Kuro no Maou

Chapter 461

Welcome, adventurers . Sit down, please . ”

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Though those were words of welcome, no one could help but feel some sort of pressure since they were coming out of King Leonhart’s mouth . Was that the majesty of a King?

“Thank you, Your Majesty . ”

Farkius was the first one to walk to his chair . Without getting intimidated in the king’s presence, he gracefully sat on a rustic chair .

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Then all other adventurers who had gathered in this place begin to sit down after him . Of course, I am one of them .

“You can really feel the pressure here...”

The mood was so tense that you could hear people unintentionally saying things like that .

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The place where we were gathered was Galahad Fortress’ military control room, which is where Farkius had been ordered to bring– or rather, lead me to . I never saw myself being in this kind of room, together with royalty, generals of the nobility, and adventurers who were former academy students . The closest I had ever been to this was when visiting the old Iskia Castle after defeating Greed-Gore, and even then I was only sightseeing .

That place was like a cold basement made with hard stone, and it looked rather unimpressive . The same could be said for this room .

In contrast with the huge Galahad Fortress, there was no useless decoration in this room, as it has been thoroughly designed with the functionality of base defense in mind . This room too had been made with thick stones, steel, and defensive magic so that it stays strong against any kind of attack . Only the deep crimson national flag of Spada and a map of Galahad Mountains hang from the windowless walls .

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However, there was a sense of tension in this rugged room that was comparable to actually being on the battlefield . This tension was due to the fact that everyone here was putting their lives on the line .

I regretfully thought to myself that I should have brought Lily with me .

“The situation has unexpectedly turned into a ceasefire due to the White Dragon’s Nest... but let me tell you that you have done a good job so far . ”

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We, the adventurers who had been summoned to this room, quietly listened to King Leonhart’s plain and diplomatic introduction .

Just as Farkius said, the only ones here were the leaders of the ‘Gladiator’ battalion and us, the ‘Order Raid’ . Only us party leaders were called, not because the other members weren’t allowed but due to space limitations, and for this reason, Lily and Fiona weren’t here with me . Which reminds me of what those two told me earlier . Lily sent me off with a ‘Good luck’, but I wasn’t sure why I would need luck in this meeting .

Looking to my right, the one sitting closest to me was the handsome Farkius, then an old woman who was as thin as a dead tree, and a woman wearing a pink full helmet . That old lady was definitely the leader of ‘Yomi’, but I wondered why the Pink one from the Blade Rangers was here at all .

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After Miss Pink Arrow, several brawny men who looked like really strong adventurers were sitting in a line, and finally, and closest to King Leonhart, was the leader of ‘Gladiator’, Prince Eisenhart himself . Looking at them sitting right next to each other made me realize how much they resemble each other .

Looking to my left, several battalion members who I had never seen before were sitting next to me . We from the ‘Order Raid’ didn’t know the names of the adventurers appointed to the front lines by the battalion .

The only one I was able to recognize was the one sitting next to the king at the opposite side of Eisenhart: the leader of the ‘Iron Demon Corps’ the red orc Gustav . He is Rank 5 and has recently been awarded a medal for protecting the Iskia Village, making him one of the most prominent members of the battalion .

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“Though it might be a little rushed, let’s get to the main point at once . Eis, I leave the explanation to you . ”

“Yes . ”

Prince Eisenhart got up from his chair looking a bit tired as a knight handed him something like a conductor’s baton– no, that was a genuine Magic Baton .

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“By now I doubt anyone in this room doesn’t know about this, but there are two huge holes in our walls . ”

The prince swung his baton once as he spoke with a light but strong tone of voice .

At that moment, a three-dimensional image rose from the large round table we were sitting at . Galahad’s great castle walls, composed of white light wireframes, appeared in front of us .

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I wondered if that was some kind of light magic... but it looked more like special effects from a movie than actual magic . I wanted one of those for my room .

“Their exact locations are here... and here . As you can see, it’s as if the wall enclosing the fortress had been split into two sections, one to the north-right side, and the other to the south-left . ”

Each of the damaged locations were indicated with a spot of red light . The size of the red spots seemed proportional to their actual holes’ size . The diagram was really easy to understand .

