"The soldiers have stopped talking, haven't they?"
Huuli muttered the thought quietly in the fortress mess hall on the evening after they challenged the 41st floor. The hall had become sparse after the cleanup finished.
A feast had been held there just moments ago. Ren and the others, who had cooperated in the fortress defense, were greatly thanked "for achieving such a large victory regardless of their identity" and were invited to the banquet as a token of gratitude. They gratefully accepted the hospitality and fully enjoyed the free food (mostly preserved items, and though seasonings seemed limited, it was perfectly edible) and free alcohol. The soldiers had been noisy, singing and dancing, making for quite an enjoyable time.
However, as the banquet started to wind down, the atmosphere began to turn strange, or rather, everyone suddenly became aloof. Ren's group was no longer addressed, and when they tried to speak to others, they only received vague, flat replies like "Ah" or "Yeah."
It's as if they can't see us anymore, Shion said.
Or rather, perhaps they've become unable to do anything beyond pre-determined responses? May offered her opinion to Iris's voice.
It seems the people here are also NPCs, Ren concluded.
Hmph. ...I wonder if I was like this too, Meteor mused.
Lady Meteor is believed to be special. ...Attempts were also made to kidnap, or rather, bring back, the people of this floor to the town, it seems.
The dungeon apparently wasn't kind enough to continue simulating the actions of a large number of people indefinitely, even though some guidelines were built in to allow for a degree of response to Ren's group's actions. Was the dungeon essentially telling them, "You won, now hurry up and leave"?
They were slightly disappointed because the fortress commander had even suggested going to the capital to meet important people—or rather, maybe their actions were cut short because that would have created a difficult situation.
I thought we might be able to stay the night here, but at this rate, it looks like we should go home.
We saved money on dinner, anyway. And some people might start to worry if we don't return.
It wasn't uncommon to tackle these floors by staying overnight, and some veterans apparently often returned a day or two later. However, many of Ren's party members were young, and they hadn't said they would be this late.
Ren's group offered a general farewell to the soldiers, who only gave set responses, and started preparing to leave. Since the entire fortress was intact, they quickly drew up a rough blueprint of the fortress and a map of the surrounding terrain. This was greatly appreciated by the Sage later.
It looks like we can update the guidebook. I want you to send me information like this continuously.
On their way back, they discussed the recent battle.
However, for a normal floor, the enemies were quite formidable, Shion commented.
Indeed. It's a hassle to have to explain the situation and meet the person in charge every time we challenge this floor, Meteor added.
Given how far they had progressed, the dropped items were luxurious, but farming money here was quite hard. Even if the motto was "nothing to worry about if they can't hit you," a lapse in concentration would be the end of it. With bad luck, a stray hit could be fatal.
Oh, right. And May-chan. Didn't you see someone unfamiliar in the main force?
Yes, I did. They had wings and a tail similar to yours, Master. Though the rest of their appearance was nothing like yours.
They had exterminated the enemy quickly and didn't have time for a proper observation, but Ren had also seen the enemy's shape: a humanoid enemy with dark purple skin.
A demon. They're troublesome foes with high magic power. And they have the worst personalities, Meteor said.
Are they worse than Dark Elves? Shion asked.
That's rude. We are the more docile race among the demons. Didn't I just help negotiate with the humans today?
Now, even demons had appeared. Fighting a mixed army of all the enemies they had faced so far was difficult enough, truly confirming the dungeon's brutal difficulty. Naturally, the next floor, the 42nd, would be even tougher.
I'm really glad we took the time to prepare, Ren reflected, deeply realizing the importance of solidifying their foundation.
-----------------
On the 42nd floor, a different fortress was the stage.
While the objective didn't change much, the number of enemies increased, and the single Demon from before became three. They seemed to be acting as commanders, making the entire force, even the non-main units, even stronger under their direction. Also, Ren felt a slight irritation at the enemies that resembled him. The force behind his magic attacks unintentionally grew stronger, leading to excessive damage against the weak mobs.
