...I don't mean to scare you away or anything. I'm not denying that we underestimated the Monkey King. But, as long as you guys made it this far without making any major mistakes, I won't say anything bad about it. I don't want you to mess with the Marquess.

　The 'Byakuya Brigade' tries to strengthen its strength even with a cursed weapon in its hands. He who is a member of it - Souga says so much.

　Elitia also knows the fearfulness of the 'Monkey Prince' - and she is kind-hearted to the core. That's why her mind has wandered to this point.

　However, I can't just play it safe and end up not even seeing the 'Marquis de l'Ape'.

''It's a bit of a relief to hear what you have to say here. I thought most of the 'Brigade' were in agreement that they would cut off their friends if necessary. I thought we'd have to clash at some point with a group of people who were willing to go that far for something... because even in the Seventh Ward, there was some competition.
'Don't be so easily bonded. We're here for our own purposes, and we're here for the sake of being able to cut ourselves off if we have to. I haven't forgotten about "that guy" either, but if I hadn't seen Elitia, I would have forgotten it sooner or later. That's about it.
'Souga, you are getting too emotional. I'm sorry, I apologize on his behalf. I know it's too late to ask, but your name is...
'I am Atobe. Alihit = Atobe.
"Alihit-Atobe I'm Agnes-Fieh, the deputy commander of the 'White Night Brigade'. We will be moving to the next ward in the near future, but before we do, I'd like to meet with Elitia once...

　I want to talk to Elitia. It looked as if she was about to say so, but Agnes looked at her companions and didn't say a word about it.

'We'll protect her. We've been protected more often than not, though. The party is a holding pattern.
Brother, we're going to lose you if you don't come soon.

　Misaki comes back and calls to me. I raise my hand to comply and turn to walk out.

''If you're going to enter the Red Tower of the Flaming Sky, you'd better gather enough information beforehand. This is a map to the place we explored.......will you accept it?
Oh, hey, Mr. Agnes, how can you go so far...
'This is the least I can do. I'm not asking you to forgive me I'm just....

　There are many different people in the brigade. Agnes took out her license and sent the information on the map to my license - the map was interrupted in the middle of the second level.

'Thank you. And one other thing I'll tell you - we've met Cyrone. She is being held in prison in the Seventh Ward for her karma raising act.
''Silone........she did something to Elitia.......''
'I still haven't heard what she had in mind. Someday, I would like to talk to your Commander in person. I hope so.

　I was still at a low level, and I thought I would only be insulted by the members of the brigade if I said that - but their expressions didn't change. Although Souga has a puzzled look on his face, wondering what to say.

''Well it looks like I was wrong about the randomly gathered riffraff, so I apologize. But, you know, if you don't produce results, there's no point in talking about it. In order to do what you want to do, you need a certain amount of power.
'I think that's true. Strength is necessary, and the power of Eritia's sword has helped us as well. I always think we need to be stronger.
'Well tch. That Elitia guy, you hit the jackpot.

　Souga seemed to say a small, 'ain't you a bone-headed bastard?' - hearing that, the young female member slapped Souga on the back.

''So ... what the hell are you doing!
''Your throwaway lines are lame, if you were listening to me just now. I kept my mouth shut for you, Agnes, but you can't act like you're representing us.
''Shut up. The Commander has been tense lately, and he wants me to talk all I want once in a while.

　Of the two parties in the brigade, some of them bailed to me and walked away. Each and every one of them may be an elite group, but I knew that they too were only 'explorers' and not outlaws who only followed their own rules.

　Why was it that even they couldn't choose to help Ruilly? Is it because the 'Brilliant Sark Marquis' is such a demon that it is called the 'Demon King' -?

　Even with a brigade as large as ours, we didn't defeat the Marquis de l'Ape and capture the labyrinth. Can our party be able to capture it on its own - we'll just achieve that goal of saving Ruilly and escape. We have to explore that possibility as well.

　If Loury - I'm not going to think about that now. She's alive, and I'm going to assume all that.

　What we need to do is face the formidability of the Fifth Ward Labyrinth. And then we have to bounce it back.

　◆ ◆ ◆.

　There were upper, middle, and lower guilds in the fifth district as well, and it was the middle guild building that we visited when we transitioned from the seventh district.

　After leaving the medical center, we went back to the Middle Guild to meet up with Louisa-san. The Middle Guild is also known as the "Forest Diner" and serves as a large dining hall. Perhaps because the building was damaged by the Stampede, people who seemed to be the city's cooks also came and served food to the people who had gathered there.

　We were not in the busy dining hall, but in a private room that doubled as a meeting room, as we were recognized as the "Most Valuable Person" in Stampede suppression.

　The material of the building seems to be of a higher strength than that of the Seventh Ward, but the atmosphere of the interior itself remains the same. There was a table carved out of what looked like black marble, and as we all took our seats and waited, a woman dressed in what appeared to be a cook walked in.

　She's probably a reincarnation of the same as us - her reddish hair is tied up and tucked into a cocked hat, but a tuft of braided hair hanging down gives her a somewhat exotic look.

'I'm Maria Millers, the 'cook' who will be in charge of this table today. Thank you so much for subduing the Stampede today, I really appreciate your efforts.

　She bowed her head deeply, though in a matter-of-fact tone, and carried the wagon she had been carrying down the hallway into the room. A dish with a lid like a metal dome - quite large, but what on earth is it made of?

''Is this.........could this be the scorpion that I knocked over earlier.......?''

