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The place where Emera and Kongou’s group stood was clearly visible from the skies. It stood out, actually, as it was the only area that looked scorched black.
「I can only tell what horrible things happened here…」
「Well, it was almost like a war they said…」
Aside from the collapsed and burnt down houses, there were many bodies scattered around, probably Chimera Clauzen members. From what they could see, they had already started burying the bodies, so it was easy to imagine there had been way more when the fight ended.
Hating the sins, not the people, Mira and Sero offered a silent prayer seeing the terrain below them, even if only for their own conscience.
After that they left the scorched village and headed to a simple camp raised not too far from there. Half of the camp was a medical site where the many injured were being treated. Their battle had been fierce but short, and everyone there, the injured included, all had a bright look.
This marked the end of a years-long struggle. Mira had only joined near the end, so she could not even begin to imagine that emotion, but she could feel the joy of everyone there.
「You all worked hard for this.」
Mira muttered before ordering Pegasus to land on an open spot. There she thanked Pegasus before sending him away, then she headed away from the medical site, and towards what looked like a celebratory party.
And from the middle of which-
「I! Found! Miraaaaaa!」
Mira was suddenly caught by Fricca who pushed her way out of the Fifty Bells members. 「Again, I’m sorry,」 said Sero with a grimace, but did nothing to stop Fricca.
A moment later she felt a gust of wind and was released, and she stared in that direction in a daze. Emera was dashing after Fricca, who kept running away. Apparently Fricca had managed to master the art of feeling up Mira while also dodging Emera’s karate chops at the last possible moment. They ran in a wide arc around Mira, before Fricca rushed in once again, tackling Mira and going, 「Ahh, her sweat…」 while sniffing loudly, before she darted away when Emera was about to strike.
「Hm… is it me or did her physical agility increase a lot?」
Mira had an odd look to her as she turned around, and Sero restrained a grin as he answered, 「It’s all thanks to you.」 Somehow wanting to hug Mira even for just a moment longer had pushed Fricca to train harder, making her agility soar.
But she still had some ways to go. When she tried approaching again, Emera finally caught up and restrained her. Mira had an entertained smile watching that, simply saying, 「What a hopeless girl.」
Somehow the chase that had started and ended so suddenly had riled up the crowd around them. And when they realized the ‘rules’ of the game, two men decided to step forth.
They decided to start a nightmarish game to see who could hug Mira more times before being caught.
The two men began running towards her while the crowd began to place bets. Emera chuckled hopelessly wondering how it came to that, Fricca screamed, 「No Mira is only mineee!」 and Mira turned around and ran away.
「You bunch of drunkardssss!」
Shouting that, Mira ran as fast as she could away from those valiant men. Whether driven by alcohol or their victory, Mira knew how resolute people in the Fifty Bells could be, so she decided to play along with them.
Some time later Mira snuck out, and headed where the higher ups were gathered. She wanted to ask what to do next.
There was some celebration there too, though not as cheerful as the earlier spot. That difference was enough to make one understand instantly that the people there were on a league of their own.
From what she could tell, they were high ranking adventurers and Fifty Bells’ leaders gathered there planning what to do next.
「Ohh, Mira is here. I heard you took down some really huge thing? That’s so cool!」
One of them, Arlon who led one of the different platoons, raised his voice when he saw Mira. Apparently those on this side had also heard the highlights of the fight in the main base. Spurred by him, the other people there turned to look at Mira as well.
Their eyes seemed curious about her, and also a bit envious, making her hesitate slightly, but she smiled knowing there was no better moment for this.
「Yes, there’s no difficult task for my Summoning!」
Mira laughed in an arrogant way as she said that. She decided to proselytize summoning in front of higher level adventurers.
「The fight is over but I guess some things never change. Now sit here and eat and drink with us while you can. We still have more work to do.」
Arlon gently laughed away Mira’s attitude, just like he always did, and basically pushed her to sit at the table and shoved some skewers and a glass onto her. He took a glass for himself, and raised it with a toast for 「the little hero」 before downing it.
「Seriously. It’s a bit too early to be drinking like that.」
But everyone around her cheered happily with Arlon. Even though these were the leaders of the platoons, they celebrated their victory with the same energy as the other men.
It had not been long since the sun had risen, yet they drank like there was no tomorrow, so Mira took her glass and indulged with the rest.
Some time after that they regrouped with Sero, and Arlon explained what their next plan was. They would go together with the most important people from the Fifty Bells on a Spirit Airship to fly above Sentopolly.
Once they gathered enough attention, they would proclaim to be an alliance of volunteers, keeping the Fifty Bells’ name hidden, who had just taken down the heads of Chimera Clauzen.
While everyone was completely drunk, most of the adventurers helping the Fifty Bells, including Arlon, were well-known, if not famous adventurers. That would make their story more believable and leave a lasting impression. Without room for doubt about the authenticity of those news, they would spread from Sentopolly to the rest of the continent.
Arlon suspected there would be two different reactions from the crowd to the news. Though he did not include the reaction of those who never heard of Chimera Clauzen in the first place.
The first one would rejoice hearing that the common enemy of the world, Chimera Clauzen, had fallen. They were a group that kept harming spirits, known as the good neighbors of humanity. The largest part of the world loved spirits, meaning they despised Chimera Clauzen.
Especially the countries that existed since long ago like Grimdart, Alispharius, and Ozstein, also known as the Three Gods Countries. They had a deep connection with spirits, so Arlon expected them to react very favorably. In some cases they might even conduct award ceremonies and parades in their honor, Arlon thought.
Then there was the other reaction. That of people who would be terrified hearing that. There were people who had received a lot of favors from Chimera Clauzen, and would despair now.
Without Chimera Clauzen their ill-acquired advantages would be reduced to zero. Though that was the least of their worries. The most important issue was that they would never be able to escape the fact that they had conspired with criminals. So far Chimera Clauzen had taken care of them whenever they got in problems, but that protection was no longer there for them.
「There’s a lot of Fifty Bells’ men gathering in Sentopolly right now. We’ll start by cleaning up their main site of operations.」
Those who had been helped by Chimera Clauzen, or directly worked under them, would go into a desperate frenzy hearing the news. Their first instinct would be to verify the truth, trying to contact someone from Chimera Clauzen.
Fifty Bells spies would be in every corner of the city, observing them, and detailing each one of them. Being able to clean the remnants of Chimera Clauzen from Sentopolly, the city where they had taken root, was another reason why they would spread the news in such a flashy way.
Once they captured everyone there, they had the means of extracting everything they knew about other members, bringing out to light whoever was still hiding elsewhere in the continent. It was going to take a long time, but the Fifty Bells wanted to see their mission through.
