## Chapter 1058 – A Man of Many Questions

“Absolutely not!!! Even if you’re my father, you can’t confiscate my sword!!!”
“I understand, so calm down!”
“I am perfectly calm right now!!! You’re the one who needs to calm down!!!”
“Haa… At least lower your voice…”
“Understood!!!”

She didn’t lower it at all.

The inhuman argument between the disobedient young lady and the Duke continued. We sitting here had no idea what to do.

Is this a meeting?

This wasn’t a meeting room anymore; it was just some kind of shouting space. Saying “shouting space” makes it sound like some mystical barrier-casting technique, but all it means is a noisy place.

“Ugh… Anyway, this is a very big deal.”

As soon as he sat down, Commander Vakerel spoke to me, also taking his seat.

“You can say that again. This is too dangerous.”
“Still, you did very well. If it weren’t for you and your companions, the city would have been destroyed as we just discussed. Even if we had stopped him, we would have had to endure tremendous damage.”
“Just imagining it is too extremely cruel and terrible.”

Commander Vakerel had excellent judgment, as befitting a seasoned paladin.

“Of course, it would have been terrible. That’s why your becoming so strong is truly a blessing. Those who arm themselves with justice like you are bound to achieve such accomplishments…”
“Hehehe, you see right through me. I plan to continue slaughtering these demons in the future.”
“That’s a plan that makes me happy just hearing it.”

Anyway, even as I was talking to Commander Vakerel, the young lady’s shouting showed no signs of stopping. The Royal Knight commanders and mages sitting across from us were continuously gulping down water from the pewter cups that the servants had brought out to replace the broken glass ones.

How long had it been like that?

“Haa… Anyway, all I’m saying is that Isvant is on the verge of utter ruin. There won’t be a problem if Father is well aware of that.”

Finally, perhaps exhausted, the young lady’s voice began to soften.

“Hoo… Then, Leila. Let’s exchange opinions now.”
“Understood, Father.”

—Ahem.

The Duke cleared his throat, and with that, the real meeting began… It was a very late start, but the commanders and mages welcomed this change in atmosphere and offered their respective positions.

“The Knights also recognize that this is a serious matter, Duke. The magic to open gates is currently beyond human capabilities, so if we don’t properly understand its nature here, it will undoubtedly become a threat to the kingdom.”

The commander spoke with a very confident tone, as if he had been wanting to say this throughout the meeting.

“In my judgment, we should send a messenger to the capital to inform them of the current situation and provide support during that time. We can receive further instructions from the Royal Family later.”

If we inform the Royal Family of the current situation, they will somehow issue instructions. Until then, they would be stationed here providing support.

I should probably let Kadia know soon too… No. If the Knights send a messenger anyway, my words will come up too, and then Kadia will know. After all, the response has to be discussed with the Royal Family.

“I am very grateful that you came from afar to provide support. I will use my influence to ensure that the knights can live comfortably.”
“Thank you.”

Next to gain the floor was the mage.

“Our Magic Tower’s mages will also put their efforts into researching the magic and techniques used by the demons and their heretical leader… the necromancer. As a member of the Isvant Magic Tower branch, I will naturally support you, Duke.”
“I am grateful for that as well. I will ensure that the soldiers prioritize selling any clues or materials they acquire to the Magic Tower.”
“Thank you, Duke.”

Anyway, the proper meeting proceeded in that manner. With the young lady not shouting, it was progressing very smoothly. Well, they would discuss things like this and then carry out military operations on their own.

“Our Brass Celestial Knights will focus on the extermination and investigation of the remaining heretics and demons.”

This was Commander Vakerel’s statement.

Honestly, although he had been acting up earlier, there wasn’t another person in this world as normal as this man. In a world like this, Commander Vakerel was truly a reasonable, kind, and communicative person.

With the young lady silent,

The meeting concluded very safely. In the end, it ended warmly with everyone passing around and reading the report I had written.

“Anyway… I feel infinite gratitude for defeating the Great Demon, Paladin. Thanks to you, I can breathe a sigh of relief. I will make sure to reward you handsomely for this.”

The Duke, whose complexion had improved, expressed his gratitude to me.

“Thank you, Duke!”

Since I had prevented tremendous damage, it was a reward I deserved to receive.

With that, the meeting ended, and everyone exchanged greetings and rose from their seats.

As I was about to say goodbye to the young lady before leaving, she grabbed my wrist and shouted.

“Then, let’s meet again next time, Paladin!!! I will send an invitation through the church!!! But for now, eliminating the remaining demons should come first!!!”
“That’s right, Young Lady!!! Go and slaughter all the demons who threaten the residents of Isvant!!”
“Because it is our duty!!”

Although she had a bit of a high tension and a rough mouth, the young lady was, in the truest sense, someone who knew the duties of a noble.

Having been promised a reward and an invitation to a banquet, I left the conference room. It seemed I would have to stay in Isvant for a while. After finishing things up here and looking into various matters, I would have no choice but to stay nearby.

“Ah.”

But suddenly, I also thought of Elise.

Since this area had been utterly devastated, Elise and the Light Saint Crusaders would surely be going crazy, smashing demons. Since that was the case, she would naturally be doing well… It suddenly occurred to me that I hadn’t written her a letter since we parted ways back then.

“Mom.”

What should I do?

Should I dash over to Krassheim when I have time and come back? I returned home while thinking about that.

* * *

There aren’t many humans who can wield mana.

