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Chapter 55 : Margrave Carmel
🕑 Added 2022-07-02 18:13:13 +0000 UTCTL:SummerPeanut
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"H-hey, what is this..?"
I noticed something strange, or rather odd, from the time I was descending the stairs.
It was a sound coming from the bottom of the stairs.
A creaking, writhing sound. I could hear it all the way from the stairs.
I slowly approached it and found...
The second-floor first room was packed with huge ants, nearly one meter in length each.
Ants on top of ants. They were layered on top of each other, and a large number of ants had sprung up from the room on the second floor to the end of the passageway.
I did an appraisal.
Name: -
Title: -
Race: Killer Ant
Threat: D
Condition: Good
Age: 0 years old
Level: 1
HP: 25/25
MP: 1/1
Strength: 15
Agility: 18
Magic :1
Dexterity: 1
Durability: 20
Luck: 1
The walls and ceilings were grossly packed with what appeared to be ant eggs. It’s really gory.
I really want to bring a rocket launcher here and blow it up refreshingly.
I feel like shouting, "EDF! EDF!”.*1
Clarice said, "It's as if we are in a video game’s world.” I think she's probably thinking the exact same thing I am.
"W-what do you want to do?”
I asked Ike. Ike too was troubled by this.
"This is going to be dangerous if we carelessly intervene… Any suggestions?"
"It's not safe for us to stay here so why don't we just go home for today? The situation doesn't sound like the information we've heard at all."
Following Clarice's opinion, we all took the magic stones and headed for the exit.
On the way back, I used magic to defeat all the enemies that appeared on the way back. Guy, who was watching us, asked..
"How much MP does Master Mars have? He heals us, burns defeated magic beasts with Fire every time, and now he is defeating magic beasts with Wind magic and using Fire again…”
"I've already spent quite a bit, as you can imagine. I think I've used more than a dozen times as much as the average wizard.”
Guy just said, "I…see." and then shut up.
It was 15:00 when we returned to town.
We decided to go to the Adventurer’s Guild and report to the guildmaster, Ralph.
As soon as we arrived at the Adventurer’s Guild, we put down the magic stones and entrusted them to Guy and the others to redeem them for money.
The adventurers at the Adventurers' Guild were surprised at the number of magic stones, but more than that, they were surprised that the Black Tri-Stars were serving under someone.
They had been working together in the morning as well but the other adventurers were busy taking quests in the morning so they did not have time to pay attention to their surroundings.
Lucia was at the guild's reception desk so I approached her. Lucia is the daughter of Ralph, the guild master.
"I have something I need to report to Mr. Ralph ASAP, could you please intercede for me?"
"May I know what is the issue? Please state your business first.”
"There is a possibility that the Almeria Labyrinth may experience a labyrinth overflow. Please make the necessary arrangements immediately.”
Hearing these words, Lucia took us upstairs to the guildmaster's room.
When Lucia came to Ralph's room, she knocked and said...
"The son of Lord Zeke of Irgusia has something to report."
At Lucia's words, a voice from inside said, "Come in.”
We entered the room and found the room occupied by the first guest.
He is an old man, enough to be called elder, with a feel of neatness. I think I've seen him somewhere before though...
Ralph, the guildmaster, was quick to introduce the man.
"The man you see here is Evin Saorum, Margrave Carmel.”
When Ralph said this, the old man stood up very slowly.
“How do you do, I'm Evin Saorum.”
With a calm and gentle expression on his face, Margrave Carmel introduced himself, and we each introduced ourselves. After all of us had finished introducing ourselves, Ralph asked us what we wanted.
"So, what's going on with you guys? I heard you had something urgent to report?”
"Yes. Today we were going to go to the second floor of the Almeria Labyrinth but we found something unusual there so we came to report it to you.”
"The second floor? You even reached there… Well, it’s you guys so that should have been matter of course… Continue explaining.”
"Yes, there were many ant monsters called killer ants on the second floor. I could not even see the back of the room. If we attacked and the killer ants in the back assaulted us in large numbers, we would not be able to deal with them so we came here to report it.”
"Not even you guys can deal with them?"
"We won't know unless we try but if we try and it turns out that we can't do it then… Of course, we can try and challenge it under better conditions and give up if it’s impossible but as expected we don’t want to challenge it without any preparation and causing the city to be destroyed as a result.”
"Hmm. I'd like to take a look at the situation but can you guys guide me to the second floor of the labyrinth one time?"
Ralph said, and Margrave Carmel replied in response.
"I would like to accompany you. After all, this is where I rule. I'm sorry, but will you be my escort?"
"......Understood, I believe it should be alright. I am diving with beastman slaves, so I think there should be no problem in terms of numbers……”
When the Margrave Carmel heard that, he said..
"Beastmen slaves? Where did you buy them?"
"Here in Almeria, at Sir Herik's place.”
"And the beastmen obeyed you?"
"No, Lord Barnes and my brother Mars here have had a little bit of an arrangement… He seemed to slightly approve of us, and said the other beastmen could serve us… Of course, Lord Barnes said that he himself currently does not wish to serve us.”
