Chapter 83

As I parted ways with the members of the tenth squad, I am now heading to the first squad's operations room with Selma.

It seems that the others have also managed to free up some time, so we have hastily arranged a meeting.

"Still, the fact that Sophia has manifested her special ability..."

Selma murmured, her expression indiscernible, making it hard to tell if she was happy or sad.

"Yeah, it's a highly versatile one. I think Sophia will become even stronger from now on. Aren't you happy, Selma?"

"Of course, I am. But now that Sophia has become more valuable..."

...I see, Selma is worried about Sophia's future.

Special abilities are unique powers that only the person who possesses them has.

Sophia has never been treated as a noble's daughter by her family.

Now, she has left home, and her ties with her family have become so tenuous that they are almost non-existent.

However, now that Sophia has manifested her special ability, there is a possibility that she will be used as a tool for political marriages.

"...I understand. I'll be careful not to let Sophia's special ability become too widely known."

"Thank you. I appreciate it."

The Claude family, huh.

I haven't heard any bad rumors about them, and since Sophia has no real connection to them, I haven't been too concerned. But I should pay more attention to their movements.

"As someone who cares about Sophia, it's only natural. —Oh, right. There's something I wanted to ask you, Selma."

Thinking about Sophia and Selma, I remembered something I wanted to confirm with Selma.

"What is it?"

"Wasn't the guild uniform Sophia is wearing a gift from you?"

Sophia, despite being a new member, wears a guild uniform with a different design from the other new members.

There's no rule that new members must wear the new member's uniform.

In fact, it's not a problem even if they don't wear the guild uniform during dungeon exploration.

However, the material used in the guild uniform is made from Noxious Sheep wool. Unless there's a particular preference, the guild uniform is sufficient, which is why everyone ends up wearing it.

"Well, I guess you could call it a gift. When Sophia said she wanted to become an explorer, I gave her the uniform I used to wear. It's like a hand-me-down. What about it?"

"Actually, I was thinking of having them challenge the thirtieth floor again after the Thanksgiving Festival. Of course, I won't force them if they don't want to. I'll be joining them this time, and I think they'll be willing to try. If they do, they'll almost certainly reach the thirty-first floor."

"Right, that makes sense. Even though Sophia hasn't fully mastered her special ability, she has learned parallel construction. I watched the mock battles with Orun, and the other two also seem capable of easily clearing the upper floors. They should be able to clear the thirtieth floor without any problems."

"Right, if they reach the thirty-first floor, they won't be new members anymore. When I asked Estella, she said that the Exploration Management Department usually prepares the uniforms, but I want to give them as a gift. So, if Sophia has a special attachment to the uniform she's wearing now, I need to consider that."

"I see. As I said, it's a hand-me-down. If Sophia wants to wear something else, I'll respect her choice."

"Got it. I'll take care of the preparations. If they don't like my design, they'll probably stick with the current one..."

"Haha, I don't think that will happen."

◇

We arrived at the operations room while talking. When we got there, we were the only ones, but everyone else arrived after a short wait.

"Nice to see everyone again."

"Yeah, it's been a while. Despite everything, everyone except Selma has been busy, so it's been about a week since we were all together, right?"

"Time flies. I haven't done so many interviews in a long time."

"Well, we're only the third party to reach the ninety-third floor. Still, the busiest ones were Selma's sister and — Orun."

The room was filled with tension at Will's comment.

"Things have been hectic, as you can imagine. I assume you want to talk about the incident? I think my report will be the longest, so I'll go last."

"Right. Then, I'll start with my report. As you all know, I've been dealing with sponsors in other territories. It was a continuous cycle of travel and banquets, which was quite troublesome..."

I might have never seen Selma look so exasperated before.

I guess the people who used to be high-handed have now turned on a dime, but even without that, dealing with nobles is always a hassle.

You have to be careful with your words and manners, and you can't afford to slip up, which is exhausting.

"Thanks for your hard work. How did the sponsors react?"

"Generally, they were positive. This should reduce the number of unreasonable requests and orders."

"Still, some will come, right...?"

"That's inevitable. Since they're paying, we can't just ignore them."

"Still, we've banned dungeon exploration, right? What if an unreasonable request comes now? For example, something like 'send us materials immediately.'"

"I'm handling that. We've already informed the sponsors that we won't explore until after the recent incident and the Thanksgiving Festival. So far, no requests have come in, but if they do, we'll handle what we can and ask them to wait until after the festival for anything that requires dungeon exploration. We've already communicated this to the sponsors. Also, for some reason, Lord Lazarus is being cooperative and has asked them to hold off on requests for a while. So, I don't think it will be a big problem."

I answered Will's question to Selma, as she only knows the general situation.

"Lord Lazarus? That old man is hard to figure out..."

"Right. I've met him a few times, and his eyes don't smile. He's a bit scary."

"True. I'm sure he has some plan, but there's no point in worrying about it. Orun, thanks for handling the adjustments."

