Sevens (LN) - Volume 9 - Chapter 101

Chapter 101 – Beim’s Dungeon
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──Erhart’s group had finished cleaning the highway and were sitting down with tired expressions in front of the gate that acted as an entrance to Beim.

Erhart watched the setting sun as he thought about what’s happened so far.

(Three months have passed in the blink of an eye since we came to Beim.)

They came here with hope filling their chests, but in the end, they were shown the difference between dreams and reality.

They couldn’t do anything spectacular as adventurers and spent their days cleaning the highway.

Marianne said that she would give them a better quest if they worked seriously, so Erhart also worked hard.  But truth be told, he was dissatisfied on the inside.

Erhart’s group was sitting on the ground tired, with dirt all over their bodies.  People were passing in front of them in order to enter Beim.

The young, dressed-up girls were the kind of city girls that Erhart and his friends were longing for.

It seemed that they were on their way home to Beim.

「Eew. It’s smelly.」

「Cleaning highways is work for the adventurers at rock bottom, isn’t it?」

「Let’s get in quickly.」

The girls laughed scornfully at them and left. Erhart saw them getting further away and clicked his tongue.

「Tsk, so this place is also the same as our village.」

Those girls were the same as the villagers who looked at them with contempt.

Erhart thought that even the city women that he dreamed of weren’t different from the village girls after the veneer was taken off.

(But, Marianne-san is wonderful.)

Compared to the girls that had just passed by, Marianne was a very wonderful woman.  Erhart affirmed that fact once more after he saw those girls.

They borrowed water outside the gate to wash the dirt off of them.  It was then that Lyle and his group walked nearby.

Today, he has Shannon and May with him.

They started washing their hands and feet off near Erhart’s group, using the water inside the bucket.

「Today is tiring too.」

Lyle talked to Shannon and May.

「May, don’t splash the water like that!」

「Shannon did it first!」

The two little girls were lively even while they were cleaning themselves off. They should be still playing around at that age, and yet Lyle was making them work.

It was something unforgivable from Erhart’s point of view.

(This bastard is making children work, even though he is a man!)

The rumors about Lyle were also spreading throughout Beim.

He came to Beim with a harem party, and yet he didn’t even take the test and only cleaned the highway. Because of that, he was standing out.

The gossipy adventurers were spreading rumors that Lyle was a 「gigolo」 who made women support him.

In fact, his party members were seen working almost every single day, so it couldn’t be helped that such rumors were spreading.

(What’s so good about this kind of man?)

Erhart was unable to understand why Lyle’s party members would follow someone like this.

A girl came out from the gate while Lyle was helping Shannon and May wash their hands and feet.

She was carrying a basket in her hand.

The one who came was Novem, with her side ponytail fluttering in the wind.The adventurers who had finished working began restlessly whispering to each other when Novem came.

Erhart’s friends cursed.

「Shit. Damn showoff」

Novem jogged until where Lyle was and began to take something out of the basket excitedly.

She took out various things like water bottles, snacks, etc.

「Thank you for your hard work today, Lyle-sama!」

However, Lyle seemed dispirited when he saw Novem.

「No, I’m happy that you came to pick us up. But we’re still dirty, so we’ll head to the bathhouse after this.」

His attitude that made it seem like Novem’s arrival was a nuisance rubbed Erhart and the others the wrong way.

(This bastard! What’s with that attitude, even though a kind girl is coming here bringing a lot of things for you!)

The water bottles and snacks that Novem brought got snatched up by Shannon and May.

「Thank you Novem. Just as I was feeling really thirsty.」

「I’m hungry~」

Novem panicked.

「Both of you, please leave some for Lyle-sama!」

Lyle laughed seeing Novem so flustered.

「It’s fine. It’ll be dinner when we get back, anyways. More importantly, we’re dirty right now so you shouldn’t touch us.」

Novem grabbed Lyle’s hand even after he said that.

「No, it’s fine. Even though it’s dirty, this hand is dirty from hard work. It’s not filthy at all.」

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It was completely different compared to the other girls before this.

Erhart felt extremely jealous.

(Dammit! Why is a girl this nice with this kind of guy!?)

Lyle and the two girls finished washing themselves and then left to go inside.

And then Erhart heard this conversation as they were walking.

