Distress Signal
After conquering the S-class dungeon, my friends and I were called to an audience with Emperor Pupun III of the Bakius Empire.
While I was talking to the Emperor, a Bakius Imperial Officer came running into the Audience Room.
And he said that the Holy Land's capital was on fire.
"What do you mean it's on fire?"
"Eeh!!"
Prince Zew approached the officer with a devilish look on his face, and then grabbed his shoulders with both hands and lifted him up.
Since the beastmen and dwarves had a large height difference, that alone left the officer hanging in the air.
"Explain! Shea must be safe!"
(Huh? This feels like Princess Shea Beast isn't back in the Beast Kingdom yet.)
I had heard that the Evil Cult's leader was captured about six months ago.
But I hadn't heard about what had happened to the religious trial in the end.
"Prince Zew, Prince Zew, calm down."
The Chancellor told Prince Zew to calm down.
We were still in the middle of an audience with the Emperor after all.
The little fat old man, Pupun III, was rolling his eyes at Prince Zew, whose attitude had changed.
"Oh? I'm sorry."
With that, Prince Zew slowly lowered the officer to the floor.
"What do you mean that Theomenia, the capital of the Holy Land is on fire?"
The Emperor checked the situation with the officer who had regained his composure.
"This! Your Majesty. We have just received a distress signal from Niel. The city of Theomenia, the capital of the Holy Land, is apparently surrounded by fire according to him."
The officer continued with more details.
He said that it was only just now that he received the distress call, but that Theomenia had been burning for about two days.
A Priest, fleeing for his life from Theomenia, sent the distress signal.
I wondered why the Bakius Empire, but the distress signal was apparently sent to the whole world.
Along with the distress call, the Priest explained the emergency situation.
Two days ago at noon, the execution of the Evil Cult leader Gushara-Serbilor was set to take place.
After years of his misdeeds were revealed in the trial, it was decided that Gushar were to be burned.
It was the so-called Burning at the Stake.
The Priest who reported the incident was inside the Church, and although he did not see the execution, he knew immediately what had happened.
A huge pillar of fire arose from the central square of Theomenia, the place of execution, and then the pillar of fire grew so huge that it reached the sky.
The Church was also swallowed up, but they managed to escape with their lives to the outside of the city.
"I see. That's tough, but why is that a distress signal to the whole world?"
Admiral Galara asked the officer.
Everyone from the four parties that had conquered the S-class dungeon that were kneeling to the Emperor had already stood up and turned their backs to the Emperor and were looking at the officer.
(Yes, if all that happened was the fire breaking out, asking their neighboring countries for help should have been enough.)
Admiral Galara, who led the army, raised a question when he heard about the situation.
Indeed, one city was consumed by flames.
And it happened to be the capital of the Holy Land.
It was preposterous, but the Confederacy, located in the southeast of the Central Continent where the Holy Land was located, was made up of countless small and medium-sized nations.
Admiral Galara wondered since Theomenia had somehow been set ablaze, wouldn't it make sense to immediately seek help from a neighboring country?
Why would that need the whole world's help?
"Yes, there seems to be a reason why the Priest from Neil asked for help. Whatever it is, the Priests of Theomenia and the people of the city are being turned into magical beasts."
""What!?""
The officer who came to report continued the story of the Priest who sent the distress signal from the city of Neil.
The Priest was not the only one to flee for his life out of the city from the pillar of flame that rose in the central square of Theomenia.
A large number of the people living in Theomenia also fled.
As he stared in despair at the pillar of fire that was rushing through the skies, wondering what had happened, more despair came over him.
There was something strange about the Priests and those dressed as townspeople who had escaped a little late out of the city.
A certain Priest who had escaped late had numerous burn marks, so some people who could use Recovery Magic rushed over to see if they could help, but were attacked by the Priest instead.
"You mean the people of the city turned into undead, zombies, or I don't know, magical beasts?"
"Yes, I'm told that he was attacked so suddenly that he didn't have time to take a closer look."
The Priest didn't know what was going on but according to him they weren't humans.
"Hmm."
