CH 66

After the raid by demon forces, an emergency meeting was held by the Warren Council.

Prior to that, two actions were immediately taken.

The first of which was an emergency warning sent by the Adventurer’s Guild to the capitol Skycastle first and then to the surrounding cities of Wheat Grace and the Citadel City Marsfield. Things may have died down in Warren, but there was no guarantee that there would not be subsequent moves taken against nearby cities. The next was the collection of weapons and tools left behind by the slain demons, but this was mostly taken care of by the Thieves’ Guild.

The main topic of this emergency meeting was less about this attack from the demon forces and more about the second one. After the Demon Lord made his declaration in sky, the Adventurer’s Guild had promptly beefed up security enforcement, restructured the military, and confirmed a proper evacuation route for the citizenry. To be honest, none of that was any help during this past event. In short then, the objective for this meeting was how to minimize the damage of a second attack in the future.

Eventually, discussion made its way to the mystery magic and the person who cast it that ended the fighting.

It was a show of mythic proportions with numerous {Flare Bullets}, a mysterious wave that turned demons to ash, flashing lights falling from the sky, and magical dogs appearing out of thin air.

The spell {Homing Missile} is a long dead spell, but since it is basically just multiple {Flare Bullets}, it was a spell that the council could understand to an extent. But the other three, along with whatever magic was used to create that translucent barrier, so those four spells were completely unknown in Warren. The spells themselves are disconcerting enough, but the fact that the person who cast those spells is a mystery as well just complicates things even further.

“We need an explanation from the city of mages, and if necessary, put in a request for support,” Merchant Guild master Maria suggested.

The Magical City Wisdom is an academic city located to the southeast of Marsfield, oftentimes called the city of mages. Unfortunately the direct road from Warren to Wisdom has not been maintained, so in order to get there, you would have to go around and travel to Marsfield first.

“I would like to ask about that ridiculous magic at the very least.”

“Mmm. Whether or not that magic was from the Demon Lord or the Hero, either case could be bad for us if we mishandle things,” Baltis nodded in agreement.

“Well, if so, who will we send?”

Flint asked this question while directing his gaze to a smiling Ellis, clearly already having an idea in mind.

Ellis reflexively looked away, but the other councilors all started to laugh at how easy she was to see through.

“Because all of Warren is still in a state of emergency, I don’t think any of us guild masters should go.”

“People familiar with the situation should voluntarily raise their hands if we put out a request.”

“We are busy reorganizing the weapons and preparing in case of another attack, so I’d like to avoid sending out any adventurers out right now. It’s a troublesome matter indeed.”

“I heard that during the battle, there were a couple girls who looked really cool fighting off the demons. Who were they again?”

…………

Game over.¹

Ellis reluctantly raised her hand.

“Please allow me to speak.”

“Yes, associate member Ellis, what is it?”

Maria looked like a balloon, her cheeks all puffed up from holding back her laughter.

“All of you Oji-samas and Oba-sama are a bunch of bullies,” was Ellis’s response.

Having been called an ‘Oba-sama’, Maria’s laughter immediately died out, and her eyebrows knitted together. Meanwhile, the men could hold their laughter back no longer.

“The five of us will go. We can deliver incident reports to Wisdom and Marsfield too if necessary under the name of the Warren Council.”

The councilors all eventually nodded their assent.

Ellis’s group would once again go on a trip.

“That’s the story.”

Ellis had just finished explaining the situation to her four roommates.

Their mission this time was to deliver an incident report letter from the Warren Council to Lord Marsfield, head to the Magical City Wisdom, and deliver a second request letter to the magic university asking them to analyze the magic seen at the end of the demon raid.

The {Flare Bullets} the Demon Lord used for the first time had a similar performance to Claire’s {Homing Missile}, but the number of bullets were on a completely different level.

As for the other spells, Claire had no clue.

“The Magical City……”

Claire had a rare, unusual look on her face.

“What’s wrong Claire?”

