Next chapter in 3-6 hours.Year 7445, Month 10, Day 7
Really, that old man, he even made me deliver sausages to Dorureon..Why should I have to run to Dorureon while carrying sausages...
"Everyone was watching! That his majesty would eat the Baldoggie, isn"t that amazing!"
Rodrick said it a bit excited in a loud voice. Why at this point?
"Look, it was true right?"
"Oh~ as expected of master right. He is the eldest son of Count Faruergaz after all!"
Rodrick"s combat slaves Denda and Karimu were both proud. However, aren"t the things you two are saying strange? Isn"t that unrelated to Rodrick...
"So that person was his majesty Thomas.Rombert the Third huh.."
...................
And, I guess that"s the largest problem though. It"s a battle with time.
The gnolls charge at me from the cave on the left with their spears at the ready.
Soon after the spear of another gnoll was thrust towards me.
Immediately I crouched down and rolled to a different gnoll that was confused and used my sword to stab it in the throat killing it before kicking it away to pull my sword out.
It"s not like the tips are made of metal either way so it"s just a wooden stick with a sharpened end.
I swing it around while holding another gnoll in check and start running, then turn another three consecutive gnolls into a bloodbath.
I guess I"ll finish things up while this arrow is still shining.
There the group of goblins charged at me while screaming gabugyabugya.
As expected of goblins.
No, I had already antic.i.p.ated it though.
With the gnoll"s spear still in my left hand I stab a goblin nearby with my sword and pull it right away.
With this even if the hobgoblins come they can"t take any actions to take control.
While I was spinning around here and there stabbing with my sword like a dance and look.
Though I was smacked with the handles of spears being waved around.
Hey, that hobgob over there, don"t run away showing me your back.
I was even praised by Miduchi for my skill with the throwing needles that Myun taught me.
I make some water to wash my sword and after wiping it with my hand towel put the blade back into it"s scabbard.
I use {Cure All} twice each on my thigh and back where I can feel a bit of pain and after a total of six times along with my HP fully recovering the pain had completely disappeared. When using healing spells on yourself it"s fine regardless of whether you touch the spot or not and the light won"t show from below my armor, it"s convenient being able to treat the bruises from being hit without anyone noticing.
I turned around and called everyone over.
"Okonneru, Firenoto, gather the magic stones."
I ordered the two combat slaves who were making surprised expressions seeing my fighting strength to gather the magic stones and I gather my throwing needles while continuing.
"Mishausu-san, I leave the remaining combat to you. Feel free to use my slaves without restraint."
After placing the throwing needles in my right gauntlet, I opened up the map again. There should be another crossroad ahead of the left direction..Yeah, there is one. Let"s start here next. No, or maybe this side is better? But, it"s a bit far after all...
In the end everyone except me split up to gather the magic stones. As expected with just two people it would take too much time but I guess since there were no combat slaves in {Sun.Ray} who would gather the magic stones without saying anything, so they just didn"t seem to pay any mind to it. If they split up with the 9 of them it shouldn"t even take 20 minutes. Me? There"s no way I"d do it. There"s a lot of people after all.
Looking at the map while occasionally checking our surroundings and being alert is my job. I decided to think that while making excuses to myself for not working as I observed the corpses of the gnolls, hobgoblins, and goblins...It seems around half of them were female but after all it doesn"t seem like any of them are pregnant. I"ve seen enough corpses of monsters to be tired of it in this Baldukk dungeon but I"m already used to how much the monsters I"ve defeated are lacking in livelihood. Confirming if any of them were pregnant has almost just become a habit.
About the only living creature in the dungeon of Baldukk that gives of feelings of any sort of lifestyle are the fairies and it seems even they only have babies born once every several years to several decades. Since it seems they live a stupidly long period of time so it can"t be helped that there"s that much of an interval between but even they said they ate things like fruits from trees or gra.s.s and captured fish from the pond with magic. I don"t really get it right.
I can hear the whispering voices of everyone while they"re gathering the magic stones but I"m sure it"s just about me, but since they"ve already become my subordinates it"s kind of late for that. It doesn"t really matter.
