◆Black Haired Sage; Chiyuki

  We were regrouping in the General’s meeting room. The reason was to give our report to Clasus, the general.

  Aside from Clasus, there were also the other members of the Senate, Turia and Nacius, attending the meeting.

  The reason for their attendance was to let the two important figures know about their findings.

  「To think that such monster was hiding right under our nose…」


  Clasus spoke with a perplexed look on his face.

  It was only natural since it was his job as the general to protect the citizens of this country from monsters, only to find out that those very monsters had been hiding right under their noses.

  The general absolutely couldn’t be doubted by the citizens under their protection.

  We told them that we found ghouls living in Cornes’ mansion when investigating the Moonlight Goddess. Thus, all the government officials who were related with Cornes had already turned to ghouls.

  「Yes, General Clasus. All of Senator Cornes’ officials had already turned into ghouls. We’ve already exterminated all the ghouls in the mansion for now, but… some might still alive.」


  Clasus made a face as if chewing bitter bugs upon hearing Decius’ words.

  「But, there’s no need to announce this case to the public, Decius. This will trigger mass panic if we let the citizens know about this.」


  Decius’ father, Nacius warned his son about the risk of letting the public know about this matter.

  He was right, there’ll be an uproar if we let the citizens know that there was a monster in human skin hiding amongst them. That’s why we’ve got no choice but to keep this as a secret between us. It seems everyone in this place agreed with us on that.

  「I understand, father. Let’s keep this matter a secret from the public. Therefore, please help us prevent this matter from spreading to the public.」


  Decius spoke while looking at Nacius, Clasus, and lastly Turia.

  The priest of God Oudith should never lie. But, there was always an exception for every case.

  The influence of these three should be enough to hide this fact from the public. It was for that very reason that we reported our findings to these three.

  「No problem, Decius-dono. The matter of the underground waterway is more urgent. Shouldn’t we prepare a counter-measure immediately?」


  The smile on Turia’s face was replaced with a gloomy look.

  The Republic of Ariadya was a country that was built on the estuary of a big river, the Quiche river.

  I heard that this estuary flooded one part of the city due to the heavy rain a long time ago. Thus, the senate realized that they had to build flood control measures. For that reason, there were a lot of waterways for drainage built beneath Ariadya.

  Since this waterway was built by the dwarves, its quality should be at least equal with the one built in our world, or more.

  And now, a problem occurred in those very same waterways.

  We knew about this information from the surviving ghoul that we caught.

  And then, from that information, we knew that the underground waterway of this country had already turned into a den of monsters.

  As for the reason why no one noticed the abnormalities, it was because all officials in charge of the waterway had already been replaced with ghouls. Thanks to that, the underground waterway of the Republic of Ariadya transformed into a paradise of monsters.

  Thus, we had to act quickly and exterminate the monsters hiding right below our feet.

  「I understand, Turia-dono. But, let’s leave the matter of exterminating the monsters in underground waterway to the knights…」


  Clasus spoke with an inexplicable look on his face.

  The knights were the biggest war potential of this country. They wouldn’t make their move unless this country was facing a crisis like this.

  But, Ariadya’s knight order was almost annihilated due to their failure in subjugating the centaurs a while ago.

  They have yet to recover to their previous condition.

  Horse riding needs special training, and training combat art for horse riding only adds to the difficulties.

  Clasus is definitely reluctant to send the surviving knights, an important war asset, toward the underground waterway.

  「General Clasus, the job of knights is to fight on the back of their horse. Sending them to the underground waterway which ill suited for their role is the same as telling them to die in vain, so let’s stop such reckless idea.」


  The knight’s main job was to maintain the safety of the highways. Their job was to protect the travelers who got attacked by monsters along the highway. That’s why ordering them to enter the underground waterway in which they couldn’t use their horse was a bad idea.

  「Chiyuki-dono…」


  General Clasus looked at me with an expression of gratitude on his face.

  「Shouldn’t we hire freedom fighters for this kind of situation? Please finish the arrangements to hire them and chose the reliable ones amongst them.」


  I spoke while looking at everyone in this place.

  The knight’s job was protecting the area around the rampart and the highway. The soldier’s job was to protect the rampart and the area inside the rampart. As for the freedom fighters, their job was to protect anything beside those places.

  Properly speaking, the underground waterway is located inside the rampart, that’s why it should fall under the jurisdiction of the soldiers. But, since Ariadya rarely got attacked by monsters, the soldiers lacked the experience in fighting monsters. Just like the knights, asking such inexperienced people to enter the underground waterway was akin to telling them to die.

  That’s why, the freedom fighters were just the right solution to this problem.

  Clasus has a deep connection with the freedom fighter association. Gathering excellent freedom fighters shouldn’t be that difficult for him.

  「Freedom fighters, is it? Which means that we need a large amount of cash to hire them. We can’t use public funds immediately, but we should have enough to hire them, right?」


  Decius asked in worry.

  「We do have the funds, but Turia-dono…」


  I looked at another person beside Turia.