「Lyle-sama, there was a call from the guild.」

「From the guild?」

「Yes. It’ll be three months soon, after all.」

He wondered just what it was about.

Erhart was curious, but he immediately lost interest because it was unrelated to them.

(Forget it, I’ll go to Marianne-san’s place tomorrow. It’ll be great if I can bring her some kind of present.)

Erhart eagerly looked forward to tomorrow──.

.

I was called to the guild and a staff member talked to me about from here on.

「Beim’s adventurer guild appreciates how hard all of you have worked.」

This staff with a moustache seemed to be in a higher position than that of the other staff.

I was shown into an office that had a sofa in it, instead of the usual receptionist counter.

The staff continued to talk happily.

「Recently, many adventurers are hopeless. They’re always picky about the quests they receive. But your party always works diligently no matter what the job is. It’s clear that your party can be sufficiently trusted after seeing the diligence in their work. And so this time we wish to ascertain your party’s capability.」

I didn’t think that we would be able to obtain the guild’s trust within just three months, but it seemed they would acknowledge adventurers who worked diligently.

「Our capability?」

The staff looked at me and smiled.

「This too is the way of Beim. We believe that you and your party are more capable than the average adventurers.」

「What should we do?」

When I asked, the staff started talking about a plan for a dungeon expedition.

「We ask that your party start from the surface and go down until floor B20.」

The request was the same as the expedition that was carried out when we just arrived in Beim.

「There was also something like that three months ago, wasn’t there?」

「This kind of expedition is routinely held here. The objective is to cull the monsters. If they’re left alone the monster’s number will quickly increase. That will be troubling.」

「And what will be our role?」

「First your party will be stationed at the center. From there it will depend on the judgment of the person in charge at the site.」

When entering a dungeon, the non-combatants would be gathered at the center of the formation.

Adventurers who could fight would be placed at the front and rear to protect the center.

There would be few chances to play an active role if we got placed in the center.

The staff was looking at me with a testing gaze.

「How about it?」

「I accept.」

The staff looked at me in amusement when I instantly answered like that.

「You’re still young and yet you don’t look hot-blooded at all. Like this, it looks like you’re someone who is overly cautious, but the impression you give is more favorable compared to adventurers who can only talk a big game.」

The Sixth who was listening to this conversation sounded fed-up.

『This guy, he is testing Lyle.』

Testing──the Sixth referred to our stationing at the place where there would be few chances to play an active role.

If I showed dislike and asked to be placed at the front or rear, he surely would grant it.

He was watching to see how I would react.

In other words, the test to ascertain my capability was already starting.

「After all, an adventurer’s job isn’t just fighting.」

The staff nodded slightly at my answer.

「It seems you really do understand.」

「We have investigated the test using the reference room, after all.」

The staff’s expression loosened in delight when he heard that.

Beim’s adventurer guild was watching how we were acting in this test.

Would we move as ordered? Did we have the capability?

Were we cooperative?

They would judge all those aspects comprehensively to decide on whether we passed or failed.

Even if we were lacking strength, if we moved as ordered and worked well with other people then we would pass.

Conversely, even if we ignored orders and didn’t work well with the surroundings, we would still pass if were strong.

The important thing was whether we would be useful for Beim’s adventurer guild or not.

「How reliable. I have great expectations for you.」

The staff said that and stood up from the sofa.

.

I returned to the inn and gathered my companions in order to talk about our plan going forward.

「Looks like the guild wants to see our strength.」

Aria and Sophia were looking happy with sparkling eyes, but their reason for that was horrible.

「So we’ll be freed from writing with this then!」

「I’m glad. These three months were really long!」

It seemed that kind of work wasn’t suited for them.

Novem was exasperated.

「For the two of you, this will be the main event, won’t it?」

Both Aria and Sophia were vigorous frontline fighters.

Swinging around a weapon was easier for them compared to writing letters.

May was tilting her head.

「Humans are amazing. To make use of the dungeon like this. As for us qilin, we want to defeat dungeon as soon as they appear, but Beim’s dungeon is a bit impossible I think. It has become too big.」

It seemed that destroying Beim’s dungeon that was said to have 100 underground floors was impossible by herself.

Shannon was making a gloomy expression.

「D-dungeon again? I don’t want to spend one month in that kind of dark place.」

In her case, she just didn’t want to work.

Clara told Shannon.

