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Chapter 414

Day 96 – Late Nighttime, White Weirdo Inn　

Back at the inn, once we all gathered in the dining hall, the nuns bowed their heads deeply. It seemed they had regained their composure.

Their habits, both modest and solemn, exuded purity and dignity. From beneath their long veils peeked refined, noble features. The problem, however, lay in the fact that those habits were made from clingy, stretchy fabric that accentuated every curve, paired with deep slits running up to the waist, revealing sensuous legs clad in fishnet stockings. Their demeanor was chaste and sincere as they apologized, but their outfits were the definition of lewdness.

「We apologize for the commotion. While our feelings remain unchanged, we understand that acting recklessly without a plan and causing everyone trouble and worry was wrong. That said, this remains our problem. We cannot allow President-sama and the others to do anything dangerous on our behalf.」

Arianna-san and the others calmed down, but their resolve was unwavering, so they didn’t quite change their minds yet. To be more precise, someone was urging to wipe out the entire Theocracy and, in doing so, had disarmed them mentally. It was that blow which made them settle down.

It wasn’t so much a matter of fighting poison with poison. Rather, the opposing toxin was so potent and hazardous it neutralized their own, rendering them inert and, ultimately, harmless.

「We’re all heading to the Beastmen Country soon, right? Since we’re going there anyway, how about we just keep going straight through, pass the Beastmen Country, and head to the Theocracy’s Grand Cathedral and just beat everyone? If one beating isn’t enough, we keep providing beatings until everything is resolved? I mean, even if it’s somehow not resolved, if you keep beating the problem will eventually end up annihilated, so that counts as resolution, right? Logically speaking? Theoretically, I hear there are some doubts? So ethically speaking, let’s just beat them?」

The issues were time and distance. The First Division and the remaining half of the Royal Guard were heading to the frontier. Kakizaki-kun and the others should be coming along, too. The Frontier Army, the Royal Guard Division, and the First Division, three of the Kingdom’s major forces, would be assembled. The plan was to have those three units cull the Evil Forest and dungeons, and while they were going at that, we’d make our way to the Beastmen Country… and then invade the Theocracy from there.

The plan, if you could call it that, was to skip all the in-between steps and head straight for the Grand Cathedral and destroy it. A reckless proposal, but it was the only remotely constructive one. Naturally, the one who suggested it was none other than the destructive, socially-dangerous Sex King.

「It’ll take time, but maybe it’s faster in the end? Since we won’t face any interference?」

「But then the entire Kingdom military would be stationed at the frontier, doesn’t that leave the Kingdom defenseless?」

「The Confederation’s been taken out in the naval battle by Oda-kun and the others, so they shouldn’t be able to move.」

「Haruka-kun said if we release Kakizaki-kun and the others into the Beastmen Country’s forest, no ground troops will be able to get through.」

「「「Just release?! No intention of reining them back in, huh?」」」

At the Frontier, the three armies would maintain the current state or buy time. Meanwhile, the Kingdom would be protected by Oda-kun and Kakizaki-kun’s pirate and guerrilla operations. If that isn’t enough, the Second and Third Divisions would defend the Kingdom. And then the rest of us, just a handful, would infiltrate… or more likely, force our way into the Theocracy, targeting its central command, smashing it into pieces, grinding it into dust, and burning away every last trace. That, apparently, would solve everything.

At this point, I thought talks about negotiations were naive, but it seems that we are already past even considering combat options. It seemed we were now discussing cleanup procedures after the execution had already been finalized.

「From the way he talked, it sounds like Haruka-kun plans to go to the Theocracy too, doesn’t it?」

「But this isn’t just about guarding Arianna-san and the others anymore.」

「Bringing along a slaughter demon of supreme destruction to rescue people from the Theocracy is kind of…」

「Even so, Haruka-kun’s been constantly wary of the Church, not the Theocracy, but the church itself.」

「「「You mean that thing that Nefertiri-san might not be the only one?」」」

Exactly. The theory is that they should possess some kind of power capable of subduing, even if only for a moment, and capturing someone like Nefertiri-san, who had likely been the Dungeon Empero. Otherwise, it doesn’t add up.

