Having climbed the stairs and arrived in front of the room, Ian knocked quietly on the door.

’Come in.’

A voice was heard from inside the room immediately, as if they had been waiting for Ian’s arrival.

When Ian opened the door and entered, Kael, the vice-guild leader, and Chris were waiting for him.

’It’s been quite a while.’

Kael, facing Ian after some time, smiled slightly as he looked at him.

’You returned just a few days ago, why not rest a bit longer?’

’It’s better to deal with urgent matters quickly.’

’Don’t call it an urgent matter. It’s scary when you say it like that.’

’...’

Kael and Chris shook their heads with expressions indicating they still needed more time to prepare their hearts.

In truth, since he was an opponent who brought troublesome problems every time they met, they weren’t particularly glad to see him, to be honest.

Kael reached out over the desk first. A single report was already sitting on the desk.

It was the brief temporary report of this expedition that Ian had sent in advance a few days before his visit.

It seemed they intended to talk about that first.

’I’ve read the report you sent. You said it was a Harpy nest?’

’It was a canyon.’

’A troublesome place appeared.’

Kael chuckled as he looked at Ian’s face, which appeared more fatigued than usual. The notoriety of that place was something even Kael had heard about several times.

’You used a quite unusual method for the subjugation.’

’Ah. The newcomer, Airi, happened to follow the plan well. It would have been difficult without her.’

’That rookie slave mercenary? I thought she was timid, but she does her job properly.’

Kael spoke as if he already knew Airi, the newcomer to Ian’s mercenary group.

’Do you know Airi?’

’The list of mercenary prisoners comes up to me as well.’

Well, it’s not that the vice-guild leader examined every single mercenary. He tended to look with interest only at mercenaries of a certain high rank among them.

’Aren’t there some among the criminals who can be rehabilitated and some who cannot? You can tell at a glance.’

’Airi was... debt.’

Ian smiled slightly, recalling Airi’s offense.

’Yes. She didn’t seem like a bad kid, but she was quite timid and a peculiar fellow who only went on requests alone. I thought she would retire before long, but seeing her handle such a bold operation with ease, it seems I misjudged her.’

Kael marveled while reading about Airi’s various active roles written in the report. He thought the term ’Labyrinth constitution’ was a joke, but it seemed such a thing really existed.

Judging by the contents written in the report, he almost wanted to invite her as a temporary instructor for the rookies later.

Kael committed Airi’s name to his memory.

’Anyway, to think it was Harpies, you’ve removed quite a nuisance. The Labyrinth bounty budget will be heavily raided for the first time in a while.’

Flying monsters that appeared during a monster invasion were always a headache, so their bounties were also substantial.

Since most situations where the interior of the city suffered damage during an invasion were caused by flying monsters, removing the Source of such monsters could be seen as actually saving more of the budget than the bounty itself.

In Kael’s personal opinion, just by clearing out the Harpies, it was safe to say Ian’s mercenary group had achieved a feat that would be counted among the top ten in the next monster invasion.

A question suddenly occurred to Ian.

’If Harpies don’t appear, what happens to the merchants who came to buy their materials?’

’They’ll be empty-handed. Is it our business what the merchants’ situation is?’

...That’s true. For mercenaries and soldiers, their job was done once they safely protected the city.

There was no reason to deliberately maintain the intensity of the monster onslaught for the sake of the merchants’ circumstances.

It wasn’t their concern if a merchant who came to buy monster materials went home empty-handed.

Chris gave Ian a small piece of advice.

’Only the merchants who came for Harpies will have long faces. If you brought back Harpy materials, keep them until the Monster Market opens. Since the merchants won’t be able to return empty-handed, you’ll be able to get a very high price then. You might even earn some favors.’

’...Thank you.’

Ian replied with a subtle expression to Chris’s advice. Most of the Harpy materials were burnt. This year, Harpy parts would likely become rare items that couldn’t be bought even with money.

After finishing the brief talk about the Labyrinth, the two closed the report.

The story the two intended to hear by meeting Ian directly was starting now.

’How was it when you went to check? The other seal, I mean.’

That Ian was right had been proven by the events of the last invasion.

