Chapter 2 — We Don’t Really Have Any Reason to Go Out of Our Way to Help Them
Yogiri’s group was utterly confused. They had just returned to Base Town to find a hellish scene of monsters ripping people apart. Yogiri had killed the monsters that had tried to attack them, but they had no idea why monsters were there in the first place.
“If the monsters made it here, they must have come through the gate.” Yogiri turned around to look at the large doors they had just come through. The town was in an isolated cavern that they had only managed to reach because Van had teleported them. As far as Yogiri knew, these doors were the only gate that allowed entry or exit.
“I heard there was also a way to change channels,” Tomochika said, reminding Yogiri of the explanation they heard from Van. “There are a bunch of towns similar to this one, and they’re distinguished by their channel number. Maybe the monsters can come here directly from their town?”
“The place I was in was hardly a town. It was little more than a cave,” Atila replied. “It is just a hunch, but I suspect it is impossible for them to come here straight from their own town.”
“Is there a reason for the monsters to attack Base Town in the first place?” Yogiri asked.
“Defeating humans earns them DP,” Atila answered. “The more creative they are in the killing, the more points they earn. It would not be strange for a raid on the city to accrue a large number of bonus points. Even if there were no such bonus, the humans here would never expect an attack and thus be easy prey.”
“Monsters have to pay the Life Tax with DP too, right?”
“Correct. Otherwise there would be no reason for them to proactively attack humans.”
“I am sure we all have many thoughts on the matter, but I do not believe this is the place to be discussing it,” Edelgart suggested.
“I guess we should take a look outside,” Yogiri agreed. They couldn’t accomplish anything by standing around, and the current state of the guild didn’t make them want to stay for very long either. With Yogiri in the lead, the rest followed him outside. The dog Dai, Tomochika, the city guard Edelgart, the dragon Atila, and the elf Sakut followed behind him, in that order.
The scenery outside wasn’t all that different from what they had witnessed in the guild. Corpses littered the streets. The sheer number of bodies made it clear that the adventurers had already lost the battle.
“Looks like everyone was wiped out,” Yogiri said. The town was quiet, with no signs of continued resistance.
At this rate, the city will lose its function and we will be unable to participate in Cavern Quest any longer, Mokomoko remarked. If you cannot register for quests, you will not be able to head out into the fields.
“Huh? Wait, does that mean we’re stuck here?!” Tomochika exclaimed.
“That would be pretty strange. If that were the case, the monsters would be stuck here too.” Though he didn’t know what the monsters were after, it seemed unlikely to Yogiri that they would thoughtlessly go berserk.
Hmm... If their objective was to acquire DP, then being unable to return would be an issue for them.
If their only desire was to kill humans, that may not have been the case, but according to Atila, the monsters that had come here from the surface had some measure of intelligence. They didn’t know how the power structure among the monsters looked, but it didn’t seem likely the monsters would allow themselves to be treated as expendable.
“You need to sign up with the guild to use the gate, right?” Yogiri thought back to how the quest system worked. After finding a quest on the board that you liked, you would take the number printed on it to the reception desk. The door in the middle of the guildhall would then open and teleport you to the field for the quest. “Did the receptionists actually do anything once we gave them the quest number?” he asked Tomochika. He didn’t recall seeing them do anything at all.
“Hmm. I seem to remember them writing something down.”
“Maybe we can do that ourselves and take other quests. If only guild staff can do it, we’ll be pretty stuck.”
“Though it is a slim hope, perhaps we should search for survivors?” Edelgart asked with a sigh. It didn’t seem she believed they would find any.
“Leave it to me!” cried Atila. “With my supernatural senses as a dragon, I can find any survivors in no time! Hmm...I do notice a weak presence...but it is weak. They may already be on the verge of perishing.”
“We should still check up on them. Where are they?”
“There and there. I suppose in there as well. There are also monsters in there, so the fighting may still be ongoing...” Atila said, pointing at the weapon shop, the inn, and the information shop in turn. Despite her claim, there was no indication that fighting was still in progress. If there were survivors, they may have been in hiding.
“It seems dangerous for us to split up now,” Yogiri said. “Let’s all go to the information shop together. Is that okay with everyone?”
“Why there?” asked Tomochika.
