“Here you are, Tsalja.”
“Hi, Crystela.”
“Anything worth noting?”
“Nothing, as far as I can make out from here. Our enemy has completely gone out of sight.”
“… Let’s hope they won’t return.”
“Yeah. Anyway, is there anything I can help? You didn’t specifically come here just to ask that, did you?”
“Right. I’m to call you, we are being summoned to attend the meeting with the War Council.”
“Oh, okay. Hey, Yun, take my place to watch.”
“Sure. Send my regards to Master Ugi if you meet him,” the spearman called Yun replied.
“We will. Let’s go, Crystela.”
The two girls left the town wall, climbing down the stairs which Crystela had come from earlier. As they walked, they passed several queues of soldiers waiting their turns to get healed by priests and priestesses. Those with mortal wounds had been given priority for treatment, thus, people who still in lines were they who had less severe injuries.
Other than the ones tasked being watchers and the ones waiting to be healed, everyone was busy making emergency repairs of the broken gate and the wall parts. No one dared to slack off, in afraid of another enemy’s attack.
After all, although they had attained victory, it had been a very close call. Only because of the surprise element from the monsters’ involvement and the sudden collapse of enemy’s chain of command - due to assassinations of various level commanders, including the supreme commander - they had been able to turn the tide and survive the day.
Leaving the wall, the two headed to a nearby steed post. It was stated in the imperial law that a standard barrier to prevent
“… You look gloomy,” Crystela remarked.
Tsalja smiled. “Am I that obvious?”
“I know your feeling. We may have repelled an enemy numbered many more times ourselves, but we have also lost our headquarters and too many comrades. We don’t even know our mistress’ whereabout.”
“… Can I be honest with you?”
“What?”
“I’m not down because of losing comrades. I’m not worry about Miss Alveria either, she can take care of herself.”
“… Then?”
“I feel frustrated, of my own powerlessness. If it was my master, he would’ve been able to do something about the anti-magic squad. We wouldn’t have to rely on the monsters to save our ass. We’re adventurers, we delve dungeons and exterminate monsters, yet we can only depend on them to chase off our enemy? Don’t you think it’s ironic?”
“… True, but they belongs to Dungeon Master Arz, our ally.”
“Hmph. We tried to kill him, remember? I’m sure there must be a high price to pay for this help.”
“Probably. But I’m still glad we reconciled. I was really surprised when guildmaster suddenly appeared, announcing that the monsters were our allies.”
Tsalja shook her head. “It must be nice to be you, Crystela. You’re so positive.”
The comment invited her friend’s chuckle. “Why do you think of him negatively, anyway? I don’t think he is a bad guy.”
“Well, I… I dunno. I’m afraid of him, I think.”
“Afraid?” Crystela turned and tilted her head, trying to find a hint on the mage’s eyes. “How rare. Why?”
Shrugging her shoulders, Tsalja replied, “Think about it. He looked like your average young mage when we first met him. His magic was precise, but that’s it. Of course, we didn’t directly clash until much later, but he didn’t look much of a threat either back when Master Maa’ decided to conquer his dungeon.
“Yet, you know the rest, he turned all the odds. He made the rest of us hopeless with a mana leak while killing master who was alone. When he decided he couldn’t win Miss Alveria - probably because of his wounds from master, he faked his death. Very convincingly too, by providing a dungeon heart and a corpse.
“And, have you heard the rumor of how he killed Master Thianna and crippled Master Oki yesterday, while guildmaster being present? Or how his demons were the ones being responsible for the death of the enemy general and the dragon the enemy had brought along?
“What I want to say is, he’s dangerous, Crystela. He isn’t as docile as he appears to be. Unless we can determine his motive and standing, this alliance mayn’t be a good idea.”
“You do have a point,” Crystela nodded. “But, the parts of what his demons did, aren’t they just groundless rumors?”
This time, it was Tsalja who chuckled. “What do you think?”
“… From adventurer’s vantage point, a request for dragon extermination required several A or B-rank parties together to proceed, and even so, there was no guarantee that everyone would return alive. Then, sneaking behind heavily guarded enemy lines, it wasn’t an easy feat either. Demons of such capabilities would be considered to have threat level beyond A-rank. AA-rank, or possibly AAA-rank. But, there were no such demons within the dungeon, weren’t there?”
