Is it wrong to try to meet someone in a dungeon?

A giant's roar echoed from a tent erected in the fallen capital of Sharzad, "Solshana".

The man's name was Gesa.

He was the commander-in-chief of the Valsha army that invaded the Kingdom of Sharzad.

He is nearly two meters tall and has a robust physique.

Coupled with his dark complexion, he looked every bit the battle-hardened desert warrior.

"Well, there's still no news... Intelligence indicates he should be among the enemy forces that fought south of Sharzad and were ultimately defeated and routed by our army..."

"You bastards, hurry up and search! Sharzad is a country where the royal family reigns supreme! This war will not end until the royal bloodline is severed!"

The soldiers were terrified by Gesar's angry shouts.

Although the capital of Sharzad had fallen and its king was gone, resistance continued throughout the land. This was because the next king, Alam, seemed to be the only hope, bringing light to all the soldiers.

As long as the enemy continues to support the prince, this war of resistance will continue indefinitely.

For Valsha, who had originally planned a blitzkrieg, a protracted war was certainly not good news. Besides the potential strain on their national strength, the fact that most of their soldiers were deployed to this invasion meant that neighboring states might be eyeing their territory. The reason why the Central Plains of the Western Caios Desert was fragmented and lacked a unified great power was that none of the states could tolerate the rise of another, and they were constantly watching and restraining each other.

"Thrall, located north of Sharzad, intends to send his elite First Division to force our army to retreat. If the stalemate continues, this invasion is bound to fail…!"

The country called Varsha, located in the particularly harsh environment of this desert, survives solely through plunder and violence.

For them, Sharzad, with its vast oasis terrain, had always been the primary target of invasion and a region that absolutely had to be occupied. Merely launching half-hearted offensives and gaining scattered pieces of territory was no longer enough.

Therefore, Valsha had no choice but to annex Sharzad.

Otherwise, there would be no point in accepting that barbarian tribe, which is no different from a "plague"—

"Yay! I've arrived! How's the battle going, General Gersa☆"

As Gesar uttered his contemplative words—

A deity appeared inside the tent.

"Huh... Rashap God!? What are you doing here!?"

"What are you saying? I'm the main deity of the military (familia), of course I have to show my face!"

The newcomer was a male god with long black hair tied up, who entered accompanied by male attendants (elves).

Even without comparing him to the towering Gesar, it's clear that this male god is petite. He wears a hat shaped like an arrow with a pointed tip, displaying a frivolous attitude common among the gods.

Any normal person would probably avoid joining his clan.

"Shouldn't I have ordered you to suppress the enemy forces from the north? Why has the supreme deity come here personally!?"

Seeing that they were unable to invade Sharzad for a long time, the Valsha royal family could no longer contain their anger and recruited another [familia] in addition to the faction that controlled the military.

They are the Lashap Family.

The gods and their retinue, who came from elsewhere and were not born in the desert, were hired to help attack Sharzad.

As expected, they successfully broke through the enemy's defense line, which Gesa and his men had been unable to conquer for many years, and even captured the capital city in one fell swoop.

The Valsha Palace should be hosting a victory celebration banquet for days on end right now, but—

(The Lashrapnel's direct descendants engaged in rampant burning, killing, and looting! The roads they traversed were practically scorched earth! Although we Valsha people only know how to plunder, their actions were utterly inhuman! I never imagined I would one day feel pity for the hateful Sharzad people...!)

Cruel and ruthless—

These four words perfectly represent the "La Sharp Family".

As the commander-in-chief, Gesa was the reins of the National Army and the Lashap Family. Therefore, he had to do his best to monitor Lashap and others to prevent them from getting out of control and acting recklessly.

"I am the representative of the lord god who remains in the capital! Please give me an explanation that can convince me—"

"Of course, we'll slaughter all the enemies!"

Faced with Rashap's smirking answer, both Gesa and the soldiers present stopped what they were doing.

"Is it called Thran? That's the army you guys said was really powerful. We've wiped out every last one of those soldiers! Give me my reward, hahaha."

Gesa was speechless for a moment.

Soldiers rushed into the tent in a panic, as if vouching for Rashard's statement, bringing news of the annihilation of Thran's army. The towering Gatha was already at his limit just standing still.

The officers of the Lashap Family are all elites who have been upgraded.

It is also one of the most powerful organizations in the desert world.

Gesar understood this perfectly well.

However, this fact is too—

"Since we've run out of things to do, can we join the manhunt for Prince Aram? We're also quite good at 'torturing' those who don't confess honestly!"

"...Wait! God Rashap, you should deal with the remaining forces first—"

"You'll have to deal with those opponents who are already on their last legs. If you can't even handle this small matter, you'll truly be branded as incompetent, along with the main god."

Seeing the handsome man smiling like a young boy, Gesa's facial muscles began to twitch slightly.

"The prince went missing on the southern front, didn't he? I think he simply disguised himself as a slave and escaped into the commercial kingdom (Israel)?"

Putting aside his character, La Sharp is a true god.

They can even deduce the whole picture based on just a little information.

"Let 'fire' devour the commercial kingdom (Isla Domain) next. Anyway, that prince is kind-hearted, he'll definitely come crying to us on his own accord."

"Wait, God Rashap! Do not provoke any nations outside of Sharzad—!!"

"Hey, if the war doesn't end soon, your king will be angry, won't he? Don't worry, leave the rest to us. My children will kill all the troublemakers."

Rashap gave a chilling smirk and then led his entourage out of the tent.

"Those damned plague beasts!!"

