Shota's Isekai NTR Adventure - Chapter 1697 1697: More than expected (1)

The Sorcery Empire had sent people to meet with all those that came for the investigation team.

So when we arrived at the borders of the Sorcery Empire, we found that there was a group that was waiting there for us.

But the members of that group surprised me.

The Azure Sage was the one that led the group and from the mana fluctuations that came from them, it was clear that the people of this group were all high grade magicians.

They weren’t people that should have been sent to welcome a single group like they did for us.

But here they were in front of us.

When we arrived, the Azure Sage looked at me with a wide smile on his face as he said, “We’ve been waiting for you for a long time now. Did you get lost on the way here?”

I was surprised by how friendly the Azure Sage was acting.

I had been expecting them to take this matter more seriously, but it seemed that they were quite relaxed.

Was the situation better than I had thought?

After all, when this place appeared in the game, there were usually signs that followed afterwards. Those signs would cause damage for the surrounding area which would make things seem more serious.

In the game, this was done to show just how dangerous this place was.

But when the game became a reality, it would be a disaster for the Sorcery Empire that controlled the area.

“Has anything changed since then?” I asked in response.

The Azure Sage just shook his head and said, “No, nothing’s changed.”

I couldn’t help raising a brow when I heard this.

Seeing this look on my face, the Azure Sage explained, “The Sage Council took action and created a barrier around the area. With the barrier in place, nothing will be able to get out of that place.”

A strange smile appeared on my face when I heard this.

That certainly did explain why there was no escalation in the situation.

The Sage Council was named that because it was composed of sages and if sages took action, then it was only natural that the phenomena that should have happened would have been restrained.

There was a reason why the sages were in charge of the Sorcery Empire in the first place.

With the power of the sages combined, they were naturally able to stop those phenomena from happening. They might even be able to change the very landscape of that place if they wanted with their magic.

But the fact that the Sage Council moved was enough to show how seriously the Sorcery Empire took all of this. It meant that they were willing to bring out the big guns just to deal with this.

This was definitely much more than I had expected.

Since there was nothing that had gone wrong for now, it meant that there was no need to rush.

Or at least I knew that there was no reason to rush.

Others might be worried since there were other things that could happen, but I knew that there wouldn’t be anything else that would come from this place for now. After all, the thing that was inside would be docile until they were provoked.

Everything that was being released was nothing more than just the byproduct of this place being released.

However, it didn’t seem like the Azure Sage was just here to talk about this.

It seemed that he had come to see me for another reason.

“What do you think is down there?”

Though he was asking this as if he didn’t know anything, the tone of his voice seemed to be implying something about me. It seemed that he was implying that I knew more than I was putting on.

“I have no idea.” I said in a calm voice after the Azure Sage asked this.

The way that he looked at me showed that he didn’t seem to believe me when I said this.

But the Azure Sage didn’t directly say this as he changed the topic by saying, “As the leader of the investigation team, you can bring in anyone that you want. I’m hoping that you’ll consider me when the time comes.”

Even a sage of the Sorcery Empire was willing to follow me into this place.

This was an offer that was indeed tempting since I knew what was down there.

A sage that specialized on water magic like the Azure Sage would certainly be helpful…

But in the end, “I’m afraid not. I don’t know what’s down there, so it’s risky to bring too many people. I’m sure that the Sorcery Empire has already chosen those that will be going, right?”

The Azure Sage knitted his brows when he heard this.

He thought that if he offered, he would be allowed to come.

But to his surprise, this actually didn’t happen.

He was a sage, that alone should have been more than enough to bring him along.

In the end, there was nothing that the Azure Sage could say since I wasn’t willing to bring him along.

The only thing that he could do was bring our group to where everyone else was gathered.

When we arrived, I was surprised by how many people had already gathered.

In fact, it seemed like they had already been here a while even though this was the date that we all agreed on to gather by.

It seemed that they just couldn’t wait until the day came, so they gathered early.

Though it seemed like they had been kept out by the Sage Council.

The Sage Council maintained a barrier around the area that prevented anyone from getting close.

There were some that had tried to approach and they were caught by the Sage Council before they could enter.

That just went to show how anxious people were about this matter.

The other thing that I noticed the moment that I arrived was that…