Chapter 25 — Support Types Are Way Too Strong
Rewinding time a little, we come to a period shortly after the classmates that had left Yogiri and the others as bait had made it to the city of Quenza. The class had gathered in a bar, similar in atmosphere to the pubs of their original world. The first floor of a house had been converted into a wide open space, with a number of tables lined up throughout.
The class had reserved the entire bar. The reward they’d received for clearing their first mission was rather sizable, so an expense like this was well within their means. Now they were discussing what would happen next.
Although they had put their trust in General Yazaki to clear their first mission, now that they’d had a chance to calm down, a number of them had begun to fear that they would be cut off next. Among them, Yuuki Tachibana sat alone. That was likely because of his class, Dominator.
While they were developing their plan to clear the first mission, all of their classes had become common knowledge. Although the exact details of those classes were still unknown, Yuuki having such an overbearing class name was enough to make people distance themselves from him.
Dominator was a powerful class, capable of controlling people and monsters alike. But there was a process that had to be followed for that control to set in. It wasn’t something so simple that he could simply control anyone who happened to get close to him. However, there was no way that his classmates would know that.
So, after being summoned to this world and thrust into a situation where he understood almost nothing, he had been further isolated. While that would normally have been cause for panic, Yuuki was still acting as carefree as ever. There was no basis for it at all, but he was convinced that he was special, so his thoughts ran in an optimistic direction. This was likely because he had never experienced a serious setback in his entire life. He had no understanding of the concept of failure.
So now, not thinking about the future in the least, he sat at a window table to watch the women walking by outside. Although most of them appeared to be locals, every once in a while a Japanese-looking person would pass by as well. As Yuuki was deciding that he liked Japanese girls better after all, one of his classmates approached.
“Yo. Can we talk for a bit?”
“Sure. What’s up?”
Haruto Ootori. The only other guy in the class as popular with the girls as Yuuki himself. While Yuuki boasted a perfect, model-like appearance, Haruto had a more aloof, intellectual air.
As if he hadn’t considered that he might be rejected, Haruto had already taken a seat before Yuuki could even answer.
“I just wanted to give you some advice.”
“Oh? That’s right, your class was...what was it again?” Yuuki tried to recall the name but it wouldn’t come to mind. He just didn’t care that much about the other guys in the group.
“It’s Consultant. I specialize in providing advice for resolving problems, I guess.”
“Right, right, the Consultant. So what are we consulting about?” He remembered now that Haruto had been the one who had reserved this bar for them. It was pretty impressive to be able to handle that kind of negotiation with strangers in a city and world that he’d never been to before. There might be some value in listening to his advice.
“It’s about how you use the Dominator power. You don’t really understand it yet, do you?”
“That’s true, but I’m more of a hands-on kind of guy. I’ll figure it out once I try it for myself.” He wasn’t making excuses; it was what he honestly believed. He was ultimately a true optimist at heart.
“For you, that actually might work out. But I wouldn’t overlook my advice either way.”
“Oh? All right, let’s hear it, then. I’ll decide whether or not to listen after you tell me what you have to say.”
“The strength of the Dominator class lies in the number of underlings you have. That means the first course of action for you would be to gather subordinates, but there are some restrictions on the types of people you can control. The first is that you can only control those of a lower level than yourself. The second is that they have to agree to being put under your control.”
Yuuki already knew that much. That was why he hadn’t immediately set out to begin collecting subordinates. His current level was only one, and there were hardly any people who would choose to be his subordinates willingly.
“But there is a special exception to the second rule. They don’t necessarily have to agree. Otherwise, it would be pretty useless against things like monsters, who can’t really understand you.”
“That wasn’t in the explanation at all,” Yuuki said, his interest now piqued. When they’d received the Gift, they had also received a basic understanding of how to use their abilities. But this was the first that Yuuki had heard of an exception to the second rule.
“Right. It’s almost like a video game, in that they wanted you to figure it out yourself. The way you bypass that second restriction is by stepping on someone’s head when they’re close to death. That will put them under your control.”
Yuuki wasn’t the least bit suspicious about how Haruto would know that. Just knowing his class was Consultant, he was more than happy to accept it as fact.
“With that in mind, the best course of action for you is to pick up as many level one slaves from this city as you can. You should be able to find some that have been rejected for one reason or another for fairly cheap. Whether it’s because they are close to death or disabled in some way doesn’t really matter.”
“What does that have to do with the Dominator class?”
“If you buy slaves, you’ll be able to control them with your power. Slaves are already bought and sold without their own will taken into account, so it works the same as them agreeing to be under your control.”
“I see. It’s an easy way to get subordinates. And what am I supposed to do with them?” Not interested in thinking things through himself, he continued to ask for Haruto’s advice.
“Divide them into groups of five, then send them out of the city to start hunting monsters. Once they are under your control, you can give them orders. No matter how stupid they may be, they’ll do exactly as you say. Even slaves that are close to dying can hold the monsters down for a while. So if you send them off on a suicide attack, they should at least be able to bring weaker monsters close to death. Then you step in and take control of those monsters as well. If the beasts end up dying, it’s not a real issue. The threat of monsters in this world is significant enough that, at worst, you’ll earn money by killing even the weakest ones.”
