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Chapter 134: It’s not like strong people always have strong personalities, but it sure is more entertaining that way

“Haa… Troublesome things should be left to other people.”

“Aren’t you the one who brought the trouble, though? Anyway, we’re going to the Labyrinth now, so forget about it.”

Ragnall checks his pack as we wait for the Scarlet Torch party to meet us in front of the inn.

Sure, Hibiki-chan and I have Inventory, but Ragnall’s not stupid enough to rely on it fully.

Also, even though we won’t exactly be hiding our cheat skills from our new collaborators, it’s probably not the wisest to use Inventory without any restraint whatsoever.

And what if he gets separated from us?

That said, for some reason I’m carrying HIS extra swords for when he breaks his.

It shouldn’t happen as often here compared to Nyl, he said, since all the monsters in Nyl Labyrinth seemed to be made of rocks and crystals and stuff, and, well, monsters are more normally made of flesh and blood.

Even though I think he should use a club, I think he’d break a club anyway, and I do understand the preference for putting all that force into a cutting edge instead of a blunt surface.

And if the creatures aren’t covered in rocky carapaces, he’ll probably be able to just bisect them.

But bone is pretty hard too… well, not compared to rock.

Whatever; it’s not like worrying about it will change the heretical way Ragnall uses weapons.

As we wait, I ask,

“Is it okay, though? We’re getting a late start because of Hibiki-chan and my armor.”

Hibiki-chan makes an apologetic face as well.

It’s been five days since we first arrived in Ploids City, and we haven’t entered the Labyrinth yet because we were getting new armor made for us.

Hibiki-chan’s armor is now subtly sexy.

There is a lot of detail around her chest, including something like a corset, which is apparently all extra support to restrict her breasts from moving.

I did not need that sort of attention to details.

Ragnall shrugged, saying,

“It can’t be helped, right? It’s normal to upgrade your armor and weapons before going on a long expedition, and it’s honestly weirder for you to have ignored your armor for so long. And if the Scarlet Torch has a problem with it, they didn’t have to join up with us.”

I guess that’s true…

“Isn’t it actually better for them? Since we had that last minute emergency meeting at the Guild. The parties that got started right away didn’t get a chance to hear about it.”

What Hibiki-chan is talking about is the emergency meeting the Guild Master called all of a sudden.

The reason?

I only very briefly mentioned the fact that there was an Extusian party in Ploids aiming for the Forge as well, and it became this HUGE DEAL.

But seriously, Extusians have a really bad reputation, if the immediate reaction is to call a meeting to warn the adventurers to watch out for them.

There are concerns that they might eliminate their competition in nasty ways – even though they might not have a chance to figure out the Forge themselves?

When I asked, I was told that Extusians, in general, tend to be among the people that think, ‘If I can’t have it, then no one can have it.’

For some reason, I’m imagining a country full of yanderes.

I had been strictly warned by Seimei-san and Troy-san not to mention the whole ‘militant Extus’ that are doing nefarious things with the intent of waging war, since there are Extusian spies and assassins everywhere, especially when Troy-san and the other gamers from other games are still at Extus’ mercy, but I did tell the Guild Master in Ploids.

I mean, wouldn’t you be pissed if war broke out unexpectedly, catching you unprepared, and someone you knew said, ‘Oh yeah, I knew about that’ ?

Of course I took precautions and only told Guild Master Helmina when we were alone and used Sound Barrier and checked for other presences and everything, but I wonder if it was good thing – for the Guild Master.

She had turned pale and looked like she was about to faint.

Sorry for the sudden burden, but I didn’t want to have to deal with it.

I properly informed Seimei-san that I told her, and although he was worried that I might have pushed the impending Extusian invasion ahead in the schedule, he eventually agreed that an earlier war with the other countries only semi-prepared was still better than a later war with the other countries completely unprepared.

… I don’t really understand what goes on in some peoples’ heads sometimes, especially those who overthink.