「Sunlight is shining into Beim’s dungeon from the ceiling. The place’s lighting will be dim, but there’ll still be a bit of sunlight there. I also heard that at night, the torches inside the dungeon will be lit with a bluish white flame.」

「Eh? Then it won’t be dark?」

「──The number of the torches will be few, so it’ll be dark at night.」

「That’s no good!」

I got irritated with Shannon who complained a lot, so I also joined the talk.

「You were alright with dark place before, weren’t you?」

「A place swarming with monsters is scary! I’m just a weak girl.」

「Weak? You are?」

Shannon got angry when I ridiculed her with a frivolous laugh. She kicked at me.

Eva clapped her hands when I dodged it.

「Yes, enough already. Let’s return to the topic. Lyle, we’re going to prepare for this, right?」

There was no problem with the preparation itself.

We would be able to obtain things like food or weapons easily in Beim.

The problem was the number of people.

We had ten people including me, but this number wasn’t a lot from an adventurer’s perspective.

We couldn’t bring Damian and Lily-san with us, or rather it would be troublesome if we brought them so they would stay behind.

In the first place, they wouldn’t want to participate.

「The only problem is with our number.」

Monica put her hands on her waist and acted big.

「With this Monica at your side, it’ll be like you have the strength of a hundred people at your disposal.」

This fellow’s work really was worth that much, but it still isn’t enough if we only rely on her.

「It’ll be great if we can form acquaintances through the quest this time.」

Naturally I also considered hiring people.

I also fixed my eyes on skilled adventurers based on the information that Miranda and Eva gathered.

But, currently we didn’t have any achievements in Beim.

If we hired people in this situation and succeeded in the expedition like that, other people would only think that it was thanks to the skilled adventurers that we hired.

That was why we had to take up the challenge with only our own strength.

「We will still keep being unknown in Beim for a while like this.」

Novem nodded.

「Yes, Lyle-sama.」

Now then, let’s begin preparing to challenge Beim’s dungeon.

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──At Beim’s adventurer guild.

Marianne had prepared a quest with good reward for Erhart.

「Helping out with the dungeon expedition? Could it be we have also been recognized as fully fledged adventurers!?」

Marianne poured cold water at Erhart’s happiness.

「Read the details carefully. It’s written there that you will be helpers only. Your party will mainly carry the luggage or set up the campsite. Don’t try to fight monsters no matter what, okay? This is not a test like before.」

「B-but.」

He thought that it was an adventurer-like work, but then he was depressed because he was immediately told that they wouldn’t be counted as fighting power.

Marianne showed a serious expression.

「Erhart-kun──have you forgotten how you almost died in that dungeon?」

「I-I haven’t.」

「Then work seriously this time. The adventurers around you will protect you. If you complete this quest successfully, you will be able to gather cheap equipment for your party.」

They could expect quite the amount from the quest this time.

After all, they would be heading to a dangerous place.

Even though they would only be helpers, the money they could obtain in one day would be double the pay from cleaning the highway.

Marianne suggested to Erhart to use the money to gather proper equipment.

「Erhart-kun, first you should gather equipment. You absolutely must prepare weapons and armor that would be the tools of your trade in the future. Do you understand?」

「O-ou!」

Erhart was filled with gratitude to Marianne who was worrying for them.

「After you have gathered proper equipment, you’ll be able to go outside and defeat monsters. When your earning increase, you’ll also be able to learn various things in Beim’s dojos, or a private school.」

「Dojo? Marianne-san, I can teach myself. After all I have three Arts──」

「Erhart-kun.」

Erhart corrected himself when Marianne called his name with a low voice.

「E-err, I can use my Arts until the third stage.」

「Very good. You mustn’t say that you have three Arts even by mistake. Because people will think that you have magic tools on you like that.」

Marianne also corrected Erhart’s misunderstanding with perseverance.

Erhart’s looked at Marianne and his cheeks reddened.

「S-say, Marianne-san. Do you, have someone you like?」

Erhart mustered his courage and tried asking. Then Marianne smiled suggestively and said,

「Now, I wonder about that?」

.

At the plaza in front of Beim’s dungeon.

This place was quiet when I tried coming here several times before for a preliminary investigation, but today it had a lot of adventurers gathering here.

Everyone’s equipment was all over the place. There wasn’t any sense of unity at all in this gathering.

