Dungeon Defense (WN)

Fabian shifted his gaze to me.

“Mm. I should also prove that I’m not all talk and that I’m useful as well. I’m a Yellow Rank adventurer in this city. You can confirm this with the guild.”

He was implicitly asking us for our ranks by revealing his.

Yellow adventurers were basically portrayed as D Rank in the game. No color was the lowest rank (F Rank), Green (E Rank), Yellow (D Rank), Orange (C Rank), Red (B Rank), Black (A Rank), and White (S Rank). An absolute majority of the adventurers here were between F and E Rank.

“Truly, that is impressive.”

I nodded. Yellow was enough to confidently call yourself a veteran.

There were only a few Black and White ranking adventurers throughout the entire continent anyway. Moreover, those individuals would’ve been recruited into a knight corp or be acting as the leader of a high-ranking mercenary troop. They would’ve basically been promoted up from a life of living at the bottom of the barrel as adventurers. Red was enough to make you the leader of a decent mercenary brigade.

It was only natural.

It was the same for assassins as well. Let’s say that there’s an assassin who’s capable enough to assassinate a knight with ease. Why would a talent like that stay as an assassin? They would probably quit immediately.

They would probably serve a lord somewhere and become their knight. Well, that was only for assassins who didn’t have slave seals on their hearts like Jeremi.

Excluding an extremely small minority, the highest rank that an adventurer could realistically reach was Orange. In other words, C Rank.

Fabian was D Rank so he may not be the best, but he was still exceptional.

I maintained my smile as I spoke.

“We traveled here from Orléans. We reached Orange qualifications there.”

“Oh, I really have a good eye for people. Isn’t Orléans quite the large city in Frankia?”

Fabian let out a sound of awe.

It may have been the same rank, but qualifications from a large city were more trustworthy than something gained from a small city. However, there wasn’t only awe in Fabian’s eyes. There was also a tinge of doubt.

“If it isn’t rude of me to ask, I would like to know why adventurers from a distant city like Orleans came to a remote city like this. We may face life and death situations together later on, so please understand why I’m asking this.”

“Of course I understand. Mr. Fabian, you are aware that there is a war going on in Frankia, right?”

“I’ve heard the rumors.”

Fabian nodded.

“Brittany took over a portion of Paris and Orléans was one of the areas they took over. We had a bad feeling that something like this would happen, so we hastily departed. You should also know how adventurers are treated in places of war, right?”

“……We’re the first to be drafted. Aah, I understand now.”

Fabian stroked his hand over his bald head.

From the perspective of mayors, adventurers were a group of people that guaranteed a certain degree of strength that could be utilized immediately. It was almost certain that the adventurers would get forcefully conscripted while being told by the mayors that they would receive citizenship if they manage to perform meritorious deeds.

“You came all the way here in order to avoid the draft, huh? Kuku. A little further from here is the Black Mountains, so it’s the perfect place to escape.”

“We also happened to know how to speak Teutonic, so we were able to take refuge somehow. And now we were fortunate enough to encounter a commission like this during our travels. Hahaha.”

Fabian’s eyes became cold for a moment.

“……Teutonic must sound rather crude for a Frank.”

“No, that is not the case.”

“Nonsense. You don’t have to be modest. Teutonic is barbaric compared to Frankish. By the way, do you think you could sing me a song that’s trending in Frankia? It’s an opportunity to clean my ears since I’m meeting a Frank.”

He was doubting whether I was truly originally from Frankia or not, so he was asking me to sing.

“Why not?”

I smiled widely before I began to sing.

From Bruno to St. Denis―Hill of swords stained with tears and blood,I have only walked barefooted.

Let us march, sons and daughters of Frankia.Roar with your burning throats,your moment of glory has arrived.

From the scarlet castle to Ulm plainsBoeotia and Nemean.Listen to the enemy’s hellish screams,echo throughout the hills and rivers!

Raise the bloodstained flags of war!Raise the bloodstained flags of war!

May the enemy’s blood overflowon our nation’s parched land!

It was none other than the song I had composed myself, so I was able to sing it with ease. I couldn’t remember the exact lyrics, so I adlibbed some parts, but songs were things that always changed as they were passed around.

“Wow, you are a great singer!”

Fabian applauded. I was honestly far from being a great singer, but he was probably reacting like this as a way to apologize for doubting me.

The bald, one-eyed adventurer, Fabian, no longer pried into our background. There were many adventurers with tear-jerking stories after all. Fabian bought a total of 12 wheat beers that night and we received them all gratefully.

However, Fabian was completely surprised when I revealed to him that I was a spirit tamer. Spirit tamers were rarer than mages.

“Is that true? No, I’m not trying to doubt you. But are you really a spirit tamer?”

“Of course. Here, let me show you…….”

I discreetly took something out from underneath my coat. It was a low-tier spirit. I had brought several sylphs with me so that I could disguise myself as a spirit tamer. Even now, there were two other sylphs latched on to me like sloths as well. 

– Kya?

The sylph sat on my palm and tilted her head. Where is this, Master? It felt like she was asking me this. The sylph wouldn’t understand even if I explained it to her, so I simply stroked her head with my finger.

– Kiha, kyaaah~

The spirit clung to my hand and rubbed her cheek against it. How cute!

A Demon Lord’s body mostly consists of mana, so they’re very popular with spirits since they can only live in places with a dense amount of mana. Fabian muttered with his mouth agape as he watched us.

“I-It really is……a spirit.”

