落とし穴外伝：勇者立つ！ (Part1)
Dungeon Pit Side Story: The Hero Rises!
The Hero Rises!
Side: Taiki
"Pfft...!!"
Yuki, Taizo, and Sota all simultaneously turned their gazes away from me and burst into laughter.
The reason was painfully obvious.
"Don't laugh. You’re the ones who decided I should wear this, aren't you!"
Overcome with shame, I couldn't help but raise my voice.
"Ah, my bad. Pfft. But keep it down. Right now, Taiki-kun, you are the hope of this Kingdom of Ioa."
"Guh—ahem. Right. I understand your feelings, but it wouldn't do for you to lose your composure."
*Then stop laughing!* I wanted to shout, but I desperately held it back.
"Still, even though we were the ones who chose it, everyone really was prostrating themselves before you, weren't they? Man, the title of 'Hero' really is something."
"Well, I suppose that’s just it. It seems equipment like this doesn't exist in these lands. Above all, it has a restorative effect, so it’s actually practical."
"If you wore modern tactical gear, you’d just be met with confused stares, so this is the correct choice."
"I understand that, but... why did this armor even exist in the first place?"
That’s right—this armor wasn't made specifically for this operation. It had been sleeping in Narjia’s warehouse all along.
"Ah, if I recall, it was originally made because there was a desire to create such extravagant equipment."
"Why?"
"Look, we’re an army, right? A modern one."
"Yeah."
"So, we wouldn't wear gear that makes it obvious to everyone from a distance who the leader is, would we?"
"...Ah. So that’s why."
Narjia and the others generally prefer to create one-of-a-kind, super-enhanced weapons, but for us, raising the overall average is what’s important. We turn down gear that’s blatantly powerful or flashy. We’re all in agreement that gear with a plain appearance but high performance is better.
"So, we just utilized the armor that had been made. Well, it’s flashy, but the performance is high. I believe I explained this beforehand, but that armor constantly provides a restorative effect to those around it and boosts the wearer’s abilities. It’s a fine piece of kit. It just happens to be conspicuous."
"I don't need it! Besides, it doesn't distinguish between friend and foe when it comes to the healing, does it?"
"Ahaha, that’s probably why it ended up in the warehouse, but in this specific case, I doubt there will be any close-quarters fighting."
"That’s true. We’ve already requested that the gate location be secured; after that, we just need to send in the Weed army and it’ll be over."
Exactly. I’m basically just acting as a figurehead; the actual fighting will be done by the Weed soldiers.
Well, in reality, the goal is to gather combat data on our weapons. We can’t deploy them on a large scale just yet. The environment, the people, the explanations to various nations—it’s all incredibly troublesome. There are things we want to keep hidden, too.
However, in this isolated continent, we don't need to be so reserved. We can do as we please. Since this country is currently worshipping me, and we are acting to save them, it’s not as if we can do *anything* we want, but using weapons to defeat the enemy will surely be tolerated.
"Well, the fortunate thing is that it wasn't on the actual day."
"Yeah, I really think so too. We were at least able to eat our New Year's Eve noodles and pay our respects."
"We had our preparations, but we were able to spend the turn of the year peacefully."
"Indeed. Now, to spend the New Year in good spirits, let’s sweep away the dust of our concerns once and for all. Oh, and Yuki-kun, were you able to deploy the dungeon as planned?"
Ah, that’s right. The plan was to turn this place into a dungeon the moment I was called here to seal off the magical diffusion. And to gather intelligence while I was at it.
"Yeah, that’s all taken care of. The dungeon deployment is complete. Well, I haven't gone as far as the Demon Lord’s location yet since we don't know what might happen, but I’ve already secured the ground beneath the monsters surrounding the capital of the Kingdom of Ioa. Oh, and of course, the naval blockade was successful, so it won't be a problem even if the Demon Lord tries to incite the monsters into a frenzy."
As expected, he’s quick. That leaves me wondering about one thing...
"Yuki-san. Do you have an idea of the strength of the surrounding monsters and the soldiers here?"
"I’ve passed it to the intelligence department to calculate the averages, but let’s see. Here."
With that, Yuki-san sent over the data. It didn't look like it had been fully processed yet, but since it was converted into Excel format, I could organize it to some extent.
"The average level across the board is about 40, then?"
"The ones in high numbers are Goblins, Kobolds, and Orcs—the usual suspects. On our side, the 'small fry' or infantry have an average level of around 10. Still, there really are a lot of them."
"Indeed. Looking at the data, the infantry units number in the tens of thousands, at the very least. In contrast, the current combatant soldiers of the Kingdom of Ioa have a high average level of around 15, but there are only 5,000 of them. The citizens have levels around 10 at the high end, and as low as 1. There are about 50,000 of them."
Every time I said it out loud, I realized just how desperate the situation was. The quality of the Ioa Kingdom’s soldiers was higher, but the numbers were hopeless.
Moreover, the problem was the boss-class and commander-class monsters waiting in the rear. In this world, a certain amount of numbers is meaningless in the face of a level gap. The Kingdom of Ioa seemed to have a few "trump card" generals and aces—people who had surpassed level 50.
But the enemy had over a thousand of those level 50-plus monsters.
This wouldn't be a fair fight, given the disparity in both numbers and the quality of the aces.
"In terms of scale, it’s in a way larger than the Great Outbreak that occurred in Suurus. About two to three times larger, I’d say."
As Yuki-san said this, he sent over the video data obtained from drones and familiars. It was clear that the scale was indeed incomparable to the Great Outbreak from the other day.
"In that sense, it’s a welcome opportunity for us to gather data. The last time, it collapsed in an instant."
Yuki-san stated this flatly, without any emotion, but being hit by a storm of artillery fire would make anything vanish in an instant. No, wait—I heard that the place where the main force, or rather the commander, was located managed to endure it once, didn't I?
As I was thinking that, Taizo-san looked up.
"So, based on this data, are there any changes to your planned strategy, Yuki-kun?"
"None in particular. We’ll go with Plan A. I’ve judged that we can sufficiently handle the enemy’s strength. What about you all?"
"I don't see any issues either."
"Neither do I."