Chapter 3, Part 3

Old Original Characters & Places Appearing in this part:

City of Decoza – is one of the three cities in Draconic Kingdom, which were partially destroyed during the beastman invasion, in my Volume 13. This city is fairly close to the capital of DC, while the other two destroyed cities are further away.

The Young Blood – an orichalcum adventurer group from the Holy Kingdom, consisting of Marv (leader, front line fighter dual-wielding swords,) Shola (cleric) Kiza Achin (mage) and Zirek (ranger.)

They were the group which accompanied the envoy from the Holy Kingdom to ask Ainz for help against Jaldabaoth in my Volume 12. While staying in E-Rantel they attempted the orichalcum wing of the Adventurer’s Dungeon twice, successfully completing it on the second attempt, after receiving advice from Momon on how to deal with the final boss.

At the end of Volume 12, Marv decided to talk about their experience to the Queen of the Holy Kingdom. Who realized that with all of the advantages SK offers to their adventurers, the other nation’s adventurers will all move to SK, leaving HK defenseless against monster attacks. This line of thought led to declare HK as a vassal state of SK, and then later, in this volume, to become an actual part of SK.

***

The gates of E-Rantel came into view of several dozen riders. Led by Marv and his group, Young Blood, they were adventurers from the Holy Kingdom. He calmly approached the gates, while enjoying the shocked gasps which floated over from behind. The magnificent statues of the Sorcerer King, the terrifying undead guards, and a few giants milling around, there was no one who could remain calm when seeing it all for the first time.

Of course, The Young Blood already had this experience, back when they visited this city as the guards for an envoy of the Holy Kingdom. Because of that, they were able to contain their emotions, and ride towards the gates with an air of seasoned adventurers, who had seen so much that the scene in front of them was hardly noteworthy. Marv thought it would make for a funny story.

The group told their identity to a human guard who approached them – their arrival was expected, though the exact date was uncertain. They followed him through the gates and to a nearby building.

“All those who are entering the city for the first time must attend this workshop,” the man explained.

“Say, was this workshop a thing some ten months ago, when we came here with the envoy from the Holy Kingdom?” Marv asked curiously.

“It was, did you not attend one?” The guard asked. “That seems strange, I suppose you can attend this one,” he continued after receiving a negative answer.

The guard knocked on the door, which opened revealing an avatar of brutality. Excessively large, covered in black full plate armor with red patterns which resembled blood vessels, two horns protruded from its helmet, under which was a half rotten face. The creature stared expectantly at the humans in front of it.

It was still rather shocking to see one of these undead up close like this. However, Marv had already told the accompanying adventurers about the creatures inhabiting this city, so despite their panic, no one did anything stupid. After a few tense moments, the creature stepped aside, and the human guard led them inside.

Walking by the undead creature, when it was an arm’s length away was highly unnerving, but after The Young Blood members did so, the others had no choice but to follow. They walked into a room with several long tables and numerous chairs, almost like a classroom.

“Please wait here,” the guard said before leaving.

All of them took the seats, chatting excitedly about the things they’ve seen so far. A short while later the door opened and a naga slithered in. Also, it was a powerful demi-human, its aura paled in comparison to the undead monstrosity from earlier.

“Welcome, dear humans who wish to enter this city. This one is an immigration official for the Sorcerer Kingdom, Ryurarius Spenia Ai Indarun,” the creature began.

After introducing himself the naga proceeded to explain the difference between E-Rantel and other cities. Of course, they have already heard most of it from The Young Blood, so they were spared the shock normal visitors would experience. After the workshop, the group was allowed entry.

They rode their horses to a certain inn. Not the Golden Pavilion, in which they lodged the last time. While Marv’s group could afford that place, the other adventurers were lower ranked, such luxury was beyond their means. As such, they made their way to Howling Wolf – a mid-tier inn, well suited for adventurers of gold and above rank.

The group settled at the inn, taking up most of its rooms – it was a good thing the Adventurer’s Guild of E-Rantel reserved the rooms, in anticipation of their arrival. The adventurers were given free rein to explore the city, while The Young Blood members went straight to the Adventurer’s Guild.

As they walked through this strange city once again, Marv felt elated. The last time they left E-Rantel he found himself in a conundrum. On one hand, there was no doubt in his mind that he and his group would see unprecedented progress if they could join the Adventurer’s Guild of the Sorcerer Kingdom. On the other hand, his homeland and friends were in the Holy Kingdom. Torn between loyalty and desire, he was unable to pick a side.

Luckily, his conversation with the Queen of the Holy Kingdom seemed to explain to her the seriousness such situation posed for her kingdom’s adventurers. Almost immediately the Holy Kingdom became a vassal of the Sorcerer Kingdom, and some time ago it became an official part of the undead King’s nation. This move allowed the adventurers of the Holy Kingdom to take full advantage of the benefits afforded to the adventurers of the Sorcerer Kingdom.

