CH 266

Episode 266 – A Certain Adventurer’s Party

Author’s Note: This chapter is written from the POV of Tobias, the reporter from the Laudungeon Company.

After leaving the Merchant’s Guild, I went around with Juno to ask my various contacts for their help. Perhaps because I had known them for a long time, or maybe because of the newspaper edition that had sold like crazy yesterday, an unexpected number of them offered to cooperate.

“It turned out much better than I expected. I’m surprised. You’re more popular than I’d thought, Tobias.” (Juno)

“Unlike you, I try to interact with everyone.” (Tobias)

“Even though you suck at talking and your clothes are always a mess.” (Juno)

“It doesn’t matter. All the people I know now are all dressed nicely, but they used to be people who groveled at the bottom of society. By this point, no one cares about how they dress or how they speak.” (Tobias)

“Hmph. Maybe I should follow your example. Anyway… what should we do now?” (Juno)

“While it’s nice to have people who’ve promised to spread the information for us, it wouldn’t be out of the question for them to attack right this minute. There’s a certain adventurer party that I have in mind that I want to speak to.” (Tobias)

“I see. Then I’ll try to get in contact with some adventurers, too. Also… I didn’t get to ask you in depth about it earlier, but when you had brought up seeing the Demon King’s Army in the Western Forest… Was that really true?” (Juno)

“Yeah, I wasn’t lying. I’m not sure if they were with the Demon King’s Army or whatever, but I saw a Demon and a monster with a ridiculous level of power in the Western Forest. I’ve seen a lot of adventurers before, but they were horrors that felt even stronger than any of those adventurers.” (Tobias)

“So you really did see them. If even you, as a former adventurer, are saying so, then they must be dangerous without a doubt. It was just a hunch at first, but I’m glad we took action early. I still don’t know what’s going to happen, but we’ve done all that we can.” (Juno)

Our eyes met, and we gave each other a firm nod. It all depended on the Demon King’s Army now. We had done all that we could, so we could only hope that they wouldn’t attack before the news spread.

“Well then, I’ll be going now. Tomorrow, it’ll be business as usual.” (Tobias)

“Yeah. I’m going back to work the day after, too. I haven’t gotten any work done today.” (Juno)

“That’s too bad. Well, see you tomorrow then.” (Tobias)

After casually waving a hand in farewell, I headed off alone towards a certain bar. My last task for today was to meet with a certain adventurer party.

I had really wanted to alert all of the S-rank adventurer parties, but there was only one S-rank party on the surface right now. They were usually down in the Dungeon for several weeks at a time, and, in some cases, it wasn’t unheard of for them to stay down there for around a month before returning to the surface.

That S-rank party that was above ground, [Victorious Bray], was currently inactive. Their party was pretty much a one-man team spearheaded by their leader, Diola, who was a demi-dragon. But he was currently injured, so the party couldn’t truly be called a S-class party at the moment.

But even though [Victorious Bray] was a S-rank party, there was only one person for whom I held a higher evaluation…

I entered the crowded, bustling bar and immediately made my way to the second floor. After going up the stairs, I stopped in front of the room at the end of the hallway and knocked before entering.

“Hm? Who are you?”

When I opened the door, I saw a red-haired woman with a well-built physique, lounging lazily in a chair. Seated across from her were one well-dressed man and one dirty-looking man.

The party I had come to visit was none other than the [Azure Alliance], which was commanded by Ahmed, one of the strongest in the entire city. In the past, I had tried to get an exclusive interview with them, but they had refused me outright.

“Sorry to approach you so suddenly. I’m a reporter from the Laudungeon Company. My name is Tobias.”

“The Laudungeon Company? Why did a reporter from a newspaper company come out of nowhere?!” (Ahmed)

“To tell you the truth, I wanted to speak to the [Azure Alliance]. Would you please give me a bit of your time?” (Tobias)

“No way. I’m busy. Hurry up and get out!” (Ahmed)

When she raised her voice, she waved around the bottle of sake she was holding as if she was about to throw it at me. As I hurriedly tried to apologize, the well-dressed man from before, Dion, stepped in and began to whisper something in her ear.

I couldn’t hear what he had whispered to her, but Ahmed slowly lowered the bottle that she was brandishing over her head and sat heavily back down into her chair. Seeing this, Dion returned to his seat and then held out a hand, gesturing for me to continue with what I had to say.

“Is it okay to say what I have to say now?” (Tobias)

“…….Yeah. Hurry up and speak.” (Ahmed)

After receiving permission to speak from a grumpy-sounding Ahmed, I began to tell the [Azure Alliance] the same story that I had brought up in my talks with various people earlier today. They just listened while drinking, without interrupting. When I finished speaking, Dion took a notepad out of his pocket.

“It matches with the information I have here. It was my first time hearing about the Demon King’s Army appearing in the Western Forest, but didn’t you say earlier that you felt the presence of monsters coming from the western direction, Ahmed-san?” (Dion)

“Yeah. Without a doubt, the monsters were going on a rampage. But I didn’t know if that was because of the Demon King’s Army or not.” (Ahmed)

“I don’t think those monsters that Ahmed-san detected were from the Demon King’s Army. I think the appearance of the Demon King’s Army triggered a change in those monsters in the Western Forest, so what you felt was probably those monsters going wild or trying to run away.” (Tobias)

“In that case, it all perfectly adds up… As you said earlier, an attack may indeed be on its way.” (Dion)

Surprisingly, out of all the people I had talked to so far, the [Azure Alliance] was the most understanding. From the way they had spoken, was the [Azure Alliance] also looking into the attacks?

“Err, did you know about the attacks?” (Tobias)

“He told me that you guys had helped him out in many ways. He also said that he became an adventurer because he admired you guys, and he was training in order to catch up to you.” (Tobias)

“Huhu. Anything else?” (Ahmed)

“….Ahmed-san. We can talk about that later. We were in the middle of talking about the attacks just now.” (Dion)

I used to follow after the [Azure Alliance] to try to get an interview with them, but this was the first time I had ever seen Ahmed have a cheerful smile on her face. I found myself captivated by that sunny smile, but when Dion interrupted her, her expression returned to her sullen pout from before.

…Lewin had said that he was one-sidedly on good terms with the [Azure Alliance], but doesn’t the [Azure Alliance] feel the same way towards him, if not even closer? I found myself thinking that as I was watching Ahmed’s smiling expression.