"Let's move to the next topic."

I picked the next batch of documents. It was a quite thick report compared to the previous one. 

"This report came from a team of two consisting of Trull and Billy. I tasked them with the mission of being an information gatherer from merchant circles. I had Trull to open a smithy in the ducal town of the Maximillian Territory with Billy acting as the clerk as well as the guard of the store.

After a long time doing business, he had managed to make contact with various firms and companies. There were many famous adventurers and upper echelon nobles and military personnel who had indebted to Trull's weapons and skill.

In this document, there's a list of nobles who hold neutrality against the current Maximillian Government. There are also several major companies that had moved their main office outside the Maximillian Territory. As for military personnel, after the church started producing the 'Holy Arms' the number of the upper echelons of the Military had been decreasing their visit on Trull's smithy. The same thing also happened in the other smithy Trull knew from the Blacksmith association.

Billy had also included some reports on the price fluctuation inside Maximillian prior to the throne's usurpation. From the gist of things, the prices of the food and common commodities had increased tenfold. This price probably will still rise to several-fold than today after the Maximillian had decided to eradicate the beastkin."

I said finishing the summary of the report. Mother's expression tensed up. It seems like she felt the graveness of the situation in Maximillian. As a former saint, she probably felt conflicted seeing the people of her homeland had suffered from the tyranny of their lord.

"Ren-sama"

Karina raised her hand.

"I would like to express my opinion on this. In this case, the Maximillian had its economy declining as they had been losing the trust of many major firms and companies. The rising prices mean that the merchants inside the territory had to import most of the commodities from outside. However, in the report, it was said that the military had gradually stopped visiting the smithy after the development of 'Holy Arms' by the church. It also can be said that the military had completely depended on the 'Holy Arms' instead of the good and high-quality weapons made by a skilled blacksmith. And about this 'Holy Arms', I bet everyone here wished to know what they are and where they come from."

Karina said.

"Thank you, Karina. About the 'Holy Arms', the detail will be explained in the next report."

I said. I put down Trull's report and picked a large batch of the report. This was the thickest report among the reports coming from outside.

"Etto, is that report about the 'Holy Arms'?"

Nova asked. He had thought that the piles of paper were consisting of many reports on different aspects. He wouldn't even thought that half of them was only consisting of the movements of the church.

"Half of them is, but mostly this report only based on the gathered rumor on the slums, pubs, adventurer guilds, and only several parts are coming from direct investigation."

I said.

"In this report, it was explained that the church had gathered many orphans, homeless, and some criminals throughout the capital and its surroundings. This was done under the pretense of giving them shelter and guidance for the teaching of their faith.

When he was undergoing his investigation on this matter under the disguise of searching the lost pet, our agent, Callisto, had witnessed the direct kidnapping done by the church's agent. The victim in this report indicated that the kidnapping target had moved toward the ordinary civilians living in the slums.

The victim was a rookie adventurer. He was a teenager who had been taken care of by the nearby orphanage. Callisto knew him when he was choosing his request on the request board in the guild."

I explained. Shade raised his hand. The raised hand was trembling for some reason.

"Umm... Can I confirm something?"

He asked. 

"Is this report really made by that shameless monkey, Callisto?"

Shade asked.

"Yeah, despite how he behaved from time to time, he had done quite a decent job. His free-spirited attitude was a perfect cover for his investigation. He was able to converse with various people in the slum while acting as informant, handyman, proxy, and caretaker. The boss of the slum mafia had also taken a liking to him that he had tried to scout him several times. Lyold-san also has a good impression of his performance. It was a shame that he always refusing the rank advancement as I ordered him to stay as a low ranked adventurer and blend with the citizen. Also, it seems like he was quite popular among the ladies in the red-light district."

I explained. Karina and Shade became pale in instant. In the aspect of the information gathering, Shade had lost to Callisto and in aspect of competence in their duty, Karina had failed splendidly many times compared to the shameless monkey who likes to harass others.

"Let me continue, after following the kidnappers, Callisto managed to find a hidden facility of the church. Unlike their bright and full of benevolence front, this facility was a depiction of cruelty and maybe it was a hell for the victims."

I said. 

"Don't tell me that the facility is..."

Alicia interjected.

"Yeah, it is the facility for developing 'Holy Arms'. The 'Holy Arms' was the term the church used for the new weaponry by using a secret method and blueprint claimed to be coming from the Goddess of Light. However, if you looked at the entire process and result, it was more suited if the weaponry is called Cursed Arms instead. After all, the Holy Arms are weaponry and Equipment which was made from a 'living' Demon Beast."

I read the report. Rin raised her hand.

"What do you mean by living? Does that mean those Demon Beast are still alive when they are being made into weaponry?"

Rin asked.

"That's right. The demon beasts are still alive when they were still in the raw material form when they entered the furnace and after they are forged. In this report, it was stated that the low ranked demon beasts' cries could be heard from the entrance despite the thick insulation installed on the door.

But, the cruelty didn't end here. The cruel treatment of the demon beast aside, the next phase was even more gruesome. 

The produced Holy Arms have the soul of the raw material stay intact. Which means that these weapons would have mind inside them. The hatred of those demon beasts was becoming something like a curse no matter how angelic or how majestic they looked like. This was why the church gathering their victims. Most of the wielder of the Holy Arms would have their mind either eroded by the demon soul inside it or receiving a physical backlash from the weapon's mind's rejection. It was stated that Callisto had witnessed a cruel scene of a child had his head exploded like a tomato exploded from inside and painted the surroundings with blood and brain fragments."

I said.

"I kinda want to throw up after hearing it."

Eris said.

"Don't force yourself. If you need a rest, you can leave early. I'll tell you the detail later."

Nova said caringly. He surely loved his wife.

"Callisto managed to sneak inside the facility and stole one of the blueprints and consulted it with Trull. However, this wasn't the original blueprint but a copy of it. Trull had analyzed that this weapon blueprint wasn't complete yet. At this rate, the user would have their mind completely eroded or have their personality distorted by the weapons. I suspect this is the cause of the irrational decision made by the Hero King Daigo.

On the second investigation on that facility, Callisto had managed to find an accomplice. She was a priest who had chosen to work in that facility. It seems like the priests would get periodically sent there if there's a person who had their mind crumbled down either from the weaponry influence or from witnessing the hell on the mortal world. At the end of the report, it was mentioned that the strength of the Holy Arms User was almost equal to B ranked Adventurer as their lowest standard. He had felt their might directly when the Beastkin Massacre occurred in the Capital."

I said.

"This is... quite grave news don't you think?"

Nova said.

"B-ranked Adventurer, is that strong?"

Rin asked.

"B-Ranked Adventurer can be said as a very competent adventurer. Most of them capable of hunting a Captain level Orc Variant or Goblin Prince and Goblin King Level on certain conditions. It could be said that in terms of the military, they would be at the same strength as a Vice Commander level."

Shade explained.