When one hears of an audience with the king, one might think of meeting him in the ornate audience chamber.

　Perhaps the typical image is of a throne sitting on a throne at the far end of a room that is quite deep, with the King sitting on a throne looking down on his audience of visitors.

　However, the person who does not necessarily follow such a standard is King Alfred.

　In fact, the place where the chamberlain showed us was not the audience room that was supposed to be set up in the castle, but a small room where the king conducts his normal duties.

'It's been a long time, Luke White Wolf. Your exploits in Green Hollow have reached my ears.

　From behind his opulent office desk, a man wearing a lion's share of menace throws a fearless smile at me.

　King Alfred, the ruler of the Kingdom of Westland and the leader of the War of Continental Unity.
　He is the ruler of the Westland Kingdom and the champion of the War of Continental Unity.

　He was once known as one of the continent's foremost adventurers, a substandard man who reached the top of both fields.

　To be called out by the great man of today by name, if it was me a decade ago, I might have stopped breathing, or even my heart.

　But maybe it's because this is not the first time I've had an audience with someone up close and personal.

　I'm not sure if it's because I haven't had an audience up close and personal, but I'm in a strangely calm frame of mind, and I'm able to conduct myself in an appropriate manner.

''It's been a long time, Your Majesty, but I've recalled to give you a first-hand account of the status of the A-ranked dungeon 'The Thousand Year Corridor of the Abyss' and 'The Demon King's Castle Realm' ......, as well as the 'Ark of the Elements' investigation.
''Haha, there's no need for grandiose greetings. I've always said that to the other knight leaders.

　His Majesty Alfred brushed aside the papers spread out on the tabletop with his arm and placed the stack of papers handed to him by the chamberlain in front of him.

I'm sure you'll be able to find out more about this in the future. It's a good sign that you've done a lot of work.

　The first time I had an audience with His Majesty was when it was discovered that the 'Sundial Forest' located just a stone's throw away from Green Hollow was directly connected to Demon King Gandalf's sphere of influence, and the idea of the Golden Fang Knights being dispatched to Green Hollow was brought up.

　At that time, His Majesty personally asked me for my opinion on the deployment plan at that time, and I told him that my 【Restoration】 skills should be able to minimize the burden on the area.

　Of course, the tension was much greater than it is now, but I couldn't help but retreat from the plan at that time, as it was likely to place a huge burden on Green Hollow.

　As a result, to my surprise, my proposal passed through the meeting easily and led to me being noticed in a way that I wasn't an adventurer or a weapons dealer.

　I don't regret it.
　I still think I made the best move I could have made.

　Even if it went around and ended up bearing too much responsibility for the territory and the knights.

　No, rather, thanks to that one incident--

Now, I'm sorry, but we don't have time to get too comfortable. I'm sorry to cut right to the chase, but I'm going to need you to give me a verbal update on the investigation. I'll let you know if I have any questions.
Very well. Let's start with .......

　As requested by His Majesty, I'll begin by telling you about the status of the investigation of the Ark of the Elements.

　The deepest part we've reached so far is the second level.

　According to the information obtained from a demon tribe that cooperates with the adventurers, this dungeon has a structure with four labyrinths and four underground spaces that overlap each other.

　The first level is the labyrinth that the people on the ground call the 'Millennium Corridor of the Abyss', and the first level is the 'Demon King's Castle Realm' which is an underground space beyond that.

　The second level is filled with water and greenery and is inhabited by various types of demons.

　The most important one is the lake city of Athropolis, which has declared its neutrality to all other forces.

　The demons of the second level were the ruling class, so to speak, and a ruling class like the Demon King Gandalf lived on the third level and controlled the inhabitants of the second level.

　I'm sure you'll be able to find a way to get your hands on some of these things.

It's likely that Demon King Gandalf was driven out of the third level by what they called the 'true enemy'. The local speculation is that the other ruling classes were also defeated and destroyed .......
And that the 'true enemy' is the same organization as the mithril trafficking organization Agat Ram. That's unheard of for the Silver Wing Knights. They won't be able to find them anywhere on earth with this.

　His Majesty Alfred looked at Garnett, whose expression was tightened, and then flipped through the documents at hand.

''It is said that once, during the continental unification war, the Demon King Gandalf sent his armies to the earth through a path unknown to us and destroyed one of our countries. If this event took place when he was sitting on the third level, then Agat Ram must have used the same path to bring Mithril to earth after he drove Gandalf off.

　His Majesty's guess was probably right on the money.

　Furthermore, with Demon King Gandalf occupying the first level, the third level, Agat Ram, had lost track of the first labyrinth, which was no better than a mithril deposit.

　Even if one tried to take a look at it from the ground side, that labyrinth was under the control of the Adventurer's Guild, so it was impossible for outsiders to obtain information so easily.

　Although the exact reason is unclear, it seems that Agathe Ram does not want humans to interfere in the first labyrinth, the "Thousand Year Corridor of the Abyss".

　This is probably because the interior walls of the First Labyrinth are made of mithril disguised as stone.

　I'm not sure if it's because they would increase their own business if they had access to a large deposit of mithril, or if it's because there's another reason ...... that I can't help but think about that.

　Anyway, Agart Ram wanted information on the humans who had stepped into the first labyrinth and contacted Algernon, a human who had reached the second level.

　In exchange for granting Algernon's wish, he obtained information on the A-rank adventurers he hired to bring him into the First Labyrinth, and sent an automatic puppet night ripper (Night Ripper) to King's Landing to kill them one by one.

　It was all connected to the 'Ark of the Elements' and Agart Ram as the axis.

''In other words, if we can seize the loophole that leads directly to the third level, we can hit the third level while curbing Agart Ram's mithril trafficking,''
'It would be great if that could happen. We haven't found a route from the second level to the third level that would allow us to get there.

　A large number of adventurers were using Asropolis as a base to explore the second level, but so far they hadn't found the means to move to the third level.

　The demons on the second level didn't know how to get to the third level from the beginning, and the route that the administrator, Fraxinus, had grasped was physically and magically blocked off, so it wasn't going to be easy to reopen it.

''Alright, I understand. Let's investigate the remains of the ruined kingdom. But even though it's on the ground, it has become a den of demons due to the influence of the Demon King's army. I'll have to consult with the adventurer's guild as well.

　I can't help but shut down at the new information that was casually presented to me.

　If Agart Ram is messing with the ground via such a place, no amount of Silver Wing Knights should be able to easily follow his footsteps.

　The demon king's army, you're really unnecessary - I couldn't help but poison myself inwardly with that.