After Rashap left the tent, Gesar let out a roar that terrified even the soldiers.

The Valsha soldiers now both admired and longed for the toughness of the Lasharp members, and the number of people converting to Lasharp was rapidly increasing. As a result, the already somewhat unruly army became even less disciplined and could no longer be called an army.

Despite Gaza's strict prohibition against the proposal to invade the commercial state (Israel), it is likely that more and more people will switch their support due to Rashap's instigation. Gaza has now become a general in name only.

A god who revels in expanding the flames of war.

For Varsha and Sharzad, Rashap was nothing short of a plague that led to the destruction of their nation.

Gessa clenched his rock-hard fists, convinced that Lashap would bring chaos to the desert world.

*

On the third night after Ari and the others left "Leod City", they finally saw the secret fortress located on the border.

The desert landscape near the long-lost border is no longer visible; instead, it is barren land with exposed rocks.

In this rocky terrain that forms a canyon, rocks can be seen rolling down from time to time.

"There it is! Sharzad's secret fortress is located there!"

Riding a camel, Alyssa pointed to a pile of rocks that resembled a small mountain.

She must have been here before; she smiled contentedly at the place that looked like nothing more than a pile of rocks, happy that her journey was over.

"..."

Freya, on the other hand, had her eyebrows furrowed in deep thought.

She has exceptional eyesight and can see the "souls" of pedestrians even when she is on the top floor of the Babel skyscraper facility in Orario.

Those silver eyes immediately saw through the "strange phenomenon" in front of them.

"Alfred".

"Yes, I saw it."

As the goddess called to them, the dwarf warriors appeared as if they had grown out of the shadows.

To Ari's surprise, the eldest of the four Jariba brothers ripped off the visor of his yellowish-brown helmet—the dwarfs had excellent eyesight among the demi-humans—and his blue eyes narrowed slightly, confirming the goddess's perception of the anomaly.

"There are still traces of magic essence there, as well as the lingering smell of blood in the air."

“…Huh?”

When Alyssa heard Alfred's words, she first looked completely bewildered.

But after accepting and understanding the meaning of the words, he turned pale and rode off on his camel.

Freya and Alfred were close behind.

Ari jumped off the camel in front of the towering rocks and ran up the gentle slope that resembled a trench.

Upon entering the fortress, which was converted from a cave, they were greeted by the smell of charred corpses and countless blood-covered bodies.

"No way... how could this happen!?"

Ari screamed in agony.

The scene inside the fortress was horrific. Despite the traces of resistance, the Sharzad soldiers had all been mercilessly slaughtered. There were wounds from swords, spears, and magical burns. Each armored corpse bore a fatal wound that told a story of their gruesome demise.

Tables, chairs, and various weapons hanging on the wall were scattered all over the floor, trampled and damaged.

"Ah! Ah~!! Douglas! No way! This is fake! How could even you...!"

The girl ran towards one of the generals, but even as she reached out her hand, the life that had already vanished would not open its eyes again. Ari, tears streaming down her face, embraced the corpse—missing an arm and pierced through the chest—into her arms.

"First, they used 'magic' to sweep through the enemy forces, then launched a surprise attack while the defenders were in disarray... The enemy is very skilled at ambushes. Judging from this tactic, it's very likely 'Valsha'."

Alfred glanced at the weeping Alyssa and calmly analyzed the tragic scene inside the fortress.

How many children were involved in this?

"There were about fifty men. The enemy had men lying in ambush outside the hidden passage at the rear. As soon as they saw anyone trying to escape, they would rain down arrows."

"Although the vast majority are a rabble, there is one person who is probably a 'master'."

"The remaining magic power of this person is exceptionally strong, indicating that they have likely undergone a Rank Up."

After Freya asked her question, she quickly checked the area around the fortress and then three other dwarfs appeared.

Du Hualin, Bellin, and Ger answered in turn, but the youngest one added a sentence.

"Deep within the fortress... there are words written in blood."

Ari, tears streaming down her face, looked up and saw that Freya had already ordered Gel to help lead the way.

The group arrived at what should have been the command room.

The Sharzad flag hanging on the wall, with its crescent moon and jasmine emblem, was ruthlessly torn to shreds and replaced by a line of large characters written in the blood of soldiers.

"Prince Alam, I urge you to show yourself as soon as possible, or the Islamic kingdom will be engulfed in flames..."

Faced with such a shocking sight, Ari covered her mouth, suppressed her nausea, and read the blood-written words aloud.

It may have been a merchant's tip-off, or a clever strategist's plan, but Varsha seems to have discovered that the prince (Yaram) has sought refuge in the merchant kingdom (Islamic kingdom).

And—

"To make an example of someone, the first one is Leo..."

Freya shifted her gaze to the remaining blood-red words.

The goddess, who had remained unmoved until then, lost all expression on her face for the first time.

She narrowed her icy eyes and then turned away.

"Let's go."

"Huh...where are we going?"

"Of course, it's 'Leod City'."

Freya quickly uttered these words to Ari, who was still reeling from the loss of her soldiers.

"But...but the enemy has already set off from here and just passed us by. Even if we catch up now, it's impossible to make it in time...!"

"No problem."

The words that Ari managed to squeeze out were immediately cut off by Freya.

Freya grabbed the girl's hand and walked towards the fortress exit.

"Although it's hard to leave, we have no choice but to leave the camels here. Give the order: Ota will take me, and Allen will take Ari. We'll set off immediately."

"That stinky cat might be yelling that it doesn't want to touch anyone other than Goddess Freya."