The Morning After
The morning of the third day of the Mission Assessment dawned. With Nirti's death, the war with the Cabal was completely over.
Simon had seized control of the Gold Mine Dungeon and safely evacuated everyone.
He had kept the Cabal members alive for interrogation, but every single one of them had their internal devices activate, bursting their heads apart before they could say a word. Having that device implanted in one's body was one of the conditions for joining the Cabal.
What did they think human lives were?
Watching them go to such lengths just to keep secrets left Simon feeling more and more disgusted. He found himself genuinely curious about who—or what—that 'Elder' Nirti had spoken of really was.
Lorraine, meanwhile, contacted trustworthy people at Kizen Headquarters, and as soon as they arrived, the cleanup would begin.
Before the Headquarters personnel arrived, Simon ransacked Nirti's laboratory from top to bottom and secured every last one of the classified documents. Of course, once again they were written in some strange language that defied interpretation. He had his legion collect half of the materials and handed the remaining half over to Lorraine and the Headquarters team.
Their own intelligence resources could only go so far. Kizen Headquarters would surely be gathering information of its own to crack the documents. Lorraine promised to share the translations with Simon once the code was broken.
Afterward, the Gold Mine Dungeon was sealed.
It was a bit of a waste, but it was also the site of unspeakable horrors—and he had no intention of revealing the 7th Legion's existence to Kizen. It was the right decision.
The remaining issue was the next 'Lord' of Tarados. The townspeople had rallied behind General Amin as their new Lord, and Lorraine had volunteered to personally see the appointment through and obtain the Dark Alliance's approval.
But Amin shook his head.
"I am a criminal. Yes, I secretly aided the townspeople, but that doesn't change the fact that I served as the Lord's puppet and toyed with them."
At those words, Lorraine coolly shook her head in return.
"If you truly consider yourself a criminal, General Amin, then shouldn't you be the one to take responsibility for this land of Tarados—a land no one else will bother to govern?"
She was right. Of the nobles sent from the Alliance, who among them would genuinely work for this place?
In fact, it had been an outsider Lord arriving years ago and colluding with outside forces that started Tarados's decline in the first place.
"Standing at the highest position and running yourself into the ground for the sake of Tarados's people—that, I believe, is the greatest atonement there is."
General Amin bowed his head deeply.
After her persuasion, Amin finally accepted the position of Lord.
"Lorraine."
"What?"
"You really sounded like the Dark Alliance's Supreme Commander just now."
"...Stop teasing me."
She turned her head away as if the compliment had given her goosebumps, but there was a small smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.
As for the Ganes Guild, the death of Ganes—the glue that had held them together—sent the bandits scattering to the four winds. In the midst of it all, the bandit chief 'Karak', self-proclaimed leader of the pro-Serne faction, and his men threw a full-blown hysterical fit.
"We will follow our Queen to the very ends of the continent!"
"OOOOOH!"
Then Serne curled her lips into a wicked little smirk and said the most remarkable thing:
"You're not needed anymore, so get lost~"
Karak wailed like a man suffering a broken heart.
Abandoned by her, the Karak Family apparently swore off banditry for good and set up shop as free mercenaries.
And finally, Simon sat down to write a letter.
"Lorraine, do you think you could get me in touch with the Dresden Kingdom?"
"The Headquarters communication network should handle it fine. Why?"
"There's something urgent I need to pass along."
"Gahk! Hahk!"
The Dresden Royal Palace.
Minister of State Duke Feruts was frantically packing his bags in his own office, beside himself with panic.
Snatching up documents and shoving them haphazardly into his bag, he scrambled into his overcoat.
"Damn it! Damn it all!"
Fresh news had just arrived.
Kizen had moved. Nirti had been defeated. Tarados had been liberated.
And the person who had been closest to the Tarados branch—closest of all—was none other than himself. If even a single document naming him had fallen into Kizen's hands, his life was forfeit.
'That woman Nirti! She'd been acting uneasy this whole time, and in the end—!'
There was a meeting at the royal palace in two hours, but he had to leave this country first.
