112. Queen Siren Subjugation (1)
112. Queen Siren Subjugation (1)
On the night when the full moon rose high above the sky,
the warriors of the Athena Guild entered the dungeon without a shred of fear.
"──! Three Sirens up ahead."
"Numerous other monsters have also been spotted."
The monsters had multiplied again over the past few days.
It might have been a bit troublesome if it had been just Minerva and me alone like before, but
"Subjugation complete. We continue advancing."
unlike before, a large-scale raid party was now on the move.
Trash mobs blocking the way were dealt with at the reconnaissance squad level.
Thanks to that, as everyone was comfortably entering the dungeon, Minerva quietly approached me and asked.
"Chrono, all those things you're carrying on your back..."
"They'll all come in handy when the time comes."
"........."
There really was the strangest assortment of things in there.
So much so that it felt a little uncomfortable to carry and move with right now.
Fortunately, I was in the back row for performances, and the Spartan training I'd received from Eve at the academy helped in many ways.
'She said that Ultimately, the only thing you can trust is your own body.'
Just how far ahead could she see?
Anyway, I told her not to worry since I'd brought them all to be used, and sent Minerva forward.
"You're the face madam, after all. You should be at the front leading."
"....I was already planning on doing that, even without you saying it."
A response that seemed a little annoyed, almost snapping.
Minerva immediately stepped out to the front lines and arrived at the sub-boss room, following the markers we had previously carved.
"Arriving without losing the path even once..."
"As expected of Lady Minerva!"
"The goddess of the battlefield walks among us!"
The sub-boss room was reached in less than an hour of marching.
In truth, dungeons themselves were full of time-consuming things: searching, scouting, subjugating, and so on.
But advancing forward confidently without even once wandering off course and finally reaching the boss room—well, that was bound to boost morale.
'Because it means that much less exhausting work.'
I also sent applause along with everyone else.
".......Hoooh..."
"...Well, what can you do."
She glanced at me and let out a long sigh.
In truth, we were only able to find the way because of the 'markers' I had carved before, but the situation was too bad to reveal that.
What could I do.
Since morale was already high, I just had to push forward like this.
"From now, we'll have a 10-minute rest and personal maintenance period. After that, we will enter inside using the 'key' that Lady Minerva has found. Understood!"
"Huh? That's.... ugh, haaah...!"
Again, the natural usurpation of credit occurred.
Minerva glared at the person in charge next to her, gritted her teeth, and eventually bowed her head.
It was too late to take it back now.
Taking it back would only dampen morale and cloud the atmosphere.
In the first place, the only benefit to correcting it would be that my mood would improve slightly, but the disadvantages that would follow seemed far too great.
"I'm sorry, Chrono. If only I... if only I had a little more strength..."
Eventually, during the maintenance period, Minerva came over and bowed her head to me.
"It's fine. You didn't do it on purpose to screw me over, right?"
I waved my hand dismissively and let it slide.
Honestly, experiencing firsthand the things I had read as text and skipped over was slowly getting on my nerves, but still, what could I do.
It was all for the happy ending.
I had to endure this much for the true ending.
"....I'll definitely compensate you later."
"Oh. How do you plan to compensate me?"
Minerva's apology.
Of course, I knew it was a cliché statement, but who cares about that—what exactly and how do you plan to compensate me?
"Huh? That's... money, perhaps...?"
"When you don't even have money for guitar strings?"
"....Honor?"
"Which is being stolen away right now?"
"............."
"Hehehehe!"
How amusing.
Her increasingly troubled expression was incredibly amusing.
"...Chrono."
"What. Do you have something else?"
After deep deliberation, Minerva opened her mouth.
"Actually, the only thing I can say that 'I' possess is... my own body."
"So? You'll give even your body?"
Wow, my mouth is watering at that—
"Yes."
"...Whoa."
—Stop right there...
Hey, don't be so serious about something said in jest.
I lightly poked Minerva's side.
"I'm saying it as a joke, so don't get needlessly serious."
"Eep!.... It's not a joke, you know?"
"It's not a joke from my end hearing it, you know? Don't you see the looks from people around us right now?"
"......Ah."
Though it was maintenance time, it was still a situation where a certain amount of attention gathered.
Thanks to that, a few guild members who had grasped the situation were looking back and forth between Minerva and me with strange eyes.
Could that be a look of 'Is Lady Minerva dating him...?'
Or perhaps...
'They might have realized that it was actually me who achieved the credit.'
In truth, whatever it was, it was fine.
Because their reactions weren't that important in the first place.
Because all I had to do was take good care of the 'heroines'.
"Ugh.... uugh...!"
"It's almost time. Stop that and get to the front."
I pushed the half-dying-of-embarrassment Minerva forward.
"The break is over."
The guild members slowly rose from their spots.
"Then everyone, we begin the operation to subjugate the Queen Siren."
***********
The secret scale of the Siren.
When it was brought to the very center of the door, a clicking, unlocking sound was heard.
