Chapter 32: Aftermath
“…Everyone is dead?”
“They are!” The Guild Master shouted back. “I heard the grandchild survived, but his wife, children, servants, and one knight… everyone else in the manor is dead!”
“…I didn’t kill them.”
“Then who did!?”
“…I don’t know, but I have a guess.”
The Guild Master raised his brow.
“…A man from the Church arrived shortly before all the chaos. Perhaps he was responsible, or at least involved?”
“A man from the Church?” The Guild Master leaned back in his chair, deep in thought. “Did you see this man?”
“…No.”
“I’m not convinced he really was a man from the Church.”
“…He could have been pretending to be from the Church?”
“It’s possible,” the Guild Master answered.
“…Could it have been that dwarf, Thaw, as retribution perhaps?”
“Thaw? Unlikely. She’s been visiting the Upper Gordu Forest. It’s possible, but I doubt she made it back in time to figure out what was going on and take action.”
“…Isn’t she known for her miracles? At least, judging from her alias.”
“Bah! I’ll admit she’s skilled, but don’t let her fool you. She’s no magician."
“…Then who else would have attacked the Lord’s family?”
“Let’s just say, other people with influence in the Holy State of Whites. You and I probably aren’t the only ones who wanted that asshole dead.”
“…But to kill everyone…” DM wasn’t sure what else to say.
“Yes… That was going too far.” Even the Guild Master seemed perturbed by current events.
“…What should we do, then?”
“Now? Nothing. I assume the Lord’s grandchild will go live with relatives in the capital or something. Rufus’s father will probably take control, at least for the time being.”
DM feigned ignorance. “…Who is Rufus?”
“Oh, he’s an adventurer who was all but thrown out of his family a while back. His father is a noble of some renown here in the Twin Cities. He’ll probably step up.”
“…After the failed attack on the Guild, won’t everyone’s eyes be on you and your staff?”
“Don’t call it a failed attack. The number of casualties wasn’t zero. We have a hard enough time keeping adventurers based here in the Twin Cities as it is.”
“…I see.”
“I know you’re looking to formalize a relationship with my Guild Branch, but let’s hold off for now. We need to see what Rufus Davidson’s family does next. I’ll contact you later.”
“…I’m pretty sure nobody saw me involved, just so you know.”
“Good.”
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DM would hold off on sending infections or bats around the Twin Cities for the time being. He would still keep infections on the beast girls as well as on Daphne, figuring it was worth the risk in those limited cases.
Kat’s party arrived, only to find the Guild in a chaotic state, damage clearly visible from the street. A clerk brought her group, as well as Rufus’s, up to speed. As Rufus’s allies ran off to confirm their friends and acquaintances were uninjured, he announced he needed to return to his family’s home and ran off.
Kat finished reporting the results of their exploration into the Upper Gordu Forest on everyone’s behalf. The clerk suggested they take the rest of the day off and come back tomorrow when things are hopefully calmer. As they exited the Guild, someone called out to them.
“Bandit.”
The five girls turned to see a dwarf leaning with her back against the exterior wall of the Guild.
“I know you just got back, but it’s time for some special crossbow training.”
Everyone knew damn well that was just a cover-up. While crossbow training was at least a small portion of what Bandit was doing with her time, Thaw’s real objectives in training Bandit lay elsewhere. The girls made plans for how to meet up later, then separated.
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“Come with me.” Thaw and Bandit proceeded towards the same basement hideout as before. As they walked, Thaw asked Bandit to explain what the hell had happened at the Guild.
Bandit wasn’t sure if Thaw was feigning ignorance or not, but she didn’t have much information to provide either way. “The clerk said someone tried to blow up the Guild and almost succeeded. The number of deaths was very small, she said.”
“Although we weren’t around this time, do you see why people like you and me are needed?”
Bandit nodded. Deep down, she was wondering what DM knew and if he would have anything interesting to share with her and the other girls, but she kept that to herself.
The pair shut the door and sat down opposite each other. Thaw explained the first reason for their meeting.
“I told you I’d think of an alias for you when the time is right.”
Bandit nodded.
“I didn’t see it myself, but I’ve figured out what happened between you and that thief.”
“Oh, him?” Bandit wasn’t sure why Thaw was bringing that annoying guy up.
“Way to go, kneeing him in the balls like that, hahaha.”
“He… deserved it.” Bandit suddenly realized she wasn’t sure how Thaw found out about that event so soon. Maybe she was spying on the group? That would make sense.
“Yes, although from the sound of it, he’s become quite a masochist thanks to you. If you were into that sort of thing, he’d be quite a… nah, there’s no need to plant any strange ideas in your head.”
“Okay…” Bandit decided to just move on. “What does this have to do with my alias?”
“Perhaps that will become your signature move. Using your knee. Like that.”
Bandit didn’t really care for where this was going. She didn’t want to make a habit of hitting people below the belt. She also didn’t want to get the alias ‘ballsmasher’ or something like that.
