Duke Jantzen Rovar of the 31 Grand Dukes sat in the ornate chair behind his desk, his eyes wavering as they focused on the image of his cousin adorning the window. He reached up and pressed his hands on his cheeks, pulling them down to stretch out the dark and heavy bags under his eyes.

“By the goddess, what is happening in my town?” he asked.

Of course, he didn’t expect the picture to respond. It was enough to assume that his nephew was listening.

He let out a loaded sigh as he pondered the contents of the reports he had just read a minute ago. The simultaneous disappearances of Eileen Vanis, Maxwell Rovar, Siegfried Lancaster, and Quincy Rambalt was a major incident that left his agents reeling as they tried to discover the cause, and now the Earthbreaker adventurer team was annihilated by mere goblins.

“This is madness...”

It wasn’t hard to find a common factor in every recent incident, though – the red-eyed crazy lady who freaked out when she randomly respawned in the temple. She was closely connected with all four of the individuals who disappeared recently and was first brought to his attention when she beat some sense into his son and stole a catkin slave from him.

The name ‘Ray’ had entered his ears far too often in recent days, and rarely in a good way. She was the sole survivor of the mission in which his son died for the last time. He still had doubts about that case, but the accounts of the adventurers on the scene all claimed they were killed by goblins, except for one.

Still, if all he had were suspicions, he probably would have moved on. The same boy who wrote that contradictory account later admitted that he and Jantzen Jr. had tried to kill Ray in her sleep. Even if she did have something to do with his son’s death, he couldn’t really fault her for defending herself.

But there was now another suspicious report. Edwin Weston had taken his silver-ranked team out to deal with the goblins that were killing trainees. Every adventurer involved in the fight except for Edwin and Ray died. Once again, Ray found herself in the center of a major incident, and she walked out unscathed while nearly everybody else was dead.

He couldn’t discount the possibility that she was just a magnet for trouble with incredible luck when it comes to surviving, but his intuition was telling him that she was much more dangerous than that.

As if all these reports weren’t enough, he was contacted by the Guild Master earlier. Somehow, she was able to get that old man to act as a middleman and set up an appointment for her. The Guild Master didn’t even move when he, the duke, called, so she somehow built up a crazy amount of influence with him under the eyes of his agents.

There wasn’t enough information to determine her goal or purpose, but it was clear to him that she was not normal. The problem was that he had no guesses as to who she was or why she might be causing problems. He hoped to obtain some clues during his meeting with her.

A small knock on the door interrupted his thoughts.

He quickly smoothed down his robe and fixed the expression on his face. “Enter,” he commanded.

The door swung inward without a creak and his secretary led an ethereal young woman inside. Her hair was a silvery platinum color and her features looked both refined and delicate. He met her sharp gaze and felt a strange chill as if he was looking at a hunting predator.

Vivid memories danced at the edge of his consciousness, but he pushed them aside. This wasn’t the time to dwell on past battles, but he did take note that her gaze evoked his darkest and bloodiest memories.

Though he had never seen her before, he knew who she was. “Ray, I presume?”

She nodded, her silvery hair almost seeming to reflect the light as it bobbed with the motion. He motioned for her to take a seat and she glided across the soft carpet like a wraith. When she reached the chair, she sat down and maintained a proper posture while waiting for him to speak. She twirled her finger in her hair while her eyes flicked back and forth, taking in the details of the room.

Seeing her respectful, yet wary manner, he decided to give her his full attention and set aside the papers he was holding.

“To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?” he asked.

“I have come to visit Your Lordship with a request,” she replied, her voice soft and even. Despite the quietness, her words carried weight and demanded attention.

He unconsciously straightened his back. “A request, is it? You may speak freely, and I will listen.”

The edges of her lips curled up. “Sometime in the next few hours, around twenty goblins will be respawning in the temple here in Cairel.”

“...” Duke Jantzen blinked. He opened his mouth, but he wasn’t sure how to respond. What she just said was unthinkable. It was so impossible that it didn’t even make sense to joke about it.

“I would like you to allow those goblins to leave the town peacefully.”

“...” Was she out of her mind? She wanted him to ignore the fact that monsters would be respawning in his domain? Putting religious dogma aside, he could not let a security risk like that run around unattended.

He opened his mouth to respond, but she continued with her absurd requests.

“Additionally, another ten goblins and a catkin will be respawning after approximately three days. I would like you to let them leave peacefully as well.”

Duke Jantzen leaned back in his chair and folded his arms, covertly pinching his skin to see if he was awake. He blinked rapidly a few times to clear his vision and even tried summoning his mana to check for outside interference through mind magic.

Finally, he was forced to admit that the strange noises he just heard were real sounds. This red-eyed crazy lady was being serious.

“I know this is a lot to ask, but those goblins haven’t done anything to deserve a lifetime of slavery. I am prepared to negotiate terms for their release, though I will be upfront that I do not have the financial means to purchase thirty slaves.”

The duke shook his head. “Let’s back this conversation up a step or ten. Before I address your requests, tell me both why goblins are about to respawn in the temple and how you know about it before anybody else.”

She motioned toward the papers on his desk. “Have you received the report filed by Edwin Weston about the recent goblin subjugation?”

He nodded and touched the papers he had set aside when she entered. “I just read it before this meeting. Am I right to assume that the goblins in question are the ones from that camp?”

