Year 7447, Month 4, Day 8Now then, once again today I"ve been thoroughly teaching them about the handling of guns just the same as the day before yesterday but after all thinking about things from here on out and I can"t help but feel complicated about not using them for very long. There"s no helping the matter of not earning any experience points but there"s no mistake that it"s a useful weapon. The advantage of anyone being able to use a long distance attack with a fixed attack power is still great even excluding the experience points.
On the occasions when we"re up against Mino, Trolls, and Ogres, monsters with strength, I after all want to one with us as insurance. Those sorts of powerful monsters even if they don"t land a hit on the ivtals like the head all it takes is being grazed to suffer serious injuries. Particularly if we could let the porter Giberuti use it then it would be a big trump card.
While Giberuti was preparing breakfast I was thinking about various things while checking my equipment in a corner of the room.
"Hey, Al. I discussed it with Saji when we were keeping lookout yesterday but.."
Before I realized it Ralpha was nearby whispering to me in a low voice. It seems she just finished taking a shower and her hair is still wet as she has a towel wrapped around her head. We can"t use magic here so I can"t dry it for her.
"Did Bel really point the muzzle of the gun at Al that time?"
Ralpha with a suspicious expression on her face started saying things that make no sense in an even lower voice as her face approached mine.
She was certainly pointing the muzzle in my direction and her finger was still on the trigger. If that wasn"t the case there"s no way I would have panicked that much. Even Zenom saw it by my side you know.
"What"s the mean?"
"Hmn, as a matter of fact.."
Supposedly Basutoral and Ralpha discussed Bel"s actions that were the reason for banning the usage of guns while keeping lookout last night. And then the two of them couldn"t help but feel doubtful about Bel, who"s knowledgeable about projectile weapons and normally using them damage monsters, handling one carelessly.
"If you put it like that then that"s certainly true.."
Though I replied like that, I"ve already understood the reason why after talking to Bel that night. She said she couldn"t hold back her excitement over the gun that was several times more powerful than a bow. She was intoxicated by the fact that it could even render a mino or troll powerless in a single shot. After all, when it comes to the bow let alone a mino or troll, unless you can hit them in the eye from the front you can"t even stop an ork or hobgoblin with a single hit.
"For that Bel to handle a gun carelessly is.."
Ralpha was trying to say that Bel"s actions were too unnatural coming from her. Certainly if it"s put like that then it"s hard to imagine Bel ignoring something so basic even though I"ve been nagging them normally over the handling of guns for so long. Fundamentally Bel"s never gone against the things I say. Of course, she occasionally objects and comments on things so she"s not just a simple yes-man but she"s never done something so shameful as going back against something that"s already been decided.
Even though she"s like that for her to be negligent with safety in that sort of situation...
Certainly it doesn"t make sense.
However, didn"t we just enthusiastically go over learning gun command yesterday...
"Hey, what do you think about it?"
"Hmm. If it"s put like that then..Certainly I"ve started to feel that it was a bit strange. Call over Baustoral, no, I"ll directly ask Bel about it."
"Yeah, do that. But I"m sure Bel has some sort of thoughts about it. If possible you should do it when you"re alone with her and not get angry."
That"s only obvious. Of course I understand.
The next one to leave the teleport crystal room for morning beauty(though there"s no shampoo) after Ralpha was Bel. She"s the only one outside of the room..right. Everyone else is in the room. I told Giberuti to wait a bit longer on breakfast and left the room. I"m not going to peep so don"t misunderstand.
I decided to wait for Bel to return in the middle area between the rocks we use as a shower and the teleport crystal room.
"A..Al-san, good morning."
"Yeah, Bel, good morning."
"Al-san are you having a shower as well? That"s unusual. What"s going on?"
No, it"s just a portion but I"ve already got my armor right. There"s no way I"d take a shower at this point.
"Is it fine to talk for a bit?"
"About what?"
Bel tilted her head while wiping her wet hair.
"Hey~ I only just realized it at this point but do you have anything you want to say?"
