Chapter 403. Welcome
The main force of the Fenrir subjugation unit, led by Sophia-san and consisting of about a hundred knights, adventurers, and mercenaries, arrived in the city of Rezeria at a time that was too late to be called morning and a bit too early to be called noon.
We greeted them at the south gate, but—
"Daichi...! I'm glad it seems Fenrir hasn't arrived yet."
Sophia-san, on horseback, called out to us with a slightly anxious tone.
Yuzuki voiced her confusion.
"Huh...? Fenrir came a while ago, and we already took it down."
"Huh...?"
Sophia-san tilted her head in confusion.
She pressed her fingers to her eyes, looked up at the sky, and then turned back to us to ask:
"Don’t tell me... you three took down Fenrir all by yourselves...?"
"It wasn’t just us. The guards and adventurers from Rezeria helped us too."
That was Kazane who answered.
Sophia-san, however, still seemed unconvinced, muttering, "Haa..."
It seemed that while Sophia-san had given us permission to go ahead, she hadn’t fully grasped our intentions.
As a high-level awakened, she must have had some unfathomable plan—she sent us out thinking that, but she never expected us to actually defeat Fenrir.
Now, it’s too late to say it.
We had no plan at all; we just thought that if we got to the location before Fenrir, we’d have more options.
Then, the leader of the rough mercenary group, Vidal, chimed in.
"Hah, 'helped', huh? With the kind of forces Rezeria has, there’s no way they could’ve taken it down. They literally just 'helped'. You guys did most of the work, didn’t you?"
The surrounding awakened ones began to murmur.
Voices like, "So it was mostly these three after all...?" and "No way...?" could be heard.
To that, I responded:
"Yeah, I’d say about 90% of the damage to Fenrir was done by us. But without their help, we might’ve been the ones who lost."
"Pointless modesty. You should be proud of your achievements."
"It’s not just us who risked our lives. Their courage deserves praise, and it had meaning."
"Is that so? Well, fine. If you say so, then let’s leave it at that."
Vidal waved his hand dismissively, showing his exasperation.
After that, Sophia-san bowed deeply to us once more.
"Daichi, Kazane, Hotaru, thank you so much! On behalf of the country and the royal family, I sincerely thank you for saving so many of our people."
The red-haired princess bowed deeply in a second salute.
The dozens of knights behind her, though slightly bewildered, followed suit and bowed as well.
Even after a while, Sophia-san didn’t raise her head.
The knights followed her lead.
I panicked.
"Ah, um... please raise your head, Sophia-san. It was our own will to protect the people of this city."
Finally, Sophia-san straightened up and gave us a soft smile.
"Thank you. You truly are heroes, down to your very hearts. I’m impressed."
"Ah, no, that’s not quite it..."
Well, you see, experience points... when you complete a mission, you get experience points.
There’s some self-interest mixed in there.
But this wasn’t the time to say that.
And why is she suddenly calling me "Daichi-sama"?
Anyway, with all that going on, the hundred or so awakened ones entered the city of Rezeria.
Though their role as the "Fenrir Subjugation Unit" was already over, they didn’t mind and borrowed a meeting hall in the city to start a strategy meeting.
It was a meeting about the unit’s other mission, which was supposed to take place after Fenrir’s defeat.
"Now, let’s discuss the exploration and subjugation of the Ice Queen," Sophia-san declared as she chaired the meeting.