Anime, starting from Re:Zero (Zero - Starting Life)

"Come to think of it, don't you think the touch of hibiscus petals is very similar to the cheeks of a young girl with light makeup? Of course, a young woman with fine skin."

The group of three came to the intersection of the Hibiscus Forest and the Rose Garden. Her Royal Highness the Princess in a white dress sat down elegantly in a pure white tea pavilion.

As soon as she sat down, she reached out her delicate hand to touch a pink hibiscus behind the chair and praised it in surprise:

"I didn't expect you to have such good insights into gardening, Luke? The pure petals really do feel like a young girl's skin. The creamy, snowy texture is probably similar to a smaller breast. If the pollen were rougher, it might be more like a bud."

Perhaps unable to bear such a topic, the guardian warlock, who had remained silent all the way, wearing aristocratic robes, suddenly spoke:

"Your Highness Ariel, I'll go and tell the maid."

Princess Ariel waved him away without paying any attention.

Guardian Knight Luke was also accustomed to his talented colleague's rigidity and continued to respond with his thoughts:

"I only like big breasts, so I can't imagine the metaphor of Ariel-sama."

The dignified and elegant Princess smiled sweetly:

"So do you want to try it now? After all, I'm still growing..."

Hearing this, the guardian warlock Dilic couldn't help but walk faster, almost wanting to escape from the scene.

Princess Ariel, whom he believed to be a wise king who could change the current Asura and help Asura get rid of corruption and start anew, always showed such a decadent attitude. Dilik was heartbroken every time he saw it, and he could never get used to it no matter how long it took.

Dilik found the maid and gave her instructions.

He lingered in the rose garden for a while.

I almost wanted to hide in the bathroom to escape for a while, no, I wanted to think carefully about how to persuade Princess Ariel to mend her ways and embark on the path of kingship.

At this moment, a familiar female voice rang out with a cry of fear.

Dilic's scalp tingled instantly. That was Her Highness Ariel's voice! Could there be any danger in the Silver Palace? If Her Highness Ariel was injured, it would clearly be his fault as the derelict guardian warlock. If he could only return on time...

Thinking of this, Dilic activated his magic boots that increased his movement speed and rushed towards the edge of the Hibiscus Forest.

"...Luke!"

It was still the princess' voice, very sad. Did Luke sacrifice himself?

Dilic didn't like his colleague's temperament, but that didn't mean he disliked or even hated Luke. He immediately drew his staff... no, Dilic put the staff back and pulled out a plainly decorated magic short spear.

Ammunition reloading.

Ready to aim.

Dilic rushed around the corner surrounded by the rose wall. The figures of Princess Ariel and Luke came into his sight again. Besides them, there was also a monster that was equally familiar to him, but also surprised him immensely.

End the boar.

A D-level monster, even if it leads other low-level monsters and forms a group, is only at the C-level to B-level level.

In a one-on-one fight, Luke, who is at the intermediate level of the Sword God Style and possesses several magical accessories, can easily kill the opponent, not to mention him, a senior magician who graduated from the Lanoa Magic Academy. As long as he is given time to chant, he can quickly kill ten or fifty of them.

But the problem is!

How could a monster appear in the Silver Palace?!

Even a guy with all-powerful hands and eyes would never be able to secretly transport such a huge thing into the royal palace in the center of the royal capital Ars!

Without having time to think about what was happening, Dilic pulled the trigger at the Terminator Boar that was about to rush towards Her Royal Highness the Princess.

The magic crystal primer hit the miniature magic circle, activating only one level of momentum magic. The new magic with a simple structure, which no one has been able to crack so far, bestowed enormous power on the only fine gold bullet in the barrel.

No flash, no recoil.

Almost at the moment the trigger was pulled, the dark golden pointed bullet engraved with threads shot out at the speed of a holy sword of light. Although it was suppressed by the air friction along the way, it still hit the wild boar's left arm with the power of a silent sword.

