「And did you know about Sweet Pleasure’s abilities, Your Majesty?」

「Please don’t address me as “Your Majesty”, Lawrence. I have not taken the throne yet.」

「Ponsonia is already uniting around you.」

In Kudyastoria’s private room were a few of her close aides and Lawrence. She insisted on being called Princess until she actually ascended to the throne, which would take place once Prince Austrin was defeated.

The Quinbland Empire offered to form an alliance just now, and she agreed. Normally, a meeting attended by cabinet ministers would take place, but every second counted. The enemy was already within the kingdom.

Ponsonia desperately wanted Quinbland’s troops. To test the Empire’s level of commitment, Kudyastoria suggested they inform other nations of their alliance to which Quinbland’s Prime Minister replied “That’s a great idea. I’ll ask our Emperor to do that as well.”

At first, the Princess thought the Empire was lying about the alliance and would attack them instead. But it seemed that wasn’t the case. Suspicions were cleared.

It would probably take ten days for Quinbland’s and Margrave Grugschilt’s forces to reach the royal capital. The combined forces of Austrin and Einbeast might make their move before that.

Kudyastoria would need to decide soon whether to go with Sweet Pleasure’s plan to destroy Pond, or not.

「The royal capital’s Adventurer’s Guild have provided us with information about Sweet Pleasure.」

Kudyastoria flicked a bunch of papers across the table. Lawrence picked them up and scanned their contents.

The Adventurers Guild lent adventurers to nations. Normally, a supranational organization participating in wars would only cause needless chaos. But if the guild refused to loan adventurers, the country would put pressure on them. So rules were put into place with regards to lending adventurers.

Rank S adventurers could not be deployed. Only adventurers ranked E to A may be hired and only fifty at a time. The Adventurers Guild, an organization with powers that transcended borders, urged and expected countries to maintain balance.

「I didn’t expect their traps to have such tremendous power.」Lawrence said as he finished reading the documents.

「Indeed. Do you think Sweet Pleasure’s plan is effective?」

「If they could take down a Field Wyvern, I’m sure they’re powerful. But…」Lawrence frowned. 「Wouldn’t the enemy know about Sweet Pleasure? Traps are only effective when hidden. If they knew about the traps, they would most likely just pass by Pond.」

「Exactly.」

Kudyastoria passed a second batch of papers that contained information on Rising Falls and Polar Tiger, rank A adventurer parties from Einbeast. But unlike Sweet Pleasure, intel on them was far lesser.

The Adventurers Guild could obtain information about its own adventurers, but whether they shared them to guilds in other regions or not was a different matter. The guild, after all, was not a monolith.

What they had at hand at the moment was information gathered by the royal capital’s Adventurers Guild.

「So Einbeast’s Adventurers Guild might also have information on Sweet Pleasure, although limited.」Lawrence said.

「There’s also a possibility that a rank A enemy knows Senkun personally.」

「There’s not a lot of intel here. Polar Tiger is a party of demi-humans close to the nation. As for this Rising Falls, besides their names and ranks, we only know that they’re a party of few people with terrible destructive power. Did Sweet Pleasure mention anything?」

「Sir Sunken seems to know them. He must have an acquaintance there. He said…」Kudyastoria eyed her secretary who was browsing his notes.

「…that they rely on their weapon’s power, Master Lawrence.」the official said.

「The power of their weapons, huh…」

「Lawrence, can they, let’s say, best you with only their weapons? Is that possible?」

「I’m but a human being. A mere knife can kill me.」

Lawrence was alluding to the time he was almost killed by a boy. Kudyastoria was a witness to the fight as well.

「That’s not what I meant. I’m asking if there are legendary weapons that can wipe out a whole army.」

「Yes.」

「Really?」

「Really. Magic items… No, weapons with incredible power do exist. If Rising Falls has one of those…」Lawrence’s face turned sullen.「Even if they were complete amateurs, they’ll have the power of a hundred armies. Things would be easier if we managed to do something about their weapon.」

「We wouldn’t have to blow up a whole town, too.」

「Sweet Pleasure’s traps are extremely effective in confined spaces. They would be less effective in hand-to-hand combat, and there’s also the risk of friendly fire. I can understand Sir Sunken’s position. He can maximize the power of his traps by blowing up Pond.」

「With Quinbland’s forces and Margrave Grugschilt’s troops…」The Princess trailed off, and Lawrence continued.

