## Chapter 901 – Otherworld Dungeon

“W-What did you say?! Is that true?!”

The Royal Army commander shot up from his seat, clutching his head after hearing my explanation.

It was understandable that he’d be shocked.

Humans instantly mutating into monsters, seeking other victims. It was like an ordinary person suddenly transforming into one of those vile, despicable black looters from the LA riots. Utterly horrifying and repulsive.

More than anything, the Royal Army had fought those things directly.

They knew better than anyone that these weren’t enemies the average citizen could handle.

“People turning like that in an instant…! Does that mean the beings we’ve been fighting…!”
“Were probably the original owners of this palace.”
“Such a ghastly tale!”

The commander, possessing some semblance of normal sensibilities, was deeply shaken. There couldn’t be a more wicked story than this.

If he’d witnessed the transformation firsthand, he might have fainted.

“Think about it. Monsters from another world, likely infecting us humans, whom they’ve just encountered, and twisting us to our very core. They’re probably a horrific species that multiplies in such a way.”
“That’s so evil and terrible!”
“If that were all, it’d be a fortunate story. They’re stronger than regular soldiers. What does that tell you?”
“That ordinary people… can’t stand a chance…”

*Thud.*

The commander slumped back into his chair.

“If what you say is true, and they get out of this palace, the kingdom will be utterly screwed.”
“Screwed?! That’s not enough to describe it!”
“Then how about royally fucked?”
“That expression seems fitting! To think it was this dangerous!”

He seemed considerably panicked.

But really, it was unavoidable.

He’d been dispatched as the Royal Army commander, and now this fucked-up problem had arisen? If he screwed up, he might take the fall, so as commander, he had no choice but to take it seriously.

“But an otherworld structure appeared; wasn’t it obvious it would be dangerous? From the start, the forces were too small, even if it was a border region. It seems like they underestimated the situation too much.”

Honestly, it was a lack of safety awareness.

“Perhaps… it’s because most problems are resolved when the Royal Knights are deployed. In fact, whenever something like this has happened in the kingdom’s history, the Royal Knights or the Holy Knights would be dispatched and solve everything.”
“Ah.”
“Anyway, I’ll send a messenger right away!”

Well… truthfully, even if something appeared, it would be resolved if the Royal Knights were deployed.

Even with the Spirit King, if we’d received reinforcements in the end, they would have resolved everything on their own, even without us.

And there was history; they’d always solved whatever problems arose. That’s how the kingdom had been maintained. Whether an ancient dungeon appeared or an otherworld structure emerged, they’d resolve it.

Didn’t they even say that an incomplete Demon King almost descended decades ago? The Holy Knights resolved that too.

“As expected of Paladin-nim! Truly a righteous saint of the Brass Celestial Host…! If not for Paladin-nim, a great disaster would have occurred!”

In any case, the commander expressed his gratitude to me.

“Even if it wasn’t me, everyone would have noticed eventually. More importantly, when you send the messenger, could you also deliver my letter to the Brass Celestial Host?”
“Understood!”

The commander nodded, and I borrowed paper, a pen, and stationery to write about the current situation.

I had to inform the Saintess of the severity of this matter.
If I sent a letter, she would dispatch the Holy Knights.

No matter what else, this was something that `absolutely` needed support.

If even one of those monsters… that is, one of the creatures with reproductive abilities, got outside and we failed to track it, the area around here would likely be devastated.

This wasn’t about achieving a goal, but about preventing such a disaster. Naturally, a lot of manpower would be needed.

I was a resident of the kingdom; how could I just stand by and do nothing?

“But is it possible for support to come? It’s a border region.”
“Perhaps they’ll have to come to an agreement with the Merkudia Kingdom… but that’s not for us to worry about. It’s something the royal family has to do.”

He said that, adding a simple explanation.

According to the commander, this border region wasn’t as strictly managed as the GOP in South Korea. Instead, the lord’s forces in this area, along with a small number of dispatched Royal Army and Royal Knight members, managed it relatively loosely.

It seemed there were hardly any incidents of people causing trouble with the opposing country or trying to cross the border with impure intentions. In fact, almost no sane criminals would do such a thing in a military zone.

The only ones caught were probably armed professional smugglers. But these bastards were bold and had considerable combat power.

Anyway, it seemed it wasn’t a hostile atmosphere from the start, as there was a trade route. They were just refraining from showing military movements to each other as much as possible because it was a foreign country.

“Wait, but if you go beyond that lake, doesn’t the Elven Forest appear?”

But even if the Merkudia Kingdom was one thing, there was a large mountain range right beyond that lake. That was the easternmost edge of the Elves’ land, the Elven Forest.

What about there?

“That’s right. That would be quite troublesome. If the Elves find out about this danger, they’ll definitely show some kind of movement… If the monsters enter their forest, it will naturally become their business. They’ll likely dispatch troops to stop it or whatever.”

If I were the Elven King, I would too.

“I hope there won’t be any conflicts with them.”

The commander sighed as he said that.

“Yeah. Elves are scary beings.”
“That’s right. You might be deceived by their beauty… but most Elves have a sensibility that’s on a different level from humans.”
“That’s true.”

Strictly speaking, Claudie didn’t have a normal sensibility either. Risha was also unique because she was a witch.

