Chapter 32 - Aftermath

Jessa watched Ava and Rea leave. Despite the shock that ensued from Ava single-handedly raising a bunch of former slaves from the depths of low ranks to a solid B+ rank, what terrified Jessa more was the fact that both Ava and Rea themselves had grown in strength by no small amount. Rea had ranked up and probably evolved, and Ava herself had probably gotten stronger by another 25-35%. She decided not to keep this to herself, and asked, "ne, everyone. Did you notice that Ava got stronger again?"

"Aah, how could I not? It washes around her like a tidal wave," a morose Hura said.

The rest nodded solemnly at Hura's and Jessa's words.

"Even though she's already A-rank and could compete against an S-rank, she's still getting stronger so quickly-ssu."

"Just what did she do in that [Labyrinth]? Fight against S-ranked monsters?" Catel said half-jokingly.

Yet, the mood fell as they realised that, yes, that was exactly what Ava would do. She wouldn't care that there was a rank difference, unlike most people, and would probably even see such a monster as prey for her to keep getting stronger. While she let her newly formed squad train against lower-ranked monsters, it was very possible that her and Rea were fighting against elite monsters of the same rank or higher, never giving up the opportunity to get stronger.

"Oi, oi, just what kind of goal does she have, huh? That she needs to keep getting stronger as such an insane pace?"

"Well...we'd probably better not ask-ssu. I don't know if she'd be willing to tell us-ssu."

A slightly downtrodden atmosphere covered the room. Jessa knew that ever since Ava had revealed that she had climbed out of the [Labyrinth] all by herself, everyone, herself included, had begun to see her as a scary but lonely little sister whose heart needed protecting. Although it seemed that she was doing it all by herself just fine, for people with a more normal outlook on life, her lone figure surrounded by her kin seemed to need friends as well.

"Well...how do you think the protection of the village will go? It's their first mission, right?" Martis asked, attempting to break the mood.

"Ou. No problem. They've been trained by that Ava-san after all right? I don't see how they could lose if there isn't at least a Rea-san-class war potential there."

"Hahaha, did you hear what she said to her squad? She asked them to pick a name when they came back. It was as if that was the mission, not the protection."

"Just goes to show that it's good as done, isn't it?"

The men around the table began smiling wryly again, thinking of the pitiful bandits who would encounter Ava's personally trained elite squad. Though they hadn't reached A rank yet, none of them in the room could say for certain that they could fight an even battle against the ten of them.

"It seems the whole rebellion actually comes down to Ava-san-ssu. We too need to pull our weight-ssu."

Mishky's bolt of reality brought everyone back. It was true. The main threat to the rebellion, the S-rank squad, would probably end up being handled by Ava and Rea alone. Her elite squad could probably go even against the top generals of the Empire, and...so what actually was there left for them to do?

"Chin up, gentlemen. We all have different roles. Ava-san and Rea-san are certainly huge boons to us, but we are also doing work that is important for other aspects of the rebellion. Don't forget that! Remember, none of us here were chosen particularly for our war potential. We were chosen for other qualities that were important to a successful rebellion." Jessa reminded them.

"Mmm, you say that but...us older brothers have some pride to uphold, you know?"

"Exactly, exactly, how can we let our little sisters go into battle alone?"

It's no longer just an internal feeling?? It's been said out loud??

"Oi, you all...well, it's not like I don't feel the same, but there's things only each of us can do, huh? We just gotta keep that in mind till the [Tamer] team comes back, and then we can more or less begin, right?"

"Ou. Catel-dono speaks wisdom. Once it's over, we won't have to stare at the back of our little sister anymore, and can accompany her, right?"

Jessa held her head in her hands, thinking, "these goddamn siscons!" Moreover, they weren't even biologically related to Ava! Eh...actually, thinking about it, they could if she allowed it, right? Wait, wait, take a step back, aren't you all supposed to be loyal to the Empress? Now you've gone and taken a sworn sister? And if she makes all of you kin, who's standing by Her Majesty's side?? Ah, is this now Ava's Empire...

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Elsewhere and at a different time in the Empire of Daceli, a noble was listening to a report from his subordinate. Upon hearing the main points, his fisted tightened, squeezing the stem of his wine glass to the point of breaking.

"What the hell did you just say? Repeat it for me!"

"Y-yes, my lord. The bandits that we sent to exterminate that village and capture people have failed. All of them have been wiped out-"

~DONG~

The noble's fist struck the nearby table. He was so agitated that he couldn't keep his composure, only express anger.

"Continue!"

"Yes, my lord. All of them were brutally, but precisely murdered. Their bodies were sent in a wheelbarrow to the gates of the Lord's castle. Two of the heads were stuck on pikes and stabbed into the ground in front of the gates. We do not know whom the assailants were, or even what exactly happened."

"No survivors at all? Wait, you said brutally but precisely. Just what does that mean?"

"There were no survivors, my lord. Every single person was killed with a single, clean hit to a vital point. Some had their heads chopped off, some had their hearts pierced, some had their brains pierced. Even when we questioned the villagers, no one had seen any people who didn't look like they weren't supposed to be there."

"How mysterious and ghost-like, huh..."

"My lord, we also discovered the body of a bandit hung from the ceiling in the mansion."

"What??"

"It appears that they were able to enter and exit from the mansion unnoticed. It is a great relief that no assassinations were attempted."

Though hot-headed, this young lord was no fool. He understood the point of all of these actions. First, return to sender. Whomever this group was, they knew that the bandits had connections with him, and had returned their bodies to the people who sent them. Second, intimidation. Don't screw around, or it'll be your head on a stake next time. Third, a warning. We can enter and leave your mansion as we please. Your death will be close at hand should you try something like this again.

The young noble sighed and thought for a while. After long minutes, he spoke, "halt all operations related to eliminating villages and taking slaves for the meantime. I want all efforts focused on finding out the whereabouts of this mysterious group."

"Ha! By your order, my lord."

Meanwhile, ten dark-clothed individuals gathered on the rooftop of the mansion.

"It seems this young master will now be looking for us instead of pursuing his initial exploits."

"Good thing we left a nice little breadcrumb trail to nowhere, huh?"

Ava's elite squad had purposely left tidbits of information behind for the lord of the mansion to chase after. Such as, a single person who saw them near the village. Such as, their appearance in the lord's city for a night. Such as, a dropped but meaningless insignia near the village. All of this was to mislead the nobles by making them think that there was a trail worth following, when in fact there was nothing at all to follow.

"Alright, it's time to return to Master's side. All agreed on the name we talked about last night?"

"""Yes!"""

"""[Voidfall]!"""

Having received the