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It’s only my second time, but I’m already familiar with the guild master’s room. On both sides of the sofa, sit the guild master, Collard, and a roughly 25-year-old male adventurer with leather armor before him.

Collard had a stiff face, but seeing me enter the room after Gald, his tension loosened a little.

“Excellent, with this everyone is present.”

The two guards who were at the door before weren’t there… it seems they were considered to be unnecessary for now since he said everyone was present. However, it’s just four people here…I wonder why? The atmosphere here means we probably aren’t going to play mahjong though.

“Please sit for now. I have a bit of a complicated story to tell―”

While saying so Collard left his seat and sincerely poured a pot of black tea into the arranged cup and placed the cup in front of me (This kind of solicitude is something that Gald lacks, is this what it means to be the right man for the job?). After that, he spread out a biggish paper (Unlike the game, the prevalence of paper is quite high, and parchment is apparently a relic of the past) that was placed on top of the office desk.

It looked like the laid out paper was a map of the surrounding environment which played an important role for this town.

It was quite a simple map and on top of that the terrain scale and the location was a bit off. Maybe the measurement technique was underdeveloped, or it was on purpose because the real details were a military secret, I don’t really know about those circumstances but well, as an outline, the map wasn’t wrong.

Although for me, I have the player essential skill ‘Automatic Mapping’ (The skill draws in a 500m radius centering at the spot the player was at. The skill couldn’t be used on some dungeons and the like), before I came to Alra city, Tengai easily flew me around the area, the map was built up in my head almost like a GPS.

Nonetheless, it is unnecessary to reveal what my hand is, so I pretended to view that map with great interest.

“To introduce him first, this here is Frank, a C-rank adventurer belonging to this guild, and he is the leader of the adventurer group ‘Astor’…no, he was the leader.”

While he was being introduced by the guild master, this person whose name is Frank showed a face that was twisted in regret.

If I take a good look at his armor, there are fresh claw marks all over it, and the visible parts of his face and skin have unusual color. Seems like scars that were just cured by healing magic.

“Frank, this young lady here is… an esteemed lady who is currently staying in this city. Since right now we have a crisis, I asked her to be present here.”

On that harmless and inoffensive introduction, Frank remained silent and stared at me suspiciously. He bowed his head just because of the sense of obligation, however I pretended to not see him and ignored him.

After all, what’s the point of a greeting and etiquette if there is no feeling attached to it? That’s useless right? It’s pointless doing something which serves no meaning.

While sighing because of the unfriendly atmosphere between Frank and I, Collard conveyed the main point of why he brought me here.

“By the way, does the young lady know of a phenomenon called a stampede?”

Ah… I don’t know any stampede other than a pro wrestling technique.

Perhaps he already anticipated it, seeing me tilt my head in confusion, Collard continued on,

“Occasionally in this great forest, the mass migration of monsters is a phenomenon that has been recorded to occur on average once every 15 years, and in some short periods of time, within a few months.”

Saying so he pointed on the map, at the spot north-east of Alra. At approximately the edge of the map, there was a spot shown that was covered by a tree mark indicator. Although the angle was practically 7 times more eastern and the distance to the tip of the forest was 30km more than this map showed.

“Hmmmn, is the cause known?”

“Yes, for the general cause there are 3 main reasons:
The first reason is because of food shortage. There is a lack of food in the forest, and the population of monsters increases too much which causes overflowing.
The second reason is because of the power struggle within the forest. The losing powers are kicked out of the forest and attack villages or other things they find. Well either of those two would surely be a disorganized mob, even if there was a fight against a large number, it’s on a scale that wouldn’t pose a problem.
But the problem is the third reason, a case where there springs forth an individual who leads the monsters within the forest.”

“Leader? In short, something like a field boss is it?”

“What’s that? The leader is not simply leading a bunch of followers, it’s a demon that evolved to the extent of uniting the whole forest together, in other words that fellow is the ‘King’. In that situation there would be various kinds of monsters, but every last of them is still the same; they possess a monstrous strength.
Actually when I was young, the reason the stampede occurred was because of the ‘Treant King’. That b̲a̲s̲t̲a̲r̲d̲ grew roots from underground and sucked 100 adventurers of their blood at the same time.” Gald reminiscing his past.

