0p0 #405 - Face recognition
#405 - Face recognition
"— That's right. Last night, in the hot springs, we encountered Sylvia, a leader of the Demon King's army."
"Eh? Eh? Eh!?" x4
The day after encountering Sylvia, while the party was having breakfast at the inn, Yunyun told them about it.
Because it was so shocking, Aqua and the others couldn't accept it at all.
"So, it really was dangerous last night?" Darkness looked at Kazuma Satou with concern. "That scream last night, Kazuma, were you attacked?"
"That was because Kazuma was trying to grope her; in other words, he brought it on himself."
"Hey, Yunyun!"
Kazuma Satou shouted.
He desperately explained that it wasn't like that at all, he only guessed the other party was a leader of the Demon King's army and didn't want them to escape, which is why he grabbed onto them.
But because of his usual perverted actions, he didn't get any recognition from his female companions in the party.
"But one thing is certain."
"What is it?"
"That Sylvia is a true evil god and also a powerful leader of the Demon King's army."
Everyone's expression became serious.
After all, none of the previous Demon King's army leaders were simple characters. Even Wiz, who seemed gentle and weak on the surface, was actually terrifyingly strong. Her past as a pure combat-style witch was not a joke.
"So, I have a proposal." Kazuma Satou raised his hand and said, "Is there anyone who wants to go back to Axel with me?"
"Hey—!" x4
In the end, besides himself, no one planned to give up halfway.
Darkness felt obligated to contribute as a noble, Megumin and Yunyun wanted to make up for the mistakes they had made in the past, and even Aqua, because Sylvia claimed to be an evil god, wanted to teach her a lesson.
Therefore, Kazuma Satou had no choice but to go with them.
Actually, he had realized it.
After all, even though Yunyun said she wouldn't help on the surface, she would still step in when the party was in danger, wouldn't she? So, no matter what, there wouldn't be any danger this time.
And knowing that there was indeed a leader of the Demon King's army on the front lines, although there was no reaction on the surface, judging from their gradually slowing movement speed, this matter still made them somewhat afraid.
But there wasn't much distance left.
As the sky began to darken, the party finally arrived at their destination.
"So— big—!"
Kazuma Satou couldn't help but exclaim.
Right now, they were all looking up, gazing at a fortress that was about the same size as the royal capital. As expected of a battlefield maintaining the front lines, the outer walls of the fortress looked quite sturdy, and it wouldn't be easy to destroy.
It was said that about 1,000 people lived inside the fortress. The huge area and the towering buildings exuded an overwhelming presence just by being there.
"Is this fortress really about to be captured by that evil god? Um… Kazuma, I'm suddenly a little scared. Should we go back?"
"What stupid things are you saying now?"
Kazuma Satou glared at Aqua in annoyance.
Being able to destroy such a majestic fortress alone clearly showed how strong the evil god Sylvia was. At the same time, Kazuma Satou was also glad that he hadn't been blasted to dust by her last night.
"—Adventurers ahead!"
As the group stopped to look at the fortress, several knights appeared from inside.
One of the knights, while being wary of the group appearing in such a place, walked over.
"This is a fortress used to resist the Demon King's army. What business do you have here?"
While asking, he placed his hand on the long sword at his waist, ready to attack at any time.
Yunyun said, "We are adventurers who know that this world is in crisis, so we came to support you. Most of us are advanced classes, so we should be useful."
"Support? And advanced classes at that?"
The knight's face lit up with joy.
After all, he had heard that many powerful adventurers had retreated to the royal capital because the fortress was lost. Having more helpers would naturally be a great help.
"Thank you very much. However, I would like to ask you to show something that can prove your identity first, because the leaders of the Demon King's army may be lurking nearby. Please cooperate."
"Of course."
Without saying a word, Yunyun conjured her adventurer's card with magic.
The knight's eyes lit up.
He wanted to ask how she did it, but his excellent professional qualities kept him silent as he checked the adventurer's card in his hand—
"Yunyun… Lady Yunyun!?"
He suddenly widened his eyes.
His loud shout attracted the attention of a man who seemed to be the captain behind him, and he quickly stepped forward.
"What happened?"
"Captain, you must see this!"
"…Lady Yunyun!?"
The same shocked reaction.
"I-I didn't expect Lady Yunyun to come. Thank you so much!"
"You… seem to know me?"
"Of course!"
The knight and the captain had smiles on their faces, not flattering smiles or ingratiating smiles, but expressions of great admiration.
It turned out that these two had once appeared in the royal capital defense battle, and they naturally knew about the scene of Lady Yunyun displaying her divine power, which is why they reacted the way they did now.
"But…"
"But what?"
"Lady Claire said that you have designs on Princess Iris, so she told us to be wary of you. But that must be a joke, after all, you and Princess Iris are both beautiful women, so how could it be possible… right?"
—What the hell!
