The adventurers dispatched from the Celestina Empire have proven to be one of their homeland's economic backbone. Not only it helps the countries by subjugating the dungeon that the government locked due to lack of interest, but the adventurers from the Celestina Empire also aid the contribution by collecting varieties of resources from the dungeon.
The Celestina Empire's Adventurers regularly do the subjugation to prevent the Monster Outbreak, known as “Monster Stampede.” Other than that, they record every main resource obtained by doing a subjugation on a specific dungeon. Qua-Toyne Principality's main source was raw materials of food such as wheat seed, wheat, beans, and others suitable for plantation. The Kingdom of Quila houses oil resources such as unrefined oil, scorpion meat, and cactus water, while the Tibetain Principality houses raw materials for warm clothes such as wool and fur.
Today, there was a party consisting of two beastman, two elves, and two humans are on the expedition to the 12th floor of the border dungeon between Qua-Toyne Principality and the Quila Kingdom. A human was from the Kingdom of Selarong, an elf was from the Qua-Toyne Principality, while the rest are from the Celestina Empire.
“Where do we want to go for today?”
Inuki, a dog beast woman from the Celestina Empire, is drinking her water from the magic water bottle. Vaia, a Swordswoman from the Kingdom of Selarong, takes a rest as she recuperates her stamina.
“This is our first time subjugating this dungeon, isn’t it? We better go as far as the 15th floor.”
“Inuki. You’re from the Celestina Empire. If the Elite soldiers of the Celestina personnel such as, uh… a Red Wings unit. Where will they go?”
“A dungeon, at least with A+ rank threat. Suppose it was a raid one, then A rank. That’s the minimum standard of the Red Wings Unit. They can go to the lower rank dungeon, only with the condition is to guide the newbies, doing charity, or helping your friends up the rank.”
“So, what kind of difficulty we’re at?”
“You got down past 15th floor until the bottom or 20th floor; it will be B- rank, right now. With all of us are around C rank, it’s best to reach the 15th Floor.”
“Why don’t we try it?”
“No. We don’t have enough supplies to go beyond the 15th floor.”
Liz, an elf with Healer's class from Celestina, disagreed with Grandeur’s suggestion. Grandeur was from Qua-Toyne Principality with the main job as an Archer. Liz was quite tired once they manage to break through to the safe zone on the 12th floor, while Grandeur currently recovers his mana after depleting it into a quarter of his mana from the previous breakthrough.
“Supporting this whole team is quite tiresome. I don’t want to put pressure on Roan, Saara, and Mint that constantly watch my back.”
Both Roan and Saara are humans. Roan takes the role of a tank, while Saara takes the role of the mage. On the other hand, Mint takes a role of the fighter with her dual shortsword as her weapon. Mint was a fan of Sasha, who was also a fighter, but in an advanced class, an Acrobat. She tries to hone her skill so someday Sasha can trust her to take the Strongest Kick of the Empire's mantle.
“I will pass.”
“Me too.”
“Agreed with the pass.”
Grandeur only dumbfounded hearing the plain answer from the trio. He sighs as he agreed to their terms.
“All right. We will push only up to the 15th floor then.”
After resting for an hour, they continue their subjugation. On the 14th Floor, they encounter a monster known as Desert Shark. Since the Shark’s movement is fast, they need to rely on their own reflexes to dodge and to block it.
“What kind of shark is this!?”
“Water wave!”
Immediately Liz withdraws a bit while Grandeur finishes it off with a direct hit to the head. Saara uses a water spell to slow the Desert Shark down. So far, they have defeated thirty of it, and they just need to reach one more floor to finish their task for today.
“What was that?”
Grandeur looks at a large Scorpion escorted by several smaller Scorpion. Liz immediately identifies it.
“N-no way! It’s a Scorpion General, the Elite Monster on the 17th floor! What is it doing here?!”
“We need to retreat!”
“Grandeur! Come on!”
