Chapter 16

Though it was in the middle of the night, a corner of the royal city was lit up by torches as though it were broad daylight. A somewhat cramped room was packed full of men and women. They were all dressed in battle gear, but there was no unifying theme among them.

They were all the adventurers within the capital who had responded to the hasty summons of the palace. Orichalcum and mithril-ranked adventurers notwithstanding, even lowly iron and copper-ranked adventurers were present for this.

The more senior adventurers had already realized that the reason outsiders like themselves had been permitted into the palace was in order to take care of the problems plaguing the capital. Some of these adventurers had already begun guessing at their employer upon seeing the youth in white armor standing at attention in the corner.

With a loud "gneek" The great door to the chamber suddenly opened and what appeared was a band of people, causing a stir. Every one of them was known to every single adventurer within the Kingdom.

At their head was the leader of the adamantium-ranked adventuring party 'Blue Rose', Lakyus Alvein dale Aindra.

Close behind her was the Golden Princess Renner, along with the leader of the Adventurer's Guild in the capital. Then there was Evileye of Blue Rose and one of the twins. And at the back was the strongest warrior of the Kingdom, Gazef Stronoff.

As the group stood before the gathered adventurers, the youth in white armor unrolled the scroll in his hands and pasted it onto the wall behind him. It was a very detailed map of the royal capital. The first to speak was a woman in her forties, a former member of a mithril-ranked adventuring party whose eyes were still filled with vitality.

"Ladies and gentlemen, to begin with, I'd like to thank you for being able to be present for this emergency meeting."

After the room had quietened down, she continued to address the adventurers with an earnest expression on her face.

"Normally, the Adventurer's Guild would never interfere in national affairs..."

Every eye turned to the members of Blue Rose, but they remained silent. After all, eyes could not speak like the mouth could.

"… However, this is an exceptional case. The Adventurer's Guild has decided to cooperate fully with the government, in order to quickly resolve the problems facing us. The Princess will relate the details to us, so I pray you will be quiet and listen."

The Princess slowly advanced, flanked by the members of Blue Rose and Sir Stronoff.

"I am Renner Theiere Chardelon ryle Vaiself. I am deeply grateful that everyone here was able to respond to the extraordinary summons issued tonight."

She bowed demurely to them and several sighs of affection rose from the adventurers as they saw the delicate sight before them.

"Normally, I would render duly deserved praise upon all of you, but as time is of the essence, let us arrive presently to the point. This night, a portion of the capital…"

Here the Princess raised a finger to a part of the map (the northeast corner) and drew a big circle around it.

"… was surrounded by a wall of fire. The flames are more than thirty meters in height, I am certain you all have seen them."

Most of the adventurers nodded in agreement, while some went to the palace windows to look outside. The high walls surrounding Valencia palace meant that they couldn't see the wall of fire directly, but the reflected light from the flames stained the sky red and that they could see.

"This flame ought to be an illusion of some sort as touching it does not cause harm. According to those who have tried, the fire does not have heat, or impede movement. Moving past the firewall should not pose a problem either."

At this, the lower-ranked adventurers breathed sighs of relief.

"The perpetrator of this incident is known as Jaldabaoth, a powerful demon. The Blue Rose has already confirmed that there are low-ranking demons on the other side of the firewall. They seem to be acting entirely on orders from their superiors."

Lakyus nodded to Renner as she said that.

"Strike at the head and the body will die... does that mean all we have to do is defeat this demon Jaldabaoth?"

Renner turned to acknowledge the speaker, an adventurer with a mithril plate upon his neck.

"That might be an oversimplification, but fundamentally, that is true. However, what I wish to ask of all of you is to defeat this devil's plot. We have information that suggests that he is here to seize a certain magic item which is on its way to the capital, or in it already."

That news sparked a disturbance among the adventurers. They had finally realized that the region encircled by the firewall included the warehouses and shophouses that made up the capital's economic heart.

"... How did you come by this information?"

"It was stated by Jaldabaoth himself."

"Then don't you think there's a high chance this information could be false?"