"W-wait, wait! Never mind, Yunyun, never mind!"
Kazuma Sato quickly held down Dustiness, who was trying to take off her pants to use her hands. After all, if she stripped naked here, they might be mistaken for perverts.
With Dustiness as a guarantor, Kazuma Sato and the others smoothly entered the fortress.
Everyone was assigned their own room.
Probably because the frontline situation was urgent, most of the adventurers had returned to the royal capital, so there were many rooms available here.
Dustiness was assigned a room for a captain-level person.
The previous captain had to return to the royal capital for treatment due to injuries, so this room was empty.
This is the benefit of having connections.
Kazuma Sato wanted to snatch this room, but he was stopped by the knights.
After putting away their luggage, they began to explore the fortress.
Just like in a game.
Having arrived at a new map, how could they not explore it as much as possible?
They just needed to be careful not to enter other people's rooms casually. Taking potions and items here wouldn't be considered acquisition, but theft, which would be punished.
Perhaps because the situation was really unfavorable, the adventurers and soldiers walking in the corridors all looked serious, feeling quite tense.
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A tense atmosphere vaguely permeated the fortress.
In such a tense atmosphere, a roar suddenly came from a room with a sign that said "Control Room".
"— I told you not to press it! Can't you understand?! Get out!"
Then, two people were kicked out of the room.
"What's with that? We just randomly pressed a few buttons, why are they so angry?"
"That's right, that's right. We got kicked out again. The people here are too uptight."
Well, these two idiots are just too relaxed.
"Kazuma, Aqua, what are you two doing?"
Dustiness greeted these two idiots.
"Yo, Dustiness." Kazuma Sato looked at the room behind her and complained, "Actually, we were bored, so we ran out for a stroll. We seemed to have pressed the switch that opens the fortress gate, and then we got kicked out. Isn't that too much?"
"You're the ones who are too much."
Dustiness rolled her eyes.
Breaking into places like the control room is one thing, but randomly pressing switches? These things are clearly recorded in the Crimson Demon Clan's '100 Things You Must Never Do' book, but these two guys aren't afraid at all.
Also, the word 'again' is used well.
It shows that they have repeated such things many times. To be honest, it's already good enough that they weren't treated as spies of the Demon King's army and were just kicked out.
"Ah, so boring."
Kazuma Sato seemed to be unable to bear the oppressive atmosphere here.
After thinking for a while, he then suggested, "There's no helping it. It seems like there's a restaurant here that we can use for free. Let's go there and freeload."
"What a great idea!" Aqua's eyes lit up and said, "I'll go back and get the sparkling sake from my luggage, and then bring it over to drink!"
I was wondering what this guy put in her bag to make it so bulging.
So it was sparkling sake.
No wonder she put it in her interdimensional storage, she looked very unwilling.
Just at this moment.
"Lady Aqua? Isn't that Lady Aqua! And Dustiness, you're here too!"
A voice that sounded familiar came from the other end of the corridor.
And this familiar man…
"Isn't that Kyouya Mitsurugi? Long time no see!"
"It's Mitsurugi! You wouldn't be deliberately mispronouncing my name, would you?! Speaking of which, you should remember my name by now!"
Appearing in front of the three was Kyouya Mitsurugi.
"Lady Aqua, long time no see! You still look so energetic! And Dustiness, how have you been recently?"
"Oh, not bad."
"Me too."
Aqua and Dustiness casually greeted him.
Kazuma Sato looked at Kyouya Mitsurugi, who was alone, and asked, "Speaking of which, where's your harem? Where did they go?"
"Harem? N-No, it's not!"
Kyouya Mitsurugi explained in a panic.
"Because the situation is bad, I had them retreat to the royal capital… Ah, that's right! Sato, why did you bring Lady Aqua and Dustiness to such a dangerous place? Don't you know it's dangerous here?"
"I know. But I heard that the opponent is a evil god, so I thought that dealing with a evil god should be done by me, a god, so I came."
Aqua, who answered him, said this as if it were a matter of course.
Kyouya Mitsurugi said somewhat urgently, "Lady Aqua is going to fight her? But, the opponent is very dangerous, even though she's alone, she can force us into a dangerous situation!"
"Hey, hey, hey, you're still the third-ranked adventurer in the kingdom, even if it's a evil god, a Demon King's army executive, it shouldn't push you to such a desperate situation, right?"
"That's because—!"
Just as Kyouya Mitsurugi was about to explain something, a loud noise suddenly came, and the entire fortress shook violently. Aqua and Kazuma Sato hugged Dustiness and trembled.
"W-What's going on?"
"Earthquake!?"
The violent shaking quickly passed, but that's not the problem.
"T-This familiar tremor is…!?"
"That's right. The Demon King's army executive, the evil god Wolbach—she uses Explosion magic."
Kyouya Mitsurugi showed a bitter smile.