Tsalja shrugged her shoulders again. “Never met doesn’t equal not exist. Remember when we just regrouped in the dungeon? There was a hideous roar. We didn’t see the source, but we did find traces that the frog demon had been devoured by something.”
“… Do you think they are the same, the demon that ate the frog and the one in town?” Crystela asked, starting to feel goosebump.
“Who knows. One thing, though, there should be more than one demon yesterday, based on what I’ve gathered with
“More than one, in town… with threat level beyond A-rank…,” Crystela muttered with tensed face. However, she overcame her uneasiness a moment later. “You know, it doesn’t change the fact that they belongs to Dungeon Master Arz. We can trust him. I’m sure the demons won’t go rampage as long as we don’t break our promise first, like last time. Anyway, we are almost there.”
The two adventurers stopped their chat as they were reaching the end of their travel, the biggest building in the noble district. After reporting to a guard at the mansion gate and handing over their horses, they were led crossing long corridors and a spacious garden, until they found a room with a big double door. Sounds of people argumenting behind the door became clearer as they approached.
“Wait here,” told another guard in front of the door, after their guide identified them. While the guard gone to report their arrival, it wasn't their choice that they made out the words being spoken inside the room.
“No! I’ll say it again for God knows how many times, inviting demons into a town is not, and will never be, acceptable! Our only chance or whatever your excuse is, I’m not going to close my eyes at this one. The church won’t allow it, and neither will I. You really have crossed the line this time, Dava!”
“We all agreed to treat Arz as a human, didn’t we? Why does it matter? It’s not like they hurt our people.”
“Curse!”
“Father Jaa, your word.”
“… O Great Tuhn, please have mercy on this stupid servant of yours, for losing his temper in an argument. Thank you for reminding me, Father Bapa.”
“There was a pause and a deep breath. When the voice restarted, it was more calm. “Why does it matter, you asked? The ones you invited into town were the cursed dungeon creatures, Dava, demons! Do you understand this much? What worse, you allowed them to take people to their den, dead AND alive.
“If you still don’t understand, what you did make the dead unable to get a proper cave burial, and we don’t even know what they were going to do to the living ones. You sacrifice fellow humans to demons for a cheap victory. I’m telling you, this is a very act of an apostate! And, how do you know they didn’t hurt our people?”
“I know they didn’t. Cheap victory, you said? Then, let me ask you in return, what do you think will happen to the townspeople if we were lose? Will they give our brave warriors a proper burial? Will they leave the living alone? No! They will rape our women, rob the valuables, and throw our children into slavery. Those are the least you can expect to happen to the losers in war. What’s the difference? You’re exaggerating just because they aren’t humans.”
“Ahem! Sorry to interrupt your… discussion, gentlemen. Crystela and Tsalja are here.”
“Let them in,” Dava said.
Not long after, the double door being opened from inside, revealing a big round tables with many unfamiliar faces to the girls.
“Welcome,” the red haired guildmaster greeted with his usual charming smile. There was no trace of the earlier heated debate in his expression. “Please, have a seat,” he said, gesturing to several vacant chairs.
Once the newcomers had taken their respective seat and the guards had closed the door behind them, he continued. “I’ll introduce them, Your Lordship. They’re Tsalja and Crystela, B-rank adventurers of our guild who work under Executive Alveria. Tsalja herself is the apprentice of Executive Maa’, whom I’m sure you’ve heard of.
“Tsalja and Crystela, the one at the center is Lord Vjay Tkurson Glows, ruler of [Firzoa]. At his right is Bishop Bapa, the representative of the church in this town, while at his left is Sir Kohn, the head of [Firzoa] knight and His Lordship’s personal guard captain. Next to him is Sir Lyo and Sir Wali, of the town guard.
“The rest, I’m sure you already know some, but I’ll introduce again. From beside Bishop Bapa; Father Jaa, Executive Pipo, Executive Ugi, Executive Izzavine, Executive Xiandra, and myself. Unfortunately, Executive Oki and Executive Yuvila can’t join us because of the extent of their injuries,” Dava explained, ending his introduction.
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“I’m sorry. If not because of me, Lady Yuvila wouldn't be so gravely injured,” Wali of the town guard apologized. He was biting his thumb nail due to nervousness.
