Day 191-200/Day 197

Day 197
Today the group is staying in the Royal Capital. Sadly, there's not much going on right now. Even after the sale ended, there are still quite a few customers coming to the shop and the construction within the building is still ongoing.
The snow is still falling and the Skeleton Spider transportation has become a full-scale business. That's the story for today because nothing's really going on. I suppose I'll focus on what the other groups have been up to since there's nothing exciting going on. To be more precise, the main group that's at the base.
First, let's go over the Female Knight. She had offered her sword in loyalty to me, just as the other people who were caught in the Forest invasion a few months back did, such as the Clergymen and the Red Fencer, both of whom are guarding the base back in the Kuuderun Forest.
She had participated during the recent battle in the coup by hiding her identity behind a mask and managed to slay several dozen officers, greatly contributing to the course of the battle. As such, she was sent back on a tourist route and able to visit various cities.
Along the way, there were quite a few requests for Parabellum, though I still don't know where our name was leaked in the Sternbild Kingdom, but it's to be expected that our renown would spread. I only chose members that can accomplish the requests to accompany me to go and accept them.
Fortunately, the Female Knight was presumed dead during their previous war with the elves, so even though she's the daughter of a high noble family, she won't be recognized easily. That said, the chances someone might recognize her weren't zero, therefore, her group had to keep their sightseeing within normal bounds and had returned to the base rather quickly.
She's recently taken up going on strolls through the vast forest of ours, either going alone or with several of her subordinates, gathering up various materials on her way. The forest is vast and is gradually spreading with a constantly growing vitality like never before. 
This is causing even more Spirit Stones to show up that are of an even greater quality. The quality thus also produces even better materials and is probably linked to the expansion and improvements of the hot springs.
To know where good materials are depends all on information gathering. While she and her subordinates are collecting materials, they also were making a map with the locations of various materials marked. For this, I'm grateful. Once I return home, I fully intend to give her a dress that's an [Ancient] class artifact from the【Age of the Gods Dungeon】s. Hmm, as for the other members, I suppose liquor and sake should be acceptable.
...
A certain Kobold that had【Rank Up】from a Kobold Footman to a Kobold Samurai went into the【Derived Dungeon】in the Labyrinth City. He had gathered up people who failed to achieve suitable achievements during the war and led them in diligently raising their levels while gathering magical items. If they are able to gather a certain amount of equipment, I'll probably give him a Falaise Eagle as a familiar.
Though I don't expect much from them, the dungeon capture speed was fairly faster than I had assumed, probably because of the strong devotion and loyalty from the Kobold Samurai that had taken command.
Unfortunately, during their dungeon conquest, a few of their party were killed, which immediately made it clear that the dungeon they took on was dangerous and that the dangers of the dungeon only increase as you progress. Such things do tend to happen no matter how much you prepare for it.
As such, I offered a silent prayer for the passed souls so that they may rest in peace. I don't hold the Kobold Akita, responsible for the casualties. As for what happened, Akita had attempted to do just about as much as possible, but the abilities of those who were killed were simply insufficient for the difficulty of that dungeon. The fault is on those who attempted something they were not ready for.
The magical items were gathered smoothly for the most part. As such I have also begun the preparation for creating a branch designated for the operation within the Labyrinth City Purgatory. It will be convenient to open a branch within Purgatory since even though the official main office has been opened within the Royal Capital, a great deal of my business is with the Labyrinth City, so it's just as important from my point of view.
Anyway, after becoming a Kobold Samurai, Akita's intelligence is far higher than when he was a Kobold Footman. As long as his extreme loyalty doesn't cause him to become too reckless, he will end up becoming quite reliable.
There are many subordinates who end up working desperately to accomplish their mission if it's me giving the order. In that sense it saves me quite a bit of trouble in the end. I wonder if I should reward Akita's efforts. There's the occasional sword that flows in from the east and they're fairly famous blades at that. I think one of those would serve as a good reward for Akita.
...
