Chapter 216 - Discarded Pawns (5)

Orculus.

A notorious band of criminals who had risen against the royal family.

Though founded only a few decades ago, the group had built its infamy through countless acts of terrorism and crime. The royal family had put enormous bounties on their heads and begun hunting them down, but they operated with such secrecy that only seven had been killed to date.

"And seven of those bastards are here..."

Marco Alban, commander of the Third Royal Knight Order, could not suppress a troubled murmur at his subordinate's report. Responding swiftly when the crisis struck, he had established a safe zone in the center, declared a state of war, and assumed command.

His first priority had been gathering intelligence. He immediately sent scouting parties toward the second-floor portals, their potential way out, and had spent every moment since, without a wink of sleep, checking and rechecking every report from the front lines.

As a result, seven members of Orculus had been identified.

The Screaming Witch, Black Toenail, and the Lighthouse Keeper.

Those three were prowling around the safe zone, slaughtering people, while the remaining four blocked the second-floor portals.

'So this was their objective from the beginning.'

Alban clenched his fist in frustration. The first three were bad enough, but these four were the greatest obstacle.

The Corpse Collector, more infamous for his grotesque, cruel deeds than for being an evil spirit.

The Scholar of Destruction, once the head of a major school of magic, who had dabbled in forbidden magic and fallen into criminality.

The Blood Knight, who had begun as a soldier born in Bifron and made his name by killing the previous commander of the First Royal Knight Order.

And finally...

'The Traitor.'

The man who had gathered those lunatics into the organization called Orculus, personally writing its history of infamy and countless massacres.

All four of that organization's foremost members were here.

But Orculus was not the only threat. Countless other major criminals had fled to Noark. With their strength added to the mix, victory was far from certain even if Alban committed his entire force.

At last, Alban broke his long silence.

"We will abandon the plan to break through them and reach the second floor."

An even heavier silence settled over the gathering. One knight forced himself to speak.

"... The third day will begin soon."

"I know. But now that the Scholar of Destruction's presence is confirmed, the portals have most likely already been rendered useless anyway."

"Then..."

Alban closed his eyes and opened them again, as if clearing away distracting thoughts.

A commander had to make decisions.

"Gather mages capable of casting dimensional gate magic. As discreetly as possible."

He had to make the necessary decisions.

Whatever the sacrifice.

* * *

I open my eyes and check the clock.

[00 : 17]

Another day has passed before I know it. It's now day three.

Nothing particularly noteworthy happened yesterday. I checked the loot we'd picked up on the way, found an explorer with a repair Ability to fix our damaged equipment, took our team's turn on guard duty, and went around gathering information as soon as our shift ended.

Oh, and I heard what happened with Takellan.

["... Huh? You mean that guy, nyah?"]

It took a lot of work to coax Misha into talking, but once I heard the story, there wasn't much to it.

Apparently, he'd had a breakdown and briefly lost his head?

Seeing that all of us had survived, he'd hurled angry remarks at them. But that hadn't lasted long.

["Aruru was seriously scary then. She kept shouting back at him, asking how he could say that after seeing you dragged off in that state without even getting treated... Whew, I broke out in a cold sweat just listening, nyah."]

Yeah, she is terrifying when she's angry. How such a tiny body produces that kind of shout is still a mystery.

["Anyway, that's all. Aynar got angry too and was just about to draw her sword when he suddenly left, nyah."]

I was grateful to my companions for standing up for me, but the more I heard, the more my expression stiffened.

Because they didn't know.

They didn't know I'd deliberately placed the others at the back to improve our own chances of survival, however slightly.

["Huh? Why that look, nyah?"]

["It's nothing. I'm just hungry."]

Takellan's anger was justified. If I'd arranged the formation purely for efficiency, more people might have survived.

But I hadn't.

Even those better suited to the rear, I'd placed behind me, where it was relatively safe. Takellan had probably acted that way because he'd realized it afterward.

'... Better to keep this to myself.'

After taking a moment to wake up properly, I slowly rose and put away my sleeping bag.

Busy as it had been, day two had been peaceful compared to the brutal first day.

But that peace ended today.

"Mmm, Mr. Jandel...?"

Perhaps woken by my movements, Raven poked her head out and rubbed her eyes.

"Did I wake you? Sorry."

"No, I just can't sleep..."

"Not going back to sleep?"

At my question, Raven pulled her upper body out of her sleeping bag and sat up.

"What about you, Mr. Jandel? Aren't you going to sleep more?"

"I can't sleep either."

"So you were going to stand guard by yourself?"

I chuckled and readily admitted it. There was no point denying it when we were both in the same position.