In this world, there are magical beasts that can turn into humans if they want to.
They are often found in undead and bloodsucking magical beasts, and although I had little experience fighting them, I had learned about them in my classes at the Academy.
Admiral Galara seemed to have heard what was just said and thought that some kind of magic had been used to turn a large number of people in Theomenia into magical beasts or something.
"He used his magic tools to get help from the city of Neil. According to that Priest, the city of Neil was already surrounded by a large number of transformed people and will not last long."
A huge flame rose up and burned Theomenia.
And the damage continued to grow, turning people into a multitude of magical beasts that attacked other cities.
It seemed that the Priest took the situation very seriously and asked for help fearing what was happening in Theomenia would spread throughout the Confederacy.
That's all the Priest told me, said the officer.
"...it can't be..."
Helmios noticed something.
''Yes, perhaps Fire Goddess Freya's Divine Artifact was used."
I answered Helmios' question.
In my opinion, a Divine Artifact of a God with God-like power could easily reduce a city or two to ashes.
I had told not only my own party, but also Helmios', Prince Zew's, Admiral Galara's party that the Divine Artifact of Fire Goddess' Freya had been stolen.
"You mean they used the Divine Artifact to burn the city to the ground?"
Kiel was outraged at the amount of lives lost without any reason.
"I'm going to help."
Helmios said that he was going to help.
"Oh, that's Hero Helmios for you!"
"The power that saved the people from the Demon King's army will be used again."
"He will surely save the Holy Land."
We were in the middle of an audience with the Emperor.
But many Nobles lined up in the Audience Room to hear what was going on.
The Bakius Empire basically believed in Digragni, and in some areas they believed in Fire Goddess Freya.
But they were not the only object of faith.
There were also many dwarves who believed in Fertility Gods and War Gods.
And the Creator God Elmea was widely worshiped on all continents.
Many Nobles rejoiced when Helmios stood up against the attack on the Holy Land, the headquarters of the Elmea Church.
"Oh, Helmios the Hero, will you go? I, too, shall look forward to your exploits."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"Admiral Galara. Will you go as well?"
(Oh, Admiral Galara is coming too? I heard that the Emperor of the Bakius Empire is greedy, but he doesn't sound like what I've heard from Admiral Galara at all.)
I had heard from Admiral Galara that Pupun III was a greedy and selfish Emperor.
In fact, it seemed that he was willing to send Admiral Galara to the Holy Land for help, even though he seemed to have been spoiled growing up.
"Yes."
Admiral Galara bowed deeply.
"No, under the circumstances, I don't think Admiral Galara should leave the Bakius Empire."
The Chancellor standing beside him objected.
The Priest of the Elmea Church had sent a distress signal to the entire world out of fear that the world might be destroyed.
But he objected saying that Admiral Galara, the highest- ranking officer of the Bakius Imperial Guard and the most powerful being in the Empire, should leave the country in such a situation.
Some of the Nobles seemed to think the same thing and were anxiously looking at the surroundings.
(Hmm, sure. But if this is the Demon King's army's next move, are we in a situation where they need help?)
I believed that incident to be the next step after the invasion of the Demon King's army of 10 million magical beasts that happened at the beginning of last year.
At that time, they actually invaded the Divine Realm and took the Divine Artifact from Fire Goddess Freya.
The number of people who believed in the Fire Goddess Freya was dwindling, and the Demon King's army had been waiting for a long time until her power weakened to attack her.
The invasion of the 10 million magical beasts was just a distraction.
Their plan to conquer a continent or two at the very least was just a bonus.
The Demon King's army had planned this step of their operation since that time.
I was just about to think about how to get in their way when...
"Excuse me. We have an urgent transmission from the Empire of Giamut!"
An officer entered the hall, shouting loudly.
"What the hell is going on?"
The Chancellor couldn't help but shout.
An officer was the equivalent rank of a General in my home Latash Kingdom.
"The Demon King's army has begun its invasion! There are fears that they will attack the Bakius Empire from the seas!"
"""What the hell!"""
The Audience Room became even noisier.
