Chapter 145
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The problem comes to light on the fifth day, the day after the incident.
A party conducting a routine patrol notices an unusually high number of Fogs.
Due to the abnormal nature of this situation, they immediately report it to the higher-ups. Following their principle of not overlooking even the slightest change, four parties are promptly dispatched to the location in question.
These parties realize the gravity of the situation before even reaching the reported location.
The area mentioned in the report exceeds the expectations of Virtuous’s adventurers. In the brief time between the initial report and the dispatch of multiple parties, the area affected by the abnormal proliferation of Fog has undoubtedly expanded.
Worst of all, some of the Fog has already progressed through what Sensei and Ichiro refer to as 「Tokens」 and reached the stage of 「Generators.」
The multiple dispatched parties arrive at the problem area and, within an hour, realize that it’s impossible to carry out Search and Destroy operations as they have done before.
There are too many Fogs.
Before their eyes, amorphous monsters, skeleton warriors, and ghouls are swarming everywhere.
A healer in one of the parties screams at the sight.
Recognizing the urgency of the situation, the leader of the multiple parties instructs the most agile member, a scout girl, to inform the higher-ups about the severity of the situation. They tell her to convey that they need more than five times their current strength to annihilate the Fog. They send her off immediately.
The remaining members stay behind and, steeling themselves, engage in the extermination of an abnormal number of monsters.
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Upon receiving the report from the scout girl, the upper echelons of the Virtuous front, including Purume, show various reactions.
Purume, as if having half-expected this outcome, puts her hand on her chin and sinks into contemplation. Nelly Virtuous, the Holy Knight, hugs herself as she realizes that the nightmare she has heard about since childhood is becoming a reality.
Some shift their gaze to the sky and heave deep sighs, while others become frantic about identifying the cause of this situation.
Their common understanding is that they can’t ignore the report and demands from the multiple parties they confidently sent out.
「If we try to be stingy with our forces and deploy them gradually here, won’t it just be a repeat of last time?」 Purume conveys this to everyone.
The group of noblemen tries to interject something, but Purume and the others don’t listen. They immediately start listing up parties that have room to spare and are trustworthy, believing that time for thinking is precious, and send them to the problem area.
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With a significant number of personnel dispatched according to the report, the burden on those patrolling the usual routes increases further.
The worst-case scenario – what if the situation continues to deteriorate – crosses the minds of Purume and the others, but they also think that once the dispatched personnel finish dealing with the Fog extermination, the situation might return to how it was before. This is uncharacteristically optimistic for Purume, but she has to think that way to keep going. She has already entrusted the task of managing the Virtuous front to reliable individuals and is herself engaged in Fog extermination.
At this stage, Virtuous is already short on personnel.
When Purume finishes her extermination and returns to Skuld’s guild, she hears the sound of people running around frantically and angry shouts.
Upon inquiring, she learns that those who were patrolling the reported area had apparently been slacking off until now.
Purume also thought it was strange. The patrol routes were designed so that even if one party overlooked some Fog, others could cover for them. If they had continued extermination as usual, the situation wouldn’t have become this difficult. However, in just one night, the Fog had achieved unexpectedly abnormal proliferation.
Whether the cause lies with the Fog or if the patrolling parties had done something wrong, the upper echelons probably suspected the latter.
From there, the solution was simple. They just needed to hear from all the members of the parties responsible for the problematic routes.
Those with guilty consciences tried to cover up their actions, but their excuses didn’t work on the leaders of famous clans who had been through countless battles.
As the questioning continued, it came to light that several parties had been blatantly slacking off, and that this had been instigated by magical noblemen, including those from Ambitious.
Among them, Klein, a promising member of Ambitious, was particularly awful.
If Yamada, a transferred individual from Japan, had seen this, he would have surely struck a pose as if combing back his long hair and said,
「Hey! We gotta remove the rotten oranges!」 in some kind of bizarre imitation.
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「Why the hell do I have to do this small fry hunting?」
Grumbles a young man who appears to be about 16 or 17 years old.
He slouches on the sofa, putting his full weight on it, in front to the formidable figures of the upper echelon.
「I came because you said it was a request, but day after day it’s just small fry hunting. Seriously, give me a break already.」
He mutters 「so boring」 and plops his feet onto the table.
「You said you needed my power for some monsters, so I came! If anyone should be angry, it’s me, not you guys!」
The young man, showing absolutely no signs of remorse, is, as expected, Klein Ambitious, the poster child of the pure aristocratic group Ambitious.
「Who do you think I am, huh?」
Purume and the others heave a deep sigh from the bottom of their hearts at his behavior.
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In the end, Klein shows no signs of repentance.
Moreover, he’s not the only one.
As the questioning continues, other dangerous elements within the organization besides Klein are exposed. Like Klein, they are individuals with stubbornly fixed ideologies and principles, and they all insist that they’ve done nothing wrong.
At this point, an opinion emerges that everyone who caused this mess should be sent back, but the shortage of personnel doesn’t allow for that.
In the end, they face the problem of how to handle these individuals who must be used as fighting power, but who show no prospect of rehabilitation or even listening to reason. The answer reached by the veteran fighters is a simple one.
They decide to simply subdue them with force.
Somehow, this leads to the formation of a large party consisting entirely of these problem children (?), with Purume as the leader.
And so, Purume’s burden is about to become incredibly overwhelming.
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