“You don’t need to worry about that, kind sir,” the guildmaster assured. “She’ll recover in time. Now, with Your Lordship’s permission, I’ll begin asking questions to Miss Crystela and Miss Tsalja.”
“Thou can proceed,” Vjay permitted. His overweight body shook as he spoke.
“So, according to your report here, Executive Alveria is currently missing?”
“Yes,” Crystela answered. “She was last seen dueling the enemy general on a hill near our headquarters, but we lost her track in the midst of the chaotic battle. A party led by our friend Gora is conducting a search as we speak.”
Dava nodded. “We can only pray for the best. Now, how much do you know about what happened to Executive Maa’?”
“… To Master Maa’?” Crystela looked confused. “Didn’t he fall during the attempt to conquer the Dungeon Master Arz’s dungeon?”
“Yes, we know that. But how exactly did he fall?”
“That’s…”
“Neither of us can answer that, guildmaster,” Tsalja butted in.
“Why?”
“No one there to see what exactly happened. You should’ve received Miss Alveria’s report regarding that matter.”
“Yes, I have. Still, I was hoping to get something new from you two. Then, you didn’t see what happened to Dungeon Master Arz either, did you?”
““No,”” both of the girls replied almost at the same time.
“What is this all about, guildmaster?” Crystela inquired.
“Hmm,” Dava considered his words, before asking again. “Do you think… Executive Alveria knows about Dungeon Master Arz’s play dead?”
“No, I doubt it,” the armored girl replied.
“You sure?”
“Yes?”
“I see. Okay, that’s enough from me,” Dava concluded as he leaned back to his seat, which left the girls in confusion.
“Will anyone bother to explain to us?” Tsalja asked, her tone reflected impatience.
“Miss Tsalja and Miss Crystela,” Jaa called. “Swear in the name of our god Tuhn, that you are going to answer my following questions with only the truth. Lady Alveria isn’t here, so you don’t need to be afraid of her, neither you need to cover for her mistake.”
After exchanging glances with Crystela, Tsalja said, “More questions and no explanation, huh? Fine, we’ll answer what we can.”
“Swear in the name of God that you will be telling the truth.”
“I swear,” Crystela quickly replied.
“I’m not a believer, but I swear in the name of Maa’, my deceased master,” Tsalja followed.
Nodding, the high priest began. “Lady Alveria has a special relationship with Dungeon Master Arz, right or wrong?”
“Right, they are close childhood friend as far as we know,” Crystela gave her answer.
“Is there something wrong with Maa’s condition when he raided the Dungeon Master Arz’s dungeon? Any abnormalities that you noticed?”
“None. As far as I can tell, he’s perfectly normal,” this time Tsalja replied.
“Is that so. Then, let me clarify. Maa’ the Imperial Grand Magus, the Elemental-mage Triumvirate, the White Blizzard, and the One-man Army, in his perfect condition, fell while raiding a mere B-rank dungeon - the Dungeon Master Arz’s dungeon. However, no one can confirm how it happened. It solely based on the testimony of Lady Alveria, who has a special relationship with the dungeon master. Am I right?”
Exchanging glances with her party member once again, a realization came to Crystela. “You… Are you suspecting Miss Alveria, father?”
“It doesn’t take a genius to guess, does it? Yes, we do suspect Lady Alveria’s involvement in Maa’s fall. We also suspect that she knows about Arz pretending to be dead from the start. The fact it was our enemy’s conspiracy may negate the latter act, but the former is clearly a treason to the guild and need to be punished accordingly.”
“That… There is no way that was the case!” Crystela exclaimed, standing up before she herself realized.
“How so?”
“Because…,” Crystela paused. Deep inside she knew Alveria was innocent, but couldn’t find a good way to explain it.
Looking around, she found everyone’s attention was directed to her. When she met Xiandra’s gaze, she understood her mistress’ old mentor was pleading her to defend Alveria, which was her intention to begin with. Thus, she closed her own eyes, concentrating. “Because…”
“Because, your assumption is wrong,” Tsalja cut. The dark haired female mage had stood up beside Crystela.
“I’m listening,” Jaa said.
“The most fatal one is the B-rank dungeon thing, it’s misleading.”