Claire didn’t immediately reply to Reeve’s question who had noticed that look, and she made a troubled look like she was not sure what to say to her.

“Is it because you hate the idea of going to the magic university?”

“Claire did originally hate mages nya.”

Claire reluctantly nodded to both Frau and Katie’s words.

“Those who try to learn magic at the university tend to have a more…privileged state of mind.”

The headquarters for the Magician’s Guild is located in Skycastle, but the research itself is actively conducted in Magical City Wisdom. Their findings flow from Wisdom to Skycastle where the information is sorted by relevance and finally reported to the royal family.

And this large facility earns its research funds by acting as a ‘university.’

The point is that the university makes most of its money by gathering tuition fees from noble house that send over those third-born and below sons and the daughters who can’t be married off.

“Well, we’ll hardly see any of the students at the university, so we can finish our business in Wisdom and depart quickly afterwards.”

“Yes, I’m looking forward to the completion of Cross Town.”

“First, I’ll need to prepare some ingredients for the three day trip to Marsfield.”

“Because we aren’t acting as escorts, we can use some of the accommodation points along the highway.”

Then, there was a knock on their door. It was Karen, the new receptionist for the Thieves’ Guild.

“Ellis, Frau, Claire, I could use your help.”

Karen needed a little indiscreet help from the five girls.

“I need an appraisal of the weapons the dead demons left behind. The master told me to bring them here and have one of you who can use {Appraisal} take care of it.”

Using {Appraisal} was natural for a former Adventurer’s Guild receptionist to know, but the knowledge that Ellis and Claire could use it as well was something that they had never told anyone.

It seems that time they stripped off Dams and Cliff’s equipment and provided a list of every item to the Adventurer’s Guild had come back to bite them.

Claire didn’t learn {Appraisal} until quite recently, but thanks to her qualities as a magician and the effect of a Magical Ring, she was capable of casting the spell while only using 1 MP. Frau could cast it with 1 MP as well, but that was only thanks to the effect of a Grand Magical Ring.

“I guess it can’t be helped. Reeve, Katie, you two should prep the carriage with the exception of our meals.”

“Mmm, I’ll take extra special care to make sure the bathroom is fine.”

“I’ll make sure Hanna and everyone else knows we will be gone for awhile nya.”

Ellis, Frau, and Claire reluctantly followed Karen out the door while Reeve and Katie quietly gave each other a high five having successfully avoided being roped into some seriously troublesome sounding work.

“There’s nothing good here.”

Ellis’s shoulders drooped even more.

This was the waiting room of the Thieves’ Guild although it was more of an appraisal room at this point. Most of the weapons left by the demon army were unmarked, and the occasional ones that did have something were not worth much.

Poison – Add 2 points of poison damage to any opponent damaged. Ineffective on people with a resistance to poison. Required MP: 0. Autonomous type.

And another one that boosted offensive power.

Beak – Increases attack power by 1.2 times. Required MP: 1. Command word: [Come Beak]²

They were mostly long swords and short swords.

As far as armor was concerned, they were almost all blank, but they were well-made with good materials.

The weapons and armor of the great demons pierced by light from the sky were able to make it relatively unscathed, so the three of them saved those pieces for last.

“Would this one work?”

Claire brought over a great demon’s pure black battle ax that she had just appraised.

Along with Flying Swallow, it had an autonomous ability called Man Eater.

Man Eater – Deal double damage to humanoid organisms. Necessary MP: 0. Autonomous type.

Ellis secretly copied over the ability to a spare dagger she had to bring it home.

“If the opponent is human, will the double damage from that combine with the double damage from Flying Swallow to deal 4 times the amount of damage? Flint would turn into an oni.”

“Flint’s already an oni.”

Frau and Claire laughed together.

Meanwhile Ellis walked over to buy a little goodwill with Baltis and the other guild masters.

Choosing two black daggers, she duplicated Flying Swallow and Inhalation onto them. She then copied Flying Swallow and Purification onto a black longsword.

