Hell Mode: Volume 3, page 12
The way the envoy put it, all Talented nobles had a duty to fight in a dangerous place crawling with monsters for three years. Due to the enormity of House Carnel’s crimes, Keel would have to serve for an extra two years to fully redeem his family’s name. When Allen heard this, he recalled that five years was the longest a Talented criminal could be sentenced to the battlefield for.
Keel continued his story. He had immediately accepted the envoy’s offer, then asked if he could bring Nina—as well as the servants who had also lost their home—with him to Academy City. The man gave his permission, telling Keel he could do as he pleased. After that, Keel had returned to Carnel City and served at a church there until April. He did not have to worry about paying tuition, as that was being covered by the royal family, but the money for living expenses at the Academy had all gone toward moving his whole family.
“All my life, I’d hated this Talent of mine, because it was the source of all my suffering. But it turned out there was a reason why it was given to me. There really was a reason after all...”
Keel grew overcome with emotion. Everyone remained silent, waiting for him to continue.
“I must restore House Carnel. I’ll become the family head and make a place for my family to call home. I’ll do whatever it takes.”
And so Keel ended on that resolute note. Both Krena and Dogora had sorrowful looks on their faces.
The fact that there was a royal envoy still making shady maneuvers after House Carnel’s been taken down means two things: one, that there’s at least one royal envoy that slipped through the investigation, and two, that the mastermind is probably still at large. However, before that, there’s something more important to confirm.
“By the way, Keel, did the envoy tell you more about exactly where it is that has so many monsters roaming around?”
“Huh? Why’re you asking that?”
As I’d thought. The envoy only gave him the impression that there are just a few more monsters around, expecting that he’d eventually learn Demon Lord history at the Academy. And once he was enrolled, he’d be basically trapped in the system.
“So he didn’t tell you. But well, that works out great for us. I see, so you do have the noble’s duty.”
If you’d only told me earlier!
“Huh?! What do you mean by it working out great?!”
“Y’see, Cecil and Krena also have the same duty.”
Allen explained that since Cecil was also born as a noble and Krena had the Sword Lord Talent, they also had a duty to fight. Although Dogora and Allen himself would not be conscripted, they still planned on going to this “place with lots of monsters” to protect the other two.
“So what?” Keel asked sharply, glaring at Allen as if asking him to get to the point.
“So let’s serve the duty together.”
“Wh-What’re you saying?! Were you listening to me?! I’m Viscount Carnel’s son!”
“Oh, that? I don’t mind.”
“‘Oh, that’?!” Keel was so shocked, he fell speechless.
Now this makes a lot more sense. I did think it strange to bump into a new recruit who seemed to have motivations so perfectly aligned with my own. This is more how I’d imagine things to go in real life.
In many of the games Allen had played in his previous life, the game developers practically showered the player with companions. The further along players got, the more companions joined them. As the player, he would just hit up the bar in the starting town and—lo and behold!—he would make a new friend who conveniently had a backstory that served as a source of resolve to accompany the player to the very end of the game and fight the final boss.
A few years into his life in this world, Allen realized this was not how real life actually went. Case in point, what the boy—for Keel was still only a twelve-year-old boy—currently before him wanted was to restore his family name for the sake of his sister and servants. That had nothing to do with defeating the Demon Lord.
“You might not have heard, Keel, but half of the people who head to that ‘place with a lot of monsters’ die within three years. Seventy percent in five years. Almost all the monsters there are Rank B or higher. Did the royal envoy mention that at all?”
Keel’s eyes widened in astonishment as he shook his head. Everyone in this world understood just how much of a threat Rank B monsters posed.
Naturally, he wasn’t told about the strength of the monsters nor about the Demon Lord. I see...
However, despite having faltered a short while upon hearing about the Rank B monsters, Keel quickly gathered himself. He replied, “That doesn’t matter. It doesn’t change what I have to do.”
I figured he’d say that. He did say he’d do whatever it takes.
It was now clear that Keel felt that protecting his family was his calling.
“Well, that’s the kind of place we’ll be going to. We’re frequenting the dungeons in preparation precisely because we know how dangerous it’s gonna be. Three years is nothing. They’ll fly by in the blink of an eye.”
“So that’s why...” Understanding dawned on Keel’s face as he also finally learned what was motivating Allen’s group.
“Keel, come with us. Let’s fight together. Although our goals may be different, we’ll be doing the same thing. Isn’t that good enough?”
I’ve basically described the Demon Lord Army to him, but we can tell him about the Demon Lord another time. It’d just complicate things revealing the entire Demon Lord history to him right now. In the first place, I don’t think it’ll take us five whole years to kill the Demon Lord. He’ll be able to go home sooner than five years, if all goes well.
“Fight...together?”
“That’s right. It’s totally fine for you to fight for your own goals.”
Keel looked torn. He could walk out on this deal if he wanted, but doing so meant returning Nina and his servants to their life of poverty. It was clear what he ought to do—as the future head of House Carnel.
