Death March — Fixed

POV: Liza

 

“Then, we will be going.” I inform Master, waiting for his confirmation before leaving the mansion.

 

Master is going to attend the Viscount’s banquet, and Lulu has promised to teach the children how to cook and read, so both of them are staying at the mansion.

 

This time, we will be joined by the two female Adventurers from a party called Beautiful Wing, Master has assigned them to us, to be trained. Although they’re only as strong normal soldiers, Master has supplied them with a complete set of ant-shell armour, one-handed swords, and shields.

 

They should be fine when fighting against enemies which are slightly higher leveled than them.

 

“Then, during the time that the Chevalier isn’t here, Nana is the leader right?” Iruna asked.

 

“In charge of battle commands and strategies is Liza, making judgments during complex situations is Arisa, so I inform.”

 

“Ooh, is that so. I will be in your care, Liza.”

 

I nod back to Iruna, who seems to be trying to be social, before turning to Arisa, “Then Arisa, what kind of place is Area -11?”

 

“Eh? We’re going to Area -11?!” The woman with black hair, Gena, cut into the conversation. According to Arisa, she is beautiful--but since she belongs to another species, I can’t see it…and no one is better looking than Master.

 

“That’s the plan, is there any problems?”

 

“Area -11 is a place full of troublesome Monsters like Horn Hoppers and Rock-Head Bees, isn’t it?”

 

“That’s right, you know your stuff.” Arisa answers, shrugging.

 

“That’s because that place is infamous in a bad way. There are a lot of Monsters in the Area, so only desperate Adventurers, who have had their prey taken go there--but most are now either dead, or have received crippling injuries.”

 

I see, it’s a formidable Area--I’ve heard some good news, I look forward to it.

 

“Horn Hoppers, and Rock-head Bees are certainly hard, but they’re easy to handle since they charge straight at you.”

 

“Is it really? I guess it’s easy for people who could defeat a Hunter Mantis.”

 

“That’s right! If you’re going to ride this big ship, hop aboard now.” Arisa spoke with a grin.

 

***

“Oh my, Liza, aren’t we going to buy oil for lanterns?”

“There’s no need.”

 

The inside of the Labyrinth is illuminated well enough that battles don’t cause a problem, and Mia can use her Spirit Magic to created Light Balls, in places without any Sign Monuments.

 

“Can we stop by the Guild for a bit? I’d like to replenish Hemostasis Ointment, because we ran out during out last fight.”

 

“It’s unnecessary. Mia can use Healing Magic, and we’ll give you some Health and Magic Potions when we enter the Labyrinth.”

 

“Ma-Magic Potions? R-really? That’s like 1 silver coin for one bottle, right?”

 

It occurred to me that being with Master, my sense of money has been numbed. I’ve been using them readily, since Master gave them to me so easily, and always insisted that we use them whenever we need them.

 

“Your life is more important, you know. Master will really hate it if someone important to him gets hurt. That’s why, don’t think about conserving the Potions.” Arisa looks at me with a grin--she can always read us so well, which is why she is our leader and support when Master isn’t here.

 

That’s right, Master is that kind of person.

 

“How about luminescent stones, or Smoke Balls and Flash Balls?” Iruna continued her questions about our supplies.

 

“Nn, we have the latter two from Master, but what do luminescent stones do?”

 

“You drop them at junctions in the Labyrinth. It takes 3 days to stop glowing, so we won’t lose our ways back.”

 

I see, since we usually have Master’s perfect guidance, we never left traces behind. However, it seems to be quite the useful when we are training without Master here.

 

We stop by the Guild and buy some, placing them in the Magic Bag that Master entrusted to me.

 

“Eh? Do you have the Item Box Skill?” Iruna asks me with an astonished expression.

 

“No, this bag is a Magic Tool.”

 

“T-There’s that kind of tool, huh? As expected of people employed by a noble.”

 

***

“They’re coming, four Rock-head Bees.”

 

“You worker Bees! You’re not good just because you’re solid, so I declare!”

 

The four Rock-head Bees are rushing Nana, who’s set up her great-shield. These Monsters have heads that are actually harder then stone. Master isn’t here today, so I cannot recklessly use Magic Edge.

