Volume 13 Chapter 1 Formation Ceremony
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
*Kent’s Perspective
”From now on, we begin the formation ceremony of the first Southern Region large-scale monster hunting expedition team.”
In the garden in front of the Estfort castle, there were about hundreds of representatives from the military, monster hunters, bureaucrats, traders, and private soldiers who would be participating in this expedition.
”Kent Blackdagger, the King, has words for us.”
Conrad, who was hosting, signaled for me to come to the stage.
I hurried towards the stage, holding a microphone.
”Pay attention! Everyone, listen carefully to King Kent’s words!”
At Conrad’s command, the participants straightened their postures and stood still.
Even the monster hunters, who would normally ignore strict instructions, were surprised to see them adjusting their posture to listen to me.
”Ah, it’s not a big deal, you don’t have to be so formal. Just relax and listen.”
I sent a look to Conrad.
”The King allows you to relax!”
A sense of relief spread among the participants.
”That’s fine. What I want you all to remember for this expedition is ‘Don’t die.’ As residents of my country, think about surviving dirtily rather than dying heroically. Dying serves no purpose. I want everyone in the expedition team to engraved this deeply and fight monsters with all your might. We have a solid medical system for injuries and illnesses. If you get even a scratch, make sure to take a break.”
My words caused a stir among the participants.
The purpose of the expedition is to expel monsters, but it’s true that we want to avoid any deaths.
”Don’t let your precious lives be taken by monsters. So, I’m strictly ordering you, ‘Don’t die.’”
Many participants seemed to understand the meaning of my words and showed a determined expression.
”Now, everyone raise your glasses.”
Each participant took a wine glass from the table.
After making sure everyone had a glass, I raised mine up high.
”To a safe journey, cheers!!”
Following my lead, everyone echoed ‘cheers’ and downed their glasses in one go.
”Now, feel free to chat and enjoy. Make sure to take food and drinks home with you, don’t leave anything behind!”
With that said, I left the stage.
* * *
As I returned to my seat, Conrad, the MC, approached me.
”Lord Kent… you really skipped the whole ceremony…”
We had discussed it beforehand; I always thought these stiff ceremonies should be short, so I made some changes on my own.
”Sorry, but I always say I hate these stiff formalities.”
Garvey came over and patted Conrad’s shoulder to console him.
”I thought General wouldn’t be able to endure a long, stiff ceremony, but this was even shorter than expected. When I was in the Kingdom’s army, we used to spend half a day on these. It was a laughably short ceremony.”
Garvey chuckled, bending his body to suppress his laughter.
Conrad seemed to have given up.
”Well, I told the speakers beforehand that it’s sorry if Lord Kent decides to end it early, so there’s no problem.”
Conrad seems to have a good grasp of my character; he had apparently set a condition for the speakers in advance.
”It might be fine for the ones talking, but for those listening, it’s torture. Plus, the maids from our Blackdagger family worked hard on the cooking. It would be a waste if it got cold. And you can talk while eating, anyway.”
”Yeah, that’s true…”
Conrad had a wry smile, but he didn’t seem angry.
He’s also a man who dislikes stiff ceremonies, so he must be happy inside.
”By the way, what’s King Yaalan like, the one who defeated Gwain? He must have come for a visit to Conrad’s place for the coronation, right? I heard he’s Flamil’s brother, after all.”
I asked about Conrad, who had returned from the Capital City.
It was because a letter from Aldo arrived, saying the True Demon Dukedom had formed an alliance with the True Demon Kingdom, presenting Gwain’s head as a gift.
Yaalan found out about Flamil becoming my concubine and proposed an alliance due to our familial ties, but Flamil didn’t want trouble with the True Demon Dukedom, so the alliance was put on hold.
However, Yaalan had been boasting about an alliance with my country to neighboring nations.
It seemed he won favorable terms in the alliance with the Kingdom this time, thanks to our supposed alliance.
In the True Demon Dukedom, the status of True Demon Nobles was relatively declining, and even those called elders were being exiled one after another if they had no abilities.
Exiled True Demon Nobles and elders were coming to the Margrave South District country, relying on Flamil, but the group that was fixated on True Demon Clan supremacism had caused several troubles in the town.
Each time, Flamil would apologize to me by bowing his head to the ground, which made me feel sorry for him.
”King Yaalan… He seemed like a gentle man, but I got the impression that he was quite different inside. However, I did notice that working under him seemed exhausting.”
Kondrad, the only person besides Flamil who had met Yaalan, didn’t have much to say.
”I’ve heard he’s King Rashid’s son, but he’s been holed up in his room for the past few centuries. He must be quite the oddball. Still, to drive out the pro-Gwain faction in the Dukedom in such a short time and take down Gwain himself, he must be a remarkable person.”
