Arcane Sniper [Matan’s Shooter]

Chapter 362

“Traces found, traces found! Wow, there are so many of them!”

Behind all of Leeha’s cards, there was one hidden card that neither Chiyo nor Sasuke could have anticipated.

“Where?! What happened?”

“Hmm… for now, Bluebeard’s direction…”

—

“Can you sense the Gold Dragon?”

“From the start, I couldn’t locate Bluebeard. His concealment surpasses my detection ability.”

“Hmm… how do we explain this then? We can’t even see any trace of Bluebeard. It’s as if Bluebeard has never been to this city from the start.”

Fernang scratched his head in puzzlement.

Fernang had once detected traces of Bluebeard’s mana in the Sentinel Mountains. That meant that if Bluebeard had visited this time as well, his traces could have been found.

However, contrary to what Leeha had heard, no trace of Bluebeard’s presence could be found anywhere in City Gazzah.

“Do you sense anything else?”

“Yes. The others are as Leeha described. I can feel the mana of the 8th-ranking Pau-… well, I mean, the necromancer, and the mana of the Giant Berserker is here. The traces of the nearby Giants are also quite distinct.”

Since the concept of rankings wasn’t known to the Ancient Gold Dragon, Fernang explained using alternative words.

“Where are they?”

“The mana directions are scattered. It seems like these beings are quite clever… uh, not, well… experienced in these sorts of things, considering the very detailed scattering. But we can’t hear each other’s voices, right?”

“I’ve cast a silence spell, so sound won’t escape outside. Don’t worry.”

“Understood. I’ll report to Leeha for now.”

—

“Hmm… for now, Bluebeard’s direction…” Neither Leeha nor the Gold Dragon knew about it. To the point that not only the direction but also any trace of him seems to be absent.

“That might be possible. I haven’t personally confirmed it either.”

After listening to Ram Hwayeon’s lesson and receiving Ram Hwajeong’s gaze, Leeha had a private conversation with Fernang.

There had certainly been no traces of Bluebeard during the City Gazzah attack.

‘I said I’d talk to Bluebeard directly when persuading him to join the Demon Army, but even that wasn’t allowed by Faust. That’s an action that’s hard to understand given the monster’s personality.’

Wasn’t it a style to prefer coming out and announcing oneself?

In fact, before Faust had a chance to say something like that, wouldn’t it have been better for him to come out first? Leeha thought that Faust wasn’t the type of monster to give power to support Faust for the sake of ranking.

‘Then does that mean he really wasn’t here? Why? After sending Faust and the others to my city, what did he do and where did he go?’

The answers weren’t clear at the moment.

Leeha concentrated again on Fernang’s whisper.

—

“And the others are all scattered. But since it’s traces left long ago… Here in this area, you can determine whose mana is whose, but it’s hard to confirm where those beings have each moved to.”

“Are there many?”

“For now, three places. One near the Land of Death, another near Rano Forest, and there’s a huge chunk near the Tyno River. What could this huge chunk be? It’s definitely not Bluebeard’s traces—”

“It’s probably a high possibility that it’s a Giant Golem. If it’s near the Tyno River, it might not be that far from here… Ugh, even when they run away, they scatter to their own spots. These cunning guys…”

Leeha’s head was spinning.

Three directions? Which one is their main force? How should she pursue?

And just from Fernang’s reaction, she could tell. Traces were not permanent.

After a certain amount of time, they naturally disappeared.

‘I guess traces of places they’ve already moved to won’t last long either. And since we don’t even know where Bluebeard is… Once the traces become even slightly clear, I’ll need to send Fernang to investigate. Although Faust is important, in the end, to complete the quest, I have to kill Bluebeard.’

For the time being, the options available to the Conquest Unit weren’t many.

Moreover, now that the rough locations had been mentioned, there wasn’t a need to send Fernang, a non-combat operative.

“Understood. I’ll start by checking the nearby areas personally and also send out a broadcast. After that, Fernang will move to confirm. It’s important to locate the other beings, but especially focus on traces of Bluebeard where he has moved.”

