第３８６堀：一人ではなくみんなで (Part2)
If only Noble would speak up voluntarily... but how?
"Um, Eris-san? Are you alright? You’ve been muttering to yourself for a while now."
"Leave her be. That’s her 'accounting face.' When she’s working on the books, she starts spouting so many numbers that it’s even more incomprehensible than this."
"Cleena-san is like that too, isn't she?"
"……That’s uncalled for."
"Oh? You aren't aware of it? You’re always like that in the library Yuki-sama prepared for us."
"……No way. That, can’t, be true. Yu, Yuki always welcomes me so gently……"
"……Isn't that just because Yuki-sama already understands your quirks and doesn't say anything about it?"
"……He doesn't hate me?"
"A person Yuki-sama would hate? I’m actually curious who that would be. Ah, I suppose there’s Luna-sama."
"……No. I don't want that. I don't want to be lumped in with Luna."
"Please calm down. Yuki-sama loves you dearly, Cleena-san, so you’ll be fine."
"……Really?"
"Truly. After all, he keeps you company at night, doesn't he?"
"……That’s right. Sorry. I lost my composure for a moment."
*Ugh, seriously, the people around me are so noisy I can't focus on my thoughts.*
No, even by myself, I wouldn't be able to piece this together.
*Calm down, Eris. Yuki-san always said it, didn't he?*
"Leave the mochi to the mochi maker"—rely on those who are experts.
The goal this time is to lure the opponent into the situation we desire. In other words, rather than a war, this is a matter of political maneuvering and negotiation. The family members who excel at that are...
『Yes, yes. What is it?』
『Yes, what can I do for you?』
『What is it?』
『Did you call for me?』
Ratz, Rurua, Seraria, and Shera.
Since these four are the strongest among us when it comes to political maneuvering and negotiations, they should be able to provide a good plan.
With that in mind, I explained the situation—from the deployment of Yuki-san’s full force to Noble’s runaway behavior—and the problem I was trying to solve.
『I see, I see. This might actually work out quite well.』
『Yes. We were so surprised by Yuki-san’s full-member deployment that we hadn't even considered a plan beyond that.』
『That’s true. This might actually be a viable option.』
『Yes. I believe the success rate is quite high.』
It seems the four of them had already reached a conclusion and were in agreement.
"Um, so what should I do?"
『Ah, Eris is still struggling with how to bring it to that point. Let’s see, how should we explain this?』
『Well, you should just do what we did during the Litea incident.』
"When you say the Litea incident, do you mean when you fought against the opposition in Litea?"
『That’s right. Well, this time it would be in the form of a joint exercise. When Hifi sits down at the negotiating table with Noble, he’ll know Comet is there, so he’ll realize we can use the dungeon. You should use that to propose a mock battle between monsters. Just say you want to gauge each other's combat strength. If you can utilize the corpses, it would be the ultimate exercise. You can secure materials, so I don't think he’d refuse.』
"Oh, I see."
『At that time, Noble will need to bring his zombie soldiers, but since the other side wants to utilize corpses too, he’ll explain the reason, and he’ll likely deploy those zombies in the exercise. If anything, they’ll be his main force. It’s a perfect stage for them to measure the power of their zombie soldiers as well.』
"So, all Hifi-san and the others have to do is propose a monster exercise?"
『Yes, that’s right. Well, you’ll have to set various conditions, but that’s the general strategy.』
『It seems Master hadn't realized this either.』
『It can’t be helped. How much do you expect Yuki to use his head? Just deploying his full force to minimize casualties is enough.』
『That’s true. Supporting where he falls short—that is our role as his wives. However, since he brought Narjia-san and the others along, I suspect he’s also keeping the possibility of seizing the dungeon in one fell swoop in mind.』
I see.
If he does that, the damage will truly be minimized.
But with this plan, we can make it even safer.
We just need to make the exercise opponent the Weed monster army.
That way, whether it’s the enemy’s zombie army or their monster army, we can annihilate them.
It will serve as a good diversion, significantly whittle down their forces, and change their perception of the power balance.
『Well then, Eris, you should be the one to report this.』
『That’s right. It’s Eris-san’s achievement.』
『Indeed. Oh, but make sure to include our names as co-authors.』
『You can’t take all the credit from Yuki-san by yourself, you know?』
"Yeah, I understand. Thank you."
Alright, now I just need to summarize this and explain it to Yuki-san!!
Once that’s decided, I’ll head back to Weed and get it written up in the office right away!!
"……Looks like we were left behind."
"……They went ahead and moved the conversation forward on their own."
"……Cleena-san, did you hear that?"
"……Not at all. I’ll ask my master about it later."
The wives are using this opportunity to come up with even more contingency plans.
It’s the classic case of "one person’s ideas only go so far."
When everyone thinks together, all sorts of ideas emerge.
Well, you can’t take action like this without the right information, though.
In other words, the information is...
Well, I’ll save that for when Yuki explains the plan.
Finally, the temperature in my room is 31 degrees.
It’s hot!!