Volume 2 Chapter 14 Impressions of the Luster Report on Pastor
"The Pastor showed up?"
"Ah, him. No wonder Ellie's always scheming lately."
After landing a right hook on the Pastor, Horace made his way back to the Hero Mansion.
Ellie left, saying she had errands, but Ramella and Tiaris listened to Horace and clearly had thoughts of their own.
"That 'Big Incident' 4 years ago... HQ tried to bury it, but stuff like that always gets out. Once I heard what the Pastor did, I just thought, 'What the hell is he thinking?'"
"I was stunned too. It's like he thought the Demon Lord was a joke."
Making and inventing magic items is no simple task.
The enemy is a Demon Lord.
Even if you could mass-produce, you'd need insane quality materials.
Getting and moving those supplies costs a fortune.
Sure, HQ's got enough authority to boss around engineers in the Adventurers community.
The plan just went way too smoothly.
In the end, the result was harsh──but weirdly predictable.
"Still, he's been trying to get in touch with us even before all that."
"Yeah, lots of guys just want to brag, 'I helped the Hero behind the scenes!' I figured he was one of them, so I ignored it."
"...I get it. He acted like he could walk all over nobles and priests, but HQ probably wanted a piece of the action anyway."
Nobles──especially the higher-ups──never actually show their faces on the front lines.
Even with the Demon Lord invading, they all acted completely oblivious to the danger.
...Of course, part of that was probably because Horace single-handedly ran the capital of Diamante Kingdom.
While the rest of the world fell into chaos or ruin, 'the capital of Diamante Kingdom' was still thriving──even while packed with refugees.
That's exactly why so many nobles in Diamante Kingdom and nearby areas could fool themselves: 'Chaos?
Collapse? Doesn't seem so bad from here.'
Unconsciously, they all ended up pandering to the Demon Lord, thinking, 'She doesn't seem like that sort of guy.' As a result, the nobles were reduced to licking the hero's boots.
But the Adventurers' Guild headquarters was different.
The 'Adventurers Community' known as the Luster Report kept achieving major feats while the Demon Lord kept invading.
As an organization managing adventurers, they couldn't ignore this.
However, the 'Luster Report organization' was just too strong.
It's not like you can just casually gather a force that handles everything on their own, and it's hard to believe that a bunch of young girls with little experience could pull it off.
Not only can't they get in, but if they tried to provide what they want, they'd demand materials that you can only get by hiring SS-rank adventurers.
As headquarters, they had no choice but to resort to 'not getting in the way.'
"The Pastor was quick to act, and he didn't hesitate to pile up achievements. At first, I thought he might be driven by a desire for success or ambition..."
"Looking at his actions now, it seems like he's aiming for 'world domination by adventurers.'"
To be honest, it's just plain bewildering.
"I also heard about Pastor when I was working in the capital. He made quite a splash. But... there are some puzzling things."
"Me too."
"Same here."
The two nodded in agreement with Horace.
"It's about that 'mental abnormal' magic item. How did the 'blueprint pop up' in the first place? It's not just some low-performance magic item; it's so effective against the Demon Lord that it's misleading, and they're mass-producing it. That's not cheap information."
"I've been curious about that... actually, I knew about it before it became a big deal. Why didn't they interfere more effectively?"
"This was unexpected for me too. I mean, there was talk about mass-producing 'mental abnormal' magic items, and all sorts of talent was being gathered for it... I thought the items made were to solve some grim situations, so I left it alone."
"Grim situations?"
"The Demon Lord can exert absolute control over men, so she doesn't kill them, Master. But it doesn't work on women, and the Demon Lord's possessiveness is supposed to be off the charts. You guys must've thought the same when you met her."
"Yeah, as Rangella said, Master. The Demon Lord doesn't have a sadistic streak, but she tends to eliminate what's unnecessary. Simply put, there were just too many...'women who got killed normally'. If you went to the front-line towns, seeing their bodies scattered around was just part of daily life."
"So you're saying they need 'mental abnormal' magic items for going to those kinds of places."
In times of crisis, the scene really reflects true horror.
They could take photos, but they were deemed 'too harmful to publicize'. There's a trend to not show images with dead bodies, especially.
But then, people become desensitized to the fact that 'there were bodies lined up'.
It's not about what's right or wrong, but about 'what to prioritize'.
There's no easy answer, but there are people who actually go and clean up those scenes.
The importance of mental care in such situations is something that people 'far from the scene' just don't get.
"I see, so that's what they were for."
"Right. I thought gathering high-rank Adventurers was for collecting item materials, and the merchants were involved because they're good at logistics, making it easier to gather normal stuff. That's why I ignored it."
The more you know about the horror of the scenes, the more Horace's conclusions stick in your head.
"Well, anyway, that's how it is. I wasn't in the way."
"That's what it comes down to."
Tiaris and the others probably haven't figured it out because they're, in a way, numb to it all.
Well, anyway.
"Every time I think about it lately, I get the feeling someone fed us information to cause a big incident."
"It all fits together, which is unsettling."
"Yeah, and the magic items they actually handed out were in the form of 'medals' and 'tags,' which rings a bell, and it's creepy as hell to me."
Pastor's huge screw-up.
He underestimated the Demon Lord, but apparently, that's not the only reason.
"But, how he's going to act from now on is a different story, I guess."
"Still, he'll probably get involved with the hero community, right?"
"Really?"
"Normally, Master, when you register as Adventurers, your 'citizenship is suspended' to ensure neutrality, but the hero community is a real exception, 'they're citizens of the Dragonstone Kingdom while still having the title of Adventurers.'"
"About what Pastor is thinking, the 'Court Adventurers,' we're the closest to the goal in getting that approved."
"...So, the fact that he'll contact us is still a given, huh?"
He knows he's going to get involved.
But he's not exactly trying to crush him.
It's all a bit out of sync, but in this case... it's just that 'Horace's blitz strategy' involves a lot of steps.
Rangella and Ellie definitely did something that made me think of a 'blitz,' and the fact they used the same tactics means there's someone who taught them that was the best way.
Their shared teacher is Horace, so Horace also has the idea of a blitz, yes, 'taking out the source of the fire and all the fuel around it in one shot.'
"Speaking of which, Tiaris, you said, 'You can tell Ellie's up to something,' but what do you mean?"
"Huh? Oh... Ellie's the merchant among us, right? She was the easiest for Pastor to contact, and I heard he did a lot of annoying things to her."
"Oh, I see..."
The powerful have a special kind of cluelessness.
Pastor has no idea what happens when you mess with a 'demon', or what kind of 'chips' he's betting with right now.
Pastor will never understand, not even at the end.
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