Campfire Strategy and a Quiet Night
We pulled the wooden supports free from the lizardman village tents, stacked them into a campfire, and hollowed out the logs scattered around the edge of the settlement so everyone would have somewhere to sit.
Then I had Erinn and the rest of the party settle in a loose circle around the flames.
“The vibe’s totally different from usual! Feels fresh!”
“Allen’s such a dummy that even when he tries to set a serious mood, it’s not scary at all, puheup♡”
I try to have a serious talk and they each have to throw in a line. Ugh, these lunatics.
“I was always stuck in the safe zone, so I never noticed until now, but looking at it I get it. You guys fight way too inefficiently.”
“Huh?”
“…I think I understand what you mean.”
Ser-Aria looked puzzled, but Letisia seemed to grasp it on her own. Freya had caught the gist from the questions I’d asked earlier, and the Thief simply stayed quiet.
Erinn’s reaction, though, was less than friendly.
“Wow, amazing♡ A scrub like you saying something like that?”
“What’s so amazing about it?”
“A scrub who doesn’t even know the first letter of combat suddenly lecturing us on efficiency is what’s amazing~♡”
“…Even if I’m not good at fighting, I can still call it inefficient when the front line goes after enemies the rear could handle just fine and ends up wasting attacks.”
Erinn’s face, which had been giggling a moment ago, cooled a little. I understood. A porter who couldn’t fight at all was sitting here giving combat advice—of course it looked ridiculous.
So I made one thing clear first.
“Erinn, I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with your skill.”
“Hmph.”
There really wasn’t a single problem with her ability. The reason efficient fights still never happened was that she made far too many unnecessary moves. That, in turn, kept the party’s coordinated attacks from landing cleanly either.
“But you don’t trust your party members enough. Even when Aria could easily cover something, you go after it yourself and your targets overlap all the time. And those daggers the Thief throws… you already knew they were only flying in roughly the same direction, not actually at you, right?”
Erinn didn’t deny it. She just sat quietly and listened.
“I don’t think it’s a lack of trust, but… why do you keep doing it?”
“What, a scrub like you actually saying something normal for once~♡”
You think I wasted time just to spout nonsense?
“So why do you do it?”
“Because you’re sure about that?”
“You don’t trust your party?”
“No, I trust them. I gathered them myself, after all. Of course I don’t trust you, Allen~♡”
“Besides me….”
So the setting is that the Hero personally recruited the party, huh.
……A lunatic who went around collecting other lunatics, then.
“Then try trusting them a little more when you move. You can do that, right?”
That was when Erinn spoke.
“…I wonder if it’ll work.”
“Why wouldn’t it?”
“Dummy♡ You should already know. Did you forget already? Goldfish memory~♡”
“What?”
…Is there some old history I don’t know about?
When I possessed this body, general knowledge of the world had flowed into my memory, but anything involving people from before the possession simply wasn’t there.
Seeing my blank reaction, Erinn stared at me steadily. The look was strangely earnest, and I felt an odd twinge of guilt. After all, the me who had taken over this body remembered nothing.
Then Erinn gave a short snort of laughter.
“Whatever. A dummy like you wouldn’t remember anyway~♡”
“……Anyway, if we fix that part, the fights will get a lot more efficient.”
“Hmph, I don’t think it’ll change overnight….”
Erinn said,
“Why don’t you try coming up with some clever plan with that scrub brain of yours~?”
“…Then for now, let’s just stick to one rule.”
“Stick to one?”
“Yeah.”
I thought of Erinn deliberately going after targets Ser-Aria’s arrows were already flying toward.
“Don’t make unnecessary moves just to take down enemies that are outside the reach of your sword.”
“…Heh, for a scrub’s eyesight, you watched pretty carefully~?”
“Got it? Let’s just keep that one.”
“Fine~.”
She agreed surprisingly easily. I’d set one rule for Erinn, so now I needed to brief the others so they could support it.
“Thief, from now on don’t throw hidden weapons behind Erinn.”
“…Okay. Sorry.”
“No need to apologize. Aria, Erinn just heard it too, so keep doing what you’ve been doing. Just don’t bother targeting enemies she can handle on her own.”
“Got it, I’ll remember that clearly!”
Ser-Aria answered brightly, then pulled out a bottle and guzzled from it. That damn booze of hers….
“What about us?”
“Is there anything for us?”
Once I finished with Ser-Aria, Letisia and Freya asked. I wanted to give them something, but I still hadn’t seen either of them coordinate with Erinn yet.
“You two… I haven’t actually seen any problems with you yet, so I can’t really say anything. Just keep roughly the same things I told the Thief and Aria in mind.”
“Understood.”
“Yes.”
That was enough for now. There seemed to be some history I didn’t know, and fixing everything at once was impossible anyway.
“Then I’ll take first watch tonight.”
“Allen alone?”
“Yeah… that was the plan. You all have to fight tomorrow.”
“That won’t do. If it’s just Allen, responding to emergencies will be hard.”