Grandeur was left speechless as Liz and the others dragged him back into the surface to retreat. Using the escape teleporter near the 14th Floor entrance, they escaped to the surface. They can’t fight the Scorpion General since the rank was around B- and it requires at least a B- rank party due to being escorted by at least 8 Sergeant Scorpion with the rate of C+ threat at all times. Their supplies are also almost depleted, and they can’t push further.
Qua-Toyne Principality, Town of Gim, Adventurers Guild
“Welcome, your adventurer's card, please.”
They give their cards to the receptionist to be updated. When she saw the record, she asks them.
“Have you got any unusual report?”
Grandeur nodded, “Ah, yes. We encountered a General Scorpion at the gateway to the 15th Floor. We have to retreat since they are not supposed to be there. Additionally, there are also twenty Sergeant Scorpion guarding it.”
“I understand. I will make a request for an A-Rank Party circle on the quest board to make a reassessment of the dungeon. Please take this reward as compensation for the information.”
They were given a small gold coin each, or a thousand Ceny as compensation. Once they complete their report and updating the card, they went to the appraisal area to assess their loot.
“Oho, sand shark? Good thing for you since the demand for the Shark’s fin soup is high.”
“I hope we can get a good price for this.”
Thumbing up to Grandeur, the butcher make his assessment.
“Please wait for a while.”
He examines the cleanliness of the Shark’s fin from the Desert Shark. He separates it quickly, much to Grandeur and others' curiosity. After done appraising the Desert Shark’s fin and other loot, the butcher ships the fin, and the staff walks to them.
“The reward for each member will be 2000 Ceny or two small Gold Coins, each with a total of 12000 Ceny. This reward is already including tax paid.”
“We will take it.”
“The details are five Desert Shark Fin for 1500 Ceny, twenty Desert Shark Fin for 8000 Ceny, and five Desert Shark Fin for 2500 Ceny.”
“Here’s the card.”
Once the rewards are distributed, Grandeur saw Temuji, who has just returned from adventure and tired.
“Oiii, Temuji!”
Temuji saw Grandeur while drinking a beer. He starts complaining about how things are changed following the Defense of Gim and the Adventurers Guild's opening at Gim.
“Grandeur?! Oh, you’re back, and I’m so beat today!”
Chugging a mug of beer, he asks the waiters for more.
“I feel like I don’t deserve to be the Captain of my own army. I didn’t expect the Celestinian Adventurers are more energetic than what I can expect.”
“Hahaha!! I feel the same way, as well! But it’s nice to be here to hone our skills, isn’t it? Look at this guild! Any country that forms a diplomatic relationship with the Celestina Empire is flocking here to conduct subjugation and quests. They don’t care about your race and origin. As long as we can work together on subjugation, it won’t be a problem!”
“I think you’re right. Besides, the Prime Minister also wants us to go on an adventure as a part of the military training. Once I saw how prepared they were, I feel like now we know what to do when we got a threat of the incoming enemy.”
“Right? Let’s have a drink! The treat is on me! You guys coming?”
“No. We will pass. We need to repair our equipment.”
“Oh, that’s too bad, then!”
Once the rest of his party leaves to repair the equipment, both Grandeur and Temuji spend their time on the bar until they went drunk and returning home.
Ever since the Celestina Empire arrives in this world, a lot of the dungeons reopen, and once the recon and map team makes their assessment on each dungeon, many adventurers start to flock in. Because of the abundance of the resources obtained from monster subjugation, the city becomes lively and thriving due to plenty of job opportunities and more merchants coming in for the trade. Qua-Toyne Principality was able to enjoy these benefits. Under the Celestina Empire's protection, the countries around the Rodenius Continent become thriving, and soon the barrier between the uncivilized and civilized nation starts to diminish.
The Qua-Toyne Principality was later the first country that enters a civilized state once the Celestina Empire upgrades their qualities of life and establishes its first foreign military base at the eastern town of Gim and the Navy base at the port town of Prepus.
