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Chapter 2457 - -2357- The stressed king

To return to Uruk as quickly as possible, Rozen and his party traveled through the night, aiming to arrive before dawn.

Though Rozen's mana was nearly depleted, he still summoned a familiar for transport—not a low-level one, but a mid-level familiar—to speed up the journey back to Uruk.

By the time they returned, it was around the early hours before dawn.

At this time, the citizens of Uruk should have long since been deep in slumber.

However, when Rozen and the others arrived, they found Uruk far more bustling than it was during the day.

The reason, naturally, was the large number of people Rozen had teleported back.

Such a massive group of people appearing in Uruk all at once—and suddenly at that—inevitably caused a huge commotion.

Especially since among these people were those who had previously gone to the battlefield but were abducted by magical beasts. Many had believed they had already become food for the beasts. To see them return alive and unharmed was a major shock.

Given this situation, how could such chaos not erupt?

At the very least, Gilgamesh had been driven half-mad trying to deal with them all.

Inside the king's chamber in the Divine Tower, one civil official after another—and even soldiers—were coming and going, continuously making reports to Gilgamesh.

"We've already sent a request to the Head Priestess at the Temple of Priestesses, asking her to lead several priestesses to check the city's barrier. For now, there doesn't seem to be any sign of it being compromised. Please give the next directive, my king!"

"Identity verification is underway for the large number of people who suddenly appeared in Uruk, but due to the confusion, the headcount and recognition process are encountering issues. Please issue the next directive, my king!"

"We're out of housing! There's nowhere that can accommodate so many people! My king!"

"We're running out of food too, my king!"

"And clothing as well!"

"Please issue the next directive, my king!"

"Please issue the next directive, my king!"

"My king!"

"My king!"

One after another, the people entering the throne room voiced their urgent concerns, making the entire chamber lively and noisy.

At the side, Siduri was sweating bullets as she collected clay tablets full of reports.

Gilgamesh sat on his throne, his face twitching slightly as he listened to the continuous stream of reports, seemingly with a splitting headache.

After a while, as though he could no longer bear it, Gilgamesh stood up.

"Enough! Silence! One at a time!" he shouted.

Gilgamesh began barking orders.

"You—go tell the Temple of Priestesses: if there's no issue with Uruk's barrier, then they're to inspect the exact location where all these people appeared. No matter what, they must get to the bottom of this. If it was people this time, what if it's magical beasts next time? Uruk would be finished. Tell the High Priestess to stay sharp—if there's any slip-up, I will cancel half a year's worth of offerings to the temple!"

"Send thirty civil officials to assist with identity verification, headcounts, and claiming processes. I want the numbers by dawn! If anyone can't be verified on the spot, isolate them immediately! I will not allow unknown individuals to cause chaos within Uruk—especially not spies from the Three Goddess Alliance! Begin physical checks on all of them now! We must ensure none are under magical control or carry hidden traps!"

"Open the basement of the Divine Tower and activate the backup facilities in the storehouse area. I'll issue the permits. Get people with cleared identities to rest there. Then send civil officials to question them—see if they know what happened to them!"

"Food and clothing too? All gone already? Doesn't the Gigurad family still have reserves? Think hiding stockpiles from me will work? Make them cough it all up to fill the gap! And that old rival of his, Barizan, definitely has a stash too. That guy must have tons of dirt on Gigurad. No way he doesn't know where Barizan's secret food stores are. Pry it out of him—he won't sit still knowing only he's suffering losses!"

"You…"

"And you…"

"You do this…"

Gilgamesh stood before his throne, issuing commands one after another. His appearance was unmistakably frazzled.

And yet, what was truly impressive was that despite his clearly overwhelmed state, Gilgamesh's commands were logical, detailed, and highly effective—far beyond what any ordinary person could manage under such pressure.

Rozen and Merlin, who had entered the throne room, could only smile wryly at the scene.

Especially Rozen, who rubbed his nose, unsure of what to say.

After all, it was undeniably his doing that had caused this entire uproar.

Without even notifying anyone beforehand, he had unilaterally teleported such a huge number of people to Uruk. There was no way that wouldn't stir chaos.

Rozen could only purse his lips and step forward, Merlin following behind him.

Mash and Altera had entered spirit form—one to reduce Rozen's mana consumption, the other simply not wanting to face Gilgamesh—leaving Fou standing alone on Merlin's shoulder, having lost Mash's warm embrace.

As for Anna, ever since regrouping, the mysterious girl had seemed unusually quiet. Upon returning to Uruk, she had gone straight to the Chaldea Embassy and didn't come along.

Thus, only Rozen and Merlin entered the king's chamber.

Gilgamesh quickly noticed their arrival.

"You seem quite busy, Your Majesty," Merlin said with a teasing smile. "I wonder if you still have time to listen to our report? I think it could help with quite a few of your current problems."

At those words, Gilgamesh fell silent—only the twitching of his eyes betrayed his frustration.

"...So this situation really is connected to you two, isn't it?" he said, his voice simmering with rage.

"Tell me everything! Leave out not a single detail!"

As Gilgamesh roared, Siduri hastily tried to interject.

"But—But my king! There are still many urgent matters that require your—!"

Siduri's protest was cut off.

"That human Master over there is back, isn't he? Let him handle it!"

Gilgamesh was clearly at his limit, barking out the decision on the spot.

"My king—!?"

Siduri was stunned.

"Me?" Rozen was equally taken aback.

"Is… is Gilgamesh entrusting regency to Rozen!?"

"Phew, that's substituting for the king in governance! Huge deal!"

"Isn't that a little too casual!?"

Olga Marie, Da Vinci, and Roman all reacted with varying degrees of shock, delight, and disbelief.

After all, the most ancient of all heroic kings—Gilgamesh—delegating rule to someone else was the kind of event that only happens if the sky itself falls.

Of course…

"I am not granting you royal authority! At most, you're acting as an aide! Don't get any ideas, you fool!"

Gilgamesh shouted, clearly exasperated.

"…Fine," Rozen muttered, rolling his eyes.

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