“Wait, I don’t have to step on their heads myself?”
“Yeah, that’s the amazing part about the Dominator class. Your subordinates are basically extensions of you. And what’s more, if they defeat any monsters, half of the experience points go to you instead of them.”
“I see. So basically, if I buy some slaves and send them out into the fields, I’ll automatically start gaining experience and building up a large army.” An ordinary person might hesitate at the “buying slaves” part, but Yuuki had no such compunction. From the beginning, he had thought of other people only as support for the main character that was Yuuki himself.
“Once you’ve finished your initial preparations, I recommend you head to Ectel. It’s a mining town that has made prolific use of slave labor for ages. There should be an abundance of slaves to choose from there. After that, continue on to Hanabusa. There are ruins nearby that are completely overrun with monsters, so it should be perfect for leveling and building your army quickly.”
“It feels like you’re trying to get rid of me.”
“There are certainly those in the class who are uneasy about you. Many people are saying that you’ll get in the way of the group’s cooperation.”
“I don’t really see the class getting along that well just by getting rid of me, though.” In truth, the class was already fracturing into separate factions. At that point, you couldn’t call them a single group anymore.
“I agree. But there isn’t much of a reason for them all to cooperate either. Everyone doing the same thing seems suicidal. If we want to produce a Sage, we need to take a number of different approaches. This is part of that. Basically, I’m singling out those who have the best chances and offering them advice to increase the probability of their success.”
Yuuki looked around the bar. A number of their classmates had already left. Perhaps the ones that Haruto had spoken to had already taken his advice and moved on.
“Is there anyone in the class that you feel like making into a slave? I can probably handle the negotiations if it’s only one person.” Haruto made the offer even though he was unsure of what Yuuki’s reaction might be. The class had already sacrificed four of their own to get this far. If there was a chance for Yuuki to do well, one more sacrifice wasn’t asking that much.
“Don’t worry about it. There’s no one here I’m all that interested in.”
The first one he had thought of was Tomochika Dannoura, but she was no longer with them. Yuuki rose from his seat. Now that he had decided on a course of action, sticking around was a waste of time.
“Well, feel free to consider yourself safe, Haruto. Because I’m definitely going to make it to the rank of Sage.”
With a bold smile, he left the bar behind.
“Support types are way too strong in this world!” Tomochika cried out after hearing Yuuki’s long explanation. She may have been remembering Celestina as well.
“So even as you’re sitting around here, you’re still growing your army and gaining levels,” Yogiri mused.
If that was the case, his overwhelming self-confidence wasn’t that strange.
“That’s right. And the Consultant didn’t figure it out, but I found an even better method,” Yuuki replied, pausing for effect. “Bugs. The number of them can’t even be compared to the number of humans and monsters around. So I figured I’d start controlling them! While individually they are awfully weak, their numbers are effectively infinite. Using insects, I can take control of even more insects. This isn’t even comparable to something like rats multiplying. My power is growing at an unbelievable rate!” Although it wasn’t a power he’d had from the start, and the basic idea for how to use it had come from someone else, he still spoke with pride. “So how about it, Dannoura? You regret not becoming my lover, don’t you? It’s too late for that now, but if you want to become a mid-tier slave —”
“Not even a little,” Tomochika cut him off. “And those girls behind you are incredibly good looking. It seems you’ve got lots of girls like that around. Why are you interested in me at all?”
“Hm, to be blunt, I’d say I’m just after your body. Even before we came here, I always had my eye on you.”
“Well, that’s the worst confession of love I’ve ever heard.”
“You’re awfully popular, aren’t you?” Yogiri said to Tomochika, legitimately impressed.
“Oh yeah, I guess those other guys said something similar, too...” Tomochika hung her head at the realization that all the bad people seemed to have a thing for her.
“Didn’t you know?” Yuuki continued. “You’re pretty famous in our school. People are always saying that you look like a gravure model, or that you’d be phenomenally beautiful if you just stopped talking, or that if they knocked you out you’d even be above average overseas.”
“Seems like there are an awful lot of opinions about me!”
“Well, maybe asking you to join me now was a bit too sudden. But I’m pretty lenient. Feel free to think it over as much as you like. I’m living at the top floor of this hotel, so come on over any time you change your mind.”
Yuuki stood up, taking his bodyguards with him as he left the hotel. Given his unfailing confidence right through the end, he seemed sure that Tomochika would break if only given enough time.
“Wow, he’s annoying,” Tomochika said once Yuuki had disappeared from view.
“Well, it’s not like he’s coming after us as enemies, so I guess there’s nothing we can do but let him be.” If they stayed in Hanabusa they might come across him again, and while that was certainly irritating, there wasn’t any real harm in it. “Anyway, becoming one of his companions doesn’t sound like that bad of a deal. You’d probably be safer than if you stuck with me.”
“Don’t you start, too.”
“Oh. Well, sorry, I guess?” Seeing how quickly she became angry, he immediately apologized.
“Not sure how I feel about that kind of apology, either. But there’s no way I’d stick with someone who just came out and said they were after my body —” Tomochika cut off in the middle of her sentence, a sudden realization causing her to raise her voice. “Except that you said the same thing about my boobs!”
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