put off going to the Biheiril Kingdom any longer,” I said, launching into my strategy presentation. “I can’t say for sure that this isn’t Geese’s—and by extension the Man-God’s—trap. But with Geese constantly giving us the slip, who knows when we’ll get another chance to catch him? There might not be a better opportunity. While it’s unfortunate that we couldn’t locate the former Sword God Gall Falion or the second North God, I’d still like to go to the Biheiril Kingdom. What do you think?” “I have no objections,” Orsted replied. Atofe would already be acting on the information of Geese’s whereabouts regardless of what I did. I hadn’t asked her how she planned on getting to the Biheiril Kingdom, but she’d take a while to make it there. A month or two, maybe more. I needed to get to the Biheiril Kingdom not just to rendezvous with her, but also to make sure the locals had time to brace themselves for her arrival. “I have four objectives,” I went on. “Find Geese and take him out. Find North God Kalman the Third and recruit him. Find Ruijerd and recruit him. Find the Ogre God and either recruit him or take him out. I’ll handle them…er, in that order. Is that okay, sir?” “…I suppose.” If it were up to me, I’d have gone to see Ruijerd ASAP, but I supposed the North God had to come first. As for the Ogre God, it might be easier to just put him in Atofe’s path as she cut across the ocean. It would probably happen anyway if I left them to their own devices. I didn’t even know how to get in touch with Atofe, now that I thought of it. I’d set up a contact tablet at Fort Necross as a means of communication, but that was it. Maybe it was all right to put off worrying about that until after Atofe showed up. I might not have a choice anyway. It’d be a real hassle not being able to get hold of her if there were an emergency, though… “If it looks like Geese’s forces outnumber ours, I’ll call for backup.” My enemy awaited me in the Biheiril Kingdom. It might be a trap. If we showed up and Geese’s forces were all there but the man himself was gone, I’d be the boy who cried goose. It was one of those things that was bound to happen occasionally, but it could damage the trust all those countries placed in us. “I don’t think it’ll be too late to call for backup if I wait till after we find him,” I said. I’d check first: Enemy? Present. Battle? On. Then I’d call in my allies. Page 2 Goldenagato | mp4directs.com