Chapter 261: 261 Fame and power

“Underground sewers! Class 3!”

A messenger who rushed to the front of the command post handed a document to the staff member on standby.

Although the urgency was low, the staff member, who had been instructed to deliver any news from the sewers immediately, headed straight to the Vice Guild Master to relay it.

“A report has arrived from the underground sewers.”

“From Chris?”

“Yes.”

It was a report from Chris, who had been sent to check on the status of the sewers.

Kael, the Vice Guild Master of the Mercenary Guild, looked up and asked.

“What does it say?”

“He says there are no issues. The offensive is steadily decreasing.”

“Phew.”

Well, if things had gone south, Chris would have come running back demanding every last reserve be sent down immediately.

Kael had guessed that the lack of noise for quite some time indicated the situation wasn’t too bad.

Now that the underground sewers—his biggest concern—were wrapped up…

Was that the end of the things he needed to worry about?

As that thought crossed his mind, news began arriving in rapid succession from the front lines where combat had finished.

Several messengers arrived at once to relay updates from each front, and summarized reports quickly stacked up in front of the Vice Guild Master.

– West Sector 1, enemy offensive completely neutralized.

– East Sector 4, offensive decreasing.

– ….

Reports kept coming in that the endless monster offensive was gradually subsiding.

As always, that meant only one thing.

“Frontline observation posts confirmed that monster emergence from the Labyrinth has stopped.”

That was the final report from the staff member conducting the briefing.

Kael looked up and surveyed the personnel at the frontline command post.

“It’s over, right?”

Everyone who had checked the battle status nodded.

“All sectors have entered the stable zone.”

“Lower the response level. Send the request to the central command.”

“Yes, sir.”

End of invasion.

That brief news, carrying Kael’s signature, headed toward the central command in the south.

Once that news arrived, the alarms would be lifted, and this grueling battle would finally reach a conclusion.

Kael slumped into the chair he hadn’t used once since the battle began.

A strange silence settled over the once-hectic command post.

As the combat wound down, there was a brief lull where the influx of information slowed.

While the number of monsters stretched across the outer walls began to dwindle, the mercenaries’ movements became even more frantic.

The mercenaries, too, instinctively felt that this year’s invasion was over.

Since no more monsters were swarming in, they were in a situation where they had to squeeze as much achievement as possible out of the remaining ones.

From now on, a scramble would break out to claim the remaining prey.

The mercenaries would take care of the monsters left outside on their own.

Kael let out a weary sigh.

This year’s invasion had been successfully repelled, but the real work was just beginning.

Before his brief rest could even end, preliminary reports on damage lists and casualties began to arrive in front of him.

Half of it could be dumped on the Guild Master.

But the other half was the Vice Guild Master’s burden.

The saying that events occurring during a monster invasion accounted for half of the Mercenary Guild’s annual workload was no exaggeration.

He would likely have to pull all-nighters for nearly a month just to handle the aftermath.

It’s starting again this year.

Kael sighed, ignoring the growing stack of reports.

***

A temporary command post set up in the rear of the underground sewers.

Messengers were continuously running toward the place where Ian was located.

Since one could never tell how the front-line situation was turning out in the complex sewers, he had to keep soldiers moving back and forth to receive updates.

“D-1 Outpost regular report, no monster appearances.”

“D-1 confirmed.”

Every time news from the front was delivered via the soldiers, Ian’s situation board was updated.

The fact that monsters hadn’t appeared even when it was time meant the offensive had been completely wiped out.

With each report, the markers representing monster hordes were cleared from the map one by one.

Now, only a few small, scattered groups of monsters remained on the map.

“It’s over.”

An officer in charge of the defense forces here muttered while looking down at the situation board beside Ian.

“Yes. It would be better to head in and clean up the little that’s left directly.”

“We’ll take care of that.”

Ian nodded at the officer’s suggestion.

Stray monsters that had broken away from the wave would still be inside the sewers, and such stragglers had to be dealt with manually.

Having only the three members of the Ian Mercenary Group patrol the complex sewers would take far too much time.

“Then please take the central passage side. We will check this area.”

“Good. I’ll send in the 1st Company.”

The officer in charge of the sewer defense forces for this operation, Captain Leona, stared intently at the situation board Ian had created.

The main body of the defense force had been deployed at the final defensive line in the rear of the sewers, but not a single monster had reached that point.

With no monsters in sight, could something have gone wrong…?

Every time a non-commissioned officer from the defense line came by with a serious face to ask that, Leona had to send them back with a bitter smile.

Captain Leona, looking away from the map, stared at Ian.

“I’ve worked with quite a few people until now… but across all my battles, this was the most impressive operation. Mr. Ian.”

“Thank you.”

It wasn’t an empty compliment.

Of course, the level of monsters in the sewers was generally weaker than those on the surface.

Even so… she had never seen a case where a situation was resolved without a single casualty.

It was thanks to the new defense plan Ian had brought.

There had been several experimental attempts to create this kind of defensive line in the past, but most had ended in failure.

However, Ian’s plan… one could feel the level of completion was on a different level from anything before.

It was a layout designed to stop monsters most efficiently, a culmination of the experiences and research of players from all over the world.