Eager to see what kind of progress they could achieve with daily training sessions, The Young Blood rushed back to E-Rantel, bringing along some thirty other adventurers. This would be the first batch, allowing the Guild in E-Rantel to work out any issues such an influx might cause. After that, more adventurers were expected from the Holy Kingdom.

“It’s been almost a year since we were last here. I wonder what kind of gear they now have available to the adamantite adventurers,” Shola said in a loud voice, his excitement evident.

“Oh, are we adamantite ranked now?” Kiza teased his friend.

“Shush, we did complete the wing intended for mythril and orichalcum adventurers, that makes us eligible to attempt the adamantite wing!”

“Just say it, you want to get your hands on a new, shiny armor,” Marv laughed.

“None shall stand between Shola and his new shiny,” Zirek said bemusedly.

The group laughed. After their last visit, their cleric, Shola, had developed an unhealthy obsession with treasures. He claimed that something in him awakened when he saw all of the sparkling, magical equipment available in E-Rantel. This had become a common topic the rest of the group teased him about. All jokes aside though, they were just as eager to see what kind of items were on display now, not to mention getting their hands on some of them.

With such a boisterous atmosphere, the four made their way to the Adventurer’s Guild. After walking inside Marv went to talk to the receptionist, while the rest swarmed the item displays.

“I would like to talk to meet Pluton Ainzach, tell him that the adventurers from the former Holy Kingdom had arrived,” Marv said.

“Ah, he has been expecting you. You are… Marv-san, right?” The receptionist asked after taking a moment to search through her memory.

“Oh, I am surprised you’ve remembered my name, I’ve only visited a few times, nearly a year ago.”

“Your group was the second highest ranked, at that time,” the receptionist replied with a smile. “Please wait here, I’ll go inform Pluton-sama that you are here.”

While waiting Marv looked at the quest board, which was nearly empty, save for a few minor requests. The security provided by the undead was top notch, and the Adventurer’s Guild could fully focus on increasing the strengths of their members. So that they would be powerful enough to go out and explore the unknown.

Soon, Marv heard a loud voice calling his name. When he looked, he saw a well-built man with gray hair and a handlebar mustache, the Guildmaster, Pluton Ainzach, smiling at him.

“Marv-kun, I am glad to see you are back,” he greeted the adventurers after the two shook hands.

“I am glad to be back,” Marv replied with a toothy smile.

“Ha, I bet you can’t wait to take another crack at the Dungeon. Or are you more excited about testing your group against Moknak’s,” Pluton asked?

“I can’t believe his group made it all the way to adamantite before mine did, and in less than a year,” Marv shook his head.

“Those boys work hard, you’ll have to go all out if you want to catch up,” Pluton laughed. “It will be nice to have some competition for them. With Darkness mostly occupied with various official duties, Rainbow had been feeling a bit lonely, with no one to challenge them.”

“I am looking forward to that,” Marv assured the older Guildmaster. “By the way, how will this work, with the adventurers from the Holy Kingdom?”

“It’s very simple actually, all of you will have to register with us here. We’ll make a note of which part of the Holy Kingdom is your home base, and you’ll be allowed to keep your current rank. After that, you’ll be free to participate in anything you want, be it the Dungeon, group fights and so on,” Ainzach explained.

“I see, that does sound simple. In that case, I’d like for the four of us, from The Young Blood, to register now, while the rest of our adventurers will do so tomorrow morning – I told them to explore the city today.”

“Certainly, I’ve already given the proper instructions to the receptionists. I look forward to seeing your progress, Marv-kun.”

“That makes two of us,” Marv grinned. “By the way, given that on our last visit we’ve defeated the final boss of the orichalcum wing, does it mean we can now challenge the adamantite wing?”

“But of course! Also, you can challenge each wing once a day, so if you want to warm up, you can challenge the orichalcum wing first.”

“Alright, yes, we’ll probably do that,” Marv said.

After shaking hands again, Ainzach went back upstairs to his office, while Marv called over the rest of his group and went to the receptionist to register.

“Now that we have registered, should we go challenge the Dungeon?” Shola asked while rubbing his hands, smiling like a little kid that just got a birthday present.

“You want to get your hands on this equipment that much?” Marv couldn’t help but chuckle at his friend.

“Have you seen the stuff we can get? It’s better than before, even the silver token gear would be an upgrade to our current stuff,” Shola exclaimed.

“Come on, we are all tired after our journey, and you should know the Dungeon is not something we can complete if we go at it half-heartedly. Besides, there is no rush, we’ll have plenty of time to improve ourselves, now that we are here,” Marv said.

“I agree. While we are all eager to get started, it’s better to spend the rest of the day exploring the city with the rest of our adventurers. We’ll get a good night’s rest, and challenge the Dungeon tomorrow morning,” Kiza said.

“Fine, fine, you guys win,” Shola gave in.