「We can win even out in the open. We know the local geography.」

「Am I being too optimistic?」Kudyastoria asked, showing hesitation to destroy Pond.

Lawrence smiled.「Not at all. The Margrave, me, and everyone here followed you because of your views.」

Her close aides nodded, and Kudyastoria looked relieved.

「So our problem is the Rising Falls… If only there was some way we could steal their weapon.」the Princess muttered.

The smell of alcohol filled the room in one of Leather Elka’s mansions.

「Ahahahaha! My sides! Did you see their faces?! Polar Tiger, Polar Cat, I don’t care. We’ve accomplished more than them. They don’t even know about Sweet Pleasure? A bunch of muscle-heads! What a riot!」

Igloo of the Rising Falls party gulped down the wine from his mug. Several empty bottles were already scattered about. Only the members of the party were in the elegant guest room.

「You’re drinking too much, Big Brother. It stinks of alcohol here. Also you might get us in trouble…」

「Oh, you worry too much. Ryver said there’s no one else here. Right?」

Igloo shot a glance at the man standing in the corner of the room. Slit-eyed, he had long, red hair tied to the back. He was wearing thick breeches and a shirt. It was hard to tell what he was thinking behind his blank expression.

「Yeah. There’s no one else around a hundred meters from here.」

「See? You know Ryver’s Detection has never been wrong. He’ll use his Detection and you, Caddie, will fire your weapon away. Just like that, the enemy’s dead. It’s too easy, I can’t stop myself from laughing.」

「Igloo. I will… fight… Lawrence. Leave him… alone.」

「I know. We won’t snatch your opponent.」

A different man—over two meters tall with a huge, red face like a watermelon—joined in the conversation. His name was Batros. He donned a bulky, full-body, metal plate mail and carried a shield as big as his body. Though he didn’t use them outside of battle. They were lying around in a corner.

「Okay. Good.」the man answered.

It seemed Batros didn’t care about anything else but fighting Lawrence. Likewise, Igloo only cared about one thing.

「If we won against Ponsonia, I want to sleep with those pretty ladies from, uhh, what was it? Four Stars of the East? Wait, can I do it now? We’re guaranteed to win anyway and we’ll take the enemy as prisoners. All right! A fivesome!」

「You horny idiot… The Four Stars of the East went out of the kingdom…」

「There’s a princess too, right?! Oh, damn! There’s not a lot of men who get to have sex with a princess, and I’ll be one of them! Ah, I want to pound her hard from behind as I pin her down and her face twists in disgrace! Shit, I’m getting fired up!」

Igloo didn’t seem to hear his sister’s muttering, as he hugged the sofa cushion and buried his face in it.

Word of the Four Stars’ return hadn’t reached here yet. It was only natural that Caddie Fullblood didn’t know.

Ryver opened his eyes slightly, and gazed at Igloo. The emotion in his eyes was anything but friendly.

Later that night, Ryver was in his room, taking up his pen. He wrote down Igloo’s actions and behavior. The recipient was His Holiness, the Pope.

Ryver used his Detection to survey the surroundings. He could feel the other three in their rooms—Igloo, Caddie, and Batros.

No one occupied the upper and lower floors. He had asked Austrin to clear people out so he wouldn’t make an error in his Detection.

Ryver opened the window and held the letter to the night sky. He then raised his ring fitted with a purple crystal.

「To His Holiness, from his loyal servant.」

The magic item activated. The letter turned into a small bird and flew into the night sky. It was different from the magic item that the Adventurer’s Guild and governments used. Linga’s Quill Pen required a special catalyst to use, which if found in one’s possession was like admitting you were getting in touch with someone behind closed doors.

That’s where the ring came in. Much rarer than the quill pen, barely anyone knew about the magic item.

Ryver let out a sigh. Just as he thought his job for the day was done, he felt something.

「Who’s there?!」He turned around.

Moonlight shining in from the window and the magic lamp on the table were the only source of light in the room.

「I must be imagining things.」

Ryver’s Detection didn’t catch anything. Maybe he was being too cautious, which was not a bad thing. He switched gears and closed the window. After putting away the pen and inkwell, he lay down on his bed. Silence fell.

「………」

The darkness moved unnoticed by anyone.

So there’s a magic item like that, huh. Caught me by surprise.

In the darkness of the night, Hikaru made his move.