“How come? Weren’t you the one who assessed the dungeon? Are you saying you gave a false report?”
“It was accurate, at the time we wrote the report. However, he learned from his flaws and improved quickly. That’s why, although we reached the last room in our first two attempts, we never achieved that again until Master Maa’ joined in. And the dungeon already had its second level by then, probably more. To support my claim, I can lend you my remembrance if you want to, it holds records of my party’s every raid.”
“Hmm.”
“Furthermore,” Crystela added, “if you consider Miss Alveria’s personality, you should understand she is too dutiful to the guild. Pulling a backstab to a respected guild elder is something she would never do.”
“Like my master would ever fall to something like a backstab,” Tsalja supplemented. “Aren’t you underestimating my master too much, father?”
“And, before you accuse she involved in the play dead, you should have seen how she cried over the corpse when she thought nobody see her,” Crystela remarked in high tone. “The fake dungeon core and the corpse were so convincing that even an experienced adventurer like guildmaster himself couldn’t tell.”
*Clap! Clap! Clap!*
Everyone turned to the one clapping his hand, Dava.
“Those were sound arguments, doesn’t everyone agree? Do you still have any counter-argument to convince us that Executive Alveria is guilty, Father Jaa?” the guildmaster asked with a smile.
“Hmm. Fine, she isn’t. But it doesn’t change the fact we can’t trust the dungeon master. He attacked innocent merchants and tricked Maa’ and all of us. He also killed Thianna and almost killed Oki and myself afterward. How could you entrust our lives in the hand of someone, or something, that clearly considers us as enemies, without consulting the Executives and the War Council first?”
Smiling, Dava answered calmly. “If you’re in his boots, will you not treat people who have just betrayed you earlier with hostility? Will you accept their offer, knowing your live’s in the line?”
“What?”
“I had a long talk with Arz yesterday, what happened between us and him were all misunderstanding. To show his goodwill, he has sent his monster army and compensated our side’s lost monetarily. Now, if the everyone agrees, we’ll compensate his lost too, with our mana.”
“Mone… Hold on, you accepted money in exchange of lost lives? What were you thinking, Dava? This is getting more and more ridiculous.”
“How do you suggest to settle this matter, then? I don’t think going for each other’s throat’s gonna solve anything. Especially when we’ve a bigger threat out there.”
“I told you, we shouldn’t be allying ourselves with a dungeon to begin with. It’s the home of vile creatures and demons! Instead, we should try talking to the alliance army. Since we’re all have the same faith, we should at least be able to convince them to sign a truce if we ask the pope to mediate.”
“Huh? That’s brilliant, Jaa. I wonder why it has never occurred to me before,” Pipo sneered. “If the pope want to intervene, he would’ve done it long time ago.”
“All we need to do is ask His Holiness, that’s definitely a better option than inviting demons into town. Right, Father Bapa?”
“It is as you say,” the bishop agreed with a nod.
“And, how long will the mediation process take until the truce can be effective, father?”
“Hmm. You have to be patience, nothing good comes from rushing things.”
“How long?” Pipo pressed.
“… If we send the envoy today, requesting an emergency audience, then, considering His Holiness’ tight schedule, the call for the summit meeting until it reaches the kings, various preparations, and the kings’ entourages time to travel to the designated place… Assuming everything goes smoothly, I would say about twenty five days, at the fastest.”
“Two and half weeks? See, it’s impractical,” Pipo remarked, sighing. “We’ll all likely be dead before a week if we’re alone in our current situation,” he added.
“I’m with guildmaster,” Xiandra raised her hand. “We can try asking the pope to mediate, but our alliance with Dungeon Master Arz must be maintained at all cost, especially for now. Who agrees with me?”
All of the present Fantastica Executives raised their hands, except Jaa, which caused his eyes to widen. “What’s wrong with all of you?!” he shouted.
Taking a deep breath, he continued, “Listen. I understand if it’s a training dungeon. All bigger guilds have at least one for their beginner members, after all. Although, none goes as far as making a deal with the dungeon master like us and theirs are only E-rank dungeons at most.
“However, inviting the vile creatures to town is different. Demons are to be exterminated. They can be taken advantage too, as long as you meet the conditions. But clearly not to be made friend or ally, it’s against the very principles of God’s teaching. Are you not afraid of the divine punishment for defying the God?”
