Chapter 152: The Dagger is Short, the Light Pierces, and the Flame Runs 3
“Isn’t this place full of armed commoners?”
“For some reason,” the damn prince, Prince Daryl-denka, who had positioned himself next to me, let out a surprised voice as he looked around.
This happened while we were trudging along after meeting up at the high-class inn where the Maiden of Light’s party was staying.
I suppose it’s only natural for there to be many adventurers in a Margrave’s domain bordering the Demon Realm, but I can understand being surprised when seeing it firsthand.
In Faltar, it was common sense for adventurers to keep their weapons inconspicuous within the city, and besides, the sheer number of them here is completely different.
Comparing it to Hecate, commonly called the City of Adventurers, is fundamentally flawed, but it’s probably a worrying sight for royalty.
“Unlike Faltar, not all the adjacent countries are allies. Inevitably, dealing with monsters falls to the adventurers.”
Also, because dangerous monsters don’t just pop up constantly here, those who are broke, desperate, and have no other options can turn into bandits.
That option becomes available to them.
The Knights Order handles maintaining public order, while adventurers deal with monsters; that division is much clearer here than in Faltar.
“Even so, isn’t this too many?”
The prince murmured a surprised soliloquy in response to my answer.
Well, it certainly feels like too many.
Right now, most of the adventurers in Hecate are just the ones who couldn’t make it to the middle layers of the Demon Realm.
Although some who took faraway requests prompted by my and Erika’s Adventurer Rank Promotion Exam have returned.
Compared to the number of people currently on expedition in the Demon Realm, it’s far fewer.
Despite that, the City of Hecate looks like it’s overflowing with adventurers.
It seems like it might cause quite a bit of chaos when the expedition groups return to the city.
Few adventurers own permanent homes; they usually retire from adventuring once they gain citizenship.
This means enough adventurers are gathering in Hecate that some might not even find lodging.
Naturally, adventurers don’t just spring up from the ground.
“I wonder if something happened that caused them to flow in from other regions?”
I muttered this while watching the backs of Erika and the others walking cheerfully a few steps ahead.
Just as desperate people turn to crime, when people are cornered, they stop thinking about the consequences.
All that matters is somehow getting through the current difficulty.
Shortsighted thinking sometimes leads people to make choices that, in hindsight, can only be seen as “foolish.”
Like when the Adventurers Guild staff member, Lana, met “Kind Barbara,” for example.
In the Double Barrier City Hecate, also commonly known as the City of Adventurers, there aren’t really any tourist spots suitable for guiding visiting royalty and the Maiden of Light who are traveling incognito.
However, given that there are enough adventurers for it to be its nickname, and hearing that Erika works as an adventurer, guiding the Maiden of Light’s party to the Adventurers Guild probably isn’t such an outlandish idea.
As we visited the Adventurers Guild, led by Erika and the Maiden of Light Luu, we were greeted by the shouts of the Guild Staff member, Lana.
“Retreat order (Red Smoke)! Retreat order (Red Smoke)! All Type 2 staff and below, evacuate immediately!”
Lana yelled, and one of the staff members started frantically ringing a huge bell whose purpose I hadn’t understood until now.
So that bell wasn’t just decoration.
Ignoring any sense of tone, aiming only for maximum volume, the sound struck our eardrums, causing the adventurers inside the Guild to jump up wondering what was happening, checking for their weapons.
Papers scattered amidst the roars of staff members repeating the order.
Before our stunned eyes, the Guild Staff vanished behind the counter like startled rabbits.
“The Dragon Has Landed! The Dragon Has Landed! Close the counter!”
Just as Lana’s shout came from behind the counter, an iron plate dropped from the ceiling via some mechanism.
What is this?
It seemed I wasn’t the only one thinking that; Erika turned around, dumbfounded, and looked at my face.
Even being asked silently, “Did you do something?” didn’t make sense to me.
A strange silence fell among us and the adventurers who were completely left behind by the situation.
Or rather, everyone was bewildered by the Guild’s sudden bizarre behavior.
A part of the counter, now an iron wall, opened like a shutter.
From behind it, Lana’s voice could be heard, “Eh? Me? I have to say it?”
Ahem, ahem. Cough, cough.
“W-We Guild Staff will not yield to any threats! We’ll offer you the head of Baldo Barrel—I mean, the Guild Master—but we resolutely refuse any further demands!”
Poor Guild Master.
“We deal with screw-loose barbarians on a daily basis! Don’t think a little ‘Kindness’ or two is gonna scare us now! Huh? Too much? Who just called me a dimwit for provoking them?!”
Don’t start a crisis of internal division less than a minute after barricading yourselves in.
I understood what Lana was overreacting to and felt weary.
The cause (my master) wore an amused expression and muttered, “What the, so the Guild is a ‘hit’ too, huh?”
I’d like to ask what criteria she uses for judging a ‘hit,’ but I doubt I’d get anything but a worthless answer.
A brief silence.
No, wait—angry shouts like “You try saying that after handling Longdagger-san even once!” and “I won’t help you fix your incomplete paperwork, you bastard!” could be heard from behind the counter, but I ignored them.
“Ah, er, the Guild will not yield to any threats, but we are not so narrow-minded as to unilaterally reject your demands!”
Had the crisis of internal division passed? The following words were hard to classify as either firm or weak.
“What are your demands!? Depending on the demands, we will positively deal with them favorably!”
Isn’t that basically a declaration of defeat?
Prompted by Erika’s “This is