“I-I’ll use all of you for my own goals, okay? Even if you’re a Sword Lord or whatever else you may be. For the sake of my family, I’ll take advantage of your fighting abilities. So...you sure about this?”
“Mm-hm! Let’s fight together!” Reacting to the mention of her Talent, Krena held out a hand toward Keel with a bright smile.
Allen nodded. “Then it’s decided. Glad to have you on board, Keel. Cecil, Dogora, is this fine with you?” Although most things went as Allen suggested, he always made sure to make important decisions as a group.
“Well, I admit I never expected to be living together with someone from House Carnel. I’d probably be the first ever member of House Granvelle to do so.”
“It’s cool with me. Honestly, y’all lost me halfway through. All I know is that Keel is now our companion. That’s enough for me.”
“All right, back to the dinner,” Allen said. “You guys aren’t done eating yet, right? Let’s continue the welcome party.”
“I’ll go call everyone back down!” Krena was already out the door and pounding up the stairs.
“Wh-What on...” Keel simply stared blankly, caught off guard by how abruptly the No-life Gamers had moved on.
“You just have to get used to it,” Cecil sighed, shrugging her shoulders.
Chapter 7: Traps and More Testing
And so it was decided that Keel, his sister Nina, and the servants who used to serve House Carnel would be moving into the No-life Gamers’ home base. When Keel first announced this, the fifteen-year-old servant boy looked like he wanted to protest. After Keel had a talk with him, however, he made no further comment.
The next day was spent entirely on helping Keel’s group move house as well as purchasing any daily necessities such as bedding. The salary of the six servants was also determined, with the rates set according to their ages.
15yo gentleman-in-waiting: 1 gold
15yo lady-in-waiting: 1 gold
10yo manservant: 50 silver
10yo maidservant: 50 silver
8yo houseboy: 20 silver
8yo housemaid: 20 silver
Their salaries were fixed, but there was no change to the rule of dedicating a sixth of all earnings from the dungeons to the base’s maintenance costs and living expenses. The idea was to cover all expenditures with dungeon loot.
With the addition of a Cleric, everything seemed to be going great with the party. This was not entirely true, however. The main reason was because of the way that Viscount Carnel had decided to handle Keel.
Nobles generally reacted in one of two ways when the Appraisal Ceremony identified their children as Talented. Some would lament their child’s fate and do whatever they could to get their child exempted from their duty. This was what Viscount Granvelle had chosen. He had rushed to reopen the mithril mines in his realm in hopes of offering them to the king in exchange for his daughter’s exemption.
The majority, however, welcomed their Talent as a blessing. This was because, for nobles who returned after successfully fulfilling their duty, the benefits were simply too great. It was far easier for veterans to be appointed to positions at the royal palace, and former combatants who went on to become head of their houses were granted tax cuts.
Take Rifol, for example. He was a slender and fragile-looking boy who had been born to House Hamilton, an esteemed family that had a history of producing generations of exemplary generals. If things remained as they were currently, chances were high that his family would lose their prestige with his generation. However, the Ceremony determined that he had the Swordsman Talent. If he attended the Academy and fulfilled his three years of duty, he would surely return home a changed man, with all the advantages from service to boot. At least, this was what his family expected, and his father had joyfully sent him off to the Academy. Nobles who prioritized the prosperity of their house generally welcomed their children’s Talents.
But what had happened to Keel was neither of the above. When Allen first heard Keel’s story, he thought Viscount Carnel was sending his treasured son far away to hide him from the royal family. However, the living conditions that he then provided his son did not match that profile. What was more, the visit from the royal envoy made no sense within the context of this narrative either. Further investigation was needed, starting with whether the envoy’s claim of the royal promise to restore House Carnel was even real in the first place.
＊ ＊ ＊
A few days later, Allen and his companions visited the reference room on the third floor of the Adventurer’s Guild to look up information on Rank B dungeons. When they had applied for their promotion to Rank C, the receptionist had told them that an inordinately large number of adventurers died within the first year of reaching Rank C. She added that their causes of death were more often traps than combat. Allen, Cecil, Dogora, and Keel were now researching the kinds of traps that existed and their respective countermeasures.
“I-I’ll look stuff up too,” Krena insisted, on the verge of tears.
Allen shook his head and, without even looking up from the resource on traps he was going through, replied firmly, “No, you memorize everything in front of you instead.”
“Ugh... You’re such a meanie...”
Krena had her own separate task: to study for the written general education exam that would be taking place next month. The first year curriculum at the Academy specially emphasized general education. The Demon Lord Army had a proper chain of command and moved under instructions from above, meaning that the Allied forces sometimes had to suddenly change strategies with no advance notice. If the soldiers did not have a basic command of language and common knowledge, it would be difficult for them to keep up with the rapid-fire commands from their superiors.
A while later, all five came together to share what they had learned.
“This trap summons dozens of Rank C monsters all around if you step on it,” Dogora reported. According to the page he had opened up to, there were small rooms inside the dungeons with camouflaged switches on the ground that, when stepped on, would call out anywhere from five to thirty monsters all at once; most of the monsters generated by summoning-type traps in Rank B dungeons were Rank C.