"Certainly, it is not out of the question. However, I believe it to be accurate. The enemy has not made any movements ever since they set up the wall of fire. More importantly, if what Jaldabaoth says is true, then inaction will mean that all we can do is watch the worst-case scenario unfolding before our eyes. Therefore, we must seize the initiative."

"How strong is that Jaldabaoth you mentioned? I don't remember hearing or reading about him. It would help us if you could tell us his difficulty level."

Lakyus stepped forward with a stern expression on her face.

"My colleague Evileye is the one who is most familiar with Jaldabaoth's strength, but we do not know the specifics yet. We will update you later."

The difficulty ranking was how adventurers rated the monsters they encountered. The higher the number, the stronger the opponent. However, it was an unspoken rule that one should not rely too heavily on difficulty rankings, because it would lead to nasty surprises. The strength of monsters varied even within their own species and at best, a difficulty ranking was an educated guess. So, it was not a value that was frequently used. However, it was a simple way to explain things to a group like this.

"I shall speak of what I know as my group's representative. My comrades have encountered an… insect maid, believed to be one of Jaldabaoth's most powerful followers and defeated her, only for Jaldabaoth to appear and engage in battle..."

The absence of Gagaran and Tia had already been noticed by the adventurers present.

Lakyus looked around at the adventurers in the room and bit her lip.

"They were killed by Jaldabaoth… with a single blow."

Chaos broke out with Evileye's statement. Adamantium-ranked adventurers, the pinnacle of humanity, living legends. It was unthinkable that they could be killed, let alone in a single blow.

"Do not be afraid!"

Evileye shouted as though she would disperse the fear in the air with her voice.

"Certainly, Jaldabaoth is powerful. I can vouch for this, having faced him with nothing to show for it but defeat. It is a monster that no ordinary human can defeat. Even if every person gathered in here fought him, we would risk being defeated as a group. But there is no need to worry. There is a man who can do battle evenly with Jaldabaoth!"

Amidst the commotion, some of the brighter adventurers looked to a certain place, to a certain couple of adventurers.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I believe you know him. From the third adamantium-ranked adventuring team that was recently founded in E-Rantel of the Kingdom, indeed, it is him…"

Evileye pointed her finger at the pair of adventurers, and the eyes of the entire room went with her.

"The leader of Thunder & Lightning, the Dark Hero Momon!"

One was encased in night-black plate armor and wearing a helmet that he refused to remove even indoors, while the other had not a single piece of armour. Those two instantly became the center of everyone's attention. Exclamations of awe and wonder filled the room as they now realized the celebrities they had in their midst.

Oshiku smiled, but grumbled internally. You little bitch, I could beat the shit out that devil anytime, far easier than my friend ever could! … but it's better if I once again let him deal with fame and all the annoying things that will come with it.

In the meantime, Momon shifted his adamantium plate from within the folds of his crimson cape to where everyone could see it.

"Quickly, Sir Momon, please come to the front of the room."

In contrast to Evileye's excitement, Momon simply raised a hand in reply and whispered a few words in Oshiku's ear. "Tell that lovesick girl to shut up and get all this over with."

He nodded, smirked and then said out loud: "We're honoured, but Momon-san says there's no need for a lengthy introduction. We should begin the briefing quickly."

"… Well, that is a shame. Then, let us make haste as Sir Momon suggests. Evileye, may I continue the briefing?"

"Cough, uh, apologies, Princess Renner, please, continue." Even though her mask concealed her face, one could tell how Evileye felt from the disappointed tone of her voice.

"As Evileye said, we have a warrior who can stand against Jaldabaoth. Everyone, rest assured that we are not picking a fight we cannot win. Then, I shall explain the details of the operation."

Renner sketched a line on the map.

"To begin with, I would like you to act as our bow."

"A bow?" came a doubtful voice, "Not a shield?"

"A shield will not help us win. To begin with, I wish to form the adventurers up into a battle line, followed closely by a line of guards. Behind them will be the support line of priests and magic casters. In this way, we will advance into the enemy stronghold. At this point, if the enemy does not engage us, then we will have the adventurers advance into the enemy headquarters and suppress the area. If we are attacked, we will first determine if we can repel the attack. If possible, we will advance. If not, then I must ask the adventurers to retreat while drawing off the enemy. In the meantime, I must ask the guards to hold off the enemy as long as possible. If the adventurers must retreat, then they must head here."