“Give it up, Jaa. It’s six against one,” Pipo reproached.
“So? This isn’t an internal matter of Fantastica, the Executives aren’t the one to decide. Your Lordship, you’re wise, please stop this madness.”
“Uh…,” Vjay hesitated, he didn’t want to make hasty decision. “Thy argument makes sense,” he said while turning to Dava, wondering how the famous mage would try to convince him now.
“We won’t ever do this in normal situation, Father Jaa,” Dava assured. “But, our current one demands an extreme response, you know this. The dungeon creatures won’t be allowed to approach any town once the war is over or we have a better solution, you have my word. I’m sure Dungeon Master Arz will understand.”
Then, staring at Vjay’s eyes, Dava persuaded, “Your Lordship, if [Firzoa] agrees to maintain the alliance with the dungeon, we of Fantastica, using the compensation money we received from Dungeon Master Arz, are willing to bear all of the town repairment cost. However, we also need your permission to collect mana from every mage and soldier in town to pay him.”
“Oh, ooohhh…,” Vjay exclaimed. “Thou have my permission, then,” he readily accepted the term. His round and heavy body shook once again as he spoke and chuckled with a greedy smirk.
“Thank you, Your Lordship,” Dava lowered his head. “What about the church? I hope there’s no problem, Father Bapa?”
“If that is Your Lordship’s decision, then I won’t argue. The church will remain neutral, we will heal and hospitalize anyone who seek the protection of God, regardless their affiliation in this war,” Bapa replied.
“Thank you,” Dava lowered his head one more time, ignoring the grunting Jaa. Then, turning his gaze to a corner of the room, he said, “It’s as you heard yourself, Fantastica and [Firzoa] shall respect our agreement. Tell your master, I’ll personally deliver the promised mana to the dungeon.”
Everyone looked at the corner, but found it empty. While they exchanging glances with each other, Xiandra brought herself to ask. “Guildmaster, who’re you talking to?”
Hearing the question, Dava just smiled. He instead talked to the supposed to be empty corner again. “We’re allies, aren’t we? Are you not going to reveal yourself?”
“Kee kee keek. Guildmaster of Fantastica sure is different than the rest. Since when?” a voice replied from the spot as a figure gradually turned visible. A figure that wasn’t belonged to human or faunus race, as it had a pair of horns and a snout. Its sharp and yellowish teeth were exposed when it opened its mouth.
The sudden appearance surprised everyone and made them uptight, but none were stupid enough to panic or make a ruckus. Still, it didn’t stop them to reach their own weapons. Especially Jaa, as he could still remember clearly how the creature in the corner had stabbed his face just the other day. He gripped his wand tightly.
“Since you entered the room with everyone,” Dava answered. “But, I’m not the only one.”
“Keek. The faunus, right? I’m aware that he aware,” the demon said.
Being mentioned, the rabbit ears of Fantastica’s Executive Ugi the Swift twitched. Out of most people in the room’s attention, his small figure had been restless all this time. Dava had told him to relax through an eye contact, and knowing his guildmaster had their situation under control had helped his mind eased, although not completely.
“As I said, please tell Dungeon Master Arz that I’ll personally deliver the promised mana to his dungeon, in few days,” Dava repeated.
The demon, a horned ratman with scale armor, didn’t answer. Conversely, it looked upwards at the ceiling. With one glance Dava understood it wasn’t the ceiling, but something beyond that, at the outside.
As if to answer Dava’s curiosity, a thunderous sound suddenly came and left in but a short moment. It was so loud that the whole town shook and made everyone on guard more than they already had. While they were wondering the thunder’s true form, the ceiling cracked, opening a several meters in diameter hole of a perfect circle where ones could see the sky.
What followed was a man descending through it. A young man, in his early twenties according to most people in the room’s guesses, with a jet black hair wearing a brown mage robe, landed in the center of the room with a bam. Tsalja, Crystela, and Dava immediately recognized him, while the rat demon quickly kneeling down.
The man, after putting down a large old man whom he had been carrying, looked around. His eyes then fixated at the two people in white robe with sun emblem embedded - the church emblem; Jaa and Bapa. “Please, help me,” he said.