The moment he pulled out his hat, put it on, and turned to walk out of his office—
BAM!
The door was violently kicked open, and the palace guards poured in, leveling their spears at Duke Feruts.
Feruts's mind reeled, but he forced himself to steady his nerve and raised his voice.
"Wh-what is the meaning of this?! Bursting in here like this! Who sent you?!"
"I did, Duke Feruts."
A girl swept into the room, a gray academy skirt billowing around her.
The instant he laid eyes on her, Feruts made a strangled, breathless sound.
"M-Molly, Princess!"
It was Molly Dresden, the kingdom's youngest princess, newly enrolled at Kizen as a special admissions student.
"I was in the middle of my Mission Assessment with some dear friends I only just made, but as soon as I heard the news, I came running."
She brushed back her hair, her face burning with genuine fury.
"I've heard everything from Senior Student Council President Polentia. A public servant of this kingdom colludes with the Cabal in Tarados, turns a blind eye to the suffering of its people, and uses his power to block every piece of news from reaching the kingdom. Is that correct?"
Duke Feruts's lips trembled as he shook his head.
"It's—it's a conspiracy! Nothing but slander from opposition nobles trying to push me aside!"
Molly smiled coldly and waved a piece of evidence before his eyes.
"You burned every document that came out of Tarados. We salvaged a few pages from the incinerator at your estate before they were reduced to ash. How dare you disregard the voices of your own people like this!"
"My prof—profit...!"
The Duke, shaking like a leaf, suddenly spun around and lunged for the window. Molly quickly raised her index finger.
A secret technique learned from a school senior.
Leg Down
A curse seized both of the Duke's sprinting legs, and he lost his balance and crashed down in a tangle of limbs.
The guards rushed in at once, pinning him beneath their knees and binding his hands.
"...Ooh."
The necromancer who had accompanied Molly let out a sigh of admiration and canceled the binding spell he'd had ready.
"Th-that's incredible, Your Highness! You're really starting to look like a proper Kizen student—"
"Be quiet."
"Y-yes, ma'am."
Far from celebrating her first successful field curse, Molly was fuming. She glared daggers at the Duke as he was taken into custody.
"After everything Dresden has built, you've ruined it like this!"
She was ashamed.
That such horrifying things had been happening on the kingdom's own soil—and that she had known nothing about it.
And on top of that, the person who had uncovered the kingdom's failure and saved its people had to be Simon Polentia, the Student Council President she'd been so carefully courting for recruitment.
'What if Senior Simon starts thinking badly of our Dresden?'
The thought left her mouth parched.
As she watched the Duke kicking and protesting his innocence even while being dragged away, she burst out:
"You will not die a peaceful death! Duke Feruts!"
When the truth came to light—that Minister of State Duke Feruts had conspired with the Cabal—blood swept through the Dresden Royal Palace.
The kingdom attempted to interrogate Feruts, but his internal device activated, and he too died with his head bursting apart.
Meanwhile, the Black Knights, the palace's elite order, pieced together the servants' testimonies to reconstruct Feruts's movements and descended into the depths of the royal palace—a place he had frequented.
The palace's underground sewers. The deepest chamber of all.
"Ugh!"
"Nngh!"
The stench of rotting corpses rolled over them.
Monsters of every description lay scattered across the floor, nothing but bones remaining, and the Black Knights discovered the traces of a teleportation magic circle.
Some 'dreadful thing' had almost certainly been lurking in the sewers, feeding on monsters.
Before the Black Knights had even arrived, the Cabal must have moved that dreadful thing elsewhere through the teleportation circle ahead of them.
The kingdom did not take the matter lightly. To hunt down the Cabal, they resolved to cooperate with Kizen and dispatch necromancers across the entire nation.
Meanwhile, Simon took a proper rest in the town of Tarados, then decided to return to Kizen early.
Lorraine stayed behind to focus on Tarados's post-liberation affairs, and Serne said she was heading home for a visit before departing for the Ivory Tower.
"Thank you sincerely for saving Tarados."
