Chapter 46: The Peaceful Days That Returned
“The monsters Jairo subjugated are 5 A-Rank, 12 B-Rank, 8 C-Rank, and 13 D-Rank.”
“””””Ooh!”””””
“Seriously!? Who is that brat!?”
The other adventurers who had participated in the subjugation raised voices of surprise at the large number of monsters Jairo had subjugated.
After the end of the large-scale subjugation was declared, we were having the monsters we defeated assessed at the Adventurer’s Guild dispatch window set up in the wilderness. Especially since Liliela and Jairo were having a subjugation match, they must be curious about the results.
“Next is me.”
Liliela took out the corpses of the monsters she subjugated from her magic bag and lined them up. Ah right, I gave Liliela, Jairo, and the others magic bags I made. Since it was a large-scale subjugation this time, it seemed like it would be troublesome in various ways if they had to carry them to the window one by one.
“Let’s see… The monsters Liliela subjugated are 8 A-Rank, 15 B-Rank, and 15 C-Rank.”
“””””Ooh!”””””
“That sis is no ordinary person either!”
“Who on earth are those guys!?”
Which means it’s a draw at 38 to 38.
“Dammit! A draw!?”
Hearing it was a draw, Jairo groaned, unconvinced.
“No, it’s Jairo’s loss.”
But Mina declared Jairo’s defeat.
“Hah? It’s a draw, so why is it my loss?”
At Jairo’s words, Mina made a face like ‘you don’t get it’.
“The answer is quality.”
“Quality?”
At Mina’s words, we looked at the monsters the two had hunted.
“Ah, I see. The rank of the subjugated monsters, right?”
Norv understood Mina’s true meaning.
“Oi, what do you mean, Norb?”
Jairo, who still didn’t understand, demanded an explanation from Norb.
“In other words, although the numbers are the same, Liliela hunted more high-ranking monsters.”
“That’s not all. Jairo was fighting like ‘as long as I defeat it, it’s fine’, so the condition of the materials isn’t good. The purchase price will probably drop quite a bit. But care was taken so that the monsters Liliela subjugated would have minimal damage.”
“Seriously…”
Jairo realized that fact only after being told. Well, this area is probably the difference in experience. Liliela, who has a longer adventurer history than Jairo, was able to do that kind of adjustment unconsciously.
“That being the case, this match is Liliela’s win.”
“Dammit! I lost!”
Jairo stomped his feet in frustration.
“Well, even so, the numbers are the same, so I can’t really act high and mighty either.”
When Liliela was humble, Jairo stopped stomping his feet and looked at her.
“No, a loss is a loss! This time I honestly admit defeat. Right now you’re still above me! But I won’t lose next time we fight!”
“Yes, I’m looking forward to it.”
Saying that, the two shook hands. Yup yup, it seems their match wrapped up nicely.
“Next is Rex’s turn.”
Liliela and Jairo stared at me.
“I didn’t hunt any particularly amazing prey though.”
I placed the subjugated monsters on the ground.
“H-Hey, isn’t that prey awfully huge? Where did he drag it from!?”
“He’s that guy. The rookie who won a match against an S-Rank.”
“The guy who fought Cyclone’s Rody and won!?”
Wait, why is it turning into me having fought Rody directly!? What I did was just a monster subjugation competition.
“And lastly, a Green Dragon.”
And having lined up all the monsters, I finally took out the Green Dragon and asked the receptionist for an assessment.
“”””D-Draagon!?””””
People around raised voices of surprise, but I defeated a Green Dragon the other day too, so I don’t think it’s that rare of a creature.
“P-Please wait a moment.”
When the receptionist called other staff members walking nearby, the assessment began with several staff members dividing the work.
And while everyone watched, all the assessments finished.
“Err, Rex’s assessment results are. 1 Dragon, 9 S-Rank…”
“9 S-Rank!?”
“How on earth did he defeat them!?”
The surrounding adventurers raised voices of surprise again.
“As expected of Bro.”
“Well, this much is as expected.”
Conversely, Jairo and the others didn’t show any particular signs of surprise. Well, it’s just a Green Dragon and the weaker S-Ranks after all.
“And 25 A-Rank, 34 B-Rank, and 57 C-Rank.”
“””””So many!”””””
Hmm? I don’t think it’s that many? I just happened to round up the monsters heading towards the Royal Capital all at once.
“I knew it, but when the results are put into words, our match was just a tiny stubborn contest.”
“Bro was aiming for big game this time, so I thought I might win in numbers alone. I didn’t expect three digits…”
“Ah, you were thinking such things, so you were defeating them randomly.”