"Fufu..For Al-san I thought you were acting quite dense."
Dense you say, that"s overestimating me right.
"Though, even if I say that since I was able to talk to the other night it was fine whether you realized or not. But, if you"ve already realized, then don"t you already understand what I was going for?"
I felt a bit complex hearing Bel"s words but after all she had some sort of objective huh...
However, an objective..In order to thoroughly enforce gun safety once again?
At this point?
"I see. Honestly speaking I didn"t realize it myself so I can"t boast about it."
"That"s fine~that"s fine. But, the feelings I talked about at that time were the truth."
"Hn?"
"That I didn"t know what I would do if Al-san said I wasn"t needed."
"Nn, yeah.."
I guess that means there was some acting and hidden messages behind the parts other than that...
"Nn..It can"t be helped acting cool. What Bel wanted to do, I still understand the reason. Why did you do something like that?"
"..Really?"
Really? you say, if it was an objective that easy to understand? Then after all I can only think of trying to reinforce gun safety once again?
"..But, over half of my objective has already been achieved."
Bel said with a soft expression.
".."
"For the time being, guns have been banned from use. I was able to make time for us to think about the handling of guns again in the meantime."
Bel adjusted her posture and made a serious expression.
"..Al-san. There"s something I discussed with Miduchi-san, Zenom-san, and Toris the other day. Would you listen?"
"Of course."
I"ll listen to anyone"s opinion including Bel and if it"s something worth implementing I"ll obviously take it into consideration.
"Al-san haven"t you been too overconfident recently? No, there"s no special meaning behind it. I can"t find the right words for it..Right. With the completion of guns for the time being haven"t you been exposing too many weaknesses? Hmn, that doesn"t sound quite right either..That"s right! Aren"t you paying too much attention to everyone that you"ve lost sight of our original goal?"
Eh? Weaknesses? Was I revealing some?
Well I"m sure there"s some things I wouldn"t realize myself, I"m grateful that she"s pointed it out.
Bel continued speaking in rapid succession.
"Al-san said that he wouldn"t let any member of the {Slaughterers} die or be killed. Of course, that"s something great and wonderful. I"m in full support of it as well. But, in the first place something like that can"t be promised from the moment we enter the dungeon. It"s just a front right?"
..Being told straight to my face is quite harsh, this. I wasn"t thinking of it as something like a front but was seriously going for that. But, I can understand what Bel"s trying to say. Something like not having any casualties, it"s impossible to promise while exploring the dungeon of Baldukk where you never know what might happen.
But, if you say that then you can"t mention anything about what will come in the future right? I think at the very least I have the responsibility to make that one of my objectives and even think of it as a duty.
"I understand that. But, please just remember this. People will eventually die. Haven"t we already seen countless people who have died inside the dungeon up until now?"
"Nn, well, that"s right."
"By the way, this time, why are you still continuing to dispatch Miduchi-san and Toris? If it was Al-san up until now, shouldn"t you have dispatched me who was skilled at shooting practice the last time we entered and Maruso who"s growth has been considerable to the {Butchers} and {Exterminators}?"
Since Bel suddenly started talking about something completely different I looked around thinking someone was approaching us but that wasn"t the case.
"No, there"s no particular reason. If I had to say it then, I wanted to concentrate on the training for the two of you since you seemed to be skilled at it, would be the reason I guess?"
Yeah. Miduchi and Toris are both somewhat decent and they can use magic as well so I thought it would be fine to put off serious shooting practice for them. It"s nothing more than putting priority on Bel and Angela who I thought would quickly pick up on it.
After hearing my reply Bel started grumbling complaints to herself.
Saying things like, "Really now" and "Because of that.." Somehow..it seems I took an unexpected action when picking members for the {Slaughterers} this time. Certainly I"ve been dispatching them successively for no real reason recently.
"This time it was supposed to be Miduchi-san who discussed it with Al-san. Since it was originally a discussion that started from Miduchi-san. But it can"t be helped. I couldn"t think of anything other than that."