The Duke of Isvant has quite a few soldiers, but most of them focus on patrolling the territory and eliminating monsters. It is their duty to defend the serfs and yeoman farmers from monsters.

Adventurers also help with such tasks at a cheap price.

Anyway, most of these soldiers are ordinary people without mana. An army composed of these ordinary people can stop most monsters, and they can easily repel thieves and bandits. An armed army is effective and powerful.

But it is not effective against beings like demons who transcend humans. The difference in basic combat power is too great, making it very difficult to stop them. The cost and profit don’t match either.

Moreover, beings who can be called true powerhouses cannot be stopped by an army of ordinary people. No. It would be correct to say that they can never be stopped.

What is needed here are superhumans who wield mana, but only the Royal Family and the Church possess what can be called true knight orders. Of course, there are Magic Towers in every major city, but there aren’t many skilled battle mages who are completely focused on combat.

Whatever the case, the current ruling system, so to speak…

It seems a bit dangerous right now.

According to the stories, it was extremely rare for demons, heretics, monsters from other dimensions, or monsters that appeared from ancient dungeons to run rampant until now. But recently, there has been an insane amount of such activity.

Beings who had been silent since the Idol War are awakening.

In other words, for some reason, the long peace is on the verge of being broken, and the humans who have become weakened by enjoying peace will have a hard time handling it.

In my opinion, the ancient otherworlders must have been even stronger than they are now. That’s how they were able to win the Idol War. Perhaps the humans of the present world have become much weaker compared to the past.

“So, you idiot. You’re thinking of joining the army? Are you crazy?”
“No, you barbarian bastard… When that paladin said that, it suddenly became really scary, didn’t it?”

Copson, wearing a frightened expression, vigorously stroked his protruding chin with his palm as he spoke.

Copson, still bitter about being beaten by the knight last time, suggested that he would abandon being an adventurer with no one to protect him and join the Duke of Isvant’s army as a group.

Life might be a little different, but a D-rank adventurer would be quite welcome, and at least being in the lord’s army would prevent him from being subjected to such outrageous assaults, according to his logic. He also hinted that the various treatments were good, life was stable, and he could even get married.

But in my opinion, enlisting at this timing was a suicidal act.

“I’m telling you this because it’s scary, you idiot. The world is so unstable these days… Even I have been living by slaughtering crazy monster bastards, Copson. If a guy like you joins the army in this era, it just means you’ve become a walking corpse.”
“Ugh…”

This was no different from enlisting at a dangerous time.

“Why? Did they put up a notice at the Adventurer’s Guild recruiting soldiers? With good conditions?”
“You barbarian bastard? Have you been to the Adventurer’s Guild recently?”
“I don’t even need to see it.”
“Video?”
“No. I know it all without seeing it.”
“How do you know so much about me!!!”

Copson stabbed his steak with a knife and shouted.

“Hehehe, this crazy bastard.”

Watching him, I called the staff.

“Here.”

The staff approached, and I opened the menu, pointed with my finger, and ordered additional food. I was hungry too, and I couldn’t stand it.

“Three more of the same bottles of this alcohol. And three more of this menu item here.”
“Understood.”

The staff who received the order headed towards the kitchen.

“…”

Copson, who had been staring intently at that, shoved the sliced steak into his mouth, chewed it, and said.

“No, but you barbarian bastard. Is it okay to order so much? I came here thinking of getting a big meal from the paladin who earns a lot of money, but this is really amazing. This is the first time in my life I’ve eaten such professional steak… The juice is just fantastically insane… And I didn’t even know there was a place like this in Isvant until today.”

I had found Copson earlier and dragged him to a decent restaurant. He had been emptying his plate with great relish, and only now did he say such things as if he were sorry.

“Don’t worry about it, eat as much as you want.”

I leaned back in my chair, crossed my arms, and said.

“You’re an absurdly crazy rich bastard. Is it really okay to eat as much as I want?”
“You’re already eating as much as you want. And if you don’t eat now, you don’t know when you’ll die, so I’m treating you as if I’m feeding you a memorial meal.”
“No, you crazy! How can I eat when you keep scaring me like that! Think about the meaning of the title of paladin!”
“Hehehe. I’m just telling you the reality, the reality. Be careful of the heretic bastards and the demons from now on. You’ll really go to hell. You know, the heretic bastards we killed in the waterway a long time ago. In my opinion, those bastards are behind this.”
“I’m going crazy!! I want to believe that I’m not being targeted!”
“If you were, you’d be dead already.”
“Ugh!”

Copson put down his fork, grabbed a bottle of alcohol, opened the lid as it was, and started shoving it into his mouth, fluttering his shimmering blonde hair, and gulping it down.

—Thump!

He put down the bottle after drinking like that.

“Ugh…! There was such alcohol in the world! How much does one bottle of this cost!”
“They say it’s 3 silver.”
“Crazy luxury item!”

For a D-rank adventurer, 3 silver for a bottle of alcohol was a truly shocking price. In the first place, the dirt-poor live on 5 coppers a day. In this other world, the lives of the poor lower class and the superhuman upper class are extremely different.

“To be able to buy such luxury items at will, what kind of life are you living!!!”
“I’m living off the price of killing monster bastards.”

I stood up from my seat, crossed my arms, tilted my head back as much as possible, lowered my eyes to the maximum, and looked down at Copson as I said.

“I’m already in the highest class of society… You can’t even compare me to adventurers… This is nothing to me.”

This is class.

“Where did the barbarian bastard I knew go!!! Give him back!!! You crazy, unlucky monster pretending to be a barbarian bastard!!!”