I bluntly told Seimei-san that I was just going to move how I felt like it with regards to the Extusian threat, and although it made me slightly happy that Seimei-san sounded a little flustered, Masaki spoke up from where he had been listening in.

“Jun. Talk to the people around you first before you do anything.”

… When it’s coming from Seimei-san I can kind of gloss over his concerns, but when Masaki, someone who’s known me for a very long time, says it, I can’t really refute him.

I get it, I can be impulsive.

“…They’re late.”

Ragnall bounces his foot with a frown.

It’s not quite noon yet, but the sun is now pretty high up in the sky.

It’s at least mid-morning.

Where IS the Scarlet Torch?

Even though we’re the ones who delayed the starting day, it’s still bad manners to show up late on the day of departure.

“My bad, my bad!”

Ah, here they are now.

Obero, the large, red-headed, bearded man raised his hand as the Scarlet Torch appeared through the crowd.

Behind him is Perielle the dark elf, Kaso the not-deva, and Jira the tattoo-ed woman.

With everyone gathered, it’s finally time to dive into Ploids.

Unlike Nyl Labyrinth, Ploids Labyrinth isn’t completely underground and its entrance isn’t guarded by the Guild.

What separates it from the rest of the forest?

Unnaturally dense trees and foliage form a barrier between the Labyrinth and the rest of the world; the entrances to the Labyrinth are cracks in the ‘barrier’.

As Ploids is a changing Labyrinth, the size and locations of the boundary fluctuate every so often, and the locations of the entrances also change.

There’s no way for the Guild to control the entrances, and so they don’t bother.

Ploids is an uncontrolled Labyrinth, and so normally a party originating from another country exploring within it wouldn’t be suspicious in the slightest.

But Extusian parties acting secretively are reasons for concern, I guess.

In the first place, most parties from other countries tend to inform the Guild about their purposes, just in case something happens to them.

Not doing so indicates that they have something they need to hide.

And in a territory where there are essentially no laws, something they need to hide has to be something really, really bad.

Even now, the topic of conversation between the Scarlet Torches and our party is what to do if we were attacked by the Extusians.

“The problem is the retaliation from Extus.”

Perielle-san is frowns as we make our way through the dense foliage of the forest towards the nearest entrance into the Labyrinth.

Even if there’s a path, it’s very overgrown thanks to the vitality of the plants in the forest.

It seems that the mana from the Labyrinth affects even the parts of the forest outside of the Labyrinth.

“We’re Unaffiliated, though. How would Extus retaliate?”

Hibiki-chan asks, curious.

It’s a good question, since Unaffiliated literally means you’re someone who doesn’t want to be tied down to a country or people.

“Hahaha… that’s never stopped them. They’d probably start wiping out Unaffiliated towns until someone hunts you down and turns you in.”

I want to argue that attacking Unaffiliated towns might not be effective, since Unaffiliateds don’t necessarily hold allegiance to each other, but it probably doesn’t matter.

Extus is the kind of country that wouldn’t be bothered about the fact that they’re performing genocide, and they’re betting you or the people around you would be adverse to it.

If that’s the case, I’ll have to be subtler if I want to free the other gamers in Extus.

Anyway, that’s something for the future.

First is the Forge and Troy-san’s Suzako-san.

“But if we wipe out their whole team, then there shouldn’t be anything they can do~? Ploids is a dangerous place, so they can’t prove anything~.”

Jira-san says frivolously.

“As long as you can keep it perfectly sneaky and quiet. They could have monitering devices… well, Transmittance magic gets disrupted Ploids Labyrinth, though, so maybe it would be okay.”

Is that so?

Un… I’ve used Friend Chat once or twice before within Nyl, though… but maybe Ploids is different?

Or maybe gamer cheats are OP.

Either way, I should keep an eye out for strange magics, huh?

Or just have Hibiki-chan use her shadowy powers to teleport behind them and sneak attack – no, I’d rather not force her to kill people.

So far, she hasn’t done much killing, and she’s a girl younger than me so I’d like to avoid forcing nastier tasks on her.

“… Everyone’s pretty gung-ho about offing them, huh?”

