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Volume 2 Chapter 1-3: Lord

I thought that large gold coins would be hard to use so I turned them into normal gold instead.」

「Thank you for your consideration.」

I responded calmly while I was excited inwardly at the amount that was much larger than I thought it would be. 500,000 mars would be 5,000,000 yen. Back on Earth an average person would only be able to earn this much every ten years.

「I had heard reports of strong monsters still wandering the first floor from the 『High Level Descent』 incident(TN: Translated literally it is Upper Level Dropping Down), however since the high level party I sent to deal with the Floor Boss didn’t need to do so, they instead went around and cleared the higher level monsters on the first floor. Early yesterday I received a report that it was cleared. The First Floor should now be available to all just like usual.」

I see, well that’s good. While we’re at it, I should offer the information that this incident may have been caused by overhunting over a short period of time.

「I have heard of such rumors, however it is almost impossible to regulate since we cannot keep an eye on every party that enters.

Well since such a large 『High Level Descent』 happened recently, a similar incident shouldn’t occur for at least several hundred days.」

「What do you mean by that?」

「Well from what has been observed a 『High Level Descent』 costs the Tower a lot of energy. It is fairly trivial if it’s only one or two monsters, but this large amount of creatures means that the Tower might not even be able to maintain its average monster spawn rate.

With that number of monsters the Tower probably wanted to devour the explorers to gain more energy, but thanks to your efforts the victims were few. For now the Tower will have to stay quiet and replenish its strength.」

Really? …That Tower is so malicious. It tried to round up all the beginners after the First Floor monsters were defeated by dropping a full 『High Level Descent』 on them?

「That aside, please keep this information to yourself. If beginners were to know that the Tower could decide when to commit acts like that, they would cease to enter.」

「But that’s…!」

As the Lord finished his words Sistina objected. I’m sure she felt as if the Lord was making light of the explorers’ lives.

「Everyone starts out as a beginner. If they cease to enter the Tower because they do not know when a calamity may befall them, eventually there will be no explorers left to enter the Tower.

Once that happens, the Tower will build up its strength and release floods of monsters outside. At that time the ones to fight them will still be the Explorers. Do you understand this vicious cycle?」

The Lord asserted strongly as he stared at Sistina with a serious gaze. I feel bad for Sistina, but this time I agree with the Lord.

If the Explorers don’t enter the Tower then people won’t grow stronger. Once they stop entering the Tower, monsters will flow out and since no one was training to fight in the Tower, even more sacrifices will be made. Once the population declined there would be even less people able to become Explorers.

If that chain continued, then eventually the world would be buried in monsters as humanity fell to extinction.

As a Lord ruling a city with a Tower, he has to close his eyes to the danger and send Explorers into the Tower. In fact that may be his primary job as the Lord.

Actually what I was surprised about was that there was no organization to provide support and membership to the Explorers in this world.

Sistina seemed to reach the same conclusion and looked down sadly. I placed my hand on her shoulder to comfort her and opened my mouth to change the subject.

「Actually I was wondering what the commotion happening in the mansion was about, did another incident occur?」

「Well…sorry about that! It’s a small issue. I had to deal with it and so I was late to meet with you, I apologize!」

Well I was thinking it was something of the sort, but I wonder what it was to take that time dealing with it.

「Is it another issue with the Tower?」

「Gaahahaha! The Tower won’t cause so many problems so often! This time it was a small incident.

It’ll be known to the citizens soon, but recently the son of an affiliated family, the Becker Family, died in town.」

Woah! Oops…almost couldn’t control my expression. This topic came out of nowhere. If I knew this would happen I would have requested to hear the report from Sakura yesterday…

「Ah, my sympathies…was it an illness?」

「No….an accident? I might say.」

What the heck did Sakura do? I casually glanced at Sakura’s face, but she was completely nonchalant as she munched on rimple chips. Actually she looked like a chipmunk, how cute.

「Sorry! We’re still investigating so I don’t know the details! But it seems like this son had some troublesome tendencies…Some unnatural evidence was found that cannot be overlooked, and several  investigations are underway at the same time.」

「…is that so? Seems like being a Lord is tough. We won’t take up too much of your time, so please excuse us then.」

At times like this it was best to leave sooner so I didn’t reveal anything unnecessary. I slowly stood and bowed to Isaac.

「Oh! Alright! Sorry about this! Once things calm down I’ll definitely invite you back for a meal!」

Isaac stood as well and extended his hand and I shook it. It was large and rough which proved that, despite being the Lord, he was also a man who picked up his weapon and fought.

I sighed in relief after we left the Lord’s mansion. We managed not to reveal any faults. I felt something tugging on my shirt.

Well, even without turning I knew who it would be, I checked and it was Sistina as expected. She stared up at me.

「What’s wrong Sistina?」

「The matter you gave to Sakura-san yesterday…『was that thing』?」

Last night we didn’t inform Sistina of what Sakura had left to accomplish. She must have connected the information with what the Lord said.

Isaac hadn’t said who the son of the Becker Family was, but it was without a doubt Bart. Sakura had somehow killed Bart in a way that looked accidental while leaving behind evidence of his past misdeeds.

Most likely anyone who saw this would know that the ‘accidental’ death was no accident, but because of the evidence of his past crimes they would have to claim it was an accident even if they knew otherwise. It was a delicately done job that balanced it so they couldn’t investigate further.

I didn’t say a word and instead patted Sakura’s head gently. I conveyed my deep gratitude mentally.

「Nyaa Sou-samaa~」

Sakura squinted her eyes happily as I pet her head. Sistina merely let out a defeated sigh and bowed to Sakura.

「Sakura-san, thank you very much and thank you for your efforts.」

「Hmmm~? What are you talking about~? I have no idea.」

「It’s fine. I just wanted to say my gratitude.」

Sakura spoke jokingly, but Sistina simply smiled gently at her. Sakura’s face went blank for a moment, but then she smiled again as she leapt over and grabbed onto Sistina’s arm.

「That’s weird…but thanks for saying it.」

Mhmmm, it’s great to see my wives getting along. Truly magnificent.