The World-Famous Monsters
[Because of the Feudal Lord’s call, Mills have been bustling these days.]
[Many mercenaries had been rushing from around the neighborhood. The old man of the inn had been earning a lot these days.]
[Because they had discovered the path towards the new floor of the Mills Ruins, this would surely bring liveliness towards our city.]
I’ve been arranging the information I had obtained so far.
Feudal Lord.
The recruitment of mercenaries.
The discovery of the new floor in the ruins.
By their words, I had the impression that the Feudal Lord requested the mercenaries around the area to raid this dungeon-like ruins.
This is why mercenaries have been gathering in Mills.
There’s a “ruins” in here too, huh…
Was it also a civilization that was destroyed in the past?
By how I hear it though, that place seems to be something like a dungeon.
[By the way…]
Another topic was raised at the nearby table.
This is the table where there are three men sitting together.
[Did you hear about that story?]
[Which story are you talking about?]
[The story about that Princess of the High Elves.]
[High Elf? Is there any difference between them and Elves?]
[I heard they’re a bit similar. Or at least, I heard that they should be better than those Dark Elves.]
So, Elves really exists huh…
It seems that Dark Elves also exists.
[For the time being, if their ears are sharp, then I’ll just call them Elf.]
[Well, I don’t really care about small differences.]
The man redirects the story back to what he’s talking about earlier.
[Anyway, let’s put those aside for now. Have you heard that rumor about that former knight leader who has disappeared from the capital of Holy Kingdom of Neia? Well, they said that this knight leader was actually a princess of a High Elf country. I heard that this had became a famous story that’s been circulating around mercenaries.]
[I don’t know about that, man. Why the heck would an Elven princess become something like a knight in the midst of human lands?]
[I don’t know either. Anyway, it seems that there’s some reward for who ever captures the Elven princess.]
[But, why is that? I can’t see the point from your story.]
[No, it’s just I’ve actually seen the portrait of this Elven princess. I must say though, the one portrayed on the reward notice was actually a very beautiful woman. Her beauty is so otherworldly, that I don’t think she was even the same species as the others around me.]
[Really!? H- How beautiful is she?]
[You can see the reward notice if you go to the Mercenary Guild.]
[Okay! I’ll go and bask on her beauty later!]
[No, I expect that the Mercenary Guild will be crowded right now because of that recruitment so don’t go now. There are a lot of those with despicable manners in that place. No one would step them even if they tried to do anything in there.]
Mercenary Guild?
Are they perhaps talking about that place with the Mark Note in the signboard?
So, it’s an organization who arranges work for mercenaries huh…
Like escort missions.
Or monster exterminations.
Now that I think about it, it was really crowded when I went there earlier.
I can see it even when I’m outside the building.
There were many people who looks like they’re accustomed to battle that were going in and out of the building.
[However, isn’t there that story where they said that Elves were hiding somewhere, hidden inside a magical barrier where they’re secluded from human habitat? I don’t think I’d ever get to see an Elf aside from this Elven princess.]
[Well, I’ve heard that the men and women Elves were so beautiful that your eyeballs would pop out after you see them.]
[I heard that some wanted them as slaves because they wanted their eyes. They said that elves have beautiful eyes, and they wanted it for themselves.]
[By the way, are elves strong?]
[They fight by borrowing the power of the spirits.]
[Spirits? What’s that?]
[They’re creepy beings…]
A table filled with alcohol is always good.
They have been saying things that you won’t normally say out loud.
Thanks to that, I could easily hear the contents.
They’ve become more talkative after they’re engrossed with their conversation.
Their just like how my parents were like when they’re drinking.
As I thought, places like these are really suitable if I want to gather information.
Well, I can’t drink alcohol myself.
[By the way, did you hear that news about the Great Demon Emperor?]
Great Demon Emperor.
The so-called great evil that threatens the world huh…
2-C was summoned here because of him.
[It’s rumored among the mercenaries. That the Night Wall had apparently fallen?]
[That’s quite surprising. Are we safe in here?]
[Well, that story is about a place from the far north.]
[But you know, if they keep on going south… well, it’s just for example, but what if they pass through the Great Ruins and the monsters there join their army? Isn’t that dangerous?]
