“Oh hey, it’s Lord Sol’s group.” The head of the builders working on the castle in the heart of Atriesta stopped what he was doing and looked down at the distinctive group passing by far below.
The reconstruction had made good time and progressed to the main keep, which was now rising higher and higher each day. The builders naturally all wore lifelines, but Sol had also cast beefy HP barriers on them as a precaution, not wanting to lose veterans with highly valued skills. Thanks to these measures, not a single person had died. One apprentice had fallen from a normally fatal height but walked away unscathed. Thankfully, that did not motivate anyone to attempt the same feat, and the person in question and his mentor had both been promptly reassigned to another work site with less inherent danger.
The head’s second-in-command whistled an appreciative note. “Damn, you’re right. They sure are diligent. Don’t they ever get sick of going dungeon delving every day?”
Sure enough, Sol’s group could be seen proceeding down the main street connecting the finished main plaza to the castle’s main gate. His airship was docked in the main plaza, having gone unnoticed by the focused workmen as it descended from San Jeluk’s Tear, his private island way up in the sky.
Deep beneath Atriesta Palace was the entrance to Abyss, one of the Four Great Dungeons. Sol’s group was headed down there to challenge it again, as they did every day. In addition to Sol, the group consisted of his three monsters, the four who had taken down Country Eater, and the latest addition to the Libertadores, Rosalind Magica Crystania. Considering that it was Sol alone with eight girls, it was the very definition of a harem party.
The workmen’s honest opinion was that since Sol had already effectively conquered the world, there was no need to make such an effort to seem serious about the dungeon—he should just sit back and enjoy his women and wine. Never had it occurred to them that he was doing it for real and that exploring the unknown depths of the dungeon excited him more than sensual pleasures. But in fact, he seemed to be in the highest spirits of his group.
The other workmen nearby also put down their tools to join the conversation.
“Nah, when I went drinking after work the other day, I heard that Lord Sol’s group is focusing more on training than delving right now. They’re teaching our queen how to fight monsters, if you can believe it.”
“Damn, are they even human?”
It made sense to set aside time to teach Rosalind how to fight now that she had joined the party, as she had never even picked up a sword before that. However, the workmen saw their beloved queen as only a seven-year-old child. Though she seemed mature and was brilliant enough to have an active hand in ruling, she was still so young that she had yet to even receive her talent, which happened on a person’s twelfth birthday. Under normal circumstances, bringing her into the dungeon and making her learn how to fight monsters would be straight up diabolical.
“But we all know how much the world’s changed, don’t we?”
The workmen shared a carefree laugh. Surviving a fall from the top of the main keep without a scratch was but the start. Thanks to magic, they had also experienced a whole week of working, eating, and playing without needing a moment of sleep. Even lost limbs could be regrown as good as new. As those who had free access to all these miracles, their perception of what was reasonable or possible had changed drastically.
Most importantly, Rosalind was being accompanied by Sol’s whole group, which included the All Dragon, who had repeatedly tossed colossal monsters into the air around Atriesta—with some even bursting like fireworks—and the four who had killed Country Eater. Though Abyss was a named dungeon, even total amateurs who knew nothing about fighting, like this group of builders, understood how safe Rosalind was. It could even be said that Sol’s party was being overprotective. Whether teaching her how to tear the heads off monsters was a good thing or not was another issue entirely.
“Ain’t that the truth. In the first place, I’ve never seen Princess laugh like that before. She seems to be enjoying herself, so it ain’t our place to say nothin’.”
It was true that Rosalind had been laughing more as of late. The autonomous region of Crystania had been far from prosperous, and she’d had no choice but to put on the crown at a very young age. Now, however, she was going to and from the dungeon every day smiling like a child her age. Setting aside the question of whether her current situation was one that a seven-year-old child should have been enjoying, the citizens felt it was their obligation to simply be happy for her and pray that these days would last as long as they could.
Someone blurted out, “I mean, but if she doesn’t, he’d realize she’s sucking up to him, right?”
The comment had come from either an extreme sense of security knowing that no one else was this high up or a lack of attention due to viewing the other workmen as family, but that thought was on the minds of all Crystanians. They were deeply aware of how fortuitous their current situation was. Even though they had made no contributions at all, Sol had restored their country and not only kept Rosalind as their ruler but also accepted her into the Libertadores. As mere commoners, they hadn’t the faintest idea what had gone on behind the scenes for this to happen, but it wouldn’t be strange at all for Rosalind to be doing everything in her power to keep her grip on this happiness they had all tasted. They were more than familiar with her ability to think and act far older than her seven years.