Will I End Up As a Hero or a Demon King (WN)

Chapter 302

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Chapter 302 – For the First Time in a While, the Four of Us

“Whooooaaahhh!”

“Amaazzinnggg!”

“I’ve seen another mystery…”

This time, I totally get that feeling.

As I looked around, thinking that to myself, I heard Potta-kun mutter.

We landed on the roof of the Hunter Guild.

I grabbed all three of them by the scruff and brought them down to the ground. We headed straight for the dungeon entrance.

This was everyone’s first trip abroad: a two-day, one-night excursion.

It was both a journey and an expedition as Hunters, so I wanted them to learn something before I sent them home.

Probably because I wasn’t alone.

The old man at the appraisal office was rubbing his chin and watching us with interest, but I ignored him for now. I borrowed a five-piece set from the free rental place and headed straight into the dungeon.

Then we quickly went from the first underground floor to the sixteenth.

“Huh? The wall color changed somehow.”

“Is the entrance in a different place?”

“This is the sixteenth floor, a bit deeper down.”

“Are you sure? Can we handle this?”

“Based on my experience yesterday, along with F-rank monsters, E-rank monsters start appearing on the 16th floor and up. There is no problem.”

“But we usually only go up to F-rank.”

“But you’ve got plenty of leeway now, right?”

“Well, yeah, I guess.”

“Plus, I learned Investigation!”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“Then let’s just keep testing it out. There’s no other opportunity like this. If it comes down to it, I’ll help you out.”

How strong are they right now?

In a dungeon where stronger monsters appear within the same rank band and the number of monsters per room increases, they can more easily recognize their strength as clear numbers.

First, let them grasp the current situation. Next, how can they become stronger?

If I can get them to understand that much, the rest depends on their motivation.

“I’ll carry the basket, right?”

As I shouldered the basket and held the broom and dustpan, Potta-kun, the professional, chimed in.

“No need to dismantle anything here, so it’s fine. Instead—”

“””?”””

“May-chan and Potta-kun, why don’t you try joining the fight more today?”

“But I only have my dismantling dagger.”

“Even so, attacking still has meaning. If you do it right, I’ll give you a reward later!”

“A reward!”

“What kind of reward?”

“W-will I get one too?”

“Of course. There’s one for all three of you. Do your best.”

“All right, let’s do this! We can handle an E-rank if we try hard!”

“I can’t reach the big ones!”

“I’ll hit ’em!”

All right, then. Let’s see where they stumble first.

I watched their backs as they charged forward, likely facing kobolds for the first time. They yelled and screamed, and I couldn’t help but smile. I kept my hands off, just watching the repeated battles unfold.

They didn’t bother clearing the entire floor. Once they deemed it safe, they moved on to the next level.

The first real stumbling block in this cycle was the orcs that appeared on floor 22.

“Damn it! We can beat them, but the arrow consumption is just too high!”

“Crabs and frogs weren’t that strong though.”

“But, hey, Zink and I are soaking wet.”

“That water gun they use hurts, but it’s kind of fun. Once we learn how to use it, we can really play around in the river.”

Why is Zink-kun so happy after getting hit by Amber Flag’s water magic?

I don’t quite get it, but as expected, I now have a pretty good grasp of the current issues.

“Well, since everyone worked hard, I’d like to start the reward portion. First, I’ll give this to Potta-kun.”

“Huh?”

“Ooh!”

“Ah, it’s a shield!”

I handed him a wooden shield that was lying around in the supply warehouse.

I chose a slightly smaller, circular one so that it would be easier for Potta-kun, who is new to shield handling, to manage.

“That shield’s a spare, secondhand one. If you can handle it well, you can keep it.”

“Really?”

“If you can comfortably protect everyone in an emergency, then yeah.”

“Potta, it looks awesome on you!”

“Yeah. You look like a warrior.”

“Huh? R-really?”

With his light build, Zink-kun couldn’t withstand an orc’s attack.

Plus, the kobolds’ attacks were clearly more powerful now than near the dungeon entrance.

By this point, the three-person party was already lacking in both offense and defense, but their defense was especially fragile, relying too heavily on Zink-kun’s evasion.

He must have been somewhat aware of that.

Potta-kun stared intently at the shield, then accepted it without hesitation.

“You also need to improve your offense in various ways, right?”

“Yeah. Big monsters are tough, after all.”

“So, just for today, I brought a full set of iron weapons—swords, spears, and so on. If you want to try any of them, I’ll lend them to you.”

“Seriously?! Well, then. Can I borrow the ‘sword’?”

“Of course! Just a second—here you go!”

“All right then! I’ll take the ‘scythe’—my mom uses that one!”

“Oh, you’re going for some pretty wild choices.”

“I think I’ll try a longer ‘staff’…”

“If you try one and decide it’s not right, you can switch to something else. Just let me know whenever you want to change it.”

It was a shame there wasn’t any armor for May-chan. But looking at the three of them, they seemed like a party that could actually pull this off.

“Hmmm. All three of you are starting to look pretty strong.”

“Really!?”

“I’m even holding weapons in both hands!”

“I-I’m a warrior! I’ll protect you with my shield!”

“All right then. Let’s charge ahead and aim for the stable extermination of the orcs!”

“””Ooh!”””

▽ ▼ ▽ ▼ ▽

That night,

The four of us went to a bigger inn in the center of Sanur. After securing our rooms, we went out to grab dinner.

“I’m starving!”

“Yeah. We were having so much fun that we lost track of time.”

“We got stronger, right? Right?”

