“I’m homeー”

As usual, I entered the office through the window.

Inside the room—again, as usual—the civil officials were busily working, but Elena was nowhere to be seen.

Since Alec is on vacation, she’s taking time off with him.

Incidentally, that applies to Fiora as well.

In her case, she’s usually holed up in the underground lab anyway, so it doesn’t feel that out of place not seeing her here.

“Welcome back. How were things in the east?”

While nodding thoughtfully, Teresa, who had been closing the window, called out to me.

Additionally, Seriana had also stopped what she was doing and was looking this way.

I’d told them I’d be going to inspect the eastern base and highway today, so I guess she’s curious about how things were over there?

“You sent a messenger this morning, right? Because of that, things were a bit stirred up in the base. When I was wandering around inside, no one actually said anything to me, but they were definitely sneaking glances.”

“I see. Well, for anyone thinking of doing some activity over there, I suppose the sharp-eyed ones would notice… and they’d realize that land over there is still available. How were the adventurers?”

The first part refers to the folks already stationed there. The latter clearly refers to those at the Adventurer Guild.

So they’re already aware of what kind of crowd has gathered over there, huh.

Maybe assigning Alec to that side also factored that in?

“You mean the adventurers at the Adventurer Guild branch? Those guys… seemed kind of worried that the place might become too stiff and formal.”

“I figured as much. More or less the reaction I expected. Teresa?”

Seriana gave a single nod and turned to Teresa.

“We’re already tracking the adventurers operating over there, so I don’t think it’s an issue. If we were to interfere, they’d probably just resist. So we’ve let them do as they please. Still, even though they’ve moved their base of operations away from the capital, they responded to the emergency during the assault two years ago with everything they had…”

With that, the two of them nodded at each other.

It seems that they’re fully aware of that group, and knowing they can’t be easily brought under control, they’ve opted to let them handle things freely at a distance from the city.

Incidentally, the civil officials working in the room seemed to have overheard the conversation and had similar expressions on their faces.

…Was this common understanding among them?

So those adventurers were also present during the assault two years ago when that rampaging Demon King Type charged in, huh?

I heard things were hectic over on their end too, with a swarm of monsters surrounding the place—different kind of chaos from what we had here.

If they made it through that, then maybe they’re more capable than I gave them credit for…

And the fact that they’re still using that area as their base despite what they went through… maybe they’ve taken a liking to Riana after all.

“So, did you talk to them about anything?”

“Oh, right, right… yeah, they asked if something was going to happen over there, and I told them that Alec or Zig-san might drop by soon or something like that. That okay?”

For the record, I have no idea whether they actually have any such plans.

“It should be fine. We originally planned to have them head over there once the vacation ended. Not just to the Knight Order garrison, but they should also stop by the Adventurer Guild.”

“Agreed. Let’s have them come here tonight… Sera, good work. You may stand down. I’ll hear your full report tonight, so be prepared.”

“Huh? Ooookay.”

I didn’t exactly go there to play, but it wasn’t a formal work assignment either, so being told this made me feel slightly awkward… but, well, it was a legitimate inspection in its own way.

Besides, since we’re gathering tonight, I might as well sort out the information I got from there, just like Seriana suggested.

I’m not sure how much everyone already knows about the current state over there, so I may need to explain a lot.

After lunch and a bit of rest, I’ll get started on that.

◇

Now then, it’s night.

We called back Alec and the other three from vacation and gathered in the lounge.

Right now, I’m giving them a simple rundown of what I saw today.

Well… very simple, at that.

First up, the state of the highway leading to the base and its surroundings.

There was a group of craftsmen surveying the highway this morning, and we could just wait for their report, but they won’t be back until tomorrow, and I noticed some things they probably didn’t.

More information is always better, right?

As for the dead zone around the midpoint to the base, it seems Alec and the others were already aware of it.

And they knew why too.

That area has a weird mix of shallow areas and deeper monster zones, making it inefficient for hunting.

It’s kind of like that awkward zone around the entrance to the upper layers of a dungeon.

In dungeons, you can just destroy the core and the bodies disappear. And if there’s no other hunting ground, you can settle for that spot. But… outside isn’t like a dungeon. The corpses don’t vanish—you have to clean them up yourself.

So in the end, it’s easier to just skip over that zone entirely.

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Sera・Blessing・【Hideout】+1【Prayer】【Blessing of Mira】【Water’s Garment】

Blessed Items・【Floating Orb】+1【Shadow Sword】+1【Scarlet Bee Needle】【Fairy’s Eye】【Dragon’s Lung】【Amber Sword】【Danrem’s Thread】【Serpent’s Tail】【Ankle Bracelet】【Amber Shield】【Purple Wings】【Red Sword】【Monkey’s Arm】・8 cards

Seriana・【Area Identification】・【】・0 cards

Elena・【】・【Green Fang】【Amber Sword】・4 cards

Alec・【Power Strike】・【Red Shield】【Fierce Horned Trumpet】・10 cards