But even among this gathering──we were still standing out as expected.

「What the hell is that!?」

「A carriage that moves without a horse!!」

Albano and Creit were observing from nearby.

Both of them were in their twenties, but they were leaders in charge of their own parties.

Right now they were looking very interested in front of Porter.

Their personality and appearance were the complete opposite from each other, but both of them were adventurers who caught Miranda’s eye.

The party that Albano led were the stereotypical adventurers.

They preferred light equipment that was easy to move in and brought with them a set of equipment that would let them play an active role in any kind of situation.

In contrast Creit was leading a group that was wearing full plate──full body armor.

They even brought horses with them. It looked like they had a strong longing toward knights.

They specialized in battle, so their group was thought of as not really useful for other things.

Both of them were born and raised as commoners. Neither of them was formerly a knight or a noble.

It was interesting that these two were leading a party with a completely different style despite that.

I talked to the two of them.

「It’s a vehicle that was developed in Arumsaas. I think that it won’t be long before it also spreads in Beim.」

I was the one who developed it, but it would be troublesome if I mentioned that so I kept quiet.

Albano knocked the armor plate to check the thickness.

「Arrows won’t do anything to this. If we use guns──it’ll be useless too I guess.」

It looked like he was thinking of how to deal with it.

Creit warned him.

「Albano! Don’t think about how to defeat an ally!」

「We don’t know when we’re going to become allies or enemies. Even so, this thing looks convenient.」

The person in charge came over while I was calming these two down.

「It’s noisy over here.」

Even the two became quiet when that person came.

This person was also mentioned in Miranda’s information.

「Good morning. You’re Neu Neumann-san, correct?」

He looked at me and smiled when I greeted him.

「How polite. I hope we can work well together.」

This person was an adventurer now, but he was previously a knight.

He lost his employer and drifted over to Beim with his family and became an adventurer──that was written in the document.

He had lived long as an adventurer, but he had a bit of a hang up due to the time when he was a knight.

He was a polite and diligent person.

Albano asked Neu-san.

「Big sis Annette(アネット) isn’t participating?」

「She is going home to her birthplace. Her knight order is also in the middle of holiday.」

「I thought it’s strange that I’m not seeing her recently…so she really is going home.」

Creit talked to me as those two were chatting.

「Even so, your party, they are really──showy, huh?」

Pointing out that there were only girls in my party in a roundabout way like that must be this person’s kindness.

「I wasn’t planning to gather only girls, but it already became like this when I noticed.」

「I-I see. But, if that’s the case than you better be careful. A party like yours can easily gather resentment from men. Also──that──it’ll be a bloodbath among your companions.」

Yeah, it was really dangerous.

There were a lot of dangers, whether from inside or outside.

「I’ll be careful.」

Neu-san then spoke to me as we were talking.

「Time to depart.」

.

──Erhart who was participating in the expedition for the second time caught sight of Lyle at the center of the formation.

「That guy is also participating?」

Erhart’s group was carrying luggage on their backs while walking beside the wagons.

In contrast, Lyle’s party was riding a large vehicle that looked like a metal box with wheels attached.

They were sitting on a moving box that was moving without a horse pulling it while watching the surroundings alertly.

There was a beautiful elf with pretty pink hair next to Lyle.

She has a bow on her back and is attentively watching the surroundings together with Lyle.

The two of them were talking, but he couldn’t hear what they were talking about.

Erhart cursed seeing that.

「Keh! That bastard is flirting with women. He thinks this place is a playground.」

To Erhart, Lyle’s party looked like they were lacking resolve──.

.

We were participating in the dungeon expedition, but bluntly speaking there was nothing to do.

I was sitting on the ceiling of Porter that was moving slowly and watching the surroundings in alert, but──there was nothing happening.

To begin with, the front and the rear was protecting the center.

It was rare for danger to reach the center.

「Nothing to do.」

The scenery along the way all looked the same. Eva who was on watch together with me was also bored.

「It’ll be time for the next shift soon, so endure it until then.」

「There isn’t any monster coming out, the traveling speed is also slow, it’s really boring.」

Eva was complaining a lot, but her eyes didn’t let their guard down even then.

Even so, this dungeon was really strange.

There was a really large hole opened up in the ground. Then, there’s a spiraling path that goes along the wall.