Keel was the next up. “As for the variety of traps, the most common ones cause Poison or Sleep or just straight-up shoot arrows. I haven’t learned the Antidote spell yet, though. Are we not going to hire a Scout?”
“I don’t think we should expand our party any more for a while yet.” After all, even if we hire someone, they probably wouldn’t follow us to fight the Demon Lord.
In the first place, Allen felt like the party already had enough resources to make do without a Scout. First, he himself had Summons with Abilities that made them highly suited for scouting. Next, although Keel had yet to learn any spells that could dispel status debuffs, it was likely that he would somewhere down the line; that would give the party a means of dealing with poison from traps or monsters. Furthermore, Allen always kept Garnishes, the product of Grass C’s Ability, on hand. Lastly, herbs to fend off Poison and Sleep did exist, so the party could also manage by visiting an apothecary regularly for now.
Allen proceeded to share what he had found out. “We can expect to see monsters that use poison, like death spiders. There are also Rank B monsters called mimics that pretend to be treasure chests; let’s make a point to kill all of those we come across.”
Rank B dungeons were all differentiated by monster—such as insect-type monsters, spirit-type monsters, and so on—with each type requiring unique precautions. For example, having a way to counteract Poison and Paralysis when entering dungeons swarming with insects was as important as having ways to deal magic damage in a dungeon full of spirit-type monsters, which were generally highly resistant to physical attacks. One monster found in all Rank B dungeons, however, was the mimic. According to records, adventurer casualties to mimics were incredibly high.
“You serious?” Keel asked doubtfully. “We’re killing all the mimics?”
“They apparently drop rare items,” Allen replied.
“I see! Then we shouldn’t miss a single one!”
Once Keel heard the words “rare items,” all his apprehensions about danger dissipated and he immediately threw his support behind Allen. Money, valuable equipment, and MP Recovery Rings were important objectives for the No-life Gamers. According to records, mimics could drop items that went for over a hundred gold apiece.
“In the first place, what even are these dungeons?” Cecil murmured while looking at a very aged scroll. “Apparently they’ve existed for more than a thousand years.”
Hm? Cecil’s research seems to have taken a very different direction than the rest of ours.
In his previous life as Kenichi, Allen had almost never bothered himself with the backstories in games. After all, no matter how grand the plot, what he had to do was still the same: level up and get stronger. If he had to clear a tower, the question of why the tower existed would never even cross his mind.
Cecil shared what she had learned. As it turned out, dungeons were located all over Ratash, Giamut—the entire world, in fact. Some people theorized that they existed to attract adventurers, but there was no way to know the truth.
“However, strangely enough, I can’t find any records at all of dungeons that date prior to a thousand years ago.”
Krena asked for the scroll and started reading through it. “Hmm, I see.”
“So, did you finish studying for the test, Krena?”
“Hmmmmm, I seeeeee,” Krena replied in a drawn-out voice, covering her face with the parchment.
“All right, that means you’ll be hitting the books again when we get back, Kre—”
The pink-haired girl suddenly leaped to her feet and dashed toward the exit. However, Allen managed to grab her in time. For now, at least, Allen still had higher Agility than her.
“Heguhhh...” Krena made a sound like her life was ending and hung her head.
Cecil, Dogora, and Keel all cast her looks of pity but otherwise made no move to help.
Now that we’re done researching, let’s give a Rank B dungeon a try.
For now, though, Allen dragged Krena off to a different kind of dungeon, one that involved a lot more glaring at books.
＊ ＊ ＊
“Nina, you sure you don’t wanna let Maria free while you’re eating at least?”
“She’s okay. She prefers being on my lap. Right, Maria?”
“Y-Yes, death’s right...”
The gang was currently having breakfast and, seeing Maria once again on Nina’s lap, Keel had gently admonished her, but to no effect. Ever since Nina had moved in, she had not let go of Maria. Allen had no idea if this was compensating for how lonely she had been before or if she had simply taken a liking to Spirit C; either way, she always kept the doll close at hand.
Looks like Nina’s completely latched on to Maria. I’ve never had a pet cat before, but I imagine this is probably similar to how that feels? Allen thought nonchalantly as if this problem did not concern him.
Five days had passed since Keel and his family joined the No-life Gamers in their home. Allen had taken the time to tell Keel about the Demon Lord, but the boy did not fully believe it. Awkward moments did crop up here and there, but when compared to the commotion on the first day, it could easily be said that both sides were warming up to each other.
Every day, the party visited all three Rank C dungeons that they had already cleared to fight their final bosses. These gave them a daily income of roughly three gold, which worked out to fifty silver per person plus fifty silver to cover food and housing expenses. They were now much better off in both time and money.
“Everyone, get ready,” Allen called out as they were finishing. “Remember, we’re starting a Rank B dungeon today.”
“Let’s do our best!” Krena cried, leaping to her feet with exponentially more energy than what she normally displayed while studying.