She pointed to the support line of the magic casters.

"You will heal here, and from there we will see about mounting another attack."

"Hang on! Does this mean... the guards will be fighting on our behalf?"

The guards had very low fighting strength. It seemed impossible for any amount of them to substitute for an adventurer in combat.

Just as Renner was about to reply, another adventurer spoke up.

"Another thing, there's a fatal flaw in this plan. While retreating, our formation will stretch out and our defensive power will weaken as a result. What if demons attack the capital in the meantime? Even a low-ranking demon is far more powerful than an average human. Won't there be a lot of needless sacrifices? Instead, why don't we use [Flight] to penetrate the enemy formation in one movement?"

"I have considered this method as well, but is it not true that demons count many flyers among their numbers?"

The gathered adventurers recalled tales of flying demons and nodded. Even low-ranking demons had wings, and many could fly.

"The usual application of [Flight] will only serve to draw the eyes of the enemy to ourselves. I had considered starting at a high altitude, then suddenly plunging to the ground to use the buildings of the city to block the enemy's vision while we assaulted them at a high speed from cover, but there is another matter to discuss before this. You have mentioned that when retreating, the battle lines would spread and the defense would weaken. Same applies to our enemy. So for this battle, we are not a shield, but a bow."

Shouts of approval came up from the adventurers.

"Ladies and gentlemen, you will be the bow of our Kingdom, drawn and loosed, to pierce our foe straight through the heart. Just as the adventurers will spread out, so will the enemy as they follow us. This also means the enemy's defense will weaken. Between a relaxed and a closed formation, I am certain it is easier to break through a relaxed formation. The purpose for forming you up into a line like this is to lure the enemy into weakening themselves. And finally, acting as the arrow will be Thunder & Lightning. When they see the enemy lines open up, they will make a low-altitude flying assault to break through."

"... Even if they are adamantium-ranked adventurers, I don't see how two people can break through by themselves. How about Red Drop? To be safe, don't we need someone to screen them before they reach Jaldabaoth?"

"At the moment, Red Drop are performing a task within the Republic. We already used [Message] to inform them of the situation, but returning will still them take half a day. By that time, it would be too late. So this time round, we are not counting their strength into our plans."

"Then how about Blue Rose? Will they be going in with Thunder & Lightning?"

"... Our battle strength has been greatly depleted with the loss of two of our members. Tina and I will join the battle line. while Evileye will—"

"—I will be accompanying Mom— ahem, Thunder & Lightning as they make their entry, so I have been focusing on restoring my mana up until now."

"Then let me ask another question. I'd like to ask the Warrior Captain something. What about the nobles' household troops and warriors? Blue Rose has already lost two members. You should be taking their place in battle. Couldn't you lead those troops into battle, and let all Blue Rose handle the task of clearing the path for Momon-san?"

No reply came.

"… Answer us!"

Gazef sighed and responded, "The household troops are responsible for protecting their masters' estates and the soldiers look to the defense of the capital. And the warriors I lead are tasked with defending the royal family."

"So you're saying the great Gazef Stronoff doesn't dare set foot on the battlefield?"

"Indeed, that is so. My duty is to protect the members of the royal family."

The air changed. It was now filled with hostility and frustration. Gazef's words were correct, but even if they understood them on a logical level, it was still unacceptable for many adventurers on an emotional one. The ones who earned their coin in blood were the adventurers and they were already prepared to sell their lives dearly in the coming battle. The nobles and royalty should have been the same way. Having taken the money of the masses, they should be rushing to their rescue instead of holing up safe in their castles. Especially since they were taking the Kingdom's strongest man as their bodyguard. What the hell?, Most of them thought.

Hostility against the nobles and royalty filled the air. Gazef took a step back. He understood that at this point, anything he said would only sound like an excuse.

Therefore, the one who spoke for him was Lakyus.

