Chapter 84: Chapter 80: Doomed Negotiations

“And that’s level one hundred.” Ichiro said, dispelling his magic and scratching the back of his neck. For some reason, the last day or so he had been feeling oddly itchy, and he couldn’t find a reason why, so he could only assume it was because of his impending race advancement “How does this whole race advancement thing work?”

“Amazing, Lord Yamamoto!” Princess Meg said, clapping her hands together. “At this rate, there’s no way the Lord of Monsters will stand up to us! As for race evolution, it’ll happen automatically the next time you sleep.”

“You’re doing pretty well yourself, Princess.” Ichiro said. “What level are you now?”

“O-only seventy.” Meg admitted, admitted, turning away in embarrassment. “And I’ve been training for years before this…”

Princess Meg was the first companion to join Ichiro on his journey; she was Brom’s daughter, and the two had met while Ichiro was still researching this world. As it turned out, she was frustrated with the way things were going, saddened at her father’s helplessness to stop the ruinous future he saw, despite his best efforts. She felt it wasn’t right to not be doing anything while her father worked so hard, so she had chosen to seek Ichiro out and help him however she could.

“You can’t compare normal people like us with a Hero, Your Highness.” Neph said, placing a boot on the corpse of the monster she was fighting and using it to pull her spear out of the monster. “You are quite high level for someone of your age.”

Neph was their other companion, and she had joined because King Brom had assigned her to watch over Princess Meg while she was with Ichiro. She was not only a skilled combatant, but a skilled manager as well; she kept watch over the party’s finances, and made sure to scope out everywhere they went before they got there. Ichiro sometimes wondered how she was able to accomplish so much in such small periods of time, but whenever he asked, she only said that she would be a failure of a servant if she wasn’t able to do at least this much.

She flicked the gore off of her spear, then walked back over to Ichiro and Meg. “We should turn in for the night.” She said. “It may be early in the day, but race advancements tend to make your body tire quickly in preparation for the coming night. Besides, this is cause for celebration, as our way of life is now that much safer from those who would try and change it.”

And then there was that “habit” of hers. She often said things in a strange roundabout way, claiming it was an old habit that she couldn’t shake, but Ichiro knew that wasn’t the case. She was clearly trying to communicate things about this “swarm” to him, and though it had taken quite some time, he was beginning to get a picture for what it was.

It was made up of people, though at the same time, not normal people. It was not some outgrowth of the Lord of Monsters, but a force in opposition to it. It was a powerful force, too; Neph had stated on many occasions that she did not fear the Lord of Monsters. In fact, she pitied the Lord of Monsters because of the opposition it would face. And, finally, the swarm grew by absorbing people, as the constant references to “necromantic armies” that she made implied.

This world’s Hero was, apparently, obscenely powerful, more so than any who had ever lived. Even knowing of his multiple Heroic Jobs, Neph said that she doubted Ichiro would be her match until he was at least level two hundred, and the Hero had yet to even reach level one hundred.

He would have doubted her, had he not put two and two together already; the Hero was responsible for the swarm, and if it was everything their implications made it out to be, then she was clearly an unparalleled genius. And, even if they were exaggerating the swarm, the video Owen had taken showed a dungeon that could only have been made by the Hero.

Yet, Ichiro couldn’t help but feel uneasy about this information. For one, Neph was hinting at a lot more information than the Goddess of Law would normally allow, were the country truly under an Oath. Either he was being misled, or the Goddess of Law considered the swarm enough of a threat to allow her rules to be bent around Ichiro, and neither was a pleasant thought.

For two, Connie had repeatedly told him that things in this world were not as they appeared on the surface. If this world’s Hero truly was leading the swarm, as he expected, then surely it couldn’t be all bad. Yes, the Hero had “gone rogue”, but all she had provably done was move out into the middle of nowhere and trap the scouts who came to retrieve her.

Yes, when that girl said she would ‘make Owen into something strong’ it was unsettling, but it wasn’t necessarily malicious. Really, he just needed to talk with the Hero, and get her side of the story. Surely everything would make sense when he found out why she had done what she did.

He also needed to find Connie’s followers. They were supposedly an eclectic bunch, but were also people who were wrapped up in this, and knew what was going on. If he could talk with them, whoever they were, it would surely go a long way towards clearing things up, but no one seemed to have any idea who Connie might be talking about.

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