Chapter 151: Resting Day
It"s resting day today. The stampede will happen tomorrow so I told everyone to rest well before the event.
Although I told them to rest, most of them are unable to sleep and stay together in the dining hall. They must be too tense to rest. Other than Hill and the guards he brought from Mellian.
Mellian city is a city surrounded by a lot of monsters, and makes that city a good place for hunters to make a living. The monsters near that city would sometime tried to enter the gate to the city, but the guards protected it well.
And usually, when the numbers of the monsters increased a lot, and there would be stampede. The last stampede that happened in Mellian was three years ago. And all the guards Hill brought here have experience handling it. That"s why they are not anxious like the others.
The guards of Mellian doesn"t really help in defeating the monsters. It was mostly hunters who do that. And the guards are mostly responsible in evacuating the citizen. Only some of the real strong ones are defeating monsters.
Hill told this to me and Kron in my room. Just the three of us as everyone else is doing whatever they can to be relaxed. Like the girls decided to sleep in one room, some decided to cultivate, and even Lina is unable to rest so she"s in the kitchen making some meal for tomorrow.
It"s not just us three who are relaxed, some of the more experienced one also able to relax before the battle. And they are watching their juniors today so they don"t overdo it before the battle.
"That"s why it"s great that Roy told me to join him. We are experienced in handling the stampede in Mellian." Hill proudly puffed his chest.
"I only thought of you guys because of the training sets I gave you lot. If not for your physical strength, I won"t ever think of having you guys over. I don"t even know that Mellian experienced stampede many times already. Had I known, I would have tell Albert to get all the guards over there." I said to Hill.
"Even if he asked that, it"s not like all of us can go, you know? We still need to have guards in case of stampede happening again in Mellian. When I asked other corps if they want to come, they said that if everyone is leaving, no one will protect their home. That"s why it was mostly from my corps that"s helping young Albert. We even have the n.o.ble in our city agree to it. He doesn"t belong to any aristocracies group, or belong to any cult. That"s why young Albert asked him to be his ally, and he agreed." Hill said.
So Albert already gained another n.o.ble to help us, huh? I never know about that. But it"s not like he has to tell me everything. I believe that whatever he"s doing is for the good of everyone.
"By the way, how"s the hunters doing?" This time, I asked Kron.
"I just told the guild master that I think the numbers of monsters is increased a lot. I told him that there might be a stampede. He didn"t believe me fully, especially when the numbers of hunters are increased and there are more and more monsters being hunted thanks to the king"s agents here. But thanks to my reputation, he said the guild will be prepared just in case. They will prepare a reward depend on the numbers of monsters that any hunters defeated during the stampede. This is the first time this city had any stampede so that"s all they can think for now." Kron explained to us.
"I think that"s good enough. That would at least make hunters motivated." Hill said.
"I agree. By the way, have you seen what"s the quest from the cult is about?" I asked Kron.
"It"s something about migrating to another city. The quest was submitted by the governor himself. It says that they are hiring hunters to protect many citizens who would like to try their luck in another city because there"s not enough s.p.a.ce in this city anymore. They will leave soon. With how quick the preparation needed to be done, only those of the cult who has long prepared to leave will join the quest. As for the people they will be guarding, I bet they are also from the cult as well. But those people are not hunters." Kron told us what the quest the cult gave to the guild.
I agree with Kron. The quest was just posted this morning, and the departure was this afternoon. Only those who have prepared for a long time would join that quest. And if there are any hunters who joined the quest other than those from the cult, they might be killed on the way. Or maybe they would even try to recruit them.
"Roy, what about the informant from the cult?" Kron asked me about Veronica.
"She already left the city. When she"s alone, she will contact us. She needs to be careful of spies around her as well."
"I still don"t trust her though. What if it"s just a trap to kill all of us?""
"I too haven"t believe her fully. Even if her story was true, she has been with the cult for too long. Well, if the information she told us about the stampede is true, I can trust her a little bit then." I replied to Kron"s question.
Yesterday when Veronica contacted us through Sonia, she told us a few key information. If all the information she gave are true, I can conclude that she"s really trying to leave the cult.
The first information is that most of the cult members are leaving. That"s true. Even Veronica is leaving the city as well. And about the mission from the guild is true as well.
Then about the rest of the cult members that are staying behind. Most of them are obviously trying to see the situation and will report of the stampede to their higher ups. Despite Veronica"s position being higher than the governor of Melk, Luiz, he is closer to their higher ups than Veronica. Luiz was more trusted than Veronica and that"s why the stampede happened in his city. I believe it"s the same in other cities as well with the one in charge is closer to the higher ups of the cult.
And lastly, the most important information is… the governor, Luiz, is an expert level mage in fire element. At least that"s what Veronica knows. As for other cult members that"s staying behind, most of them are advanced level mages.
We need to capture the cult members alive. Well, most of them at least to continue with our plan. And so, Candy proposed an idea. She will wear Sophie"s stocking to protect her from the expert level fire magic, and confront him and shock him with her lightning magic. Candy has two elements, lightning element that has reached advanced level, and also advanced level fire magic. She has been teaching Sophie about lightning magic since she joined us.
But wearing that stocking mean she won"t be able to use fire magic at all. That"s why Ms. Wendy will support her. As for the others, they will take care of the monsters and the evacuation. While I will clean up the rest of the cult members that hides with the citizens.
I was asked to capture them alive, but that"s only optional. I can kill them if they are too difficult to handle. Well, the most difficult part is to take the HGB from inside their mouth. We need them to be completely unconscious so they can"t activate it.
For this, I gave the Magic Restriction Collar that I got back when I saved Candy, to the person herself. At least the governor need to be alive.
"Well, we have made our plan, so you all go back to your room and rest. I want to sleep." I said to the two guests in my room.
"Why do you want to sleep so soon? We can play cards until late. I"m bored." Kron replied.
"Yeah. And you have been sleeping most of the time. It"s not good for your health if you sleep all the time. Now you can accompany me in the bed." Hill said.
"It"s you who have to leave! That"s my bed you"re laying on!"
Knowing that in my room I won"t be able to sleep because two annoying guys is there, I left my room to look for Sophie and ask her to let me sleep in her room. The girls are having a sleepover in the biggest room here so I think it will be fine to sleep in Sophie"s roo. Of course the biggest room are reserved for Shirley.
I easily got the permission from Sophie so I went to her room.
Even though I said I"m going to sleep, once I rest my head on the pillow, my mind is working to its limit. Why did this often happen before sleep?
I know the main reason why. Although I show everyone that I"m relaxed, I"m actually the most excited for tomorrow. Not the most anxious, but the most excited. It was because finally, I will change the future.
There have been many events before that"s obviously changed the future, but no matter what, even though I haven"t told anyone about it yet, the stampede in Melk is the one that gives me nightmare the most. Both in my past life, and the present.
Finally, I could do something about this nightmare of mine.