  「You called me for this reason, right?」


  Kyouka spoke while looking at me. Standing behind her was Kaya.

  Kyouka was filthy rich thanks to her company. She should be able to prepare enough money to hire the excellent freedom fighters.

  「Yeah, Kyouka-san. It’s advance payment, the rest will be paid in the future. That’s why please lend us your money.」


  But, Kyouka shook her head.

  「I don’t need you to pay back the money. I’ll donate my money for this operation. In addition, I’ll also prepare the repair cost for the underground waterway.」


  「MILADY!!」


  Kaya lost her cool the moment she heard her master say those words.

  It was only natural since trading was an extremely risky business in this world.

  It was a harsh world for merchants to live in a world with a literacy rate below 50% and the number became even smaller for the one who could do calculations.

  In short, finding talented personnel was truly difficult.

  And it was the money they amassed with that kind of situation.

  That’s why it was only natural for Kaya to try to stop her master from donating such a huge amount of money.

  Moreover, the social position of a merchant in this world was quite low.

  There was even a famous saying in this world 「You protect your life with a sword, not money」 as if to spit on those merchants.

  That shows just how different the status between warrior and merchant in this world filled with monsters.

  In short, merchants are almost always treated lightly in this world. Not to mention that they still have to face the danger of the monsters outside of the rampart.

  Money hardly circulated in this monster invested world. For that reason, connections were more valuable than money.

  That’s why excellent headhunting was really difficult.

  Though it cost a lot of time and money, Kaya raised the number of capable personnel by herself.

  Moreover, even though this world has the concept of an account book, they still had no idea about how to make financial statements such as a balance sheet.

  In addition, the cost increased even further considering the time and funds needed to teach the said personnel.

  「Kaya, money is something that we should use for this kind of moment. Moreover, let’s consider this money spent as prior investment in the Republic of Ariadya. That way we’re definitely not losing money you know.」


  Kyouka spoke while showing a carefree smile on her face. Sometimes, Kyouka would spent money too lavishly

  In fact, Kyouka seems to be more popular than Kaya in their company despite the latter’s competence.

  I was rather surprised upon learning that truth after associating with them for quite a while in this world.

  「I understand, Milady. I shall prepare the money immediately.」


  「Thank you, Kaya.」


  In the end, Kaya yielded toward her master.

  「Naturally, I’ll also provide the funds for this operation, Chiyuki-dono.」


  Turia also agreed to fund the operation.

  Now that we solved the problem with money, all that was left was choosing the freedom fighters.

  「By the way, what are you going to do when we start the operation?」


  Decius was looking at Reiji.

  「Naturally, we’re going to enter the underground waterway too. Right, Reiji-kun?」


  「Yeah. It’s an invitation from a beauty after all.」


  Reiji spoke with a smile on his face.

  Good grief, look at this d*ckhead turn around and change the moment he found out that a beauty was waiting for him.

  Even though that beauty might be the one who controls the ghoul.

  I pressed my palm to my forehead.

  「Maybe I should go with you too, Chiyuki-dono.」


  Decius declared that he’ll participate too.

  「You want to go too? Well, if possible, I wish that you’ll stay above ground, Decius-dono.」


  Decius was rare, capable personnel. He should stay behind rather than go forward. Moreover, if he stayed above ground, he could lead the evacuation in the worst possible outcome.

  「No, I’ll go to since I’m also quite curious about her.」


  I was getting a headache. Decius, why you of all people starting to act like that d*ckhead?

  「Ha~, I understand. But, please don’t overdo it.」


  I guess I have to warn him to not overdo it.

  I mean, he was one of the future leaders of this country after all.

  「By the way, Chiyuki-san, speaking of the underground waterway, is it by chance, a sewage?」


  Suddenly, Nao asked with an anxious look on her face.

  「Maybe. Is something the matter with that?」


  Hearing that, Rino, Sahoko, and Nao made an unpleasant face.

  「E~h. Then I refuse to go, I absolutely won’t go to a place where p**p is flowing everywhere.」


  「Me too, that kind of place is a little bit…」


  Rino and Sahoko seem to be reluctant to enter that place.

  I see, as a fellow woman I pretty much understand their reason.

  And Rino, a girl shouldn’t say something like p**p in public.

  「It’s okay. There’s no po-human waste flowing in the underground waterway.」


  Due to Rino’s influence, I almost said p**p myself. That was close.

  I explained to them.

  Toilets had already developed in this world.

  Some countries have yet to implement it though. In such country, they usually kept their p**p in a pot. To be honest, I wish that we never have to visit such a country.

  In addition, even if there’s toilet in this world, it wouldn’t be a problem if the city was near the river to provide water to flush the toilet. In the case that said country far from the river, the toilet was usually the pit type.

  They also have squat type toilets made by stacking bricks.

  And then, the one who taking care of those gathered p**p was the priest of Goddess Gena, goddess of good harvest and earth.

  In short, they turn p**p into fertilizer.