Hell Mode: Volume 5, page 19
As this tavern was close to the Temple of Yanpany, most of its customers were adventurers farming the Rank S dungeon. These were the elite of the elite who brought back not just hundreds but thousands of gold coins every time they ventured back out safely. Conversely, adventurers frequenting the Rank C to A dungeons surrounding the Tower of Tribulation mainly stayed in the outer edges and rarely came this close to the city center.
Allen’s group was much bigger than usual today, so it was hard to find seats. While an employee hurried off to secure a table, Allen looked around the tavern. This was when he noticed a dwarf wearing a pirate hat standing on top of a table and performing a cobra twist on someone who was likely his subordinate.
Ah, Admiral Garara’s here again.
Apparently the admiral and his party of around twenty were taking the day off and had come here to drink as well.
“Wait, isn’t that the black-headed guy?”
“Looks like it.”
Hm? What’s going on?
Moving only his eyes, Allen spotted a pair of beastkin at a table close to the entrance.
“Let’s go tell Prince Zeu.”
“Mm, let’s.”
After whispering among themselves, the two paid for their meal and left the pub. Soon after that, the employee from earlier returned and led Allen’s group to a table. Only after they sat down did Helmios finally notice Garara’s party.
“Huh? If it isn’t Admiral Garara!” he exclaimed.
“Who said that?” Hearing his name, Garara turned around and his eyes lit up. “Well I’ll be! It do be th’ esteemed champeen o’ th’ Central Continent hi’self! Men, I be fixin’ to give me regards.” He jumped down from his table and came over, a wooden tankard in hand and a few subordinates in tow.
“You two are acquainted?” Allen asked Helmios.
“Yep.” Helmios nodded. “He comes to this dungeon often too, so we share information sometimes. We also see each other at the Five Continent Alliance summits.”
“I see.” So they have opportunities to see each other outside the context of being adventurers.
Allen shot Meruru a look and found her busy rattling off a list of orders to a dwarven waitress. She did not seem to have noticed the admiral’s approach.
Awww, even though the first time we saw him, she was all like, “He’s my senior officer! He took real good care of me in the navy!”
Sitting on the table was Rohzen, who had descended from his perch on Sophie’s shoulder and was glaring at the menu parchment with his arms crossed, muttering, “Maybe this?” and “No, maybe this?” under his breath.
You’re still going to choose fukaman in the end like you always do, aren’t you? We’ve already got a ton of freshly baked ones in Storage.
Fukaman was a delicious, chewy steamed bun very popular in Baukis. Rohzen had gotten so hooked on them lately that he even made Allen put a whole batch inside Storage.
When Garara reached Allen’s table, he downed the contents of his tankard in one swig and addressed Helmios. “Th’ champeen o’ th’ Central Continent has already returned t’ tha dungeon? Ye sure be workin’ hard!”
Allen was reminded of an episode in his previous life when he had been nursing a glass of oolong tea at a drinking party and thinking about the computer game waiting for him at home when the middle-aged man sitting next to him suddenly began talking his ear off and went on and on.
“I can say the same for you, Admiral Garara. Are you already hitting the dungeon?”
“Aye, ye bet! Th’ war’s already o’er an’ all. I been told it be ’bout time I cleared th’ damn thing.”
“I see.” The smile on Helmios’s face gave way to a serious expression when he heard Garara say the word “clear,” but it was back to his usual grin in no time. He cast a glance at the admiral’s table. “That explains your group. So Baukis is getting serious about clearing the dungeon.”
“Pretty much. Looks like th’ beastkin are too, so I been warned not t’ let them get th’ better o’ us. Try bein’ in me shoes, servin’ that greedy emperor o’ our— What be y— Mmfgh!”
A few dwarves sitting at the admiral’s table dashed over with incredible speed, covered his mouth, pinned his arms behind his back, and carried him back.
“Mr. Helmios, how can you tell that Baukis is getting serious?” Allen asked.