In the city of Decoza, in the Draconic Kingdom

The newly rebuilt City Mayor’s mansion in the city of Decoza was the center of activity. Carts full of resources were constantly arriving here from the capital, some of these resources would be used in this city, while others would be sent on further, towards the other two cities which were damaged during the war with the beastmen.

In addition to resources, the people needed to be managed as well. Returning citizens looking for their homes, those from the nearby villages, who were now looking for a new start in the city, craftsmen which were actually rebuilding the place and more. Making sure that all of them were fed and had some sort of temporary housing took up quite a bit of time from the fledgling administration.

In fact, managing all of these aspects took up so much of the new Mayor’s time that he couldn’t pay any attention to the honored guests, who have recently arrived and were currently taking up the guest room in this mansion. Still, the Mayor figured that if he can’t personally spend time with the Queen and her Minister, then the next best thing would be to complete all of his tasks to perfection, which is why he was driving his staff to work even faster than they did normally.

In the upstairs guest room, the former Queen of the Draconic Kingdom, Draudillon Oriculus, looked through the window at the crowds of people. A group of craftsmen followed a cart filled with building tools. People who looked like migrants were going in and out of the mansion. A dwarf with a sheet of paper in his hands was seemingly giving directions to a caravan of carts filled with building materials.

“It’s truly amazing how much the dwarfs had been able to rebuild in such a short time,” she said without turning her head.

“I guess that’s what happens when you use skeletons to do the work. They don’t eat, sleep or get tired, and they are stronger than an average human,” the Minister replied with a chuckle.

“Yes, aside from frightening the citizens, they proved indispensable to our efforts,” she said. “I guess it also explains how a small nation like the Sorcerer Kingdom is able to produce so much grain.”

“Yes, it appears that the usage of skeletons to plant crops would explain that mystery.”

Draudillon turned away from the window and looked at her Minister, who was sitting on a sofa, drinking tea.

“Then, what do you think of Momon’s triumphant return from his conquest of the Beastmen nation?”

“His status among our population will rise even more. But that doesn’t really matter anymore. We are now a part of the Sorcerer Kingdom, so there are no problems with the populace idolizing Momon,” the Minister replied after a brief pause.

“That’s true. I wonder what happened to the Beastmen nation, will it be added to the Sorcerer Kingdom?”

“Most likely yes.”

“You don’t foresee any trouble from our citizens having to interact with the beastmen, which had caused so much grief to our citizens just recently?”

“That is a touchy subject. However, the servants of the Sorcerer King are competent enough to know of this issue as well. So, I imagine any interaction between our countries would be limited, at least at first,” the Minister said.

“I thought Demiurge would inform us about this, after his campaign to conquer the beastmen, but that was not the case. Perhaps Momon can tell us what the Sorcerer Kingdom plans to do.”

“Oh, is that why we are here? You want to see Momon one more time before he leaves?”

“Somehow it sounds wrong when you say it. Besides, weren’t you the one who said that my presence would have a positive effect on the people of this city?” Draudillon asked while her cheeks turned slightly red.

The Minister bowed his head and went back to sipping his tea in silence.

A real hero after a maiden’s heart. Too bad the hero has no interest in the maiden. I guess those fairy tales are just that, Draudillon mused.

She fell deep in thought about what could have been, as her eyes glazed over the crowd in the street. Her daydreaming was interrupted when the Minister spoke. Did he run out of tea? The Queen thought annoyed.

“The matter of the Beastmen nation aside, I doubt the Sorcerer Kingdom has enough talented people to replace us,” he said.

“What makes you say that?”

“For once, we haven’t gotten any instructions. Aside from the Laws of the Land handbook, which really only has slavery being outlawed and all races are to be treated equally, as unusual aspects. This shows that they are content to leave the governing of this, former nation, to us.”

“So far, but that could always change,” the Queen retorted.

“True. But, you have to consider the latest events. In addition to us joining the Sorcerer Kingdom, so did the Holy Kingdom and the elves. On top of that, the Theocracy agreed to free their elven slaves. Plus, Demiurge has just conquered the Beastman nation,” the Minister flexed a finger for each country. “That’s quite a lot to manage. Can you imagine how many people they would need if they want to fully manage every one of these nations? At most, we might get a handler, who’ll keep a hand on the pulse of this country.”

“Then, we just need to make sure we do a good job, and they will have no reason to replace us,” the Queen said, as she walked over and picked up her cup of tea.

He’s right, the Sorcerer Kingdom has a lot of power, but not a lot of trustworthy people, the new Adventurer’s Guild they had set up points to this as well. In that case, if I do a good job, it’s possible to rise through the ranks. The Sorcerer King seems very ambitious in his goals, so it’s possible I could become much more than just a Queen of a nation on the brink of destruction, the Queen thought.

Perhaps if I held a high rank in the Sorcerer Kingdom’s hierarchy Momon would be more interested in my advances? Mmm, yes, let’s go with that. Then my new goals: to ram myself into the top tier of Sorcerer Kingdom’s rank, and to win Momon over!

 

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