** Lev Magic Empire – Red Gate Front Line **

The reinforcements of 10,000 cavalry reassured the citizens of the Lev Magic Empire and the adventurers fighting at the front line of the Red Gate. But at the same time, the large number of personnel caused disturbances in the front line. After all, there were horses as well as humans.

Kruvan sent their cavalry due to prioritizing movement speed. As such, the large number of personnel couldn’t be accommodated in the base at the front line, so the Kruvan Army was stationed on a nearby hill.

3,000 advance troops from the Keith Gran Federation were stationed on the opposite hill. The remaining 97,000 will be added soon. As such, the vegetation in the whole area may be consumed by horses.

On a side note, the Saint Knight Kingdom planned to send 1,000 troops, but when the scale of support from the other countries became larger, they said sending only 1,000 troops would affect their “honour”, so they decided to increase their number to 10,000 to match Kruvan Holy Kingdom.

「I have never been in a war, so I didn’t know the scale was this huge.. It is little wonder why a lot of people die in war.」Dante said, while watching the 10,000 cavalry forming positions in the distance.

「But I am grateful. With this amount of military strength, we can push the front line deeper.」Lulusha responded.

「True. As it stands now, no matter how many monsters we defeat during daytime, we have to pull back at night. But if the attack and the construction of the base can be done in parallel, the subjugation will proceed more smoothly.」

「........」

「What’s wrong? You seem troubled.」Dante asked.

「Actually, I also got a dispatch order.」

「Hmm? You? ..Are you going to fight monsters on the front line?」

Lulusha chuckled at Dante’s question.

「No. My job is labyrinth capture.」

「What has labyrinth capture got to do with this?」

「It’s clear that the Red Gate is related to the “Labyrinth of 9 Emotions”, right? The same can also be inferred from the transcribe of the wall painting left behind by Reiji-san. So, the labyrinth capture teams are to investigate the labyrinths for information on whether we can control the gate.」

「Oh.. I see.」

「If possible, I would like Silver Balance to join as well.」

「Of course. We would be happy. Right?」

Dante asked the person approaching him from behind without turning back.

「Of course we would!」

It was Mimino.

「Once we can control the Red Gate, we can go find Reiji-kun.」Mimino said.

「Fufu. Everyone truly cares about Reiji-san.」

「Reiji-kun saved Dante’s life, so he is irreplaceable to Non and Dante. As for me, he is my.. companion? No, I feel we are closer than that.」Mimino said.

「Isn’t he like your son?」Dante added.

「I’m not that old! It would be more accurate if you said siblings!」

Dante laughed at Mimino’s reply.

「Hahaha, I’m sorry.. Oh, it looks like the meeting is over.」

Dante said, pointing to the deck of the Queen of the Night.

Abba was in the crowd of the bigshots of the Empire, including the Emperor.

Walking with them was Duke Grenjido, whose blue hair stood out, and the astonishingly handsome man, Earl Sillys.

「Hey, don’t you think we should tell the Earl over there about what happened to Reiji?」Dante asked.

Reiji had told Dante and the others about his time in the Holy Kingdom. And he had never once bad-mouthed the Earl.

Dante thought that the Earl would probably want to know about Reiji’s situation as well.

「Absolutely not! We can’t talk to the people who drove Reiji-kun out of their country after everything he has done for them.」Mimino immediately denied.

「Oi oi, Mimino... Reiji was really concerned about the Earl’s daughter. According to rumors, it seems that she has also come here. Perhaps they came here because they are concerned about Reiji too?」

「Nope! We will not talk to them!」

「Listen to me, Mimino..」

「No!」

Mimino turned away with her arms folded.

Dante noticed that Mimino became more sullen when he mentioned the “Earl’s daughter”.

(Ah.. I accidentally slipped it out.)

Reiji was always concerned about the Earl’s daughter, and he also highly praised the young lady.

During those times, Mimino always had a sullen look.

(From Mimino’s point of view, she is probably thinking why even the young lady didn’t protect Reiji when he had protected her for all those years.)

Dante understood Mimino’s feelings.

But he also understood that it was too much to ask of a 12 years old girl. Though, he knew not to bring that up to Mimino.

(But I can’t find the young lady in question.)

The girl couldn’t be found on the deck.

** Queen of the Night – Guest room **

The young lady was guided by a Lev to the guest room.

She was accompanied by a knight of the Knights Order, but she told him to wait outside, and knocked on the door before entering the guest room.

She found a Lev in a lab coat inside. It was an elderly doctor.

「Oh.. It’s rare to have a human guest. The patient went to sleep just a moment ago.」

After saying that, the doctor left to check on his next patient.

Only Eva and the patient remained in the room.

The bed occupied a large portion of the room which was not originally spacious. Sleeping on the bed was a girl about five years older than Eva.

「So this person.. is the one who is maintaining the current front line and possesses a special skill.. Lark-san.」

It was the first encounter between the two.