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Volume 11 Chapter 2 Part 4

The Duke should be really thankful to Sherry for being here with me.

With this, things should be fine for the time being.

「Lord Michio, can I speak with you for a minute?」

When the number of dishes on the table started to decrease, the Duke stands up and speaks to me. He’s holding a glass of wine in his hand.

I also stood with the cup of herbal tea that had been prepared for me, and then I was taken by him to the side.

Has the time finally come? Am I finally going to hear that this wasn’t just a simple dinner party after all?

「What is it?」

「Lord Michio, do you know about the Empire Liberation Society?」

「No, that’s the first time I’m hearing about it.」

The Duke mentions something that sounds like a dubious name for a suspicious underground organization.

He also lowers his voice while he speaks about it. Why is he doing that? Is it perhaps an organization that has such a bad reputation that it is better to not talk about it in the open?

「It’s a group whose aim is the mutual help between the people who enter the Labyrinths. It’s main goal is to liberate our world from the threat of the Labyrinths and monsters that lurk in them and around them.」

「I see.」

Is that why it’s called a Liberation Society? That’s more than a little misleading, since if they have「Empire」in their name then it would imply that they are an organization aiming for the liberation of just the empire from Labyrinths and monsters.

「You can say that the Empire Liberation Society is a main body organization for all of the Knight Orders across the empire which is under the direct control of the Emperor himself. To tell you the truth… I was thinking of inviting you to join the ranks of the Empire Liberation Society, Lord Michio.」

「Joining the Empire Liberation Society, huh?」

「You’ve done a great service of merit in contributing to the effort of purging the Labyrinths across the territories of the Hartz Duchy, there’s no doubt about that. I’ve also seen and heard about your Party Members’ abilities, so as far as I am concerned, I think I can recommend Lord Michio and your Party to join the Empire Liberation society with the utmost confidence.」

Is that why you made Roxanne participate it that duel? That was your way of gauging her abilities?

You can recommend us without shame because I have Roxanne with me, is that what you want to say? Yeah, this is surely mainly because of Roxanne.

「Our abilities, you say?」

「Yes, that’s right. If you and your companions join the society, we will be able to mutually benefit each other while fighting in the Labyrinths, and that is definitely not something that those without sufficient abilities would be able to do, wouldn’t you agree?」

「Well, you do have a point there.」

「Moreover, if you decide to join the Empire Liberation Society, you will also be able to receive various forms of assistance from it: locations of Labyrinths around the empire and approval to access them anytime you want, the ability to buy weapons and equipment from the Society and sell the ones that you made yourself to it and information about the layouts of the Labyrinths and the monsters that inhabit them, to name just a few.」

The Duke continued to list the potential benefits of joining the Empire Liberation Society to me.

There is a lot of advantages in joining this Society indeed, but that is to be expected. If the Empire Liberation Society wasn’t offering a good amount of benefits to its members, then nobody would be willing to join their ranks.

The buying and selling of equipment from this society might be especially attractive option, since I don’t think that I have seen any weapon made from Orichalcum or any similar material in and of the weapons shop I visited ever since I came to this world, not to mention that looking for ones that would also contain Empty Skill Slots would be especially difficult at the auctions or if I tried buying them through Luke.

「Can you tell me more about buying and selling of equipment from the Society?」

「There are some limits to buying and selling weapons and equipment from the merchants approved by the society, but there is no disadvantage to joining or any kind of unfair treatment. There are some obligatory duties that Empire Liberation Society’s members are required to perform, and there is also a strict ban on the discrimination against the members of different races because the Society aims to liberate everyone from Labyrinth’s and monsters equally, but I don’t think that is going to be a problem in Lord Michio’s case. Last but not least, all of the members of the society are required to not disclose any of the information obtained during the Society’s meetings or the personal details of other members to the general public.」

So these are the Empire Liberation Society’s restrictions and forbidden matters? Well, if the are an organization that aims to achieve such lofty goals, then I can certainly understand why would they want to keep them all in absolute secrecy.

I can understand them wanting to keep secrets.

「I see. Is that all that there is to it?」

「Yes. That’s all of it.」

「Okay… But why me then?」

I’m worried there might still be some downsides to joining the Empire Liberation Society that I still don’t know about, but most importantly, I want to know why the Duke recommends me to join it of all people?

「With the kind of power that you have in your possession, Lord Michio, you joining the empire Liberation Society would be just a matter of time, since I believe that even without my invitation you would join it sooner or later, so it was only natural for me to your recommender. When it comes to you, I also have a feeling that the day when you conquer your first Labyrinth and be elevated to the status of a noble will not be far away either. I can say this with absolute certainty after seeing your Party Members’ ability.」

「Me? Becoming a noble?」

I wonder if that will happen sooner rather than later?

I’ve heard you can become a noble in this world if you manage to be the very first person to defeat the Floor Boss on the last floor of the Labyrinth, resulting in its subjugation by your hand.

Just now, the Duke judged that I possess the strength that would be sufficient enough to achieve such a feat just from watching that brief duel between Roxanne and the Paladin.

No, rather than raw power, maybe it’s just that our potential as a Party is way bigger then we could have ever imagined?

Well, in this world pretty much anything is possible. But if we’re supposed to be capable of achieving such a monumental feat, then it certainly wouldn’t hurt if we could get some help to achieve it that much faster, right?

「It’s good that Lord Michio’s Party can enter the 34th floor of the Labyrinths safely. With my persona recommendation, any Party capable of fighting on such a high floor should be able to be accepted into undertaking the Empire Liberation Society entrance exam. It is going to be quicker than I was initially expecting, but that is also great development.」

Could it be that this time the Duke knowing the highest floor of the Labyrinth that we could have reached back then is actually going to work in our favor this time, because thanks to that, the Duke can give us his recommendation

「What is this admission exam going to be like, exactly?」

「The entire purpose of the Empire Liberation Society’s entrance exam is to see if the applicants have what it takes to break through the Floor Boss on the Labyrinth’s 33rd floor. Once that is confirmed, then you should have no problems getting accepted into Society’s ranks. By the way, the Labyrinth in which the admission exam is going to be taking place is going to be the Labyrinth of Quratar.」

「I see. In other words, the purpose of the exam is to see whether or not the applicants are going to be capable of defeating the Land Dragon.」

Certainly, if you and your Party are going to be strong enough to defeat Land Dragon Lv.33 on the Labyrinth’s 33rd floor, then you should have no problems with taking on the monsters on the 34th floor as well.

The most formidable enemy that can be encountered on the 34th floor is not Land Dragon, but Drive Dragon, but I don’t think there’s too much difference between the two.