“Did you have a conversation with Lord Barnes?”
"Yes, sir. Only my little brother. The other beastmen were surprised to hear Lord Barnes spoke to a human.”
"...So...the beastmen followed you all...?"
"They currently exchanging the magic stones, would you like to depart soon?”
"Ahh! I'd like to leave as soon as possible. Is that alright with the Margrave?"
Ralph said, and Margrave Carmel nodded.
We went down to the first floor and saw the Black Tri-Stars who were still cashing in their magic stones.
The Black Tri-Stars bowed firmly to us, and then the Margrave Carmel, who was watching them, said..
"They really approved you… I can’t believe it..." he muttered to himself.
"Guy, are you almost done redeeming the money?"
Ike asked, and Guy replied..
"It's going to take a while. May I know if there’s anything wrong?"
"Oh. We are going to dive into the labyrinth again now. I need two of you to guard these two."
When Ike told Guy this, Ralph said..
“I am the guildmaster here. My arms might be rusty but I can still offer some fight. I'll take care of the exchange of the magic stones so you can rest assured. You guys will escort the Margrave Carmel with the highest priority.”
Guy turned to Ike and waited for his instructions.
"Guy, that’s that. I'm looking forward to working with you. We'll have a lot of meat today when we get back.”
"Yes, sir! Understood.”
At Ike's words, Guy, Mack, and Orr, the three Black Tri-Stars, bowed their heads.
Margrave Carmel and Ralph were amazed at their firm behavior as a slave.
We quickly made our way to the labyrinth, heading for the stairs to the second floor.
"I didn't expect this...they're all at least C-class or above.......”
Now is Margrave Carmel’s turn to be surprised by us. Ralph was also looking at us with wide-eyed amazement.
This time, I have slaughtered the magic beasts without using magic, using only my mithril silver sword.
The Black Tri-Stars were surprised too.
Well, you wouldn't expect a magician to use a sword, would you?
I reached the last room of the first level.
It was not the grizzly bears but the rock lizards.
As usual, I, Ike, and Clarisse took them down.
From the outside, you would think that the three vanguard members, a spearman, a swordsman, and a swordsman, were just a party of crazy muscle-for-brains who were just charging forward.
At least that's what the Margrave Carmel must have thought. We haven't used any magic at all so far.
In the end, we reached the stairway to the second floor without giving any chance for Black Tri-Stars to defeat any enemies.
When Margrave Carmel and Ralph checked downstairs, they both had their eyes wide open.
“What the… This horrifying sight…… At least when Zeke and the others were here, there shouldn't have been any magic beasts such as killer ants here…… Perhaps they came to the second floor from somewhere deeper…?"
As Ralph was muttering this, Margrave Carmel came up to him.
"Either way, we can't just leave them there....... Ralph, what should we do?”
"Shall we go back, Margrave? It's too dangerous to talk here."
We went back to the entrance of the labyrinth to discuss in the guildmaster's room.
The three members of the Black Tri-Stars were asked to wait on the first floor while exchanging the magic stones.
"Do you guys have any plans?"
Margrave Carmel asked us. Ike urged me to speak, and I answered.
"First of all, we don't know how many magic beasts there are. If there were only about 1,000 killer ants, we might be able to deal with them but I think there are probably several higher species of killer ants. If that is the case, we alone will not have enough firepower."
"If there are only 1,000 killer ants, does that mean you three can handle it?”
"If we were to fight a thousand of them all at once in the plains, it might be impossible but if we were to fight them in the labyrinth and on the stairs, I think we could make it work.”
“If you were in command, what would you do?”
"If it were me...I would first call in three C-rank parties from Irgusia: Brown Shield, Azure Fangs, and the Red Wings. Then I would somehow persuade the slave beastmen to all wait in the last room of the first level. The important thing here is that we absolutely need the cooperation of Lord Barnes. If the enemies from the third and later levels appear together, we won't be able to deal with the swarms of threat level B magic beasts on our own.”
"I see... In the end, we have to go that far... Okay, let's just do it! I know what Barnes is going to demand of us... although it's not going to be possible... but Lord Zeke has sent us some good children."
I stepped back as I finished my statement, and then Margrave Carmel…
"Will you join us? If you don't, this city will surely perish due to the labyrinth overflow. Please do me the favor."
Margrave Carmel said this as he bowed to us.
This is totally different from the image I have of nobility. Is it true that the upper aristocrats in this world are all good people, as was the case with Count Beetle?
Come to think of it back then when I used to live in Almeria when Margrave Carmel was still a count, he came to Zeke and Maria to request them to thin out the magic beasts in the Almeria Labyrinth while bowing his head.
“Margrave Carmel. Please raise your head. Of course, do let us fight together. This is where we were born. I am sure that our father and mother will help us.”
"Thank you. I knew I was right to ask Lord Zeke to take care of Almeria.......”
The Margrave said with tears in his eyes and a slight tremor in his voice.
And it was decided to invite Zeke and his team to a meeting again tomorrow.
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TL’s note:
- Lol, should be this game reference