“Perhaps because we can get use out of the weapon and item shops just by taking the equipment left there, but the information shop will be useless if we don’t save the people who run it.” Though she spoke with a bitter expression, Edelgart didn’t seem to have any objections.
“Wait a minute!” Sakut shouted. “Are you planning on letting the others die?!”
“We don’t really have any reason to go out of our way to help them,” Yogiri answered her.
“What? Are you all okay with that?”
“We should of course save those we can, but we still don’t understand the situation very well,” Yogiri continued. “Rescuing those at the information shop will give us a better chance of figuring out what’s going on, so that seems like the best course of action.”
“I am technically on the monster’s side, after all,” Atila added. “Though I have an interest in human society, the lives of individuals in any given city do not mean much to me.”
“Wouldn’t it be normal in a situation like this to try and save everyone?” Based on Tomochika’s expression, she had just remembered that playing the archetypal heroes would result in more DP.
“Couldn’t you kill all the monsters in the city with your power?” Edelgart asked Yogiri.
“Not unless I notice them myself.” That said, even if he could have, he wouldn’t have. He didn’t think it was acceptable to slaughter beings just because they were monsters. “I thought it would be best to head to the information shop together, but if you don’t want to, you don’t have to come with me. That’s where I’m going, though.”
They wouldn’t save anyone by arguing here. Leaving everyone else to make their own decisions, Yogiri began heading to the information shop, but he soon came to a stop. The doors of the shop opened and someone stepped outside. It was a boy with horns growing from his forehead, carrying something like a pillar on his shoulders.
“Oh, I’m impressed there are still survivors,” he said, impressed. “Wait, have we met before?”
“Oh! You were one of the guys with Hanakawa!” Tomochika shouted, stimulating Yogiri’s memory. He had been one of the people they’d met in the guildmaster’s room. Van had called in six people, all of whom had Philosopher’s Stones in them.
“Hanakawa is the dude who got his chest ripped open, right?” the boy said. “Man, that guy has terrible luck. We had no way to fight back there. I was afraid he was going to do the same thing to all of us.” He dropped the pillar to stand it on the ground, the pillar’s massive weight causing the earth beneath their feet to shake.
As if that was some sort of signal, monsters suddenly piled out of the buildings around them, twenty or so of them forming up behind the boy. It seemed he was in command of the creatures attacking the town.
“Hey...that is what I was talking about. I can feel there are humans in that thing,” Atila said, hesitantly pointing at the pillar.
Yogiri looked at the pillar. It was about twice as long as the boy was tall. And it was made of flesh. It must have been made from numerous people. He could see arms, legs, and faces all crushed together.
“You’ve got a nasty hobby, don’t you?” Yogiri said.
“If we wiped out all the humans, we wouldn’t be able to go home,” the boy replied. “At least this way, they’re still alive, right?”
Yogiri looked more closely at the pillar. Judging from the faint wriggling and weak cries coming from it, it did seem that the people who made it up were still alive. He also noticed that one of the people in it was the receptionist from the guildhall. If the boy had kept her alive, it was likely they did need guild staff around to open the gate.
“What are you doing here?” Yogiri asked.
“What do you mean? I’m just playing that dumbass Sage’s game like he wanted.”
“I guess that makes sense.” Though Yogiri couldn’t help feeling resentment towards the boy, as he said, it wasn’t really his own fault. If Yogiri wanted to complain, it would make more sense to talk to Van himself.
“I guess we should get this over with. What’re your names?”
“Why do you want to know?” Yogiri asked.
“Come on, you should be able to figure that out. This is a pretty common template, isn’t it?”
“Oh, right!” Yogiri recalled the rules surrounding DP. The amount of DP gained increased by doing dramatic things, but any sort of planning in advance would nullify the bonus. “I see. But in that case, if you’re going to ask someone their name, you should introduce yourself first.”
“Ah. Is that right? Very well. I am one of Gorbagion’s Four Heavenly Kings. My name is Naltine the Weakest.”
“Wait, you’re fine with that name?!” Tomochika blurted out in shock.
“‘The Weakest’ is your nickname?” Yogiri asked, not sure he had heard correctly.
“Exactly. I am the weakest, as in all the others are stronger than me. Of course, that’s just among the Four Heavenly Kings.”