“You sure did. Potta-kun managed to use an axe, and May-chan could attack properly without closing her eyes. Zink-kun still wields weapons with his usual skill.”

Initially, Potta-kun chose a staff, but after seeing May-chan use a spear, he was inspired to try one, and finally an axe. By the end, he could use bladed weapons, too. Perhaps he had overcome his fear of slashing monsters.

Since May-chan didn’t need to dismantle anything, she could focus more on actively participating in combat.

She ended up really liking the short spear. If things go well, her attack range might expand even more.

Then there’s Zink-kun, the key to their attack. Despite having no skills, he swings his weapon beautifully. Just to try it out, I lent him some higher-tier weapons that I had brought along.

How would his firepower change with a higher-rank weapon?

After he experiences it firsthand, the choice of weapons is up to Zink-kun.

Since they had never been to a proper restaurant before, they ended up choosing street food stalls like the ones seen in Bezart.

Still, when they saw everyone’s eyes wandering to unfamiliar dishes, they decided it was fine and bought whatever caught their interest.

Then, we brought the food back to the inn and ate together.

“Alright, I’m starving! Let’s eat! Oh, and this inn has baths, too. You can go ahead and use them once you’ve eaten.”

“Wow! Are those beastmen who were here earlier using them, too?”

“We use the outdoor baths that Loki made, don’t we? About once every half-month or so.”

“Baths are important. But this food is so delicious that I can’t stop eating!”

“Oh, right, Loki! About skills… Can you learn magic without praying to the goddess?”

“Ah, that. My mentor said that if you get the Magic Detection skill, you’ll learn much faster. He said that recognizing the existence of magic is the most important first step.”

“Hey, hey! If I get the Magic Detection skill, will I be able to learn magic too?”

“That depends on how hard you try, but I think you’d probably pick it up fast. Your magic flow is quicker and more active than most people’s.”

“No way!?”

“That’s cheating…”

“Seriously, that’s totally cheating!”

They must have been happy that the 22nd floor, where they had stumbled before, had become stable enough to allow them to reach the 26th floor in half a day.

After the Layrard Fairies appeared, they stumbled badly again because of healing magic. Still, they had already started considering magic as an offensive strategy for their next move.

This line of thinking continued after dinner and even while they were bathing.

But once they got into bed, perhaps due to the fatigue from moving all day, they quickly started snoring.

Surely, this much—just a little “adjustment”—should be just right.

How far to push the growth of these three had been a constant worry these past two days.

There were plenty of more forceful, direct methods available.

To give an extreme example, power-leveling them at our base would make beginner dungeons easy.

If I had Lodge craft equipment for them from surplus materials and imbued it with bestow, they could probably take down the ants in Devour’s Great Hole.

If they grew stronger, they could protect themselves if something happened.

However, that alone wouldn’t be enough to keep their minds and knowledge up to speed.

Worse yet, complacency could increase the risk of their self-destruction.

Forcing power on three kids and expecting them to avoid arrogance and discipline themselves is utterly irresponsible. That would be utterly irresponsible.

“Hey, Loki. You awake?”

“…Yeah, I’m awake.”

The voice belonged to Zink-kun.

“Hey… Loki, why are you traveling?”

“Hmmm… Probably because it’s fun.”

“Is it because you get to see worlds you don’t know?”

“Sure, that’s part of it. But, honestly, I just really enjoy getting stronger.”

“I see. So you feel things like that while traveling ‘outside.’”

“Are you interested in the ‘outside’?”

“…Yes, or rather, it’s been growing lately.”

I knew this when I asked.

Amanda-san had mentioned that Zink-kun often gazed at maps.

I think it’s 90% my fault, but in Zink-kun’s case, it might also be related to his father being a hunter.

“But it’s traveling, not moving your base to Malta, right? That’s totally different, right?”

“Ah, right. Yeah, you’re right.”

“If you’re seriously considering it, your income might drop a bit at first. First, though, you should focus on getting results in Lulub and advancing to E-rank Hunter. Then, you can decide what to do next.”

“I’ve figured out exactly what I need to do to hunt steadily in Lulub. I’ll talk it over with Meisa and Potta, too.”

“Got it. And—”

“?”

“The ‘outside’ isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. By my standards, Bezart is a pretty peaceful town, so don’t forget that.”

“…Is that so?”

“If I were a ‘scoundrel,’ I’d take even a level 1 Mind’s Eye and strip everything from anyone I judged to be weaker than me.”

“… “

“That’s why large towns have a high percentage of people with Concealment at level 2.”

This is my rule of thumb, based on peeking at people’s skills countless times.

Detecting a level 2 Concealment requires a level 3 or higher Mind’s Eye.

This means that contribution points pile up, and the possibility arises that they’re no longer weak. Thus, the attackers’ vigilance is likely to increase as well.

“But in Bezart, almost no one has Concealment. Or rather, it’s too peaceful; probably no one teaches them that not having it is dangerous.”

“I see… I think I heard something like that from Dad long ago, but I never thought it was that important.”

“So there are pros and cons. You should discuss it thoroughly. You were thinking of traveling with three of you, right?”

“Yeah, if we go, it has to be the three of us. I don’t know what’ll happen yet… Can we talk about it again?”

“Of course. I’ll tell you whatever I know.”

There’s no single right answer here. It’s a deeply troubling choice.

If they’re still searching for their own path, then boosting their foundational strength and giving advice shouldn’t be wrong.

(Even so, precisely because I want to protect them, I wish I could do just a little more…)

With these thoughts, my consciousness slowly faded away.

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