186 [3-43] From the North Country (1/2)

Near the southern tip of the Principality of Cadenis.

In the city of Traunil, home of the Blue Army of the Caenis Empire and its forces in the Great Forest of Gethenfall.

The castle of the small lord who ruled the city has been seized by the Blue Army.

One of the rooms. A room that used to be a game table has been remodeled to look like a parlor.

Seventeen minutes late for his appointment, Ishimakura burst into the room where his guests were waiting.

I apologize for keeping you waiting.

The consultation took longer than I expected.

No, I'm grateful for the time you've taken to see me on such short notice.

The four guests who had been enjoying the tea and heaps of sweets (the Qing army's budget was ample enough to provide them to the guests) stood up from their chairs and bowed lightly.

The four guests stood up from their chairs and bowed lightly. The stone pillows also bowed, wrapping their fists in their palms.

My name is Ishimakura, and I belong to the Special Combat Corps of the Blue Army of the Caenis Empire.

My name is Ishimakura, a member of the Special Warfare Corps of the Blue Army of the Caenis Empire. I am the first special warfare soldier in this conflict.

The special warfare soldier to which Ishimakura belongs is simply a group of people who excel in their individual combat abilities.

In order to get rid of the out-of-bounds strongmen who can't be dealt with by standardized soldiers, and who can break through the crushing power of ”groups” and ”numbers”, we also hit the out-of-bounds strongmen.

The opponent is not necessarily a person. There are times when you fight a powerful named monster.

In such cases, you may hire adventurers to help you. Like now.

Thank you for this.

The leader of the four, a young man in light armor, offers his hand for a handshake.

”We are the spear spear adventurer party. I'm Zeft, the leader.

The stone pillow shook Zeft's hand back.

The feel of his hand, the amount of force, the balance of his body. As a skilled fighter, Ishimakura could gauge his opponent's strength from a single handshake.

He was strong.

The ”spear” had not been recruited by the Blue Army, but had come to the Blue Army by himself through the Adventurer's Guild.

If we had enough manpower, we could have turned him away, but right now, we have plenty of money and not enough manpower.

If they want to sell, the people in the field will assess them, and if there are no problems, they will be hired.

Ishimakura had already obtained the materials from the adventurer's guild, and had already read through them to understand the achievements of the ”spear of subterranean spear”.

He also seems to have no problem with his behavior. ...... Although the borderline of behavior required of adventurers is quite low.

If there's anything to be concerned about, it's the overly tense atmosphere of Zeft.

His eyes are too fixed.

--The man has a dangerous look in his eyes. ...... I can't say the same. ......

The stone pillow was poisoned and wandered between life and death.

And when he somehow came back to life, he looked at himself in the mirror and thought he looked terrible.

I felt something of the same kind from Zeft.

First of all, we, the Blue Army of the Empire of Caenis, pledge to abide by the Adventurer's Charter and not to use all adventurers to settle interstate or political disputes.

We hereby affirm that your rights and obligations to the Adventurer's Guild are inviolable and supersede all contracts and instructions given by us.

Ishimakura repeats the words that he has already said and memorized. It was an extremely deceptive explanation. It was a very deceptive explanation, since the Blue Army would invade on a battlefield that had been made easier to fight by having them kill the demons. Well, this is quite common. The adventurer's guild will turn a blind eye to this unless they are sent to fight against the army.

The four seemed to know what they were doing, as if they had already heard a similar oath somewhere before.

”We're only asking for the extermination of demons.

”Very well. We came all the way here from Ciel-Teira for that purpose.

”The Rose Princess of Hell will be defeated by ...... me, or rather, by the spear of Zero.”

Zeft clenched his fists in front of his chest, as if he wanted something.

”I heard that Chaen-shi appeared. He fought you.

Zeft looked at the stone pillow with a pressure that seemed to catch him in a shoulder hug.

-- ”Spear of Zero”. The party that Chenshi belonged to: ......

Ishimakura knew what was going on to some extent.

The information about the Blue Army's battle had been circulated to the Adventurer's Guild, and the ”spear spear” who had come here in pursuit of the ”Rose Princess of Hell” had grabbed it, and while selling themselves to the Blue Army, half of them had used it as an excuse to ask for a meeting with Ishimakura.

Ishimakura agreed to the request.

Let's have a long talk. I'm sure we both have something to ask.

Ishimakura offered chairs to the four men and seated himself.

It was still early in the day.