After leaving the Beast Alliance Falnido, Shin’s party promptly headed towards the Dragon Empire of Kilmont.
Kagerou was pulling the horse carriage at the usual breakneck speed. He made sure to accelerate only when there weren’t rchants around, though.
“Shibaid, can I entrust you with eting the Dragon Emperor?”
“Indeed, things should work quickly if I go in person. I might have left the empire, but I have no objections to informing them about impending danger.”
Shibaid was prepared for the empire to turn hostile after his departure, as Shin heard from Schnee. Shin thus wasn’t sure it was a good idea to send him as a ssenger, but both Shibaid and Schnee assured him that the empire didn’t actually consider them to be enemies.
“Hmm, by the way, how much do you know about Kilmont, Shin?”
On the path to Kilmont, this topic ca up in the conversation between Shin and Shibaid.
“All I know is from docunts I read in Falnido or what I heard while traveling, but I know that the empire acts as a breakwater against the monsters coming from the Sacred Place. Like I said before, I’ve never been there, though.”
“Your understanding is correct. The thod they use is to build forts at fixed intervals between the capital and the Sacred Place. Troops stationed in the forts communicate regularly and cull the monsters. Monsters have a tendency to avoid the forts and move inland, so the remaining monsters are dispatched by mobile units. They cannot stop them completely, like in Ball, however.”
The terrain grew thinner from the empire towards the Sacred Place, apparently as a consequence of the crustal movents.
Monsters spawned in the Sacred Place spread in all directions, so it wasn’t possible to eliminate every single one.
If the number of spawned monsters was low they attempted to eliminate them all, but when there were many, the stronger monsters or the ones with higher mobility were prioritized.
“One more thing, the empire also receives reinforcents from the alliance and the church. The scale of the conflict is different, so there are more people than the Ball battle you participated in, Shin.”
Like what happened in Ball, if Kilmont fell the hordes of monsters spawned from the ‘flood’ would scatter throughout the continent.
Considering the size of the continent, the number of monsters that spread through it could not be too high, but for the people living there, it was definitely a serious problem.
Animals other than human beings would suffer grave casualties as well, and, if nothing was done about them, the continent would beco a den of mindless beasts.
For this reason, military aid to the empire was never neglected, barring ergency situations.
“I guess there are a lot of Chosen Ones too, then. Or rather, it would be dangerous if there weren’t many.”
Average soldiers could maybe deal with monsters around level 200, but if they started nearing 300, there was little the average soldier could do.
That was exactly what happened in Ball, but Shin thought the empire housed greater numbers of Chosen Ones. He might even et people he knew.
“I don’t know if you are acquainted with them, but there are a few forr players as well. Do you want to et them?”
“If we have the chance, sure. Considering how many players there were in total, chances are I don’t know them, though.”
Having t Hibineko, Holly, and Shadow in Ball had been a truly rare event.
“…or maybe not…?”
Could it be that the players who were transported to this world shared a connection with him?
The possibility had crossed Shin’s mind before.
Not only the three forr players in Ball, but all forr players he t until now were people he knew.
Milt, who he t during the Holy Woman kidnapping incident. Haln, who used an evil tag on Schnee, and Hilae and Masakado in Erkunt.
Thinking about them, Shin started wondering if his theory was actually true. He had t too many people he knew, after all.
There were also players he didn’t know, such as the one who was transford into a monster in the latest incident. Shin thought that there might be other conditions involved.
“Is there sothing on your mind?”
“Yeah, actually.”
Shin told Shibaid about the common thread among the players he t.
“Hmm, one of the player killers Schnee investigated, was it. Most of them were related to you sohow, weren’t they?”
“I wonder…you could say they were related, but at that ti Shin simply cut down any and all player killers he found. Thinking about it now, they did not have a close relationship with Shin, unlike Holly or Shadow, they simply happened to et.”
Schnee answered Shibaid’s question after reflecting for a short while.
Shin had already seen the player killer list Schnee had compiled.
So of them he rembered, others did not stir any recollection from him. He cut down PKs in the sa way as he did with monsters, so he did not care too much to rember each of their nas.