"Everyone, I understand you are not happy with his arrangement. But before that, I would advise you to keep one thing in mind. The one paying to gather you all here is not the royal family, but Princess Renner herself, out of her own private finances. The one who brought Momon-san here was Marquis Raeven. He is not here tonight because he is on guard against any demons which might be dispersed in the capital. Certainly, I am as unhappy with some nobles and royals as you are, but I would like you to consider that not all of them are cut from the same cloth."

The room calmed down somewhat as Lakyus finished her piece. Everyone was trying to control the anger they didn't want to show to the Golden Princess who spoke. "... And there is one more thing. Before we fire the arrow, we must perform one more task. Climb!"

"Yes, Princess!"

His energetic voice drew everyone's attention to the boy in the white armor.

"Although it is a very dangerous task, I must still entrust you with it. When we enter the enemies' stronghold, there might be survivors. Please rescue them."

Murmured whispers rose up from the adventurers. "Impossible!", "It's too much!", that sort of thing. Entering the heart of the enemy formation and looking for survivors wasn't dangerous, it was outright suicidal. Even if he was lucky enough to find them without getting himself killed, scorting powerless civilians back out through a war zone was practically impossible.

Still, Climb answered immediately. "Yes, Your Highness! I will stake my life to accomplish any task you ask of me!"

Everyone looked at Climb as though he were mad.

"... Princess, Climb is just one man. Will you permit me to accompany him?"

"Are you sure that will be all right, Lockmeier-sama?"

That name raised another commotion from the adventurers. Even if he was no longer in business, the former orichalchum-ranked adventurer was known far and wide for his abilities, also most knew he now was an aide of Marquis Raeven.

"Ah, it's no problem for me."

"Then I will be count on you. May I now ask the various party leaders to step forward?"

As they watched the adventurers at the head of the room, Momon and Oshiku were doing some work of his own. That is to say, making introductions. People who looked like they were second-in-command for their adventuring parties were all coming up to the new adamantium-ranked party to speak with them.

Their lines followed similar patterns from announcing their party names, admiring Momon's dark armour, quizzically looking at Oshiku, hoping to meet them again and lastly sharing stories of their adventures. It was similar to how one might exchange business cards at work, but while business cards had physical forms, verbal introductions would only linger as memories.

A good memory was an important skill for a leader. Oshiku let his mind wander as he committed every person he met to memory. The important thing was to remember the party name and what rank they were. And of course, he would only pay attention to the higher-ranking adventurers. Iron and copper-ranked adventurers came to greet him too, but they lived in totally different worlds, so forgetting them was not an issue. It was like how a department head would never remember the salarymen of a small company he visited.

Even so, Momon and Oshiku didn't make it obvious they were taking low-ranked teams lightly. They shook hands with all comers, gave them reassuring pats on the shoulder, laughed at their stupid jokes, made some of their own and returned the praise they received.

Someone had even taken their gloves off to shake hands with him, with him in gauntlets and all. It must be a matter of rank, Ainz thought as he looked at the back of the person who had just said hello. What a crazy color... his hair was a shocking pink. It wasn't uncommon for adventurers to paint their gear in garish colors, but this was the first time he had seen someone dye their hair in such a shade.

Well, it doesn't seem like there's any taboos or stigma associated with dying your hair. That's good, I was afraid they'd be mocking Oshiku-san's moss-head…

During his life as a salaryman, pink hair would have been considered strange, but in this world, even kids loved to dye their hair and nobody cared.

He forced himself to set aside the topic of hair and instead looked at the line of adventurers in front of him. It reminded him of the queuing instinct of the Japanese. Then, he turned his focus to who stood beside him to shake hands with the waves of adventurers. The man had a real smile on his face. I'm so glad you're here with me, Oshiku-san…

Around the time where their hands would have started getting sore from shaking if they had been still humans, the stream of adventurers began dwindling down. Sensing an opportunity, Evileye approached, cutting in front of the person who was going to shake Ainz's hand. They couldn't complain, though. The adventurers had made their introductions in order of rank, from highest to lowest. Being at the tail end of the line, the ones remaining were the novices, and they certainly couldn't say anything against the adamantium-ranked Evileye.

