"This is an adventurer's base...!?"
After taking a casual look at Sankrid's dungeon by relying on the map that I
just purchased,
A horse carriage came to pick up Alicia and me. Both of us rode on it until
Empress Brigade's headquarter.
What greeted us there was a large building that surprised even noble like
the two of us.
What astonished us wasn't just its size.
The way it was surrounded by multiple layers of wall and lookout tower
made it looked like a fortress. There were also tough looking adventurers
patrolling the area. It surrounded the place with indescribable sense of
tension and pressure.
I heard that Sankrid's big three grew big from getting into fierce conflict
with each other repeatedly, so it was inevitable for their base to become like
a fortress but... even so this place was too secure.
It seemed there were also other buildings than this that functioned as dorm
for the lower ranked members. The financial strength of the big three was
shocking.
"Then you two, please this way."
While we were feeling overwhelmed by the base's majesty, we followed the
adventurer who picked us up into the building.
Following adventurer's manner, Alicia and I were still wearing our weapons
and armors while coming to this dinner.
But as expected we couldn't keep wearing our cloak for this occasion. Just
in case Alicia was changing the color of her hair and eyes using a special
item that Rouge-san gave us. It was a magic item for disguise that could
only be used for a short time.
We were shown into the place for dinner where the "Empress" Stacy
Poisondoll welcomed us with a smile.
"My, I have been waiting. Eriol-kun and Allie-chan. Welcome to the base
of my Empress Brigade."
It was a spacious reception room that was separated from the outside with a
thick iron door. There were only three chairs prepared for Alicia, me, and
Stacy-san. It seemed that today's dinner was really prepared just for us.
Inside the room there were also other strong looking adventurers standing
guard for Stacy-san. We nervously sat on our chair.
But right after that.
"Everyone, you are making Eriol-kun and Allie-chan nervous. We are just
having a dinner here, so you guys can wait outside. You can still guard this
room from in front of the door."
Stacy-san said that and chased out her guards from the room.
*Gii*, the iron door closed heavily. At the same time Stacy-san smiled to
us.
"We can relax and talk freely with this. Aa, that's right, first I want to ask
the two of you this... are you two are becoming adventurer together
aren't you? Are you two perhaps lover?"
"Eh?"
I was taken aback by the sudden probing question.
But this was a question that I had to answer without hesitation.
"Err, yes. Allie is someone important to me. I wish to be adventurer
together with her forever."
"...I see. That's nice."
Stacy-san smiled warmly hearing my answer.
It felt like there was something off with her reaction, even so there was
something else that I wanted to confirm first and I spoke.
"Umm, can I also ask a question before we start eating?"
"What is it?"
"Stacy-san went through the trouble to invite us to dinner, and sent away
your guards in consideration for us... why are you going that far for mere
rookies like us?"
Stacy-san fell quiet for a while.
"...I said it at the guild right? You two have potential. As someone in
charge of the adventurers of this city, isn't it only natural for me to want to
recruit as many talented youths as possible?"
There was nothing wrong at all with Stacy-san's reasoning.
A brigade was a large scale adventurer party that was formed in order to
explore dungeon.
Its main activity was earning money from exploring dungeon and
competing with other brigades for more influence. It also did various other
things like maintaining the city's public order and the like, but any of those
things required strength to be done. There was nothing wrong with the
brigade leader wishing to recruit as many capable adventurers as possible.
But it would be a different story if the brigade's top leader proactively did
the requirement and even personally entertained the prospect recruits.
We had only just met today and Stacy-san even helped us out from a
predicament with Lion King Brigade. It didn't feel like she had any
intention to harm us. And yet there was also no reason for her to treat us so
well like this, so I couldn't clear away my discomfort no matter what.
If there was something like our strength got exposed for example, I could
understand why the leader would personally go out of her way to do all this,
but there also wasn't any sign of that...
And so even if it was impossible to refuse the dinner invitation, I wanted to
clear away this sense of discomfort before I reached out for the food. Alicia
too was strangely seemed to be wary toward Stacy-san...
So I asked Stacy-san like that for her to tell us the truth. Then,
"...The brigade leader saw your potential and treated you like a superstar.
I thought that you stupidly came here without suspecting anything because
your heard had been on cloud nine from dreaming that kind of success
story, but you're actually really sharp aren't you?"
" "-!?" "
The corner of Stacy-san's lips rose up shockingly high.
"I wanted to listen to how the romance between you two started and some
sweet episodes for a bit more but, let's stop. It's troublesome, and we're
already on the main topic now."
Stacy-san was talking incomprehensibly while staring straight at me.
And then,
"I dislike being roundabout so I'll say it clearly. You, become mine. Of
course you also need to dump Allie-chan over there right away. Become a
mistress... no, a lover that love only me."
"W-what are you saying!? Something like that is obviously impossible isn't
it!?"
I planned to resolve things peacefully with indirect refusal or dodging the
question if she asked us for some kind of absurd request.
But I spontaneously raised my voice when she made such demand that was
just too outrageous.
"Oh, is it okay for you to say that? The Empress Brigade will turn into your
enemy you know?"
"...! Even so, I can't accept your demand."
I declared so to Stacy-san who had shown her true color.
Not only she asked me to become her lover, she even told me to dump
Alicia. I'd never do that.
In respond Stacy-san smiled that seemed happy from the bottom of her
heart for some reason.
"Kufu, aha, ahahahahahahah! You're saying those words so scathingly
while in the middle of this fortress! Toward this me! You must love that girl
so much. It's so childish and warming to watch. Truly it's a very warming
sight... it's worth it for me to plunder."
"...tsu!"
I felt dread running through me from that muddy black gaze. It was filled
with the conviction that she would be able to steal me――and even my
heart from Alicia.
I got a bad premonition. I was going to run away from the room together
with Alicia immediately.
If I used Local Wife the moment I got out of sight of the people here, I
thought we would be able to get away without letting them knew about my
teleportation.
But,
"Gah――!?"
"Erio...!?"
There wasn't any sign of attack or trap at all.
And yet I was unable to take even a step away from that place.
My consciousness felt like it became covered with a haze. My heart was
refusing to get away from Stacy-san.
While Alicia's shocked voice echoed vaguely inside my hazy mind,
.
"Unique Skill――
.
Only the voice of my beloved Stacy-san was echoing very clearly inside my
ears. I stepped unsteadily toward her as though an unseen force was sucking
me in.