For the people here who had to repel invasions as safely as possible, building such theories while experimenting and gambling with the city as collateral would have been impossible.

Ian also couldn’t remember how many cities he had wrecked while performing countless attempts and experiments to master this.

The officer gave Ian a well-groomed smile.

“They’ve been complaining lately that there’s no talent, but I didn’t know the Guild had raised such a gem. I look forward to working with you.”

“I’m not affiliated with the Guild, I’m just a mercenary.”

“Ha!”

Captain Leona’s eyes sparkled.

This time, it wasn’t a formal smile like before, but a laugh filled with more pleasant interest.

“Just a mercenary?”

Naturally, she had thought he was a Guild member, so she hadn’t said anything unnecessary to avoid causing problems, but…

If he was an unattached mercenary, the story was different.

“Then, do you have any interest in enlisting?”

Leona made the offer to Ian with a genial smile.

“You said you were D-Class. The treatment for that is a bit disappointing… I’ll sponsor the costs, so once you reach C-Class, you can receive my letter of recommendation and be commissioned as an officer immediately—”

“It’s troubling if you keep poaching mercenaries like that.”

Someone who suddenly appeared interrupted Leona’s words.

Turning her head, Leona smiled at the sight of Chris.

“Haha. The Mercenary Guild must be very worried about you. They said they were short-staffed, yet they sent support like this.”

Captain Leona slightly lowered her voice and, with a wink of one eye, pressed a small coin into Ian’s hand.

It wasn’t just a coin, but a token engraved with the military seal on one side and her family crest on the other.

It was an item used like a business card in this world.

“Visit me if you become interested.”

Chris had a displeased face, but he quietly waited for the two to finish their conversation.

It was a good offer for a mercenary.

If one only wanted gold, mercenary work was better.

Fame and power. For someone with a story who wished to reclaim past glory, accepting that offer could be a good way.

Certainly, Ian wasn’t affiliated with the Guild, so Chris couldn’t just block it at his own discretion.

“Well then, I’ll leave you to your talk. I need to wrap things up on my end now.”

Her business finished, Leona walked toward the soldiers.

Chris stepped up beside Ian and looked down at the status board.

The situation was already over without Chris needing to add anything.

“Good job holding out.”

“Yes. Fortunately, everything went smoothly without any problems.”

Since Chris hadn’t seen the progress directly, he could only tell from the current status board that the battle had ended well.

However, seeing the bright faces of the officers, he could only guess that it had ended successfully with almost no damage to the regular army.

Ian asked Chris, who was examining the history of the messengers’ reports.

“You must be busy; is it okay for you to be down here?”

“The battle upstairs is almost over, too.”

Of course, even so, it was true that the surface was busier.

If it weren’t for the Vice Guild Master, Chris would have been helping with the cleanup upstairs.

“It seems he was more worried about this place than upstairs. Well, at this rate, there’s no need for me to keep watching.”

Chris had also roughly guessed why the Vice Guild Master had sent him here.

It was to fix things if there was a problem and to help out if they were struggling.

But looking at the situation, it didn’t seem like Chris needed to stay down here.

They would handle the mopping-up operation just fine on their own.

Chris scanned the surroundings slightly.

Officers and soldiers were moving busily to conclude the operation.

It was a distracted atmosphere, perfect for a moderately private conversation.

“I saw one of your members earlier. Was her name Tanya?”

“…Ah. By any chance, where…?”

Chris waved his hand as Ian subtly tried to pull out a pouch that looked familiar.

“Forget it. I know the situation. I don’t intend to say anything.”

Of course, there were limits to turning a blind eye implicitly.

Facing a scene directly like he had just now was usually something that couldn’t be ignored, but…

Ian had taken on a fairly large role in this invasion.

A verbal report would go to the Vice Guild Master, but they would likely move past it by feigning ignorance.

“Give those kinds of things to the Vice Guild Master instead.”

Chris returned the pouch he had received from Tanya to Ian.

“If you’re interested in handling the Guild’s business like this in the future, it’ll be more helpful to stay in his good graces than mine.”

“Ah, yes. I already gave some to the Vice Guild Master and the others beforehand.”

“….”

Already?

Chris looked at Ian with an exasperated expression as he answered so naturally.

“I’m sure Camilla wouldn’t have accepted something like that?”

“I didn’t think she would take gold coins… so I gave her a coffee cup and a lavender flowerpot.”

Chris recalled that a few new, expensive-looking tea sets and flowerpots had appeared in Camilla’s office.

They had stayed in his memory because they weren’t items Camilla would likely buy herself, given her personality.

Chris suddenly remembered the items Ian had occasionally given him as gifts, claiming he’d obtained them by chance but had no one to use them.

A leather dagger sheath, a handkerchief, a field maintenance set…

High-quality consumables or trinkets that suited his tastes perfectly, without being blatant luxury items that looked like bribes.

Things he wouldn’t think of buying himself because they felt like a waste of money, but having received them as gifts, he found himself quite liking them and constantly taking them out…

“….”

Ian was simply memorizing the preferred gifts of major NPCs.

Chris, recalling the gifts that felt as though they had peered into his personal tastes, took a few steps back with a slightly wary expression.

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