Chapter 207 (1/2)
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In a certain Devil's Nest in the Farzon Duchy… or rather, a place that used to be a Devil's Nest The people guarding the Dungeon entrance that had appeared in a wall in the valley there were standing in a couard at the Dungeon entrance to look out for anything unusual fro out for any potential intruders fro theuard with their backs facing each other
”… It seeht,” one of theht?” said another
One of them had been dispatched from the Church of Alda, and the other from the Church of Vida But there was no tense relationshi+p between theood relationshi+p with each other
The ones standing guard here were a group of priest-warriors from the Church of the powerful peaceful faction of Alda, supported by Vida's priest-warriors
ThisLadom, the peaceful faction had built a favorable relationshi+p with the Church of Vida, despite being followers of Alda
There were duchies where the Church of Alda was very influential, such as the Hartner Duchy, and there were also the radical and fundamentalist factions in the shadows It was best to have as many allies as possible to protect Vida's believers from such factions
That hy the Church of Vida wasa cooperative relationshi+p with Alda's peaceful faction
And Heinz, the peaceful faction's leader as protecting a Dhampir, had converted many of Alda's believers from the radical and fundamentalist factions to the peaceful faction The Church of Vida saw his rise to proh this was very ironic when considering the truth around Alda, the God of law and fate, and Vida, the Goddess of life and love
”So, as all that noise about yesterday? We were having a late lunch when there was a scary echoing sound froeon, and a part of the statue of Alda that was built at the small shrine on the cultivated land broke,” said the priest-warrior who had been dispatched from the Church of Alda
The events he described were the result of the battle between Vandalieu and Heinz The destruction of the Dungeon by the World Piercing Destructive Hollow Cannon, and the destruction of Curatos, the God of records The effects of these events had reached the area around the Dungeon entrance
”I do not know The Dungeon's entrance has re that, Heinz-dono and the others are safe… or at least, one of them is,” said the priest-warrior from the Church of Vida
”Hey! How dare you say such an ill-o!” shouted Alda's priest-warrior
”I a that Heinz-dono and the others are safe, but… it is not ordinary for enoreon,” said the priest-warrior of Vida
Indeed, the outside of a Dungeon was essentially in a different world fro occurred near the entrance, no sound or vibrations would reach between the inside and outside, even if there was a large earthquake on the outside or an enor on the inside
But it seemed that sounds and vibrations did travel all the way to the outside in the event that dozens of the Dungeon's floors were pierced through and destroyed
”And what of the statue breaking? Even if it is only a part of the statue that broke, we should assu has happened It is sio with the statues of Yupeon, the God of ice It is likely that it was caused by so as that is the case, it is only natural to assume that Heinz-dono and the others are involved,” said Vida's priest-warrior ”It is only normal to be concerned for their safety, is it not?”
Since Heinz and his coeon, it was certain that if so had happened inside, they were involved Ordinarily, this reasoning would be full of flaws, but this Dungeon had appeared as if prepared solely for Heinz's party, and its entrance had been tightly sealed shut after they entered it
Considering this, Vida's priest-warrior's words could not be denied
”That is true, but… daeon? Things are going well on the outside - The purification of the Devil's Nest and the cultivation of the land are going well, and the construction of the town is proceeding smoothly too - but I don't knohether we're supposed to watch the inside of the Dungeon or outside it!” the priest-warrior of Alda cursed
When the anoested that eon It was coeons generated monsters, and if monster numbers inside them were not controlled, the monsters would overflow into the outside world
This hy the priest-warriors were standing with their backs facing each other, watching two opposite directions… half of theainst any villains atte to peer into events happening inside, or assassins sent by Alda's radical faction or worshi+pers of evil Gods to get rid of the troublesoeon created by a God, there would certainly be souarantee that this trial would not contain e or two? The Goddess has apparently been resurrected recently, right?” said Alda's priest-warrior
”Apparently But although there are some with Divine Protections, there are few priests who say that they have received a Divine Message… In fact, there are more priests who have chosen to hide,” said Vida's priest-warrior
”Hey, are you fine with that? Though I guess we're not going to report them”
”I don't care There is no need to pay attention to those who aren't here”
In recent years, there were some in the Church of Vida who had received divine protections and acquired the 'Familiar Spirit Descent' Skill That hy there were rumors that Vida had been resurrected, but this had caused soer and flee in the ht
Vida had been almost completely asleep up until now, so there had been so that they would never receive divine punishment and others who had made their way into the ranks of the Church of Vida with the intent to coymen who had fled had made this clear
But even if this hadn't occurred, it was unlikely that Vida would inforeon with a Divine Message
”And there are soes who say that it had nothing to do with this Dungeon… What do you make of them?” Vida's priest-warrior asked
”I have no idea what's going on inside the Dungeon either,” said Alda's priest-warrior
Alda had not sent any Divine Messages with news of Heinz or as happening inside the Dungeon
This was because Alda was concealing information, afraid that Vandalieu would learn of it
”But that just sho ieon are It would be problee and then it were to be found out by the Va,” Vida's priest-warrior said
”The De, huh The one whose existence was ie sent to the Church of Alda in the Empire? To be honest, it sounds suspicious to me,” said Alda's priest-warrior
”Well, it is the Church of our enemy nation, after all And it ison, isn't it?”
