Within the gigantic turtle’s shell lay a Dungeon, teeming with various monsters. Amidst them, two humans existed. However, the monsters refrained from attacking the pair; they remained docile.
Orbis, clad in an all-black suit with a seasonally inappropriate scarf, conversed in a casual tone with Meena, who wore the same attire. He was disassembling the armor he had traded for with Magic Stones earlier, adjusting them to fit Orcs.
Originally, before Orbis married the president of the Monster Safeguard Association, he had drifted between various jobs while pursuing artistry. During that time, applying various skills, he created artworks. Thus, he was more dexterous than the average craftsman. Nearby, a Kobold, a monster with a dog-faced humanoid appearance, also disassembled armor.
“By the way, how did the attack operation go?”
“……”
“Hahaha… A painful defeat, from the looks of it.”
With this pointed out, Meena puffed out her cheeks and turned away. Orbis chuckled at the clearly visible reaction from the sulking girl.
“Two blessed by God, and Christia, leader of the Labyrinth Conquerors… And then there’s Tsutomu. They are formidable opponents. It won’t be easy to defeat them.”
“I thought I had them, but they got rescued. And Tsutomu was cheating. He kept hiding behind the girl with the long ears.”
“Hahaha. He excels at rear support, so it’s natural that he flees when targeted. Also, I’d prefer that you at least try to keep Tsutomu alive.”
“I know. I tried to capture him with the Worms! But he got away so easily! It’s not fair!”
“You have no combat experience, Meena — don’t beat yourself over it. You’ll just have to get more used to it from now on.”
Orbis patted the head of the Kobold, who was done disassembling the armor as instructed. Meena, sulking even more, turned away and started petting the head of a centipede-like monster that approached her feet.
“I don’t like those noisy ones. These are so much quieter.”
“If you approach them without getting emotional, they won’t bark unnecessarily. Nevertheless, I’m grateful that you can handle them, Meena — I’m not good with bugs. When the environment settles a bit, we’ll have plenty of time to overcome our respective dislikes of monsters…”
“No.”
“Hahaha…”
Orbis, somewhat disappointed, put his hand on his head and glanced at the giant centipede coiled around Meena with an annoyed expression. Then, as if shaking off a shiver, he put his hand to his neck and observed the outside.
“It’s probably about time we get Leon over to our side. Before that, let’s capture another city and head toward Sentrea.”
“Wait, Leon? THAT Leon!?”
Meena, having gone to check out the Pedestals with her late mother once a week ever since God’s Dungeon emerged, was familiar with Leon. Whenever her mother went to see the Pedestals, she was always brighter than usual, and Meena enjoyed getting a little luxurious treat. Thanks to that, Meena had a favorable impression of Leon, who made her mother smile.
“You’ll be responsible for capturing him, Meena. If he’s with us, things will become easier.”
“Yeah!”
“Our obstructive operations are going well, and the strategy is proceeding as planned… for now. I hope it continues this way.”
While embedding some kind of black object into the Magic Stones of newly spawned monsters in the Dungeon, Orbis sighed with a worried expression.
▽▽
“…And that concludes my report.”
“Understood. Take this — and after lunch, immediately head to the Royal Capital.”
“Yes, of course.”
Christia, after reporting to a member of the information relay team, received a written directive the woman had drafted mid-conversation. The woman promptly proceeded to leave the room. Having heard in detail about the current situation in the Royal Capital, Christia opened a map and examined the route for the carriages.
[Those two… I don’t think they’re dead. Could they have been obstructed?]
According to the report she just heard, Melchor, who was supposed to have already arrived at the Royal Capital, and the Labyrinth Conquerors’ vice-captain had not contacted anyone and were still missing. Considering that Melchor was a master of the challenging and risky technique of Magic Fist, and that the vice-captain possessed a unique skill, Christia had not anticipated that they would not have arrived in the Royal Capital by now.
Unless they faced a monster on par with the Devourer Dragon, stopping those two would be difficult. However, this Stampede apparently was the work of an intelligent mastermind, so the possibility of them using tactics could not be dismissed. Christia assumed that their path might have been blocked, but at this point, she could not be sure.