“I think I’ll call you Nina.”
“Nina? Like, knee?” Actually, that wasn’t too bad. Nina sounds like a more normal name than Bandit anyway.”
“You don’t have any family so you don’t really need to worry about hiding your real name like I do. You can still be Bandit with you friends if you want, but from now on, for all Guild business, you will be Nina… the Smasher!”
Bandit (Nina) groaned.
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Daphne’s party was fully recovered and finally had an opportunity to return west. After getting sucked into that bombing, they were even more eager to depart the Twin Cities. A combined Guild and merchant caravan would be departing west. Daphne suspected that one of the wagons would include various documents reporting on recent events in the Twin Cities.
The Guild was requesting a surprising number of parties to protect this caravan. Normally, two would be sufficient, provided the party opposite Daphne’s was fairly experienced. This caravan, despite being only slightly larger than typical, would be guarded by four parties, including two that were quite experienced. Daphne’s group was accepted as one of the less-experienced parties without issue.
“Hey, Daffy, isn’t it a shame that you won’t get to meet up with that elf you know from your village?”
“Ardreth? No, it’s okay. I don’t need him to tell me he was right with some ultra-superior tone. I’ll go home for now.”
“Hm, if you think that’s the best thing to do. What should we do?”
“Well, I did get you all involved in this,” Daphne admitted to her ally. “Why don’t you come visit the elven village? As an apology for me kinda wasting your time traveling with me.”
“It wasn’t a waste, Daffy!”
“Elven village? Is that all right?”
Daphne nodded. “Yeah, it’s ok for me to bring people. I’ll be responsible for your actions though so be on your best behavior!”
“You’re the one we’re worried about!” her party chorused.
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“Hey Ardreth, come look!” Sasha excitedly led the elf to the Guild request board. “This looks perfect!”
“Hm…” Ardreth read the terms. “Luna will be happy.”
“Let’s go gather everyone up and then accept this request.”
The request was to guard a merchant caravan departing the Empire’s capital heading south to the central region. After completing the request, they could use the local Guild branch as their home base or possibly relocate to another city in the region.
“I’m a bit concerned, though.”
“Why?” Sasha wondered why Ardreth was bringing whatever this is up now considering they had been planning to travel south like this for a couple of days.
“When we first agreed with Luna’s suggestion to relocate to the central region, I inquired with various city offices regarding any requirements for a prolonged stay in the Empire as well as any differences between the northern capital region and the central region.”
“Oh, that was a good idea. This is why we keep you around, Ardreth!”
“Ahem. Yes… Well, none of the officials could point to any rules we need to be alert to. As adventurers, we can stay here or in the central region without restriction.”
“Oh, that’s good news. But why are you concerned, then?”
“In several cases, the officials warned me that the central region is quite inferior to the northern region. They said we would be better off staying here where territorial leadership is actually sane.”
“I see… Could they explain what was wrong with the central region?”
“No. Honestly, it seemed like petty complaining, like disliking someone because they prefer a different topping on their bread.”
Sasha’s mind momentarily went to the taste and smell of half-melted butter on warm bread. Perhaps she was getting hungry. She swallowed a bit of excess saliva and responded, “If it’s just silly bickering, then why are you concerned?”
“One of them blamed the central region for the recent wyvern attack.”
“What!?”
“They wouldn’t elaborate, either. One official said, if we insist on escorting a merchant caravan down south, to hurry back once our business is done.”
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While DM waited for word of change in the Twin Cities, he turned his attention to the dungeon in the Upper Gordu Forest.
“I haven’t leveled up in a long time. It’s time to experiment with my experience touch ability. Also, I’m going to smash some heads in.”
He was only referring to random low-intelligence monsters in the dungeon. He was feeling quite hungry though.
During all the commotion involving the late Lord of the Twin Cities, no adventuring parties or others had attempted to take on the minotaur dungeon master. As a result, DM’s charm and infect statuses were still in effect. He decided to go on a bit of a rampage.
DM personally controlled the minotaur as it sauntered out of the boss chamber. After turning a couple of corners, it encountered a scorpion. The scorpion ignored its dungeon master, staying in place.
“LVL 4, huh?” DM could command the minotaur to strike and defeat the scorpion if he wished, but he chose to summon a tentacle instead. The scorpion did recognize the tentacle as an enemy and tried to assault it with poison strike. Just as the tentacle successfully applied paralysis, the scorpion successfully applied poison to the tentacle.
“Hm, is it more logical to spawn a second tentacle or actually try to cure this poison before the tentacle dies?” It didn’t really matter. DM doubted he’d run out of MP any time soon. Still, he thought it was good to think about such things now, while not in a dangerous situation, so he’d be prepared down the road.
“Okay. How much experience can I suck out?” Having rescued his tentacle with antidote, he continuously applied the experience touch ability, absorbing experience directly. He had all the time in the world.