Mass for the Dead Chapter 04



Fortress City E-Rantel (城塞都市エ・ランテル) is the fourth main story chapter in Mass for the Dead. It was released to the public on August 1, 2019.

Episode 1: Saint Clementine
The person at the gates of E-Rantel introduces herself as Saint Clementine to the newly arrived protagonist and their allies. She welcomes them to the city, explaining that under the direction of the Mayor of E-Rantel, she is working with the Adventurer's Guild to maintain the security of the city. Having heard of the protagonist and their role for saving the people of Carne Village she sincerely thanks him. Ian Als Heim is a bit more cynical to her welcome and noting how fast she responded to welcoming the protagonist. He finds it utterly ironic that a person who betrayed her nation would find patronage in the Kingdom. Clementine calmly states that she is merely helping the people of E-Rantel, however the Sunlight Scripture commander is not convinced having not forgotten what she did in the past. Clementine responds to Ian's accusation, stating that people can change and she is a different person now. Ian finds this to be unsatisfactory, which leaves the saint to warn Ian that if they clash here at the gates, rumors will spread.

Leinas Rockbruise seeing that there is some troubled history with Clementine and those from the Theocracy urges her colleague that fighting is not the time when the three nations are coming together. Ian reluctantly agrees with her. Leinas then moves to leave to return to her unit and deliver her report. She promises to see the protagonist again as soon as she has taken care of internal matters. Ian also needing to report back to his captain, though he gives the homunculus a warning about Clementine. She was a member of the Slane Theocracy who was infamous for many outrageous criminal acts. After she left her nation she apparently got caught up in the turmoil of the Kingdom. For some reason, she was well received by the refugees. Despite her appearance and actions of benevolence, Ian warns the protagonist to not trust her. Before leaving he suggests that the protagonist to visit the barracks of the Theocracy, offering hospitality with food and rooms provided.

Left with Saint Clementine, the protagonist and Surako are given an offer by the saint of a tour of the city. The protagonist seeking to establish connections readily agrees. The two visitors follow Clementine through the crowds of the city where the latter explains that the city is close to the border of the three nations and thus has flourished as a trading hub. Ever since the appearance of the Cracks, the influential people from the three nations gathered, and the city was flooded with refugees, causing the population to increase. During the tour, a group of refugee children point out to Clementine, who briefly pauses to greet and comfort them.

Clementine then goes to explain that though the city is vast, and surrounded by triple walls, it is still not easy to accommodate all the people. Currently the military facilities are on the periphery, while the citizens mostly inhabit the middle part of the city, while all the political institutions are in the inner wall. For the refugees the are designated in the outer periphery. A fourth wall is under construction to strengthen the city's defense capabilities and to secure cultivated land to improve food self-sufficiency. A large amount of stones are needed to build the wall so a quarry in the nearby mines are being operated day and night by the refugees. After the saint asks the protagonist where they would like to visit, they are taken to the Adventurer's Guild for employment.

When they reach the guild they notice a commotion inside. There they find a blonde hair copper ranked adventurer complaining to the guild's receptionist to be given higher ranked jobs stating that she is capable. She is denied as the adventurer has not accrued enough achievements. Clementine decides to intervene in the conversation and asks for help in registering the protagonist as an adventurer. The receptionist immediately recognizes the holy woman, and complies. The same cannot be said for the blonde adventurer, who's name is So, but seeing that she is getting nowhere with her request, she leaves the reception table.

Clementine then illustrates the rules of the Adventurer Guild, an that they have eight plates which adventurers advance in rank starting from a copper plate. However given that the protagonist's abilities are recognized by the Sunlight Scripture, the saint asks the receptionist if the guild would consider promoting them to a higher rank. Since it is a recommendation from the Saint of E-Rantel, the guild approves the request. Soi having returned demands to be given to same opportunity to prove that she is more than a copper ranked adventurer. Saint Clementine approves and then arranges for mock battles between other adventurers to make the evaluation. While the plan is reasonably, the protagonist sees it as a way for Clementine to gauge their strength. Nonetheless the protagonist accepts the conditions, which pleases Clementine. Soi tells the homunculus to be careful, drawing confusion from Suarko as why a stranger is showing concern to them.

Episode 2: Adventurers
A large crowd of adventurers gather at the training grounds of the guild. After hearing rumors that whoever competes in the mocked matches and wins, will receive the honor of being introduced to influential members of the city, they are all eager to participate. Everyone eventually calms down once Saint Clementine appears. Those that wish to raise their ranks are allowed to take part against the new challenger, the protagonist. Most of the adventurers present don't expect much from the new adventurer. The first challenger is a big husky iron ranked adventurer. He is quickly defeated by the protagonist. Though it is a victory, the warriors attending the mock battles do not think much of it as iron ranked adventurers are easiest to defeat. The next contender is a rough looking gold ranked adventurer. Surako is worried as the level of opponent has gone up, but the protagonist is confident of their skills.