"No, the exploration ban was decided by me and the head, so I had to do it."

"Orun, you were just caught up in it. Don't try to handle everything on your own. We're here to support you too."

Rain pointed out.

Indeed, I might have tried to handle this on my own.

Things are different now that I'm not in the hero party, and I need to learn to rely on others. I'll keep that in mind.

"Thanks. If I really can't handle it, I'll ask for help."

"Sure, no problem. Next, it's my turn to report."

◇

After that, Rain, Lucre, and Will gave their reports in turn.

Rain focused on media interviews and coordinating with the Exploration Management Department.

She took over for Selma and helped with organizing the policies for each party until the end of the Thanksgiving Festival while I handled external matters.

Lucre, in addition to interviews, helped with the final adjustments of several magic spells, including the "Object Levitation" to be revealed at the Thanksgiving Festival.

Every year, the "Silver Hare of the Night Sky" reveals new or improved magic spells at the festival, and this is the most anticipated event by the public.

Will helped with the development of equipment using the materials from the black dragon we recently defeated.

In the "Silver Hare of the Night Sky," materials collected during exploration are shared among the clan members, but before that, each party can choose to use them. So, the materials we don't plan to use become clan-shared materials.

Since the first squad has no plans to use black dragon materials, they became clan-shared.

However, since the materials from the deep floor bosses are rare, it takes a lot of trial and error to discover their characteristics and uses. It's a tedious process.

After the three reports, it was my turn.

"Alright, I'll go last. My main tasks were handling media interviews and various administrative work. Also, five days ago, I engaged in battle with the Amunzars."

My words caused the room to tense up again.

"I've heard that Orun fought the Amunzars, but I don't know much else. It seems the tenth squad — the new members were attacked. Why did that happen?"

"This is purely speculation, but I think the target was me. They said they were trying to lure me out. I guess I became a hindrance after defeating the black dragon."

"...Those bastards."

Selma muttered, trying to suppress her anger.

"I can't blame them for killing people, as I've killed too. But I don't regret it. If I had let them live, who knows what would have happened. But maybe there was a better way."

"But it's because the new members were attacked, right? Orun, you're not to blame! Sure, killing people might be too much, but if I had encountered a situation where my comrades were about to be killed, I wouldn't forgive the enemy. Orun, you're not to blame!"

"Thanks, Lucre. From our perspective, that's true. But from their perspective, I might be the villain."

"...What do you mean?"

"During the battle, they said, 'We're buying time' and 'Our existence is bringing the world closer to destruction.' I think they had their own sense of justice. But that doesn't mean I forgive them."

"Hmm... I don't understand. I can't imagine the psychology of terrorists. But why did you kill them all? I get that you weren't calm, but you should have captured at least one for information."

Huh? Killed them all?

—Ah, the head must have controlled the information.

Embarrassing as it is to say, I'm the ace of this clan. If I had lost, it would have unnecessarily worried the members, so the head probably kept this information under wraps.

"Sorry, there's a discrepancy in the information. —I lost to the Amunzars."

"What!? Lost!? But you're alive."

"Yeah. If we interpret the battle positively, it was a draw. If we interpret it negatively, they let me go. I think the chances of me winning if we had continued were very low."

Everyone looked shocked at my words.

They didn't think for a moment that I had lost.

It's a mix of happiness and guilt.

"...You're kidding. The opponent was stronger than Orun, who can defeat a floor boss alone?"

"Don't say that. You didn't hold back, right?"

"I gave it my all. At first, I intended to capture them alive, but after realizing their strength, I fought to kill. I thought I had killed them, but they were unharmed."

"I thought the exploration ban was excessive, but if there's someone Orun can't beat, the ban makes sense. It's scary to think they might still be in the Great Labyrinth..."

"After the ban is lifted, we should continue to be vigilant. We are likely targets of the Amunzars. We shouldn't go into the labyrinth alone."

"Right. Some of us used to explore the Great Labyrinth solo, but we should hold off for a while."

Then, I shared the information about the silver-haired woman with everyone.

"I see. I don't think we'll be attacked in the city, but we should all maintain a certain level of vigilance. —Now, the atmosphere is heavy, but let's confirm the Thanksgiving Festival schedule. As far as I know, I'll be in charge of the overall coordination, Rain and Lucre will help with the magic spell announcement, Will will patrol the city in the first half and participate in the martial arts tournament in the second half, and Orun will also be in charge of overall coordination in the first half and participate in the martial arts tournament in the second half. Any changes?"

No one objected to what Selma said.

"Good, no changes. From tomorrow, we'll be mostly free. If anything comes up, contact me, and I'll inform the other members. Let's adjourn."

Thus, the first squad's reunion and status update came to an end.

Tomorrow marks exactly three weeks until the Thanksgiving Festival.

The clan will start its full-scale preparations.

Thank you for reading to the end.

I hope you'll read the next chapter too.