"The introductions should be pretty much over, could you come over here for a bit?"

Momon glanced at her through the slit of his closed helm and then he spied Gazef from the corner of his vision. If he was still there, that could only mean one thing. Hm, not good, he may recognise my voice… "Oshiku-san, please go with Evileye. I'll come over after I finish up here."

The nearby listeners' eyes went wide as he said: "I'm very sorry, but the ones who queued up came first." Then Momon turned from Evileye and continued speaking to the adventurers who had come to see him.

If he was speaking to the boss of a small company and was suddenly called over by the leader of an international corporation, he would immediately go over to the latter. It wasn't favoritism or discrimination, but rather common sense. If he stuck to his guns and ignored the call, he would be seen as a disrespectful, little man who couldn't see the big picture. As a salaryman, sometimes you had to put aside your own thinking and act for the greater benefit of the company. That was what it meant to be a cog in a machine.

However, this situation was different.

I can't risk speaking to Gazef. Even if it's just for a moment, and even if it's been two months ago so he shouldn't remember... if he does, It'll be a disaster!

This was so paranoid even Oshiku couldn't understand what was going on in his friend's head and looked at him puzzled.

"… Please don't waste time, Oshiku."

"Ah, yes… Understood." No, I don't, but whatever.

Taking his eyes off Oshiku, who followed Evileye up to the Princess and the Warrior Captain, he had an idea. This way, even if he remembers my voice, he won't be doubtful!

So Momon took his helmet off for a moment. At that, he felt the eyes of the entire room focusing on him. He cricked his neck and wiped some nonexistent sweat off. Usually his face was nothing more than an illusion, but right before the meeting he had Oshiku use his power to temporarily change race. With so many eyes, he didn't want to risk his true identity being discovered, even if it would be difficult. That was the plan, to satisfy Gazef's curiosity by letting him see Ainz's face. And now everything should be alright… Ainz prayed so in his heart while he turned back to the adventurers who were seeking him.

"What a surprise, are you used to this already?"

It was Evileye's voice. Why's she back again? women are so annoying and clingy! Of course, he didn't reveal his irritation. In fact, to avoid suspicion, he replied to her in a gentle voice.

"Oh, it wasn't anything special."

This was nothing for anyone who had worked in a company before.

"Hardly. I think it's the best attitude to have for leading a party…"

Stop cutting in when I'm making introductions!

The words burned in Ainz's heart, but he had to swallow them. If he lashed out at her now, all the effort he had put into not killing her would have been wasted. He split his attention as though he were performing a simple task, and made the appropriate noises to someone who had come to see him. The other party also knew that Ainz was being called away, so they wrapped things up in two or three sentences.

After the line of adventurers had dispersed, a quick look revealed that Gazef was already gone. Perfect! he thought, but instead spoke calmly to Evileye.

"The legendary Warrior Captain seems to have left...oh dear. I think I spent too much time with the others. My apologies."

"Mmm? What do you know, he's gone. He's a busy person, it makes sense that he couldn't stay. Although, it does seem quite rude that he didn't even say a word of thanks to our ace, Momon-sama, who's going to protect the capital. How rude. Let me get him for you."

"Ah, wait, it won't be a problem, don't worry about it. I'm only here because Marquis Raeven hired us anyway. Protecting the capital is simply business. Nothing the Warrior Captain should praise me for. And I'm sure we'll see each other on the battlefield or later on."

"Is that so... I've been feeling that Momon-sama was a generous man."

Momon thought he was being mocked, and he looked closely at Evileye. But he couldn't read her face, covered by her mask as it was. I can't trust anyone who wears a mask after all, what a pain. I mean, even I take my helmet off every once in a while, what are you hiding?… I must ask Oshiku what she's like. Still, why does she wear the mask? It must be some kind of magic item…

"... Evileye-san, I'm—"

"Please, call me Evileye. Momon-sama is my savior, you need not be so formal with me."

He was only being polite. But if that was how she wanted it, he had no reason to refuse.

"Then, Evileye, let's go over there..."

"Of course!"

It was an extremely delighted reply. Now certain of the reason why, Momon allowed himself to be dragged by Evileye toward the Princess.