Since he had also informed them in advance that the purpose of this Labyrinth exploration was to check the seal located deeper inside, the two were waiting for the news Ian would bring.

However, the news Ian brought back from inside the Labyrinth was a bit different from what the two were waiting for.

’It seems we’ll have to change the entire defense plan.’

’I know we have to change it. If monsters like the ones last time appear, the army will fully cooperate. We’ve also organized separate reserve units.’

’No. It’s not a monster like the Stalker.’

Ian shook his head.

Since this monster was one that changed the structure of the invasion, it couldn’t be properly blocked with the usual defensive deployment.

’This time, other monsters will not appear.’

’They won’t appear?’

Ian held out a document he had found in the records room. it was a document copied from part of a book.

Various information about the Labyrinth was hidden in places like the Labyrinth’s library, the guild’s records room, or ancient document shops.

However, it wasn’t grand information, but books containing background lore or hidden elements. Like the boring story setting documents always found in any game.

In fact, they were things he usually skipped or discarded as there was no reason to see them, but for this task, he had searched for books containing the necessary information while visiting libraries and ancient document shops.

He thought it would be difficult to persuade them with words alone, so he intended to borrow the power of actual data.

Kael and Chris accepted the material Ian brought.

Legion Insects.

Source: [Dangerous Monsters of Legend].

’This is a monster from a collection of folklore.’

’This book only contains monster information with actual basis.’

Legion Insects are monsters with incredible reproductive power and aggression. Each individual’s ability was very weak, but instead, their numbers were immense.

Because they reproduced so instantly, once they nested and their numbers began to swell, they didn’t even have proper natural predators.

They were monsters that used that reproductive power to move in swarms like waves and devastate the surrounding areas.

However, because the rate of increase was too fast, they supposedly annihilated themselves by preying on each other once they had completely desolated the surroundings and there was no more prey.

Due to that characteristic, it was known that the swarms could not survive stably and eventually became extinct.

It was said that the great desert to the east was created because of that monster, but it was an old story whose veracity was unknown.

’Such Legion Insects remained inside a Labyrinth seal? For hundreds of years?’

’Isn’t this place roughly hundreds of years old?’

’...’

Chris nodded toward Kael as if that were possible.

’In the Labyrinth, antiques from hundreds of years ago still appear even now. It’s not strange even if monsters from those days remain.’

Kael wanted to think rationally that there was no such possibility, but his intuition was telling him this would be true.

’Then how do you think we should respond?’

’We’ll have to change the entire troop organization of the castle walls. And the supplies to prepare.’

According to that background setting, Legion Insects reproduce immensely inside the Labyrinth and devour all other monsters.

In other words, in a wave where Legion Insects appear, no other monsters appear and only Legion Insects swarm in.

It was an incredible number that couldn’t even be compared to previous monster waves.

The existing defensive organization made for general monster waves could not properly block the mass of Legion Insects.

Kael listened to Ian’s story and pondered for a long time without saying a word.

To change everything.

Detaching reserve troops and laying a hand on the main army’s troops were completely different stories.

Supporting with reserve supplies and troops was a matter of budget, but changing the overall defense plan was a matter concerning the safety of the city.

If Legion Insects did not appear contrary to Ian’s assumption, even greater damage could be suffered due to the changed defense plan.

It was the same even if Ian wasn’t wrong.

If this old material was incorrect, and the reproductive power of the Legion Insects wasn’t enough to push out all other monsters.

Or if some variable occurred inside the Labyrinth and they failed to reproduce properly.

And so, if the original monster wave, not the Legion Insects, swarmed in.

There were countless variables that could not be guaranteed.

’That is something for which you can never take responsibility.’

This fellow brings new matters of concern continuously, no matter how much one prepares in advance.

Kael, doing calculations in his head, spoke while looking at Ian.

’And similarly, I cannot take responsibility. The army won’t be able to take responsibility either.’

If there was one person in this city who could take responsibility for that, there was only one. The authority to do so also belonged to only one person.

’Can you persuade the Mayor?’

’...Will he even meet me in the first place?’

’Not a chance.’

If you pile up favor on only one side, things like this always happen only at times like these.