Dungeon subjugation in Baim.
Having wrapped up such a monumental task and returned, we found that while there was still a chill in the air, things had begun to warm up.
Our breath turned white in the mornings and evenings, but during the day when the sun was out, it wasn't so bad.
As I felt spring drawing near, I opened the window of the inn I'd been staying at—
—and immediately shut it.
"It really is cold."
The one who mocked me for this was Monica, the Automaton who shared my room.
With her golden twin-tails, Automaton Monica had powered up today as always in her maid outfit and was tending to my daily needs.
There was absolutely no compromise in that.
But her mouth was sharp.
"Trying to set up a refreshing morning scene, then closing it right away because it's cold… As expected of my Chicken. I'd like to air the room out, so please leave it open. Oh, wash your face first. I have your clothes ready."
As always, the preparations were perfect.
I glanced at the clothes she'd laid out and reached out to change—
"Wash your face first."
She pointed at the washroom, looking at me with a smile.
It was an inn in Baim—somewhat pricey, but well-equipped. Many adventurers used it, and it also catered to merchants and other visitors passing through Baim.
I'd been making frequent use of it ever since arriving in Baim.
Still, relying too heavily on inns like this as an adventurer was a problem. After all, the lodging fees were nothing to scoff at.
My party consisted of nine members, myself included.
Me.
The side-tailed mage, Novem.
The spear-wielding warrior, Aria.
The support specialist, Clara — small-framed and bespectacled.
Miranda, who'd recently awakened to her Skills and excelled at traps.
Shannon, who possessed demonic eyes but had nothing else going for her.
Eva, an elven Bard with exceptional archery.
May, the divine beast Kirin in human form.
And lastly, Monica — a sharp-tongued maid who happened to be an Automaton.
A party skewed entirely toward women, with me as the sole guy.
As I silently made for the washroom door inside our room, Monica—
"You're young, so no hot water for you. Splash cold water on your face and wake yourself up. We're heading to the Guild today, you know."
I washed my face with water and still found it too cold.
I grabbed a towel and dried my face, then caught sight of my bedhead. My blue hair was an unkempt mess — it needed styling.
(I'll deal with it later.)
But when I stepped out of the washroom, Monica was already lying in wait, brush in hand. She also carried some contraption that looked remarkably like a shoddy gun.
"Wh-what's that? And why are you carrying a weapon?"
I took a step back, and Monica replied with a deadpan look.
"Weapon? It's a hair dryer — never seen one before? Well, you've only just come back, and you've never had the chance to use one. I didn't have one before, but this fully-loaded Monica can do just about anything, Chicken!"
She told me to sit in a chair, so I did without a word. Warm air blew from the gun-like dryer as Monica styled my hair.
"How about that? This amazing tool can fix even the worst bedhead in no time flat!"
She said it with absolute confidence.
"...Couldn't you just take a shower and dry it off instead?"
When I said that, Monica shook her head with a look that clearly said, "This guy just doesn't get it at all."
Once the styling was done, I changed clothes, left the room, and headed downstairs to the first floor. The inn's dining hall was there, where I could eat breakfast.
When I went down to the first floor, Novem happened to be in the middle of a meal.
"Starting now?"
"Yes, Master Lael. Won't you join me?"
Accepting the invitation, I sat down to eat with Novem — my party member and former fiancée.
Bread, soup, and salad — quite a lavish spread.
There was even thinly sliced bacon, and it tasted surprisingly good for the price.
While we ate, I talked through today's plan with Novem.
"I'm heading to the Guild today to check what requests are available. I just got back, so ideally I'd like ones with a bit of a deadline on them."
The Guild I was registered with in Baim was the Eastern Branch — a Guild with a rather lackluster reputation.
It was primarily a Guild that handled requests aimed at adventurers, and more often than not, it meant sending adventurers off to remote locations.
Being a hub for adventurers, plenty of requests came in from outside, and there were adventurers on the roster to handle them.
That said, nobody wanted to take on troublesome requests. To compensate, the Eastern Branch came with its own set of perks.
Only the Eastern Branch was given priority access to lucrative requests — namely, Dungeon Subjugations.
To earn those, the adventurers of the Eastern Branch kept grinding through the requests that poured into Baim.
Novem finished her meal, carefully wiped her mouth with a table napkin, and answered me.
"Completing regular requests is important too. But you might want to rest a little longer. The whole party just experienced 'growth' all at once, so jumping straight into real combat could lead to a lot of mistakes."
During the last Dungeon Subjugation, most of the party members had undergone growth. Growth that enhanced their abilities... the danger in that lay in the fact that, having broken through a major barrier, the person in question tended to push themselves too hard.
Many adventurers who pushed themselves too hard after a growth spurt ended up failing.
"Using that as an excuse, maybe we should do some practice rounds around Baim for a while. Actually... challenging the Dungeon that Baim manages could work too. We don't have to go that deep — even just a warm-up would be fine."
It wasn't that adventurers from the Eastern Branch couldn't challenge the Dungeon managed by Baim.
But it was also true that they couldn't challenge it with full focus.
