The Adventurers' Guild was something Sean had encountered before in Tylermian.
The Adventurers' Guild was a civilian organization. Whether it had any higher-level connections in various countries was unknown, but local guilds generally needed to maintain good relations with local lords to secure more resources.
Originally, Tylermian wasn't a suitable place to establish an Adventurers' Guild outpost, but at the insistence of Aria Hamilton at the time, the guild eventually set up a small base in the town.
That said, Sean was actually quite grateful to Aria for this. Regardless of her motives, he never forgot anything that benefited his town. Perhaps this very act might, years later, inspire a child from the town to venture out after seeing the adventurers.
In his heart, Sean truly hoped the children of his town would leave... Just as the old coachman had said, although most people ended up achieving nothing and eventually returned, there would always be a few who made something of themselves.
For the town, having just one or two such people would be enough; otherwise, he'd have no reliable helpers by his side in the years to come.
Right now, Sean desperately wished he had someone trustworthy to help him strategize...
"Is it that serious?" he asked, looking at Harry.
"Hard to say. It's been raining a lot lately, and we haven't heard from that area in a long time. Plus, both the Prince and the Duke issued the same order... so..."
"So what?"
Sean noticed that Harry had entered a [Probing!] state.
So all this talk was just to extract information from him.
"So... I think something's happened over there." Harry mustered his courage to say.
No matter what family background the other person had, he was just an ordinary person now; he couldn't possibly know about the southeastern region, especially what the nobles had discussed the day before yesterday.
"You're right. Something did happen over there."
Sean didn't hide it, wanting to see Harry's reaction.
Harry was startled at first, then quickly calmed down...
"I knew it. I felt like I hadn't heard any news about the southeastern region for a while," he muttered to himself.
"How long is 'a while'?"
Harry looked up at Sean, then immediately lowered his head without speaking.
"It's okay. I'm curious about this too." Sean could tell Harry was [Probing!] him, trying to get more information.
Perfect timing. Sean also wanted to get other information from Harry, and this mutual probing worked in his favor—once he saw a [Lying!] state, he wouldn't have to hold back.
"About the last half month or so. Among the neighboring areas in the southern part of the Empire, the southeast is the most unique. It covers a broader region... the Edak area has many fertile places and cities, so it's where the most mercenaries gather compared to other spots."
When it came to geography, Sean had no reference in his mind, as he'd never seen a map of the Bashalan Empire.
"Does this library have a map of the Empire?" he suddenly asked.
"Yes."
"Bring it to me!"
Since the Scholars' Library was a place for scholars, it should have such things.
"Wait a moment, my lord." Harry said, then went alone to rummage through the shelves next door. Soon, he returned with a larger piece of parchment.
His familiarity with the library once again made Sean suspect he was one of the staff members there, likely a scholar.
"Please look at this, my lord..."
Harry spread it out on the table.
In this world, it was hard to find world-spanning maps, not because they were difficult to draw, but because accurate data was hard to collect. The distances were too vast; such a task was nearly impossible for a single Scholars' Guild to accomplish...
"This is the entire map of Zantbart, containing five countries. Here is our Bashalan Empire." He pointed to the central region.
The Bashalan Empire was right in the middle of that map...
In fact, it was one of the largest territories among the five countries, but Sean hadn't expected the Bashalan Empire to be a 'nation surrounded by enemies on all sides'!
Such a country would struggle to survive without border defenses—no wonder the Grand Duke had seemed so [Uneasy!] back then...
"Here is the southern region." Harry pointed to the south.
The Bashalan Empire's shape was like a mango—an irregular oval—with the entire southern region being the protruding part.
The surrounding countries weren't regular either; the other three were all to the north, and Sean noticed a large mountain range to the west.
The map's view depended on the scale of the drawing...
Drawing a city showed the city's buildings; drawing a country showed its terrain; and if the scope expanded to a continent like Zantbart, the view naturally became broader.
Only large mountain ranges, lakes, and seas could be clearly shown, including areas around major cities.
It could be viewed like a satellite terrain map...
A long, transverse mountain range bordered the western country, stretching almost beyond the map's edge.
This was likely the location of the Western Highlands they mentioned. Since it was icy and snowy, the altitude must be high, meaning sparse population; to the south was desolate land, bordering a much smaller country, mostly covered in yellow soil—or maybe rocks—with little vegetation and few cities.
In contrast, the southeast had a plain. Though the connecting area was also covered in yellow soil, it had many city markers, indicating a densely populated region.
"The southeast borders the Edak region, so trade caravans frequently cross between the two countries. Mercenary groups can get foreign goods there, so they stay in touch. Even during the rainy season, they wouldn't go half a month without news. That's why the Adventurers' Guild is worried now... Actually, even before the Prince and Duke issued the conscription, some people wanted to send someone to check, but..."
"But there was no money, so no one went?" Sean said.
Mercenaries were a free organization; without profit, who would travel so far in heavy rain?
Faced with Sean's remark, Harry could only force an awkward smile.
Nobles didn't have to worry about spending money, but commoners had to struggle on the front lines every day.
"Well... about the southeastern matter..."
"Actually, I don't know much more than you do. That's why I came to ask about the situation there... One more thing, do you know where the mercenary group in Rietis City is located?"