CH 70

Translator: “Hakou”                             Editor: “Weasalopes”                

After the disappointing result of the adult gourmet club activities, Corneal parted ways with Tauro and headed to the knight order building near the Royal Castle.

On the way there, he bought drinks and snacks at the stalls.

After entering the building, Corneal goes up the stairs and enters a room.

There, his subordinate was still working.

「Good work, you all. Don’t push yourself too hard, alright?」

「Leader too, it’s your holiday, right? You should properly take a rest」

His subordinates received the souvenirs Corneal bought with thanks as they laughed together.

「I just can’t calm down when I thought about those fools, you see」

TOP ARTICLES1/5Mercenaries in Apocalypse Volume 1Chapter 29

He answered with a tired expression.

Corneal’s team finished their report just the other day.

It began with the discovery of an aphrodisiac drug until the time they fought with a knight of unknown affiliation.

And the results of the investigation were quite unbelievable.

These drugs were rapidly spreading throughout the Kingdom.

(It was a close call)

We were fortunate enough to be able to crush them on time back then.

If we were just a bit slower, the distribution organizations might have become independent and unreachable.

(What’s regrettable was the fact that we were unable to grab a shred of evidence)

Every physical evidence, from equipment to documents, all of it has been disposed of by deterioration magic the put beforehand.

Those three bunches who we managed to catch were just disposable pieces.

Although there is no evidence, most of the knight order, including the Commander of the Knights, speculated that it’s related to the Empire Corneal, who was directly investigated, is one of them.

Then he remembers the face of some of the senior pilots and makes a bitter look.

「Are those idiot bunch still making a ruckus?」

「Yes, they’re still protested why we haven’t attacked the Empire already?」

One of Corneal’s subordinate’s face cramped after hearing that question.

Upon hearing that report, those idiots went to the Empire ambassador to do a cross-check.

「Even though we don’t have any evidence, how dare they going against the ambassador like that!」

Including the higher-ups of the kingdom also have the same thought.

And this time, the target of their attack went to Corneal’s team, who investigated it. We couldn’t get any proof because your team was too incompetent, is what they said.

They denied it by stating that they had done their best, and put together a detailed report about it, but those idiots are still not convinced and had frequently sought clarification.

So they worked hard until late like this to put together an additional report.

「Maa, it’s unfortunate enough because the Knight Commander wasn’t on their side」

Corneal nodded at his subordinate’s word.

The Knight commander was also one of the True Knight, but as expected he can’t keep his True Knight role while he was doing his job as the knight commander.

「Position makes a person, was it?」

Those who are not will repeatedly be led by their emotion to let out radical statements.

Because they will think that they’re in the right, and they will be hard to deal with.

The title Pilot of the Kingdom’s knight order is the most wanted and the most enviable title in the Kingdom.

I longed for it myself and gained that position after passionately chasing after it.

But when you finally get that seat, you’ll see some troublesome things you were unable to see before.

Corneal recalled the man who was with him just earlier. Tauro’s shadowless bright expression.

(……Tauro-san, I also want to go to where you’re at)

He deeply felt that way and sighed heavily.

****

Cold air along with a thin mist shrouded the Royal Capital.

And the winter morning sun finally came out, slowly dispersing the fog away.

A large stone building is exposed to the sunlight from the side, the merchant guild.

Inside the guild master’s office in that building, the guild master and the vice-guild master were talking, despite in this early hours in the morning.

Both of them returned early, but they also woke up early in the morning. This early morning meeting was their daily routine.

「The guild master of the adventurer’s guild was in a bad mood, didn’t he?」

Contrary to his words, the face of Santa Claus, the vice-guild leader is pleased. He’s in a good mood while stroking his proudly white beard.

And the small old man, the guild chief’s eyes was shining.

「Because the one who suffers the most disadvantaged from the merchant guild’s Knights accomplishment was the adventurers guild」

Last night, at a meeting in the Royal Castle, he met the guild master of the adventurers guild. Remembering that face of his as if he had bitten a bitter bug, the guild master continued while grinning,

「And they can’t complain to us, because we’re just doing what we’re supposed to do」

Santa also giggled.

「Although he had been saying, That should be the job of the merchant guild, right!? Even though he only said that to raise the rewards, there’s no way he could raise a complaint now」

As if he can’t contain it any longer, the guild master laughed loudly.

Until now, the merchant guild knights have been able to repel only a small number of beasts.

Every time they fight, the knights are always damaged and have to enter the dock.

To the point they were ridiculed because the time they spent in the dock is much longer than the actual work they do.

「We must maintain the highway, but the merchant guild knights weren’t even able to properly fulfill the task of getting rid of the demon beast」

Santa wrinkled his eyebrows, remembering the former pilots.

「In the end, we got no choice but to request the adventurers guild after badmouthing them and paid a lot sum of money that could make our eyeballs pops out of their sockets」

The wrinkles got even deeper.

「And with all that money in hand, the adventurer’s guild knight only scares away the demon beast. So after some time, the beast will appear again」

It was such a cycle.

Santa cut off his words as if he wanted to spit out something.

The guild master nodded.

What the merchant guild’s current knight did now wasn’t just to repel, but to subjugate the demon beast. As a result, the case where monsters frequently appeared on the highway was decreasing.

