“Ok, let’s not speak of that line of events ever again,” Menor spoke.

“Yes…” Desyra agreed.

“Do we really have to head to the capital?” Igno asked.

“We don’t have to if you wanted to be found,” Sors replied, with her hands behind her head.

“How should I know that a piece of trash could do such a thing? In the last world, I was in, it was simply a pebble in a river’s bed.” Igno muttered.

“Now the question is why did you pick up the rock?”

“Ok, I had to move an entire river, don’t ask why.”

After prematurely parting from the Duke’s family, the four entered the nearest town. The only reason they had to separate from their free ride, was due to the Duke’s daughter becoming a bit undignified. Desyra had known what would happen if the charmed was not in her constant presence, right after being affected. However, she was preoccupied with the joy of successfully tempting countless nobles. So she forgot to console the young noble.

Due to Desyra’s forgetfulness, she let the Duke’s daughter develop into the incorrect path. Doing emergency treatment of mind manipulation, mostly just knocking out the girl, they did their best to reduce the unwanted outcome. As the four of them did not have the habit of doing a complete restructure or rollback of the mind, even if they could, they did their best. The only thing they could not easily alter were instincts, which was the thing that was needed to be tampered with.

Within the town, Igno headed off to sell the beast materials he had. He accidentally included a single pebble in the things he sold. Apparently, the river that Igno had to move, was one that dragged souls to the afterlife. A single pebble from that type of river could be considered immensely dangerous. To understand Igno’s mistake, the idea of items desiring to stay whole comes into play. So the small pebble caused a rupture in space-time, linking the afterlife to present time. The scene was not pretty. It did not help that Sors shot a spirit-killing nuke through the portal.

“Igno please be careful next time.” Menor smiled.

“I will,” Igno muttered, “I knew bringing you along to fix things was brilliant… But did you really have to charge me for it?”

“Yes.” Menor bluntly replied.

“Don’t forget,” Sors added, “How you kind of unleashed the wrath of the world’s divinity on to that small village. The light show was pretty. Not only that, who would have thought one of Menor’s obsessive, undead disciples would appear out of the portal? The entire situation became even more chaotic when the current hero group, Desyra’s seduced hero, the shrine maiden, and our little student joined in. It suddenly somehow became an ego measuring contest.”

“Why don’t you exchange the items then, if you want to point out every single detail?” Igno said, handing a bag of dragon scales to Sors.

With rolling eyes, Sors took the bag while acting distressed. It was pretty simple to do, walk up the receptionist and hand over the bag. However, Sors had to do a bit of paperwork as she was not registered. While she did so, her companions went to an in-house bar in the building.

The place to exchange the materials for money was fairly populated during the midday. The vast majority of people were dressed in armor and holding weapons, showing their line of work. The business of beast material exchange was fairly simple, kill beasts to receive money in return. There are also requests targeting certain beasts that pay higher rewards, which makes them popular. The only problem was the danger they had to face when hunting a beast. Although the fangs of death haunt those hunters, the job provides substantial pay and allows an incomparable amount of freedom. Due to those benefits, many people take up the job. The hero party was another story altogether.

“You know,” Desyra spoke, “I wonder why the cities so barren. Not to mention the other small town we were at was similar.”

“I don’t really know, the gossip going around said when the queen succeeded the throne and she demanded that everyone be moved to a temporary capital. Rumors say that the new queen was emptying the treasury to convince the people to move.” Igno spoke while bringing out some water.

“Hm...HM? You said, new queen?” Desyra asked.

“Yes, apparently the royal captain was elected when the king died.”

“Would that mean…”

“Yes, we’re in the kingdom that you killed the ruler of.”

With a face full of surprise, Desyra turned to Menor. Smiling he slipped a bit of water. Apparently, there was someone here they should meet, so he set a course for this city. Hearing the reason for being in the area, Desyra and Igno pondered who they would meet.

At that moment Desyra remembered one of her servants, Julie. Thinking about the former bandit, she secretly checked where the girl was through the contract. The moment that Desyra confirmed her location she spat out the water she was drinking. Julie was currently locked up in the royal castle’s dungeon. Putting two and two together Desyra could not believe the chance.

“No, there is no possible way!” said Desyra.

“Who knows,” Menor spoke while giggling a bit.

