"Aaah... I'm so tired I could die..."
"...We're basically there, so quit whining. I'm already about to drop dead from sleep as it is."
On the first floor of the [Guild] branch in [Blumund].
After the [Guild Master], Fuze, stepped out for a while to meet Shizue, the building had fallen into a long, quiet lull. Then three adventurers who looked like a [party] walked in.
A blond sorcerer, a heavily armored Fighter, and a tall thief—a very simple lineup, like a textbook example of an ordinary [party].
"...My lord, miss. If you still have the strength to complain, then hurry upstairs and take it up with the [Guild Master]. Grumbling here won't make our break any longer..."
The thief, Gido, let out a short sigh as he spoke to the Fighter and the sorcerer.
At that, Kabal—the Fighter and leader of this [party]—muttered that he got it and waved a hand lazily.
"Even if you hadn't said anything, I was going to give him a piece of my mind this time. I don't care if we're from [Sarion], sending us straight into the Jura Great Forest out of nowhere is ridiculous."
From [Sarion].
It might sound strange that humans would come from a land famous for [Elf]s and magitech, but the woman disguised as a sorcerer, Eren, was no ordinary human.
And in the same way, Kabal and Gido were not adventurers of the sort one commonly saw, either.
That was because their "true identities" were high enough that they could casually speak of the king of this nation, [Blumund], as if he were beneath them.
High enough to give one a sense not unlike the [Heavenly Emperor].
"...Ugh, let's just make our report and go rest already..."
Complaining to each other about how exhausted they were as they climbed the stairs, Eren, Kabal, and Gido soon arrived in front of Fuze's office.
Eren stepped forward as their representative and slowly knocked on the office door.
Knock knock.
"Mr. Fuze... we're back..."
Eren called out in a limp voice, dragging out the end of her words as she knocked. From inside came a sluggish reply, utterly unlike the usual [Guild Master].
"...C-come in."
"...?"
It was a voice trembling rather badly, like an adventurer encountering a monster for the first time.
Fuze was a man who always wore a stern face and a serious expression, so hearing him answer in a shaking voice made all three of them tilt their heads in confusion.
Click.
But the doubt only lasted a moment.
Thinking things like, "Is he just feeling off today?" or "Did he eat something bad this morning?" they decided it was probably nothing and opened the door with the same worn-out expressions as before.
Right now, getting some rest as soon as possible felt far more urgent than worrying about Fuze.
**
A few minutes before Eren, Kabal, and Gido came in.
"...So what exactly is it that you wanted to ask me...?"
Three pairs of eyes, each holding a different kind of radiance.
Fuze, now receiving the full attention of what anyone would acknowledge as humanity's greatest military power, waited for Adelio to speak and at last reached a kind of enlightenment.
'If I say even one wrong thing, I'm dying here today...'
Fuze did think Adelio and Shizue were fairly tolerant people, but even so, he had no choice but to answer slowly, afraid he might misspeak.
After all, among the rumors surrounding Adelio were stories like how he indulged in women and kept many lovers, how the great mage who was his lover was actually a demon he served, and how his tastes were so unusual that not only had he charmed the [Heavenly Emperor], he had even charmed her mother as well—strangely believable rumors, somehow.
Because of that, Fuze had concluded Adelio probably had at least a somewhat eccentric temperament, and so he kept himself as respectful as possible while lowering his gaze to the floor.
"...If it's a question I can answer, then I'll answer anything."
Of course, his voice was still trembling, and Adelio let out a dry laugh at the sight.
"You don't need to be that nervous. I just wanted to meet three adventurers, that's all."
"...A-adventurers, you say...? Among the adventurers from [Blumund], I can't think of any outstanding enough for Lord Adelio to know..."
"No, I'm not looking for outstanding adventurers. Though they do seem a little unusual."
He said he was "looking" for them, but Adelio had really come here to meet them.
The three adventurers he had first seen when he came out of the Sealed Cave with Rimuru.
Because this was exactly where Kabal, Eren, and Gido would appear again.
'If I just kill a little time like this, they should show up soon enough.'
There was a way to call them in directly through [Sarion], their homeland, but that would have meant giving Ermesia leverage over him, so Adelio had chosen this method by making use of the knowledge from his previous life.
As he had told Gazel, he did intend to visit [Sarion] again at some point, but not until the matter of the great forest was settled.
For now, he wanted to avoid it as much as possible.
"I'm looking for a three-man [party] led by a B-rank adventurer named Kabal. It's about their investigation of the great forest."
"...!!"
"I've been keeping a close eye on Veldora's disappearance too, so of course I know what's going on over on [Blumund]'s side. And yes, I intend to cooperate."
"Y-you mean that...? Truly?"
Adelio's cooperation.
In other words, it was the same as one of the great powers representing the West stepping in directly.
If someone known to stand closer than anyone else to the peak a single individual could reach offered his help, then even the [Eastern Empire] would not be able to move so easily.
'Is he planning to become a new deterrent in place of the [Storm Dragon] himself...?'
Still unaware of the birth of that monstrous slime, Fuze ran through endless possibilities in his head and screamed inwardly without a sound.
That had been ten minutes before Kabal's group arrived.
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