[Don’t worry about that. Around this time, the Allion Kingdom and the Goddess Vysis should be making their move. There will also be the monstrous knights and troops from the numerous countries from all around the continent. We should be safe in here.]
The name of that f*cking goddess came out.
As I thought, she’s quite famous.
[Well yeah. By the way, who among them were the strongest?]
[The Mad Emperor Falken Dotzine’s “Brilliant Squadron” is famous for being an army that haven’t lost any battle.]
[Even if they had lost the Night Wall, there should still be the Hakurou in the Magnal Kingdom in the north, right?]
[There’s also the “Annihilation Monks” from the Jonato Principality in the west.]
[Even in our Urza Kingdom, there’s the Magic Knights.]
[Though we say that…]
[Yeah.]
The three people sounds like they are all in agreement about something.
[The strongest of them all in the continent would absolutely be the Bakuos Empire’s Black Dragon Knights.]
(T/N: I feel like I translated this differently but can’t remember the chapter. Anyway, the name would change after the manga gets updated. probably.)
[I have no objections about that.]
[I heard though that just the “Five Dragon Warriors” had the strength of a single country altogether? I think I’ve also heard that there’s someone in the Five Dragon Warriors who are called “Humanity’s Strongest” and “Heroic Blood”?]
[The battle between the Black Dragon Knights and the Great Demon Emperor. As long you’re a man, you can’t help but be interested by this battle.]
[Now that I think about it, isn’t the territory of Bakuos Empire right next to our Urza Kingdom? Are we going to be alright?]
[If I’m right, there should have been a peace agreement between Bakuos Empire and Allion Kingdom.]
[Allion Kingdom huh… Did they do that rumored Hero summoning ritual of theirs?]
[I don’t know. There have been no news about that as far as I know. That’s because that place is famous for not wanting any information from that place to spread out to other countries. They probably have summoned the Heroes from another world already.]
One of the men cheerfully chewed on the meat he’s eating.
[It’s okay! As long as you have sake and delicious meat, you won’t be afraid of anything! The Heroes and that Great Demon Emperor should still be powerless in front of delicious sake and meat!]
[Exactly!]
[Even if the country would be destroyed, the sake will not perish!]
[Well said!]
[Cheers~!]
[Yay~!]
The vigorous men began gulping down their sake heartily.
They kept on drinking even when they’re discussing who is the strongest.
It looks like the sake had been going around a bit.
It’s like they can’t even speak straight anymore.
Even the other guests were like that.
This should mean that the proper information I can get from eavesdropping was starting to disappear.
[……….]
I stopped gathering information and decided to return to my room.
I climb up to the second floor.
It was good that I got to know some of the names of different countries in this continent for my first try on eavesdropping.
Well, the knights other than those from Allion have nothing to do with me.
For now, these information were not important.
It seems that these should be the only topics that were talked about while drinking sake.
[I guess I’ll gather tools for my journey and leave Mills tomorrow…]
For now though, I would be resting for the night.
But, I stopped halfway.
[Wait a minute?]
The reason why I’ve been feeling bothered by something.
I think I remembered.
I hurried back into my room.
[—Well, before that…]
I brought some of my dinner for Pigimaru.
[Pyuu, pyuu~ ♪]
Pigimaru began to happily eat.
[Then—]
I quickly take out the “Encyclopedia on the Forbidden Arts” from my leather bag.
I sit on the bed and turned over the pages.
I slide my fingertip on the paper…
–Until it stops at a certain page.
[…Found it.]
I’ve thought I’ve seen it for a moment before.
This piece of memory has remained in one corner of my head.
That’s why I had always been bothered by that.
Perhaps, it’s from around that time that woman had said her name in that forest.
Was it because it wasn’t the “first time” I had heard it that I didn’t notice it immediately?
My awareness was focused too much on that first experiment.
<Preparation of Monster Enhancer (Evolution Accelaration)>
<Creating the Monster Enhancer by using bone meal from Skeleton King as material>
<Slime → PASS>
<Applying in the Second Experiment>
<Skeleton King Habitat List>
<Mills Ruins (Depths)>