The Water Magician

“‘Five Dragons’ has gone to Carlyle…"

In the office of the Run Adventurers' Guild, the Guild Master, Hugh McGrath, groaned.

The information had come from Marquis Heinlein, who was assisting Abel.

Previously, communication with the 'Five Dragons' had been lost, and the Grand Master himself had come to request the 'Red Sword' to search for them.

At that time, since the location where contact was lost was near the border with the Empire, it was deemed too dangerous to dispatch Prince Abel. Hence, it was decided that Abel would head to Twilight Land while B-rank and C-rank adventurers from the royal capital would be sent to search for the Five Dragons.

In the end, no updates about the situation had made their way to the City of Run, and since Hugh had been extremely busy, it had completely slipped from his mind.

Now it turned out that the Five Dragons were in the Duchy of Flitwick to the north and were likely on the enemy's side.

Whether the enemy was 'King Raymond' or the 'Empire' was still uncertain.

"Either way, they would be a troublesome force if they turn against us…"

Hugh literally buried his head in his hands.

If they were to hit the battlefield, they would likely slaughter common soldiers.

The combat power of A-rank adventurers is exceptionally high.

To contain them, one would either need to prepare adventurers of the same rank or execute a saturation attack using B-rank adventurers… it was a very troubling situation.

However, what was even more troubling was the possibility that they could be sent in as an assassination unit.

Whether it was King Raymond or King Abel, the current stage relied heavily on the individual monarchs for the organization’s stability.

There wasn’t a powerful bureaucratic system in place where succession was automated, nor were there individuals readily available to take over immediately upon death.

"If the king dies, it’s all over."

It was a precarious situation reminiscent of a board game.

If a powerful piece were to burst in and aim for their lives…

It would be akin to having a shogi dragon or a chess queen infiltrating the formation.

The king's life would be a flickering flame… even if they managed to defend successfully, the toll on those protecting him would be immense.

They would be taken down one by one, impairing the continuation of the front lines.

How to utilize such strong pieces effectively?

It required perspectives of both strategy and tactics.

"Four confirmed: the swordsman, spear warrior, Fire Attribute Mage, and scout… Four? Shouldn’t it be five since they are the 'Five Dragons'? The last one is Priest Henning… why is he not here?"

Hugh McGrath muttered such while troubled.

"Four people except Priest Henning…"

Abel was also reviewing the same documents that had been passed to Hugh McGrath.

"Having all of them as A-rank is impressive."

Listening to Abel's murmurs, Ryo sat properly on his usual sofa and expressed his thoughts.

The reason he was seated was to drink coffee.

"Yeah. They are adventurers at the top of the kingdom, both in achievements and strength."

"They were the only A-rank party in the kingdom until Abel rose to A-rank. The fact that they have become enemies is…"

Abel explained, and Ryo shook his head slightly, lamenting the situation.

"I hope it’s all just a mistake…"

Abel also shook his head slightly and uttered those words.

"Do you think you could take on those five, no, four? Can you defeat them?"

"No, that’s impossible. To put it bluntly, even just the swordsman, Lord San, would be hard to handle alone…"

"Are they really that strong?"

As Abel denied it while shaking his head again, Ryo furrowed his brows in concern.

"What would you do if they stormed this manor? If something happened to you, it would be a problem… I think there would be a fair number of people who would be troubled by it."

"Yeah… they would only show troubled faces."

"Please don’t sulk over such things. I just wanted to rephrase it, considering the possibility of there being no one who would be troubled. By the way, Abel, even if you turn out to be like that king, you still practice swordsmanship properly every day, right? That's wonderful, so please keep it up."