Recruit Party Members (1)
One of the buildings owned by the Midas Merchant Group near the Academy. It was a place we often used for meetings like the one with Theo, so normally our Arabian Nights uncle, Dorf Brams, managed it… but why did all the staff look like they were on the verge of collapse?
"Welcome, everyone. The guest is waiting inside."
The employee, who looked like he'd just been granted a reprieve upon seeing us, guided us into the room. There, a man with thick black hair was gulping down wine straight from the glass.
"Whoa, as expected from the infamous Midas Merchant Group. You've got some really nice stuff. Don't tell me this was also plundered through some dirty methods?"
"Of course not. These are all items purchased through clean and legitimate means. Feel free to drink to your heart's content."
"Hahaha! What a perfect sycophant's face you've got there. If the owner doesn't get his act together, he'll be completely taken in!"
Dietrich von Draug, acting like he owned the place despite being the guest, lounged around comfortably, while Dorf Brams stood beside him, rubbing his hands together obsequiously. What the hell was this situation?
"Commander, please maintain some dignity…"
"Damn it, do I look like I can stop drinking? These bastards and those bastards are all so frustrating I could scream."
The young man who appeared to be Dietrich's adjutant was desperately trying to preserve the dignity of the Empire's Eastern Army, but it seemed impossible to rein in a madman whose military prowess and family background were both overwhelming. His name was… Bargal Odina, I think? I remembered he was the younger brother from the sibling pair we'd worked with during the last Black Mountain expedition.
"Oh, our glorious Empire Ranger friends have finally arrived. I was bored to death waiting and waiting."
"We're not on an Academy request right now, so we're not Empire Rangers. And I'm a student, so my schedule is fixed, you know? I can't just drop everything because someone randomly yells 'Hey! Get out here!'"
"Bullshit. The way I see it, the moment you need something, you'll flip your entire schedule upside down and cause a scene anyway."
What the hell was he talking about? Where could you find a person who valued their set schedule more than I did? It was this world, constantly throwing new incidents and accidents at me, that was the problem. I was a thorough planner. And Ligret, why are you nodding your head like that?
"U-um, isn't he a Marquis and the Eastern Army Commander? Can you really spout such rude nonsense to him?"
"Why the hell not? I can even bark like a dog. Woof! Woof woof! Grrrr! How's that?"
"This guy is seriously driving me insane."
Was it the same with Professor Istal? Did all powerhouses who surpassed a certain level inevitably develop rotten personalities? Or did they become that strong precisely because their personalities were already broken?
"By the way… hmm?"
Dietrich, who had been rambling on, suddenly turned his gaze toward Ligret. He scanned her from head to toe, then let out a low whistle of admiration.
"Whoa, you've grown quite a bit since I last saw you."
"Commander!"
His adjutant let out a horrified scream, and I immediately began plotting a scheme to use the Southern Army to cut off the Eastern Army's head. Sorry about this, Kalyos Schmidt. You'll have to become the spear that pierces this madman. Even if you die in the process, I'll make sure your family receives generous compensation—
"Hey, hey, Bargal. It's not what you're thinking, so calm down. Seriously, you act like such a model citizen normally, but you're way worse when it comes to this stuff. That's what happens when you keep refusing to visit the brothels with the other soldiers, claiming you're devoted to one woman. You're just letting all that lust build up. Stop embarrassing the entire Eastern Army and sit still."
"Urk, cough, ack!"
Having his personal sex life exposed in front of others, and then being lectured about dignity by the very man blowing a horn in someone else's house, the adjutant's blood pressure apparently skyrocketed. His face turned beet red as he lost the ability to speak in human language. Feeling a bit embarrassed on his behalf, I silently thanked him for becoming the sacrifice in my place and quickly scrapped the plan.
Ligret replied with a sullen expression.
"You're way higher ranked than me, yet you're the one being sarcastic?"
"Don't get cocky, brat. I wasn't even close to your level at that age. That one-eyed glasses guy next to you looks pretty useful compared to back then. Seems like the Academy is actually good for something."
As Dietrich muttered to himself with a nod—something along the lines of 'So this is how Daniel felt when he looked at me? No, I got stronger without any of that, so I'm better'—I spoke up.
"More importantly, could you get to the main topic? As I said earlier, we're not exactly free either."