The managed Dungeons that weren't supposed to be subjugated were said to reach as deep as a hundred floors underground. No one had actually verified this, but it was even said that reaching that depth was impossible.
Novem turned to me.
"I'll leave that part to you. Aria was supposed to accompany us today, wasn't she?"
When I heard Aria's name, I let out a sigh.
No, it wasn't that I disliked Aria. It was just that for this kind of negotiation — well, maybe not negotiation exactly, but when checking requests at the Guild, bringing her along didn't help.
She was reliable in combat, but using her head wasn't her strong suit.
(Well, with Novem, Miranda, and Clara around too, the brains of the group were always going to be them anyway.)
So why bring Aria along?
Simple.
I could hear a voice coming from the blue Jewel hanging around my neck.
It was the Sixth Generation.
"Rael, stop making that face. If you don't teach Aria this kind of work now, there'll come a time when you'll regret it. Besides, you can't let her remain nothing more than a pig-headed girl who only knows how to fight."
The assessment of "pig-headed girl" was a consensus among the Successive Heads whose memories were stored inside the Jewel.
Aria was certainly skilled, but because she was always surrounded by people who far outstripped her, she always appeared to be the inferior one.
While her companions handled their tasks with ease, Aria always seemed awkward by comparison.
The Third Generation spoke.
"She has both the motivation and the talent. I can't say to take it slow, but we need to train her. In all sorts of ways."
I was about to reply to the Third Generation's cryptic tone, but held back.
I turned to Novem.
"Well, I'll teach her various things myself. If I leave all the support to Novem and the others, Aria might end up feeling resentful if she doesn't understand what's going on."
Novem giggled.
"What?"
"No, it's just… Lord Rael seems to worry about Aria as well, so I'm relieved."
Hearing that from Novem, I—
I couldn't very well tell her that the Successive Heads inside the Jewel had said the same thing to me.
A guilty feeling settled in.
Baim East Side Guild.
When we visited the guild we called home, it was bustling with its usual energy.
Adventurers flowed in and out without pause, and despite the first-floor lobby being spacious, it was packed with adventurers waiting in line.
At the counter, several staff members stood side by side handling requests.
Aria's red-tipped hair bounced with each movement, and she seemed bothered by it, reaching up to fiddle with the ends of her hair with her fingertips.
While standing in line waiting for their turn, there was nothing to do.
Aria pulled her fingers away from her hair tips and looked around.
"Haaah, there are so many people at this hour. If you're heading out to work, you should come earlier. When it's this crowded, everything takes so much longer."
Inwardly, though.
(It was probably best to keep quiet about the fact that Aria's slow preparation was what made it so crowded. He'd only recently figured that out.)
Aria oversleeping was partly to blame, but they weren't in any particular rush this time.
They had simply come to check what kinds of requests were available.
He decided to lend an ear to the voices around him and listen in on the rumors.
Adventurers' gossip.
Not all of it was trustworthy, but there was no harm in hearing it out.
"Is it true that Alette is getting married?"
"No way. She's just heading back to her country earlier than planned, right?"
"That flower shop girl Flaminia was pretty today too, huh. I ended up buying flowers again."
"...I heard Flaminia's getting married next week."
"...You're kidding... right?"
"Did you hear? Zayin and Rolfis are apparently going at it again."
"They're always glaring at each other over there. There's always a decent number of mercenaries around, so it's no concern of ours. At most, the Southern Branch guys would make a fuss."
"Haven't you heard any rumors about that Alberno guy getting seriously injured? Or screwing up in the Dungeon?"
"Like Alberno would make that kind of mistake. If he really got hurt, there'd be plenty of people throwing a celebration at the tavern right about now."
None of these conversations had much to do with him.
If anything, it just meant there were plenty of adventurers who wished Alberno would get hurt.
From inside the Jewel, the Seventh Generation's voice came.
"Hmph. The best they can do is find clumsy ways to nurse their grudges. That's exactly why adventurers and mercenaries are so despised."
I decided to pretend I hadn't heard the Seventh Generation's opinion. Then again, he hated adventurers and mercenaries, so it was nothing but a biased take.
The calm voice of the Fifth Generation reached me.
"But honestly, people's gossip never changes no matter the era. Love affairs, wars—my time was no different."
The Fourth Generation spoke with a laugh.
"It may look like things have changed, but they really haven't... That's kind of interesting, isn't it? Maybe this feeling is a privilege unique to us, since we've been recorded and all."
I waited for my turn, listening to the voices inside the Jewel and the chatter around me.
As the adventurers ahead of me trickled away, the counter drew closer.
It looked like the one handling requests today was Marianne.
(Huh, that's unusual.)
Marianne was a Guild staff member who typically handled new adventurers. So seeing her at the front desk like this had me curious.
When my turn came and I took a seat, I asked Marianne to confirm the request details.
Did she already know who I was?
"Great work on the Dungeon subjugation. Also, here are the requests we'd like you to take on this time."
She handed me a stack of documents—more than usual, by the looks of it.
Aria, sitting beside me, leaned over.
"Hey, this is more than usual, isn't it? Don't tell me you're taking all of these?"
I picked up one of the sheets and shook my head.
