The next day I left the store to Sakura and Noir, and Erica and Alexia, and came to the Hollow Bottom Fortress with Garnett.

　The purpose, of course, was to attend the emergency meeting I was given a summons for last night.

　The meeting itself was to be held jointly by the Golden Fang Knights and the Silver Wing Knights, but the summons was issued in the name of the Silver Wing, and it also clearly stated a proviso that one accompanying person could be brought along.

　Naturally, this would have told them to 'bring Garnett' without saying a word.

''Even so, is it common for the Knights to summon a civilian like this?

　As we descend the carefully maintained slope of the Sundial Forest, we look back to the group behind us.

　A group of people who can be said to be representatives of various professions in Green Hollow Town are walking with anxious faces while being escorted by knights.

I'm not going to say it's not there, but it's quite unusual. It's the usual thing to say that a situation like this is a crappy one.
...... what exactly?
A town-wide request for help. And a rather non-vetoable one at that.
I see. ......

　Among the group, there was Malcolm, the tavern and guild house manager, and Sylvia's mother, the landlady of the Spring Wakaba Tei.

　No, on the contrary, there was even Sylvia herself next to the landlady.

　Faster than I could raise my voice in surprise, I thought that Sylvia had rushed over to me in a flash, and with a troubled look on her face, she pulled her face close to Garnett's ear.

''Garnet-san. It seems that your mother is also the first time to be called out by the knights, but what can I say about that ...... okay, what is it?

　I'm sure you're not going to be able to find out what it is that you're looking for.

I'm sure you'll be able to find out more about the details of the situation.
I knew it. ......
Well, yeah, that serious, well-meaning piece of shit Felix, he bit me in the ass. It's not going to be a disaster.
''I agree with you on that. If it's just the Golden Fang, but if it's a joint effort with the Silver Wings, then they won't say anything crazy.

　The Golden Fang, whose role is to fight and the Silver Wings, whose role is to maintain security.
　If they work at the same time, they should be just the right amount of restraint.

　While we were exchanging such conversations, we arrived at the Hollow Bottom Fortress on the fifth level of the 'Sundial Forest'.

''I apologize for calling you here on such short notice. Please wait in this room until I finish my final preparations. Also, Mayor-dono, Guild House Manager-dono, and Luke-dono of the White Wolf Forest will need to follow me.

　Only the three nominated people and a few guards, including Garnett, were led by the Golden Fang Knight to the back of the fortress.

　Furthermore, we passed through the caves that lead to the 'Demon King's Castle Realm', and even passed through the buildings on the underground side of the fortress, and were brought to the watchtower on the grounds.

　I'm familiar with this place since I've been here many times, but I'm sure the others never imagined that they would ever set foot in here.

　This is the underground space where the Demon King's Castle exists.
　Moreover, it is also the habitat of powerful demonic beasts, dragons.

　Even though the area around the fortress is secure, the average person would still think of it as a place that was just a step into the abyss of hell.

　In fact, the caretaker, Malcolm, is woozy as if he's about to faint, and the old man, the mayor of the town, seems to be trying desperately to keep his composure.

　I need to be proactive in this situation.

What's going on here? Aside from me, bringing a civilian into the Demon King's Castle Realm is not an unusual thing.
Rather than giving a verbal explanation, I think it's more reliable to see the actual scene. I'd like you to check out the Demon King's Castle's downtown area through the watchtower's telescopes.

　It was a watchtower, but it was like a turret, and we had to use a ladder to get to the top, and only one of us could climb it at a time.

　Both the mayor and Malcolm looked at me in silence, letting off some pressure to be the first to go.

'Well, I'll go first then,'

　Climbing up the ladder to the top of the watchtower, he looks through the large far-sighted glasses provided.

　With the advice of the watchman, I adjusted the angle of the magical finesse and the far-glasses and captured the spot on the lens as instructed.

　At that moment, I'm speechless.

''Nah ......!''

　The so-called castle town of the Demon King's Castle - the town where the dwarves lived that was ruled by the dark elves - was turned into a pile of rubble from corner to corner.

''You're kidding me, ...... what happened ......?''
Next time, focus on the riverfront over there.

　I point my lens at the spot I was told by the watchmen to look at.

　Far away from the Demon King's Castle and the castle town, near the foot of the rocky mountain where the Hollow Bottom Fortress is located, the riverside.

　There was a large number of tents spread out and a crowd of people that clearly couldn't fit into them.

　However, the crowd did not refer to humans, but almost all of them were dwarves.

　The situation didn't need to be explained to me to understand.
　The dwarves, whose town had been destroyed, were taking refuge by the river.

　It's difficult to gauge the number of people because of their small size, but it's so large that they can't fit in a few hundred or so, but seem to be in the thousands.

　I hurried down the ladder and briefly explained the scene I saw to the others, and then asked the knight who was guiding me to explain how such a situation happened.

'What in the world happened? You're not going to say that the knights attacked and it happened like that.
No way. That was the result of the Demon King's army's own destruction.

　It only took me a moment to think that this was ridiculous, and then I was immediately convinced in an unpleasant way.

'...... Is this part of the operation?'
I know. That's a d*mned shameful thing to do.

　Garnett also seemed to understand the intentions of the Demon King's army, but Malcolm and the other ordinary people didn't seem to understand the meaning of it as if they didn't understand.

''Rii, what exactly is the point of destroying the dwellings of the territorial population, okay, what's the point?''
''To the Demon King, dwarves were as good as a tool, I guess. Now that the Golden Fang has conquered the mining area, dwarves have become useless tools.

　I tell a terribly confused Malcolm my own theory.

'And I suppose they dared to force the dwarves who destroyed their dwellings and drove them out to the Golden Fang Knights.
Yeah, that's right.

　The knight who is leading us confirms my theory.

'The dwarves demand our protection. If we accept them, we will waste vast amounts of supplies, but we cannot deny the danger of thousands of dwarves turning into a mob if we refuse. In the worst case ...... they might try to break through the fortress and escape to the ground.

　Malcolm's face turned pale and trembled, and the old man, the mayor, hardened his expression and swallowed raw.

'Today's emergency meeting is designed to plan a plan for this situation. If a decision is made to assist the dwarves, we will be asking the people of Green Hollow to help us. We ask for your understanding.