"This is the mansion of Lady Olivia, the Lord of Seadoor."
It was early morning, the day after the night attack, and the sun had just risen.
We had arrived at the mansion of the Lord of Sealdor accompanied by a female cow beastman - greatsword wielder Bastia.
They continued to bow their heads and beg to save the town with great sincerity, and Claire said, "I don't have a bad feeling about this," so we decided to hear the details from the lord for now.
However.
Whatever the circumstances, he is the kind of lord who would order a night attack like that.
As a precaution, they did not enter the mansion, but instead decided to meet in the large garden on the grounds.
"Hmm, so you're here."
An open space covered with grass.
The woman was waiting in the middle of the courtyard, which was apparently usually used as a military parade ground.
Olivia Wildfang, Lady Seadore.
She is quite a young woman for a feudal lord, and is a beautiful woman with a dignified face.
Although she was wearing revealing clothing that unashamedly exposed her voluptuous, feminine chest, she exuded the air of a warrior who had survived countless battles.
The lord, who is worthy of the term heroine, gave us a sharp look as soon as she noticed us. However, contrary to her intimidating demeanor, the first thing she said as she stood up from her garden chair was to bow.tiger manWar Tiger
"First of all, I would like to apologize for my rudeness. Even though I did it to test your abilities, I did something bad. If there is anything you wish for, I will do my best to accommodate you."
"Oh, no, I'm okay with that now."
No one was injured, and no equipment was lost.
The cow beastman Bastia had apologized profusely to me, so I had no intention of bringing the matter up again. Well, it wouldn't make sense to do it without anything though, so I'd probably be better off asking for something soon.
"So, you said you want us to save this town... are you referring to a food shortage throughout the town?"
"...I'm glad you were able to talk quickly."
The lord of the manor, Olivia, bowed to us again and motioned for us to sit down in the garden chairs.
Once Sister Claire and I had taken our seats as representatives, Olivia began speaking again.
"That's right. My request to you is to eliminate the cause of the food shortage that is plaguing this town. In other words, I want you to exterminate the powerful monster that seems to be making its home near the northern highway."
The answer was somewhat as expected.
But there were some questions about the answer Olivia gave.
First of all, why aren't they sending in the city's regular troops?
And why was it necessary to carry out such a night attack to test our strength?
If the purpose was simply to test his abilities, there would be no need for such a thorough surprise attack.
I asked with a hint of suspicion, but Olivia let out a quiet, serious tone.
"Three times."
"picture?"
"That's the number of times we've sent elite extermination forces and veteran adventurer teams to that highway, and all of them have vanished without a trace."
"What…?!"
As we all opened our eyes wide, Olivia took a deep breath as she continued her explanation.
"Shieldor is a frontline defense base. They couldn't just move troops around carelessly, so they requested the second frontline city across the northern highway to send extermination forces there multiple times. However, after all of them went missing, they started restricting information to avoid panic. That's why it seemed like I wasn't doing anything."
No, that's just an excuse, Olivia muttered, mocking herself.
"Normally, I should be leading a large army and heading out to suppress them. However, all of the people who had been observing from far away to bring back information about what was happening on the highway have disappeared. We have no information. The enemy is a complete unknown. When I was just a soldier, that might have been possible, but as a person guarding the border, I have had to sit back and do nothing. Even if we wanted to call in the military from the Fanged Federation, there are disturbing movements all over the country right now..."
And then, Olivia says, we appeared there with extraordinary powers.
"I've said it many times before, but I'm truly sorry for launching such a night attack. However, to entrust this job to you, I needed to make sure that you weren't just strong, but also capable of dealing with any and all unforeseen circumstances. This is also to prevent any further casualties."strengthDripping
Olivia then continued, with the expression of a lord thinking about his town.
"I know that I'm making an unreasonable request of children like you. But with so many soldiers and no food supplies for two months, this city is already nearing its limit. Because we've wiped out all the monsters in the area, the Soldier Wolves have no prey left in their territory and are now coming to the outskirts of the city. We considered importing food from the Holy Kingdom, but... they're a virtual enemy country that always uses pretty words as an excuse to invade and spread their faith. They've made a lot of suspicious moves in the past few years, so we couldn't rely on them."
