After my conversation with Estella-san wrapped up, the meeting's start time was fast approaching.
All participants had arrived.
One man stood up, scanned the room, and began to speak.
"Thank you all for taking time out of your busy schedules to attend today. Since everyone is present, we'll begin immediately. I will be serving as the moderator for this meeting. My name is Clint from the Exploration Management Department. Pleased to work with you all."
With Clint-san's words, the meeting officially started.
Everyone turned their attention to him.
"Please take a look at the materials in front of you. Today's agenda is to discuss how our clan should respond to the anticipated surge in demand for 'explorers' moving forward. First, Exploration Management Department Head Estella will outline the current thinking within our department regarding future policy."
At Clint-san's introduction, Estella-san stood up.
"Good morning, everyone! For those meeting me for the first time, I'll do a quick self-introduction. I'm Estella O'Neill, head of the Exploration Management Department as Clint mentioned. Even though I'm technically an executive, I'm like this—so feel free to talk to me casually anytime! Nice to meet you all!"
Estella-san introduced herself in a friendly yet slightly more polished tone than usual.
I could feel the atmosphere among the explorers softening as they listened.
Today's meeting was important for the explorers, and we wanted them to voice many opinions.
This relaxed mood would make it easier for them to speak up—thankfully.
Being able to create that effortlessly was one of Estella-san's virtues.
"—Now then, let's get to the main topic. About two months ago, the Nohitant Kingdom was invaded by the Sauvel Empire—I'm sure everyone knows about that. Thanks to Count Edington's efforts, we ultimately forced the Empire to withdraw, but tensions between the two nations—and among neighboring countries—remain high even now."
The recent imperial invasion had become so well-known that even ordinary citizens were aware of it.
However, the fact that we had been there—or that I had repelled the [Hero]—had not been reported.
Additionally, the Edington Count family had tightly controlled the information, so not many people knew the truth.
Within the Silver Moon Rabbit of the Night Sky, only those who had been in the Legliff territory at the time, the First Unit members, and the executives were aware.
"We believe the Nohitant Kingdom—which suffered the invasion—will now focus heavily on developing magical weaponry. If that's correct, the value of not just magic stones but all labyrinth materials will continue to rise sharply. Magical weapon exteriors are primarily made from labyrinth materials, after all. And it's obvious that explorers will feel the biggest impact from that shift."
The biggest basis for this prediction was the Northern Domain War that broke out about sixty years ago.
In the war around the Juno Republic—which controlled the Northern Great Labyrinth—the nature of combat changed dramatically between the start and end of the conflict.
The key difference was the presence of magical weaponry.
The Juno Republic—widely considered on the verge of defeat—introduced magical weapons that completely turned the tide.
Originally, wide-area annihilation spells like grand-class magic had been the privilege of a handful of mages, but magical weapons made such effects accessible to anyone.
The magical weapons of that era had drawbacks—single-use limitations or requiring enormous magic stones—but they were undeniably powerful enough to reverse the course of battle.
Incidentally, modern magical weapons included not only those wide-area annihilation types but also scaled-down versions capable of repeated or prolonged use.
And the emergence of magical weapons had been a boon even to explorers who had no direct involvement in the war.
As Estella-san mentioned earlier, developing and producing magical weapons required massive quantities of labyrinth materials.
During the Northern Domain War, labyrinth materials in the Northern Great Labyrinth skyrocketed in price, motivating explorers—who saw it as a golden opportunity—to push their conquests much deeper.
The Juno Republic's economy at the time experienced what was called a "special procurement boom," recording unprecedented prosperity.
From this precedent, the upper echelons of our Silver Moon Rabbit of the Night Sky predicted that—while perhaps not to the same extreme degree—labyrinth material prices would rise significantly.
Rising material prices would be welcome news for explorers, but there were naturally risks involved as well.
Taking all of that into account, the purpose of this meeting was to gather input from the explorers themselves—the people most directly affected—on how the Silver Moon Rabbit of the Night Sky should move forward.
"That's why we want to establish the clan's policy before things really start moving. Of course, each party can have its own views. But we ask that you avoid actions that significantly deviate from the direction we decide here. That's exactly why I want everyone to speak up today. Third Unit members—don't hold back either."
