Chapter 106: Flaw

Arnold turned his head in the direction of the person who mentioned, "Nuaria city".

The person seemed to be a knight since he had a sigil on his left chest and chainmail armor.

'Church of Melis…? Was there such a church in that city?'

 He thought that only the capital had a church or temples but it seemed like there were churches in other cities as well. It wasn't because he thought that the empire didn't want to build churches. It was more like the people from this empire weren't the religious type.

There were shortages of priests so temples from other nations like the Holy Kingdom and Theocracy, Fairy Province and many others established branch churches in the main capital. The Theocracy had the least branches since their relationship with the empire wasn't so good.  

Lockinge city also had branches since religion was viewed very highly by the city's people.

Anyway, Arnold moved a seat closer to hear the two men clearer.

"Oi, is that why you invited me to drink? To gossip?" his friend glared at him.

"No, no. It's just… the city is short on knights right now so I thought it would be best to ask you if you can spare some men. You're a squad leader, aren't you?"

"Course I am. But I ain't someone who leads people. I only follow instructions from above and relay those instructions to my ten men and squires. But tell me more about your situation. Maybe I will be able to help some other way. Y'know, like spreading the word around."

"Phew, that will be enough. If more people know about this then I'm sure the problem can be solved." The man drank his ale and fiddled with his fingers as if he didn't know how to begin.

"Spit it out."

"…We found out that—not just the sewers—but our drinking water has been contaminated. Because of this all of us are forced to eat unwashed food and go days without having a proper bath. All of this has to do with one incident that happened earlier this week."

His friend

"One of the boys at the orphanage I'm a guard at complained that his stomach hurt. We had to let a meister come check on the boy. The meister gave the boy some meds to help loosen his stomach. Guess what they found after the boy defecated."

"Just tell me. I hate these guessing games."

"They found a long, lumpy worm with a mouth that had rows upon rows of teeth. The worm was said to be a parasite. It wasn't even a day later that multiple cases of this was experienced in the entire city."

"Have any of you told the Imperial Force?"

"I was at their headquarters three times but I was chased away every time. Apparently I have no right to enter there without making an appointment. But to make one I would need to be referred by a member of the Imperial Force. I don't know anyone part of the Force at all."

"What the fuck! They should do something about this!"

"Only one adventurer party responded for the citizens' cry for help. I had the chance of meeting them at the mayor's mansion."

The man's friend seemed to be relieved, "What rank are they?"

"…Rank B."

"…."

"Yeah, our city is doomed. I was thinking of moving back here if things get out of control at the orphanage. Thankfully there hadn't been any serious cases since people were advised to taken laxatives if they ever feel like they had a stomachache."

"That's a relief."

"Would it be too much to ask you to spare me some residency if I decide to move back here?"

"Sure but why? I thought you would leave the empire if your job as a knight didn't work out?"

"Thing is I found someone I want to spend my life with. She's the newest apprentice nun who came in four months ago. Sure, she's a little young but I think I found the one for me."

"Did you even confess to this girl, Ruile?"

"…."

"Damn coward. I'll let you live at my place if you can confess to her."

"Whaaat?"

"I'm doing you a favor here, buddy. You've been a coward since the day I met you—"

The two of them began chatting about unrelated things afterwards so Arnold lost interest. He hurriedly stood up and headed for the door.

◇

After arriving outside, Arnold pulled out a small cubical device. He pressed with his index finger on the top and his thumb on the bottom. The cube changed into a flat shape.

It looked like a modern smartphone but without the screen. It was just a black object with a green light flashing on the top.

It was a Magic Transmitter. He brought one along to be able to communicate to his office in Whitage city.

One would ask why wouldn't he just call Lunaria to order her to attack Nuaria city instead of going there in person. The problem with this was that all kinds of magic capable of spying on others existed these days. High-class spies could even interfere with a Magic Transmitter's signal and listen in on conversations.

That was why Arnold didn't use it before. The risk was too high.

But he had no choice but to call Lunaria now since he had no way of going to the city without Lauran.

Arnold jumped onto one of the buildings' rooftops to avoid having someone hear his call.

A sound similar to a hollow breeze echoed when he placed it again his ear.

That meant that it was busy connecting to the service at his city.

-"You are connected to Lord Arnold von Berkley's office. This is his advisor, Lunaria Lupus Azeli. How may I help you?"

"Lunaria, it's me."

-"Milord? Why the sudden call?"

"I'll be the one to ask questions."

The other end was silent.

"Good. Tell me, did you begin the plan without my consent?"

-"Huh? I wouldn't do that. You are my superior and you gave me an order."

"Then who contaminated the water supply of Nuaria city with parasitic organisms?" Arnold didn't shout at her. Instead, his voice was calm but there was a certain coldness to it.

-"…I… I suspect it must be Vetis, milord. Only the two of us know about your plan, after all."