[Can orders reach monsters in the distance, or are there multiple individuals issuing commands? …Either assumption is headache-inducing.]
Taking her eyes off the map, Christia looked at other reported incidents. The situation of the people in the Royal Capital was not too dire, and House Kantjelucia had not encountered any particular issues. Additionally, a White Mage from Ealdred Crow was fervently volunteering for the assignment to Sentrea, and Leon had already completed his report and was on his way back.
Once she finished reviewing most of the reports, she went outside, carrying a bow wrapped in cloth on her back. Many people had evacuated from Sentrea to the north, but some residents still remained. Though with fewer dining establishments open than usual, the city still had some vitality. It was bustling with Explorers, knights, and others, providing a refreshing change.
Changing one’s living environment suddenly required a considerable amount of energy. Even with the damage from the Devourer Dragon, some people found excuses like attachment to this place or the waste of money and did not move.
Christia had worked tirelessly to prevent any casualties during the Stampede, so she wished everyone would evacuate from dangerous areas. However, it was an undeniable fact that the people’s presence in Sentrea was helpful to the Explorers and knights who came here.
“Rye bread and water, please.”
“O-okay. You sure you don’t want anything else to go with it?”
“No, just that is fine.”
Christia, ordering only the cheapest, least popular thing on the menu, began her meal with a frighteningly expressionless face. Since abandoning the forest, she had imposed self-discipline on herself. As part of that, she avoided eating anything she found delicious.
She had also set other restrictions on herself, carefully calculating them so that this practice would not ultimately harm her health. Christia nibbled on the bread, her mouth parched, when suddenly, a cream-haired woman sitting diagonally across from her looked at her with surprised eyes.
“H-huh!? Is the place out of food already!? Oh, um, sorry — if you want, we can share this!”
Korinna, who had ordered four types of set meals for herself, misunderstood, thinking that the shop was so out of food that they could only offer rye bread. She held out what she had ordered to Christia. In response, Christia quietly shook her head.
“No need to worry. I ordered this myself.”
“But eating just bread won’t give you energy! Please, I insist!”
“……”
Korinna, unusually enthusiastic when it came to food, offered the sizzling steak on the hotplate that had just been brought over. Despite her insistence, however, Korinna’s eyes were fixed on the steak, and her hands trembled slightly. Since it was cooked rare, her preferred style, it seemed to hold some sentiment for her.
“It’s enough for me. You should eat it.”
“I-if you say so…”
With a face that seemed both happy and disappointed, Korinna timidly cut a piece of the steak with her knife. As soon as she put it in her mouth with a fork, any awkwardness seemed to vanish, and she wore a face full of happiness. Seeing Korinna like that, Christia inadvertently covered her mouth, bit her tongue hard, and restrained herself.
Christia thought she was not supposed to be pleased with herself for abandoning the forest, and as such, she had prohibited herself from smiling as a self-discipline. With her inherently lively personality as a Dark Elf, however, there were times she could not help but smile. In those moments, Christia hid her mouth and suppressed the joy with the pain of biting her tongue.
In the end, she bit too hard and caused her tongue to bleed. She proceeded to cast <<Heal>> to patch it up, then swiftly finished the bread and water together before leaving the restaurant.
Returning to the mansion that originally belonged to nobles, Christia revealed the bow she had wrapped in cloth. This thin black bow was crafted using materials from the Devourer Dragon, giving it quite an interesting and unique history for something so new.
The original creator of this bow had been found with an arrow through the head. Despite the high price the bow fetched in transactions, injuries or deaths continued to follow its users. It eventually came into Christia’s possession, and as it turned out, it seemed this bow was cursed, causing arrows to return to the wielder if they were not strong-willed enough.
Christia had experienced an arrow returning and piercing her shoulder once, but she had managed to master using this bow. Besides, having this ominous bow served as a constant reminder of her self-discipline, making it a perfect fit for Christia.
Eventually, while she was maintaining this bow, she heard strong, repeated knocks on the door. Allowing entry, a knight in a flustered state rushed in, raising his voice,
“Refugees from the south! A vast number — at least ten thousand!”
“…Understood. I’ll see what I can do.”
Upon the knight’s report, Christia wrapped the bow in cloth and quickly headed to the scene.
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