「Did Arianna-san and the others seem okay?」

「「「Yeah, they collapsed after getting drunk. Maybe that liquor’s actually really strong?」」」

We’d assumed Haruka-kun was just weak with alcohol since he passed out after five or six drinks, but apparently Arianna-san and the others started wobbling and fainting after just a sip. I don’t know much about alcohol strength or content, but maybe it’s really high proof? Slime-san seemed totally fine, though?

Right now, the Haruka group is in a discussion. They’re trying to decide who to leave at the Frontier, who should accompany us, and if possible, they want at least one person stationed in the Kingdom too. They’re calling it a safety measure, but in reality, it’s an incredibly unsafe plan that would leave Haruka-kun completely alone. Naturally, Angelica-san, Nefertiri-san, and Slime-san are all furiously opposed. It apparently turned into a big fight, with everyone insisting they want to go with Haruka-kun.

He’s always worried about everyone else. Always putting himself in dangerous situations while all alone. Every single time, he ends up nearly dying somewhere while completely on his own. And yet he never learns, never reflects, and probably doesn’t even regret it. That’s why he’s planning to do something dangerous again, and the three of them are no doubt yelling at him for it. No matter how many times they get angry, he never seems to learn.

「Anyway, at minimum, we’ve only got three days, so while Arianna-san and the others train, we’ll be training too!」

「「「「Jaa!」」」」

There’s no time. The more Dungeons we can wipe out, the safer the Frontier becomes, and the more we can reduce the chances of a stampede. On top of that, it’s a great way to gain levels, build combat experience, and acquire gear. The goal is for a single party, with an instructor, to reliably reach the 50th floor. Ideally, two parties to the 75th floor. Then clearing a 90-floor dungeon in a four-party raid. At the very least, we want a raid party to take on a Dungeon Master on 80th floor.

There’s no way we’ll be able to upgrade our gear in time. We’re already equipped with the gear that we couldn’t even have hoped for under normal circumstances, so enhancing our strength through equipment any further is probably unrealistic. That’s why we need to hone our skills to match the quality of our gear. We can’t disgrace the equipment made to protect us, or the Haruka-kun who made it.

When Stalker Girl-chan showed up for the first time in a while, Poster Girl-chan burst into tears and clung to her. All this time, Stalker Girl-chan and her clan have been in the Kingdom gathering intel, monitoring the movements of other countries, and delivering that information to us. From here on out, it’s our battle. Combat against humans that Haruka-kun has stubbornly kept us away from. This will be a war. People killing other people, the ultimate taboo for people of the modern world.

「Let’s finish everything, and come back here smiling together. That’s why we’re fighting, after all.」

「「「「Yeah.」」」」

That’s right, we won’t risk our lives. We’ll fight with absolute safety, with certainty, never pushing ourselves, never doing anything reckless. We’ll be strong and resilient, yet cautious on the verge of cowardice, cunning, prepared for every danger, prioritizing our lives above all else as we one-sidedly crush the enemy. Like pounding on a stone bridge until it breaks, and taking the enemy down with it, we won’t put ourselves in danger. We’ll win with everything we’ve got, the easiest way possible. That’s my duty as the one chosen as the commander. My responsibility is for us all to come back smiling. That’s it. That’s all that matters.

「Would standard equipment be too soft? Should we gear for anti-personnel?」

「The church is good with magic tools that nullify stuff, so maybe we should keep the standard loadout?」

「Yeah, it ends with physical attacks anyway. Status effects won’t help if they don’t work.」

「Magic gets resisted or nullified really easily, so I vote for physical too!」

「A morning star might work surprisingly well. It’s good against tricky stuff, right?」

「「「True! But a morning star with a nun outfit… how’s that gonna look?」」」

「So does that mean Haruka-kun gonna wear a habit too?」

「「「…This doesn’t sound good at all!!」」」

Full gear would stand out too much, but apparently the Theocracy is overflowing with monks and nuns. And they say there are so many factions that even the robes differ slightly between them, so many types that no one can keep track of them all… Though I’m pretty sure none of them are this sexy. And yet, we’re going dressed like this~

