Chapter 317: What to Do if They All Start Crying Together?
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I checked out the monster-shaped golem.
Hmm, I see. …I think it could be nice to build something like Ａ○ＢＯ in that style, too. It’ll be a complete toy, but that’s okay as well.
――As I was thinking that, Sword closed in and whispered, “What are you going to build next?”
Esper! Sword is an Esper! How could he tell!?!?
――No, I might be wrong. Maybe he just wants to be served by a new child.
“…The same feel as this guy, but much smaller. A monster-shaped golem which is adorable and light enough to be carried around. Though, it’ll be a toy through and through. Small golems to just be doted on are adorable as well, don’t you think? I guess I’ll have it join the Ryokus and at our base the group around Black Fatty in monitoring things.”
I want to build my own cat. They don’t exist in this world. So I’m lonely. I’d like to have a friend in this.
“Hmm, isn’t it fine then? Not like it’d be odd for such a golem to exist ‘nyway.”
Nothing less of Sword who’s very tolerant towards all sorts of gadgets. Far from critically viewing it as a waste of time, he greatly welcomes it.
“Okay, that makes me want to play in the demon king’s castle more and more. I’d love to grab a big magic stone for “Nyanko.”
“You’ve already given it a name?” Sword laughed.
The golem looked back after having listened to our conversation all the time.
“…Can humans build golems so easily?”
I tilted my head in confusion as I wasn’t sure. Sword shook his head.
“Normal humans can’t. This girl’s no normal human. Rather, it’s unclear whether she’s a human to begin with.”
Just what are you saying, Sword?
“No, I’m a genuine, bona-fide human, okay? Haven’t all the maids been repeating all the time that I look more and more like my mother? Moreover, the butler also mentioned that I resemble Earl Sprincoat as well. I felt like crying there.”
Well, considering those two’s cruelty, you can’t think of them as humans though! Maybe those two actually weren’t humans!
Sword responded, “Well, your weakness to women definitely stems from the earl. And you must’ve inherited the 『Super Sadistic』 trait from your mother.”
………
Oh dear, it sounds like I do resemble them.
Given that the golem had stopped being so wary of us, I asked, “Did your creator tell you how they made you learn movement?”
The golem shook its head, “I moved like this from the start.”
Well, it makes sense for the creation to say, I suppose. I guess it’s asking too much to expect it to know.
“Hmm, if there’s some lovely monster that could serve as a reference, it’d be great.”
“Your ’bout the only one considerin’ monsters lovely,” Sword drove in a retort without a moment’s delay.
But, I ignored him, continuing my monologue, “Which reminds me, the salamander in the capitals dungeon was quite cute. I want to keep one of those, but I think it’ll be hard to do so if you don’t have a volcanic area at hand.”
I became nostalgic as I recalled the past.
“…Your the only who’d want to keep a salamander. Usually, such a monster would turn the whole place into charcoal, you know? You wouldn’t be able to get close.”
Stop commenting on each and every little part of my monologue! It’s pissing me off!
“In the other world you see, salamanders, who weren’t hot, were worshiped as guardian deities, okay? Their hissing was quite cute.”
Once I objected while being sulky, Sword shrugged his shoulders, “The other world didn’t have any monsters, right? Rather, did you just mention a deity?”
I nodded, “The other world had many gods with shapes besides humanoid.”
Sword glared at me. Why!?
“I’ll ask Amato and Scarlet to make sure.”
…Sword has stopped believing what I say.
＊
After moving while talking, we came to a portal-looking place.
“…Let me just ask in case: this is not the thing to transfer humans from one place to another, as the one mentioned by the capital’s dungeon core, right?”
“……Yes, it is as you say.”
Given that the golem agreed, albeit reluctantly, I felt slightly relieved.
“It seems to be of magical nature as well, but transferring people with that sure is scary. Just imagining how humans will be disposed of after being transferred…or how the transfer fails, leaving behind the torso…is quite frightening.”
“…..Now I’ve become scared as well, so I won’t use it no matter what. I won’t let it be used on me either.”
Sword agreed with me.
And then after Lynn timidly got out of Char, Char was stored inside Ryoku.
“Alright, everything’s ready! I wonder what sort of place the demon king’s castle is!”
Sword stroked my head with a laugh.
＊
A great number of demonkin-looking men were waiting at the destination of the portal. They’ve readied their weapons?
“I see! I see, I see! We’re already inside the dungeon, huh!? Is it okay for me to kill these!?”
“Wait a moment. Please don’t get so excited,” Sword began to soothe me.
“…Brave Lynn, what is the meaning of this? You were supposed to go and destroy the human country, and yet why did you abandon your mission and bring humans to the demon king’s country!?”
The demonkin glared at Lynn.
Lynn faced them seriously and said, “……I would like to request an audience with His Majesty. I would like him to tell me the reason why he is trying to destroy the human country with a small group of people. …I want to hear from him whether he’s truly intent on destroying the humans. My friends and I crossed the desert, prepared to die at any moment, so I would like to know whether my friends didn’t die in vain.”
Hearing this, the demonkin surrounding us became confused. Apparently they didn’t understand the meaning of Lynn’s words.
No helping it. I’ll explain things.
“In short, we picked up this guy who had collapsed while barely alive, but he started to talk about some nonsense. Stuff like 『trying to assault the capital with a small group』. That makes no sense. I mean, it’d be alright for all of you to challenge the task together, right? So why only go with a few people?
Moreover, he and his friends haven’t taken any precautions for crossing a desert. Even though it’d have been just fine to create a magic tool for building oases or making a transportation golem, they were basically told to go and die, right? If you have to fight anyway, you could also sell plenty of weapons and armor for a grand battle. The casualties would be huge as well, but the ones on top consider the lives of the files and ranks as disposable anyway, correct?
――Widely selling weapons and armor, preparing huge numbers of expendable combatants, and attacking with the full force in one swoop is how you usually do war. And yet, you only send in a small group of people? Besides, it’d be one thing if some of them had succeeded, but so far not one of those groups has accomplished its objective, right? The kingdom has no interest in their braves succeeding from the very start, but it looks like their documents tell them that the kingdom will be destroyed if they don’t follow the playbook. Well, the might also be doing it out of habit since it doesn’t cost them much that way, but how about the demon king’s country?”
As I talked, Lynn started to cry once more. Sword stroked him out of pity.
The demonkin around us were dumbfounded at first, and then looked at each other. Somehow they looked pale.
“S-Such thoughts…such terrible thoughts are festering in the minds of humans?”
One of them asked me with his voice trembling.
“Hmm? The demon king’s country is doing the same, no? Either way, the braves of the demon king’s country have been dying in vain, haven’t they? It’s what you call 『sacrifices』, right!?”
Once I exclaimed so, all the demonkin became dumbstruck. Lynn bawled loudly.
Sword blocked my mouth in a hurry.
“Hey, give it a rest already! Otherwise Lynn is never goin’ to stop, you know!? And worse, the demonkin around us have started cryin’ as well! I hate the idea of consolin’ all of ’em! Fighting would be much, much better!”
He’s got a point.
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