“Yes! Leeha, then I won’t have any missions for a while. I’ll ask the Gold Dragon to cast a spell…”

Then Leeha paused her conversation with Fernang and organized her thoughts.

Regardless of who the Conquest Unit members were, if they had the skills, they were worth their weight in gold.

Now that the locations were known, as long as they could tail the enemy without being detected…

Strategically placing personnel, assigning direct reconnaissance duties would undoubtedly be helpful.

“If we continuously monitor their movements and routes, it might create opportunities for us.”

Leeha took her time to sort out her thoughts.

“Alright, let’s first confirm the point of their convergence, right before they gather! It’s best to sweep away all the Demon Army except Bluebeard. After that, Fernang can focus on finding traces of Bluebeard and we’ll unleash the full force of our team!”

It was the best strategy Leeha could think of.

Prevent intelligent players from escaping while finding the right timing when the overwhelming power of Bluebeard and the Demon Army could be separated!

When Bluebeard, who exuded overwhelming strength, was with the Demon Army, there wouldn’t be an easy opportunity for the elite Conquest Unit members.

This strategic assessment was undoubtedly correct.

At least, based on the information Leeha knew “up to now”.

Leeha sent private messages to the Conquest Unit members registered in her friends list, while breaking off her conversation with Fernang.

“Are you listening to me?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah.”

“You’re lying. What did I just say?”

Ram Hwayeon blew air with a pout.

Doing something unrelated at this point when she was providing practical know-how about managing the city?

But Leeha wasn’t one to lose her focus, especially once she focused on something, she wouldn’t lose that concentration.

“A hub city like this, and especially considering the nature of cities located within the Minis Territory, external management is just as important as internal affairs. As the road repairs are completed, send an official letter along with a small gift apologizing for causing concerns to the City Gazzah, the cities that were integrated with Fubiel as part of City Gazzah, and nearby Minis Castle and cities… Right? By doing so, you’ll be able to allow logistics through City Gazzah to these cities once again, and ordinary resident NPCs will also come more actively.”

“Uhh… yeah, okay, I got it, brother.”

“Ah, did you not get that, Ram Hwayeon? That was my explanation…”

“Since it’s your explanation…”

“Yep.”

Although it meant that the accumulated knowledge of the Ramlung Group and Castle Dale was summarized.

But Ram Hwayeon didn’t understand it that way at all.

While Ram Hwayeon’s face reddened for a moment, Ram Hwajeong, who was sitting next to Leeha, suddenly stood up.

“I’ll be back.”

“Hwajeong? Where are you—”

“Shh. Pretend you didn’t hear anything, Ram Hwayeon. Let’s talk later.”

“What— Wait, huh? Hwajeong! Hwajeong—”

Seeing her off, Leeha didn’t give Ram Hwayeon any time to rest and immediately bombarded her with city-related questions.

—

“Just now, Ram Hwajeong moved, Okasa.”

“Ram Hwajeong…? Hmm, did she go to Castle Dale? Leeha—”

“While I’ve been listening to Ram Hwayeon’s conversation about city management in City Gazzah—”

“Leeha, so you’re even giving private tutoring for city management? Since Ram Hwajeong’s nature is to go around on her own, just ignore her… Make sure Leeha isn’t calling Kid and Luge near you, and make sure those three aren’t planning something together.”

“Understood. As of 15 minutes ago, both Kid and Luge hadn’t made any moves.”

To hide or to decipher?

In the unseen card game, for now, Leeha was in a situation where she was able to score points.

Chiyu, at least, wouldn’t be unfamiliar with the “hide or decipher” nature of Kid, Luge, and Leeha.

And it was already confirmed that Bluebeard appeared when the three of them gathered in a location. They had seen this back in Shazrashian’s Northern Region.

“Okay, take care~!”

“Leeha, you too, Okasa.”

Of course, it wasn’t that Bluebeard was where the trio went; rather, Bluebeard followed them. However, Chiyu didn’t know the details.

