Chapter 115.2

Chapter 115

Harold couldn’t tell if he was imagining it, but it felt like Fiona’s face had turned even paler than before . She could barely stand .

Though he did feel sorry for her, Harold was opting for a calculating mindset at moment .

He believed that by sufficiently agitating Fiona now, he would be able to persuade her to collaborate with him later on .

At that moment, something suddenly caught his eyes .

Down at the bottom of the cave on the other side of the glass, where the thousands of monsters were wriggling around, there was a giant door meant to serve as an entrance for the monsters .

However, aside from that one giant door, there was a regular, human-sized door placed 10 whole meters (30 feet) above the bottom of the cave .

What felt the most out of the place in that picture was the path that led to said smaller door . It seemed quite dangerous .

A lone wall had been carved into a set of stairs with no safety measures save for an iron fence on the side meant to prevent accidental falls .

No matter how Harold looked at them, these stairs had clearly been boorishly installed after the door was built .

The high position of the door could certainly serve to keep the monsters out of reach, but would Justus really build something so crude?

【”Is something the matter?”】

【”…It’s nothing . There is no meaning in staying longer, let us hurry and return . ”】

Though this was worrisome, Harold was not going to understand it unless he went inside the cave, and now was not the time for that .

Given that Fiona was barely standing on her feet, Harold entrusted her to the man from Giffelt and took the lamp in his stead as they all traced back their steps in the tunnels .

Though he held his sword in his right hand the whole time in case the group was attacked due to their intrusion, their escape ended up being anticlimactically easy .

The whole round-trip had taken about 4 hours .

【”Hey, you . ”】

【”…What is it?”】

These were the first words the exhausted Fiona had uttered in a long while .

Harold would have recommended that she take some rest if not for the emergency of the situation, but right now, she had a job to do . If she had to whip her exhaustion away for it, then so be it .

【”What are you planning to do?”】

【”What I’m planning? For starters, I’ll have to inform the others of the situation… No, actually, if I announce it out of nowhere, it will only bring confusion . Maybe I should get the mayor to contact our town’s lord, and then we’ll come up with a pretext to start evacuating the people…”】

Fiona started looking for a solution, muttering her options to herself like her mind’s gears were beginning to turn .

【”If you follow the procedures, how long will take to start the evacuation?”】

【”…A month, at least . ”】

【”You don’t say . ”】

【”Miss, to be honest with you, it’s highly likely that it will be too late by then . ”】

【”Why do you think so?”】

【”We actually know of other places where monsters have been gathered . Based on those experiences and on what we’ve seen here, this group is particularly active . It seems like it will start moving within a month . ”】

【”But that’s…! What should we do then?!”】

【”As Barston’s leaders, you should immediately evacuate the town and then seek protection from your town’s lord . If you don’t make it in time, I’m afraid your people will die . ”】

The man made his answer very clear .

Nevertheless, it was likely going to be difficult for Fiona to make such a decision .

After all, she did not have the authority to evacuate anyone in the first place .

【”If that gets your panties in a bunch, then you better gather your town’s representatives and share what you found out here with them . ”】

【”Do you think that will be enough to evacuate everyone immediately?”】

【”Obviously . ”】

【”…A meeting will be held in our town’s assembly hall around tomorrow afternoon . ”】

【”Good . This should go without saying, but now that you’ve seen what you’ve seen, you stand by our side, understood?”】

【”I know…”】

“Condescending as ever . ” Fiona would probably have thought something along those lines before her trip in the tunnels, but she no longer seemed to have the leeway for such thoughts now .

With heavy footsteps, she disappeared into the town .

With this, Harold had managed to take care of the day’s preliminary preparations, as well as the ones that were supposed to come further down the line .

The best Harold could do now was pray that the situation would stagnate until the arrival of the reserve group of mercenaries .

It was already determined that trouble would come in succession until Liner and the others would put Justus’ plan to an end, so there was no avoiding that anyway .

(I should be done for today . )

But now, it was time for Harold to give his body and mind some much needed rest, and that was not something to neglect .