 

“Pochi and Tama, avoid hitting their hard heads, and aim for the gaps in their joints, especially the neck.”

 

“Aye, aye.”

“Roger.”

 

I move to the side of the nearby bee, using Flickering Movement, thrusting my spear into the gap between its head and abdomen. The small, flexible gap in its rock-like armour.

 

It seems to be a rather fragile Monster, the head separates from its body in one blow--Tama and Pochi defeated their targets with the same ease.

 

“Nana! Don’t kill that one, push it down to the ground.”

 

“Understood!” Nana blocks the last one with her great-shield, knocking it to the ground, as Arisa instructs her.

 

“Iruna, Gena, attack that Rock-head Bee.”

 

“Is it alright? The sword will be chipped if I attack like this, y’know?”

 

“It’s fine, just hit it! You can break one or two swords!”

 

The two hesitated at first, but moved after confirming with Arisa. As for the Bee, Nana had pinned its wings to the ground with her sword.

 

They swing their swords with surprisingly weak postures, but can’t cut through the shell, or even the gap in the Bee’s neck--let’s have Nana teach them the proper way to swing their swords, later.

 

***

“Level 20 enemies are really weak, aren’t they?” I unconsciously muttered.

 

“No, no, that conclusion is strange.”

“That’s right, even a knight in full body armour would suffer injuries if they got hit directly by this Monster.”

 

That Knight mustn’t have enough guts.

 

“You two hear me, when multiple enemies come, exterminate the last enemy that we leave for you. Nana will pin it down, while you exterminate it.”

 

“Eh? Is it alright like that?”

“I feel guilty…like I’m a stone-throwing baggage carrier.”

 

After I told the disproving Iruna, and nervous Gena, that my instructions were for the sake of raising their levels, they reluctantly agreed.

 

This kind of pride, the pride of a warrior is likeable, isn’t it.

 

“By the way, can I ask something? What’s a stone-throwing baggage carrier?”

 

When I asked Iruna, she explained that some baggage carriers wanted to level up, and they would throw stones. This would count toward them doing damage and they would get Experience for the kills, but…no Adventurers would take them, if they were found out.

 

I see, so it’s like snatching pre-weakened prey.

 

Pochi, Tama and I raised our levels using such a method at the beginning, but it was okay, because Master had given us his permission.

 

Now then, the time for conversation is over. Tama has returned from the other side of the corridor while bringing along some Horn Hoppers.

 

“Pretending to be the leader because you have a horn, how ridiculous!”

 

There’s only one Monster this time, it doesn’t seem that I’ll have a turn. But, I make sure to keep alert, to make sure no Monsters sneak up and attack Arisa or Mia.

 

Tama leaps over Nana and her shield, and the Horn Hopper rams into the shield. But it seems that it hit too hard, its horn broke and fell to the ground.

 

The Horn Hopper is even softer than the Rock-head Bee, so the two women’s swords are doing better. After confirming that they managed to damage it, I finish it off.

 

***

We got 4 gold coins from the Rock-head Bees’ meat, and from their Magic Cores. The Horn Hopper meat sold for 20 copper coins for one Monster worth.

 

I was going to sell all the meat from the Rock-head Bees, but I decided to keep one, for Master.

 

As ordered by Master, we split the income according to the number of people, including the two women. Arisa calculated it, since I’m still not very good at calculation.

 

At first the two women tried to refuse the money, since they thought that they were just being a burden, but Arisa told them that it was Master’s orders, they changed their minds.

 

“It’s amazing. Earning this much just by going into the Labyrinth for just half a day!”

“Yeah, earning half a gold coin for each of us, it’s like a dream.”

 

I tell the two our plan for tomorrow, “We’re going to hunt with the same pace tomorrow, so eat some good food and have a good rest.”

 

We had killed around 100 Monsters, so the pace was fairly high--we usually hunted between 30 - 40 Monsters, which were usually much more powerful.

 

“T-Tomorrow too, like that?”

“Uuu, Iruna. I wonder if we can go back to Labyrinth City tomorrow.”

 

I leave the two anxious girls for Arisa to console.

 

Let’s quickly go home, I want to see Master…and eat Lulu’s delicious meals.