Volume 4 Chapter 8 All Set
First, our destination is the royal capital, Chernozem.
We decided to head there to inform the royal castle of what we heard from Dahlia and the others.
Although the plans of the Forest King's Army and the Spirit King's Army are still not clear, I thought it would be good to report it just in case.
While riding in the carriage towards the royal capital, I talked to Cosmos about Suisen.
"Wow, I can't believe that guy's job class has awakened. Does that mean Dandelion's Hero Tale was based on real events?"
"Yeah, it seems so. The awakened job class held incredible power; he's quite a talent."
The "Charmer" can skillfully manipulate others' hearts and completely make them submissive.
At the moment his job class awakened, he possessed the power to take out multiple adventurers at once.
"Then, shouldn't we have invited Suisen on this trip? He's just sitting around, right?"
"Don't make assumptions like that. He managed to confess to Ms. Alium, so I bet he'll be busy with a lot of things from now on."
Besides, Ms. Alium said, "Our romance is going to be very fast-paced." So, he must be-packed with dating plans right now.
"Plus, even if he has gotten stronger, Suisen just awakened his job class. He probably doesn't know how to use that power effectively. Bringing him along this time could be risky..."
"Well, that's a reasonable judgment. If he got the hang of it, he would've been a great ally."
If you can take control of someone's heart, you can give them commands however you want.
The higher-ranking monsters have greater intelligence and stronger personalities, so Suisen's ability would have been very useful on this journey.
But to be safe, I decided against inviting him this time.
"..Um, who are you talking about just now?"
"Huh?"
Suddenly, I felt a tug on my sleeve from the right, so I turned to look.
There was Rose, puffing her cheeks in annoyance, giving me a pointed stare.
"Don't leave me out of this, okay?"
"I-I'm sorry!"
Now that I think about it, Rose didn't know anything yet.
I decided to take the time before we reached the royal capital to explain the situation about Suisen to her.
* * *
We changed carriages and arrived at the royal capital in about 4 days.
It hadn't been that long since my last visit, but I felt a strange sense of nostalgia.
While heading to the royal castle with those feelings, the guards seemed to recognize me completely, and one of them quickly went to call Ms. Nemophila.
I felt like my face was serving as a pass, making me feel almost royal myself.
As I cheerfully thought about that, a tall woman came running from the castle in just about 3 minutes.
She had striking blue hair cut to her shoulders, with blue eyes peeking through the bangs──a stunning beauty.
Before, she had an expression that showed no emotions, but now there was a faint smile on her face.
"Roezé, sorry to keep you waiting!"
"Long time no see, Ms. Nemophila."
Next to her was Ms. Kikrys, and we were finally reunited after a while.
It was good to see both Ms. Nemophila and Ms. Kikrys looking well.
"I'm sorry for just dropping by unannounced."
"Oh, it's totally fine. What brings you here today?"
From Ms. Nemophila's fidgety demeanor, it seemed she thought I had come just to visit.
But I had another purpose this time.
After glancing around, I lowered my voice and said.
"I have something about the Demon Lord's army that I want to inform the king."
"Demon Lord, army...?"
Ms. Nemophila looked a bit disappointed for a moment before straightening her expression seriously.
It seemed she quickly grasped the situation, and soon I was invited into a guest room.
After waiting there for a while, Ms. Nemophila's sister, Lady Clematis, arrived.
Right now, King Capucine seems to be very busy and can't make any time for us.
So, it was decided that Lady Clematis would listen to our story and then tell the king later.
Well, let's have Lady Clematis hear us out first and decide if we need to report to the king.
After exchanging greetings with her, I quickly got to the main topic.
"The Forest King's Army and the Spirit King's Army have joined forces...! Is that really what's happening in the east...?"
Ms. Nemophila, who was also listening, looked surprised and widened her eyes.
"We still don't have confirmation if it's true, but I thought it would be best to report this to the royal castle for now."
"Ah, that's really helpful. This is definitely a big issue. 'Sapling of the Cursed Funeral Trees'... I can't believe they would dare to bring out something so dangerous."
Lady Clematis frowned while brushing her purple hair.
She narrowed her eyebrows as if thinking for a moment, then eventually nodded as if she understood.
"I can't determine if this information is true yet, but I will inform my father. For now, I won't speak of this to anyone else to avoid causing confusion among the citizens."
"Thank you very much."
So, it was decided that the king Capucine would be told later.
This way, he can think about countermeasures in case anything happens.
Of course, we plan to stop their scheme ourselves, but if we fail, the king and others will definitely take action.
"By the way, I can't believe you used to be a member of the hero party. Now that you mention it, there are many similarities with Trainer Aroze. I wonder why I never noticed before."
"Th, that's probably because Trainer Aroze just has a low profile..."
Compared to the other members, I'm quite plain.
So, it's not surprising that they didn't notice.
"So, in place of the weakened hero, you guys plan to stop the schemes of the Forest King's Army and the Spirit King's Army."
"Rather than being for Dahlia and the others, it feels more like we're doing this for ourselves."
To gather information from the other Demon Lord army, to get revenge on the Spirit King's Army, and to protect the beloved town.
With these thoughts in our hearts, we've decided to set off on this journey.
So, I can definitely say that this doesn't really involve Dahlia and the others.
"If the Cursed Funeral Trees mature, it will cause significant damage to the Compost Kingdom. This issue is not just yours; it has already become a national concern. I don't think I can offer much help yet since we don't have confirmation, but should we send some soldiers to assist you?"
"N-No, we can't trouble you that much... We're on this journey to confirm whether the information from the hero Dahlia and the others, is accurate."
And if it turns out to be true and we might be able to stop their plans, well, maybe we'll just stop them while we're at it...
That's my mindset.
So it feels a bit odd to ask for soldiers from the country.
Lady Clematis seems eager to help, but we're not used to moving in large groups.
"Well, if you're going to attack their invasion zone, half-hearted forces might actually work against them. If it's a long journey, a small elite team would be more suitable, and unfortunately, we don't have enough soldiers who can stand shoulder to shoulder with you."
"..Mainly, the two next to me are just exceptional."
Lady Clematis, who already understands the strength of Rose and Cosmos, let out a hearty laugh, "Hahaha!"
They possess such incredible power that I'm genuinely worried I'll become a burden to the two of them.
I feel like I was trying to keep up with stronger allies back when I was in the hero party, and now I have 2 monsters even stronger than brave Dahlia...
"So with these two, I believe our strength should be sufficient. Having strong allies is always a plus, but it's hard to find someone who won't hold the two of them back."
I also laughed, "Ahaha," along with Lady Clematis.
As I seriously thought about how to avoid holding the two back... a voice unexpectedly came up from behind.
"Then, I'll go with Roezé and the others."
"Eh..."
When I turned around, Ms. Nemophila, who had been listening quietly by my side, was modestly raising her right hand.
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