"Snapped--"

With a loud bang, a big hole was directly punched into the monster's thick left arm, leaving only flesh and skin connected. The bullet with residual force even shot into the side of the Terminator Boar, and the blood spurted out, making the monster wail.

Dilik rushed over and stood in front of Princess Ariel, and forced himself to remain calm and quickly loaded the second bullet.

"...Dilik..."

The princess' voice trembled.

"Could you please check on Luke? Leave it to me..."

The guardian warlock's voice was also trembling.

He felt Princess Ariel nod heavily, and after she escaped, he was no longer so nervous, although fighting monsters at this distance was not what a magician should do.

Dilic had just loaded the bullets when the monster a few steps away had regrouped and rushed towards him with even greater anger and violence. He was just a magician, not a swordsman or archer, and Dilic had no confidence that he could hit the enemy 100% at this distance.

After all, the attack range of bullets is not as large as magic, and is more like the positioning of a bow or a rapier.

As a rational and responsible guardian warlock.

Dilic yelled and threw the magic spear away:

"Princess! You shoot!"

Then, he grabbed his staff and threw it at the monster that was almost touching his body, trying to escape to the side away from the princess, but it was useless. The End Boar, which had lost an arm and was injured in the abdomen, easily overturned the tea table with a slap, broke through the wooden railing, and hit Dilic on the back who had just climbed over the railing and had not yet stood firm.

He was just knocked away.

Vomiting blood, even worse than Luke.

Princess Ariel, who had just run to Luke and was about ten steps away from the tea pavilion, was stunned when she heard her guardian warlock shouting like that.

But when she saw the magic spear flying towards her, Ariel immediately understood clearly that if she wanted to save her two subordinates and friends who had risked everything for her safety, this was her only chance. Otherwise, she could only selfishly escape alone to save her own life.

Ariel, still wearing a beautiful long dress, rushed directly towards the landing point. She fell to the ground and felt dizzy, but she still caught the magic spear.

Although she didn't carry it with her at all times because she thought it was in the way, she had practiced using it with great interest.

Very simple.

She raised the magic spear.

Aim well.

Before the mad monster could ravage what it considered its enemy, he pulled the trigger and blew the End Boar's head off.

The incident ended with two guardians seriously injured and the princess slightly injured.

----

----

Note 1: I always felt that Dilik was a victim, watching the irreversible downfall of the object of his admiration.

Note 2: Ariel is not included, and there are very few subsequent scenes in her (at least in the third volume). I still can't accept that in the original work, Ariel planned to wear a fake Gogo to force Sylphy.

Chapter 5 Savings

"BOSS?!"

In a spacious office, a young woman who had not yet started her daily work and was making herself a refreshing tea was startled by a red and white figure that suddenly appeared next to her.

But she immediately complained:

"Could you please go through the main entrance next time?"

Gawain casually walked around the desk and sat down in front of the sofa. This was the office of the director of the Vitrum Chamber of Commerce branch. As soon as he sat down, he picked up the paper and pen on the table and started writing quickly without saying a word.

The branch manager had long been accustomed to her boss's quirks. She poured an extra cup of refreshing tea, brought it to the coffee table, and asked seriously:

"Boss, what are your instructions for coming to the branch this time?"

The Vitrum Chamber of Commerce is different from other super-large chambers of commerce. Even if one's position is as high as that of a branch director, its most core role and value is still "execution". The best results can be achieved by executing the boss's orders in place. This is a truth that has been repeatedly verified in the past three years.

She became the branch manager not because of her family background or decision-making ability, but simply because she could perfectly execute the boss's orders.

Gawain didn't even raise his head:

"This will be the headquarters from now on."

The branch director... no, the headquarters director subconsciously raised his eyebrows. Does that mean she is going to be promoted and get a raise?

But it’s definitely not that good.

