Chapter 72

They’re Not Hoping for Much

「It’s okay. I imagine I’d have to duke it out with the Cardinal someday anyway.」

It won’t matter if I tried to live my life quietly. If Cardinal Georgis is working with the Garden of Despair, anywhere within the kingdom is not safe. At the moment, the persecution towards inferior job classes is only to the extent of discrimination when it comes to promotion. But there’s no way a guy who works with the Garden of Despair will just let it end there. If Georgis seriously pushed for their persecution, their very lives might be in danger.

The Garden of Despair is more dangerous. If they penetrate the government and can operate freely, they can cause large-scale disasters all they want.

If that happens, it’ll be too late. It would be all right if they still want to use the kingdom for their goals… but they could cause a disaster on a whim, and this kingdom will be annihilated the next day.

Even if you escaped outside the kingdom, a disaster that big will still destroy you along with the place. One thing to do is just escape anyway and pray that the Garden of Despair won’t conquer the kingdom…

But instead of living a life in which I can just perish anytime, I’d rather fight and settle things once and for all.

Now normally, a regular adventurer picking a fight with a kingdom’s key figure would be nothing short of reckless, but I have the immense knowledge I’ve acquired in BBO. Plus it doesn’t look like everyone in the kingdom is on his side.

「…Thank you.」

「Well, I’ll do what I can. In exchange, if things work out fine, you have to introduce me to Count Meigis.」

「Leave it to me. Is there anything else I can help with?」

Good question.

I don’t think I can count on the guild’s adventurers help in fighting an Emperor Ogre. I did spot something useful in the guild’s warehouse.

「Can I have some monster oil?」

「Oil?」

The manager stared at me blankly. When he said “help”, he probably expected more than just being asked for oil.

「I don’t care about the quality. I just need lots of oil. That, and permission to start a forest fire.」

「A forest fire… Don’t tell me…」

「That’s right. I’m gonna burn them to death.」

There are other ways to start a fire besides using magic spells. A tree will burn if it’s set on fire and it’s also possible to start a wildfire. It’s not something you do under normal circumstances though. It’ll only cause trouble for the public.

「Can monsters even die in a forest fire?」

「Normally, no. They’ll just escape. The fire is simply to help with my plan. I need to take out as many monsters as possible with the limited mana I have.」

「…I understand. If that’s necessary, then I’ll take measures as well. Just wait until tomorrow. I need to issue a notice so other adventurers don’t enter the forest.」

「All right. Thanks.」

◇

The next day.

An order has been issued to the adventurers to evacuate the Great Forest of Elias and forbidding them from entering it as well. Not like it was really necessary. Those who planned on entering were long gone.

「Alright, time to go.」

After checking the directive, I left the guild. Incidentally, the remaining requests were sorted by the guild staff and consolidated them all into a “Kill Any Monster” request.

So you get a reward by simply killing monsters. The rewards seem to have gone up a bit compared to yesterday. I wonder if the manager did that for me.

「Why do we have to stay away from the forest?」

「Sure, there are strong monsters in that place, but isn’t this going too far?」

「If it’s orders from the government, there’s nothing we can do about it.」

The residents were getting ready for the migration as if already expecting the town to be abandoned. They should be aware that they won’t have to go anywhere if the Emperor Ogre is killed…

「We don’t have to escape if this Emperor whatever is killed, right? Maybe the adventurers can do something about it.」

「Like hell they can. An Emperor Ogre is one of the stronger A-rank monsters. I don’t think anyone’s managed to kill one before.」

「Oof. It’s impossible then. I heard the Flame Spear has been outstanding lately. I wonder if she can take care of it.」

Ahuh. Looks like they’re not hoping for much. There’s barely any adventurers who would enter the forest recently anyway so asking them to have hope is simply unreasonable. Even with ten Mylias, they still wouldn’t be able to kill an Emperor Ogre anyway.