A Troublesome Party (2)
I hadn't touched a thing. These idiots had simply looked around and frozen in shock all on their own.
"N-no, we—"
"You what? What exactly are you capable of doing?"
I needled their pride, just a little. With types like these, that was the only way to get even a flicker of a reaction. I'd gone to the trouble of bringing them here — the least they could do was not stand around gawking.
Stung by my words, the three of them finally hauled themselves to their feet.
"We'll take on the gargoyles too!"
Good. That was more like it. I had no intention of stepping in right away anyway.
I needed them to collapse under their own power first. Let them feel the gulf in ability down to their bones.
Come to think of it, the place was nothing but gargoyle statues in every direction. What had the demons who'd built this place even been thinking?
"Fine, fine. Big talk. Then go attack that one."
I pointed, half-bored, at the statue right beside us.
This was the moment.
"That—"
"That's the gargoyle you've been so desperate to kill."
"We can really take it?"
"Sure. Knock yourselves out."
KWA-GAAAANG!
"Huh?"
"What do you mean, 'huh'? Did you honestly think swinging like a maniac was all it took?"
Was this kid actually that stupid? Had he heard nothing of what I'd said earlier? Learned nothing at all?
And what on earth did those girls see in this blockhead that they'd follow him around? They could have done even a scrap of research before tagging along.
Did he think I'd mentioned a mage earlier just to hear myself talk?
A bone-deep loathing for pure melee dealers rose up in me.
"That's not what I—"
"It means you can't brute-force something like this with raw strength. That's exactly what I meant."
"Khh..."
What was with the khh again? I was the one dying of secondhand embarrassment here. With types like these, maybe just beating them out of the dungeon by force was the real answer.
"Glare at me all you want. The thing that just proved how weak you are is that gargoyle statue over there — not me."
Pathetic. Just watching them was like trying to swallow a whole sweet potato.
"I-I know! Even I get that much!"
Like hell he did.
"If you know, then good. So you should also be thinking about the counterattack, right?"
"What?"
"I mean, what kind of idiot just stands there and takes a hit without hitting back?"
In that instant, a vibration began to roll through the surroundings.
It came from the gargoyle statues laid out in every direction.
Yes. What more was there to say? It was almost comically bleak.
KWA-RRRRRRRUMBLE
Our dear friends the gargoyles finally rose from their pedestals.
And whether they were simply pissed about taking a hit, they fixed their sights on this soft, half-baked little party.
I almost felt sorry for them.
"KYAAAAAAAO!"
"E-EEEEEK!"
Hans flipped over in pure panic, then barely managed to crawl behind a stone pillar to evade a gargoyle.
Celia and I never entered their field of vision.
I'd cast recognition interference magic. There was no chance of us getting caught.
"All right. Time for a little lesson, you idiots who stuffed your party full of nothing but melee dealers."
As the gargoyles' attacks crashed down on the party, the boy named Hans somehow kept dodging while trying to land a blow of his own — only for the opposite to happen. His weapon cracked.
Of course it did. He'd said he was from a poor noble house, so his gear wouldn't have any enchantments. And with no mage in the party, they were just mindlessly swinging away.
That kind of approach only worked on goblins or orcs.
KWAAAA!
In the end, it was only after they'd scrambled back out of the temple that they managed to hold on at all.
"Barely escaping — that's the best you can do."
"Hiiik... hiiik..."
"You wet yourselves earlier, and now you're doing it again? Oh, you poor things. At this rate you should have just given up. Why push yourselves this far?"
This time it wasn't only the girls. Even Hans had wet himself.
"But I still want to kill them!"
How pitiful. Wanting something didn't make the impossible possible.
They needed to know their place.
"Then you should have brought a mage. Failing that, you yourselves should have become mana-wielding magic swordsmen, magic archers, magic spearmen — something like that."
Honestly, reaching that level required real talent, and looking at this lot, I didn't see it.
At the absolute bottom end, there were items that briefly coated a weapon in mana as a crude form of mana-based attack — but even that was probably beyond this party.
Just stupidly smashing away with swords, spears, and bows. That was the bare minimum strategy available to them.
Good grief. What a pack of amateurs.
All I could do was laugh.
I couldn't keep mocking them forever. And I certainly wasn't about to hand them the money to hire a mage.
So what then?
Just settle it with raw ability, the way I'd planned?
That was the answer for now. That much, at least, would satisfy them — satisfy them as to just how pathetic they really were.
Which meant I was going to show them.
"Watch closely. I'll show you what real power looks like. Celia — use the bears. Hem them in for now."
"Yes."
Celia's teddy-bear unit closed around the clueless little party.
Then I dropped the recognition interference magic.
Naturally, the gargoyles locked onto us. For all their stupidity, they still had eyes — the moment the interference lifted, dozens of them came charging in.