I wished Minokichi-kun and Oniwaka's group good luck as they continued their energetic genocide of monsters. This is because, rather than in a Purgatory dungeon, they are hunting monsters in a natural danger zone. Even though the probability of encountering monsters within dungeons is much higher, in nature there is a far larger variety of monsters.
They simply cannot afford to be caught off guard during their escapades, because if they do, they'll face a significant counterattack as a result. The reason for this is because unlike the dungeons, the strength of monsters in nature is not uniform and can vary quite a bit.
The strongest monster within their danger zone is the [Wisdom Dragon] which is an unbelievable existence because of its humongous strength, and is even considered strong by the standards of mighty Giants. More often than not, monsters of such levels only exist in the depth of the countless unexplored mountain ranges, though there are still exceptions such as ones that live in areas like the waterfall near Mason Village.
I'd have to say that Minokichi-kun's group is lucky they haven't encountered one yet. They don't have enough time to delve into such depths though and are only capable of finding bosses on the levels of the Red Bear or Jade Eagle. No, all boss-class monsters are formidable enemies, but since both of the examples I used, the Red Bear and the Jade Eagle, have【Divine Protection】, it makes them even more frightening than the usual monster.
For Minokichi and Asue however, considering their monstrous strength and unnatural good luck, the threat level is considerably lower than the norm. Knowing that they will assist when necessary, I hope that Oniwaka will have grown twice as strong the next time I see him. There might even be the chance for him to【Rank Up】. As such, I impatiently wait for them to bring back materials and the corpses they've gathered along the way.
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Avenger is doing a variety of requests along with Rusty Iron Knight and Scarface. The requests mostly consist of eliminating thief and bandit camps, or subjugating dangerous monsters causing havoc for towns and villages who offer up the quests to remove them.
I'm guessing that most of the missions are taken up by Avenger because of his ruined hometown. The appearance of Avenger taking up said tasks was akin to a violent rampage with blood curdling roars. Combine that with the fact he's wearing a demon mask to hide his identity and it's enough to make people want to call him a demon. When they encounter him, the bandits, thieves, or whatever dangerous monsters it may have been, are all slain within the blink of an eye before they even have the chance to feel fear.
Without wasting time, using accurate information gathered by my clones, Avenger was able to understand the problems and immediately resolve them, thus earning the trust of his clients. Even though currently they only get paid a few silver coins per request, in the future, they'll have gained much trust and reputation; so it's good for Avenger and the others to do their best even if it's only for chump change.
If I'm not mistaken, Avenger still hasn't met his companions, or rather, his [Sub-Cast] characters from his [Psalm] yet. As such, I pray that he will encounter the [Witch of Mystic Flames], the [Cavalier Guardian], the [Usurper] and the [Merciful Maiden].
Because I've already been informed that out of the four, both the [Witch of Mystic Flames] and [Merciful Maiden] have already awakened their power, I thought it likely he'd encounter them if I sent him out on more requests.
Personally, I think it's alright since it's increasing Avenger's combat strength and overall profit for Parabellum; but Avenger's area of activity will probably need to expand to encounter his fated companions. I feel rather good. Overall situation is generally favorable and the future of Parabellum looks bright - I think. Well, that's my feeling for the time being.
That night when I went to bed:
【World Psalms【Legend of the Black Eclipse Demon】,【Sub-cast】character Seiji has ranked up.】
【Condition "1"【Rank Up】has been cleared, title【Merciful Father’s Light of Salvation】has been awarded.】
【World Psalms【Legend of the Black Eclipse Demon】,【Sub-cast】character Gurufu has ranked up.】
【Condition "1"【Rank Up】has been cleared, title【Rotting Guide of Severe Misfortune】has been awarded.】
Hmm, I was just thinking that it was about time to contact her, but I decided that sleeping was more important. Something to look forward to tomorrow then. As for Gurufu-chan, it's best to not joke about her【Rotting One】.
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Category:Novel
Category:Re:Monster Volume 5