“Hee? You defeated that? That’s a great kill.”

“Well, it was originally a wooden monster. Its movements are slow and it is vulnerable to fire, so we used all the gunpowder we could get our hands on, the sorcerer’s fire magic and the spirit users to chip away at its roots from a distance, and in the end, all the A-ranks beat and burn it to a crisp, somehow.”

“Hmm, well that’s the proper way of defeating it. At any rate if it’s a field boss class, I think maybe you should leave it to someone who could defeat it solo, or the legendary S rank adventurer.”

“How many S-rank adventurers do you think there are in the world? How much time and money do you think it would take just to call them up?” Frank angrily rebuked me.

Oh, the S-rank really exists! Looks like this will be a bit more fun.

“However, the opponent right now doesn’t have such a weakness, on top of that they have mobility, making this tricky to deal with.”

Collard clicked his tongue irritably.

Ah~ so it was like that.

From the flow of this conversation, the ‘stampede’ would occur when a new ‘King’ is born.

“This problem began about 1 week ago, it started when contact from the pioneering village adjacent to the forest completely stopped.”

By nature, the remote region wouldn’t be given attention at first, but when the peddler who departed from the neighboring village also didn’t come back, some odd stories spread around the village.

Before long it escalated to communication from the nearby villages getting cut off, and as expected even the guild got their lazy butts in gear and dispatched three groups of adventurers starting with Frank who worked in the Astor group to do the field investigation.

The result was this: everyone except Frank was annihilated.

“…It was hell. Even running desperately my comrades got overtaken one by one by those monsters, they were greedily eaten alive… I was miraculously able to escape from them…”

Frank’s eyes lost their spirit; he narrated bit by bit the situation at that time.

“The monsters number in the thousands, perhaps it might be approaching tens of thousands. It’s said that the ogre was in the center, I dare to say it’s the ‘Ogre King’ now.”

From the supplementary that Gald gave, it’s literally the game of tag, is it? That’s the impression which came to my mind, but I won’t say it out loud since that would be imprudent. Or rather I should be saying…

“So, what am I here for?”

To say it bluntly, I don’t have anything to do with this discussion. Even today I was planning to leave this town.

My words made both these two guild higher-ups cross their gazes uncomfortably.

“…We want to ask for your opinion about this matter. As for your advice, what should we do?”

Hearing Collard plead, I made a “Hrmm…” sound while holding my jaw with my fist and tried to give it some thought.

“Maybe try having a discussion with them?”
“Don’t say something stupid! There’s no way we can communicate with that monster!!”

Just now Frank shouted with bloodshot eyes.

Eeh- I wonder about that. There is someone who is leading those huge crowds, so there should be a certain amount of intelligence making it possible to communicate with them. So the first thing that comes to my mind is to have a discussion.

“I guess it can’t be done. For those guys, human beings are seen as food. Actually, at the village that had been destroyed, from old men to babies, they were all eaten down to every last piece of bones.”

Even Gald curtly shook his head.

Hmmmm, they were communicating with me even though I’m a vampire princess. I doubt these guys have already given up before they try it.

Or perhaps, let’s just try to simulate it first. My followers (monsters) will attack the human town. An envoy comes along with a white flag raised. What was that? A human. Then let’s have a little taste.

…Sorry, discussion is impossible. It’s edible just by the sampling taste.

“Well why not fight numbers with numbers, there are military forces for times like this after all, how about calling the forces to defeat them?”
“Of course, we called for aid from the country, but something like an army can’t move from one area to another so easily. It happens through parliament approval, gathering the unit that’s scattered in various places, and then organizing it till its departure. At worst it takes several weeks, so it’s not the best for a time like this, is it?”

Uwaah~, so troublesome~. Shouldn’t a voice from the king be enough to move them since this is a kingdom? In my own place I don’t need to give a shout, let alone rally the army, even a certain ramen shopkeeper is always fully motivated to go into a battle.