The adventurers started talking again as they saw the group heading toward the other room, to Renner and her underlings, along with the two adamantium-ranked adventurers.

Naturally, the central topic was Thunder & Lightning, the third top team in the Kingdom.

"I had heard the rumors from E-Rantel, but the real thing was beyond my expectations."

"Not just them, right? I've seen Red Drop too, and I got the same feeling from them. It seems they are perfect in just about every way. I guess being adamantium-ranked isn't about strength only."

The one addressing two mithril-ranked adventurers was one with a platinum plate on his chain.

"Is that so? Still, Momon was summoned by the Princess and still took his time to say hello to novice adventurers. Someone like that can't possibly exist, right?"

"It certainly surprised me."

Murmurs of approval came from the adventurers around them.

During a mission like this where parties had to work with each other, it was only sensible to make introductions, in order to secure assistance and support for each other. One would certainly prefer to aid someone they knew rather than a stranger. However, the only ones who could even begin to help an adamantium-ranked adventurer were all ranked mithril and above. As such, greeting low-ranked adventurers could be said to be a waste of time. Which meant that Momon wasn't thinking of the benefit for himself, but just wanted to deepen his friendship with others.

"Normally, you'd expect him to go over to the Princess while his partner attended to the novices, right?"

"Ah, yes, that's what most people would normally do. It's what I'd do. You guys too, right?"

"Same here...this may sound kind of bad, but maybe he doesn't understand this sort of thing. Does he have his priorities straight?"

Those words could certainly be seen as an insult, but the man speaking them did not have a single iota of malice on his face.

"Maybe he does. Maybe his priorities are just different."

As though waiting for this, the man who had spoken earlier replied quickly.

"Then there's nobody better than him. I mean, look at him, he's adamantium-ranked and yet he treats the freshest copper-plates like they were battle buddies. Look at their faces."

"They totally worship him now."

True enough, the novice adventurers had a look on their faces like kids who had just met their idol.

"Heh, yeah, if he treated me like that, I'd be his. I'd even give him my ass."

.Get lost, who the hell would want your nasty ass?"

"Maybe the other one does, then. He's really charming"

"You may get lucky with him. I heard Oshiku gets a different girl every day, while Momon seems not to be interested in that—"

"—hey!" The fourth man to interrupt had an orichalcum plate on his neck. "You seem to be quite well informed, with your rumors from E-Rantel. Is the strength of those two really unreal?"

"It appears so. After all, if Momon fought back a demon who one-shotted two members of Blue Rose—"

The Adventurer's Guildmaster interrupted the whispers by clapping her hands to get everyone's attention.

"The operation starts in one hour, so we'll be moving out shortly. Because we don't have much time, please relay the message to any of your party members who aren't here. In any event, once we leave the palace, just stick with me."

They were gathered in the other room to make the final preparations for the operation. They considered when to break through, what to do when the enemy showed up in force and how to deal with the possible complications which might arise. But in the end, they simply had too little information to make concrete plans and the final conclusion was that they had to go with the flow.

Once the discussion had dwindled, Lakyus said: "If there's nothing else to discuss, why don't we go pay Tia and Gagaran a visit?"

"Sounds like a plan." The two of them had died and been revived. Although Momon had not seen the resurrection itself, he had heard all about it from others.

"I still have a question, though. Is it possible to use the energy of darkness to attack demons and the like?"

"...The energy of darkness?"

Evileye's uncertain question drew a surprised response from Lakyus. She seemed to find the concept unthinkable.

"Ah, I heard from Gagaran that if you released the full power of the Demonic Sword Kilineyram, it could be powerful enough to destroy the entire country."

Lakyus's eyes went wide. "Th-That can wait till later! We've got something else to do, right?"

A demonic sword? Hang on, I think I've heard of this weapon before...not in YGGDRASIL, but this world... got it! The Demonic Sword Kilineyram, said to be able to radiate the power of darkness. Although...destroying an entire country? It sounds like an exaggeration, but it might have a power that comes close enough.

By Lakyus' reaction, he concluded that her red face was caused by anger and panic that her own trump card had been suddenly revealed.

