Very well. We already knew that we would need more allies if we wanted to take out the ringleader. You’ll be assisting us in exchange, I presume?）
『Of course. You already have info on their boss?』
（Yes. We know his identity, although we have yet to discover his location.）
『So who is he?』
（He is a dragonkin who calls himself the Dragon King.）
『Dragon King Georg!』
I never thought I’d hear his name with the slavers too!
（The organization was originally composed of mostly blue cats, but then the dragonkin took them over by force. Master-san, did you have any information on the Dragon King?）
『Yeah, he’s the one who sent a bunch of dragonkin to try and destroy this city.』
I told her about the evil crystals we found underground, and the danger they posed. Then, Quina said something that surprised me.
（So there were other crystals emitting evil energy then.）
『What? Other crystals? You mean in Sendia?』
（Yes.）
Much to my astonishment, Quina had also found and took care of an underground room filled with evil crystals. She apparently left those evil crystals in the custody of her collaborator.
『Collaborator? Are they one of the Beast King’s subordinates?』
（No, she is an adventurer known as the Ward Dealer.）
『Seliadot is working with you!? No way!』
The Beast Kingdom apparently had some of Seliadot’s kin under their protection, so they had a sort of alliance. Then after bumping into each other in Sendia by coincidence, Seliadot offered to lend a hand.
Quina then explained Seliadot’s situation briefly.
『A survivor of the lorelei, huh……』
There were many similarities with what happened to the black cats. Her resentment toward slavers must be the same as Fran’s.
Seliadot had been gathering intel on the slave trade for a while, and reporting it to the Beast Kingdom.
Sophie mentioned earlier that she didn’t know where Seliadot went, but it seems she was working with Quina to secretly protect the town.
Since she could apparently sense where her wards were placed, it was easy for her to sniff out any suspicious underground rooms. Makes sense. If she could sense the cloaking ward itself, it’d be pretty much impossible to hide anything from her.
They also managed to obtain more detailed information than us after interrogating the dragonkin. Quina, a tapir beastman, had the ability to put people into a hypnotic trance, which was perfect for extracting all the details.
（They said this self-proclaimed Dragon King had a special power.）
『Like Divine Dragon Form or something?』
（No, nothing like that. It seems he has two different attributes.）
From what she heard, the Dragon King was both a fire dragonkin and an evil dragonkin, which explains why he was capable of handling the evil crystals. Dragonkin with multiple attributes were treated specially, so that’s why Georg was allowed to claim the title of Dragon King.
Moreover, the ridiculous number of antidemons was also the work of the Dragon King. Apparently, he planned to completely annihilate Sendia by sending his men to lure all the nearby antidemons into the illegal city.
『Was it recently that the Dragon King took over the slave trafficking ring?』
（It seems he took the reins about twenty years ago. Are you asking on behalf of Fran-san?）
『Yeah.』
（I can say with certainty that those slavers worked for him.）
『I see……』
So that means the Dragon King led the men responsible for enslaving Fran……
Look who’s now number one on my kill list. I will murder you, and everyone under you. You’re fucking dead.
（Master-san! You’re a sword, so stop emitting so much killing intent! You’ll give Fran-san and the others nightmares!）
『Woops, sorry.』
I guess I leaked out enough to make Quina nervous.
『Quina. You’ll let me know when you hear anything new on the Dragon King, right?』
（……Very well.）
『Kukukuku……』
