930: Ten Days
Ten days had pa.s.sed since Fran and her friends defeated the horde.
With all the antidemons gone, the city had overcome the disaster.
Fran’s team defended the eastern gate, but it seems the other gates found success as well. Those outlaws must have put it the effort.
I was listening in on Sophie’s explanation to Quina, so I knew most of what was going on.
Everyone was slightly wary of Quina’s sudden appearance at first, but some of them had seen her interaction with Zefmate. She was soon accepted by Sophie and the others.
Her fighting off a couple thieves and stray antidemons probably helped too. In no time at all, everyone started calling her the “Supermaid”, making her a bit of a celebrity.
In addition to Quina, Frederick and Sophie were also there to support us. We didn’t need to worry much about protection after all.
Oh yeah, also Fran and the others got transferred to the Sanatorium and were placed in the care of trustworthy doctors.
Sophie’s head bodyguard, Nelsh, chose the personnel himself, so I could rest a.s.sured that they weren’t plotting anything behind the scenes.
Incidentally, Nelsh was leading the soldiers along with Frederick during the battle. However, he got caught up in the blast that destroyed the walls, losing consciousness and only waking up after the battle was already over.
He seemed to regret that very much, so he took the lead in dealing with the aftermath.
After capturing all the soldiers trying to loot the Sanatorium, he even went out of his way to gather intel on the slavers and the Dragon King.
As for the Adventurers Guild, the submaster’s attempt to escape on his own came to light. The other adventurers gave him h.e.l.l for that, and the guild’s still dysfunctional because of it.
The submaster’s deplorable behavior did huge damage to the public’s trust in the guild, so that’s not likely to change any time soon.
Many of the gangs also lost a lot of influence due to the incident. The rumors spread about how they were reluctant to send out their forces, despite always acting so high and mighty.
From what I’ve heard, they did send out the minimum that was required of them…… But I guess the citizens who stood on the battlefield themselves wouldn’t be convinced by that excuse.
The leaders of those gangs are definitely getting ostracized now, though it’s more of an emotional decision than a logical one. I doubt they’ll get banished from the city, but they’ll have a much harder time keeping face.
After all, the citizens remembered how to unite and take up arms themselves. If the gangs aren’t on their toes, they’d get beaten back by force.
In the first place, the gangs were only allowed to go mostly free in exchange for their service to the war effort. There was no merit to letting the outlaws run wild if they proved to be useless in times of need.
After more and more citizens realize this, this illegal city might end up changing the norms drastically.
That said, there was one gang that really rose up. The Beastmen Union was the only one that cooperated fully with the city. That’s thanks to the order Mea gave after beating up all the former leaders, but many citizens remembered the Beastmen Union’s significant contributions.
Mea herself only woke up yesterday, but Quina held the reins of the organization firmly in her absence. Since they also contributed to the city’s rebuilding effort, the Beastmen Union pretty much monopolized the victory.
The Dragon King Syndicate also had its fair share of contributions, but they actually lost the most influence. With the Dragon King’s schemes exposed, everyone in the city hated them.
The Dragon King had attempted to sacrifice the entire city of Sendia to perform an evil ritual. The huge number of antidemons were led to the city by his underlings.
It’s no exaggeration to say that Sendia’s darkest moment could be entirely blamed on the Dragon King and those cooperating with him.
Apparently, Frederick spread rumors among the citizens of Sendia in order to create that message. His goal was to focus most of the resentment on the wicked Dragon King, diverting the blame away from the good dragonkin who fought for the city.
To be frank, it was probably for Velmeria’s sake. He made the Dragon King into an absolute evil so that Velmeria wouldn’t be slandered unreasonably.
Velmeria, who woke up the day before yesterday, had some sort of plan for uniting those not under the Dragon King’s command. She laid the groundwork for a new, moderate organization called the Dragonkin Guild.
After showing off her Divine Dragon Form, Velmeria was treated like messiah by most of the dragonkin, almost all of whom pledged to follow her. Well, Velmeria was viewed favorably by the ma.s.ses too, so everyone wanted to a.s.sociate themselves with her and a.s.sert that they nothing to do with the Dragon King.
Gazzol and the other members of the Three Claws, who made a name for themselves in the battle, were placed in charge of the Dragonkin Guild. That made the guild even more popular among the citizens.
As for the Sanatorium, the most troubled of the bunch, Seliadot and Sophie worked their b.u.t.ts off to get it back up and running. They restrained Filuria and her subordinates, rea.s.sured the healers that they would stay afloat, and regained the trust of the citizens.
That seemed like a lot of work, but Sophie’s reputation had definitely sky-rocketed. She was now the saintess wielding a divine sword who fought at the forefront of her people. Is there even anything not to like?
With the cooperation and trust of the citizens, it began rapidly transforming into a new inst.i.tution. Sophie said she would make the new Sanatorium a more open organization, with representatives from the public partic.i.p.ating in its management.
I don’t know how well those changes will work in the long run, but I’m sure any organization backed by Sophie’s immense fame will succeed.
Oh yeah, Filuria went “missing”. Quina and Seliadot apparently decided the city would be better off without her. Well, her absence will cause plenty of chaos, but she’d probably make a bigger mess if we kept her alive. Making her vanish was the right choice.
『Now all that’s left is for Fran to wake up……』
「Woof.」
She should be getting nutrients from the potions we gave her, but she’s still losing weight. I’m kinda starting to worry if she’ll be alright after such a long coma.
Everyone except Fran was already awake, so it should be any day now.
I looked down at Fran’s sleeping face along with Urus.h.i.+, who woke up four days ago.
「……Nn.」
『Oh? Fran?』
「Woof?」
Did our wish come true? Fran’s long eyelashes quivered slightly, then her eyelids slowly lifted.
『Fran! Are you awake? Fran?』
「Woof!」
「Master……? Urus.h.i.+……? Where…… am I?」
『We’re in the Sanatorium.』
Before I could ask her how she was feeling, a loud noise echoed through the room.
Rumble!
Fran rubbed her stomach with a pitiful look on her face.
「I’m hungry.」
『O-Okay……』
「I want curry.」
Uhh, is it actually safe to eat curry after fasting for ten days? I remember reading some book that said eating solid food would be dangerous.
Well at any rate, let’s just be glad that Fran finally woke up.