Published: August 10, 2026
The bell that always rang at fixed intervals to tell the people of the Capital City the passing of time.
It was in the early morning that it rang again and again to signal that something was wrong.
Ain and the others were just walking along the road toward the guild.
They were still a little hungover from drinking too much the night before, walking along while constantly stifling yawns.
The normally clear, resonant bell now rang in short, frantic bursts, as if announcing an emergency.
"Huh? What?"
"Isn't it ringing nonstop?"
"The guy ringing it must be drunk."
They kept trudging along as usual.
But the people in their field of view kept looking around anxiously before hurrying away.
Before long, the only people still out on the street were adventurers who were also heading to the guild.
"There's nobody around."
"Creepy."
"Maybe a dragon's gonna fall outta the sky?"
"Gahahah, no way!"
The main street, which normally grew livelier by the minute, had suddenly lost all of that energy, leaving the air unsettled.
The shopkeepers who had been preparing their stalls were hurriedly pulling their goods away, and their voices carried strangely clearly. Noticing that oddness, Ain and the others deliberately laughed loudly as they walked.
An adventurer ahead of them was lamenting that his main weapon was in for repairs. It was a particularly desperate lament.
"Oi, stop dawdling."
"Hm?"
At the voice from behind them, Ain and the others turned around with practiced glares.
Standing there was another adventurer party active in the Capital City. A veteran four-man group led by an experienced spear user, famous for escort requests.
The man twirled the tip of the spear he held resting on his shoulder and teased them.
"Need me to remind you? This is an alarm."
"Huh? Alarm?"
"What was that again?"
"Man, they're done for. They should get absolute zero to chew them out."
The spear user laughed dryly and tried to pass Ain and the others.
But they latched onto him immediately. Sensing that they might earn the wrath of absolute zero, they hurried their pace and pressed him for answers.
"W-what, why?! What did we do?!"
"You're supposed to be briefed on this as soon as you come to the Capital City."
"We weren't told that!"
"You might not get off with just a scolding, either."
"What the hell are they gonna do to us?!"
By clinging to him and pestering him relentlessly, Ain and the others finally managed to remember the emergency assembly.
By the time they reached the guild, many adventurers had already gathered there.
The main street in front of the guild was packed with adventurers, and occasionally a carriage would pass through, forcing everyone to clear the way. But the number of adventurers kept increasing, and within seconds every open space was filled again.
Ain and the others called out to a nearby adventurer to join the crowd.
"What's this gathering for?"
"A great invasion, apparently."
"A great invasion?"
"No way!"
The mention of a great invasion brought Malcaid vividly to mind.
Ain and the others shouted in surprise, but nobody around them paid it any mind. For the adventurers here, it was a conversation they had already heard repeated many times since earlier, and in the first place, most of them didn't care even if someone yelled a little.
"I've never seen a great invasion before."
"Didn't we only hear that word for the first time back in the Commerce Nation?"
"It's a horde of monsters, right? What's it like? Is it all the same kind of monster?"
Ain and the others quickly calmed down.
They had been surprised, but they couldn't quite imagine what it actually meant.
Even the term great invasion was something they'd only heard recently. All they knew was that "a huge number of monsters are attacking," and the only thing they could think of was the memory of being chased by a pack of monsters during one request long ago.
For most adventurers, that was the extent of their understanding of a great invasion.
So from the conversations drifting around them, they couldn't hear anything about countermeasures or plans of action.