Hnn?
"Really~ why is it only at times when I"m trying to talk about things like this...Even though I don"t have any confidence in properly conveying it..The same for Miduchi-san, Zenom-san, and Toris..Ah, excuse me."
Somehow it seems difficult to say.
"Al-san. Couldn"t we just stop using guns in the dungeon already?"
"Ha?"
What"s she saying?
"Ah, that"s not what I meant. The aspect of using guns itself is fine. Though it"s not good, it"s fine."
I don"t understand at all.
"I obviously trust Kamu-san and the others. They"re normal Orth people but after accompanying them up until now I feel like I can trust them a reasonable amount. But, they"re people from Orth. I"ll say ahead of time that I"m absolutely not looking down on them. I don"t want to have to say something like this but starting with guns they don"t know how truly frightening weapons from Earth can be. I"m sure they can somewhat imagine it after properly explaining to them but there"s no way they could truly understand how frightening they can be in the true meaning."
That might be true. Though it might not be. Whatever the case it"s not a topic that we can ever be sure on.
"Umm you know. I, no, we all think that sooner or later someone will die in the dungeon. Of course, no one wants to die. It"s the same for me as well. I have no intention of dying."
Y..Yeah.
"Having said that, I"ll say it once again. Isn"t it fine no matter who dies? As long as Al-san doesn"t die the dream will still continue."
Eeeh!! That"s not good!
"I heard from Miduchi-san. You were originally only planning to make guns after you had a territory...You pushed your plans forward because we were struggling with just those mere Minotaurs right? Please stop. Please don"t take such a large risk for our sake."
Nn..Well, it"s certainly true that I started making the net gun because there was no way of telling when the powerful Minotaurs would resp.a.w.n. We can"t use magic after all~
"Certainly everyone was intoxicated by the power of guns at the start. We were really excited. That"s the same for me too."
Bel"s explanation jumped all over the place as she continued speaking. Simply summing up the main points and it"s like this.
She only wants us to use guns when the party consists of the reincarnated people, Zenom, Zulu, Angela, and Giberuti. That would be everyone who currently knows about the existence of guns. While they may look like that even Rokko and Jeru who appear frivolous are pretty solid at keeping secrets. Even if they were to know about guns it"s hard to think that they would reveal the information. From the standpoint of a top adventurer at the front lines of Baldukk it"s suicide revealing the secret moving force of the {Slaughterers} after all.
However, you never know what might happen next time or the time after that, someone may eventually appear who replaces them in the member exchange matches. If it"s the same as up until now then we would continue using the guns at that time.
Furthermore, if we go to even deeper floors from here on out it"s easy to think that monsters more powerful than those Minotaur will appear.
Would they really be able to remain quiet about guns that could possibly easily defeat such a powerful monster? Even if no one reveals it directly it"s possible it could be leaked from discussions in the party.
Especially when we go to the 10th and 11th floors, everyone is already focused on the conversations between members of the {Slaughterers}, and that"ll increase even more.
We can"t afford to increase the "possibility" of exposing information about guns, which will be a huge power for us when we go independent in the future, over something like this. If there"s something we have no choice other than to use guns for then it should only be when we have all of the former {Slaughterers} members in the party.
Even if someone ends up losing their life as a result of that we should accept it.
If that"s unacceptable then it"s fine if we rig the member change matches or anything else so make it so no members are switched out.
And that"s the conclusion that the four of them decided on.
"Bel, are you saying that seriously?"
"I"m serious. It means that anyone who dies along the way only measured up to there."
Bel coldly said with no expression like a Noh mask.
Certainly I thought something pretty similar up until a while back...
However.
"Is that the same for Miduchi, Zenom, and Toris?"
"That"s right. It was originally something that Miduchi-san brought up and it"s the conclusion that we all decided on after discussing it."
".."