At Jairo’s mutter, Mina nodded in understanding.
“Because, I participated in the subjugation with Bro. Then I’d want to compete, wouldn’t I? Though I lost easily even in numbers.”
Like this, the large-scale monster subjugation ended in a peaceful atmosphere. But at that time, we didn’t know yet that a big incident had occurred behind the scenes.
…By the way, do I feel like I’m forgetting something?
◆
A few days later, we, having finished the large-scale subjugation, were relaxing at the guild. Perhaps because they had money to spare right after the large-scale subjugation ended, the other adventurers were also relaxing, but for some reason, the atmosphere in the guild today is strange. Not only the adventurers, but the staff members also seem restless.
“Yo, how’s business? I heard, you guys subjugated a Dragon?”
S-Rank adventurer Rody and his team came to us.
“Ah.”
That’s right, I thought I was forgetting something, I had forgotten about Rody.
“Hmm? What’s wrong?”
“Ah no, it’s nothing. Come to think of it, how was the large-scale subjugation for you, Rody? Did you hunt many S-Rank monsters as expected?”
Rody’s group is an S-Rank adventurer team. They must have subjugated many S-Rank monsters.
“No, we didn’t subjugate any S-Rank monsters this time.”
“Eh?”
That’s unexpected. I thought for sure they subjugated many S-Rank monsters.
“We were also asked by the guild to take the lead in subjugating S-Rank monsters if there were any, so we went around the assigned area looking for S-Rank monsters. But for some reason we couldn’t find a single one, and in the end, we only fought other monsters we encountered while searching around.”
Ah, come to think of it, the S-Rank monsters I subjugated were also outside the designated area.
But, does Rody’s team not have anyone who can use detection magic? If they use that, they should be able to find the location of monsters within a radius of several kilometers.
“However, if a Dragon was subjugated anyway, our loss is confirmed.”
Haha, Rody gave a dry laugh. But what I subjugated was a Green Dragon. I can’t really say ‘I defeated a Dragon!’ with a swagger.
“Well, that’s a finished story now. More importantly, did you hear? The story that a certain noble was plotting a coup d’état, and for some reason turned himself in without executing it.”
“Coup d’état!?”
Another dangerous word came out.
“Because he turned himself in, it seems the noble families that were moving with him are also being captured one after another.”
“Heh… huh? But turning himself in without executing it, what does that mean?”
“Apparently, the cause is that the monsters prepared as war potential for the coup d’état were mostly hunted down in the large-scale subjugation the other day.”
“What do you mean by war potential for a coup d’état? What we fought were monsters, right?”
Mina questioned Rody’s words.
“About that, it seems the culprit of the coup d’état devised a method to manipulate monsters using ancient secret arts.”
“”””Method to manipulate monsters!?””””
Hmm? Everyone is raising voices of surprise, but monster domination has been researched for quite a long time, and there are some successful examples too. Of course, it doesn’t mean any monster can be manipulated, though.
“Moreover, it’s surprising that the true identity of the group hiding such war potential was this country’s Knight Order.”
“”””””The Knight Order planned a coup d’état!?””””””
Because we unintentionally raised our voices, the eyes of the surrounding people turned towards us.
“Yeah, it seems those who are well-informed have already obtained this information and are making various moves.”
I see, so that’s why the adventurers and staff members were strangely restless this morning.
“The Knight Order that protects the country committed a scandal, and furthermore turned themselves in. The upper echelons are in a panic. And since the repercussions might come to adventurers too, everyone is on edge.”
True, the Knight Order’s job is to protect the country, but subjugating bandit groups and large monster hordes is also originally the Knight Order’s job. If the Knight Order becomes unable to do such jobs, large-scale requests might come around to the Adventurer’s Guild. There’s no mistake it’s a profitable story, but the danger level will also increase greatly.
“But why did they turn themselves in? If they hadn’t done the coup d’état yet, they could have just kept quiet.”
“Ah, apparently, not only did they fail to manipulate the Dragon prepared as a trump card, but their spirits were broken because that Dragon was easily defeated.”
Heh, they even prepared a Dragon for the coup d’état. It must have been a strong Dragon, maybe a Gold Dragon? Or an Ancient Dragon?
“To defeat such a Dragon, there must have been an outrageous adventurer.”
“”””””””It’s YOU!!””””””””
Eeh!? Why is everyone in the guild retorting!? There’s no way a Dragon used for a coup d’état would be a Green Dragon, right!?
“Good grief, even though you saved the country, you have too little self-awareness.”
“Seriously. Well, that’s just like Bro though.”
For some reason, everyone was amazed at me.
