***
“As expected.”
After the banquet, I clicked my tongue quietly after receiving Sevi’s report late at night.
Just in case, I asked him to follow Countess Nerus, not Fabian, but I found out that the two were meeting.
‘He seemed to know a lot about Tragula… It looks like he had quite a bit of information about Countess Nerus.’
It would have been nice if I could hear the conversation, but unfortunately, when Sebi arrived, it was almost the end of the story.
Well, should I say I’m glad I can get this much information?
Meyer, who heard Sevi’s report with me, clicked his tongue as if it was pathetic and leaned against the back of the sofa.
“He’s completely corrupt as an expedition leader to borrow someone else’s hand to fill his power.”
“Fabian must have been in a hurry. If it weren’t for this time, he would know best that there’s no chance.”
The Demon King battle is now in countdown.
After the debriefing, I and the Black Knights would go back into the dungeon and be lost, so now was the only chance to do something about it.
“He’s blatantly shouting to hit us on the back of the head, but being cheated so obviously also hurts my self-esteem..”
I clicked my tongue and touched my temple with my fingertips.
“What’s wrong?”
“There’s one person that keeps bothering me.”
Among the Fabian expedition members who were whispering while looking at Jeanne, there was a very familiar person.
The guardian of the shield, who seemed to have been welcomed in place of Aegis, that looked somewhat gloomy…
The only problem was that I had no recollection of who that person was.
Maybe I had run into him in the first round…
… As I was scratching my head and worrying about it, Meyer asked me about it.
“Should we do research?”
“I don’t think it’ll come out easily because he’s a human being attached to Fabian, knowing that Countess Nerus will take on the Black Knights, but… Please.”
As soon as I said that, I had a flash memory that came to mind.
It wasn’t even an appliance that fixed itself when I called the repairman.
I did not know him well. I had only crossed paths with him at the first performance report.
It was a brief contact that I don’t remember, and it’s no wonder I don’t remember him. Still, I remember him because of the discomfort I felt at the time.
He was filled with dissatisfaction, as if he had not been treated decently, despite the fact that his abilities as a shield seemed to be so-so.
His somewhat gloomy atmosphere was especially uncomfortable to see in his eyes, which were shiny with frustration.
He was all the more memorable because he had the opposite of the generally vivacious and cheerful disposition of the shield guardians.
I’ve never attacked a dungeon with him, so I haven’t checked the start window, but…
‘It’s mainly the behavior of those who hide something. And it’s not of their own volition, but half the time by other intentions… They want to show what they’re capable of, but they can’t, so they do it in a roundabout way like that.’
There was a similar aspect to Wipera, the captain of Spearman Unit, who joined the Black Knights and was the first to be cut off.
‘Don’t tell me?’
When I thought of Wipera, one hypothesis instantly came to mind.
If my prediction is correct….
The use of that shield was a hidden move by Countess Nerus and a means to lower her external reputation.
‘It’s a double-edged sword.’
I mumbled, touching the tip of my chin.
“If we play our cards right, this time we’ll even get Countess Nerus involved.”
Meyer shook his head as if he couldn’t understand me.
“You care about Countess Nerus quite a bit. Fabian and her, they’re not threatening at all.”
“But we’re going to enter the Demon King battle soon. We can’t leave them behind and get stabbed in the back then. It’s better to get rid of your troubles early.”
Seven people would enter the dungeon of the Demon King, but that was not the end of the story.
Gates to the Demon King dungeon will be opened and gates will be created simultaneously throughout the empire.
If we cannot prevent that, even if we defeat the Demon King, the damage to the empire will be enormous.
So Meyer has been raising other units in addition to the elite one.
In the past, I would have thought that Fabian, who was still hailed as a “hero” at one time, would not be able to withstand his own branch and drive the empire into danger, but now I think differently.
‘He’s the one who tried to kill his childhood friend April, too, so maybe that’s true enough.’
I thought Fabian’s reemergence was like a camel going through the eye of a needle. So at the time I saved April, I did what she asked me not to kill Fabian, and I did…
“If I had known that Fabian and Countess Nerus would hold hands, I would have just taken care of him last year.”