“Ah.”
Right. I’m a useless porter.
“And watches are supposed to be done in pairs anyway.”
So who was going to sit watch with me?
“…I’ll do it.”
Surprisingly, the one who volunteered was the Thief.
“Are you sure, Thief?”
“…Yeah.”
She said she was fine, and I was grateful she’d stepped up. Still, what if I accidentally made her cry in the middle of the night…?
Then the Thief snuck a glance at me.
“…You don’t want to?”
“Huh?… Ah, no! Of course not.”
“…Please take care of me.”
“Y-yeah….”
This is the first time the Thief has talked to me like this since I possessed the body. Maybe the compliments I gave her earlier are actually working.
“Then I’ll leave it to the two of you. Wake us in about four hours.”
Being inside a dungeon meant proper deep sleep was impossible. Light dozing and getting up again was the only kind of rest you got in here.
“Okay, we will.”
“…Everyone sleep well.”
Crack. Crack.
The only sound in the quiet night was the soft popping of embers.
I stared blankly at the campfire burning down, half in a fire trance. Then the Thief, who had been sitting across from me, quietly rose from her seat.
“…Thief? What’s wrong?”
“…Allen.”
“Yeah?”
She came and stood in front of me, looking at me steadily. There was something she wanted in her eyes….
“Ah.”
I remembered. I got up and headed for the food bag. The Thief trailed after me with soft little steps.
I opened the bag, pulled out what I’d tucked into an inner pocket, and held it out to her.
“Here. This is it, right?”
“…Yeah.”
What I gave her was a chocolate cookie. Before we entered the dungeon we’d stayed in a village that had a bakery, and the Thief had said the cookies there looked delicious and asked me to grab one for her.
Once she took the cookie, the corner of her mouth lifted just a little, as if her mood had improved. When she was this quiet and well-behaved she really was demure and cute… the problem was always those over-the-top delusions of hers.
I handed her the cookie and went back to my seat. For some reason, though, the Thief didn’t return to hers. She settled softly right beside me instead.
Does she have something she wants to say?
“…Hey, Allen.”
“Yeah?”
The moment I answered her call—
Snap,
—a light crack of cookie breaking. The Thief split the chocolate cookie in half and held one piece out to me.
“…It’s good to eat when you’re staying up.”
“Uh….”
That was true. Sugary things like chocolate were great for pulling all-nighters or getting through hard work.
What I didn’t understand was why she was suddenly giving it to me. When I looked at her with puzzled eyes, she spoke in a slightly dejected voice.
“Um…… you don’t want it…?”
“Ah, no. Thanks.”
If she was offering, I had to take it. When I accepted the half, the Thief looked satisfied and gave a tiny smile.
“Why are you suddenly giving me this?”
“…There’s no poison or anything.”
“…That’s not what I meant.”
I bought it myself—why would there be poison?
…Though if it were the Thief, she probably has the skill to slip something in by now. Still, no reason to.
“You were the one who wanted to eat it.”
“…Just because.”
Ah, so she was just giving it to me.
That left me with nothing to say. If she simply felt like sharing, what was I supposed to do about it? I just bit into the cookie she’d given me with a crisp crunch.
Pretty good. Nicely sweet, and the crunch was just right.
The Thief also quietly munched on her half. While she chewed, she snuck another glance at me.
She doesn’t have to look so carefully when she does that….
Just as I was thinking that, the Thief carefully spoke to me.
“…Erinn will… overcome it too.”
“Huh?”
“…Allen might not know, but… Erinn has her reasons for acting like that…… so if you just wait for her… she’ll do well.”
This is the first time I’ve heard her talk this much.
I understood what she was trying to say. It must have felt like I was pressuring Erinn. I hadn’t been completely free of that intention, but I hadn’t meant to hound her either.
“…I wasn’t trying to push her. I just thought it was a waste, the way she was using her strength.”
“…Allen… you really don’t remember?”
“Huh?”
“…That… with Erinn….”
“…Mm.”
I was genuinely sorry, but I had no way of knowing the old stories. For the me who had possessed this body, there was simply no way to find out.
“I don’t know.”
“…Okay. I understand.”
“…?”
Understand?
Something about the way she said it felt off.
It didn’t sound like “I understand you might not remember because it was a long time ago.”
My only childhood friend was the Hero Erinn; the other party members had only been together for a few months at most.
If the Thief knew about it, that meant Erinn’s history had happened after the party formed. And yet she was saying it wasn’t strange that I didn’t remember.
…Shouldn’t that be strange?
Puzzled, I looked at the Thief for a moment.
“…S-sorry.”
“Huh?”
“…I butted in again for no reason… I’m really sorry….”
“Ah, no. I wasn’t looking at you like that.”
“…You weren’t?”
Thankfully she didn’t cry. If the Thief started crying while everyone else was sleeping and woke them up, I’d be the only one getting yelled at again.
“When you said you understood, I got curious what you meant.”
“…Ah.”
