Chapter 51 – Next Episode
“Um…”
When the day dawned, the hero who opened his eyes to the light flowing between the tents rubbed his eyes and stood up.
When I first woke up, it was difficult to even control my body due to the aftereffects, probably because I slept soundly, but now I feel like I will live a little longer.
“… Martha?”
I called Martha’s name, who was sitting in the same posture as yesterday, but there was no answer.
‘You slept while sitting…’
The hero felt sorry for Martha, who couldn’t sleep because of him, and the moment she tried to lay Marta’s body on the floor so that she could sleep comfortably.
– Leaky! Rattle!!
Martha’s eyes, which had been closed by the sound of something busy outside her, opened softly.
“Eww…”
Martha opened her eyes, and while she was still awake, she looked at the warrior who was holding her to lie down, she said.
“A good morning kiss… I’m OK.”
“Oh, no, it’s not like that… I just want to lay down…”
The red-faced warrior raised Martha, who was about to lie down, as she spoke.
“I’m sorry you couldn’t sleep well because of me.”
“No, just this much in front of the hero who hasn’t slept for a month. What… By the way, it’s noisy outside.”
Wondering what happened, the hero and Marta opened the tent door and went outside.
When I went outside, the numerous floats I saw on the street and the adventurers who probably belonged to the guild were busy moving.
“No way… I never thought there would be a human who could really defeat the Behemoth.”
“Can you believe me now?”
Seeing the fallen Behemoth, the half-conscious guild master nodded to the triumphant Rose and said,
“… I’m sorry for my words and actions that seem suspicious of Mr. Allenbaut. Because the matter is the matter…”
“Rose, who are these people?”
The guild master, who turned her head at the sound of her voice next to her, saw the hero calling Rose by her first name, not her last name, and recognized her at once.
“You are a warrior. My name is Farak, the guild master of the Elysium branch of the Adventurers Guild.”
“Ah, yes… I look forward to.”
The hero didn’t think it was a big deal, wondering if it was Rose who said it, but Rose was making a face as if he knew how the hell he knew.
“I haven’t told you yet, how…”
“Actually, this letter came at dawn… Ah, this is a letter addressed to the hero, so please accept it.”
The hero opened the letter he received from Farak with a face that said that something had finally come.
And, sure enough, the contents of the letter were related to the supply base of the Demon King’s army, which I had talked about with this magazine sometime ago.
A brief summary of the contents of the letter, excluding greetings and various rhetoric, is as follows.
After about a month of tracking by scouts sent by the guild, they found a supply base for the Demon King’s army in a mountain range far from the mining town.
The Demon King’s supply base is surrounded by walls on all sides, and dozens of monsters, including acid predators, have been confirmed.
In addition, as a result of secretly infiltrating the base, 50 to 60 demon army officers and 3 demon army corps commanders were identified.
The number of demon army soldiers in the base was about 10,000 to 15,000, and although they were gathering troops from the surroundings, they were in a situation where there were not enough troops.
In this situation, the letter ended with the request that the hero come back as soon as possible.
“… It is much better than I thought.”
“Yes, I also received a separate letter, so I know the general contents. We are also planning to send reinforcements by making a request, but honestly, we won’t be able to send that many.”
He was an unexpectedly surprised warrior, but for some reason he was not so frightened.
Even the Behemoth, who immediately won against the three corps commanders, fell at the hands of the warrior, so why be afraid of the corps commander?
The only thing I was worried about was the number of 15,000 soldiers and magic beasts under his command.
Even if the corps commanders and officers were defeated, I was worried that there would be casualties due to demonic beasts or defeated soldiers who had escaped their control.
As the hero’s expression grew more serious the more he read the letter, Rose, who was next to him, stretched out his hand and said,
“Show me too.”
“Huh…”
The hero obediently handed over the letter, and Rose, who read the letter in an instant, smiled inwardly and said,
“It seems like a serious situation. Considering the defeated soldiers and the Demonic Beast that will break the rule, you will need quite a bit of troops.”
“I know. But what should I do now…”
“So that’s what… I just had something I wanted to propose to you.”
“Proposal? What is that?”
When Rose looked back at the wizards who had come with her before speaking, the hero’s head naturally turned to where Rose looked.
“They…”
“These are the wizards who were with us during the subjugation of the Behemoth yesterday. We talked about it yesterday, so why don’t you put them and me in the party?”
“I’d really appreciate it if you would, but… Are you okay? Maybe we’ll run into a more dangerous situation than the Behemoth…”
“I can protect at least one part of my body. And if such a situation came up, would you do something?”
It was just a simple word, but the hero felt infinite trust in himself from Rose’s words.
Rejoicing at that, the warrior smiled brightly and said, holding out his hand instead.
“I’d rather ask you to join my party, Rose.”
“Okay, then take good care of me from now on, hero!”
Saying that, as the hero and Rose held hands, Martha, who was watching the scene, clicked her tongue inside her.
From the first time she saw Rose, she had expected this to happen, but when it really happened, she felt impatient.
“I, uh… Yo, hero!!”
And as if to fuel Martha’s nervousness even more, Grindella, who had been listening quietly by her side, came forward and spoke to the hero.
“Ah, if you don’t mind, would you like to include our adventurer in the party?!”
“Yes?! Even Grindella-sama’s adventure team?!”
“Yes! Eh, defeating the demon lord army also meets the purpose of our adventure group, and… That that… Yo, I want to repay the favor I received from the hero!!”