Just as everyone's attention turned to her, there was knocking on the door and two men entered shortly after.

"Onii-sama, Marquis Raeven."

At Renner's words, everyone bowed their heads in respect.

This was the second time Momon and Oshiku had met these two men. The first time was not long ago, when they had entered the capital. They had changed the terms of the quest that Thunder & Lightning had been hired for. Instead of Eight Fingers, they would be fighting against Jaldabaoth and would be working together with the gathered adventurers of the capital.

After the simple greeting, Ainz and the others were about to step outside because the Princess wanted to address the two nobles. Most details of the battle plan had already been decided. All that was left was to wait for on-site orders.

"Then, everyone, I beseech all the gods to allow everyone here to come back alive and victorious...our hopes rest on all of you. May fortune favor you."

After listening to Renner pray with her head bowed low, the adventurers quietly exited the room. The only ones left were Raeven, the Second Prince Zanack Valurean Igana ryle Vaiself and Renner.

The moment Climb left the room, the Primcess' expression changed, her green eyes freezing over like a lake in winter. Zanack shivered as he watched the change in her.

"We overheard the details in the secret room..."

That place was designed for eavesdropping, and the two of them had been listening from in there.

"… there's one question you didn't answer. Why did you have to form the guards up into a battle line. Are they sacrifices?"

Guards were very weak. Even the lowliest of adventurers were more than a match for them. If they were attacked, the only reasonable response for them was to be massacred.

"Bait."

That word was what they had expected.

"The adventurers said so too: Jaldabaoth's army of low-ranked demons cannot be allowed to run free in the capital. Then, if they gorge themselves on all the guards staked out for them, certainly they will eventually kill their fill and be sated on slaughter, no?"

Renner smiled. It was almost impossible to settle things with fancy words and high-sounding ideals in this world. Everything one did had a price. Nobody understood that more clearly than the ones in power, whose responsibility was to limit the necessary sacrifices as much as possible.

From that point of view, Renner was the ideal bureaucrat.

However, humans were creatures of emotion, and the emotion they would feel when hearing of this plan was revulsion.

"Surely there must be a better way? Some way that doesn't involve sacrificing all the guards?"

"If there were, surely Prince Zanack would have mentioned one by now, no?"

Zanack fell silent. It was true, he did not have a better plan than Renner's. He had ideas, certainly, but they were either impractical or impossible with the resources available. At the moment, all he could do was acknowledge that Renner's plan was the best of a bad lot.

Raeven shifted his gaze from the Prince when he quieted himself, then voicing his own objections.

"Then, permit me to seek clarification. Why give Climb such a dangerous task?"

"For the same reason why Onii-sama's and Marquis Raeven's men are patrolling the city."

Zanack had been making his rounds in the capital, putting on the act of the prince who cared for his people. After that, he had also begun spreading the rumors that the crown prince had been hiding in the safety of the royal castle. This would make himself look good and diminish his brother, who was his rival. Did that mean Renner was doing the same thing, sending her own subordinate on a dangerous mission of mercy in order to make herself look good?

But then, when one thought about how Renner had revealed her obsession over Climb yesterday, something was definitely wrong here.

Sensing his doubt, Renner carried on.

"Of course, Climb has a chance of dying. In that event, Lakyus will use a resurrection spell on him. It won't be cheap, of course, but an expense like these won't be a problem. And after he's been resurrected, Climb will be weakened from a loss of life energy. During that time, I will take care of him. I'm sure nobody will object to me caring for a person who died and was resurrected for following my orders."

"I see. That is certainly reasonable. You plan to deepen his affection for you."

"—Is there a chance Lakyus might die as well?"

"That is a valid concern…" Renner said to Raeven, whose head was lowered. "… But one that has been planned for. During the dangerous period of the sortie, there will be additional people in place to protect her. The Guild Master does not want a person who can resurrect the dead to be killed, so we've agreed without hesitation."

"It seems everything is within your calculations, sister."

The little girl broke into a dark laughter.

Zanack trembled in his boots. Beside him, Raeven also fought to suppress the chill that ran down his spine. This one's a demon just like the ones out there…