Chapter Two Hundred and Ninety-Eight: Something That Caught Her Attention
“Julius, you’re back.”
Helfried said it with an expression of quiet relief, and ushered both Julius and, as an afterthought, Karen inside the tent.
Upon emerging from the dungeon, Julius had been immediately summoned to Helfried. Karen was preoccupied with several things and followed along in something of a daze. Fortunately, the knights who had come to collect Julius were men who had served as Helfried’s personal guard since the days at the Ehlertt estate, and Karen knew their faces well enough that they let her through.
Coming out of the dungeon, her body felt wonderfully light, and breathing was easy. And—she had also noticed something she found very hard to stop thinking about.
“What is happening?”
“The dungeons throughout the Great Forest have begun triggering Great Collapse stampedes all at once. Normally, the timing would be more spread out, but such a thing is possible. We are holding the hunting festival to suppress them. The problem is that dungeons across various regions also seem to be on the verge of Great Collapse.”
“Other regions?”
“Yes. All across the Kingdom of Earthfill. The Ehlertt territorial capital dungeon is fortunately unaffected—likely because you cleared it last year, Julius… It seems the dungeons in territories where clearing has been neglected in recent years are the ones triggering Great Collapses. But there are reports that even dungeons that have been regularly cleared are beginning to collapse as well.”
“I’ve been told this information came from the priests…”
“Yes. That’s why I doubt there’s any mistake. Their information network is both accurate and fast.”
The management of dungeon gates belonged to the temples—to the priests who served the goddess. They used a form of magic known as divine magic, which operated not through comprehension and magical power, but through devotion to the goddess. Among the divine spells was apparently one that allowed communication over great distances.
They also possessed various other closely-guarded divine arts. These special abilities were said to be indispensable for managing dungeon gates—which was why temples capable of wielding divine magic administered those critical facilities in most countries.
In this world, the goddess held great influence, while the temples themselves held comparatively little. Yet from time to time, priests occupied positions of great importance—that was the nature of their role.
“Julius, I know how much this hunting festival means to you, and I’m sorry to ask—but would you join the monster hunting unit? In a typical year, the monsters should lose momentum after sustained hunting. …In a typical year.”
“I don’t mind.”
Julius agreed readily, and Helfried offered him a pained smile.
“…I knew you would say that. I’m sorry.”
“There’s no need to apologize, Brother Helfried. My quarry has already been hunted, after all. Isn’t that right, Karen?”
“Oh—yes, that’s right, Lord Helfried!”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. But—may I borrow Julius for a short while before he joins the unit?”
“Hmm?”
Helfried’s eyes widened very slightly at Karen dropping the formal speech with Julius, but he recovered and nodded as though nothing had happened.
“Of course. If, knowing the current situation, you still wish to do so, then there must be a good reason for it.”
“I’m grateful for the trust, though I also feel the weight of it…”
Karen smiled ruefully, and despite being inside the tent, she turned to look unerringly in one specific direction and pointed.
“The monsters coming out of the forest are heading in that direction—am I right, Lord Helfried?”
“That direction?”
Helfried looked puzzled and followed where Karen was pointing.
“There’s a forest in the direction you’re pointing. It’s a vast forest. Rather than saying the monsters are heading there, it would be more accurate to say that monsters are also emerging from that direction.”
“Even so, don’t all the monsters appearing along the vast perimeter of the Great Forest end up moving toward that point, no matter which edge they come from?”
At Karen’s certainty of tone, Helfried’s expression grew serious, and he pressed her.
“— Karen, are you saying the monsters are not heading toward us in pursuit of human presence?”
“Can we explain later?”
“So it’s urgent, then?”
Julius nodded on Karen’s behalf as she continued staring fixedly in that one direction, and Helfried nodded back with a grave expression. Karen asked:
“Aside from the tents, what else is over there?”
“…Nothing but tents, really—though I don’t have a complete picture of what each participant has brought with them, or who they have in their company.”
“I see.”
“Karen, do you want to go there?”
“Yes, Mr.—”
“Karen.”
Julius cut her off mid-daze. Karen looked up at his steady smile and corrected herself.
“Yes, Julius. I want to go there. And since the monsters are heading there too, I need you to protect me. Can I ask that of you?”
“Of course, Karen.”
Julius took her request with evident pleasure and scooped her up in his arms again. This was not the dungeon—it was open ground, with the Ehlertt knights stationed all around. Helfried clearly had a great deal he wanted to say. Karen had some resistance to it, but she chose not to refuse and let herself be carried.
“Take me over there, Julius.”
“All right.”
Julius smiled and tightened his arms around her. Karen wrapped her arms around the back of his neck and softly stroked the back of his head.
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