"Really, thank you so much, Simon."
And on the way to the teleportation circle that would take him back to Kizen—
Lisa and her brother, the coachman who had driven him here and there by carriage, and all the people he had rescued came to see him off. General Amin had even canceled his own investiture ceremony to come running.
"You really don't need to bow your heads so much."
Simon waved his hands with a smile.
"I came to Tarados for my own purposes. Our interests just happened to align, that's all."
"Haha! What humble words!"
"The hero who saved hundreds of thousands of Tarados's people!"
"We will never forget you!"
The townspeople were already making preparations to erect a statue of Simon in Tarados. Simon, his face flushing scarlet, broke out in a cold sweat and begged them, absolutely not, please.
"And General Amin... no—Lord Amin."
"Yes. Speak, please."
"Nirti was a monster born of her hatred for Tarados."
"...I heard. She was the daughter of adventurers who conquered the Gold Mine Dungeon and were then murdered by the townspeople, was she not?"
General Amin had not personally lived through the Gold Mine Dungeon incident. He had been appointed after the new Lord took over—strictly speaking, an outsider himself.
Even so, now that he was Lord, he said he felt a responsibility for what had happened.
"This ordeal taught me how terrible misfortune can turn a person into a monster. There's no guarantee a second Nirti will never appear in Tarados again."
Simon extended his hand.
"I only hope that from now on, no one in this land will ever suffer unjustly or unreasonably. I leave the territory in your hands, my Lord."
General Amin clasped Simon's hand and bowed his head.
"With my life and soul, I shall serve that noble cause!"
Simon made it back to Kizen without incident.
He released his Ancient Undead into Pier's Ruins, returned to the Summoning Major Dormitory, and the moment he stepped through the door, dove straight into bed.
Haahhh.
He stared blankly at the ceiling for a while.
He wasn't sleepy, but after everything he'd been through during this Mission Assessment, his mind had simply gone numb.
"Toto isn't back yet, huh."
This Mission Assessment would last four days.
Today was only day three.
Which meant he had free time until tomorrow. Simon's arms trembled with joy.
"Today I rest, and starting tomorrow—"
Kzzt, chik—
The sound of an announcement echoed down the corridor.
— Student Council President Simon Polentia. Student Council President Simon Polentia. Please report to Professor Jane's laboratory immediately. That is all.
Apparently, the Student Council President wasn't entitled to a moment of leisure.
Simon retrieved the Student Council President's coat from the Student Council Room, put it on, and arrived at Jane's laboratory.
He cleared his throat lightly, checked his tie and shirt, and knocked politely on the door.
"Professor Jane. It's Simon."
"Come in."
Click.
Simon carefully opened the door and stepped into the laboratory. Through the bright sunlight streaming in, he could see Jane furrowing her elegant brow as she scratched away with a quill.
Today, once again, she was locked in battle with mountains of paperwork.
"Professor. You called for me?"
"I did."
Jane gestured.
"Have a seat."
"Y-yes, Professor."
Simon sat down on the sofa, straightened his back, rested his clasped hands on his knees, and waited quietly.
Silence fell. Only the scratch-scratch of the quill could be heard.
He didn't know why, but an odd tension began to build.
'...What could she want to talk about?'
Most likely, she wanted to hear his report on the Tarados incident directly from him.
Simon mentally reviewed everything once more. How much he could say, and how much he couldn't. Whether there were any gaps or contradictions in his story.
Jane could see through a careless lie in an instant.
About ten minutes of stillness passed.
Jane signed the final document, set down her quill, and looked up.
"Student Council President."
Simon tensed instantly.
Jane had called him by his title, not his name. That meant this was very likely official business, unrelated to class.
"Yes, Professor!"
"I was going to bring another student along, but I'm glad you returned early. Prepare for an outing."
Jane rose from her seat and pulled on her coat.
"The two of us are going somewhere."
"Wh-where to?"
She tilted her head slightly as she answered.
"To escort the transfer students who will be entering Kizen this year."
Simon's eyes went wide.
'Transfer students?'