「Long range sounds like the only problem, right?」

「We’re not in armor, so getting hit repeatedly would be bad.」

「Barriers won’t last for long too if we need to use them one after another.」

「Should we assign someone as a tank? Though we can’t really carry shields around either?」

「The no-carriage rule in the Theocracy is rough.」

「Stagecoaches sound risky too, so we’re walking?」

「「「What a pain~」」」

Haruka-kun seemed to be thinking about disguising our carriage and was asking about the design of the stagecoaches. But we’re way past the point where we can hide anything with design, aren’t we? With the carriages we have now? I heard the Theocracy’s stagecoaches are plain and functional, and also small and shabby. The luxurious authorized carriages for the church are rare and stand out too much.

And the horses are just normal, apparently. So those post-apocalyptic warlord-style horses that’d make people flinch and run away, don’t exist anywhere else. So I don’t think a disguise is possible?

At the very least, neither in the Frontier nor the royal capital have I seen horses like ours that stomp monsters into the ground wherever they go. Even the orphan kids who were just riding in the carriage while the horses trampled monsters left and right were quickly leveling up. Is that… okay? At this rate even by the time they’ll become mentally grown-ups, they’ll always look like little orphan kids? That’s a classic detective flag!

「Well, as long as Haruka-kun’s around, no matter how seriously we worry…」

「He’s gonna screw it up and go, 『It’s not my fault, okay?』」

「Ahh, or maybe one of those, 『I figured this might happen』 and then do something completely nuts.」

「He’s probably mass-producing explosives right now. Even though he’s the one everyone in the Kingdom would probably want to yell『Just explode already!』 at.」

「Even when we went back to the frontier, he was like, 『The carriage is hooked up like a train, so let’s swap the main gun for a railway gun? Kinda long isn’t it?』 and extended the barrel.」

「「「Yeah, with a firing range like that, he clearly never intended to defend anything.」」」

Basically, if you leave him alone, he ends up building overprotective, excessive defense weapons that wipe out everything before the enemy can even attack. The result is a 『Search and destroy』 loadout that’s perfectly safe but absolutely not peaceful. Like,『Kill before you’re killed. Or even if you’re not gonna be killed, just kill? I mean, might as well kill?』 Under that single motto, the monsters of the Kingdom were wiped out in drive-by one-sided long-range attacks from the carriages. Peace was achieved, but there wasn’t a single ounce of peacefulness in it, it was more like repeated violations by a serial mass killer.

「If the Confederation isn’t gonna act, then I guess the Kingdom should be okay? Probably?」

「Rather than not acting, Haruka-kun told Oda-kun and the others, 『Sink anything you see, and pick up the loot』 so… they might already be wiped out?」

「Pretending to be pirates, but actual pirates aren’t that bad, right? Generally?」

「Yeah, I doubt there are any pirates so evil they’d call it 『lost and found』 after sinking a ship.」

「Normally it’s, 『Hand over your cargo if you don’t want to be sunk』 but they just go straight to the sinking and then loot afterward~.」

「But since it’s not actually on a sea, they’re technically 『water raiders』 so it’s not piracy, and that somehow makes it fine, according to that villain…」

「「「He did say that, going『I don’t get it』at any rebuttals.」」」

『I don’t get it』, he says, it’s Haruka-kun’s logic itself that’s unsolvable. His mind is a bizarre, mysterious wonderland full of riddles. But cutting off the waterways does prevent the Confederation from launching any action. At the very least, it buys us time until they return. If they attack with a large force, there’s a risk they’ll overwhelm us, but they’ll move slowly. On the other hand, if they send in a fast, elite team, Kakizaki-kun and the others will chase them around through the forest.

Everyone continued talking while preparing for tomorrow with slightly more serious expressions than usual. With only a short time left for training, we focused, steeling ourselves as we readied our gear. So that we could protect our usual, ordinary mornings. So that we can all keep smiling together. That’s the only reason we need to get stronger.