“No-what-way?” Igno asked.

“You’ll see,” Menor answered.

Not caring Igno shrugged it off as Desyra was moaning in despair. Knowing that all she had to do was charge straight into the royal castle to save Julie, she did not desire to move due to Menor. She had no idea what scheme he had planned. So instead she gave her prayers to her servant. Wanting to change the current mood, Desyra looked for more victims- no, a conversation partner.

As her eyes scanned the area, she began to cherry pick her first target. A young group of four, similar in age to Igno’s current form, consisting of one boy and three girls caught her eyes. The cherry and naive air they gave off made them the perfect target to cause a ruckus. All she needed was a single seed to start chaos.

“Hey, you four!” Desyra called out, “You guys are rookies, right?”

Being called out, the young group of hunters walked over in confusion. They quickly answered yes, before telling Desyra their aspirations of success and glory. Hearing the words of overconfidence, Desyra asked what request they chose, noticing the paper they held.

“Gretons, we’re going to eradicate a greton’s nest.” The boy spoke.

“Gretons? You know what those are right?” Desyra asked, acting concerned.

Becoming baffled the boy answered hesitantly answered yes. Prompting Desyra to ask the youngsters to describe the gretons.

“Well, they’re green beasts that live in groups. They have two feet but are hunched over so they use their hands to walk…” Spoke the boy.

“And?” Desyra asked.

“They make their nests in abandon mines and caves.” Spoke another girl.

“And?” Desyra continued.

“They are a species that have high reproduction capabilities, but their intelligence is pitiful. They have a high population and are considered beginner fodder. People consider them as pests due to their constant attacks on cattle and farmlands. They are rank one on the threat level.” Said another girl who seemed intelligent.

“And?”

“…”

“Um… most of, if not all of them, are males. There is a very rare occurrence of a female greton. The chances that they appear are… one in a few trillion, I think.”

Hearing the information she was looking for; Desyra spoke, “You know all of that, but still decide to go hunt them? Not only that you’re delving into their nest. Here’s a bit of advice: If you want to live, choose something simpler.”

Not understanding Desyra’s suggestion, the young group slowly nodded and turned away. They saw a person in full amour marching over with an angry face. Looking at the incoming suit of elitism, Desyra sighed. Her plan worked a bit too well but was going to go in the wrong direction.

“Hey, Sors put in a request to change the gretons threat rank to at least 3,” Desyra called out.

Sors, who was trading the dragon scales, rolled her eyes and did what Desyra requested.

“What do you think you are saying? Are you telling these youngsters that they are too weak to face a simple Greton? I doubt you even know a single thing about living without a silver spoon. You, youngsters, don’t listen to this woman, she’s spewing nonsense.” Spoke the armored individual.

Desyra had figured the inhabitants of this world would know a bit of logic, but pride was a sin. She knew that compared to other worlds, that lack high ranking predators, the people should be fairly strong. Yet unfortunately, it seemed the brain did not develop as much as muscle strength.

Behind Desyra, Menor and Igno were silently speaking of other topics. Igno was bargaining ways to reduce the debt from Menor.

“Speaks a man who has nothing but pride,” Desyra insulted, “No mind, no wisdom, nor the will to actually raise the next generation.”

“How could nobles know anything about being a hunter? Life is not easy, Miss Special.” Said the man.

“Tell me why the greton population is so high when they mainly consist only of males?” Desyra asked.

Being stumped by the question the man in armor tried to answer but could not think of an answer. With an unimpressed expression, Desyra explained the simple logic. Gretons are beasts that mainly use females of other races to reproduce. Even if they are dumb, they still had the intelligence to do simple distractions and ambushes. With the overconfidence of the young and inexperienced, the chances of a party wipe were guaranteed. Including the fact that groups of hunters usually count lower than ten, so they lose in numbers. Also, the motivation of the gretons was survival, compared to humans’ desire for glory.

“In conclusion, the gretons- you called weak fodder- when facing an amateur party has the advantage in moral, numbers, mindset, and preparation. By treating those gretons as pests you’re just giving them sows to continue existing. Even if an amateur party survives, they would become scarred mentally and maybe physically.” Desyra wrapped up.