"Lunaria… I'm sure I made myself clear when I said that you had to follow my orders, not go against them."

-"…"

It was silent again.

"Lunaria—"

-"Hello, lord Arnold. This is Vetis speaking."

Lunaria seemed to have given the transmitter to someone else since Arnold heard a different voice.

"…."

-"Please listen before saying anything else. I wanted to call lord Arnold later today but I guess we can sort out this situation right now. You must've heard about the incidents in Nuaria city, correct?"

"….I did. That's exactly why I called."

-"Parasites polluting the water and entering peoples' bodies. I had this idea that it would be better to start small before we unleash all the monsters at our disposal."

"What do you mean by starting small, Vetis?"

A kind of delight was in Vetis' voice as he spoke:

-"Think about it carefully, lord Arnold. If we were to suddenly unleash these monsters across the continent at once then wouldn't people be suspicious as to where the monsters came from?"

"I already told Lunaria my plan—"

-"I know. But this plan is flawed."

Arnold went silent.

'No matter how much I think about it, my plan should be good enough to get the attention of the entire empire. It should even push them to assemble a rescue party even if I don't request the vice-director to do so.'

He had fought in many monster hordes back when he was stationed in Lockinge city as a single player. He remembered that in every wave the citizens would panic. This would push them to all band together and eliminate the threat.

The same logic would apply to this incident. If the people were shocked enough then they would be forced to form a party to rescue the final year students.

Vetis noticed Arnold's silence so he decided to continue speaking.

-"Firstly, the more critically thinking humans would suspect that someone is behind this. Why would monsters appear halfway across the continent just like that? They would think that someone on the level of the Archmage is behind the disaster. This would make them one step closer to finding out our involvement in this. Freya York would also be looking for the perpetrators."

'Hmm…'

Now that he thought about it, that was indeed a possibility.

-"Secondly, people won't have enough time to escape the city if I summoned my monsters right outside the city to early. Evacuations during national 4 or 5 disasters usually start after 30 minutes. This means more deaths which is meaningless since our goal in the first place is only to make the people realize that the dungeon monsters are 'dangerous' and that those who went in had to be rescued."

Arnold looked over the empire.

-"Are you still there?"

"…Continue."

His anger disappeared in an instant when he heard Vetis' explanation. It made perfect sense.

What Vetis said was true: that Arnold's order had many flaws.

-"I assume lord Arnold heard about the random attacks of villages as well? Or people saying that some heinous monster attacked their livestock?"

Arnold suddenly recalled that day when he was at the Guild. That girl named Galadriel did mention something about monsters and animals being killed for sport.

"So you did that too?"

-"It's to test the waters. Anyhow, besides that I had one of my summons throw parasitic eggs into the water system of Nuaria city."

"Won't that affect the entire empire's water supply? Many regions get water from a single water facility."

-"My slimes are scattered throughout the entire empire in the draining pipes. Any eggs that may go towards the other cities will instantly be absorbed. It was tricky getting all the slimes to the capital city but I was able to finish the task."

Slimes had the ability to filter water. Meaning that they could clean even muddy water and make drinkable water. Because of this ability, Vetis had them merge themselves with the empire's water supply(except in Nuaria city) and eat the eggs to avoid having those things spread to other cities.

Regular slimes in general were clean creatures so they could swim in water all they want and not pollute it. One wouldn't even be able to see them in water unless you saw their gastric gases absorbing food inside their bodies.

Arnold looked silently towards the sky. Vetis thought about everything. No, maybe that was reasonable since the man was the prime minister of an entire nation.

He was terrifyingly intelligent.

Arnold looked at his hand. The hand that would be stained by blood of innocents.

'If Vetis wasn't there to change the plan a bit then thousands would've died for nothing.'

Although he said that he didn't care about NPCs he still saw them as real people. They bled, they felt pain and they could feel emotions. These weren't the characteristics of a computer-programmed bot.

Arnold couldn't help it when he made that order without clarifying what they had to do.

No one could blame him for being anxious. His life was also on the line.

There are times when anxiety can cause people to act impulsively, after all. For example, when people are in the midst of a worry episode, they may make rash, hasty, even regrettable decisions in the service of quelling their anxiety and intense discomfort.

Arnold's life might've been in danger but that didn't mean that he had to risk being caught for his crimes against the empire. It was highly likely that he would be hanged for it.

-"May I commence the second part of your plan tonight?"

"Okay…"

 -"I will send the first horde of monsters outside the city. It is advised that lord Arnold get ready. I'll meet with you when the time is convenient."

"…Tonight it is then."

The countdown had begun.  

Arnold switched off the transmitter just as the sun was beginning to rise. The empire was bathed in an orange haze as warmth blanketed over the cities.

"My plan to destroy as city starts tonight…" he took a deep breath and cleared his head, "I have to be ready."