【”Hey, take me to the inn . ”】

【”As you wish . Please follow me . ”】

“Now that I think about it, what’s this guy’s name?” While realizing that he had missed the timing to ask that question, Harold headed for the inn where Keith and the others were staying .

Although his wounds had healed, the truth was that his strength and motor functions were not exactly in the best state they could be .

All he wanted to do was wash away his sweat in a shower, fill his stomach, and sleep early .

However, even such small wishes seldom were granted for he who wore the name of Harold Stokes .

When he was about to reach the inn, Harold found a group of people making a fuss outside a place which, judging by the sign at the front, was a restaurant .

(Look at these guys, already drunk in the middle of the day?)

Thinking so, Harold passed by them while looking from a distance .

…Or rather, he tried to pass by them, until he realized that they looked familiar to him .

In fact, let alone just being familiar, they were members of Frieri .

(Huh? What the hell are they doing?)

The members of Frieri had a naturally terrible temper, so the situation was not surprising . However, Harold still could not tell why they would make such a fuss .

(I’ll forcefully subdue them before they cause more trouble . )

Though they had once been mercenaries, their current behavior was going over the line . That being the case, Harold rushed to apply a hasty solution…

…A too hasty solution . If he had taken the time to see the people the Frieri members were quarreling against, he likely would not have stepped in so carelessly .

【”You, what in the world do you think you’re doing…?”】

【”B-boss? No, you’re wrong!”】

【”Wrong about what?”】

【”This is a misunderstanding, just a misunderstanding!”】

Under the overwhelming pressure of Harold’s rising anger, the two men immediately backed off, as expected .

However, despite the cramped expressions on their faces, they still had it in them to voice their excuses .

【”All we did was eat some food!”】

【”And it was really good!”】

‘How did that turn into this?‘ Harold’s eyes urged them to continue .

【”So we wanted to thank the chef!”】

【”That’s right! But we wanted to do it in a cool way, like that one time! So we thought, ‘let’s try to do it… . ”】

―― like the boss did’ .

【”Huh?”】

Their words overlapped .

Though he didn’t like it, Harold had to assume they were referring to him .

At this point, a memory resurfaced in his mind .

Going back to the past, at a time when the number of members of Frieri was seeing a small rise, Harold, as the so-called head of the organization, organized a meeting at a restaurant .

This was meant to serve both as a get-together and as a form of recognition of their work .

Though he had been careful to make a reservation beforehand, a meeting of almost twenty brawny men eating and drinking together was bound to cause a racket .

That being said, it never turned into a rampage either; making it difficult to ask them to be all cautious .

Therefore, when the feast reached its high point, Harold called that restaurant’s chef to resolve the uncomfortable situation .

A noble who brought bad people who were up to no good along with him . That was how Harold would have appeared that day from an outsider’s point of view . He had made the staff of the restaurant quite scared .

When the chef came to him, trembling from fear, Harold naturally tried to keep his words to the point so as not to say anything excessive .

『I suppose that didn’t taste too awful . Take this . 』

While saying that, Harold threw a full bag of gold towards him .

He did figure that was too much money even when including a nuisance fee, but for Harold, who still held the capital from the LP farming and kept his savings through the Sumeragi family, this amount was akin to a simple tip .

Back then, Harold had made himself look like an unlikable upstart of noble descent, but that whole interaction had apparently turned into a cool scene in the drunken eyes of the members of Frieri .

【”The thing is we weren’t good at it, so they got scared…”】

【”Figured as much . ”】

【”Then, we ended up arguing with the staff and some other people around…”】

【”If you’re not used to it, don’t try it, you bunch of idiots . ”】

【”【”Sorry… . ”】”】

Their words overlapped once again .

If they were telling the truth and really had no ill intent, then it was probably the right call for Harold to personally resolve the conflict as their boss .

Thinking so, Harold turned towards one of the people who had been arguing with them .

Much like his subordinates before, Harold’s sneer made way for an ever so slightly cramped up expression .

The man’s once childish traits had turned into an adult’s, but his orange hair that resembled a lion’s mane was still the same as back in the days .

Harold could tell with one look who this was .

【”Y-you are… Harold…?”】

This was a man who had spent quite some time in Harold’s company during his few months in the knight order .

His name was Sid .