Hearing the undeniable truth, the entire building was silent. All the points Desyra made seemed to come from someone who was knowledgeable in hunting and fighting, especially in large-scale battles. To support Desyra’s claims she said to check the organization’s records on how many parties that never return after going to exterminate gretons.

Seeing that she had lost people to retort to, Desyra stood up and began to leave. When she was questioned how she came to such deduction, she gave off a sad look.

“I’m fortunately not a victim of such misconduct, but I, unfortunately, made the fault of sending people into such situations.” Said Desyra.

“Then where are you going now?” asked someone.

“To make sure those youngsters don’t meet such a fate.” Replied Desyra, taking out a sword.

“But you said-“

“Suicide. If I’m fated to fall, I’ll die with dignity then becoming a beast’s sow.”

Leaving the soundless building, Menor and Igno followed behind. They, unlike everyone else, had not paid attention nor did they care. After a minute or two, Sors came running. She threw cards to each of her companions, and intentionally missed Igno’s raised hand.

“You!” Igno cried, watching the card whizzing off into the distance.

“I can’t hit something that’s not there.” Sors shrugged.

“Those kids gotten pretty far, haven’t they?” Menor asked.

“It’s a bit surprising that their walking speed is faster than running,” Desyra commented.

Over with the young group, they had entered an abandoned ruin. Preceding down a set of broken stairs, they carefully inspected their surroundings. Within the ruins were maze-like hallways, so they carefully decided where to go. Using chalk they drew small arrows to allow the group to return. Every so often they would notice a greton off in the distance. Being the overconfident humans they were, they carefully stalked the supposedly unsuspecting beast.

As their attention was focused on the single beast in front of them, they had not noticed the movements behind themselves. In the shadows of the torch, more gretons awaited for their own prey. With soft steps, both sides prepared to jump their target. The young hunters prepared the “lone” greton and the greton horde for the inexperienced youths.

Under the silent darkness lit by a flickering flame, the gretons made the first move. One of them slowly reached out to grab one of the unsuspecting females of the party. The girl who was, unbeknownst to herself, about to be taken prisoner could only see the hands in her far peripheral vision. The moment she noticed it was too late. With her mouth covered she was pulled back.

Before she could be dragged into the darkness, the greton fell and its hand’s grip weakened. Using the chance, the girl escaped and returned to her companions. Understanding the situation, her companions prepared to fight but they suddenly were greeted by the echoing sounds of falling objects.

“Told you ricochets are easy.”

“Why don’t you just throw your entire warehouse at them and see if you clear this nest before you even enter?”

“Only you can do that with your robotic calculations.”

“You don’t need to have a computer-like mind to do simple mental calculations.”

“How much do you think each one of these fetches for? Wait, warehouse?”

“Ah, that was a failure of suspense.”

Hearing the words coming from the darkness, they saw the woman who had questioned them. Behind her were three people wearing odd clothes entering the torch’s light. Despite walking into dangerous territory, they were placid. Though they had messed with a dragon earlier, so they would not need to care.

“Suspense? Please, that only happens when you actually care for people you, emotionless person.” Said Sors.

“Emotions make the world beautiful,” Menor spoke.

“Why are you suddenly acting as if you’re a good for nothing Pollyanna?” Sors raised an eyebrow.

Seeing the four calmly walking over to them, the juveniles were dumbfounded. Before they could even ask a single question, Menor had sent a fireball towards the darkness ahead of them. With the dark being casted aside, countless gretons were revealed lying in wait.

There was the sudden awkward silence that lasted a minute before every normal being’s mind could process the situation. Out of pure instinct, the rookies and gretons acted. The group of youngsters retreated away from the hordes of greton. Not only did the beasts rush from the front they came from every other direction possible. The unmoved four could only shake their heads.

“Would you call this self-defense?” asked Desyra.

“Don’t care, eating them!” Claimed Igno.

Jumping towards the incoming horde, Igno’s body had suddenly turned transparent and expanded. He had lost his humanoid figure and turned into a giant blob of liquid. Using the momentum, he created while in his humanoid form, the giant blob turned into a seamless flow of aqueous material. When any greton came into contact with the acidic liquid they were instantly devoured and dissolved.

“Why doesn’t It just eat those things from earlier?” asked Sors, shooting off an assault rifle into the beasts.

“Probably dignity?” Menor answered, freezing many of the gretons with cyan flames.

