"You heard everything, didn't you?" Those were the first words coming out of her mouth as soon as she arrived and sat beside me.
I simply nodded to that question, not showing any signs of tension or panic.
"You… are still eavesdropping on them, huh?" She looked around and did not find Qwy anywhere, so she guessed what might be going on here.
I wasn't paying complete attention to her, so she could tell I was doing something I should not be doing right now once again.
"Haaa… this attitude of yours is the reason we are in such trouble, Aria. Do you have any idea how powerful that thing even is?"
This question of hers made me stop spying on the bunch that was badmouthing Reddy behind her back and look at her with my complete focus.
"Tell me." My straight words had weight behind them. "Tell me just how strong that thing is. There might be an easier way to take it down."
I made that safe zone, and if the creature is relying on the safe zone, it should know it can be taken down as well.
I was the creator, and so, I could dismantle it as well.
But then again, the safe zone would not be the only problem here. The creature itself is strong.
"Haaa… Telling you would not justify the truth, Aria. Huuu. You should go see it for yourself. In fact, you will have to come with me and grand-, I mean, association branch manager right after the announcement.
The joint raid will take place in two days, with the association treating it like special training for the adventurers. The guards will be in charge of external safety, but I will still be with the raid party.
The association will allow everyone over Rank-D, but you will have some good explaining to do once we meet with the branch manager.
If you are somehow the one behind the creation of the safe zone, then you should also know some way to work through this."
"Of course I do." Fresh chapters posted on novel⸺fire.net
After she had said all that in one breath, I wanted to give her some direct air myself, but I cleared my head in that situation and looked at her with new seriousness.
"What weird things are you even-."
"Let's just ignore that."
I was too obvious this time. She caught me before I could look away.
But that's not what we are here for right now.
"..." She stared at me for a moment, shaking her head in disbelief at how I was calm enough to joke around like that.
But then she shook her head and got all serious once again.
"That creature will not be easy to kill." She warned me with a sigh, her expression all grim once again. "A mother protecting her children is the worst kind of enemy you'd want to face. A Naga capable of raining poison on the enemy? You can surely imagine how dangerous that would be."
If poison were the only concern, an alchemist such as her would not be concerned about this at all. Here, she was talking about a skill that could not be dealt with the help of antidotes. I understood that much.
"While a swordmaster such as the branch manager can take down a creature like that on his own, you are surely smart enough to understand why they want the adventurers to defeat it."
It was obvious they did not want the association to hoard all the resources that they would get from this raid. But then again, if not the association, who would gain from this whole 'snake battle' thing?
A thought came to mind as I thought about it. "Could it be that the noble households around the city have a hand in all this?"
It could only be someone with as much authority as the association. And just one noble household around Westford didn't have that great an influence.
"See? You figured it out on your own." Reddy nodded in approval as if acknowledging something she already knew about. "As you said, all three baronies, two viscounties, and the county of Bazar around Westford somehow got wind of the situation.
The information seems to have leaked from the association itself, so the branch manager will be looking into this, but all these noble households around the city are pressuring the upper management.
They cannot have the loot from a special boss of the higher floors as part of their so-called 'agreements'. They claim that even if the creature appeared on the lower floor, the association hoarding the rewards would only jeopardise the whole stable market."
She had a certain hatred I seemed to have felt from her once again. She did not like the nobles, and she didn't like how this whole situation was turning out, even though there was a simple solution right before their eyes.
"Those bastards… pressuring the association into making it 'fair' just so they can have a piece of the pie. Those bastards.
It's so obvious they will send their own forces and coax the adventurer parties into representing them in the raid.
And then they will all die fighting each other for rewards instead of the actual enemy in front of them."
She clenched her fist so hard they were almost bleeding… this reckless witch.
"You dummy." I grabbed her hand and took out a handkerchief to wipe the blood first. "Why are you hurting yourself over those dumb fucks."
She took the handkerchief and just shrugged off the wound as it healed on its own the next moment. However, she did not give back my handkerchief.
"I know it's wrong, but just like how those association bastards are cursing me behind my back now, the death of all the unrelated people would be on our hands since we let this happen."
And for that, she was angry.
This is a dumb girl. Why was she so protective of all these people when she was just a guard captain? It's not like she was given the duty to protect this place by some higher power, now is it?
"Isn't there any other way we can deal with this? Let's say, what if the creature vanishes on its own without anyone knowing?"
That was possible. I mean, it will be possible as long as the dungeon doesn't get in my way.
"Then it would cause more trouble. The association would face the consequences."
Now she was sad… she did not want her mentor to face the consequences either.
This whole mess was my fault, and I can't even help her. What am I supposed to do then? Just sit there and watch as she drowns in agony?
"Let's go meet Sir Exile right now. We need to deal with this somehow."
Meeting the branch manager will help somehow.
At the very least, I won't have to watch her sorry face for the next few days.