Dilapidated houses were lined up on the path. This place looked like a destroyed city.

We were going down the path slowly, but it only looked like we were walking along the same path.

Light was shining in from the ceiling──the surface, but just how did that work? The slant of the path was also gentle.

The Third spoke his opinion leisurely from inside the Jewel.

『It’ll also be nice if we can be led until floor B20 without anything happening like this, though. After all, you’ll be able to start from there the next time you come here.』

An expedition party was dispatched routinely in order to decrease the increasing number of monsters.

After we advanced until floor B20, the next time we would be able to start exploring the dungeon from there but──it would be pointless if we didn’t receive permission to enter the dungeon.

「It will be best if things continue peacefully like this and we pass the test.」

Eva disliked my statement.

「I think more surprise and drama are needed in life. I hope there’ll be some kind of serious incident that happens.」

「I’d prefer it if nothing happens, though.」

The expedition party slowly advanced like that and the sunlight was gradually weakening. When it became dark, the torches on the dilapidated houses were lit with a bluish white fire.

Neu-san who was riding a horse came nearby and raised his voice to the surrounding.

「We’ll stop here today! Start preparing the campsite!」

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The activity of the expedition party was plain.

There were also adventurers who were playing an active role spectacularly at the front and rear, but we at the center also had a lot of plain work to do in regards to supporting them.

「Shannon, I said more to the right. That’s the left.」

「Haa? This is the right from your position!」

Shanon and I were preparing food──not, instead we were lining up simple tables and benches.

A lot of benches were needed with how many people are here.

The food had to be prepared before the adventurers gathered here.

Well, we wouldn’t be the ones cooking, so we were only helping out the surroundings.

After we finished lining up the tables and benches, Shannon made a tired face.

「We’ve only been doing this kind of thing for two hours already. I’ve had enough. I want to go home~」

I flicked Shannon’s forehead because she was complaining.

「There are still two weeks left. Just be patient for a bit more.」

「There is nothing to do for us here mon. Let’s just go down quickly to the floor B20.」

「If only we could do that──hm?」

While we were making stupid talk, I saw adventurers running to the campsite in a panic.

「T-trouble! A subspecies came out!」

An adventurer who was running out of breath and drenched in sweat went around telling the noncombatants to run from the campsite.

「My comrades are holding it back. Run away quickly while you can!」

The expedition party fell into chaos when they heard a subspecies appeared near the campsite.

Shannon hid behind me while clutching my clothes.

「W-what!? What is this subspecies thing!?」

A subspecies was a monster that had experienced “Growth” and became stronger.

Growth was the blessing of goddess. Because of that, people thought that monsters wouldn’t be given that blessing.

And so no one was openly saying that monsters could also go through Growth.

That was why they were called subspecies.

「A subspecies is a normal monster that grows stronger. It’s troublesome because the way it grows strong is random, so we won’t be able to prepare any countermeasure beforehand I guess?」

「That’s dangerous isn’t it!? Then why are you that carefree!? Or rather, are you looking happy!?」

When the ancestors taught me about the subspecies, all seven of them were still in the Jewel.

The annoying First and the diligent Second were also there at that time. I remembered that the atmosphere was even livelier than now.

Looked like my feelings showed on my face when I recalled that time.

「No, I’m just getting a bit nostalgic about the time I was like you.  Some people had to tell me about it.」

I didn’t know how strong the monster had become, so I wouldn’t be able to prepare before challenging the subspecies.

I wanted to watch how the adventurers of Beim would act, but on the other hand I was also rejoicing inside because a chance had come.

I looked toward the direction of the commotion and lightly tapped Shannon’s back.

「The commotion is over there. You head to Porter right away. Gather everyone.」

Shannon looked at me with an uneasy expression.

「Haa!? You’re going to remain here alone!?」

「It’s fine, just go.」

I forcefully pushed Shannon’s back and she ran to where Porter was parked.

I walked among the helpers who were running around in confusion.

I intentionally walked against the flow of people and clenched the Jewel with my right hand.

The map of the surroundings clearly formed inside my head. It showed the adventurers who were fighting the monster as light dots.

It looked like they were surrounding the monster and fighting it as a group.

「They have nice movement.」

This party was different from all the other parties I had seen until now. It was a gathering of skilled people and the damage they received was small.