I can’t help but say.

“Well, yeah. If they’re aiming to kill us, we shouldn’t hesitate to kill them. Extusians working for their state are known to be vicious in getting revenge.”

Since Perielle bothers to denote Extusians working for the Extus government versus normal Extusians, I’m beginning to understand how the rest of the world is still fearful of Extus.

They waged war against almost all of the rest of the world in the past, after all; the only reason they’re not considered a threat now is because they were beaten so badly that it was judged they would take a long, long time to recover from it.

Guys, I understand where you’re coming from, but relying on wishful thinking is a bad idea.

According to Troy-san, Extus has been recovering extremely fast, at the sacrifice of their morals.

I think I made the right decision to tell Guild Master Helmina.

What she does with the information is her matter, but at least someone in an official position is aware of the impending danger.

Now that I think of it, preventing this Extusian party from accomplishing their objective is doing the world a great service.

Not that I was hesitating about it before, but now I think the Scarlet Torch would be on board with our plan to free Suzako-san.

I did tell Hibiki-chan and Ragnall about it, of course, but Ragnall suggested waiting to tell the Scarlet Torch about it when we came across the party.

Apparently he thinks it will be easier to convince them if they have to make a decision on the spot, compared to having them think about it beforehand, but hearing them talk about the situation makes me think they wouldn’t be adverse to it either way.

As we walk along the pathway, the trees and foliage have now become noticeably dense.

It was a gradual (over)growth, but you’ll begin to notice at some point.

Yeah, it’s gotten to the point where you’d shred your skin and flesh if you tried to squeeze between the tree trunks and bushes.

To grow a boundary like this, Labyrinths are mysterious.

Up ahead is the entrance, but there’s suddenly a commotion.

Adventurers are fleeing this way, pushing their way past us.

“… What’s going on~? I guess I’ll go find out-!”

“Oi, Jira, wait – she’s always so impatient.”

Perielle-san looks annoyed as Jira-san ran ahead.

“Well, well, let’s just handle things as they come. Oi, you. What’s going on?”

Obero-san grabbed a passing adventurer by the arm.

“What’s – oh, it’s Obero! That’s great news! There’s a swarm of Hellfire Wasps in this entrance! They’re berserked!”

“Hellfire Wasps? In this part of the Labyrinth? After the Purge they should only appear in Area 3.”

Perielle furrows her eyebrows.

I don’t know anything about the habitat of Hellfire Wasps, but I do know what kind of monster they are.

If I want to infuse my weapons with monster parts, I naturally have to be aware of what kind of monsters there are in this part of the world.

Hellfire Wasps don’t breathe fire, but their poison hurts so badly it feels like you’re on fire.

They are large-dog-sized wasps, but their poison won’t kill you with just a few stings unless they sting you in a bad place – or if there is a swarm of them.

If there’s a swarm of them blocking the entrance, yeah, that could be a problem for your average adventurer.

“A swarm of berserked Hellfire Wasps… Should we prepare to smoke them out? Or should we try to scatter them first?”

Perielle asks Obero.

“Let’s see -”

“That’s too much trouble. Jun, set them on fire.”

… I’m okay with it, but Ragnall saying it like that kind of pisses me off.

I can’t help but complain a little.

“Sometimes I feel like you just want to make me do all the work.”

“Ah, no, see, it will be easier to locate the queen while you deal with the swarm.”

Yeah, yeah.

Geez.

Well, I’ll acknowledge that having me deal with it is probably the quickest way to deal with this problem.

Maybe.

“Oi, Ragnall, even if she’s strong, this isn’t really something -”

“Eh… hm. ‘Fireball storm,’ or something like that?”

Obero-san steps forward like he has some problem with Ragnall’s ‘plan,’ but it’s a pain so I concentrate on my magic, locking on to the hornets’ general direction.

Bugs are weak to fire, right?

Or is that just a misconception based on a game, and in actuality, living things are just weak to being burned?

Either way, it’s a little troubling that fire isn’t a very good projectile so I can’t just shoot a flame at the fairly quick and evasive hornets.