"Ah, right, right. First of all, have you heard about the jailbreak incident?"
"I know as much as I need to."
"My schedule got completely screwed because of that damn masked bastard."
According to Dietrich, the original reason he'd come up to the capital was to directly confront the higher-ups. No matter how many reports of abnormal activity from the east he sent, requesting military mobilization, they kept ordering him to stand by.
"The number of those new monster types keeps increasing, and they're not just wandering around randomly like before. They're showing organized movements. Before Ivestan pulls something, we need to move first."
"That won't be as easy as it sounds."
Dietrich's argument that they needed to respond quickly to the ominous signs wasn't wrong, but the Empire's upper echelons weren't sitting idle out of stupidity either. Even if they did move, what exactly could they do? Crossing the mountains and entering Ivestan's territory outright would be an undeniable declaration of war. The only feasible option was to sweep through the interior of the mountain range, but as anyone could tell from the inclusion of the notoriously dangerous Black Mountains, the Eastern Mountains themselves were a natural fortress and obstacle. Simply using them as a 'path' or 'transit point' already required immense command and leadership ability. And now they wanted to thoroughly search every corner of that place? In an insane environment where magic-mutated beasts and monsters roamed like ordinary wild animals? Were they suggesting we dump massive amounts of feed and fertilizer into the Eastern Mountains ecosystem?
No matter how many elites the Eastern Army had, this wasn't a scale they could handle alone. It would require a grand operation involving other imperial armies or even the forces of the vassal states. But Dietrich seemed to have a different idea.
"We don't need any of that crap. Just give me some mages who can search a wide area and permission to move freely."
"…Um, I hope I'm misunderstanding you, but—"
"If I can pinpoint the location of those damn new monsters right away, I'll just cut them all down myself."
This guy… was a commander? Or was he some hunter who specialized in slaying ancient dragons? What kind of army commander solved strategic and tactical problems with 'Oh! If super strong me just cuts them all down, it'll be fine!'?
Whether I was dumbfounded or not, Dietrich gulped down more alcohol as if venting his frustration.
"But when I tried to take some of those court mages with me, every single one of them was going crazy over that damned jailbreak incident and wouldn't even listen. Damn it, just thinking about how we let him escape pisses me off even more."
Anyway, he continued.
"If you think about it, this whole mess started because you threw that criminal or whatever into prison. So come up with a solution."
"Isn't this a bit much? Blaming the person who worked hard for the country—isn't that going too far?"
"I'll allow the Midas Merchant Group's branch to establish a presence in our Draug territory."
"Oh my, are you trying to buy me with money? I'm not that cheap of a person."
"That hair dye you've been selling lately. Pitch it to the higher-ups as useful for camouflage during operations. If it gets added to the military supplies list, it'll bring in quite a nice profit."
"…Hmm, ahem. But I have to take classes in the newly established Integrated Combat Department now."
"Your territory is in the east anyway, right? How about sending some instructors to train our soldiers?"
"Dorf! The guest's wine is empty! Refill it immediately!"
"Yes, young master Chrome!"
"M-Mister Baron Midas!?"
I could feel Dietrich's adjutant panicking and Ligret giving me a look that said 'Of course you'd do this,' but I didn't even flinch. As expected from someone with so much to offer—the deals he proposed were on a whole different scale. He kept doubling down, and I just couldn't hold out.
"First of all, pulling out the court mages is impossible. I'm not trying to claim superiority here, but it's true that we need people to deal with those insane fanatics."
An enemy with insane abilities who had openly attempted to rescue an ally captured in the middle of the capital and actually succeeded. From what I'd heard, Dietrich had nearly cut him down, which suggested the ability might not work on those above a certain level of strength, or at least its effect would be halved. Still, we couldn't fight an opponent with such a dangerous ability based on vague speculation alone. We needed people to research exactly what the ability was, how it worked, and how to counter it. It would be even better if they got so angry about their own prison being breached that they wiped the guy out completely.
"Then what do you suggest?"
"It doesn't have to be court mages, does it? We just need people capable of moving freely inside the mountain range."
During the last Black Mountain search, both my authority and ability had been lacking, so Ligret and I had struggled. But things were different now. With Her Highness the Princess's power having grown stronger, there was room to pull some tricks.
"Please officially request the Academy's Special Request Division—no, the 'Empire Rangers.'"