“Hm? Oh. Everyone at that table over there is a Talos General. Except for Admiral Garara, that is.”
Seriously? So Baukis has gathered all of its strongest assets and is going all in, then. Guess they really are getting serious.
During the past twenty days, Allen had asked Meruru about Garara’s Talent. All twenty dwarves at Garara’s table were Talos Generals, a Talent said to be one in ten million. And leading them all was Garara, the most powerful golem pilot of Baukis and the country’s one and only Talos King.
“Awww, that sounds fun. Brings me back,” Allen murmured as memories of his previous life flashed by.
“Oh? Besides Holy Knight, did you also use to be a golem pilot?! Wait—why?! Mmmfgh!”
In an attempt to stop Cecil from saying anything else unnecessary, Allen swiftly clapped a hand over her mouth and smiled politely. “Sorry, please ignore what she said. Oh, look, our food has come. Let’s eat!”
Back when Allen was Kenichi, he basically focused solely on leveling his characters efficiently and min-maxed all their stats. However, that did not mean he never tried other play styles. For example, he had experience playing as a mage character and joining a gathering of only mages to go run a dungeon; they were all basically glass cannons with paper armor trying their best to wipe out the enemies before the enemies got to them. In short, they had formed an utterly unbalanced group on purpose. The term for this was “memebuilding.”
When Allen heard that Garara’s party was composed of only golem pilots, he thought it sounded as extreme as memebuilding. Of course, golems could both tank and dish out damage, so this was probably a pretty effective party setup, actually.
“I was just thinking that a party of nothing but golem pilots sounds interesting,” Allen mused before changing the subject. “By the way, what is the composition of your party like, Mr. Helmios?”
“Hmm... This time, our priority isn’t really to clear the dungeon but to level up and gather equipment. So, we’ll be sticking to Floor 4. Your party is aiming for the clear, right, Allen?”
“That is what we’re here for, yes. I guess that means we’ll be sharing a base but won’t actually meet each other all that much inside the dungeon.”
“Yep, seems like it.”
Even though Helmios’s group had made themselves at home with no prior notice, Allen had no intention of chasing them out. The place was large enough to house around thirty people anyway, so he was thinking he might as well let them stay and make them pay a portion of the rent based on the number of people they had. Naturally, he would also count the servants who had stayed behind to help the movers.
In the first place, management of the base was something that was gradually becoming an issue for Allen and his friends. They wanted to focus their attention on the dungeon, but that meant there was no one to take care of the base. And whenever they came out after spending back-to-back-to-back days in the dungeon, they wanted to rest, not do chores.
Well, I don’t see any problem with letting them stay with us, as long as we don’t talk about my previous life or my class’s abilities. Hmm, so Helmios isn’t gonna try clearing the dungeon despite how stacked his current party is. Should I try probing a bit more?
“With how strong all your party members seem, I automatically assumed you had come here to clear it.”
“No, no, no. This dungeon is hard enough even for a party like mine. Oh, I’d forgotten. Let me introduce everyone.”
According to Helmios’s introduction, Sacred was a party of ten, with everyone aside from Helmios having three-star classes:
Hero Helmios
Sword Lord Sylvia
Sword Lord Dverg
Holy Knight x 1
Saintess x 2
Archwizardess x 2
Bow Lord x 1
Phantom Thief x 1
They’re all women except for Mr. Dverg. I think there were a few men among the servants, but that’s it. And they only have one Holy Knight. Do people in this world also know the “only one tank per party” rule?
Allen introduced all the members of the No-life Gamers as he reminisced about his time as a Holy Knight.
In the majority of online games, there was a limit for each class when forming parties. In the case of the MMO that Kenichi used to play, it was generally accepted that a party only had at most one Holy Knight. This was because although the class was great as a tank that could cast buffs, it had lower damage output than other classes and its buffs were not stackable. As such, there was no benefit to having two or more of them in the same party.
After Allen finished introducing his friends, Dverg, who had stayed silent all this while, opened his mouth. “Krena is now a Sword King? So, the rumor about changing classes really is true?”
