While the First Army Battalion hurried to return from the Easteria Forest in the Ferias Territory, the white-masked entity spun around and danced wildly in a deserted back-alley.

“Y-y-y-your p-p-pra-prayers a-are u-useless…… o-o-open y-your eyes, brothers!”

The reddish-black rain fell on the alleyway in the middle of the night in the Royal Capital of Selkram.

“Augh… kuh, kahah!?”

“H-huh? My… my strength is…. Nngh!!”

Even though there are signs that the epidemic has been spreading throughout the Royal Capital, there is still a minimum amount of human activity to sustain life so the flow of people and the economy does not stop.

Thus, some people have collapsed on the streets today as well.

“O-overcome th-t-this tra-tragedy, m-my d-de-dear humans! O-overc-come it w-with your pe-persistence!!”

Unnoticed, the dancing entity declared madly in a string of stuttered words even though nobody heard him…. 

……………

………

…

“King Alexius, there are an estimated 4,300 people who are affected by the bleeding disease in the country right now. The medical facilities of the holy cathedrals and the city hospitals in each part of the city are already at capacity and the city government cannot support the rising number of cases anymore.”

The indecisive, middle-aged King’s expression was dark in contrast to his bright golden hair when he received the report from the old Head Magician.

“… A short while ago, Sir Eiward proposed that we ban all the victims of the bleeding disease who cannot be accommodated by the medical facilities from the capital. It is supposed to decrease the number of secondary infections, but what do you think of it?”

“Well, it would be effective, but the risk of the city falling into chaos is quite high… we could also opt to make temporary quarantine facilities outside of the Royal Capital, but…”

“Then let us go with that option. However, instead of a quarantine facility, let us make a treatment facility instead. We must consider how to avoid discriminatory prejudice against those affected with the bleeding disease and their families.”

 Sitting on his throne, Alexius let out a deep sigh.

“But I wonder if it will be alright?”

“What are you talking about?”

“I am talking about the ‘pledge’ that my foster daughter brought with her, Sire.”

“Oh, that… it’s fine, it’s something concerning the Royal Capital, so we cannot ignore it. I’m sure that if I were a mere citizen, I would not pay for it with only my voice.”

Whether it was a subconscious action or not, the King lightly stroked his throat.

Upon seeing the behavior, Greio Elballard let out a tired sigh.

(Even though Ernesta pushed strongly for this, but for the King of a country to sign a ‘pledge’ with a monster…he is just too good of a person… caring for his people is a good quality to have, but he is a King ruling in a peaceful time…)

“By the way, I’m curious about the High Kobold that Ernesta says she’s bringing with her. I have never seen a Kobold after all.”

So he has never seen an actual monster before…

“Rest easy, Your Highness… everything is being taken care of as we speak, so let us wait for the good news.”

Greio turns on his heel and leaves the audience hall. There were a lot of things that needed to be done.

For now, there was the matter of building a treatment facility outside the Royal Capital as we discussed earlier, and the consultation regarding the acceptance of the Papal Office’s request to dispatch the Templar Knights’ Special Forces to the Capital.

(They are quite enthusiastic even though the tables always get turned on them and most of them end up dead from the disease.)

The Special Force of the Templar Knights exists only to extinguish Alvesta of the Black Rain, chasing the white-masked monster during the period of its appearance. They are always wiped out whenever this monster appears but is it because there are a lot of overzealous believers that this unit is still around to this day?

In any case, it was bad form to keep the Cardinal waiting, so the grey-haired Head Mage hastened his steps and headed to the next location.

……………

………

…

Together with Ernesta and her troops, we left Easteria forest and walked through the grasslands for a while, and headed to the place where their camp was set up. More than a dozen squires were accompanying the Knights there, and they seemed to be preparing dinner while keeping watch over their supplies.

With my sense of smell, I picked up the aroma of freshly made soup. However, seeing as it’s made on the march, it’s probably a simple meal.

“We’re not that familiar with your eating habits, but are you alright with pea soup? There’s also some reconstituted dry beef and some bread, but…”

“Guu, guuon.” [Yes, we’re fine with it.]

“… Guua, gaoaan guaoaon.” (… But it’s too unsettling with all these humans around.)

“Wafua, gaoaau~” (That’s right, there are so many humans around~)

Compared to Blazer who is always vigilant of his surroundings, Ax is relaxed even at times like these.

“Wau, guruo kuruua guoaruu, gaaguoun woauuu.” (Well, they’re not so different from the Werecats anyway. Although I must say, they smell strongly of iron.)

“Kuu, kuruan garuou.” (I, I think so too.)

Maybe it’s because they have been dealing with the little project involving the Werecats of Lucua village who look similar to humans, but Lancer and Dagger do not seem wary of the humans either.

Meanwhile, I left the management of the pack to Knuckle and Buster.

Just to be safe, I instructed them to take everyone to the abandoned settlement that the Goblins previously occupied near Lucua village and hide after we left.

I have been told that it was where Knuckle, Smith, and the other floppy-eared Kobolds’ previous pack used to live in, so I entrusted them with leading the way.

If I did not make a “pledge” with the silver-haired, blue-eyed mage, then I would have been thoroughly bewildered, but… My pledge required us to accompany them to the Royal Capital to confirm and present the outcome of the negotiations to the King. After he agrees to our terms and likewise makes his pledge, then we will assist in defeating the Black Rain. Meanwhile, Ernesta’s pledge entailed eliminating any human that will try to harm us during our cooperation in their operations.

The price for violating either of the pledges is the loss of sight.

Not letting me carry out the pledge one-sidedly might be her way of showing her sincerity, but… it seemed too forced to begin with.

I glared at Ernesta’s back disapprovingly.

“… Then, I’m going to have some food brought to you in a while. Glen, has their tent been prepared?”

“Yes, we have already set up two tents for them.”

“We have already prepared a place for you to stay, so shall we go? After dinner, I will be distributing some of our weapons to you as promised.”

As she said this, she turned around and we followed her as she walked ahead and led us to the tents prepared for us.