Temporary Allies and the Promised Development 2
On the thirtieth floor, there had been a golden golem that demanded a conversation the moment its limbs went flying. The pitiful thing had insisted it was the guardian of the labyrinth, only to be force-detonated ten minutes later before it could even finish talking.
The pitch-black Naga that appeared on the fortieth floor had a similar air about it — suddenly lowering its weapon and requesting a dialogue with us. As it did, its gaze locked onto Katie's forearm as she edged closer. More precisely, onto the pure white holy symbol etched into that arm.
…This bastard recognized the Temple's symbol and holy power.
"You want to talk. What exactly does that mean?"
— I… seek… the Goddess's… mer…cy… her graaace…
Even an ordinary Naga possessed a body powerful enough to casually chew through Intermediate-grade adventurers, and with its scales dyed black, anyone could tell it was enhanced. Given that the Temple's involvement had already raised the game's difficulty, it certainly hadn't gotten any weaker.
A body that was already innately formidable had been strengthened even further — and yet it had the patience and intelligence to request a conversation first with those who stood against it.
Katie, tense at the unusual presence of this opponent, watched it lower its trident first and then set down her own sword with a complicated expression. As a young lady of the northern grand ducal house, famed for its knights, she could hardly seize the moment of a lowered weapon and a request for dialogue as an opening to attack.
"A monster, begging for the Goddess's mercy?"
— The… Goddess of… this land… is the mo…ther of all… living… things…
"Yes, that is correct. The Goddess loves all things that possess life… even if they happen to be monsters."
Katie had stepped forward and begun the exchange, but the moment the Goddess was mentioned, Irene promptly moved to the front. With the weapons lowered, she strode boldly toward the massive monster without a trace of fear.
At that defenseless approach, Katie's hand returned to her sword hilt — but the Naga, having recognized the nun's habit and the Temple's symbol, merely kept its trident hanging limp against the ground and slowly continued speaking of the Goddess.
Struggling to force human language through a Naga's vocal cords, its words were almost painfully labored. Summarized, however, the request was quite simple.
"You desire an honorable death, then?"
— My bro…thers, my sis…ters… my kin… Divine punishment… upon the villain who tore a warrior who accepted death to preserve his honor… free from the cycle of life!
Before being copied into the Tower, the Naga of that other world had been something like Buddhist warrior-monks — a people who revered honor and believed in reincarnation. The analogy felt a little cheap, but it was the best my brain could manage.
Innate warrior races who prepared for the life after death through honorable combat and clean living. They had fought the Demon King's army alongside their Multispecies Alliance comrades, praying to reunite in the next life — only to open their eyes after death and find themselves inside the Tower. Same situation as the golden golem, basically.
Whether the Demon King had overreached when building the Tower, or whether there was some hidden DLC storyline buried in here, named-class monsters were starting to recover memories of their past lives one by one.
"Right? It claims it came from another world, but somehow it knows about this world's Temple. Did it pick that up while murdering other adventurers? The golden golem kept calling us invaders while insisting the whole time that it was inside a labyrinth."
Just as a sharp-eyed viewer had asked, a plot hook had been dangled — how did a Naga warrior from another world know about this world's Goddess? — but the rest of the party didn't seem to be thinking that far ahead.
To them, even if beings from other worlds existed, there was only one goddess who had created the world: the Goddess of Life. If you believed in the existence of a god, of course you'd know the Goddess. That was their mindset — they didn't even entertain the question, let alone dwell on it.
"Wanting an honorable death… I thought it was a mindless monster, but it was a fine knight."
"To have your body copied by the Demon King even after death, your soul toyed with… the Tower feels more horrific by the second."
While Irene conversed with the Naga warrior, Katie and Grace murmured among themselves right beside me. Rather than questioning the Goddess connection, they were reacting to the Naga warrior's bearing and the Demon King's cruelty.
At any rate, what the Naga warrior wanted was to smash the source of evil on the fortieth floor and die. And before dying, to repent of its corruption before the Goddess of Life and return to the cycle of reincarnation.
Honestly, I could understand how that Naga warrior felt. Hell… you open your eyes and it's an isekai, and your body has changed — do you have any idea how disorienting that is? If my possession was the Goddess's doing, then wasn't this some kind of proxy war?