In short, Santa continued.

「They lose a good source of income」

And not just that, the guild master said to Santa who finished speaking with a bright expression.

「Thanks to the highway being safer, merchants have less demand for escorts. And with the improvement in logistics, the number of gathering quest has decreased, and the purchase price has also dropped」

「It certainly so, isn’t it?」

Santa agrees while stroking his beard.

The number of escort requests will be reduced, and the demand for it also gets smaller.

Because the streets are safe, there is no need to put a lot of money into escorts who will only slow you down anyway.

Also, if cheap goods keep coming from other places, there is no need to spend a lot of money to put a gathering quest.

Even if it is requested, the rewards should have fallen cheaper.

「Adventurer’s Guild is a group of people who can’t be active unless the world is dangerous and the flow of people and things is bad」

To what the guild master said, Santa nodded while saying “Now that you mentioned it, that’s true”

「It’s the complete opposite from us, the people from merchant guild」

He sighed before changing the topic.

「I was thinking to take Tauro-kun to the Holy city but… what do you think?」

Santa thought a bit about this proposal.

By the way, the holy city is an independent city-state, dominated by the top religions in the world.

There is no single doctrine for religion because this world is polytheistic.

There are believers in each of the eight million gods.

Because there are a lot of religions the people believe in, there are those who frequently change their beliefs, but also those who stay to their beliefs.

That’s why the religious leader is merely acting as a moderator of the believers.

With the influence of being the moderator of the believers, he expressed the believer’s interest to the kingdom and empire. It was such a role.

「Tauro-san has become an E rank merchant guild’s member right?」

Santa himself awarded Tauro for his achievement in the inferior potion case.

「Then there should be no problem. I’m sure he would enjoy it」

Santa agreed with the guild master’s proposal and continued.

「It’s already the time for that, huh」

Once a year, in the temple of the god of business, a match before god is held.

At that time, people from all over the world will come to visit.

When the guild chief says he will take him along, it means he was going to let him participate.

With that in mind, he probably wants to tie Tauro to the merchant guild by entertaining him.

「Do you plan to let Tauro-san participate in the game?」

Santa asked a question after hearing the guild leader’s plan to go on pilgrimage with Tauro.

It’s okay if the reason they go there is just for pilgrimage and play around, but if he intends to let Tauro participate in the match, then the story is different.

The stage where the match before God is, not only held before the God but also before a large number of believers. If you’re not capable enough, you may not even be ready for the preparation of the match.

「There shouldn’t be any problem. He’s the famous Doctor Slime after all」

The guild master said with a cheerful expression.

It is said that it’s a match dedicated to God but the point here is that it’s a form of a festival. Even in the off chance, he can’t do it in public, then that’s that.

He laughed loudly.

「Tauro-kun will return this evening. We should talk to him about this at that time.」

Thus, the matter of Tauro accompanying him to the Holy City is decided.

***

A three-story stone building located close to the shopping district.

The sun disappeared before the mountain ridge in the west a few kilometers from here and the light was leaking from the windows of the houses, including this one.

On the rooftop of the second floor, a large tree blocked the light of the stars in the night sky and appeared as a silhouette of a majestic tree.

A man sat under that tree and had a chat with the little creatures.

「………And that’s why I won’t be coming back for a week if I accept this request」

I explained to Imosuke and Dangorou.

Today, the guild leader asked me to accompany him to the Holy City.

It’ll be my first time going abroad, and I’m not alone. I really want to take it.

But there was one problem. Garden forest management, specifically, the spraying potions.

I’ve been away for a few days sometimes but this time it will be longer.

I need to tell them is it okay if I leave the house for a long time and ask about their opinion.

「It’s okay?」

『It’s okay』

My kins replied while looking at my face.

「Should I leave some potions?」

It’ll be fine even if I don’t sprinkle the potion for about a week, or at least that’s how I felt this whole time, so I asked them.

But the answer was unexpected.

『I dug a hole』

『We did our best』

『So it’s okay』

I had a bad feeling after hearing that reply.

It seems that recently the medicinal tree and the nutrient vein have been connected to each other.

It means that just until recently, Dangorou has been digging around under Imosuke’s order.

(Did it dig into the walls and the pillars of the building?)

I don’t know what the nutrient vein is, but it should be something underground.

I’m afraid that the roots will reach that place and lead to the collapse of this building

However, my kins are saying it this proudly. They also said that they are getting bigger too.

「Just be careful not to destroy the building, alright?」

They said they understood but, do they really though?

(I’m surprisingly naive, huh?)

I’m aware that I’m soft on them.

I am, but just because of that degree of caution, I just let it slide.

Despite my feelings, my kins start another topic.

『A lot is coming』

『It’s coming a lot』

Something is coming from the sky almost every day. And it seems to be the nutrition of the garden forest.

I hear that and look up at the sky.

A starry sky with no clouds.

Countless stars are shining brightly in the cold winter air.

I felt that magic power was falling from the sky.

And when the talk gradually shifted to something related to magic, there’s nothing I can say.

If a natural-born spirit beast says so, then it’s probably OK.

And so, I decided to accept the request.

「I’ll just leave some potion just in case, okay?」

…Understood and Yeーsss, such waves of replies came from them.

Thus, I decided to accept the direct request from the guild master of the merchant guild.