According to the moral standards of his forr world, it was a very dangerous way of thinking.
In the ga world, however, where there were no police, no organizations to maintain public order, so there was no other way.
Shin was convinced of this even now. In 【THE NEW GATE】’s ga era real-world laws were aningless.
“Is that so important?”
Tiera, who had been listening, joined in the conversation.
“It’s not like I want to to find every last one of them, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t concerned.”
“But it’s not like you chose those… ‘players’ yourself, right? So I don’t think you should worry about them…”
What Shin did, regardless of whether it was right or wrong, was still within the bounds of how the ga operated.
Things you could do and things it was OK to do were certainly different, but in the ga defeating PKs did not have any penalties. Naturally, it was impossible to sohow purposefully send an opponent into another world such as the ga world.
In that sense, what Tiera said was right. Shin hadn’t sent them to this world himself, nor did he even think that was possible.
“I guess you’re right, but…”
“While listening to you, I got the feeling that you were the one dragged into it instead.”
“I was dragged into it?”
The comnt ca from Filma, so Shin turned towards her.
“I an, it’s not like you were supposed to co here in the first place, right?”
“That’s—”
Filma and Sety had joined the party relatively recently, so Shin hadn’t yet told them how he had co to this world. Schnee had probably inford them.
As far as he knew, the only people he knew that ca to this world were players who died during the death ga. Shin was the only exception.
Filma’s comnt might not be far from the truth.
“It’s not like our present situation is going to change anyway, so it’s pointless to think about the issue any longer if you ask . Let’s talk about sothing more constructive instead.”
Shin agreed with Filma’s conclusion and stopped thinking about things he couldn’t figure out.
Even if he dragged others into this world, or was dragged into it, the present was not going to change.
“So, what’s this constructive topic of yours?”
Shin bounced the ball back to Filma.
“The design of the ring you are planning, of course.”
“Wait a second, I only told Schnee about that, why do you—”
Shin turned towards Schnee, who was looking outside the horse carriage. The bright red color of her ears clearly explained what happened.
“She let it slip while telling about your lovey-dovey days, you see.”
“Are you sure you didn’t make her slip yourself?”
“Oh my, how could I ever do such a thing?”
Shin glared at Filma, who looked away from him imdiately.
Seeing her poke her tongue out playfully, Shin realized he had guessed right.
Next to Filma, Sety had the sa expression on her face. They had ganged up on Schnee and forced her to sing, apparently.
“Sheesh…it’s not like it was an absolute secret, but…”
“She was so happy with you, that she slipped a bit, that’s all— ”
“Big sis Schnee got so chatty when she started talking about it— ”
Filma and Sety looked at Schnee as if they were real sisters.
Schnee was usually quiet, but not laconic. Shin knew that she actually talked a lot to people she trusted. To Filma and Sety, even more so.
“I must know more about that matter.”
“You too, Shibaid…?”
Shibaid joined in the conversation, intrigued by a topic completely new to him. His dragon-like face made it hard to tell, but his lips were definitely curved into a grin.
“Of course, I will tell you all about it, even the tiniest detail.”
“Wonderful. I cannot join in your ladies’ talk, after all.”
Shibaid nodded to Filma’s answer, very satisfied.
Schnee, still looking at the scenery, seed to be shaking — but it definitely wasn’t because of the road. Her ears, even redder than before, proved it.
“You can ask about it too, Shibaid, you know…”
“Oh no Shin, I would much prefer to hear everything from Schnee.”
Living alone with Shin was sothing Schnee had desired for the longest ti. As a support character like her and her comrade, Shibaid surely preferred to hear her talk.
“You guys…”
For Schnee, this conversation was nothing but embarrassing, but she had no way to escape as long as they were traveling in the carriage.
Tiera, who had stayed out of the conversation, was conflicted as to whether she wanted to hear more about it or not, and simply looked at Filma and the others.
Yuzuha was on Schnee’s lap and looked up, as if peeking at Schnee’s face, but Shin didn’t know what she wanted to do.
Shin’s party thus spent a peaceful journey towards Kilmont: they arrived at their destination after a few days.