“More than anything, they have considerable combat power, and their actions are unpredictable. They think they can just run back to their forest no matter what they do, so they’re an elusive bunch.”
“But there are Elves within the kingdom, right?”

I’d seen them a few times.

I’d never seen a Dark Elf besides Claudie, but I’d seen Elves themselves very rarely, one at a time.

“Those people are on the normal side. But the Elves inside the Elven Forest right now… are scary people. Especially the ones in the East Forest, beyond the lake.”
“East Forest? Ah. From the Elves’ perspective, it would be the East Forest. Is there something there?”

At my words, the commander took a sip of water and answered.

“As you know, the kingdom prohibits Elven slaves, but illegal slave traders are fighting to handle such goods, risking their lives. Even if we try to eradicate them, they keep appearing because it’s such a big business. Because of that, that area is in a terrible state.”

I was getting this information here.

But illegal Elven slaves… Well, if there’s money to be made, humans will do anything. No matter how much you crack down on drug cartels, new ones will take their place when the old ones disappear.

“For example, there’s an Elven military organization called ‘Forest Murderers’ that was formed to fight humans.”
“Forest Murderers?”

Forest Killers.

The name was seriously brutal.

“Their area of activity is this East Forest. They’re a very violent group of professional killers… Since Elves have long lifespans, each one possesses extreme killing skills. They’re a very dangerous bunch.”

It seemed that way just by looking at them.

“Their main job is to take down those illegal Elven slave traders… but honestly, in their eyes, ordinary humans and illegal slave traders probably feel the same.”
“That’s understandable enough.”
“Of course, we’re avoiding conflicts with them as much as possible, but honestly, I don’t know what will happen if they get involved in this. They hate humans so much. No matter how careful we are, an accident will happen.”

I talked with the commander in that way.

Anyway, we had to be careful of the Elves.

But the Elves probably knew that this palace had appeared… Maybe they’d sent scouts. We had to watch out for pretty or handsome people.

“I hope we don’t have to drag the Elves into this… Haa. This is a headache.”

The commander sighed.

This wasn’t something I could solve by worrying about it, so I decided to just move on. Anyway, I finished writing the letter and used my Paladin necklace to stamp it with a seal. If the letter reached my Kadia unnie, reinforcements would come.

“Commander. It would be good to inform the Royal Knights about this as well.”

I had helped them before, but we weren’t particularly close, so I didn’t feel like going there to tell them directly.

“Of course… This is something that requires a lot of manpower. I’ll make sure to let them know that we need to eliminate the brain-like creatures first.”
“Very good.”

I was glad that the commander was reasonable.

That’s how the conversation ended.

Before going back, I asked for a copy of the map made by the Royal Army, and they gave it to me very willingly. As expected, you have to give something to get something. Well, now that the messenger would be departing, we just had to spend our time eliminating monsters as usual.

Whatever happened, reducing their numbers would be helpful.

* * *

The next morning.

After spending the night in the carriage, we started preparing to set out again. But this time, Risha and Ari, and Winia and Karin were missing.

I didn’t mind going every day, but they needed to rest. We could take turns like this. Since we’d obtained a decent sample anyway, Risha had to research it and gather information. And well, we needed someone to protect the ones who were staying here.

“Then let’s do our best today, you four!”
“Yeah!”

And so, the four of us, me, Claudie, Hilde, and Liz unnie, set out. We hadn’t even explored all of the first floor yet. It was natural since we hadn’t found the stairs leading to the second floor.

We could move in small numbers now.

“Oh my, it seems like what Katt said yesterday had an effect.”

When we arrived at the palace entrance, the security was quite strict.

The Royal Army soldiers who had been going inside to hunt were all stationed in front of the entrance.

Had they moved the barracks forward? They had set up sentries and had troops armed and ready to move out at any moment. It seemed they were planning to guard the entrance from the outside instead of going inside to fight.

“That’s right. It seems like they’re planning to guard the entrance.”
“As expected of Paladin Katt-nim!! Thanks to your reputation, they’re cooperating very well!”
“Hehehe, ah. Yeah. How nice.”

Seeing that they had responded quickly, it seemed like the entrance wouldn’t be breached. If other people went inside to explore and reduce the numbers, and the Royal Army guarded the entrance from the outside, there would be no worries.

“Okay, volunteers, this way!”

But it wasn’t just the Royal Army. The combat mage unit members I’d seen before were lined up, gathering people.

“What’s going on?”

Claudie asked, looking at it.

“Yesterday, I saw Marquis Lormalza asking the Royal Army commander for support. Maybe some victims have appeared among those combat mage unit members. He’s probably gathering people to go in and save them.”
“Victims… Were they kidnapped?”
“That’s likely what happened during the battle.”
“They’ve probably all turned into monsters already.”

Claudie spoke those scary words as if it were nothing.

“That’s probably right… There’s no way those disgusting monsters would leave the kidnapped people alone.”

Liz unnie nodded.

“Well, maybe they escaped and are running away! Combat mages are pretty strong, so there’s a chance they managed to shake them off while being kidnapped and are wandering around inside!”

It wasn’t impossible.

But it wasn’t something we needed to worry about. If we met them along the way, we could save them as fellow humans, but it was Marquis Lormalza, not us, who had to do that job.

I looked around, searching for the Hailen siblings and Marquis Lormalza. But I couldn’t find them, maybe they weren’t here right now.

“Let’s go in.”

And so, we entered the palace again.