Yes. Quite a lot of them, actually.
Might as well wipe them all out in one go while I was at it.
"What the hell are you— What are you doing?!"
"Th-that's dangerous!"
Honestly, these halfwits. Freaking out over this? Ah — this was getting seriously bad. What kind of adult did this to a bunch of kids?
"What does it look like? I'm drawing them all onto myself."
I deliberately pulled their attention.
It kept feeling a little too much like showing off, but I still needed them to see this once.
Gargoyles. I'd run into them here and there on the last expedition, too. Back then, anything that flew had been cleaned up with magic-stone rifles.
Unfortunately, this time I had to handle it myself.
"That's insane! You'll die!"
"Yeah. Normally, you would. The gargoyles would tear the flesh and bone right off you until there was nothing left."
These were demon-realm gargoyles. They'd be especially vicious.
If I hadn't been here, these kids would already have been ripped apart and killed for real. They ought to be grateful they'd run into me.
Someone as considerate as me? The Adventurers' Guild didn't have anyone like that.
"Then why are you doing it?!"
"That's what weaklings have to worry about."
I was nothing like them.
"Even so, numbers like that are way too dangerous..."
"That's exactly the point. To take down things like that, you need the strength to handle at least this much."
I opened my grimoire and prepared magic bullets.
Dozens of them, all aimed at the swarm.
Actually, aiming wasn't even necessary. Just launching them was enough to kill everything. No need to pick targets one by one — spraying them in every direction would do the job.
"Huh?"
"Watch."
Ta-da-dang!
Dozens of magic bullets slammed into the gargoyles pouring in from every side.
KWA-DUDUDUDUK
Bodies shattered under my magic bullets. They died midair with nothing more than a helpless squawk, collapsing without resistance.
I glanced at the amateur party. Hans and the girls alike stood with their jaws hanging open.
Well. That was the normal reaction.
If it had been that hero bastard, he would have killed them like this and then run through every last bit of showing off he had in him. Me, I just stood there quietly looking at these amateurs.
"W-what... what is this?"
"What does it look like? Dying gargoyles."
Could they not tell just by looking? Even with the shattered pieces right in front of their eyes. The gargoyles had all been swept away in a single volley of my magic bullets.
"How did they all just... die like that?"
"It's a difference in class. And the power of magic. You idiots were smashing physical attacks into gargoyles that are weak to magic. That's why."
"Khhh..."
Judging by how twisted his face had become, he was furious.
He could make whatever face he wanted. Impossible was still impossible.
"So. Do you understand now why I tried to stop you? Without me, you'd already be dead. Being an adventurer doesn't mean every monster is easy to kill."
"You're saying we don't have enough skill?"
Not enough didn't even begin to cover it.
"When your skill falls short, you climb the ranks one step at a time. But you lot keep trying to take shortcuts. That's probably why your families gave you an earful."
"No. We—"
Still trying to dig in their heels?
Or did they genuinely want to get stronger? Either way, I didn't see them having a particularly bright future as adventurers.
But if they were dead set on it... maybe I could help a little.
Even Adellina's parasites had made it this far. There was no law that said these kids couldn't.
"I'll ask you once. Do you really want to get stronger?"
"Of course. We will get stronger."
The hero bastard used to say that too. Always that he was strong — not that he would become strong. Just the sheer stupidity of declaring himself strong out loud.
"Are you still looking down on this as an easy path?"
Surely not. Right?
"No. Not for that reason anymore!"
"So you're saying you want to take this seriously?"
"Yes! I really want to take it seriously!"
Then maybe they deserved a chance.
Just sending them home after flexing on them felt a little hollow. Right. Training them instead might actually be a better approach.
If these kids wanted any hope of killing even a gargoyle, they needed to learn how to use mana. That meant someone had to train them — and getting help from the Adventurers' Guild, shockingly enough, required money.
So without money, reaching that level on your own was nearly impossible. No matter which way you turned, it always came back to not having enough coin.
"You're going to make us stronger or something?"
"No reason I can't. The temple's been cleared. I can train you until you can at least handle gargoyles."
"How?"
I didn't much like the way he kept answering back so crisply.
Still, they seemed decent enough at heart. Maybe I really would teach them properly.
"Yes or no? Your will is what matters."
"I-I'll do it. I will!"
Hans clenched his fists and spoke.
Good. That level of resolve was enough. Being able to talk back to anyone was one thing — but recognizing your own weakness and deciding to grow past it? That attitude I liked.
"All right. That'll do."
"You'll really make it so we can?"
It wasn't that I'd make them able — it was their will alone. Still, with this much determination, I figured they could handle it themselves.
Yes. Time to dust off the hourglass for the first time in a while.