I'd seen plenty of that type in web novels on Novelpia after discharge. The Demon King starts messing around, the Goddess summons a soul from another world to stop him… If that's how I got here, that would be ideal. Once the job was done, I could collect my reward cleanly and go home.
"Roland? What do we do? Are you thinking of cooperating with that Naga warrior?"
"Even if we cooperate, we don't need to travel together. If other adventurers saw us, their only thought would be to hunt it or capture it and hand it over to the Magic Tower. Only we, who received a mission from the Goddess, would believe a word it says."
"Ah, right. Even on the fortieth floor, other adventurers do show up from time to time."
While I was entertaining those ridiculous thoughts, Grace pressed herself against me again. Katie's wariness seemed to have melted clean away at the display of honor, but Grace still couldn't quite relax around that ominous, pitch-black, massive figure.
Of course, I'd never planned on traveling together in the first place.
The viewers had probably imagined some temporary party member arrangement, but what I demanded of the Naga warrior was very simple.
Find the source of the corruption. The rendezvous point is here — meet at noon every day!
If you want your soul saved, you come find it yourself.
Who in their right mind would form a party with a monster and stroll around the fortieth floor where other Upper-grade adventurers were roaming? Sure, if I showed them the holy brand, a nun's name, and a talking Naga, I could probably persuade people — but having to persuade someone every single time we ran into anyone was the problem.
And on top of that, with Doppelgangers flooding the floors below, an adventurer party wandering around with a jet-black Naga warrior? Anyone looking would assume we were a monster party operating under the Demon King's will, not the Goddess's.
It wasn't even a matter of persuasion — the moment they sensed us, they'd attack first as a matter of course. And if the other side was a party of only Upper-grade or Highest-grade adventurers, Grace with her bow would be the first one killed. No matter how formidable I was, if a Highest-grade archer started sniping the party with aura-charged arrows from outside detection range, it would be a real headache.
"Find the source of the corruption… do you think he can manage it?"
"If he wants salvation, he has to find it himself."
"Those who seek salvation must act with their own hands. That is also the Goddess's teaching."
In truth, I'd just been lazy and dumped the work on it, but Irene's generous interpretation put some steel in my shoulders. Judging by how it had turned black, it seemed to have picked up undead traits — maybe its hunger for salvation would drive it to search sleeplessly around the clock.
Rather than just Han Se-ah's party wandering around, having our party plus an insomniac Naga — two parties searching — would be twice as fast… or if it truly never slept, two and a half times.
Given that it had been moving around without being spotted by other Upper-grade adventurers so far, it seemed that as a named monster it wasn't just a pure strength-type character — it had some skill in stealth as well. And if it was good at stealth, it would handle scouting just fine on its own.
"That thing already intended to move on its own, so it accepted without much complaint. Hanna? You marked that spot precisely with mana, right?"
"Of course, Roland. I set it up so well even Grace wouldn't be needed — it could find the place alone."
The excitement over the brief Naga event faded quickly. The appearance of a named monster had set the debates ablaze, but once we parted ways and the tedious searching resumed, the viewers transformed back into hungry beasts. When there was no plot hook they acted like starving animals, and when there was one they acted like animals tearing into prey — so maybe it was fair to just call them animals.
And the sharp fangs of that boredom turned past Han Se-ah toward my relationship with Katie.
"Roland? If a Naga like that used spear techniques with a serpent's lower body, what would that feel like?"
"Hmm… I couldn't say for sure, but the opening move would probably be similar to a knight order's lance charge."
Apparently disappointed she hadn't gotten to spar with the trident-wielding Naga warrior, Katie stuck herself to my side and spun out elaborate fantasies about Lizardman scimitar swordsmanship and Naga trident spear techniques.
She'd been so serious about martial arts that she'd run away in men's clothing right after her coming-of-age ceremony, terrified of being stuck with the grand ducal seat — and it showed in the way her cheeks flushed red with passion. Looking at her, a thought suddenly struck me.
If a chuunibyou who deludes themselves into thinking they're special actually gets chosen by a goddess… isn't that not chuunibyou anymore? That's just someone with thorough self-awareness and a firm grasp of reality.
Regardless, the viewers were hard at work composing romance novels in the chat. With that much creative energy, why not become web novel authors instead of writing erotica about our party right here?