The explorers nodded seriously in response to Estella-san's words.
Seeing that, she nodded back with satisfaction, saying "Yep, yep."
"My preamble ended up a bit long, but now I'll share the policy that the Exploration Management Department is currently considering. After you hear me out, I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts!"
Estella-san then began explaining the future direction of the Silver Moon Rabbit of the Night Sky.
The basic approach would remain the same as before, but going forward, each party would be assigned quotas.
Until now, the Exploration Management Department had selected parties for sponsor requests, but the final decision to accept had rested with the parties themselves.
As a result, some parties had never taken on any requests.
That wasn't inherently bad.
Some sponsors' requests were prioritized for specific parties, and if that aligned with a party's policy, the clan had never interfered.
However, with an expected increase in requests moving forward, it would become necessary for all parties to handle at least a minimum number.
Parties that had previously focused solely on their own activities—avoiding requests—would need to adjust their approach more than others.
I'd expected some pushback from those parties, but surprisingly, no one voiced opposition.
During the meeting, various opinions came from the explorers, but most could be accommodated with minor adjustments to the Exploration Management Department's draft. It didn't seem like it would be particularly difficult to reconcile them.
Everyone must have already sensed—to some degree—that peaceful times were beginning to slip away.
Knowing that everyone was facing the same direction and that we'd properly shared information about future policy made this meeting highly meaningful.
"Thank you all for your valuable input. We will take today's opinions into consideration as we finalize the policy and will notify everyone later. With that, today's meeting is concluded. Thank you for your time despite your busy schedules."
""Thank you for your hard work!!""
Once all opinions had been heard and time was up, Clint-san declared the meeting over.
As people began filing out of the meeting room, I moved toward the person I was looking for.
"Ah, Master! Good work today!"
"Good work, Log. How was your first meeting?"
The Twilight Moonbow was also an exploration party belonging to the Silver Moon Rabbit of the Night Sky's Third Unit.
As such, their party leader, Log, had attended this meeting too.
"Yeah... Honestly, it was anticlimactic in a good way. I thought meetings would have a much tenser atmosphere."
"Haha, fair enough. Depending on the topic, they can get tense, but since it's an internal clan meeting, extreme differences of opinion are rare. We call it a meeting, but it's probably closer to an opinion-sharing session."
"You're right. I've talked with the seniors occasionally before, but today I felt like I really got to understand everyone's thinking more than ever. It was very educational!"
"Glad to hear it. One of the advantages of being in a clan is being able to exchange information casually with other parties. When you're from different groups, conversations tend to stay more guarded. Keep interacting with other parties within the Silver Moon Rabbit of the Night Sky going forward—it's worth it."
I'd thought this for a while now.
The *Golden Dawn*—due to Marquis Forgas's philosophy—had chosen to remain an independent exploration party rather than forming a clan.
They'd received backing from nobles in the marquis's faction, so there were no particular complaints, but it had still felt restrictive.
That's why I understood better than anyone in this clan just how blessed this environment of easy information exchange really was.
"Yes! Thank you for the advice!"
"Are you heading into the labyrinth today?"
"No, we're taking today off. I was thinking of gathering information on the fifty-fifth floor and beyond."
"I see. If you run into anything unclear while collecting info, feel free to ask. I haven't been able to spend much time with you lately, but I'm still your master. Don't hold back."
"Thank you. That really reassures me!"
(So the Twilight Moonbow is also off labyrinth exploration today.)
Log and the others had the day free, and I had some time afterward too.
The Twilight Moonbow's conquest of the Great Labyrinth was progressing smoothly.
And there was still a bit of leeway before they reached the lower layers.
Yeah—if I was going to take a proper step forward... this timing felt right.
With that in mind, I asked Log.
"...Log, there's one thing I'd like you to tell me."
"You want to ask *me*, Master? If it's something I can answer..."
"It's fine. In fact, you and Sophie are probably the ones who know best."
◇
After getting a satisfactory answer from Log, I headed to a scenic hill a short distance outside the city.
"It's cold up here in winter. Staying too long will give you a cold, you know."
There, hugging her knees and staring blankly at the clouds drifting across the sky, I called out to the person sitting there.
"Master...?"
Carol reacted to my voice and turned her gaze toward me.