“You seem awfully proud of it! You don’t mind being called the weakest?!”
“Come on, even I don’t take that to be literal. But it’s better for my character if I claim to be the weakest than if I claim to be the strongest, right?”
“I...guess?”
“Anyway, regardless of what I think, that’s what Lord Gorbagion decided.”
The questions are truly endless, are they not? asked Mokomoko. Who is this Gorbagion? Why is he using a Buddhist term like “Four Heavenly Kings”?
“That’s enough for my introduction. Now, tell me your names.”
“This is the dragon, Atila. And this is the city guard, Edelgart.” Introducing the two of them, Yogiri stepped back. As if recognizing what he was doing, Tomochika and Sakut stepped back with him.
“What are you doing?!”
“Hold on...shouldn’t you be the one fighting him?”
Atila and Edelgart complained after being left in front by themselves.
“He has a Philosopher’s Stone inside him. If he dies, the stone loses its power, so could you restrain him so we can take the stone out before he dies?” Yogiri said.
“I suppose there is no other way,” Atila frowned. “Though I cannot say I like it!”
“Are you sure I shouldn’t help?” Tomochika murmured.
“Those two seem pretty strong, so you can leave it to them.” Yogiri was armed as well, but he didn’t feel like he’d stand a chance against a group of monsters that size.
“Couldn’t you at least deal with the monsters in the back?”
“I’d rather resolve the situation without using my power.” If they attacked him and he had no other choice, he would use his power to defend himself, but he didn’t want to use it proactively.
“Fine! I will finish them in no time!” Atila stretched a hand forward, firing lightning.
But even though she had intended to wipe out the entire crowd of monsters, the lightning all collected into a single point, striking a single monster in front of the boy and thoroughly roasting it. Burned to a crisp, the monster dropped to the ground.
“What happened?! Why was there suddenly a monster in front of him?!”
“Speaking of which, doesn’t it seem like there are more monsters around than before?” asked Yogiri. Originally there had been about twenty monsters behind the boy, but at some point they had been surrounded.
“There are more pillars too!” Tomochika cried. Pillars similar to the one at the boy’s side had popped up all around them.
It appears the monsters are arriving through those pillars.
The flesh of a number of the pillars was swelling up, dumping monsters out on the ground around them.
“Well...I guess it’s not the first time we’ve seen something like this,” Tomochika grumbled.
You seem to have become rather jaded.
“Can you blame me after all we’ve been through?”
I suppose not. But do you not think this situation will be too much for Edelgart and Atila alone?
They were thoroughly outnumbered. Though each individual monster didn’t seem all that strong, the numbers alone would easily make up for any gap in strength between them. And judging from Atila’s attempt at wiping the monsters out earlier, some among them could draw in their attacks to protect the other monsters. No matter how strong their attack was, it would only be able to kill a single shield monster.
“I thought it would be difficult for such a large number of monsters to make it in through the gate by using adventurers, but this makes sense,” Yogiri observed. Naltine was likely the only one who had actually infiltrated the town that way. Once he was inside, he could create as many monsters as he wanted.
Seeing as the receptionist is in that pillar, it appears he has the ability to absorb and preserve people.
“He probably can’t make monsters forever, so you’ll win eventually if you keep killing them,” Yogiri said. “Good luck.”
“Do not be ridiculous!” Atila shot back.
It didn’t seem like they had much of a chance. But just as Yogiri had accepted the fact he would have to do something about the monsters, they suddenly disappeared.
“Huh?”
“Hm?”
“What?”
“Uhh...?”
Everyone looked around in shock. Even Naltine was taken by surprise, so it was unlikely he had done anything. The monsters had simply vanished, leaving countless pieces of equipment strewn about the ground. At first, they thought it was the equipment used by the monsters, but all of them seemed brand new.
“Sorry, I have some information to tell you about Cavern Quest. May I speak with you for a moment?”
Looking up to see the source of the voice, they saw a young man wearing a long coat and glasses looking down at them from the sky. The man floated down, landing between Naltine and Yogiri’s group.
“Who are you?”
“I am the submaster of this game. Or perhaps you would recognize the name Sage Shirou better?” he replied nonchalantly.
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