Chapter 158 (1/2)
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Rank A Information
「And did you know about Sweet Pleasure's abilities, Your Majesty?」
「Please don't address me as “Your Majesty”, Lawrence. I have not taken the throne yet.」
「Ponsonia is already uniting around you.」
In Kudyastoria's private room were a few of her close aides and Lawrence. She insisted on being called Princess until she actually ascended to the throne, which would take place once Prince Austrin was defeated.
The Quinbland Empire offered to form an alliance just now, and she agreed. Normally, a meeting attended by cabinet ministers would take place, but every second counted. The enemy was already within the kingdom.
Ponsonia desperately wanted Quinbland's troops. To test the Empire's level of commitment, Kudyastoria suggested they inform other nations of their alliance to which Quinbland's Prime Minister replied “That's a great idea. I'll ask our Emperor to do that as well.”
At first, the Princess thought the Empire was lying about the alliance and would attack them instead. But it seemed that wasn't the case. Suspicions were cleared.
It would probably take ten days for Quinbland's and Margrave Grugschilt's forces to reach the royal capital. The combined forces of Austrin and Einbeast might make their move before that.
Kudyastoria would need to decide soon whether to go with Sweet Pleasure's plan to destroy Pond, or not.
「The royal capital's Adventurer's Guild have provided us with information about Sweet Pleasure.」
Kudyastoria flicked a bunch of papers across the table. Lawrence picked them up and scanned their contents.
The Adventurers Guild lent adventurers to nations. Normally, a supranational organization partic.i.p.ating in wars would only cause needless chaos. But if the guild refused to loan adventurers, the country would put pressure on them. So rules were put into place with regards to lending adventurers.
Rank S adventurers could not be deployed. Only adventurers ranked E to A may be hired and only fifty at a time. The Adventurers Guild, an organization with powers that transcended borders, urged and expected countries to maintain balance.
「I didn't expect their traps to have such tremendous power.」Lawrence said as he finished reading the doc.u.ments.
「Indeed. Do you think Sweet Pleasure's plan is effective?」
「If they could take down a Field Wyvern, I'm sure they're powerful. But…」Lawrence frowned. 「Wouldn't the enemy know about Sweet Pleasure? Traps are only effective when hidden. If they knew about the traps, they would most likely just pa.s.s by Pond.」
「Exactly.」
Kudyastoria pa.s.sed a second batch of papers that contained information on Rising Falls and Polar Tiger, rank A adventurer parties from Einbeast. But unlike Sweet Pleasure, intel on them was far lesser.
The Adventurers Guild could obtain information about its own adventurers, but whether they shared them to guilds in other regions or not was a different matter. The guild, after all, was not a monolith.
What they had at hand at the moment was information gathered by the royal capital's Adventurers Guild.
「So Einbeast's Adventurers Guild might also have information on Sweet Pleasure, although limited.」Lawrence said.
「There's also a possibility that a rank A enemy knows Senkun personally.」
「There's not a lot of intel here. Polar Tiger is a party of demi-humans close to the nation. As for this Rising Falls, besides their names and ranks, we only know that they're a party of few people with terrible destructive power. Did Sweet Pleasure mention anything?」
「Sir Sunken seems to know them. He must have an acquaintance there. He said…」Kudyastoria eyed her secretary who was browsing his notes.
「…that they rely on their weapon's power, Master Lawrence.」the official said.
「The power of their weapons, huh…」
「Lawrence, can they, let's say, best you with only their weapons? Is that possible?」
「I'm but a human being. A mere knife can kill me.」
Lawrence was alluding to the time he was almost killed by a boy. Kudyastoria was a witness to the fight as well.
「That's not what I meant. I'm asking if there are legendary weapons that can wipe out a whole army.」
「Yes.」
「Really?」
「Really. Magic items… No, weapons with incredible power do exist. If Rising Falls has one of those…」Lawrence's face turned sullen.「Even if they were complete amateurs, they'll have the power of a hundred armies. Things would be easier if we managed to do something about their weapon.」
「We wouldn't have to blow up a whole town, too.」
「Sweet Pleasure's traps are extremely effective in confined s.p.a.ces. They would be less effective in hand-to-hand combat, and there's also the risk of friendly fire. I can understand Sir Sunken's position. He can maximize the power of his traps by blowing up Pond.」
「With Quinbland's forces and Margrave Grugschilt's troops…」The Princess trailed off, and Lawrence continued.
「We can win even out in the open. We know the local geography.」
「Am I being too optimistic?」Kudyastoria asked, showing hesitation to destroy Pond.