When Fabian acted quietly alone to kill April, it was the right time to deal with him.
But now there are many eyes to see and Countess Nerus. It was all kinds of trouble.
But that did not mean that I should try to defeat Countess Nerus first.
“If I had known this was going to happen, I would have at least left a hole in the law.”
Meyer clicked his tongue low.
The more an expeditionary force member advanced in the dungeon, the greater the difference in force between them and non-expedition members, and the use of force by an expeditionary force member against a non-expedition member outside the dungeon was strictly sanctioned by imperial law.
Such a law was passed because Meyer Knox was both the originator and the guardian of that law.
Since Meyer, who was the highest level as well as the strongest expedition member at the time, proposed the law first, everyone else had no choice but to follow.
I patted the back of Meyer’s large hand to comfort him.
“We needed such a law at that time. Not even exceptions… That’s why, even though the world was in turmoil in the dungeon, there was little damage to civilians.”
But it didn’t seem to be that great a comfort.
Meyer sighed, holding my hand with one hand and his head with the other.
Unlike the way he usually solved everything by force of arms, for once he had to “get down” to anticipate the numbers of his opponents.
Meyer added tediously.
“If you want, we can just ignore it and take care of him. The emperor will have no choice but to overlook it anyway.”
“We can’t do that.”
I shook my head firmly.
Meyer’s honor should be protected. He rolled in dungeons for almost the entirety of his life to defeat the Demon King, and to have the stain of attacking politically for a mere scammer like that… I shudder and tremble in horror just thinking about it.
Regret was a thing of the past. I was fortunate to have made his acquaintance before it was even too late.
“They’ll approach us first anyway. I don’t know how they will open the mouth of the water… they’ll probably approach either me or Jeanne.”
Because Fabian approaches from the side he knows better. It was basic to approach from the side with the least amount of information.
Once we knew where to aim, the next step was even easier.
“We can use that opportunity to counterattack.”
It was ironic. They went through great lengths to drag us down, even having secret meetings. Do they know that it will end up hanging them by their own necks?
I chuckled.
At that time, I remembered that Deca’s expression was unusually dark at the banquet hall.
Yeah. We can’t just sit still and wait here.
I smiled broadly and spoke vigorously.
“If we do well… I think we can get another hound.”
“Hound?”
Meyer heard back a beat later. At that moment, his sharp eyes were fuzzy.
He seemed to have had an unusual thought during that moment.
He’s very relaxed because I’m using my brain.
I was puffed up, and I raised my eyes and urged him on.
“You’re not concentrating, are you?”
“No, I am concentrating.”
Meyer shook his head in surprise. I glanced thinly at him.
“That’s not the expression of a concentrated person.”
Meyer frowned ruefully. What, if you insist so strongly?
“Seriously. Earlier, I was just…”
“I know, I know.”
I dismissed Meyer’s excuse and turned it over. That wasn’t what was important now.
“What do you mean, you know! You’re completely mistaken…!”
“Uh-huh.”
I raised one eyebrow toward Meyer, who kept refuting. Only then did Meyer’s backlash subside and shut up.
Now that it’s quiet, the atmosphere to talk has been created.
Only then did I calmly confide in their expected hideous system and plans on how to defend.
“So…”
***
“How long has she been in the Black Knights? Jeanne’s reached level 60 already?”
“Is that the girl who was said to join the Black Knights?”
“Because she’s young and she’s quick. I made eye contact earlier, but she didn’t even pretend to know me.”
Those lent by Countess Nerus and the remaining Fabian expedition members gathered together to make a fuss.
Jeanne used to be their colleague. She was also cherished by April… Deca’s lips trembled.
But in the end, he couldn’t say anything.
Countess Nerus’ forces tended to listen only to Fabian’s orders, and the existing expedition members would be troubled if he said something and withdrew.
Thus, with Deca’s tacit approval, the Fabian expedition members strengthened their friendship and unity with each other by pointing the finger at the young Jeanne as a “traitor.”
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