"In order to reduce the danger you pushed forward your plans and made guns. That part is fine. But, that might end up bringing about calamity in the future. Al-san, what meaning is there in doing something so naive?"
Naive, huh~ If it"s being naive by trying to reduce the chances of casualties among my subordinates even just a bit and raise the safety then it can"t be helped. It might be naive. However, I don"t think that"s the case...
I"m obtaining a ma.s.sive treasure from this dungeon of Baldukk, where you never know what might happen, without a single sacrifice. Though I think it"s a harsh goal that even that George.Rombert the First couldn"t accomplish. However, it"s certainly a bit different from what Bel and the others are saying.
It would certainly be wonderful if we could do that without using guns.
However, the absurdly strong ones that were among those Minotaur. If something like that comes out in the future..I"m sure it will. It"ll be close to impossible to deal with that without guns. Even if I were to fight against {The.Gazer} once more there"s no way of telling what might happen.
"..That"s right, there"s a "message from Miduchi-san"."
Bel continued talking just as I took a breath and was about to say something.
"That is..it"s a message from Miduchi-san but what I"m about to say is also the opinion of the four of us. Everything up until now was just the type of front that Al-san might like. Even if I say front it was considerably serious about the exposure of information though..in truth though.."
There"s a real reason behind it?
"If they just use a gun then even a small child can kill you instantly. It"s scary."
Certainly if they witness the power of guns then there"s no guarantee someone might not have a change of heart. If it"s a person even just a bit quick witted they could kill us in our sleep with a gun or something and then for example it"s even possible to imagine them selling it to the Kingdom of Rombert as a new type of weapon. I"m sure they wouldn"t be able to create new ammunition but if it"s right after we"ve made some it would still be a reasonable amount.
Bel continued to say.
"I already know that it"s unlikely to the point of overthinking. Starting with Kamu-san, all of the current members are relying on Al-san and obviously respect Al-san"s intentions...you have a firm will as you speak of a dream bigger than anyone and run towards it. Everyone understands quite a bit about Al-san. Also, we think of you as stronger than anyone, wiser than anyone, and thinking farther ahead than anyone else. And then..you share your heart with everyone and wish for our safety more than anyone else."
What kind of Saint is that? I"m not anything that significant.
Also, don"t say things like that with such a straight face.
It took quite a bit of willpower to endure breaking eye contact.
"Don"t you know? Starting with Kamu-san, everyone says they"re going to become a n.o.ble below Al-san. Of course~ even if they earn big here in the dungeon at best they could end up as a squire family of some n.o.ble somewhere...That"s right, supposedly even Misu-san and Jeru-san who planned to return to their home towns one day are discussing things about the future you know?
In order to act more refined Rokko-san and Kevin-san have started joining the study sessions with Saji that they used to turn down as troublesome up until now. Ah, saji only teaches words and math and it"s primarily Toris and I that are teaching those sorts of tings.
Sanno-san and Ruttsu-san just mastered up to division the other day. Zulu and Maruso aren"t just teaching Al-san"s slaves Henry and Mekku but they"re teaching various things to Denda and Karimu as well.Everyone"s saying they want to quickly partic.i.p.ate in Al-san"s lectures for Miduchi-san, Zenom-san, Rodrick-san, Toris, and I, that they"re definitely going to reach the level where they can.
On days off, there"s no longer anyone who spends their days playing around."
Eh..I didn"t know that far. But...
"Ah..Ral and Gwine are..Umm.."
Yeah. That I knew about.
"In any case, it"s hard to imagine that anyone would betray Al-san and expose things regarding the guns but even if we don"t think that way we can"t deny the possibility that it"ll still be exposed. It"s an unpleasant way of thinking but in the first place the focus of reincarnated people and Al-san"s slaves are different in that regard after all.."
Ah..Well, that might be the case...
"Al-san, you"re already everyone"s hope. You"re the hope of everyone who wants to entrust their lives to your dream. Of course, that"s the same for us as well. Even by chance we don"t want you to trip up in an insignificant place."
Bel said that and smiled.