"Let's throw it away, Miss Etori."

Captain Aloja said decisively, without the usual complaints towards me. It seems that she has realized that complaining to me is not only useless but also disadvantageous if done too often.

She tossed aside the carefully prepared treasure chest and Captain Aloja and nun Etori continued with their inventory check.

"Didn't Lady Aloja mention that there were two more prisoners besides Lord Camey?"

"Are you referring to those two maids? They are not prisoners, they surrendered. According to their wishes, I plan to have them registered as the followers of the Sea God, considering our shortage of manpower. But come to think of it, where did they go? They disappeared as soon as they entered the temple."

Aloja tilted her head.

Hey hey, is it true? Don't you take care of Eldew properly when he's brought into the house? Don't cry if your treasure vault gets stolen later.

"Oh. By the way, I haven't seen any sign of Lord Saido."

Etori said strangely.

That person called Saido must be the black-skinned hero. After all, there are only four followers of the Sea God left, and there are no others.

"Saido... Saido..."

A sad expression appeared on Aloja's face.

"Because that guy's shell is too heavy, he vomited blood halfway through moving and is now resting."

"Is that so? It's really unfortunate..."

Etori's expression also darkened.

The meeting room suddenly became filled with an indescribable heavy atmosphere.

The two of them looked at me, sighed, and shook their heads.

Huh? Is it my fault?

I personally think he didn't vomit blood because he was tired, but because he had never touched something so noble (my shell) before and got excited.

"Well, let's talk about something else. By the way, how much experience points does that guy have? He is one of the Four Heavenly Kings at least, so with the double experience from capturing him, it should be quite a gain."

Aloja forced herself to be energetic and continued.

In the war of the corresponding country, if the hero wins, they can gain experience points. These experience points can be accumulated to increase the adventurers' adventure level recorded at the Adventurer's Guild. I heard that raising the adventure level can bring many benefits, but I am not a hero, so I am not very clear on the details.

After listening to Aloja, Etori quickly took out a book made entirely of parchment and flipped through it.

The speed of flipping the pages was so fast that I could almost see the afterimages. I really don't know how she trained this technique.

Then, the moment Etori turned to the page I was on, she froze.

"Ah... Lady Aloja."

Etori covered her mouth, looking shocked beyond belief.

"W-What... What's the matter? How much experience can we get from subjugating him?"

Aloja clearly sensed something was wrong from Etori's words.

"His... his experience points... are even lower than a slime's..."

While still in that position, Sister Etori shed two crystal-clear tears.

"..."

Aloja lowered her head, brewing something.

"Then how did you become one of the Four Heavenly Kings?!"

Sure enough, Aloja calmed down for a few sentences and then started getting angry again.

"Hmph, the value of the Demon Race isn't reflected in such intangible things like experience points. My low experience points have deep and complex reasons that are difficult to explain and can bring tears to your eyes..."

"Alright, shut your mouth. If you say another word, I'll kill you and then kill myself."

Aloja lowered her voice and said to me, revealing a brilliant smile.

This person is serious...

Unpredictable women are so scary.

"Okay, since we can hardly get any experience points, what about the war points? Mourea is one of the fortress cities of Sifren, so capturing their lord shouldn't result in zero war points, right?"

Aloja still had that brilliant smile.

"There are war points, and quite a lot of them. But..."

Etori cried even harder.

"Because the battle points decrease continuously after three consecutive failures, Lord Camey with thirty consecutive losses..."

Sister Etori couldn't speak anymore, that's what they call sobbing uncontrollably."..."

Upon hearing the bad news, Aloja closed her eyes, leaned back in her chair with her face up, and fell silent for a long time.

"So, you're saying even though we won the war, we won't get any treasure chests, experience points, or war points?"

Well, you can still get the treasure chests, although there's only my IOU inside.

Facing Aloja's question, Etori nodded reluctantly, although she felt sorry for her.

As a result, Aloja started crying too.

"Hu...why did it turn out like this...we came all the way from Kamya, such a distant place, and on our way here, we almost sold the Holy Sword just to support the enormous energy consumption of the Sea Temple. After finally arriving here and winning the war, nothing good happened. Sade is coughing up blood, Jeno has a mental breakdown, and the only thing that can be called assets and food supplies were mostly extorted. I don't want to be a hero anymore..."

Aloja cried so miserably. Etori seemed to want to comfort her, but they were both infected by the atmosphere of grief and ended up embracing each other and crying.

They seemed so pitiful...

I wonder if I should go up there and pat their heads to comfort them, or if I'll be attacked.

"Aloja-sama, it's not time to despair yet. We can still capture the City of Moria. Although Camey-sama has failed thirty times in a row, the City of Moria has never been captured by anyone, and we can still receive the rewards we deserve."

Facing Aloja, who was already sinking into despair, Etori offered a branch called hope.

"Is..is there really still hope? Can we really not have to push the Sea Temple all the way back to our kingdom?"

A glimmer of light appeared in Aloja's originally chaotic eyes.

"Ah, while it's good that you're motivated to attack the city, I have to advise you..."

Before I could finish, I was fiercely glared at by both of them.

Alright, I won't say anymore, just please put the sword back in its sheath?

I'm only saying this for your own good, you know? Do you even know what kind of demons are in the City of Moria? They eat people without leaving anything behind. I can't even take advantage of them, so make sure you don't lose your underwear attacking the city.

I sighed, shook my head, and looked at them with a softer gaze.

When the time comes, the only thing I can do for them is provide leaves and seashells.

After discussing for a while, Aloja and Etori nodded solemnly.

"That's decided then, let's issue the challenge letter. We'll attack the city in three days!"

Aloja commanded.

Jeno, who had been there with little presence, like air, nodded with a vacant smile, accepting the command, and ran out with a sneaky chuckle.

By the way, the gates of Moria are still open. Why don't we just go in and snatch my lord's residence?

The Hero's Party is so obedient to rules, so rigidly organized. It's both respectable and laughable.

"Well, what about Camey-sama?"

"It's not easy to capture him for various reasons. Let's find a place to lock him up..."

Aloja waved her hand as if she didn't want to look at me anymore.

And so, on the day they captured the Sea King, the followers of the Sea God decided to attack the City of Moria.