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“We’re currently working on the repairs as soon as possible, but this blizzard has made it really difficult to make any progress in that regard . Work under these conditions is so dangerous, that in a worst-case scenario, we may lose some workers to the storm . ”

But that’s the duty of the engineers . Be it during public service or out there on the battlefield, working under difficult situations is part of the job .

Still, being hit by a blizzard is far better than being exposed to a Crusader onslaught . At least those Crusaders haven’t started hurling fireballs at us for now .

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“So, the ancient weapon used to make these holes, the ancient golem... ah, umm... according to reports, we have established that its name is ‘Taurus’ . The problem lies in the fact that there are more of them . Not only those two that escaped, we know that they have at least a dozen more, ready to attack . ”

“A dozen, huh? That’s going to be hard to beat . ”

Gustav spoke with his usual weird accent . The other adventurers too reacted with the same level of surprise when learning how many of those golems were still around .

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If I hadn’t heard that intel from Lily earlier, I would have been as shocked as everyone else in the room . Luckily, Prince Eisenhart’s explanation was roughly the same as what Lily had found, so I was able to keep a cool face .

Still, could it be that Lily had passed on the information she had gathered to the Spada Army without my knowledge? Or was there a brilliant intelligence agent that had been able to gather as much intel as her on the battlefield? Oh well, either was fine by me .

“Regular attacks won’t work on those guys . Their thick plating can repel even our ballistas . You need something like the firepower of the Pharos Gun or your ‘special attacks’, as we have already seen . ”

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So far we have been confirming facts . After this, we would be talking about what to do about those powerful Taurus, and how would we be protecting Galahad Fortress . Developing a concrete plan for those two issues was essential .

“Because of this, we will be changing the stationing of our ‘Gladiator’ corps a little as a countermeasure to the Taurus . ”

They would be focusing on the places where the holes had been opened . However, since we had already been divided into the north-right and the south-left, our positions wouldn’t be changing that much .

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What was relevant was the actual people who were going to be restationed .

“I will be personally leading the left-wing . The battalion will be Gustav, Lorentz, and Arrietty . The ‘Order Raid’ is ‘Yomi’ and the ‘Blade Rangers’ . That being said, I’m sorry, but I will be putting the ‘Blade Rangers’ on hold for now from the ‘Order Raid’ . ”

“Wait a moment, what do you mean by that?”

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With a loud bang on the table, Pink Arrow raised her objection .

“Please calm down . This doesn’t mean that the ‘Blade Rangers’ are no longer of use anymore . ”

“But...!”

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“Your ‘Five Blade Shot’ is one of the few attacks that can damage a Taurus . With a single one of those shots, you can change the state of the battlefield . In short, we need you to be able to hit a Taurus with your next shot . It’s because of the time that it will take you to prepare your next shot that I’d like you to follow this command . ”

According to what I’ve heard, the special attack of the ‘Blade Rangers’, the ‘Five Blade Shot’ is a single powerful attack that completely drains their magic . It’s just like Fiona’s ‘Golden Sun’ .

So, do all special techniques in this world completely drain their user of their magic? Or was it just a style thing?

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“... All right . Still, on one condition . ”

“If it’s something we can accommodate, then please say it . ”

“Prince Eisenhart, please become the new Red Sword for the ‘Blade Rangers’ . ”

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“I’m sorry, I can’t do that . But I can double your payment . ”

“Just this once at least! Please!”

“I’m really sorry, but I can’t do that . ”

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“Red has always thought that you would be an appropriate replacement for him!”

“How about I triple your payment and we leave it at that?”

“...I guess it can’t be helped . But I won’t give up . ”

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After their negotiations had concluded, Pink Arrow finally calmed down and returned to her seat .

But how should I put it? She had quite the nerve, asking the prince of her own country to join their party at a moment like that . Well, that explained why Pink Arrow was here as leader of the Blade Rangers instead of Red Sword .

But I’ll say, I have to agree that Prince Eisenhart would make for an appropriate Red Sword .