Seeing Grindella, who blushed and stammered at her, the hero gave a slightly puzzled expression.
Obviously, close to 100 former knights are a valuable force that cannot be easily obtained anywhere.
But is it okay to hold on to those who have the purpose of rebuilding the motherland because of that?
Besides, if something goes wrong with Grindella, the dream of rebuilding the kingdom is gone.
There was a member of the same royal family, Marius, but Marius was too old to have an heir.
The hero who kept getting that on his mind said to Grindella, who bowed his head, saying, “Please.”
“Thank you so much for saying that. Still, after discussing enough with others…”
“No, there is no need to discuss it separately.”
It was Marius, who had been eavesdropping on the conversation behind Grindella, who said that.
Behind Marius, who had a benevolent expression, were lined up with close to a hundred adventurers with solemn expressions on their faces.
“Without any discussion, we have already brought our hearts together.”
“But… Even if you join our party, heading to the old territory of the Azul Kingdom will happen later… Then, in the meantime, you might be tied up in our party and waste your time…”
“For this Behemoth subjugation case, the funds are overflowing. Besides, even if it comes a little later, it still serves our purpose.”
“Yes, yes! Our strength is not enough compared to the hero, but please accept it.”
When Grindella and Marius said that, the hero made up his mind.
Like I said to Rose, I never let that kind of thing happen.
Thinking so, the hero nodded and said while holding Grindella’s hand.
“Since you said that, I would also like to ask you. Please lend me strength.”
“Yes!! Please leave it to me!!”
Grindella, who blushed, replied with a smile on her face, and in this way, the Azul revival adventure group belonged to the hero party.
So on this day, the Hero party defeated the Behemoth, which no one had been able to defeat for hundreds of years.
It was reborn as a party with power far beyond the level of a party with 13 wizards of 6 or more circles and 100 or more royal knight-level warriors.
It happened just a month after the hero left the wilderness city of Tektis.
******
The announcement of the subjugation of the Behemoth was postponed because there was a concern that the identity of the hero would be revealed, but the subjugation bounty and corpse collection were carried out in secret.
I heard that it would be difficult to pay the bounty because it was so large, but I received a definite answer that the body would be sent right away as it was recovered.
While everyone was going back to Elysium, Rose said to the hero.
“By the way, hero, speaking of Behemoth’s corpse, can you leave it to us?”
“You mean a corpse?”
“Yeah, as you know, the corpse of a demon beast sometimes becomes a very good material for making armor or weapons.”
Hiring a heavy-duty artisan to make weapons would be a huge power boost.
“A new weapon…”
Hearing that it was his new weapon, the hero caressed his sword hanging from his waist.
He did not save money when purchasing swords or armor, but there was a limit to the equipment that money could buy in the city.
The sword he was using now would break if he wielded it with all his might, so the warrior saved the use of his sword as much as possible.
“To be honest, I was a little nervous with this equipment. However… That would cost quite a bit.”
“Don’t worry about that.”
It wasn’t Rose who answered that question, but Farak, the guild master who was listening by his side.
“We will bear all the cost of making the equipment in the form of subsidies. Besides, there are a few artisans who are in debt to the guild, so if you entrust it to them, it won’t cost you that much.”
“Then I’m glad!”
While they were talking about this and that, Hero and the others arrived right in front of the gates of Elysium.
Upon arriving at the gate, Farak and his guild adventurers greeted the hero briefly and returned to the adventurer’s guild.
There must have been a lot of work to deal with today, including the Behemoth subjugation.
Rose, who had been watching Farak leave, looked back at the hero and said,
“Will the hero leave for Tektis right away?”
“Yeah, if you see them asking you to come right away, you should do that. It seems that magic training is enough. What will Rose do?”
“I still have work to do, so I’ll join you later. However, when I first met him, I thought he was growing at such an amazing pace, but since I know that he was actually a hero, I feel cheated.”
After saying that, Rose smiled and stretched out her hand toward the hero’s chest as if to confirm her growth.
‘… Uh?’
Then, after checking the improbable seventh ring on her chest, she said with a disbelieving expression.
“You… Why the 7th circle?”
“Circle 7? I?!”
After listening to Rose’s words and checking, she found that the 7th Circle, which couldn’t exist as Rose said, had settled in the heart of the hero.
As she tilted her head wondering what the hell had happened, she said with an expression that Rose realized something.
“Is it because it absorbed the Behemoth’s lightning? A large amount of mana came in all at once, and the lack of mana could have been filled up to form a circle.”
It was theoretically possible, but it was a story about surviving such crazy things.
“… Behemoth gave me an unexpected gift. I don’t know if I should be happy about this, but good is good.”
“Good is good, so just think of it as good. But are you leaving right away?”
“Uh, since all of my colleagues have gathered… , Every… ?”
Feeling something empty, the warrior suddenly turned around and asked Lina, who had sleepy eyes, if she hadn’t woken up yet.
“Lina, are we all gathered?”
At the hero’s question, Lina swallowed her saliva that was about to spill and said with a blank expression.
“Huh… ? I’m sleepy, but why are you talking in your sleep? Are you all here?”
Saying that, Lina points her finger at each member of the party and starts saying her name.
Warrior.
Martha.
Mirian.
Reena.
Horde.
And finally, when it was YuRia’s turn.
“Glass, … Where did he go?”
Losing her pointing, Lina’s fingers began to tremble.
“… This.”