"You understand that very well!"
Claire, who was listening to Olivia's story, suddenly burst out laughing.
"That is a wise decision. They use the Holy Scriptures, which are barely even good enough to wipe a blood vessel, as a shield, to make beautiful offers that are hard to refuse, so that they can do whatever they want! It's disgusting!"AssAss
"Um, well. I agree with that, but what's with you, why did you suddenly..."
Olivia seems a little put off by Claire, who is getting heated up as she badmouths the church.
Claire turned to me and declared forcefully.
"Lord Erio, this man is a wise leader who fully understands the true nature of the church. I can trust him. I was originally concerned about the food shortage in this town, so I will help him!"
Badmouthing the church = What's the point of trusting the judgement of the wise ruler and the
I think so, but
"...I agree"
I also believe that there is no lie in what Olivia is saying, and more than anything, the fact that the frontline city of the demi-human nation is in danger smells suspicious.
"Understood. We will take on that request."
"Really...?"
Olivia leans forward on the table, her face lighting up.
"I'm sorry, thank you. I promise you a huge reward in many ways if you complete the request ... But I have to admit, it's a dangerous request and you don't know what's going to happen. If you think it's impossible, you can always cancel it, and if there's anything you need, just let me know. I'll do my best to help you."
"got it"
So we decided to head to the highway leading north of the city to solve the strange incident that had befallen Seadoor.
"Oh, by the way, I was wondering about something."
"Hmm? What is it?"
Just before leaving the lord's house, I turned to Olivia.
"Was it okay for us to destroy the inn just to test our abilities?"
"Hmm? Ah, is that so?"
In response to my simple question, Olivia let out a hearty laugh, "Wahaha."
"This is a town of warriors who protect the borders of the Fang King Federation. As long as you pay the compensation, no one will give a damn about something like that."
"I, I see."
I couldn't help but chuckle at his rough reasoning, wondering if this was a cultural difference.
*
The day after I received a request from Lord Olivia to exterminate a monster.
After getting ready, we took a carriage from Seadoor and arrived at the road three days away.
We were able to shorten the time with the help of Carrie until halfway through.
"Well, it seems like from here on out there is a plain where monsters live..."
I look around me.
Alicia and Sophia, who were standing next to me, also made shade with their hands like me and continued to speak as if taking over my words.
"...There's nothing here."
"It's just a vast plain... the air feels so good..."
As the two had said, the dangerous area where the large-scale punitive force had gone missing was simply a large area of flat land.
I can see some mountains in the distance, but nothing else.
There was no sign of any monsters.
"That's a bit disappointing. I should have brought a lunch box."
"Lady Claire. As I've said many times before, the accuracy of danger prediction is not 100%. You're asking me to follow you, so don't let your guard down just because you don't have a premonition."
Those were the words of Claire-san and her guard Silvia-san, who had accompanied me and boasted, "If I send my companions into a dangerous area and then just sit around on my own, I'll never gain the trust of the demi-human nation!"
It's a dangerous area where you never know what might happen, so I really wanted her to stay home, but Claire had a point. If it came down to it, I could take her to the "Sex Room," so I decided to accompany her.
"Hmm, for now there's no way to deal with it unless there are any monsters appearing, so let's go a little further."
And just as the five of us were about to set out across the plains in the refreshing breeze, it happened.
"yeah?"
Immediately after I felt something strange, like the ground was shaking,
"Elio... right below...!"
Alicia, who had been using
Everyone jumps out of the room.
The next moment,
DOGOOOOOOOOOOOON!
The ground where we had been standing a moment ago suddenly gouged out, and a huge shadow leapt out.
"Whaaaaaaat?! What the?!"
As the screams of Claire, held by Sylvia, echoed around the room, the dust cleared and the assailant appeared: a giant caterpillar with a mouth lined with countless fangs.
"Is this... a level 180 Silent Death Worm?!"
"...Elio, be careful...there's not just one...!"
A dangerous monster that moves silently across the ground until the last moment and kills its prey in an instant.
I clenched my crotch as a powerful monster that only appears under special conditions appeared.