The Ultimate Sage Who Faked Incompetence and Was Disinherited Just Wants to Enjoy His New Life! - Episode 51: Investigation Request for the Elven Forest

Episode 51: Investigation Request for the Elven Forest 

As expected from chef Ardan’s recommended yakiniku restaurant, the marbled meat was exceptionally delicious. Apparently, the meat served here was sourced from a different location than the Geper Village, which we had just been investigating. 

Because of that, Ardan sympathized with our decision to investigate for pudding. He said, “If this restaurant ever ran out of meat, I’d probably go investigate the cause too.” Jill and Elise nodded in agreement. They were likely feeling the same way. 

“A little worried at first. But with that much in the cup, it should be fine.” 

“What are you talking about, Fel? There’s no way I’d get drunk. I’m a Fairy, you know?” 

Huh? Does that even matter? Wait, Lilia, you do get drunk, don’t you? This is bad. I need to make sure she doesn’t drink any more. 

“Ohh, as expected of Lilia-chan. You can handle alcohol, huh?” 

Elise was slightly tipsy. She started getting clingy with Lilia. This is not good. I tried to keep Lilia away while focusing on eating my meat. 

“So, when can we expect the investigation results?” 

“With something of this scale, it’s probably going to take some time.” 

“Really? What if they find out right away that a powerful monster is the cause, and we get a request to take it down? Ah, my arms are itching for a fight!” 

Jill was already hyped up despite knowing nothing yet. It seems he’s not just a battle maniac but also a total musclehead. He must be pretty confident in his skills, though. 

“Jill, how strong are you exactly?” 

“A Water Dragon would be no problem for me.” 

“Yeah, right. That’s an exaggeration. But a Wyvern? That’d be easy.” 

Whoa, Wyverns are technically a type of Dragon. So that makes Jill a Dragon Slayer, huh? A single Wyvern is strong enough to wipe out a small village. If he says it’s easy, then maybe he could take down a Water Dragon. 

“Hey, how did you defeat a Water Dragon?” 

“Eh~? You wanna know, Elise~?” 

Lilia’s eyes were getting drowsy. She’s going to fall asleep soon. 

“Of course I wanna know! Tell me, Master~!” 

“Eh~? Well, okay, if you insist… So, you see, I just went *poof* and then *boom*!” 

“Huh? What does that even mean?” 

Elise’s eyes went wide. And I could almost see question marks floating above her head. Ardan and Jill were also listening, intrigued. It seemed like Lilia’s brain had stopped working properly. 

“What does she mean, Fel?” 

“Uh, well… The Water Dragon dove underwater and wouldn’t come back up. So I used Water Tornado to pull it into the air. Then, once it was up there, I blasted it with Flare Burst.” 

That explanation seemed to satisfy them, though some doubt remained. The three of them crossed their arms and tilted their heads in unison. 

“I kinda get what kind of magic that is, but I’ve never heard of Flare-type magic before.” 

“Huh? Really? It’s the strongest type of fire magic, you know?” 

“Stronger than Prominence-type spells?” 

“Yeah, it is.” 

Wait, is this something that isn’t commonly known? Maybe it’s a forbidden spell or something. It is ridiculously powerful, after all. 

“There’s something beyond Prominence-type spells? This is the first I’ve heard of it.” 

“Same here. Oh, that reminds me. Fel, you only ever say spell names, right? What about incantations?” 

“They’re too long, so I skip them.” 

“………We’ve got a real monster here. I thought I was impressive, but damn.” 

Jill surrendered immediately. That kind of stung a little. Seeing this, Lilia floated up in front of Jill. 

“That’s right, Jill. Show some respect~!” 

“I apologize, Lilia-senpai!” 

“Mm, good boy.” 

She gave a satisfied nod as Jill saluted her. Then, she wobbled toward me and dived straight into my chest before drifting off to sleep. 

“Alright, let’s call it a night. Fel, do you have a place to stay?” 

“Yeah, I’ve already secured a room.” 

“Then we’re good. Let’s meet at the Adventurers’ Guild tomorrow afternoon.” 

“Got it. Good night, everyone.”

“Good night~” 

—

The next morning. 

I woke up a groggy Lilia and took her to the morning bath. She barely remembered anything after drinking last night. But, at least I confirmed that a single cup of alcohol wouldn’t make her start stripping. That alone was a valuable discovery. 

“I must’ve fallen asleep at some point. I do remember that the meat was delicious, though.” 

“That’s good enough. We’re meeting at the Adventurers’ Guild in the afternoon to discuss our next steps. I think we’ll be talking about our base of operations.” 

“Yeah. It’s inconvenient if we’re all staying in different inns. I really like this one, though.” 

“I like it too. So I plan on suggesting we stay here.” 

We hadn’t been able to take a bath for the past few days. So, we took our time enjoying a long soak. 

After having a meal that served as both breakfast and lunch, we wandered around town for a bit before heading to the Adventurers’ Guild. I thought we might have arrived too early. But Ardan and the others were already there. 

“You’re here, Fel. Take a look at this.” 

“This is… an investigation request for the Elven Forest?” 

“Yeah. It was already posted when we got here.” 

Reading through the details, it seemed that some kind of anomaly had occurred in the Elven Forest. And they needed adventurers to investigate. The request was ranked for Silver and above. 

“It’s a Silver Rank request. I guess that means they don’t consider it too dangerous?” 

“That’s probably part of it. But I think they also just need manpower.” 

If Ardan says so, he’s probably right. He’s the most reliable one here and seems to have more experience than the rest of us. 

“So, what do you think?” 

“I say we take it. That’s what you were planning to do anyway, right?” 

Ardan scratched his head. No need to even ask. Any adventurer who saw those dead trees in the forest would want to take action. It was so shocking it almost felt like the end of the world was coming. 

“See? I told you. It’ll be fine.” 

“Now this is what I’m talking about! I can feel an intense battle coming!” 

“Then it’s decided.” 

With that, Ardan walked over to the reception counter. No point in all of us crowding around. So we stayed at our table and waited. 

“For an entire forest to suddenly die off… Could it be something wrong with the ley lines? But there was still magic power left in the soil…” 

“If it is the ley lines, can we do something about it?” 

“I won’t know until we get there. But that explanation would at least make sense.” 

“Hey, what are you two talking about?” 

Once Ardan returned, we discussed the investigation in more detail. 

Our first destination was the Elf Kingdom in the Elven Forest. We’d start by gathering information there, as the Adventurers’ Guild had already contacted them. Based on what we learned, we would decide our next course of action. It felt a little unplanned, but maybe we didn’t have the luxury of taking our time. 

“We’ll set out tomorrow.” 

Everyone nodded at Ardan’s words. 

“Got it. What about lodging?” 

“Of course, you’re all coming to our inn, right? It has private baths, you know! You won’t find another place like it!” 

Lilia started aggressively promoting our inn. Elise immediately perked up at the mention of private baths. It seemed she was the type who enjoyed a good soak. This was our chance to recruit her to our side. 

“That does sound nice. Ardan, let’s stay at their inn.” 

“Yeah, sounds good. I’m not that picky about baths, though.” 

“Same here. As long as I can wash up, I’m fine.” 

It seemed Ardan and Jill didn’t understand the true appeal of a good bath. They’d change their minds once they experienced it. Kukuku…….. just wait and see.