Margrave South District’s intelligence agency, the ‘Crimson Star,’ reorganized by Miriel, has been searching for King Yaalan’s whereabouts.
But Yuri, the former leader of the Dream Demon Clan, leads a tight defense with the ‘Dream Demon Assassination Squad,’ making it hard to gather any useful information.
”Anyway, since we’ve allied with the Kingdom this time, we should trust them to some extent, right? Useless worries might just annoy them.”
Kondrad says we should accept Yaalan as an ally, but I can’t fully trust him.
At least we’re not directly bordering his country, that’s something.
I wouldn’t dream of going on a southern campaign with him and his neighbors.
”Well, Aldo will take care of him… but it would be a hassle to get stirred up in the middle of a southern campaign with our whole country.”
”We still have Fristoph in the town, and Sir Arbalest in the Kingdom, so there’s no need to worry…”
As Kondrad said, my father-in-law holds military power in the capital city, and Nokin isn’t one to break promises, so he should come to the Kingdom’s aid if needed.
Considering that, even if Yaalan breaks the alliance and attacks, we should be able to repel him easily.
”Right. For now, let’s just keep an eye on Yaalan’s movements…”
”By the way, the southeastern front where your general is advancing, the roads there aren’t well-maintained. Is the supply situation okay?”
As the talk about Yaalan ended, Garvey brought up the southern campaign.
The southeastern region where I’ll be monster hunting with the experts is a wild area, even by Southern Region standards, with many reports of unique monsters.
This time, it’s also my training, so I’ve decided to leave the most challenging southeastern part to the seasoned Monster Hunters.
The top 3 Hunting Groups are joining: ‘Silver Wolf’, ‘Hand of Glory’, and ‘Golden Apostles’, now called ‘King’s Sword’.
Also, ‘Black Bullet’, ‘Rootless Weed’, ‘Red Valkyrie’, and ‘Astral Valkyrie’ are joining.
There are almost 50 other Hunting Groups too.
We only let strong groups join because we’re hunting in the Southern Region.
Of course, ‘Red Valkyrie’ is a selected team.
Only strong people who can fight in the Southern Region can join.
Even so, there are almost a thousand people.
We’ll build a base camp to rest and heal.
Then, we’ll slowly expand the hunting area.
”We’ll make a base camp and kill everything around it. Then, we’ll move on. Also, the wagon traders are coming. They want to sell monster materials and supplies. So, getting supplies will be easy. The wagon traders said they will hire their own guards.”
My mother-in-law made a deal with the Hunter Guild.
The military and we will get the rare monster materials first. We can sell the monster materials there. The merchant guild and wagon traders from Capital City heard about it. They offered to supply all the Monster Hunting groups in the southeast, with their own guards.
Marietta was busy with the military and Black Wing’s supplies. So, she decided to accept the traders’ offer.
This time, we’ve decided to sell Blackdagger family’s sales permits to prevent traders and monster hunters from getting involved in fraud or trouble.
If you have this, any trouble will be arbitrated by my family, and it’s an unspoken rule that both parties must show it as a sign of trust to make a transaction.
The sales permits are sold to monster hunters for one large silver coin, and to traders for one gold coin.
In the Southern Region, many monster materials are traded at high prices, so I recommend both sides to buy to avoid huge losses if they get caught in fraud or trouble.
”Traders are eager. After all, it’s a chance to buy rare materials directly without going through the Hunter Guild. They’ll follow us with everything they’ve got.”
Usually, monster hunters bring materials to the Hunter Guild to exchange for money, and then the Hunter Guild sells them at auction.
The Hunter Guild even has an auction room equipped with a magic tool that connects to various places in the Demon Continent, and buying and selling happens day and night.
Because of this, the value of material transactions fluctuates, and the board that tracks monster material transactions, which is Feria’s hobby, looks a lot like a stock board from my world.
I heard from Feria that there are some traders who have gained immense wealth just by buying and selling materials at auctions, but recently, hunting in the South District has become more active, and material prices are fluctuating, making the market difficult.
This time, we bought directly without the Hunter Guild’s help, so no one could guess how it would change the auction prices.
But for the materials my direct Hunting Group and the army hunted, I left the selling to my mother-in-law and the Bureaucrats.
I expect they’ll sell them well for money.
Knowing my mother-in-law and the rest, they’ll probably wait until the Southern Campaign calms down and prices get stable, then sell little by little…
”Sorry, traders, but we were swamped too. We really appreciate your help.”
”The General is really kind… Still, it’s surprising the Hunter Guild agreed. They’re cutting into their own profits for this… Did they make some secret deal or something?”
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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