Chapter 80 - The Banquet of Dragons (1/2)
The next day — on which was two days before the Stampede attacked Uga’ol — Leon returned from his scouting. He gave the Security Team an announcement message from the Labyrinth Conquerors, and also information about the Stampede.
The message went: Uga’ol will most likely fall. After the Labyrinth Conquerors were done protecting all the people of Uga’ol they could, they would head to help defend Dungeon City. They also recommended Dungeon City to be on maximum caution.
It was all so straightforward. Arriving in addition to that was a detailed summary of the Stampede’s fighting force.
First off, the size: roughly twice as big as the previous Stampede. Notable known monsters: Over a hundred Wyverns, six Fire Dragons. Unidentified monsters: three Dragons with blue breath attacks, two Dragons that breathed black flames, one Dragon capable of unleashing lightning strikes, and one landbound Dragon.
The scouting team before Leon had been wiped out by the lightning Dragon, which was why there had been no information brought back earlier. Its lightning struck in the blink of an eye, instantly killing those whose VIT ratings were C- or lower. Additionally, most targets would still be paralyzed after taking a hit, which would result in them being killed by one of the other Dragons.
The black Dragon’s black flames seemed to be inextinguishable by water, and would continue burning until its victims died. It was yet unknown how one could extinguish those flames.
Leon, after passing the message and information, immediately returned to Uga’ol. He had been told by the Labyrinth Conquerors’ Clan Leader that he did not have to go again, but having seen the Stampede’s sheer force with his own eyes, he immediately headed off again, not even stopping to take a break.
As soon as the Security Team director received the information, he immediately issued a high alert order. The team evacuated the residents as far south as possible, and then publicly released all the Stampede information thus far.
For the first time, after hearing the Security Team’s high alert order and the announcements, the people were bewildered; it seemed that they could not even imagine how much bigger the Stampede was this time. Explorers, on the other hand, were in total despair. Wyverns coming in the hundreds was on a whole different scale than what they had experienced previously. On top of that, most of them had never even fought a Fire Dragon, let alone six of them. The lower-leveled Explorers in particular were starting to panic.
Tsutomu, after getting his information from the newspapers, waded through the crowd on his way back to his room.
“Lightning Dragon, Earth Dragon, Black Dragon, Ice Dragon… and the classic Fire Dragon. What’s this, the Banquet of Dragons?”
Tsutomu thought back to his time in Live Dungeon, specifically the ‘Banquet of Dragons’ in-game event, while pulling out the relevant information sheets and noting down the monsters’ information on a blank sheet of paper.
Once that was done, he went over and packed the items he needed into his Magic Bag. He now has three more of them — one for food, one for daily necessities, and one for Magic Stones.
He held his new purse-like Magic Bags in his hands and carried his first Magic Bag on his back.
[Sure would be nice if I could put Magic Bags into a Magic Bag,] Tsutomu thought to himself, while also being thankful that Magic Bags were a thing in the first place, since without them, he would not have been able to keep all his food in one place.
After confirming that he could carry everything just fine, Tsutomu put his bags down and left the inn.
What he was focusing on now were his preparations to flee with his life. If all the information thus far was accurate, there was a good chance that Dungeon City would be destroyed by the Stampede. Moreover, so long as he did not have detailed knowledge about Dungeon City’s defense systems, he could not place much faith in the nobility’s defensive magic.
Fortunately, the escape routes were not crowded yet, since the residents have yet to start evacuating in full to the south. In this situation, it should be easy to escape from Dungeon City and head for one of the southern cities.
[…I wonder if any of those guys will follow me.]
Tsutomu wanted to escape Dungeon City with Garm, Amy, Camille, and the old lady from the Forest Apothecary if he could, his destination being a city to the south. He would like to bring the entirety of Silver Beast along if he could, too, but he was not so sure if there would be enough food to support their large numbers, so he had to make the difficult decision to not go to them.
If Tsutomu were to prioritize his survival, it would most likely be best that he went alone. That way, he would have plenty of food to himself, and would be able to go on his way quickly.
He was no longer in a position to do that, however — his relationships with some people here were not so shallow that he would just abandon them. Garm, Amy, Camille — these three, at the very least, he could not leave behind without a word first.
Tsutomu entered the Guild and waited for Garm’s break from his gatekeeping duties; in the meantime, he talked to a receptionist to book an appointment with Camille, and then went to the Appraisal Office to call Amy.
Then, once lunch break time rolled around, the three went to meet up with Tsutomu in the Guild’s conference room. While they stared at him, Tsutomu took a deep breath and proceeded to talk, his expression just as heavy as his thoughts,
“Hypothetically speaking, if I told you that I would be escaping from Dungeon City, would you follow me?”
The three only stared back blankly, but then changed their expressions upon seeing that he was actually serious.
“Am I correct in assuming that you will be running away from the Stampede?” Garm asked.
“Yes.”
“…I have many people I must protect here in Dungeon City. I can’t simply make an escape with you,” Garm said with a straight face, without a moment’s hesitation.
Following Garm, Camille spoke, cracking a somewhat troubled smile,
“…It’s quite an appealing invitation, but I won’t go. As the Guild Master, there are many responsibilities I must fulfill.”
Garm and Camille were firm in their decision to stay. Garm intended to defend the orphanage and protect the people, while Camille would be defending the Guild as its Master. Amy looked at both of them to her sides and groaned before giving her answer,
“I’m… alright with that. If you decide to run, I’ll run with you,” Amy said as she looked up at Tsutomu.
Seeing Amy like that, Camille shrugged in good humor, prompting the former to turn away in embarrassment.
Tsutomu did not lighten up his expression, however. If he had to leave even one of the four behind — be it Garm, Amy, Camille, or the old lady — he would not be able to bring himself to escape.
…Or so he felt, if only vaguely. In fact, he had already known that someone like Garm would never agree to abandon the people, and that Camille would not turn away from her responsibilities. Amy’s response was somewhat unexpected, but then again, he could not leave with just her.