"It's already day three..."

Starting on day three, the Floor Lord could be summoned. The only condition was that five or more people be gathered together.

Of course, it was chance-based, and with over ten thousand explorers on the first floor, the odds of it appearing in front of us were low...

'But you never know.'

I'm this team's tank. Even if the Floor Lord dropped right in front of us, I could at least buy my companions enough time to esc—

WHOOOOM!

Just then, the ground trembled faintly, and the colorless crystals embedded in the cavern walls began radiating a brilliant glow.

A red glow, vivid as blood.

"Mr. Jandel, this is...!"

It meant a Floor Lord had appeared somewhere.

"Wh-what's going on!"

Aynar and the rest of our sleeping companions woke one after another. The explorers from other teams sleeping nearby did the same.

I calmly reassured my companions.

"Don't panic. Fortunately, it doesn't seem to have appeared anywhere near us."

Wherever the first-floor Floor Lord appeared, loud noises inevitably followed. Since we couldn't hear any, it was safe to assume it was far away.

"Everyone, go back to sleep."

"But..."

"I'll wake you if anything happens. We only just finished our guard shift."

"You're just as tired as we are, nyah."

"I dozed off a little during it, so I'm fine."

I didn't know whether they'd fall asleep right away, but I made them lie back down in their sleeping bags and close their eyes anyway. Recovering their stamina came first.

Had about twenty minutes passed?

WHOOOOM...

The crystals illuminating the area went dark, like batteries running out of charge.

The Floor Lord had been defeated.

Of course, it was still too early to relax. Unlike the upper-floor lords, whose respawn times ranged from at least several months to years, this one could be summoned over and over.

"We'll keep being all right... won't we?"

"Don't worry. Thirty competent explorers can kill the first-floor Floor Lord. With this many people here, it'll be dealt with quickly wherever it appears."

In fact, that was the biggest reason I'd fought through that desperate route to join the royal forces.

Here, we were safe from the Floor Lord. Even if it appeared right in front of us, reinforcements would arrive quickly as long as I held out for a bit.

"I'll leave things here to you, then."

"Where are you going?"

"To see if I can pick up any information."

"Then I'll come with—"

"No need to waste manpower. If you really can't sleep, keep watch over the others."

As soon as the first Floor Lord was defeated, I left our assigned area and headed toward the center.

The Floor Lord's respawn time was six hours. I intended to spend that time looking around for anything unusual.

There wasn't anything else I could do.

[North172-21]

Following the markings the royal forces had drawn on the walls to distinguish locations, I listened closely to the explorers talking around me.

"Did you hear? It was the southern passage."

"Where the Floor Lord appeared?"

"Yes. They say about twenty people died before reinforcements arrived."

"Damn it. If it had to show up, why couldn't it appear where those underground-city bastards are?"

These were conversations between explorers in much the same situation as me, so the information wasn't especially reliable, but neither could I dismiss it outright.

At least it was an excellent way to gauge the mood.

"How much longer are we supposed to stay holed up here?"

"Exactly. In that last speech, they said they'd open a path to the second-floor portals soon. It's already day three."

"The enemy being so quiet only makes me more nervous."

As expected, the explorers were growing distrustful of the leadership, which had issued no meaningful announcements since the first day.

For the record, I felt the same.

'It's about time they made a decision.'

Assuming a Floor Lord was killed every six hours, eight would be defeated over two days.

In other words, that thing would definitely appear on day five.

'With major clans and even a royal knight commander here, there's no way they don't know that...'

So why hadn't they taken any action yet?

I was dying to know what they'd discussed in that command tent where the meeting had been underway when I arrived.

'Surely they can tell that's what Noark is after, too...'

Why were they just holding out here? I'd naturally assumed they'd open a route in one direction or another and head to the second floor.

My footsteps quickened as my thoughts grew more troubled.

Then a familiar face appeared.

The guy who'd first discovered the backpack-duplication exploit and spread it throughout the tribe.

"Karon...?"

"Great warrior Bjorn, son of Jandel!!!!"

When I recognized him and spoke, Karon immediately sprang up and rushed toward me enthusiastically.

"To meet you here!! You really are destined to lead us!!"

I was a little taken aback, but I was glad to see him, so I returned his greeting in roughly barbarian fashion. Then I asked what I wanted to know.

"Who's that with you, though?"

"Warriors I met here!!"

"You met them here?"

I couldn't understand it.

The barbarians' backpack-duplication exploit had been patched long ago. Partly because the trick had become known among explorers, but mostly because low-floor explorers had all but disappeared after the introduction of identification tags, a kind of magic device.

