Preparation

Some distance away to the south of Latia. Fia and Elsie were currently on their way back to the city after successfully completing their quest.

Elsie was flying above Fia, turning herself invisible. But Fia could still see her since as long as Elsie permits so, she could make specific individuals to see through her invisibility.

"Thank you for the support before Elsie-san it was a great help."

"Hehehe~ don't worry about it~"

Fia smiled gently expressing her thanks to the flying devil while Elsie were scratching her head feeling embarrassed, she's always felt happy if she were being praised by someone.

Fia's clothes were quite tattered and dirts were dirtying her face and skin but no visible injuries were spotted on her body despite the mess she was in.

They're just returned from subjugating Harpies. A bird like monsters with a human head. The quest asked them to kill 10 harpies and brought their talons and feathers for the proof.

Since they were quite agile and cleverly utilizing their flying ability, they were tricky foes to fight with. Fia and Elsie were ambushed by a group of harpies when they approached near their nest.

Even if Fia was also a speed fighter and the harpies were having a hard time to hit her but Fia herself too were struggling to land a sharp blow on them because they kept flying around. Even if she fired some energy blade or shockwaves, they could still barely dodge them, inflicting a light wound which clearly wasn't enough to decapitate them.

Thankfully Elsie used her hagoromo to bind the harpies near Fia so she's able to deal the finishing blow easily. This would make her being targeted by the harpies but Fia also made use of the gap when they were focusing their attack on Elsie to land a solid blow. Elsie's also not that easy to hit since she herself was capable to fly while repeling some of the harpies using the hagoromo and her broom.

She's actually afraid though since she was being chased around with tears in her eyes while also screaming for help. But surprisingly even while she's being perplexed she still moved and responded properly, impressing Fia that kept slashing and injuring the harpies chasing her.

They kept chatting for awhile and by now they could already see Latia in their sight. Besides them was precisely the forest that had a dungeon inside them.

"So inside this forest was that rumored dungeon is it? I wonder what it's look like~"

"Yes, it seems like it...."

Elsie noticed the forest on their right and remembered the talk with Haruto yesterday. She already heard about the death of strong adventurers inside the dungeon and although feeling sad hearing that, she's also grew curious about it.

She looked at Fia and realized that somehow the fox girl was being tensed and alerted, a usual condition when she's facing her enemies in front of her.

"Umm, what's wrong Fia-san?"

"I don't know myself but somehow I don't like the atmosphere inside that forest.... I didn't feel anything when we passed by two days ago so why?"

Elsie tilted her head, confused. She herself didn't feel anything odd.

"...Well maybe it's just my imagination, let's keep going." In the end Fia shook her head and continued walking with Elsie.

They returned to the city and met Haruto near the inn. By now it's already dusk and they had finished their job for today.

"Are? What's wrong Kami-sama? Somehow you seem distressed."

Right, for some reason Haruto was kinda restless.

"Hmm? Did I?"

"Did something happen Haruto-nii?"

"Well... No..., Not particularly..."

It seemed something did happen when they're not here but he didn't want to talk about it so they could only shrugged and stopped asking further.

They decided to have a dinner outside together. Elsie suggested the chinese restaurant they passed by but Haruto vigorously refused to enter and appealed for another restaurant.

Well he's definitely wouldn't want to enter twice on the same day after what just happened this afternoon. Otherwise the employees there would recognize him as the rascal that make a young maiden cried and wept.

Tomorrow would be the last day they stayed at this city and the day after they would continue their journey to the capital.

###

Inside the knight quarter...

This was the place where the knights guarding the city resided. Their numbers were quite few, only about 500 units comprised of ordinary Knights with 10 Great Knights and a Grand Knight as the leader.

The Grand Knight were currently away for a job at the capital so the 10 remaining Great Knights were the current leader of the quarter.

Since the other Great Knights were not very keen on taking the request from the guild, the job fell under Selianna's duty.

She didn't really mind and being one with a strong sense of justice she accepted the job gladly. But the ignorance of her other peers irked her, she wished they could be more assertive.

"So the preparations were completed?"

Right now she's on her office facing the same male knight that Haruto met yesterday.

"Yes, we managed to gather 15 units for tomorrow."

"Fifteen is it? Not bad, good job."

"Thank you very much. But Selianna-sama? May I ask something?"

"What is it?"

"Did we need this many members for tomorrow? It's just a low leveled dungeon after all, I think just the four of us with you is more than enough for this job."

"...Didn't you hear that some red rank adventurers was killed inside that so called low leveled dungeon?"

"Yes I indeed received that report but Selianna-sama, you should know yourself that a rank of adventurers below silver does not indicate their strength level. Some people are exploiting loopholes and made their way to their current rank. Perhaps the one who died were such people? So all of this commotion is just a false call after all."

Indeed, adventurers up to black rank only needed to complete a specific number of quests and passed some tests from the guild. It's not impossible to find a loophole like buying the materials for the proof of subjugations or bribing the guild's staffs.

Only starting from the silver ranks did the adventurers must achieve a specific achievements worthy of elevating their current ranks to nobility, other than just proving their strength.

"It is as you say, there's a chance for this to be such case... But it's unlikely. Even if they could exploit their ranks but only a minority was capable to do that and at least they would also need some strength. People completely without power, money or status couldn't do anything even if they wanted to."

The male knight nodded, acknowledging the truth behind her words.

"Not to mention my own instinct was giving me a warning that this is not a simple case. I'll be glad if it's just mere unnecessary worry and nothing big happened but..."

Selianna turned solemn and apprehensive but she shook her head.

"Let's stop this talk. We need to rest soon and prepare for tomorrow, make sure to tell the others too, you're dismissed."

"Yes!"

The male knight turned back and left the room. Inside his heart his bewilderment did not disappear, he's still reluctant to admit that such a small request would need their most effort.

Selianna sighed, noticing the inside of the heart of her subordinate. This was why that he's still an ordinary Knight for years despite his talent on fighting. A knight must not only relying on strength but also having a sharp mind to respond in any situation. Being conceited and overlooking something would prove to be fatal for one that protect the country. Tomorrow would be the time for her job, she sincerely pray that everything will go smoothly even though she knew that's impossible.

While thinking that she remembered what happened today at noon and her face flushed in anger instantly. Remembering the face of that boy laughing like a demon for tricking her and actually making her cry and wept.

She's so embarrassed that she wanted to just commit suicide after killing that boy. She couldn't believe she would lose control like that and fell to his scheme.

...Perhaps her job for all this time stressed her so much.

Before she was promoted she was having more freedom and vacation. During this time she would travelled around town and pet all her beloved animals she met or getting acquainted with animal girls around there. She really loved cute things especially a little girl and animals so Fia entered her strike zone very much.

She never done that for this few years ever since she was promoted to a Great Knight. She was stuck with her job and couldn't enjoy her hobbies at all. She's rarely even go out by herself, and all her travels were by carriages along with her companions. There's no way she could search for her beloved animals and made friends with cute little girls like that....

...I hope I could met Fia-tan once again tomorrow before going....

Was what inside her thought before she went to her room and slept after preparing for tomorrow.