And then she told Karen that the appraisal work was finished.

“Oh, how was it? Was there anything good?”

Baltis randomly popped out from the back room.

“There was something perfect for uncles.”

Ellis put on her best flattery smile when pushing forward the two daggers, the longsword, and the battle ax in front of Baltis.

“These two daggers  both have Flying Swallow and Inhalation, the longsword has Flying Swallow and Purification, and the battle ax has Flying Swallow and Man Eater. Everything else was mostly Beak or Poison.”

“I see.”

Baltis gave a wide smile and nodded his head once before beckoning Ellis to come closer. When she was standing right next to him, Baltis whispered in her ear so that Frau and Katie could not hear what he was saying.

“You have the ability to make magic tools, don’t you?”

The world stopped short.

Baltis had his doubts in the beginning, but the question of why Ellis’s group was so powerful always nagged at the back of his mind. So he decided to set a small trap. It was easy. All he had to do was have Ellis appraise some magic items that had already been appraised.

And Ellis fell for it perfectly.

Baltis continued on with a disgusting grin on his face.

“If your ability were to become well-known, it would be very troublesome for you wouldn’t it? In terms of both market price and power balance. I promise to keep this locked in my heart, so tell me, are you able to add more than these for abilities?”

“Whatever do you mean?”

It may have been pointless, but Ellis tried her hardest to keep as much of her secret a secret as she could.

“Exorcism and Flying Phoenix look like two wonderful abilities.”

Everything is out in the open. He must have appraised Katie’s claws one day without her knowing.

But Ellis wasn’t about to roll over.

“Uncle can use {Appraisal} too right? If so, then how about taking a look at this.”

Ellis pulled out her shining gold stiletto dagger from her bag.

Baltis casually held the dagger in his hands and used {Appraisal}. As the reality of the situation sunk in, Baltis’s face turned a deeper and deeper shade of blue.

“Yo- You can use this?”

“I would very much appreciate if you keep my affairs a secret. I will add however that recently I was made quite aware of the fact that I am the weakest of us five, so if it ever comes down to it, do not worry about it too much. I am sure I will be just fine either way.”

Baltis’s expression melted away into something far different than it was before.

“Yes, some secrets should remain secrets. Please don’t tease this old man too much. However, because I would like to prepare for another attack, please make those four strong.”

“Something like that is cheap. In that case, lend me your leather armor.”

Giving Ellis a suspicious glance, Baltis walked back to his room and grabbed his armor. Meanwhile, Ellis selected two plate armors left behind from demons’ attack. One was normal sized while the other was a little larger.

“Alright then uncle, please leave the room for a little bit. If you peek, I’ll scratch you with the stiletto you saw earlier.”

Baltis obediently left the room with his arms raised up.

Then the copying began.

The first thing she did was upgrade the two daggers, longsword, and battle ax with Flying Phoenix and Exorcism.

Then she moved on to the armor. Baltis’s leather armor and the two plate armors each received Resistance.

“Uncle, it’s okay now.”

When Baltis re-entered the room, the first thing he did was appraise his leather armor. The results made him drop it on accident.

“I didn’t want uncle, Theseus, and Flint to fight over it, so I got you all the same thing. Now all of you can be the Hero.”

Baltis realized that by trying to get this girl into the palm of his hand, he ended up rolling around in the palm of her hand instead. The realization brought an unexpectedly bitter smile to his face.

“Alright. We’ll get used to these new weapons quickly so that there will be nothing to worry about even when you’re gone.”

“Then I will leave it to you.”

Finally, Ellis gave Baltis a smile that looked like it was a passageway straight to Hell, and she went on her way.

1. The word they use here is 詰んだ, tsunda, which is Japanese internet slang. In short terms, it means that there is nothing else a person can do. It derives from the Japanese equivalent to ‘checkmate.’

2. I want you to know I tried looking this up. I thought I was reading the kanji wrong, but I wasn’t. This is one of things that I imagine sounds a lot more threatening in Japanese…Probably.