　Misaki says warily, and Igarashi-san freaks out too - I'm ready to eat almost anything as long as the taste isn't a problem, but scorpions are still a hurdle to overcome.

　Maria doesn't say anything, but takes off the metal lid - and there's more of what looks like an earthen dome in it.

''Is this........steamed rock salt, right?''
Goodbye. I steamed it up with lots of specialty ingredients from Fifth Ward.

　Louisa's prediction was correct. A dome of salt, not dirt - and when you use a tool to break it down, it's filled with more seaweed-like wrapping inside. Without spreading it out, Maria takes it out to everyone's plates and bows. Apparently, it means you can eat it.

''Is this........is this okay, isn't it a very high class dish.......''
..........
Oh, my God, Miss Theresa, that's so bold...!

　As if Theresia couldn't wait to cut through the seaweed with her knife - and inside she found abalone like shellfish, meat and vegetables.

　The vegetables are placed on the shellfish meat and Theresia brings it to her mouth - the moment her white throat moves and she swallows, Theresia looks at the plate in front of her in surprise. Although the mask doesn't allow her to see her eyes.

''.........''

　Theresia looks at me. I've never seen such a reaction - I think Theresia has a family history when it comes to eating, but I didn't expect her to rave about it.

'Really, it's that good?　Then let's all try it........let's have it.
Hmm..........hmm.......!
The meat is steamed with salt, but the salt is just perfect, it will come apart in your mouth and melt...!
It's delicious and it warms you up from the inside out.

　Hearing Suzuna's words, it occurred to me - when I look at the license, Suzuna's magic power is recovering at a faster rate.

　So the mana potion will have side effects if you take too much of it, but if it's cooking, it's not a problem. And it also means that the food was prepared with Suzuna's condition in mind.

'I was contacted by the medical office and we have cooked a dish to help you recover. Please take your time and enjoy today and we will bring the next dish to you when you call for it.
'Thank you, it's really good. I'm looking forward to the other dishes.
'That would be great. I've brought you some drinks as an aperitif, but there are other drinks available on request.

　It's a state of affairs that is just as perfect as it could be, and it makes me feel as if there is a fine dining restaurant in the guild. No, that's exactly what it is, isn't it?


The cooks are limited to a limited number of people in their respective wards so Maria's cooking is truly amazing.
I'd like to be taught a lesson if I could.

　Melissa also has cooking skills, so she was intrigued by this cooking method. Although eating at home is also relaxing, but sometimes this kind of luxury would be good - and in the labyrinth country, the body is the capital, so basically, though the food I want to eat at that time is a priority.

　Even after taking a seat, Elitia kept an unflattering look on her face for a long time, but when she realized that Suzuna sitting next to her was worried about her, she brought the food to her mouth.

''It's.......very tasty. There's still a lot of dishes in the Labyrinth Country that I don't know about.''
Mr. Elitia....
'It's okay I've been thinking about it for a while. I know I shouldn't be in a hurry myself.

　Elitia smiles, but I still know that's just to keep us from worrying about her.

　She looks fragile from the time she's been fighting The Calamity. Still, I can't speak of easy encouragement.

'Louisa, will we ever be able to enter the labyrinth of the Fifth Ward?
''The 'special contribution' will be added to this case, so adding that value and the contribution in Stampede Suppression... still, we still won't get permission to explore the 5-star labyrinth immediately. If you're Atobe, you can still apply for it at the moment, but there's no guarantee that permission will be granted...

　We're both helped by the guild system, but we're also bound by it. The need to qualify to enter the high difficulty labyrinth would be a measure to reduce the number of explorers who drop out.

''At a stage where we haven't obtained a four-star permit, five stars might be difficult... but can we ask you to apply for it?''
'Yes, of course I intend to. Elitia you and how hard you all worked to come to this ward. I've seen that myself. But I do have one concern.
Concern...?

　Louisa looks down at the glass of alcohol. I could tell by the expression on her face that she was trying to say something difficult to say.

''The Guild Saber Unit of the Fifth Ward views it as a venerable thing that Kuzelka-san and Khosrow-san of the Seventh Ward Resident Unit and Atobe-sama's contributions to this suppression were significant.
　We were called in and we all worked so hard........
Is it because the troops in the Seventh District are considered better than those in the Fifth District...?

　I guessed in my own way, and Louisa-san nodded. Serafina-san didn't say anything, but her expression was stern.

''We are considering awarding Atobe-sama one higher title of 'Encouraged Seeker'. I believe that the Fifth District Guild Saber Force Headquarters will undergo some kind of change from the current structure... but I believe that Third Lieutenant Kuzelka will contact you about this as soon as he decides.
I understand. For our part, I'd like to think we've made a small contribution.

　I think everyone has a sense of mensuration and pride, but I don't want to get involved in such conflicts as much as possible - not to mention in a situation where we are competing for contributions.

''It will take some time, but I will make a request for permission to explore the five-star labyrinth to be granted, even if it is only temporarily.
'Please do. If you're saying it's too difficult, we'll move to accomplish the requirements.
Well, I guess that's the end of the story.......let's talk about it when we get back to our quarters. Since it's a special dish, we have to taste it and eat it.

　Everyone agreed when Igarashi-san said it - Elitia was smiling a bit, and it would be important to eat and cheer her up.

　After the rock salt steaming, Maria brought the white fish wrapped in a pie crust and baked, along with soup, salad and fruit, all of which were perfect. Theresia was sheltering her slightly injured arm, so I, sitting next to her, would assist with the food - I hope this injury heals as quickly as possible.