Slime Reincarnation

"What in the world is going on here!"

Gracia Spelcio, commander of the kingdom’s knight order, slammed his fist on the table.

"Perhaps your sister simply isn’t up to the task of securing the capital? A matter of accountability, wouldn’t you say?"

Carfess, captain of the knight order’s Third Division, spoke up. This man belonged to the Pleasure ducal house’s faction, and had never been pleased about Krelia, Gracia’s sister, holding the post of capital guard captain. Gracia’s eyes sharpened.

"Are you a fool!? Monsters appearing and rampaging all over this capital is a problem well beyond whether the guard is doing its job! We need to first grasp what’s actually happening in this abnormal situation!"

Gracia bellowed at Carfess.

"Even so, monsters appearing inside the capital, that’s about as far outside expectations as it gets."

Chancellor Reberg von Mittamaier looked up toward the ceiling.

As chancellor, Reberg had already received information in advance from Commander Gracia that the Pleasure ducal house’s faction was plotting to assassinate Marquis Kirue, and that as preparation, they intended to stir up chaos to throw the capital guard into disarray. That information had come by letter from the Coluna Frontier Count’s household, written by a man named Yabe, currently invited there as a guest. Though the letter had mentioned trouble would be stirred up in the capital, it hadn’t specified exactly what form that trouble would take. Never would he have imagined that monsters would actually be made to appear inside the capital itself...

"So then? How do you intend to respond, Commander Gracia?"

Chancellor Reberg asked Gracia about the plan going forward.

"Based on the advance information, I’ve placed all knight order members on first line combat readiness. We can’t leave the royal castle empty, but preparations are in place to deploy each unit to pinpoint locations to deal with the disturbances."

"As expected of Commander Gracia. Even so, monsters suddenly appearing... what could possibly explain this?"

He turned to ask the opinion of the robed man standing beside him.

"Well... it seems likely that someone with the Summoner skill is involved in these monsters’ appearance."

"Hmm, so Court Mage Blitz believes a Summoner is involved."

Reberg stroked his chin, deep in thought.

"In that case, wouldn’t the culprit be that guest of the Coluna Frontier Count’s household?"

Carfess, the Third Division captain, spoke up again. This Pleasure faction man had been trying to bring down the Coluna Frontier Count as well.

"Wasn’t he supposed to be a Tamer?"

Chancellor Reberg tilted his head.

"Besides, summoning by that man seems unlikely. This incident involves monsters appearing suddenly out of nowhere. It’s more likely someone released monsters that had been sealed away, either through a sealing stone or a skill. If that method were available to him, the guest of the Coluna Frontier Count’s household wouldn’t be walking around with so many wolf fang tribe members in tow. He’d surely keep them sealed away as a trump card. If you can hide your strength, it’s obviously better not to reveal it."

Court Mage Blitz stated this with clear conviction.

"Perhaps he keeps his tamed creatures out on display specifically as a decoy, precisely to avoid such suspicion?"

"That seems unlikely. If he could keep his tamed creatures sealed, there’d be no reason to keep them out in the open. This incident clearly points to someone of an entirely different nature involved, whether we’re talking Summoner or Tamer."

Blitz answered even more firmly against Carfess’s persistent argument. Faced with that, Carfess fell into a sullen silence.

"Reporting in!"

A knight burst into the room.

"What is it!"

"Sir! A massive surge of monsters has appeared near the eastern, western, southern, and northern outer gates of the capital!"

"A, all four gates, east, west, south, and north!?"

"Yes, sir!"

Gracia realized the situation was far more serious than he’d thought. The first report had simply been that monsters had suddenly appeared, causing confusion. But if monsters were appearing simultaneously near all four of the capital’s outer gates, the response needed would be entirely different.

"Split the Fourth and Fifth Divisions each into two groups, and send them rushing to all four locations, east, west, south, and north!"

"Yes, sir!"

Just as one knight rushed off to relay the order, another knight arrived with a further report.

"Reporting in!"

"What is it?"

"Regarding the monsters appearing near the eastern, western, southern, and northern outer gates, at every single location, multiple wolf fangs have appeared from out of nowhere and begun exterminating the monsters! Harm to civilians is currently being contained!"

Wolf fangs wouldn’t just suddenly appear in multiple numbers on their own. Clearly, these had to be that man’s tamed creatures.

"Hm! That’s tremendously helpful information! But as the one responsible for protecting this capital, I can’t very well let the wolf fangs have all the glory. Fourth and Fifth Divisions, deploy!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Commander Gracia, will you not be deploying yourself?"

Carfess asked Gracia.

"I’ll wait a while longer, gathering and analyzing information to grasp the full picture before making my decision. Besides, I’ll be sending you out well before I go myself."

"...Yes, sir."

Carfess answered after a brief pause.

Gracia recalled the words written at the end of Yabe’s letter.

’...I don’t think it’s likely, but on the off chance the plot against Marquis Kirue itself is a decoy, and the real goal is to draw the knight order out to leave the royal castle thinly defended, then the true target would be the royal family. It would be wise to keep the knight order’s deployment to about half strength and not neglect the royal family’s protection. As for the chaos in the capital, I intend to take measures so that at the very least, ordinary citizens aren’t harmed. Krelia and her forces, along with myself, will handle repelling the attackers targeting Marquis Kirue, so there’s no need to worry about that. More importantly, absolutely do not leave any member of the royal family alone. There’s a possibility someone on the inside is aiding the enemy. Please make sure to assign only people Commander Gracia personally trusts to their protection.’

(How I wish this prediction would turn out to be wrong...)

Gracia clenched his fist.