His jaw was practically touching the floor. I gave him a grin before hastily putting the sylph away in my clothes again. I wanted to play with her more, but this wasn’t the time or place for that. I’ll play with you a bunch once we’ve wiped out all the adventurers, my sweet pea! Just wait a little longer.

“So? Do you trust me now?”

“Y-Yeah. Of course. How could anyone possibly doubt you when you’ve shown such undeniable proof. Dear God, this is my first time ever meeting a spirit tamer.”

Fabian brought his glass of beer to his mouth absentmindedly. The glass was empty. He then realized he had done something stupid as he shrugged his shoulders.

“To think I would find people as talented as you two. It seems my eye for people hasn’t gone completely bad yet. I’m almost certain that we’ll succeed. I’ll be in your care.”

“I’m the one who will be in your care.”

We both ordered another beer before doing another toast.

I wonder if finding a Demon Lord when trying to look for comrades made his discerning eye amazing or horrendous. In any case, it didn’t change the fact that it was still impressive…….

* * *

We left the city two days later. Fabian must’ve prepared a lot during that time as he even had a map to my Demon Lord castle.

“Don’t worry about getting lost, friends.”

I was basically being guided to my own home. It was rather humorous, but Jeremi and I were acting like adventurers from a faraway city, so we quietly let him guide us.

We stopped at a couple of villages here and there and reached our destination after four days.

6 hills and the 6 villages built on those hills.

People from other areas don’t know this, but I’m the ruler of this small kingdom. There were practically no taxes here. Only the families that had land were required to send 30% of their income as taxes, and as a reward for obeying this, I stopped monsters from approaching them……. It was heaven for farmers.

These people were currently suffering from the sudden swarm of adventurers.

“Please, sir! That is our family’s brood hen!”

“Ah jeez, I said I would buy it. Why are you making a fuss?”

A group of adventurers took from the families in the villages while only giving them chump change in return. The farmer looked devastated that he was going to lose his brood hen for only a few bronze coins, but he couldn’t do anything about it. There were almost 30 adventurers in this village alone.

“Is this not enough? Then why not lend me your daughter for the night.”

“N-No, this is enough…….”

The farmer held the coins tightly and bowed. The adventurers patted the farmer’s shoulder jokingly as they left. They were probably going to have chicken soup for dinner today.

The population of each village had decreased once the youngest sons became independent. The smallest pioneering village only had 50 people while the largest barely had over 90. The civilians could only submit to the violence.

Even if these vagrants had only dealt with goblins before, the adventurers were still people who had held swords all their lives. A civil militia would have to step forward to deal with these people. However, the civil militia in my territory had decreased drastically ever since the incident with Riff…….

“Tsk, the atmosphere here isn’t good at all. Let’s go to another village.”

Fabian clicked his tongue. We went to the next village over, but it had also become a crime-ridden area.

Quirinale, Viminale, Esquilino, Capitolino, Aventino, and Celio……all of these places were bustling with adventurers. All 6 villages were suffering due to the pestering from the outsiders. 

“Damn it, only a bunch of scoundrels have gathered! I knew this would happen. These shitty greenhorns.”

Fabian let out an annoyed shout as we had ended up traveling through my territory for half a day. He spat on the ground.

“It’s because of those bastards that people treat adventurers like vagrants! They have no obligations or moral principles. They have no idea that they’re pouring mud all over our field of work.”

“None of the villages have inns. We’ll have to sleep outside.”

“……It’d be foolish to not rest properly before entering a Demon Lord’s castle.”

Fabian shook his head.

“We have no choice but to ask someone to let us stay the night.”

“Hm. That would make us no different from those other adventurers.”

“What do you take me for? I’m obviously going to pay a lodging fee. Let’s meet at the entrance of the village in the morning.”

Fabian grumbled as he walked off somewhere.

I feel bad for him, but Jeremi and I already have a place to stay. I headed to the entrance of the village with familiar steps. The house that used to belong to a hunter was now the village chief’s home.

I knocked on the door. A man’s voice came from the other side.

“Aah! If you’re an adventurer, then fuck off! If you’re a villager then fuck off even more! Not only am I not going to give you guys a place to stay, but I don’t intend to chase the adventurers in your homes out either!”

I chuckled.

“Parsi, it’s me. Your great ruler whom you take such pride in.”

“Ah geez!”

The sound of things falling over could be heard from inside before the door soon opened. The person with the most aged eyes in the village was here, Parsi.

“I thought my balls would shrink waiting for you to come, Your Highness!”

“Why are you acting up already when it has only been a few days?”

“The village has flipped more than 10 times during those few days. Hurry and enter.”

I asked Parsi a question as I let him guide me inside.

“All right, are the villagers a bit upset because of those adventurers?”

“A bit? Did you say a bit just now? Don’t even say that. They’re basically screaming that they would rather go out shoving their balls in their eye sockets than let those adventurers take advantage of them.”

“In other words.”

I sat down and laughed.

“Things are going very well.”

Parsi let out a deep sigh.

“Yeah. Damn it, everything is proceeding just as Your Highness had planned.”

***

TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. Uh, nothing much to comment about this chapter. The temperature had suddenly dropped by like 15 Celsius in the span of 3 days, so that’s something. I thought the mosquitos would be gone because it became colder, but nope, I’m still catching about 2 mosquitos every day in my room. True suffering, that’s what this is. Please go away you dang bloodsuckers.

Mosquito rant aside, I’ll see you guys in the next chapter.

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