Gather Divine Coins and Gacha! - Chapter 269/Alec Side

 "Well then... shall we get started? You all have a mountain of work ahead of you, don't you? Let's get this over with quickly."

Seeing that the conversation with Mile had finished, the branch chief stepped forward and brought up the topic.

Today's agenda is about internal security within the territory.

Normally, this is the duty of the First Division, which usually patrols along the highways and around the towns and villages within the territory.

This system had maintained the peace within the territory without any issues, but with the information that Sera had brought from Count Müller, the situation changed slightly.

It seems reckless, but there may be someone attempting to bypass populated areas and sneak from the Zelquis territory into the Riana territory off the main roads.

In fact, it’s possible they’ve already infiltrated.

Given this, it’s not enough to just keep watch on the roads and populated areas — forests and mountains must also be monitored to prevent further intrusions.

This isn’t a matter of skill, but rather of experience, and the First Division isn't well-suited for this.

As such, the Second Division and adventurers will take over those duties instead.

There's no issue with dealing with monsters, as that is practically their specialty. However, when it comes to tracking, they're only slightly better than the First Division, so the assistance of the Hunters Guild will be incredibly valuable.

We'll also coordinate with other guilds, gathering information from other regions and selecting appropriate escorts.

Though it's only for a few years, the entire territory will need to work together. But since each faction has its own vested interests, I wasn't sure how well this would go... However, it seems like things are going to work out smoothly.

◇

The meeting wrapped up in less than an hour.

Well, the whole thing wasn’t an order from the lord. It was more of an informal agreement led by the Adventurers' Guild branch chief, where each group would cooperate within their capabilities.

Because of that, the meeting was held at the Adventurers' Guild rather than at the Knights' Headquarters.

Some people are already holding drinks in hand — it's the kind of thing that wouldn't have happened otherwise.

It was casual to begin with, but now the atmosphere has become even more relaxed, and casual conversations have started up here and there.

"Hey, Ashley. Your captain isn’t here, is that alright?"

"Yes. He’s tied up with regular duties at the moment. We’ll be getting more personnel next spring, but for now, it’s business as usual. I’m only here today as a liaison for the lord."

Some people were surprised that Ashley, rather than Rick, had come to this meeting.

"Hey, are you going to continue training the young adventurers next year too?"

"That’s the plan. It might change if a dungeon opens up, but for now, next year’s schedule will be the same. What’s up? Is it your child... no, your grandchild?"

"Yeah. It seems that the lord’s daughter used her blessing item. One of the kids who was there told her about it, and now she’s saying she wants to become an adventurer herself. I would have stopped her before, but... with how things are now, the adventurers aren’t so bad. Even if she doesn’t become one, it’s better if she can fight."

The branch chief and the heads of the merchant guilds were talking about training apprentice adventurers.

There are a few people in this town who possess blessing items, but I suppose this was the first time they had seen one used so openly. Before I came to this room, I saw some kids in the hall... it must have been quite the inspiration.

"Hey, Alexio."

"Huh?"

It was one of the senior members of the merchant guild who called out to me. If I recall correctly, this guy exports food to the capital.

"I heard that your girl can reach the capital of Zelquis territory in four days... is that true?"

Four days... that must be information from the Zelquis side.

"Yeah, pretty much... Where did you hear that?"

"That’s a secret... More importantly, is it possible to make a request to your girl?"

"It’s possible, but all requests to Sera go through Lady Seriana. Besides, that girl doesn’t need the money, so she won’t take on any more work than necessary."

"I see... Well, as long as it's possible to get there in four days, that’s good enough."

I thought mentioning Seriana’s name would make him give up, but surprisingly, he persisted.

"Yeah... I don’t know what you want to request, but keep in mind, she’s officially a knight of the Riana territory. Whether it’s letters or cargo, anything you want her to carry will be inspected by us first."

"Is that so...? Alright then."

Since he went out of his way to ask me, I doubt it’s anything illegal, but... it probably wasn’t entirely clean either. Merchants generally hate having even harmless letters opened, so this is probably even worse.

And with Seriana and Teresa around, Sera’s not likely to get involved in anything shady, but I’ll keep my eyes open just in case.

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Sera・【Hideout】+1【Prayer】【Mira's Blessing】・【Floating Orb】【Shadow Sword】【Scarlet Bee Sting】【Fairy's Eye】【Dragon’s Lung】【Amber Sword】【Dunlem Thread】・1 card

Seriana・【Area Identification】・【】・35 cards

Elena・【】・【Green Fang】・5 cards

Alec・【】・【Red Shield】【Fierce Horn】・12 cards