Published: July 3, 2025
Chapter Translation:
The Border Town Redpost in the Eastern Naitorei Kingdom.
Ryo's last stay in Redpost was while escorting Gecko on his way to the Duchy of Inberri.
During that stay, he helped remove the tattoo that once marked the former assassin Shaafi.
However, the expedition army, including Ryo, remained outside the town.
This was because the town was overflowing with refugees from the Duchy of Inberri.
Initially, refugees had spilled out even beyond the town, but most had moved further into the interior of the kingdom.
"The refugee issue is complicated..."
Ryo muttered quietly as he watched the scene unfold.
What came to his mind were the images of refugees he had seen on Earth, the countries that took them in, and the clashes between the people within those host countries...
Just saying, "Let's help because it's sad," doesn't suffice when it comes to the refugee issue.
After shaking his head slightly, Ryo walked towards his favorite large tree.
However, there was already someone there.
"A b-rank adventurer with a fearsome look, reading a book whose origin is unknown..."
"Hey, I can hear you."
As he lifted his face from the book, Abel spoke to Ryo.
"What are you doing here?"
"I was reading until I was interrupted by some water attribute mage, if I remember correctly."
"To be subdued by such a minor disturbance, Abel, you're still lacking."
"Yeah, I get that I'm being told something incredibly unreasonable..."
Ryo spread his arms in a "what can you do?" gesture while shaking his head.
In response, Abel frowned and countered.
In reality, Ryo's task had already been completed.
The food he had transported from the City of Run using his cart had already been consumed.
Although the food brought by Ryo came from the City of Run, it was treated as a contribution from the entire Southern region.
In this manner, food was being transported from the North, East, West, and the Central region where the royal capital is located.
The reason the Southern supplies ran out first was that Hugh had actively contributed the Southern food.
This was to consume it as soon as possible so that Ryo could retract the cart.
He was trying to avoid standing out too much... but well, it was already too late for that.
"By the way, how long do you think the meeting will last...?"
"Who knows? Until last week, it seems they were discussing how to cross the border, but now they're hesitant even about whether to cross it at all."
The change in discussion topics was triggered by news of the fall of the Capital City of Aberdeen.
Of course, since they hadn’t actually seen the situation in Aberdeen, there were opinions suggesting that the report of its fall might be false information meant to stall the expeditionary force.
Including those views, there were three factions discussing: "We must cross the border anyway," "The majority has already decided; non-intervention," and "It's hard to say either way..."
Ryo, of course, had recently kept his distance from the central tent where the discussions were taking place, and so had Abel.
Inside, guild masters from various towns had gathered, and Hugh McGrath was also present from the City of Run.
"Why is this discussion taking so long?"
"Ah... it's probably because the command structure hasn't been decided. There's no clear leader."
When Ryo asked, Abel replied.
Then he began explaining about the adventurers’ guilds in various towns.
"Each town's adventurers' guild has a sort of 'rank.' It's not officially documented, though. The top rank is, of course, the royal capital headquarters. However, the issue this time is that the person sent from the royal capital headquarters is a sub master."
"Oh... if the guild master from the royal capital had come, that person would have had command authority."
Ryo said what he had somewhat imagined.
"That's right. And following the royal capital headquarters are the four largest cities from each direction—North, East, South, and West—and the biggest in the border area, Run."
"Oh! The adventurers' guild in the City of Run has a high rank!"