Allen nodded. “Yes, it is.”
“Dverg—” Helmios was about to warn his companion, but Dverg ignored him.
Instead, the man stood up and bowed deeply toward the squirrel stuffing his cheeks with fukaman. “Lord Rohzen, O God of the Spirits.”
“Hm? What is it?”
“I came to beseech you to grant me a class promotion too.”
“Hm.” Rohzen raised a paw to his chin and crossed his legs, adopting a thinking expression.
I knew it. Anyone who hears that it’s possible to get stronger through class promotions is going to want one of their own. Makes sense.
“I heard that it should be possible if I pay the price.”
“And what is it that you are willing to pay me, Dverg? Ha ha.”
“I only need one year more on this earth. You can have everything else. Would that suffice?”
Dverg’s earnest tone threw everyone else besides Allen and Helmios into disarray.
“Hold on!” Cecil exclaimed. “Allen, aren’t you going to stop him?!”
However, Allen held up a hand, asking her to wait. He wanted to give Dverg the time to have this conversation with the God of Spirits.
“Sword Lord Dverg.”
“Yes, my lord.”
“Lord Elmea, the God of Creation, told me about how you gave up everything to fight the demons and Demonic Deities. He is deeply impressed with your way of life.”
“Thank you, my lord. Does that mean...?”
“I’m not finished.”
“My apologies.”
“When I promised to give Allen’s party class promotions, I did so at my own discretion. As a result, things are a bit...chaotic in the Heavenly Realm at the moment. The deities are quite big on equality, you see. So, wait a while.”
“You want me to wait, my lord?”
“That’s right. Let’s just say that the Heavenly Realm is working on something related to class promotions. I hope you’re satisfied with that answer. That’s why I’m here. Since it is something that I started. Ha ha.”
“I understand. I shall be patient.”
“Ha ha.”
Dverg sat back down and lifted his tankard to his mouth. He kept his eyes closed as his shoulders quivered a few times. Perhaps the knowledge that he might finally gain more power had struck something deep inside him. On the other hand, Rohzen had gone back to stuffing his face with fukaman.
I see, so there’s a reason why Rohzen’s accompanying Sophie. Knowing him, he probably won’t tell us what it is, of course.
Allen looked at Meruru and found her basically pouring alcohol down her throat. Worrying that that was going a bit too far, he was about to admonish her when the door to the tavern banged open.
“This the place?”
“Y-Yes, Your Highness. This is the place.”
A lion beastkin towering nearly two meters high strode in, followed by other beastkin. His mane swayed a little as he swiftly made his way to the center of the establishment.
Wait, I recognize the wolf guy behind the lion dude. Isn’t he the one we saved from BB on Floor 2? His name’s Uru, if I remember correctly.
“So, who here is Allen?”
“That one, Your Highness.”
Upon being asked, Uru immediately pointed at Allen.
“Him?”
The lion beastkin turned, looked into Allen’s eyes, and immediately started walking over.
Allen maintained their eye contact. What? You wanna fight? Wanna go outside?
When the lion beastkin reached Allen’s table, Helmios looked up and greeted him. “Greetings, Beast Prince Zeu of Albahal, the Country of Beastkin. It’s been a while.”
The lion beastkin looked down at Helmios. “Hm? The champion of the Central Continent? I had heard they sent you to the front lines. Is the war over?”
Oh wow, so this is the prince of the Beastkin nation?
“The Alliance was victorious in the war, yes. Is His Majesty the Beast King in good health?”
Despite the Beast Prince’s haughty attitude, Helmios maintained the smile on his face.
“Hah! He won’t die even if he’s killed. He hasn’t changed a lick since the time he made you kneel before the emperor of Giamut.”
Huh? The Beast King made Helmios kneel?
“I am glad to hear it.”
Zeu gave Helmios one last look, snorted, then turned to Allen. “So, you’re the one who saved my brethren? I see, so you are a companion of the champion of the Central Continent.”