Once the gold ranked adventurer is on the ground, many in the crowd are in disbelief. Even though Clementine recommended the protagonist they think the win to be a fluke. It was only after the defeat of a second gold adventurer, did the crowd start to admit perhaps the newcomer was the real deal.

Clementine who has been observing the fights, ponders which country the protagonist and associates are truly from. Eliminating the Dragon Kingdom and Argland Council State, as those countries have already fallen, and also the Roble Holy Kingdom since contact was never reestablished. Her mental musings bring her to the City-State Alliance which is currently in negotiations with the Empire. At this point she cannot draw absolute conclusions. The saint addresses the gathered and asks if there are anymore challengers. One contender rises up, which Clementine recognizes as an associate who is said to be a gold ranked adventurer but due to his strength could rise to that of a platinum rank. The contender promises to defeat the upstart in Saint Clementine's name. While the saint takes no sides, she encourages both to win. The match falls in favor of the protagonist's team. Clementine seeing the other adventurer defeated tells him it was a good fight and encourages him to try harder, earning her admiration from the former.

The other adventurers have acknowledged the protagonist's strength, not only that it's possible to rise to a higher rank in the adventurer system. However the protagonist decides to start as a copper to the shock of everyone. Clementine accepts the decision made by the protagonist. Back in the guild, the saint gives the character a form to fill out. Unfortunately the protagonist is unable to read the script of the document as they are unfamiliar with the written language of the New World. The Saint of E-Rantel seeing this to be the case, assists and fills it out for them. She even offers to tutor them in the Kingdom and Empire's written language, which as similar as they were once part of the same nation. The same is said about the Theocracy's language due to past national interactions with the unified nation. Once the protagonist is successfully registered, the saint has a small job request that needs to be completed.

Before the protagonist can answer whether of not to take the job, Soi interrupts congratulating Surako and the former. She adds herself to their team to their shock. While Surako is unsure, the protagonist allows it. To allow the protagonist and their comrades to rest, Clementine decides to excuse herself and sets up a later time for them to talk if the protagonist is still interested in taking the job.

The three new adventurers congregate in a shabby inn room, where the protagonist tells Soi to drop her disguise. The copper adventurer complies, revealing herself as Solution Epsilon of the Pleiades. The battle maid explains that Momonga knowing that she possesses a humanoid form and assassin skills had sent her to infiltrate the city.

Slimeko seeing her idol for real is full of excitement at the older slime asks why she hid her identity until now. Solution explains that it was part of her cover to hide her affiliation with the protagonist. Currently is known by members of the Theocracy and Empire that Narberal Gamma, Aura Bella Fiora, and Mare Bello Fiore are associated with the protagonist. Her identity as Soi was set to decrease suspicion around the protagonist to allow for a smooth transition when she 'met' them at the guild. Anyway her character in interacting with them was flawless and worked.

The protagonist asks what other operations are being taken place in the city by Nazazrick. Solution states that currently two paths of infiltration were set, one being through the Adventurer's Guild and the other being a refugee. The last option is being undertaken by Sebas Tian, who is engaged in manual labor at the refugee camp. Their orders were to act independently for now and in the future meet up from Momonga. As for now, the protagonist having already established relationships with Ian and Leinas who are high ranking members of the Theocracy and Empire, decides to pursuing a friendly relationship with the Kingdom. That of course involves taking Saint Clementine's request. Solution knowing about the saint, admits that she has a powerful position in the city and is adored by the masses. The protagonist suspects that there is more to her as the saint has through their encounter been collecting as much information on them as possible through subtle but effective means. Despite the dangers Clementine poses, the group decide to go meet her.

Back in Nazarick, Momonga aware that all three neighboring nations in the region are gathering in the city, receives a report from his agents in E-Rantel that they have made contact with each other. he allows the protagonist to proceed to the new phase of the urban investigation.

Episode 3: Underground Sewer
Saint Clementine standing outside the Adventurer's Guild, is glad that the protagonist came and see that they are accompanied by Soi. Surako asks what kind of work does the saint wish to have them do. The saint then guides them back into the guild and show them a bulletin board posted with many papers which contains details of requests that adventurers can take according to their rank to receive a reward. The one that Clementine wants them to take is the Underground Sewer Research Mission. She explains that the task involves checking the state of the current city's sewage system and slimes in the sewers. The city of E-Ranel, like many cities relies on low level slimes for sewage treatment. These are known as Sanitary Slimes which feed on the waste in the sewers and purifies it. Usually when slime have enough nutrients the split into more slimes. The increase in slimes could be dangerous, thus downstream in the city, there is a sewage treatment plant that has high walls to stop the spread of the monsters. With the increased population, there should be a proportional increase in waste and slimes. Around this time the number of slimes should be skyrocketing. Strangely, no reports of greater slime numbers have been reported. The cause is currently unknown. So far the purification of the sewage is still going on, but the slimes population don't match the situation. Clementine wants to solve this issue before it brings any harm to the city's citizens. The mayor also expects this to be resolved which brings up a chance to be introduce to a high ranking official should they solve the mystery. The party agrees to take the job which please Clementine and she also requests that the adventurers take some slimes as samples for research on this mission.