‘Anyway, as long as the trio, including that musket NPC and Leeha, don’t move… It doesn’t matter, considering that other users haven’t deeply intervened in the Demon Army quest yet.’

It was a natural course of events, but besides Leeha, there were users progressing through quests related to Bluebeard all across the continent.

Some had accidentally intervened, and some had progressed through job-related quests diligently, but they all couldn’t catch up to Leeha’s progress.

And for continent-wide main quests like this, unrelated to job, it was inevitable that they’d adjust their speed to the pace of the person ahead.

At this point, the likelihood of users falling behind discovering Bluebeard was very low.

‘Even if it’s Faust, to meet the NPC named Bluebeard, I need to encounter him in person to negotiate.’

Chiyu let out a quiet sigh. The person in front of her didn’t miss that sight.

“Whispering? Who are you talking to?”

“You don’t need to worry about it.”

“If you say that, it’ll make me more curious…”

As he wagged his tail wickedly, undead creatures nearby began to approach Chiyu with a clattering sound.

“I heard briefly that Leeha is working hard on city restoration. There’s no sign of them moving at all.”

“Oh? That’s fortunate timing.”

Even while hiding her identity, his pale white skin couldn’t be concealed. Lysadia Faust revealed this with a smile.

But that smile quickly faded.

“No, no… Can I really believe that? You’re supposed to trust what you say before I can believe it.”

“What are you talking about? Have I said anything wrong up until now?”

“Of course. Didn’t you cause my valuable subordinates to be lost? In the War March Plain, when the bastard suddenly intervened… Also, in City Gazzah, we lost quite a few Chimeras. Haven’t you mentioned that the bastard can summon dragons…?”

The meticulously planned attack had failed.

They only managed to cause half of the planned damage, and even that was quickly restored due to Ram Hwayeon’s intervention and more. There was no reason for her to feel good about the news that City Gazzah was making efforts to restore the city.

Not only had they revealed that Igor and Jarge had been integrated into the Demon Army, but it was also a loss to reveal that the bastard was capable of summoning dragons.

Chiyu had no choice but to accept that part.

She couldn’t even have guessed about Leeha’s skills, let alone item creation like Flame Radiator.

“Tsk, you’re just too suspicious. This is why you need to get rid of your hesitations and establish a direct relationship with Bluebeard.”

Chiyu looked at Lysadia with an audacious expression.

“Whispering? Who are you talking to?”

“You don’t need to worry about it.”

“If you say that, it’ll make me more curious…”

As he wagged his tail wickedly, undead creatures nearby began to approach Chiyu with a clattering sound.

“I heard briefly that Leeha is working hard on city restoration. There’s no sign of them moving at all.”

“Oh? That’s fortunate timing.”

Even while hiding her identity, his pale white skin couldn’t be concealed. Lysadia Faust revealed this with a smile.

But that smile quickly faded.

“No, no… Can I really believe that? You’re supposed to trust what you say before I can believe it.”

“What are you talking about? Have I said anything wrong up until now?”

“Of course. Didn’t you cause my valuable subordinates to be lost? In the War March Plain, when the bastard suddenly intervened… Also, in City Gazzah, we lost quite a few Chimeras. Haven’t you mentioned that the bastard can summon dragons…?”

The meticulously planned attack had failed.

They only managed to cause half of the planned damage, and even that was quickly restored due to Ram Hwayeon’s intervention and more. There was no reason for her to feel good about the news that City Gazzah was making efforts to restore the city.

Not only had they revealed that Igor and Jarge had been integrated into the Demon Army, but it was also a loss to reveal that the bastard was capable of summoning dragons.

Chiyu had no choice but to accept that part.

She couldn’t even have guessed about Leeha’s skills, let alone item creation like Flame Radiator.

“Tsk, you’re just too suspicious. This is why you need to get rid of your hesitations and establish a direct relationship with Bluebeard.”

Chiyu looked at Lysadia with an audacious expression.

“I don’t know everything, you know. I’m offering countless hiding places for free in return for that part’s compensation. That’s why you’re able to hide so comfortably like this, isn’t it?”