Allen nodded. “If you’re referring to twenty days ago, then yes, that was me.”
“I heard BB attacked you instead. Well done getting away from it.”
Purposely choosing not to indicate how hard or easy it was, Allen simply said, “Thank you, sir. So, how may I help you?”
“I’ve come to pay you back for saving my brethren. What do you wish for?”
Oh? Because I saved some adventurers, a prince has now come to reward me?
Allen recalled seeing a pair of beastkin in this restaurant whispering among themselves when he walked in earlier. Despite being haughty and violent, perhaps the royalty of the Country of Beastkin had a strong sense of duty.
“Well...” Allen gave it serious thought.
“Speak.”
“I’m sorry, I can’t think of anything on the spot. Can I bank it as a favor?”
Uru’s eyes widened indignantly. “Wha— How dare you speak to His Majesty that way?!”
“Interesting. You want a favor from me?”
“To be entirely honest, I didn’t even know there’s a member of royalty in town. Since you’re offering me a reward, I hope I can ask you for help when I really need it in the future. My party is aiming to clear the dungeon, so it might come in handy.”
“You’re clearing the dungeon? So Giamut is finally moving to clear the Tower of Tribulation?” Zeu turned to Helmios with much sharper eyes than before.
The Hero shook his head in denial. “Nope, his party has nothing to do with mine.”
“Hmph. No matter. Allen, come find me when something comes to mind. Simply ask any passing beastkin and they’ll lead you to me. Helmios, another time.”
“Of course, Beast Prince,” the Hero replied. “Conversely, should you ever need anything, feel free to ask us. We’re in the same boat, after all.”
What does them being in the same boat mean?
“Hmph.” Beast Prince Zeu snorted one last time before exiting the restaurant. The other beastkin in the room also got up and followed him out. Allen thought they were leaving with him, but it turned out they were merely seeing him off.
Ignoring the ruckus outside, Cecil looked at Allen with narrowed eyes. “You really never get nervous talking to royalty, no matter the country.”
“I mean, it’s not like I have to offer my allegiance to royalty from some other country, right?”
“You don’t have to offer your allegiance, but at least offer respect,” Keel retorted. The memory of the party’s audience with the king of Ratash flashed through his mind, prompting him to add, “Though it didn’t exactly look like you offered allegiance to the king of your own country either.”
As soon as Zeu was gone, Krena and Dogora resumed gobbling down their food. Helmios’s companions looked on with wide eyes, murmuring about how the No-life Gamers were just as they had heard. Allen also resumed his meal while wondering to himself just what Helmios had said about them.
“So, what was that about making you kneel? It almost sounds like you lost to the Beast King.”
“It was the year before I had that match with you. During the Five Continent Alliance summit, the conversation somehow led to me having to fight him.”
“What? You fought a king?”
“Yep. And he pretty much wiped the floor with me too. Oh, you have no idea how embarrassing it was.” Helmios guffawed while recounting the story of how he had lost.
Apparently the Giamutan emperor had claimed that, because of Helmios’s continuous victories against the Demon Lord Army, he should be called “champion of the world.” Of course, a country extolling its champion was the same as glorifying itself, so all countries did it. This time, however, two major powers objected: Baukis and Albahal. They both insisted that Helmios was only “champion of the Central Continent” at most.
“Because we have Admiral Garara in Baukis,” the Baukisian emperor had argued.
“Because we have mineself,” the Beast King had rebutted.
Unable to back down, the Giamutan emperor replied, “If you doubt that Helmios has the strength to be called ‘champion of the world,’ then you can test him yourself.” This was how Helmios ended up having to fight the Beast King in front of all the leaders of the Five Continent Alliance nations.
“You lost that badly?”
“Like you wouldn’t believe!” Helmios laughed. “It was essentially a one-sided beating. And after that, I even got scolded by my emperor for not being strong enough. So unreasonable, right?”
“I’m sorry to hear it,” Allen replied while thinking about why Helmios lost.