Because of the monsters, it wasn’t strange for the borders between countries to be unclear. In Falnido and Kilmont’s case, the border area was managed jointly by the two countries.
The actual reason was that no towns or villages were built in that area, in order to use it to gather the monsters spawned during the ‘flood’, so they decided to govern the area in such a manner, as Shibaid explained to Shin.
Maybe because the area was used to channel monsters inside, there were large quantities of them everywhere.
Extermination priority was given to the monsters heading towards Kilmont, for matters of protection, so the monsters tended to move towards the alliance.
Falnido was aware of this and sent troops to the area, who cooperated with Kilmont’s troops to exterminate the monsters.
“If only there weren’t so many monsters, you could build towns here. It’s not an incredibly rich area, but the soil is very fertile.”
Apparently, they had inspected the terrain too. There was a small settlent near the fort used for defensive maneuvers.
From the countries’ standpoint, building an unauthorized settlent was surely a problem, but, because of the nature of the area and the small scope of the settlent, they turned a blind eye to it.
As it was unauthorized, there would be no compensation even if they suffered monster casualties.
“Without the ‘flood’, this area would have developed as a center for trade and communication between the two countries.”
It took one whole month to go from Falnido to Kilmont, even by driving a horse carriage in a straight line. Any travelers between the two countries would need to stop at the various settlents along the way during the trip, so it actually took more ti. These settlents were authorized, however.
“Hm? What’s that?”
Shin and the others were thus chatting as they advanced towards Kilmont, when they spotted a group of horseback knights ahead of them.
They were 24 in total: the knight in the lead was carrying Kilmont’s flag, if Shin’s mory served him.
The knights motioned at the horse carriage to stop, so Shin complied. Two knights left the group and approached the carriage.
“We are the 12th knight division of the Kilmont empire. I am Raekker, the captain. Are you headed towards Kilmont?”
“Yes, that’s right. Do you have business with us?”
The knight who spoke first had flaming red hair and sparkling armor. There was one more knight behind him, wearing the sa armor and a helt.
The knights did not seem to bear hostility or ill will, so Shin and the others decided to act like they were normal adventurers.
“So you ca from Falnido…that is why you do not know about the ‘flood’, then. Most of the monsters have already been exterminated, but so managed to flee in this direction, according to the reports. Our forces are fully concentrated on locating and exterminating them, but the area cannot be said to be safe yet. If you will proceed, please exercise the utmost caution. That is all, thank you for your ti.”
“No, we are thankful for your warning.”
The knights imdiately left, quickly disappearing in a cloud of smoke.
They were warning all travelers and rchants they found about the remaining danger, telling them to flee or ask nearby knights for help if necessary.
Their attitude was extrely polite, without the slightest sign of intimidation.
Shibaid said that they were one of the divisions posted in the border forts.
“Look, over there.”
A short ti after the eting with the knights, Shin’s party ca in view of the fort. It had been built in a location surrounded by plains, to make it easy to scan the surroundings.
The fort gates were wide open, as files of troops were coming out of it.
“Reinforcents to deal with the ‘flood’? Maybe the fighting hasn’t ended yet.”
“According to the knights, they are dealing with the remnants now, but…there might have been extensive casualties.”
Schnee answered Shin’s question with a worried tone.
There were provision units among the troops heading west, and the number of soldiers was high, so her hypothesis sounded convincing.
“That standard’s emblem belongs to the 3rd royal knights division. They are elites who are only deployed when monsters over level 500 appear. That could be one of the survivors the knights talked about.”
Shibaid explained that it was a special division ford by Chosen Ones and high-level knights. It had been deployed a number of tis in the past as well.
“Do they act outside of ergencies?”
“Indeed. They have been deployed on several occasions during my ti as well. The situation is without a doubt risky, but it might not be an ergency.”
Shibaid added that if it wasn’t like that, the empire could barely continue functioning as a country.
“The situation must be dire, however. It might take so ti before we can have an audience with the Emperor.”
Shin nodded to Shibaid’s whisper while looking at the soldiers’ advance.
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