”Well, you're right The Gods serving Alda are apparently raising heroes as if coainst each other The Gods wouldn't do such a thing if nothing was going on”
The Gods were granting their divine protections and sending Divine Messages to those with good qualities, developing them into heroes Many of them were in the Amid Empire, but there were also such hero candidates in the Orbauh the priest-warriors here had never met any of them in person
”Come to think of it, why aren't the Gods of Vida's faction trying to nurture heroes? Vida's been resurrected, after all,” said Alda's priest-warrior
”Only the Gods know that,” said Vida's priest-warrior
”Yeah… Ah, I hope the Five-colored Blades coreed”
And so, Alda and Vida's priest-warriors continued to exchange conversation, their backs still facing each other They felt frustration at their inability to do nothing but wait, but they carried out their daily task
Meanwhile, in one of the reedily devouring the grilled skewers that he was carrying in his ar about This is the flavor that I've been craving!” he said, srilled skewers, though,” said Vandalieu
”Boss, you can't call these 'just grilled skewers!' Even though the meat is cheap, the preliminary work you've put into these is extraordinary!” Miles insisted, continuing to consume the skewers as if in a trance
Indeed, the meat was the cheap leftover meat of Rank 1 monsters such as Giant Rats, and it would normally just have a little salt shaken over it to produce a flavor that was appropriate for its price
But Vandalieu had matured the meat with the 'Maturation' spell andhis own herbs and fruits On top of that, Princess Levia and the other fire-attribute Ghosts provided perfect control over the cooking heat
Miles was enjoying a flavor worth far ed for each skewer
”Do the higher-ups in the underworld really eat so poorly?” Vandalieu asked
He had handed a De Familiar to Miles and the others for communication purposes, but in order to preserve the Mana he had stored in theencies Thus, Vandalieu was not well-infor… He could not store tooFamiliar to have it constantly active, because there was a risk that Muraka their radars to detect and approach hiet confused and head in Miles's direction instead
”It isn't so bad for Eleanora, since she's in the anization, but in h-class stores that noro to, can I? That's why my diet mostly consists of meat that I can buy at bars It's not that I hatebut salt, and it only coetables, seafood and fruit And miso, soy sauce, mayonnaise, ketchup and Worcester sauce Not to ers, deep-fried food and moderately sweet snacks,” said Miles
It seerown too accustomed to Taloshei noere a little lacking for his taste, but… it was far better than the food that he had been eating since infiltrating the city of Morksi
”When Melissa went back because of Doug and the others possiblyback a s sawthem,” Miles lamented
”I heard that this is a city of cos are still inconvenient here co quite a bit… Is that why you're a 'Starving Wolf?'” Darcia asked, wondering whether the way he was eating and his current starved state was connected to his new title
Miles gave a bitter smile ”I'm a face of the underworld that beca of a hurry, and people started calling me that before I knew it There were a lot of people who ca me… I wonder if my predecessor was a popular fellow,” said Miles
In the city of Morksi, there was a crianization that had done business with the 'Hyena' Gozoroff This cri in this area, not pulling off anything large-scale It was an organization that was more of a secret society
But even secret societies did not see their authority in their territory It was likely that they wanted to avoid being caught up in large incidents caused by poor thugs and failed mercenaries
They kept one of their leaders visible even to ordinary society in order to act as a leader for such rabble
Aanization's upper ranks and taken over, Miles was the only one suited for the job of replacing this leader He had taken this role so that he could act right ahenever sos and hoodlums that didn't know that just one leader of the ed, it had simply appeared that Miles had suddenly appeared in the city and beco that they couldn't accept at all
There had been several people who had attempted to become the boss the the boss
”That must have been troubleso back and not killing the but sed Miles for the position of ruling the city, there had been failed D-class adventurers, mercenaries and assassins But all of them had been inferior to the 'Hyena' Gozoroff
Meanwhile, Miles was a Rank 11 Vaends, a foe that even an class adventurer party ht not be able to defeat
If he wished to, he would be able to single-handedly destroy the city of Morksi itself and go on to threaten the existence of the entirety of the Alcres and hoodlu task
”I' the of their corpses would be a pain, and it would be troublesoand made a move,” Miles said ”I had no choice but to carefully persuade the a baby's ar just a few fractures”
Miles would grab his challengers by the ar soers would try to kick at his knees or stab him with a knife with their free hand, but he would be completely unfazed He wore clothes which were made of a combination of threads produced by Arachne and Vandalieu hi as much protection as metal armor His s to harm him
… Soroin, but he had blocked such attacks with his knees to protect his instead
And so, ers had realized the difference in power and subot quite the a title?” said Vandalieu