The door covered in coral and seaweed
slowly opened to both sides, revealing...
"Seems it's starting soon."
...just a few Sirens for reconnaissance.
Originally, a sub-boss should have been here, but now was the Queen Siren's spawning time.
Sub-boss or whatever, the probability was high that they were all in the queen's chamber—ahh, shit!
'I forgot...'
Come to think of it, we should have caught the sub-boss here and broken through to the boss room,
but the event had twisted strangely, so it seemed we would end up having to break through to the boss room raw.
"It got troublesome..."
No, was it actually a good thing for me?
Originally, we would only accept the existence of the Queen Siren after breaking through to the boss room, but due to several coincidences overlapping, the event began before we arrived.
And what was the result of that?
"They're slipping out sideways! Block them!"
"Manage aggro tightly!"
"Tsk... Healer! What are you doing not using heal!"
"It's easy, easy."
Scoring without effort.
Though there was a slight loss in experience...
'It was quite profitable running the dungeon with Minerva.'
I had already recovered the necessary experience to some extent.
At least enough experience that I didn't need to push myself in dungeons this year.
Of course, the more I had, the more skills I could unlock, so I could participate in the hunting too, but...
"Tsk... Everyone be careful! Since it's the queen's spawning day, they're attacking more viciously than usual!"
"Gaaah...! This bastard, even though I stabbed its belly with a knife, it bit and attacked me!"
"Hang in there! Ugh... That must hurt."
I didn't want to insert myself into that bloody battlefield already.
I just quietly waited for the Athena Guild people to handle things.
And then,
—Baanng!
"Aack...!"
"I knew this would happen."
There were always one or two guys trying to backstab exactly at times like this, weren't there?
I engraved 'righteousness' into the bodies of the Sirens trying to ambush the back row, so they wouldn't be able to ambush anyone ever again.
"S...save me...!"
"Yeah, no."
—Baanng!
The tuition fee was their lives.
...
..
.
Was it because the Athena Guild was still a major guild?
There were a few minor injuries, but no major problems.
Even those injuries were quickly treated by the healers, so we could reach the boss room without any significant loss of combat power—I hoped that would be the case, but
"Everyone halt. We'll camp here for the day."
As humans, rest was necessary.
Though it wasn't a safe zone, that part could be resolved by setting up a night watch.
"Chrono..."
"Minerva, welcome back?"
Minerva, who had been at the front lines the whole time leading.
The same Minerva who never showed a sign of hardship in front of others— the moment I came into her sight, her expression crumbled.
A face that looked utterly exhausted.
Indeed, her eyes were half-closed as if she was truly deeply fatigued, and overall she was full of weary signs.
"It's a little... strange. When I was with Chrono before, it wasn't this hard..."
"It's probably because you've taken on a heavy responsibility."
"....Chrono."
I am aware of how I'm being treated.
"Me, as Chrono said, I'm only here as a mascot, right? The reason I'm here."
"Aren't you undervaluing yourself too much?"
"It's because I haven't actually done anything."
"....Tch."
That statement was accurate.
Minerva hadn't done much here.
It would have been more grueling when she and I were alone in the dungeon.
Despite that, Minerva was now complaining that this position was much harder and more uncomfortable.
"Why is that... rather, it felt more comfortable when I was with only Chrono."
"Minerva."
Her eyes had become strangely moist.
Toward Minerva like that, I spoke.
"You're currently being 'charmed' by the Siren right now."
"What...?"
"So you're finding it hard because you're under a mental attack."
"............"
An expression that seemed to ask what I meant by that.
There was nothing strange about it.
"When we came just the two of us before, I kept removing your stress, right? And dispelling debuffs. That's why it was okay then, but right now you're enduring with just your own body without any of that."
"Ahh... so that's what it was?"
"Yeah. It's exactly that."
So you shouldn't have any strange misunderstandings.
I managed to soothe Minerva, and
"Chrono."
"What."
"Are you doing it on purpose?"
"..........."
A completely unexpected, unpredictable question.
"Don't worry, Chrono."
Minerva did not wait for my answer.
"Unless Chrono desires it first, I have no intention of doing anything beyond that either."
"Uhm..."
A sentence that was practically a confession.
As the days went by, the words became more sincere, more earnest, and came at me head-on, and at that one remark,
".......Yeah."
my heart fluttered.
This shouldn't be happening, and even knowing it shouldn't,
I slowly placed my hand over my heart and pressed down.
As a side note,
[Huk... heup, heo-eok...!]
"......Hmm."
The sound of flesh against flesh.
A sound that absolutely should not be heard on a battlefield splattered with blood and flesh was caught in the ears.
'It's probably... right, isn't it?'
Honestly, I hoped it wasn't, but the probability that it was correct was higher.
I stealthily walked while holding my breath in the direction of the sound, and...
"I'm about to... shoot...!!"
"Kyaaaak...♥"
"Huh."
There was a suspiciously vigorously virile fishmonger.
Already, one or two signs of rifts had begun to show.