The Thief gave a small shake of her head.
“…No, it’s nothing.”
She only denied it and closed her mouth. Apparently it wasn’t anything important.
She was so bad with words that she might have just misspoken. If I thought of it that way, it really wasn’t a big deal, so it was better to let it go.
If I dig any further and she starts crying, what then?
Once we both fell silent again, the quiet settled heavily. Earlier, sitting across from each other had made the awkwardness milder; now, sitting right next to each other without a word made it twice as thick.
I wanted to say something, but I was worried that any random topic would make her cry. Something suitable to talk about….
“…Ah, right.”
“…Yeah?”
“Thief, doesn’t it bother you not having a name? Not that I’m complaining you don’t have one—I just wondered if you might need one.”
“…Do I have to have one?”
Maybe because she’d lived her whole life without one, she didn’t seem to feel much need for a name. I explained simply.
“Take me for example. If I didn’t have a name, people would have to call me ‘Porter’ instead of Allen, right?”
“…Yeah.”
“Doesn’t that feel weird somehow?”
The Thief seemed to think about it for a moment, then made a sound with her mouth.
“…Porter.”
“Doesn’t it feel off?”
“…It feels off.”
“Right?”
I said,
“Before… before you joined the party, was there any name people used to call you?”
“…Nameless.”
…Nameless. So that’s why her status showed ‘No Name’ when I checked.
Thinking of her as an orphan who’d been called that because she had no name, I even felt a twinge of pity I hadn’t had before.
Of course I wasn’t going to do anything stupid like openly showing sympathy. You never know how the other person will take it.
“Rather than a meaningless name like that, don’t you think you should have one that sticks in both the listener’s and the speaker’s memory?”
“…A name… I’ve never thought about it, so I don’t know.”
“Then… want to think about it together?”
“…Together?”
The Thief’s eyes went round as she looked at me. I nodded and said,
“Yeah. Of course whatever name you want comes first.”
There was a clear reason I was being this nice. She was already timid and had extremely low self-esteem, and on top of that she was terribly awkward around men… if I didn’t get at least a little closer, the road ahead was going to be even rougher.
At least while we were together, I wanted her to have as little stress as possible. That meant building some rapport.
“How about it?”
When I asked carefully, the Thief gave a tiny nod.
“…Yeah…, I’ll think about it.”
“Good. Then once we finish this dungeon properly, let’s talk about it.”
Nod—her head moved. Thankfully she seemed to like the suggestion. Had I managed to build a little friendship with this?
I looked at the other four sleeping soundly in their bedrolls.
…We’ve still got a long, long way to go.
Around dawn the next morning.
“Everyone ready?”
“Haaawn, yes….”
“Yes, weakling commander~♡”
Having to listen to that damn brat’s insults first thing in the morning….
Fucking hell.
I really wanted to give her one solid knuckle to the head.
“Nothing happen last night?”
“…Yeah, nothing.”
Freya was asking the Thief whether anything had gone wrong overnight.
You don’t need to worry that much. The atmosphere last night wasn’t bad at all.
“Then let’s head ou—”
“Wait!”
“Huh?”
“Gonna top up the alcohol!”
“Hey… we’re about to fight the strongest one and you’re drinking?”
“She’s right, Aria. We agreed not to drink during boss fights.”
Surprisingly, Freya backed me up. Even among fellow lunatics, apparently drinking right before a boss was hard to accept.
Ser-Aria pouted and set the bottle down.
“Tch… fine.”
“Then before we go in, a briefi—”
“C-can’t I just have one sip, Allen? This Noonim is seriously gonna die!”
What am I supposed to do with this crazy alcoholic….
“…Then how about this.”
“Huh? How?”
“Every time you miss a shot because you drank, you don’t get to drink one bottle in the next dungeon. Supplies are my job, so I control the booze too—you know that, right?”
“Th-that’s too much, Allen!!”
“If you don’t like it, don’t drink now. Or drink and hit every single shot.”
As far as I was concerned, I’d given Ser-Aria a proposal she had no choice but to accept.
I figured she’d pick the first option. Missing a few sips now would hurt less than missing whole bottles later.
“…Fine, I get it.”
She chose, just as expected. Then—
“This Noonim will show you! I’ll just drink and hit everything!!”
“…What?”
The moment I asked back in shock, Ser-Aria was already guzzling from the bottle.
“You… are you insane? Every miss means one bottle confiscated! I’m not joking!?”
This wasn’t some regular mob. We were about to face a boss. Unlike trash that just stood there and took arrows, it would block and dodge… how well would it move?
Even Ser-Aria, called the Divine Archer, could miss a few shots after drinking. And every miss would cost her a bottle….
“Khh, I know. But listen, Allen.”
Ser-Aria just grinned like she had nothing to worry about.
“For a drinker like me, one drop of booze right now is more important than future suffering that hasn’t even shown up yet.”
“….”
Drinker, my ass.
“…Do whatever you want.”
She’s just a straight-up crazy alcoholic.