“Dignity from a waste diner?” Desyra laughed, decapitating countless gretons.

“Well, it’s similar to how a succubus who lost their lust,” Menor answered.

“…” Desyra stayed silent, collapsing an entire tunnel with a single slash, “You dare?”

The four youngsters were astonished. Not only at the seemingly endless hordes of gretons, but also at the three saviors. The three of them easily held back the sea of beasts without a second thought. Especially Igno, who suddenly turned into a slime, but he ran off somewhere.

After countless corpses were shattered, blown up and slashed, the three began to show concern. Looking at each other they nodded, agreeing to an unspoken plan. In one swift movement, all of them jumped back as the ground began to rumble. Sors had stashed away her gun and her hand suddenly retracted into her arm, firing a laser at the gretons. With a flash of light, the corridor was left scorched with molten stone. The floor was suddenly lifted up and zoomed down the burned corridor. Soon after the flying slab of earth brought them out of the ruins.

“So that’s the reason why the capital was evacuated,” Sors muttered.

“The new queen’s pretty smart, preventing the situation from snowballing. But why hasn’t she informed the union, err- organization or whatever you call them?” Said Desyra.

“Would you believe a population of millions living under the capital? Also, the chances of trusting such claims are low, even more, so it is near impossible for the current level of humans to investigate the claim.” Menor shrugged.

“Now that makes me more interested in this queen.” Desyra smiled.

“Don’t get your hopes up,” Menor warned.

“Thank you!” Spoke a voice.

Behind the three, they noticed the youngsters. From the reactions Sors and Desyra had, they completely forgot their original reason to be in the ruins. Thought they only went to waste a bit of time. Menor, on the other hand, with his oh-so-perfect memory, he did not care. Avoiding the stiff atmosphere Desyra told the rookies it was not a problem.

“Um, if I may ask? Would your companion, err- would your slime be okay?” Asked one of the youngsters.

“It?” Sors asked.

“Our slime?” Desyra tilted her head.

“It should be fine,” Menor answered, “You should know slimes can only be killed if their membrane or core gets ruptured. In Igno’s case he doesn’t have those, so he’s basically living liquid. Speaking of the devil…”

“Oh, how kind of you to actually use my name,” Igno spoke, reforming into his former humanoid form from water vapers, “Anyhow we should leave, that city has, at max, a week.”

With simple words, the four turned to quickly return to the capital. The youngsters had also followed behind, they were grateful to live, but the ominous words did not allow the feeling to linger. Both groups split up the moment they entered the barren capital. The rookies went to report to the hunting organization while the four marched into the royal castle.

Because due to the unwanted king’s death, a successor had to be decided, but it was not one of the king’s offspring. Instead, a current commanding general of the royal guards was elected to take the throne. The general’s prowess in architecture, agriculture, economics and many other subjects made her shine greater than the king’s offspring. Even the current prince, princesses and queen agreed… was the word that went around. There were a few rumors that the general was forced into the position, but there was no evidence of such events.

Unlike the previous times, where Menor had politely received permission, he just waltzed right into the royal castle. The guards tried to restrain him; however, Menor slipped through all their attempts. Seeing how their companion was acting, Sors, Igno, and Desyra could only be stumped on the reason why Menor was so bold. They all know how true walking on thin ice was, but Menor’s current behavior seemed to not take the saying into account.

In a matter of seconds, he had reached the doors to the royal throne. Slipping past the giant doors Menor entered. Seeing that they were being left behind, Menor’s companions quickly followed. Once inside the grand and elaborate room, all of them walked down the lush red carpet laid out in front of them. The vast room bordered by towering columns gave off an expensive vibe.

Noticing the four, a man in red robes yelled, “HALT! Who dares barge into the-“

Before the man could finish his words they were stopped when the newly appointed queen raised her hand. The queen, who had black hair with a green tint, held a grand smile seeing the four enter.

“You got to be kidding me!” Desyra gasped. “I thought you framed me but…”

“So that’s what’s in the letter.” Sors smiled.

“It kind of explains a lot now.” Said Igno.

The smiling queen suddenly stood up and jumped, sending her crown and cape flying. Soaring through the air holding no elegance or grace, she shouted, “Father!”

Catching the queen, Menor swung her around before hugging her, “Memora, my girl, how have you been?”