”There were a lot of people challenging ht that I was only great in ruerated Thanks to the all of their arms until a few days before you arrived, Boss,” said Miles
Many thugs and hoodluers on their arms, and those who saw theseould sink his teeth into anyone These ru Wolf'
”Not that I mind, since it's actually convenient that people fear roup with you as well… and it was harder dealing with Eleanora and Isla than the thugs,” Miles remarked
”Well, I've seen a little bit of that,” said Vandalieu
Miles's position required him to walk around the city, and so it was the position that had the greatest chance ofVandalieu Eleanora and Isla had naturally wanted this position themselves, but… this was iender equality didn't exist in the underworld, and they would be constantly looked down upon just because they os would have taken the as Miles
It had apparently been quite the difficult task for Miles to comfort Eleanora and Isla, ere depressed, withdrawn and bitter over this disappointing fact Vandalieu had watched the Familiar that he had left with theroup of hoodlums with their appearance would be impossible had caused deep wounds
”More iar and the Deputy Guild Master Joseph Did you not know anything about them beforehand?” Chipuras asked Miles
”We've never heard of Aggar But there are several guards that let you get aith various things if you bribe the some sauce from his lips ”As for Joseph… He's the uncle of the current Earl Morksi”
”So, he's actually a big-shot?” said Vandalieu
”Well, if you're just talking about his connections He was born to an earl's family, but he's the fourth son, so he didn't become the head of the fa into another faovernment official and worked in a tax-related department After that, he became employed at the Commerce Guild and went on to become a Deputy Guild Master,” said Miles ”By the way, he's not a noble now He apparently gave up his right to succeed his faovernanization that collected the nation's taxes from merchants; essentially, it also functioned as a tax office Thus, a certain nuovernment officials would be temporarily transferred as Guild employees, and it was standard for one of the overnment
It seemed that in this city, that person was Joseph
But there was at least one such Deputy Guild Master in every big city, so it seemed that Joseph was not a particularly important person
”Then does that mean that his harassment of us is Earl Morksi's will as well?” Vandalieu asked
”I don't think so,” said Miles ”Unlike his older brother that was the previous earl, it seems that he has had a bad relationshi+p with his nephew since he became the current earl… and you only just revealed that you're a Dhampir this afternoon, didn't you, Boss? I heard that Earl Morksi has been running around investigating details of the incident where parts of statues of Alda broke and priests fainted He shouldn't have enough free time for that”
”I suppose that's true”
It seemed that there was no connection between Joseph and Earl Morksi With that being the case, that meant that the harassment of Vandalieu and Darcia was Joseph's independent decision
Miles's bitter suard na for us as well You are quite the ih you did refuse his offer, it doesn't make much sense that he would harass you”
”Quite the important person… It's tricky, isn't it Well, it's probably because Vandalieu himself is just a person of a rare race to most people, and he can be used to make connections with Alda's peaceful faction and those people,” said Darcia
To the Orbaudom's society, Dhampirs were a rare, precious race Alda's peaceful faction, led by the S-class adventurer Heinz, and the Church of Vida, would try to protect Vandalieu if they were to learn of his existence
But in terms of social position, Vandalieu was just a commoner There were no Dhadom, nor were there any laws that stated that all Dhampirs should be treated as nobles
Thus, even if Joseph harassed Vandalieu, it wasn't against the law, so Vandalieu could not publicly protest against it However, that did ainst it
”The Alcrem Duchy doesn't want to draw the attention of S-class adventurers The Deputy Guild Master of a single coht away if the duchy puts the screws on hi anything fro Boss, but…”
”Fro us for his own benefit He considers himself to have lost face when Vandalieu-sa us because there is no need to hold back,” said Chipuras
”Is that how it is?” said Vandalieu
”Yes, Vandalieu-sama Those who are rulers of little are like that He has always exercised his authority in this city The fact that he comes fro to do with it,” said Chipuras ”So wickedness for reasons that are difficult to understand I myself was a prime example of that when I was still alive”
”… We were on different sides while you were alive, but it's kind of hard to agree on that,” said Darcia
”There were people like that on Earth as well, so I guess that's how it is,” said Vandalieu
It seee education and being in a position of responsibility was not a guarantee that Joseph would not make any errors
There were foolish and useless nobles in this world, as well as corrupt merchants… Even on Earth, there had been plenty of scandals and criovernious leaders
Vandalieu's treatin itself was probably an error co that, perhaps it was in the nature of hu that aside… What is Joseph-san actually going to do in the end? We're not exactly particularly troubled at the moment,” said Darcia