“...So anyway, that’s what happened.”
“Wow, things sure got out of hand!” my senior, Slatarou, exclaimed with surprise.
I’d returned to his room right after parting with Marinnie. Apparently, a monster being out of its assigned floor was really bad, so she couldn’t stay on the first floor for too long.
It turns out that she was quite reliable and proper in that regard, even though she normally seemed to be super carefree.
“So, what’re you gonna do? There’s gonna be a team put together to take you out, right?”
“Well, one option is to just keep running...”
My information was already out in the open, so they would surely come up with countermeasures for my abilities. It was safe to assume that I wouldn’t be able to win so easily next time.
At least, that was what Marinnie had told me. She was right—I couldn’t afford to be so optimistic about things. The reason why I’d been able to win so far was because everyone had underestimated me.
“But apparently there’re spells and items that can tell you the locations of monsters.”
“Well, if they’re coming after you for real, then it makes sense. Really, it’s the least they could do to prepare.”
“Also, I’m not completely comfortable with running away without at least trying something else...”
“Yeah, you were originally meant to be a stationary trap. I don’t think I would run either, even if I was told I could.”
He was right. I was supposed to be a treasure chest to fool adventurers. It was almost like running around was against my nature.
Well, if there’s no chance of victory, then I’d still run.
“So I was trying to think of what I’d do if I were to fight, but I pretty much drew a blank in the end. All I could come up with was winging it when the time comes, since I have no idea what to expect.”
If I were mobbed by a ton of adventurers, I was planning to just blow them all up at once. But if they really did know a lot about me, then I had no idea what kind of countermeasures they’d come up with.
“But still, isn’t there...something you can do?”
“Yep, there is. Marinnie told me she couldn’t add more monsters or give me anything, but I did manage to get permission for a few things.”
“Permission?”
“First, I can use the boss room. Only up to six adventurers can enter that room at a time, so I’d probably be able to manage them somewhat.”
Unfortunately, there was also a demerit to using the boss room—it was a “two men enter, one man leaves” type of situation. Once inside, no one could leave until the fight was settled one way or the other. In other words, I couldn’t escape if things looked rough for me.
“Second, I’m allowed to take monsters that’re in rooms and place them outside,” I continued.
“What? As like, decoys?”
“It’s better than nothing, isn’t it?”
“Wow. You’re kinda awful, you know that? I guess that’s just how monsters are, though.”
“Well, we’re all here to fight adventurers anyway, right? So like, why not do it all together?”
Monsters were largely categorized into two types: wandering monsters who walked the corridors, and room monsters who waited to ambush adventurers in various chambers. In other words, I was able to turn room monsters into wandering monsters.
Normally, this sort of idea was frowned upon because it increased the difficulty of the dungeon. But, ultimately, it didn’t change the total number of monsters on the floor or their stats, so I got the green light.
“But even if you gather a bunch of first-floor monsters together, there won’t be much they can do, right?”
“They’ve gotta be able to serve as distractions at least, right?”
“Really, just awful.”
I couldn’t converse with most monsters, so there was no way I could consult with them and come up with a plan. My best bet would probably be to confuse the adventurers over how many monsters there were.
Well, I wasn’t hoping for much. But if they could at least buy some time...
“There’s only two more days until the end of the season... I hope the humans drag their feet,” Slatarou said.
“That would be nice, wouldn’t it? According to Marinnie’s prediction, though, they have the ability to do something before time’s up...even if they drag their feet a little.”
“I see. Oh, right, what’s your current level?”
“12. There won’t be any newbies coming anymore, so it’ll be hard to raise it any higher than it is.”
“I’ll say this just in case—you can’t raise your levels by defeating monsters, got it?”
“Aha ha ha ha... Don’t joke, I would never do that...”
Oh, is that so?
I’d actually toyed with the idea of gathering some of them together and blowing them all up at once for some extra exp...but I was just toying with the idea, okay?! It randomly popped into my head! Seriously!
“Well, to be exact, it’s not like you won’t get any experience...but the system for dealing with that sort of thing is difficult to work with. There’s a lot of stuff involved, like priority in retrieving souls.”
Apparently, the way leveling worked was that when something died, their soul and spirit would leave and scatter. Living things would then absorb that to get stronger.
“Oh yeah, did you learn anything about your stats?” Slatarou continued.
“Yeah, I asked about that...”
Marinnie had said that I could inquire about anything, so I’d asked her everything that came to mind.
“My gift, ‘The Beautiful Die Young,’ makes me beautiful in exchange for an eventful life, destined to be full of ups and downs. So it’s not, like, guaranteed that I’ll live a short life.”
“So you’re...beautiful...?”
“I actually have no idea. By human standards, I guess my arms and legs might be? Apparently, the reason I even have them is a possible side effect of the gift.”
“I see... Right... Maybe because there’s no way to show beauty if you’re stuck as a treasure chest?”
“Marinnie said that gifts are totally random, so it wasn’t something she gave me specifically. That reminds me, what’s yours?”
“Me? Mine is ‘Fast as Lightning.’”
“But...you can’t move, right?”
“Nope. Actually, wait—I can fall pretty dang fast.”
“What a waste of a gift, huh?”
“Oh, shut it. You’re pretty much in the same boat, aren’t you?”
I see. Looks like it’s true that it’s completely random. Seems like monster races don’t factor in at all.
“Anyway, it doesn’t seem like my gift will be useful for combat. I don’t know if it’s because I was able to use my Mimicry skill to grow these limbs, but it’s the only other form I’ve got.”
“Ahh, right... It would’ve been nice if you could’ve changed into something other than a treasure chest.”
“Exactly. If I could, I would’ve been able to hopefully disguise myself so they’d pass me by.”
No adventurer would leave a treasure chest alone upon seeing one—it was an ingrained habit for them.
“The more I hear, the more I feel like it’s totally hopeless for you...well, good luck.”
“No wait, c’mon! You’re my senior, Slatarou—you gotta help me! I even got you permission to go outside!”
“You know that’s impossible for me! The only thing I can do is fall! How much time do you think it takes for me to climb back up once I drop?!”
“Awww what, you won’t help me? Not even a little bit? Just the tip!”
He was not into that, let me tell you.
✦ ✦ ✦
Anyway, now I was in the dungeon’s entrance square. If I was going to get found anyway, it would be useless to hide.
You might’ve been wondering why I wasn’t hiding in the boss room. That plan was just a countermeasure in case I was totally swarmed by enemies, not my default one. After all, I wouldn’t be able to run once I was in there, which was a major disadvantage.
Also, if I were to wait in there, then I’d have to spend time with the boss orc for...who knows how long. That would be super awkward.
But, jeez, what’s taking them so long? I’ve been here for a while... Wait, don’t tell me they’re busy with that thing. You know, that thing that’s unique to humans—passing the blame on to someone else, holding meetings for the sake of meetings, etcetera. Maybe they aren’t able to move forward because of all the red tape?
Just as I was thinking about how nice it would’ve been if that were the case, I heard footsteps coming from the stairs.
They’re here!
From what I could gather, there were a few people—more than one, but not a huge crowd either.
All right... As much as I’d like to see what’s coming, I can’t wait too long—I’m pretty sure they’ll try to kill me immediately.
My current position would be bad news in a fight. I wasn’t able to climb the stairs at all, so it’d quickly turn into a one-sided slaughterfest if they were to attack me from the stairs. I dashed off into a corridor.