Luckily magic power can make for an excellent projectile, so I’m essentially spraying many small ‘particles’ of magic power covered in fire magic.

Of course, that makes for really crappy efficiency if I’m creating each individual ‘fireball,’ so I just make a large one that explodes its pieces outward in one 180 degree area.

… It’s still probably an astronomical expense in MP if any normal person uses it, I suppose.

By the way, after confirming it with Emi-chan and Karin, most of the gamers have under 2 million MP; Emi-chan, the next highest magic-specced player behind Seimei-san, only has a little over 1.5 million, almost 1 million behind me.

Tatsu-san, the least magic-specced player, barely has 10,000 MP.

He’s as much of an outlier as Seimei-san – is what I want to say, but in all honesty, Seimei-san is probably an oddity that breaks this world, and probably broke the game when they were still playing it.

I wasn’t surprised to hear that he was the direct cause of several wizard nerfs during the beta.

How our MP compares to the native people in this world is still mostly a mystery, since they aren’t capable of measuring the actual MP pool someone has but the MP aura they radiate, which is more like MP regeneration, but even if we’re comparing MP regen, it’s likely that even Tatsu-san is well above average.

But how do we compare versus the more exceptional people in this world?

I guess I’ll find out after this, since the Scarlet Torch are supposed to be an A Rank party… ah.

Sparkle sparkle sparkle

Kaso … you’re too close, too close.

“Again.”

“Wh-what?”

“Again.”

… Even though he’s probably not that young, because he looks like a 10-year-old boy, it’s tough for me when he’s looking at me with sparkling eyes.

“Again.”

Th-there’s no more hornets, though?

… Well, it’s not like I need a target to use it or anything.

I shoot the randomly-named ‘fireball storm’ again.

“…Again.”

“… …”

“…Kaso, down boy.”

Perielle pressed her hand gentle on the top of Kaso’s head.

“He gets like this with any sort of interesting magic… but it really is convenient not to have to worry about escaping hornets. Also, they’ve already killed the queen.”

Ah, yeah.

With Hibiki-chan’s excellent eyes and Shadow Step ability, it was inevitable.

Although it looks like Ragnall went to back her up.

Queen Hellfire Hornets can be pretty nasty, after all.

Unlike hive-mind bugs on Earth, the queens in this world don’t need soldiers to protect them; they are more than capable of protecting themselves.

Although between the two high-dps attacks of Hibiki-chan and Ragnall, I imagine it wasn’t able to do all that much before being cleaved in two.

Obero-san scratched his beard, saying,

“Looks like we’ll have to pull out all the stops for this mission or we’re going to be left behind.”

“Then help me babysit our two troublemakers, you brawns-for-brains!”

Perielle-san looks exasperated as she tries to keep Kaso from pestering me while also looking around to find Jira.

Watching them, I can’t help but remark,

“… Strong parties tend to be full of oddballs, huh?”

“ “You don’t get to say that.” “

… Hibiki-chan, Ragnall…. I don’t think you two get to say that either, though?

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<a/n: I feel like I’ve been writing a lot of crap lately…
The delays are in large part due to that, because I end up writing some of these chapters two times over. I think I need to get back into the habit of thinking, “Will this be entertaining for my audience to read,” while I write. It’s something I used to do a lot, but over time other priorities start sneaking in and eclipsing that, like wanting to finish a chapter to update, or just wanting to meet my quota for writing for the day, or even just wanting to force the plot along.

And let me just say, if that’s all you’re thinking, it makes for shit writing.

There’s a saying among writers that the most interesting part of your main character’s life should be your story, and if it isn’t (ie it’s in the backstory), then maybe you should be telling that story instead.
This kind of runs parallel to that; if what you’re writing isn’t interesting in any way shape or form and it’s just connective filler, then maybe you shouldn’t bother with it and move on ahead.

(This is in large part why I don’t have an update schedule, because I have the freedom to not post a bad chapter even if that’s all I have at the moment.)