Prologue

Goren City rested in the Tsia duchy of the Laverio Empire. It was a rapidly developing frontier town supported by its dungeon, the [Cave of Greed]. High-quality iron could be mined from Iron Golems that spawned in the dungeon, and due to the large tunnel piercing through Tsia Mountain it became an important hotspot connecting trade between Tsia and Pavella. The travel time between Tsia and Pavella shrunk enormously thanks to the paving of roads to and from the town, and naturally that brought forth a large impact on trade and profit.

Said influence was largely only noticeable in the cities. To towns along the road itself, the largest change was that traveling merchants had higher-quality goods. Still, everyone had gotten much richer. The only ones who would complain were—

“Despite that city road being built, I have barely been getting any more taxes from my land...!”

—those who looked a gift horse in the mouth and went out of their way to compare their good fortune to another’s.

Ringen Lodol. Such was the name of a Pavella noble ruling the towns near Tsia Mountain, otherwise known as Count Lodol, head of House Lodol. He was in his office within his estate and storming about after receiving an income report from his steward.

“This cannot be! Why is there not more?! A road connecting Pavella and Tsia should make all the towns along the way equally rich!”

So he said, but the road from the tunnel to Pavella had been built to be as short as possible with the surrounding geography. As a result it was uncomfortably far from the towns ruled by House Lodol, and in any case the road was short enough that those using carriages would end up in Goren within a day. One more day of leisurely travel after that and they’d be at Tsia without needing to stop anywhere else.

As a result, the only people to stop at towns along the way were merchants traveling on foot, which naturally led to very little money circulation. It made complete sense that income from taxes wouldn’t rise as much as Count Lodol expected. (As an aside, the road had been funded by Pavella merchants that were members of a merchant’s guild, and Count Lodol had contributed not even a single copper to its construction. In fact, he had even charged the guild an exorbitant fee to build the road on his land.)

“My lord, income from the towns has been rising at a favorable rate.”

“Favorable? Favorable, you say?! You said that last time, and there has been barely any growth at all!” Count Lodol snarled before slamming the report on his desk. “Why is Goren not paying me taxes despite being located so close to Tsia Mountain?!”

It was because it was on Tsia’s side of the mountain and paid taxes to Tsia nobles. But Count Lodol was irate enough not to care about something so obvious. They were in the wrong for not giving him money, and that was that.

“Gah, this is unbearable! If only that disgusting town were blasted off the map!” he shouted, and that was when it hit him. Wouldn’t everything go his way if only Goren were to disappear? All the merchants with heavy pockets would go to his own towns, and his taxes would shoot through the roof.

“You.”

“Yes, my lord?” replied the steward.

“I am going to destroy Goren. With my talents, it should be gone in a matter of days!”

“...My lord?! B-But how do you intend to do that? You say destroy it... By that do you mean you will send soldiers to burn and pillage it?”

“That is one option, but doing so would start war with Tsia. Use your head a little more.”

“Erm. But, my lord. I believe that Goren is growing with each day, and is only a shadow of the metropolis that it will be in the future.”

“That is why I will destroy it while I still can!”

“But that is not all. I have heard Goren’s town chief is a living legend and not to be trifled with,” the steward said before providing him with the details.

Rumor was that he rescued C-Ranks from a dungeon when he was just an E-Rank.

Rumor was that he donated a hundred golds of his own money to Goren’s budget.

Rumor was that he was the ideal boss who cared a lot about his subordinates.

Rumor was that he was the Pope of Beddhism.

Rumor was that he was friends with the archduke of Tsia, and was betrothed to his daughter.

Rumor was that he was close with the legendary Wataru the Hero, and was in fact stronger than him.

Rumor was that he defeated a Flame Dragon that appeared on Tsia Mountain.

Rumor was that the imperial princess herself escorted him to the capital to be given a noble title.

However, Count Lodol rejected all of that. “You fool! No one person could accomplish all that! Besides, someone capable of such things would not be a mere town chief! Those rumors are all rife with exaggeration and impossibilities!”

Perhaps some of them, such as the first rumor, were true. It was possible that he really was the ideal boss. Given that Beddhism was a new religion, it wouldn’t be unthinkable for him to be the pope. Even the bit about one hundred golds was within reason if he was from a wealthy family.

“But him, betrothed to the daughter of Tsia’s archduke? Only a fool would believe that.”

No doubt he simply attempted to woo the archduke’s daughter when she came to observe the newfound religion. Not to mention, it was impossible to think that he defeated a Flame Dragon or that he was stronger than Wataru the Hero. If either were true he would have already begun work founding his own country, not wasting his time as the chief of a town. Plus, there would have been a greater fuss in the region if the imperial princess truly had come to escort him somewhere.

“Are there any bad rumors about this town chief?”

“Y-Yes, my lord. They say he is a furry and a lolicon, that he is rarely seen working, that he forced a massive debt upon Wataru the Hero, and that the Adventurer’s Guild is keeping a close eye on him.”

“See? I told you! Not even the rumors are consistent!”

It was unthinkable for any person to bring a filthy beastkin child to the bedroom. No ideal boss would be rarely seen doing work. Wataru the Hero would never be friends with someone who forced a debt on him.

“It’s settled. That town chief is nothing more than a swindling fraud.”

“But my lord, surely you remember the Dragon that appeared so recently upon Tsia Mountain.”

“I imagine that is stolen valor from Wataru the Hero. At most he grabbed a fang from somewhere... a Wyvern fang, and claimed he slayed the Dragon himself. That is simply what fraudsters do.”

His lies spread so far that he found himself unable to stay in town, leading to him grabbing a nearby beautiful girl and claiming that the imperial princess had come for him as an excuse to flee. So concluded Count Lodol, and if that were the case, the so-called living legend of a town chief would never be returning to town.

“Bring me a map!”

“Yes, sir!” the steward answered, grabbing a piece of parchment off a nearby shelf before spreading it on the table to reveal a map of Tsia Mountain and the surrounding area—primarily the land ruled by House Lodol. It was their only map with new information, that being Goren and the aforementioned roads.

Count Lodol faced it while holding a light stone. It was a tool for scraping the front of parchment and removing the contents.

“I will! Destroy! Goren!” he shouted, scraping the stone against the map and removing the word “Goren.”

“...My lord. Removing the name of the town from the map will not actually destroy it.”

“I know that! This is just a metaphor!” he roared, spit flying from his mouth. Indeed, he was not that dumb.

“Should I take that to mean you will be sending soldiers after all...?”

“I just told you no! This is what I’ll do!” Count Lodol said before writing Dragg where Goren’s name had been. He then extended the line of its border to show that Pavella’s side of the tunnel exit was part of the town as well. “This town of Dragg will become mine! We will have no better chance than now, with the town chief absent!” he declared with enthusiasm.

“My lord, there is nothing on this side of the tunnel,” the steward observed with a finger pointed at Pavella’s side of the tunnel.

“You fool! We couldn’t pass it off as a Pavella town if there was nothing on this side of the tunnel!”

“Then what do you intend to do with the space?”

“Heheh. Can’t you see? We will make Dragg ourselves! And soon we will absorb Goren into it, forming the true town of Dragg!”

And so, a new town was born on the side of the tunnel opposite from Goren.

...To be clear, that conversation happened about two months ago. Keima and his party had just left Goren for the imperial capital.