"The Fituoya Territory has been completely destroyed by the magical disaster I mentioned last time. The headquarters in Roya City no longer exists."

See...huh?

The headmaster, like everyone else who heard the news, was initially bewildered.

"Wouldn't that mean I'd be out of a job?"

Gao Wen ignored his subordinates' inner thoughts:

"The Chamber of Commerce's operations will focus on three key areas: first, expanding its scale and influence as much as possible; second, relocating and restarting all production lines; and third, fully supporting the reconstruction and rescue plan for the Feitoya Territory."

"The first two points serve the third point."

"And thirdly, only rescue is important; reconstruction is just a cover for profit."

"To be precise, I'll draw up a priority list later. Rescuing the people on that list is the priority. Everything else will have to give way to that list."

In front of his subordinates, Gawain was too lazy to say nice words. He didn't care about the reconstruction of Fitoya Territory or the rescue of victims.

The only people Gawain wanted to find were Loltz, Debbie, and Rudius. The people from the Greyrat and Boreas families were only important people in the eyes of the people who were important to him.

The director also took out his notebook and wrote:

"I understand."

Although it's hard not to think that it would be difficult for the Chamber of Commerce to regroup, after all, with the destruction of the Fitoya Territory, the Boreas family, the Chamber of Commerce's major backer, would naturally be severely damaged. Now that the Chamber of Commerce headquarters has also disappeared, it would be difficult to preserve the assets in the royal territory, especially the manufacturing knowledge of those magical products that are often coveted.

But, since the big boss said so, there must be no problem.

Seeing that his subordinates understood, Gao Wen handed out the contents he had just quickly written one by one:

"These are supplies that need to be purchased urgently."

“This is the first phase of recruitment needs for the Chamber of Commerce’s expansion.”

"This is a long-term commission and bounty that needs to be posted in the Adventurer's Guild."

"This is the requirement for the formation of a rescue mission."

"This is an optional area for workshop reconstruction."

After briefly reading it, the director said in distress:

"The current staff size at the Royal Capital Headquarters is sufficient to handle these matters, but the gold coins in stock may be insufficient. Is it possible to sell off the inventory, the precious materials we've collected, and the real estate the Chamber of Commerce currently holds at a discount?"

Gawain continued writing the details:

"No, put all your inventory into the plan. I'll send the remaining money tomorrow at the latest. Efficiency is the top priority, and cost-effectiveness is not a consideration."

"But if that happens, we will definitely be taken advantage of."

"As long as the efficiency is high enough and the results are not exaggerated, it doesn't matter. If you don't like what you see, just record it and deal with it later."

The director swallowed.

Of course she knew what the boss meant by "dealing with it". In short, it meant that something unexpected would happen suddenly.

If the officials of the Kingdom of Asura were reliable enough, the statistics would easily reveal that in the two years since the Vitrum Chamber of Commerce branch settled in the royal capital, the accidental death rate related to aristocrats has increased almost tenfold.

The death of a noble is no small matter.

Each case will of course be carefully examined, but the conclusion is always pure accident.

Whether it was an accidental fall from a horse or a slip after being drunk.

But the headquarters director didn't care.

As a descendant of an ordinary family who grew up in the royal capital, she had long been fed up with the disgusting and corrupt aristocracy of Asura. Working in the Vitrum Chamber of Commerce, a place that only values ​​personal ability, made her extremely satisfied and happy. Even if it was evil, she appreciated the rational and cold evil of the big boss more.

Anyway, Ars is a shitty place where even if you work hard and be an honest person your whole life, you might be randomly beset by tragedy at the hands of the nobles. Even if something happened, at least she really did it, right?

Set the tone.

The two discussed in detail for almost an hour.

Immediately afterwards, a management meeting was held at the headquarters, and it took almost three hours to arrange the initial work content.

Spurred by substantial salary increases, work enthusiasm at the new headquarters is at an all-time high.

"Boss, can we eat in the cafeteria at noon?"