kscans

Chapter 228 - The Party Coordinator

That night, the day the Maid Chief decided to join the Necropolis exploration, Hayato logged in to the sound of voices coming from the dining hall.

Maris and the others had been exploring Necropolis while he was logged out, so he thought they might be having a debriefing session and decided to show his face.

"However, wouldn't it be easier to have the skeletons deliberately trigger the traps rather than having Hercules disarm them?"

"That makes it sound like my pets are useless! I've been training them for dungeon exploration, so please leave it to them!"

"Both of you, calm down. Use your muscles and take a deep breath."

It wasn't quite an argument, but it seemed their opinions were clashing over something.

Maybe it would be better to come back later. I'll just go back to my room and log out for today, Hayato thought.

But that was thwarted by Rose. One could say she was an excellent maid who could anticipate her master's thoughts.

"Everyone seems to be in trouble. I believe they will listen to what you have to say, Hayato-sama, so please resolve the situation somehow."

"I'd like to leave that sort of thing to the Hero."

"Speaking of which, Ivan-sama will be arriving. I am so looking forward to it. This time, I plan to get his autograph, have a mock battle, and have him tell me his heroic tales."

Though she was swooning, she had positioned herself to block the stairs to the second floor, which was impressive in its own right.

He had tried to escape because he was not good at this, but he took a seat at the dining room table to hear them out.

"Everyone, good work today. It seems like a lot happened, but to improve future explorations, could you tell me what occurred?"

In times like these, the best course of action was to listen to various sides to calm everyone down. The more time passed, the calmer they would become, and by voicing their opinions, they could see what they disliked a little more objectively. Of course, there was a chance that remembering would stir up their anger again, but he would cross that bridge when he came to it.

In this case, Hayato's position was closer to that of a supporter than a leader. Of course, rescuing Mist was Hayato's will, but it was originally a request from Damian. If asked who the leader was, it would probably be Damian.

However, Hayato was in a position to get his way on various matters since he was the one gathering the necessary personnel and preparing items for the exploration. He decided he should speak up as a coordinator for the party to find a compromise for each of them and ensure a smooth exploration.

After hearing them out, it seemed their opinions were divided on the traps within the dungeon.

Damian was a necromancer who specialized in creating skeletons and other creatures with the necromancy spell "Create Undead." He himself was a vampire and was strong in a fight, but he tended to fight with magic and leave the combat to his skeletons.

Since the skeletons were created with magic, he could make as many as he wanted as long as he had MP. He was proposing a method of using them to deliberately trigger and disarm traps.

Normally, that wouldn't be a problem, but this party included the tamer Maris. She was apparently indignant that her Hercules Beetle, which she had brought specifically for trap disarming, had no chance to shine.

Gil seemed to have no opinion on the traps. He was a tank, after all, and had only combat skills, so he could do nothing about traps. He had apparently proposed enduring them with muscle, but that had already been rejected.

"I understand the situation for the most part. Let's have Maris's pet, Hercules, disarm the traps."

Maris looked happy, but Damian had a slightly displeased expression.

"If you say so, Hayato, I will follow your lead, but I would like to hear the reason. Why is disarming traps with skeletons not acceptable?"

"No, it's not that it's not acceptable, but traps don't just trigger once, right? If there are cases where we can't proceed without disarming them, I thought we should get some training in trap disarming."

There are several types of traps, but they can be broadly divided into two types, those that trigger only once and those that trigger repeatedly. Physical traps are mainly the former and are common on lower floors, while magical traps are the latter and are more common closer to the lowest floor.

Physical traps like pitfalls, once triggered, leave the pitfall visible on the floor, so they don't trigger a second time. The trap itself may disappear over time, but that takes about a day.

Traps that teleport, like the one Mist encountered, are magical traps that will continue to trigger until disarmed. These also have a mechanism where the trap disappears after about a day.

Hayato had heard about this from Relic and Sonia before.

With magical traps, there's no point in having skeletons trigger them over and over. If they can't be disarmed, they'll be stuck there.

Hayato decided to make a request here that he hadn't told everyone yet.

"This is the first time I'm telling Maris and Gil-san this, but after we find Mist-san, I want you to aim for the lowest floor of Necropolis. I hear that the traps closer to the lowest floor are mostly magical, so I was thinking we should have Hercules work on disarming traps from now on... What do you two think?"

"Of course, I don't mind. There might even be a pet I can tame deep in the dungeon."

"I am of the same mind. I do not know how long it will take, but I will accompany you until Lunaria-sama tells me to return."

Having obtained Maris's and Gil's consent, Hayato turned his gaze to Damian.

"Damian-san, what do you think? How about we have Maris's Hercules train in trap disarming from now on, and once we rescue Mist-san, we aim for the item on the lowest floor with the same members?"

Damian looked a little surprised, but after letting out a breath, he smiled slightly.

"You were thinking that far ahead, Hayato. I thought it would be over once we rescued Mist."

"Well, I thought it wouldn't be a bad idea for everyone to conquer Necropolis while we're at it."

"Hayato, and you too Maris, Gil, I thank all three of you. I would be grateful if you would accompany me to the lowest floor. And Hercules, I will be counting on you to disarm the traps starting tomorrow."

Damian said this and bowed his head.

"Hercules says you can count on him, he's more than ready!"

"I too shall see to it that everyone reaches the lowest floor safely. I swear it on Demon Lord Lunaria-sama's name."

Hayato stroked his chest, relieved that things had worked out somehow. Seeing it as a good opportunity, he decided to inform them that more participants would be joining the party.

"Actually, there's someone else joining this party..."

"Are you talking about the Hero, Ivan-san?"

Hayato shook his head at Maris's words.

"No, not Ivan, someone else. The Maid Chief from the Maid Guild. She's an expert in close combat, so I think she'll be a great asset in the dungeon. Um, she saw that we were in trouble and offered to help."

He would keep the truth to himself. There are many things in this world that people don't need to know.

She said she would hand over her work today, so she would be coming tomorrow morning. He had asked Relic and Sonia in the real world to absolutely not log in. He didn't know what would happen if they ran into each other.

"Hoh, the 'Sweeper.' She will be a great asset indeed."

Gil said this with admiration. Hayato, Maris, and Damian tilted their heads, not understanding what he meant.

Rose, who had been standing near the wall, approached.

"'Sweeper' is the Maid Chief's nickname. The Maid Chief is truly a one-woman army. She is called by that name because she 'cleaned up' all her enemies single-handedly."

Hayato wondered what she was talking about, but Rose, who said it, seemed strangely proud. And Gil nodded.

"She was certainly strong. My clan, the Ten Dark Knights, defeated the clan led by the Maid Chief, but we, who excel in defense, were only able to win by destroying their Clan Stone. If they had aimed for the Clan Stone from the beginning, the result would have been different."

The Maid Chief's clan aimed to annihilate their opponents and never went for the Clan Stone. It was from this that she came to be called the cleaner, or "Sweeper."

What with Esha's Goddess of Annihilation, there are a lot of people with strange nicknames...

Be that as it may, Hayato thought that if Ivan joined this party, they would be almost invincible. The only problem, if any, would be the lack of a healer.

But that could be dealt with by Hayato's production skills.

Necropolis was not a dungeon to be conquered all at once, but one to be gradually conquered using portals.

To put it bluntly, as long as they could find a portal, they could leave, so they could replenish their items as much as they wanted. It could be said that they could bring in as many potions or elixirs as they liked.

Hayato once again asked the three of them about what they had noticed during their exploration today and decided to make production items tailored to that.