Volume 14 Chapter 2 Rescue Operation
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
I’d just gotten back to the Estfort manor after wiping out a horde of monsters in the southeast, when a courier from Fort Felward burst in looking white as a sheet.
Honestly, I’d been trapped listening to my mother-in-law run through a mountain of paperwork with me, so having a Dragonewt show up with news felt like the perfect excuse to bail.
We decided to drag Miriel into our little conference to figure out if the intel was real.
So, emergency meeting in the office.
Players: me, Milly, Lila, Miriel, Lina, and Lana.
Lina and Lana got called in because the news involved Arsella, ancestor of the Dorman family──so I figured we could use their insight.
”Alright, I’d like to start the briefing about the new info on Sir Clayd. What you’ve got there is just a handwritten report──we were in a rush──but it lays out everything we know so far.”
Miriel──now head of intelligence for Margrave South District──was running the meeting.
The courier’s update had just come in a few hours ago, but apparently Miriel’s network had gotten wind of it yesterday and had already dug up a ton of data.
I glanced through the report.
Apparently, just like Clayd had said, monster sightings around Fort Felward were plummeting──and the graph showed a sudden spike in small and medium “another world monsters.” The trend couldn’t be clearer.
”As you can see in the materials, we’ve been gathering intel from the Monster Hunters stationed at Fort Felward. Encounters with regular monsters are dropping──but run-ins with ‘another world monsters’ are shooting through the roof. That lines up exactly with Sir Clayd’s warning: the massive barrier Lady Arsella Dorman set up is starting to crack. Looks like the Abyss Gate is getting bigger.”
The attendees, heads bowed over Miriel’s report, heaved a collective sigh.
Unlike regular monsters, ‘another world monsters’ can actually spawn Beast Monsters.
A mass outbreak like that?
That’s one disaster nobody wants on their hands.
…With encounter rates like this, it’s only a matter of time before Beast Monsters start popping up… If that happens, we might not be able to defend the new territories we fought so hard to claim…
”I heard the barrier’s only got, what, a month left? Are you telling me, in a month, there’s going to be a flood of ‘another world monsters’ pouring out of the Abyss Gate?”
The deeper you went into the report, the wilder the speculation got.
Every bullet point based on Clayd’s intel sounded more unbelievable than the last.
”Kent… I actually found references to the ‘Sanctuary Village’ and the ‘hidden settlement of the extinct Garuda Clan’ in some documents Lady Arsella left behind──stuff that was kept secret in my family’s archives. That lines up perfectly with Sir Clayd’s information. The timeline fits too: Lady Arsella wrote those papers right after she was stripped of the Demon Lord title, blamed for accidentally opening the Abyss Gate when she tried to expand the grand barrier. No doubt in my mind those records are the real deal.”
Lina was comparing notes──Miriel’s report in one hand, and the old documents Arsella Dorman left behind, dug up from her own family’s vault.
”Lina’s right. After the Demon-Continental War left the Demon Continent in shambles, Lady Arsella became Demon Lord out of concern for her homeland. She ordered a massive barrier facility built in the farthest reaches of the Southern Region, to cut the continent off from the rest of the world. During construction, some engineers──her own kin──ran into members of the supposedly extinct Garuda Clan near the site. Instead of reporting them, they turned a blind eye, figuring they could use them as labor for the project.”
Lana was cross-referencing a journal written by another Rakshasa Clan technician.
”So, you’re saying those thought-to-be-extinct species──the Tiger kind, Panthers, Bears, and Leopards──have been living all this time within that barrier facility-cum-hideaway?”
”That’s the only conclusion, isn’t it? They were originally species with high combat prowess, targeted by Demon Lord Orphée Bleu. It’s no wonder they’ve managed to survive in an area teeming with such formidable monsters and ‘otherworldly monsters’.”
When Orphée Bleu fell from grace and landed on the Demon Continent, the Garuda Clan, the indigenous people, challenged them to battle.
But they were soundly defeated by the magic-wielding Orphée Bleu, leading to the surrender of Vanquish, the Garuda Clan king, under subjugation.
However, the Orphée Bleu harshly oppressed and wiped out the 4 warrior species within the Garuda Clan, so the Tigers, Panthers, Bears, and Leopards were recorded as extinct in the kingdom’s history.
Yet, thanks to Beast King Vanquish, a few managed to escape to the southernmost reaches of the region, living in isolation away from the kingdom’s persecution, as Clayd has revealed.
…The legendary extinct 4 species… seeing Iska and Manon from the Panthers, I can only imagine the others’ strengths… I definitely want to protect them in my country.
As a fellow fur enthusiast, I’m all for adding new beasts to the mix.
And I’d love to see them breed.
”Hey, Mr. Kent, you look a bit relaxed there. You’re not daydreaming about capturing the Garuda Clan’s legendary 4 species or finding cute girls, are you? This issue isn’t just about the Margrave South District falling to ruins──it could potentially turn the entire Demon Continent to ashes!”
Seeing me slacken at the mention of the new Garuda Clan, my mother-in-law called me out in a stern tone.
”N-no way! That’s not true… I’m always serious about what’s best for the country!”
My face, which had softened, snapped back into a sharp line at my mother-in-law’s words.
Milly and the others were giving me the stink eye, but if they heard about the new beastmen, even my hardcore kemonomimi-loving Milly would be head over heels.
That’s why I’m determined to make this rescue operation swift and decisive.
”Ahem. As far as the information I have goes, Lady Delprius has already called the Dragonewts to prepare for the rescue. It’s her decision, but since time is of the essence this time, I think it would be best to get Sir Kent’s permission after the fact.”
Miriel lays out the gathered intel calmly, but the freshness of the information is on a whole other level compared to Milly’s.
Clayd only appeared at Felward Fortress a day ago, and yet she’s already gathered this much information and organized the situation.
This makes my job much easier.
Miriel is making good use of the Dorman family’s gardeners and other information organizations… Sorry, Milly, but I’m glad I put Miriel in charge.
”Understood. I’ll approve Delprius’s actions. Milly, we’re going with the rescue operation. Crimson Bride, Black Bullet, immediate summons! Miriel, I hate to ask, but summon the Dragonewts stationed in Estfort too.”
”Understood.”
Miriel raises her hand, and a presence in the attic shifts.
Looks like she’s using the shadow guards as messengers.
”Mr. Kent… The rescue operation is fine, but how do you want to handle the aftermath of the barrier’s disappearance? Mobilize the Monster Hunters at Felward Fortress? Or advance the army from Nirei Fortress?”
My mother-in-law asks about the response after the rescue.
The southeastern subjugation force has already disbanded, and most of the Monster Hunters have returned to Estfort or Abyss Vena to rest, while only the Monster Hunters who didn’t participate in the southeastern subjugation are stationed at Felward Fortress.
”…Yeah, that’s the plan. We’ll station some seasoned Monster Hunters in Felward to keep the Southern Region from getting swamped by ‘another world monsters’. Gotta issue a defense quest for Felward Fortress to the Hunter Guild, though. Leave the reward amount to my mother-in-law, she’ll sort it out.”
”Understood. We’ll handle it accordingly. But what about informing the other nations? There are a lot of issues to consider, but shouldn’t we tell His Majesty Shifa and Lord of Arbalest? If our country fails to quell the ‘another world monsters’, the entire Demon Continent could be in peril…”
Mother-in-law had already instructed him to inform only father-in-law, Lord Arbalest, and brother-in-law, His Majesty Shifa, about the current situation in Clayd.
”…Shouldn’t we tell Aldo?”
As soon as the question about notifying Aldo was posed, Miriel immediately answered.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
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