After we moved ahead a bit more just like with {Sooner} I watched their fighting from the rear.
Fumu, even after everything"s been said and done as expected Haruku was first-rate. Things would probably be difficult for anyone other than Kamu of these members to act as leader. I think it"s also big that Kamu"s main arm is the bow so she can calmly look over the entirety of the battlefield but the timing she gives out orders is good as well. She gives each of the members their own role and keeps in mind positioning them so they can follow each other up.
I guess also because it"s the 1st floor, other than Kamu and Misu who use the bow, everyone else is fighting at the front and they"re using the bow to support when necessary. Since even Binsu who can use the spear and magic is standing at the front with a long sword in hand, the front line is built firmly. I guess you could say they"re using their high abilities to live up to the face value of the {Butchers}.
There"s no problem with my combat slave the former knight Okonneru either and since Firenoto is fortified with Rokko and Kevin on both sides, he"s able to fight safely as well. The monsters on the 1st floor aren"t very strong so rather than trying to come up with some complex formation, just like this having everyone line up at the front in a semi circle and supporting them from the back with the bow makes a better use of their attack power. When the number of opponents has decreased they can have both flanks move forward and at the same time have the center pull back to easily switch to surrounding them from all directions as well.
When I was showing a bit admiration, it seems that Toris and Bel, the members of the {Slaughterers} who were dispatched as leaders were taking command like this so she was just mimicking them.
However, I somehow felt a bit happy that it was proof they were properly trying to learn even from the command of some younger brats. This method only works until the 2nd floor or so. Not to mention only when they have a member of the {Slaughterers} who can use healing spells at a decent level. Starting from the 3rd floor the monsters start to get a bit stronger, so as expected it"s difficult to use, and they properly understand that.
I worked them to the bone until evening. Everyone was completely exhausted from the tension and consecutive battles. While Firenoto never suffered any actual injuries, he ended up throwing up from fatigue. Obviously after we returned to the surface I forced him to eat dinner. He"s still only 21 years old. Since he"s young I"m sure he"ll be alright.
"Tomorrow I want to see how much time it takes for you to reach the teleport crystal on the 1st floor. I"ll follow from the very rear. Leave being cautious of things from the back to me."
When I smiled and said that to Kamu and she said, "..I thought it would be about time..Well there"s no choice than to give it our best." while looking at me. And then asked, "Hey, do you intend to make me the leader?"
"Hn..I guess so, since you were also recommended by Haruku-san, you"re one of the candidates. But, just as I said previously I don"t want to decide. I have no intention of pushing something someone doesn"t want to do on them either. Also, in regards to switching members between the teams I also intend to take my time and see through things. Excluding a few exceptions I fundamentally intend to split the teams up based on abilities after all. I intend to do some member changes this month so it"s fine not to think too deeply about it for now."
After I said that Kamu made a surprised face and happily said to everyone.
"Jusst a moment, listen to this. It seems this month he"s going to split up the teams in a new way!"
Hearing that everyone got excited.
"Oho! Are you serious! I want to join the {Slaughterers} as well!"
"I"m, not good with the bow or spells like Bel..I guess it"s no good.."
Well I guess it"s not something that needs to be said now.
"Everyone! Be quiet. We still haven"t heard the method for selecting members."
"That"s right. How do you intend the members up?"
It can"t be helped~
"Yeah, anyone who wants to enter the {Slaughterers} will first have to show that they have the bare minimum stamina. Or to put it more frankly it will be how quickly you can run a fixed distance. I intend to put some observers along the running route so you can"t cheat. If you can run it within the time I"ve decided then you"ll gain the right to challenge. After that while there"s "some exceptions" it"s fine for you to challenge anyone. However, the opponent you challenge must use the same type of weapon. On top of that, since I also want to see your cooperation I"ll have you do a three on three practice match rather than one on one.
If it"s this then can I at least drag it out six months to a year? Tomorrow I"ll have Miduchi who"s leading {Sooner} run at her maximum speed..No, on the next break I"ll have Basutoral run at his maximum speed and measure the time. Wouldn"t it be fine if I make the time about one minute faster than that?