"Of course not. I'm choosing which ones to take from here. The shorter the travel distance, the more I have to pick up. But if they're too far, it'll take too long. I'd like to go back and discuss it before deciding, but... yeah, there's a lot this time."
Marianne shrugged her shoulders. The way her ample chest bounced was probably a side effect of her altered uniform.
My gaze lingered a moment too long, and Aria stomped on my foot.
"Ow! What was that?"
"I warned you because you were being rude."
While Aria looked away as she said that, I endured the pain on the top of my foot where she'd stomped and turned my attention to the documents.
Marianne was smiling slightly.
What she'd prepared was a rough list of requests, but five sheets were presented. Several had lines drawn through them, and I understood that some parties had already accepted those requests.
(The ones with better conditions have been crossed out, of course.)
I checked the list, then confirmed again with Marianne.
"Aren't there more than before?"
"Well, since the dungeon subjugation, many parties aren't short on money. Besides, there are parties that have grown through experience and can't afford to be idle. Also, a new expedition is being organized, so manpower is being diverted there, and requests aren't being processed as usual. At headquarters, various things have come up, and staff are being reassigned, so I'm handling regular duties too. Ah..."
As if remembering something, Marianne asked me.
"Have Erhard and the others been involved since then? They're reckless, but they're good kids at heart. They tend to try to solve everything with strength, so I'm worried."
Aria, who was sitting next to me, looked like she remembered when she heard Erhard's name.
"That tank top guy with the greatsword? Come to think of it, I haven't seen him since then."
Aria hasn't, but I've seen their faces at the Guild a few times.
When we run into each other, they look dissatisfied, but they quickly leave somewhere.
"Especially recently. But it seems they're disliked."
Marianne gave a wry smile.
"Is that so? I've warned them properly. Anyway, what will you do? The requests with decent conditions will be taken. Do you want to take the documents home and think it over?"
I told her I'd consider it, took the documents, and left the counter.
——The Guild headquarters.
The ones gathered were officials of standing from each branch.
The Sweeper Tahnia... Tahnia was also accompanying them as escort for those officials.
The headquarters' meeting room was of a size incomparable to any branch's.
A headquarters senior official conveyed the content of the meeting to the gathered staff.
"Let me confirm the issue at hand once more. Minor skirmishes have already begun along the border between Zayin and Rolfis. While not unusual for this time of year, an ill-timed spark has landed."
All eyes turned toward the officials of the Eastern Branch.
What Alette Baye—the knight of Rolfis—had obtained was a rare metal called Mithril.
That was on the verge of becoming the trigger for war.
However, the Guild did not consider the war itself to be important.
The problem was the impact it would have on the Guild.
A Southern Branch official raised their hand to speak.
"In the Southern Branch, many mercenary groups have already begun to move. Consumption of arms, food, and expendables will likely increase."
A female official from the Northern Branch spoke.
"A war at this time? It's somewhat troublesome. Since we didn't anticipate it, changing our schedules will be difficult. So, will a war really happen?"
The Western Branch official was smiling slightly.
"It's confirmed intelligence. It seems the current Saintess is rather fond of war. The High Priests appear to be in agreement as well."
Tahnia's superior was looking at the documents in hand with a dissatisfied expression.
In a low voice.
"Honestly, we just profited from the Dungeon extermination, and now we'll be using up the Magic Stones we just acquired. And yet, with adventurers becoming busy with the war, the price of Magic Stones will skyrocket."
They were complaining that they'd have to purchase Magic Stones from surrounding Guilds, even if it meant paying a premium.
An executive staff member relayed the Guild's policy.
"As before, the Guild will cooperate with both sides. We will accept requests as well, but there is a matter of balance. We expect you to avoid leaning too heavily toward one side and to act in ways that do not result in losses for the Guild."
Tahnia thought.
*(That's the hard part, isn't it? It wouldn't do us any good if a country got crushed either.)*
A staff member from the Western Branch raised their hand and addressed the executive.
"So, what scale of conflict is the Guild anticipating?"
Scale.
Would it be skirmishes between nations and border lords involving a few thousand troops?
Or would nations fully mobilize their populace and wage war with tens of thousands?
If it was just a few hundred soldiers clashing in minor border disputes, the Guild wouldn't normally need to intervene — such things existed all the time.
And if it was merely a few dozen people in a small skirmish, it would be difficult to even keep track of.
Nations were not just Zayin and Rolfis.
The executive staff member said.
"Zayin has just undergone a succession, and the new head will likely mobilize tens of thousands for the sake of prestige. According to merchants' reports, they are already stockpiling that level of supplies. In contrast, Rolfis's movements are sluggish. Their national power has always been inferior, after all. Rolfis will likely become the battlefield."
The Guild had already predicted it would come to a defensive war for Rolfis.
Tahnia foresaw that Rolfis's interior would be ravaged.
She had spoken with Alette at the reception desk a number of times, and she had not been a bad person.
*(...Alette will have to hurry back, won't she?)*
As an acquaintance, she did not wish for Alette to die, yet this was the reality — the Guild was looking to profit by exploiting Alette's mother country.
Tahnia watched the meeting unfold without letting her expression falter—.