“Then, there is no choice but to hold out in siege until those armed forces come, right?”
“That’s also impossible, like how the town was named a free city, it has nothing but a miserable amount of wall.”
“In that case shouldn’t everyone just abandon this city and escape?”
“―You b̲i̲t̲c̲h̲, all this time you’re just messing around! How many of our comrades sacrificed their lives to protect this city!!?”

Frank rose from his seat and was just about to grab me, together with Gald who was trying to stop him in panic, Frank saw my eyes and gasped. He sank down on the sofa as if he had just lost their backbones.

“…Mess around you say? I’m the one who should say that.
How many times in a row did this Stampede occur? And why the hell did you guys make those pioneering villages there? Isn’t that just like building a house on a cliff or a river side where there’s always falling rocks and flooding at fixed intervals?
–Nah, if you had to do it for a reason, at least, shouldn’t you patrol that place everyday and make a defensive wall? Did you guys even do anything? No, the best you guys can do is puff your chest with pride heh.”

I could feel the flame of rage rising from the pits of my stomach. What do these people think of other people’s lives?

“…It just as you say, everything that happened is my own incompetentness. However, as Alra City’s adventurer guild master, it’s my duty and responsibility to protect this town. To speak honestly, just this once, please lend us your power.”

Collard bowed down to me with a bitter face, however my anger wasn’t settled –Or perhaps I should say it was out of control.

“Then what sort of reward for me do you have? I have countless gold and silver coins. Social status isn’t even necessary for me. I don’t need your honor or gratitude. ―So, what could you present to me?”

“…If my only neck could ease you I will offer you this neck of mine. Somehow, please help everyone that lives in this town!”

T-H-I-S G-U-Y～～～～!!!

I absolutely have no idea why I was mad. Maybe because he presented his life that easily, what low value!!

“…You say that not as an individual, but as the representative of this city, the adventurer guild master?”
“Yes.”

His figure that nodded without any hesitation decided my resolution.

“‘Sinner of Rose (Gilles de Rais)’!”

Instantly, rising on my right hand, was a jet black and yet semi transparent blade of my beloved sword, ‘Sinner of Rose (Gilles de Rais)’, I proceeded to grab it.

Ignoring the three people who had their eyes wide open, I pointed the edge of my sword towards Collard.

“Collard! Hereby I declare myself once again. My name is Hiyuki. The one and only immortal ruler of the eternal kingdom ‘Imperial Crimson’, and one who was praised as the ancestor of god! Do you think one puny neck such as yours will be enough for me? Or are you trying to arouse my sympathy and sway me? I’m not one to be taken lightly!”

I turned the sword blade of my ‘Gilles de Rais’ sideways, which was pointed at Collard, who turned pale.

“Choose well. What I protect are my subjects! Should you choose to submit this town, all its people and their lives under this sword. Then I will protect them to the end. However if you cannot do that, this sword will turn against you. Anything that happens will not be any of my concern.”

“……” Collard expressed an anguished face, but then he frailly shakes his head. “We can’t. This town is a free city, we can’t turn ourselves under you. Even if you are a being who is possibly a god.”

“Is that so?”

My incited emotion cools down with a gulp. Or precisely, my sanity returned.

…I feel that I made, with all my power, a terribly embarrassing chuunibyou speech, but it’s just my imagination right? That’s right. Let’s just put this into my inner dark history folder that I won’t open again.

『So foolish to waste the princess’ favor!』

Tengai vents his sneering from within my chest, but please stop, don’t bring that up again!

Then, a guild staff barged in together with a panicked knocking sound.

“I-It’s terrible! About 2 days distance from here, there’s an unbelievable swarm of monsters!!”

Hearing those words, both Collard and Gald regained their vitality. On Frank’s side…Oh my, his skin completely turned white (He must have been in a state of shock from his friends’ death, surely). I put away ‘Gilles de Rais’ and faced towards the door that was left open.

“Seems there’s not even time to escape. Well I want to see the strength of the monsters in this land and the adventurers; hence, I shall be the spectator.”

See you thenー, I wave my hand and leave.