“That’s right,” Ray replied with a nod. “Of course, there were several hundred goblins in the camp and only thirty will be respawning. The catkin was killed in that fight as well.”

“So you know about it because you were involved in that fight. Why was nothing about this included in the report?”

She shrugged. “I didn’t write the report, so I’m not fully aware of what information was included. Did Edwin not include any information about the new Overseer?”

The duke froze. The new what?! He stiffly shook his head.

“I’m not surprised,” she giggled. “He probably doesn’t want other people to know about what happened.”

Duke Jantzen examined the woman in front of him with a piercing gaze. Almost every word she said in this conversation thus far revealed hidden information that carried far-reaching implications, yet she had the temerity to laugh while speaking them in front of a duke.

“Would you care to enlighten me about the true events that occurred?”

Her smile widened and she started to recount the details about the descent of a new god and the message that he had shared.

When she finished, Duke Jantzen closed his eyes, leaned his head back, and let out a deep sigh. “Legion, God of Monsters, eh?” he muttered to himself. Then he opened his eyes and fixed his posture, meeting the serious gaze of the woman sitting before him. “So, may I assume that your request to help these goblins is an attempt to appease this new god?”

“That’s right,” she replied confidently. “This ‘Legion’ seemed exceptionally invested in those goblins, to the point that he revealed himself to put an end to the slaughter. I believe that those goblins are under his protection, and we risk angering a god if we do any more harm to them.”

The duke stroked his chin as he considered her words. “Your point is worthy of consideration, but the issue is too convoluted for me to quickly reach an official stance on the matter. Before I can make any promises about releasing them, I need to consult the churches. While I may risk angering this ‘Legion’, there are four other gods who may be angered if I do intervene.”

He paused when he saw the corners of her lips turn down.

“So you’ll leave them to die while you play politics?” she asked. Her eyes narrowed and her chin quivered.

To his experienced eyes, she seemed rather disappointed. Seeing how much she cared about this, he made a decision. As long as he covered his bases, he should be able to help out a little bit.

“I will take all the monsters that respawn into my custody while negotiations are underway, but I cannot promise anything beyond that. No matter what, I will prioritize the lives of my people before the whims of outsiders.”

Ray tilted her head to the side, her eyes losing focus.

Was someone speaking to her? He summoned his mana once again and checked the room, but there were no signs of remote communication spells.

After a brief moment, her eyes refocused and she nodded to show her agreement. “That should be fine, for now. If I find out any more information, I’ll seek another audience with you.”

Duke Jantzen returned her nod and she stood up. He rose to his feet as well and moved around his desk to shake her hand. She accepted the gesture.

“It was a pleasure to finally meet you, Ray, I have heard many things about you, and I hope you will continue to act for the benefit of our town and our people. The information you brought me today is exceedingly valuable, and I won’t forget it. When this situation is resolved, you will be rewarded.”

The young woman bowed, her hair cascading down like a torrent of silvery light to cover her face. She sniffled as she straightened up from her bow and pushed the hair out of her face.

He revealed a tender smile when he noticed the faint red at the edge of her eyes. It was his pride as a ruler to evoke such emotional expressions. He made a mental note to personally ensure that the reward was something worthy.

The duke rang a bell on his desk and his secretary opened the door. After the secretary escorted Ray from the room, Duke Jantzen rang the bell again to summon the young man back into his office.

“Send a notice to the temple that I will visit shortly to meet with the current presiding authority. This meeting is to be considered as an exchange of class zero information and must be handled accordingly.”

“By your will,” the secretary declared with a bow. The young man quickly left the room to fulfill his orders.

Duke Jantzen Rovar of the 31 Grand Dukes turned his eyes back toward the mosaic of his nephew.

“I presume that you heard all of that, little Douglas? Get over here quickly and help me clean up this mess.”

***

Ray chuckled to herself as she walked down the steps of the cathedral toward the mostly empty plaza and headed toward a few of the stalls that were cleaning up their merchandise.

Her eyes still stung a little bit, but they were quickly returning to normal. She wasn’t entirely sure how to mimic physiological reactions, so while her face was hidden by her hair, she had blinked as rapidly as she could to make her eyes tear up. It seemed to work, as the duke looked touched by her ‘genuine’ reaction.

They were able to secure the second-best-case scenario in that meeting. Of course, the best case would have been to walk free without any fighting, but she now had a promise that the local political authority would protect the goblins long enough for her and Legion to put their plan into action. Things would get way too complicated if they started being sold and transported all over the place.

She felt that she could trust the duke to keep his word.

“Ray, be careful while you’re out and about. I have to attend a meeting with the other gods and might be out for a few days. Stay safe until then and we’ll rescue everybody.”

She paused mid-stride, shock crossing her face. A few passersby gave her weird glances but kept moving to get to their respective destinations.

“A meeting…? Now? Is it something serious?”

“I’m not sure, but if things go well then I’ll be able to obtain the last piece we need for our plan to succeed.”

Ray shivered as she realized that she would be on her own for a few days. For almost as long as she could remember, Legion had been with her.

This would be a good experience, though the timing was rather uncomfortable. She squared her shoulders and resolved that she would hold out until her god returned.

Her gaze turned toward the raven lord as he swooped down from his perch above the cathedral. He was her ever-loyal and silent follower who was always by her side. Even without Legion being there with her, she wouldn’t be completely alone.

She suppressed her nerves and sent Legion off.

“Have a safe trip!”

“I’ll be back soon!”