Getting a tag cost seventy thousand Stones, after all.

That was why, as far as I knew, Karon had joined a third-floor team not long ago...

"What happened to your team?"

"Oh, them? They died on the way here! So the soldiers introduced me to other warriors who'd been left alone like me!"

Those fucking soldiers.

A party of five barbarian warriors...

They must have thrown them together because doing anything else was too much trouble.

"A-are you really Little Valcan? It's an honor to meet you!! I-I'm Dvan, second son of Berox!!"

"Uh, yes. Good to meet you too."

After briefly returning the greetings of the barbarians excited by my name, I resumed my conversation with Karon.

It would have been different if I hadn't seen them. But now that I had, how could I leave them here?

"Rather than staying here, why don't you join us?"

"C-can we really?"

They'd paid seventy thousand Stones for identification tags, and they had their equipment. Those two things alone told me they were warriors who explored at least the third floor.

Having them around would definitely help me. Above all, I could trust them.

"Why not?"

I told the overwhelmed Karon where our team had been assigned.

"I'll tell the administrative soldier on my way, so head there first. When you see the mage, politely explain that I sent you."

"Got it!"

"Oh, if you don't know the way, ask the explorers around you. Shout and keep them awake, and they'll answer just to get rid of you."

"Ooh!! Of course!"

I sent Karon's group off and was just about to continue on my way.

"Bjorn Jandel."

A man's low voice stopped me in my tracks. I turned to find someone I hadn't wanted to meet.

"Takellan Arbenon."

He was gathered with explorers I'd never seen before. Of course he was.

He'd lost every one of his companions on the way here.

"..."

Takellan stared at me in silence. The faint trembling of his jaw showed how hard he was struggling to hold something back.

I spoke first.

"I heard what happened while I was away."

"..."

"Do you blame me?"

Takellan neither nodded nor shook his head. He simply stood there looking at me, as if enduring something.

A long time passed before he answered.

"No. I don't blame you."

An unexpected answer.

Takellan slowly began speaking, as if pouring out his emotions.

"I've been thinking all this time. It was the only thing I could do. Why did things turn out like this for me? Lena was dead, so how could you all smile and say what a relief it was? If those bastards hadn't run away halfway through, would Lena still be alive?"

"..."

"No, more than anything..."

"..."

"Did you really not know this would happen?"

"And did you reach a conclusion?"

"I don't know. You were the one who got hurt the most. You were the one who did the hardest job. And it wasn't as if your companions were guaranteed to come through unharmed either."

Was there ever a situation where anything was guaranteed?

I'd simply done my best.

Done what I could to improve our chances of survival, however slightly.

That was why...

"I shouldn't have followed you."

It felt as if a sharp blade were scraping away at something left inside me.

"But," Takellan continued, "I was the one who decided to follow you."

"..."

"I was the one who voted for you to lead us."

"..."

"And when that woman said she'd use Mass Teleportation magic, the one who couldn't even suggest anything and just stood there watching...! That was me."

Self-loathing.

Watching him lay all the blame on himself in the end, I was overcome by an emotion I couldn't put into words.

"That's why I don't blame you."

"... I see."

What was I supposed to say in a situation like this? I couldn't offer even clumsy words of comfort.

But perhaps he sensed my hesitation.

"Don't pity me."

Ending the conversation, Takellan sank back down where he'd been sitting.

"Someday, you'll feel the same way I do."

He wasn't looking at me anymore. Only at the floor.

I knew there was nothing more for us to say.

I resumed my walk, footsteps echoing.

Takellan didn't call after me.

How much time passed after that?

The passage widened, opening into the enlarged central cavern. First, I found an administrative soldier and told him Karon's group would be joining us.

"Team Apple Naraq... Ah, the outer passage in the northern sector. Confirmed."

That took care of my business.

But just as I turned away...

CLANK, CLANK.

A knight emerged from a tent and approached the administrative soldier who'd just helped me, casting a glance my way. Then he named six schools of magic.

"Ah, yes. Mages belonging to those schools? I'll check the roster first."

Were they conscripting mages now, on top of the priests?

That was my first thought, but...

'Derta, Speris, Jacard...'

As I mulled over the schools the knight had named, I noticed one thing they had in common.

'Dimensional gate magic.'

Mages of grade four or higher from those schools could open a dimensional gate usable by up to thirty people.

The moment I realized that...

THUMP!

My heart gave an ominous beat. A recent conversation flashed through my mind as well.

There was no point denying it.

["A fine commander is not someone who makes perfect choices. He is someone who makes the necessary choices."]