But, the subspecies was also leading a swarm of monsters. It seemed the party was in a difficult battle against them.

The ancestors inside the Jewel were rejoicing.

『Oh? A bigger chance than I expected is here. Even though I thought that at most Lyle will only get a chance in the latter half.』

The Third was easygoing.

The Fourth was exasperated by such Third, but he was also thinking that this was a chance.

『It’s too bad that it caused a great commotion though. But, it’s not so bad if we think of it as a chance for Lyle to shine.』

The Fifth was apparently observing the people who were running away in a panic.

『It helps that they’re running away quickly.』

It would be hard to fight while protecting them, so it helped that they were running away.

The adventurers were guiding the people who were escaping. They had no leeway to pay attention to me who was going against the flow of the crowd alone.

The Sixth confirmed the position of the enemy with the map I was using while thinking of how I should act.

『Fumu, first, I want to see the enemy’s appearance. Lyle, let’s observe the enemy from the rooftop.』

The Seventh was worried about something.

It seemed it wasn’t me that he was worried about.

『The achievement will be stolen if Lyle doesn’t defeat the monster quickly. Lyle, hurry.』

The flow of people was endless. I couldn’t see the front at all, so I started running and looked at the nearby rooftop.

I used a crumbling fence as a foothold and leaped up. I sprinted and lept from rooftop to rooftop while heading to where the enemy was.

Many of the buildings were one-story houses, but there were also two-storied and three-storied buildings.

I ran up the nearby tallest building and looked at the place where the enemy was from there.

It seemed they had a flashy battle there. Smoke was rising from that place.

I could see the figure of a monster advancing while destroying buildings.

Its upper body was similar to a human. It had pale skin and a bald head. Its red eyes were wide.

「Is that Centaur?」

It was bigger than a one-story house. Its lower body that I caught glimpses of from the gaps of the buildings was a cow or──a horse.

The adventurers were climbing on the rooftop and attacked from a distance against such a monster.

They were forced into a hard fight against the huge monster, but even so they were fighting well.

It would take time but, it looked like there wouldn’t be any problem even if I left them alone.

『Hmph! ──Not bad.』

The Seventh muttered in annoyance. It was because he hated adventurers.

However, he had to recognize them if they were capable.

He was irritated because of that.

「It looks like there won’t be any problem even if we just watch like this. Well, the problem is behind that thing I guess?」

I was only watching the huge subspecies monster, but the swarm of monsters that thing was leading was also troublesome.

Its number was many and the adventurers had a hard time defeating them.

There was some magic casted. A flame pillar appeared from some distance away, and then there was an explosion immediately.

「They’re flashy.」

I unconsciously let my impression slip out.

Miranda arrived while I was watching the situation.

Miranda was riding on the back of a golem that she created from soil. Aria and Sophia were riding behind Miranda.

Aria and Sophia got down from the golem and asked me about the situation.

「How’s it going!?」

Sophia chided the excited Aria.

「Please calm down, Aria! Lyle-dono, how’s the damage?」

Miranda was watching the battle silently, but she looked like she was listening carefully to me.

I explained the situation to the three.

「A troublesome subspecies came out, but the real problem is the enemies’ number. At this rate the swarm of monster will penetrate all the way into the campsite.」

Aria reassured me with her spear leaning on her shoulder.

「There is no problem with the campsite. Because almost everyone has run away.」

「The people, that is. But it’ll still be a bit troubling.」

People had already escaped──but the campsite had the important supplies of the expedition party.

If it was ransacked then this expedition would end in failure.

We would have no choice but to return to the surface.

I didn’t know what kind of decision the guild would make, but I wanted to avoid such a result.

Miranda turned her gaze to me.

「──And, what’re we going to do?」

I looked at the fighting adventurers while folding my arms and thought.

If we joined the fight here without permission, there would also be some people who wouldn’t be amused.

But, this was the best chance to promote our strength.

I clutched the Jewel once. The Third told me with his usual tone.

『Do as you like. Lyle is free to do anything.』

I let go of the Jewel and told the three.

「I want to join the battle as flashily as I can, so you three fight conspicuously.  As for me…I’ll defeat that troublesome subspecies first, I guess.」

The control would be difficult, but if I aimed well then even a subspecies would only take one hit to defeat.

This was a rare chance.

Let’s do it flashily.