Afterward, the cycle was the same: they were thanked, a feast was held, and the people became cold and distant once it was over.
"It really feels like we're moving into a full-scale war against the demonic army now..." Ren mused.
"I wonder if this level of battle will continue from now on?" Iris wondered.
"If not, it will probably be even worse. It's excessive force just to conquer a fortress, but if you leave humans alone, they multiply too much. We Dark Elves wouldn't complain about a conflict of this scale; we'd be eager to join in."
In the true history, fortresses were successively destroyed. Of course, it's unknown how often the raids occurred, and not every fortress may have been annihilated—it's possible the dungeon only recreates the ones that were crushed.
"Since there was catastrophic damage everywhere... were the humans just incompetent?" Ren asked.
"Well, they are humans. Other races are unfair because they all have some kind of advantage," Huuli said.
The limit for humans to act superior is probably against Goblins. However, even Goblins surpass humans in reproductive capacity, so they can't be dismissed as entirely inferior.
The 43rd floor presented an even greater challenge. Flying enemies—Harpy units—were added. Although their numbers were few, this was definitely tough. When enemies are dispersed between the ground and the air, it becomes impossible to contain the entire force with a single magic attack. Furthermore, the sheer number of enemies was increasing, making it impossible to stop them with one spell. Although they secured a great victory here, Ren's group was forced to change their tactics for the next floor.
"It's too risky to launch an offensive, so let's go with a defensive battle."
They launched attacks using the watchtowers and firing ports prepared inside the fortress walls. Here, Ren chose to have Iris, not himself, merge with Huuli. The Half-Elf's arrows, fully blessed by the wind, easily exceeded their normal range and accurately hit the approaching monsters in rapid succession, steadily shooting down the attackers. This also served as a countermeasure against the Harpies.
Of course, the magic of Ren and Shion still scattered the enemies left and right. Ren vividly remembered the look of stunned astonishment on the fortress's resident mage, who seemed to be thinking, "What kind of magic is that...?" If they had time, Ren might have winked back, but unfortunately, all the mage received was a slow "Front!" in broken foreign language and a sharp, warning gaze.
It took them approximately two months to clear up to this point. Should they think of this as a fast pace, given that they are making progress, or should they think it's slow since they are only clearing one floor every half month despite all the preparation? The gradual erosion of the advantage they built through preparation was also nerve-wracking. Still, they were making good progress.
During this time, Mariabell and Aisha's wedding was successfully held. Mariabell wore a shiromuku (traditional white kimono), and Aisha wore a wedding dress, creating a Japanese-Western fusion that might seem strange compared to a typical wedding, but it was visually splendid and colorful nonetheless. Both looked very happy, leading everyone to believe, "These two will surely never separate."
Shion, who organized the ceremony, had a hard time studying the proper etiquette but successfully fulfilled her role without any major failures. When guests told her, "It was a wonderful ceremony," she happily replied, "Thank you very much."
Furthermore, someone even said, "I might ask you to do the same for us." Shion replied, "I will do my best," indicating she found fulfillment in this role. It seemed likely that shrine weddings might truly become more popular. In that case, Shion might genuinely be venerated one day.
However, the wedding situation in this other world was quite chaotic. In the past, poorly remembered, pseudo-weddings using temples were the mainstream. Recently, strictly adhering to Western-style ceremonies had become popular. The addition of shrine ceremonies as an option was creating a strange division (?).
"I wonder what it would be like if we did it," Ren inadvertently muttered.
Huuli and Meteor replied:
"In our case, the number of people is the issue."
"That's right. We can't have Shion handle it, so it'll just have to happen how it happens, won't it?"
If they were to get married, the basic plan would be for everyone to do it at once. That would certainly be easier for the guests, and it felt tidier for Ren and the others. It wasn't so much Ren marrying multiple girls as it was everyone becoming a single collective entity. Thinking about it that way, getting married didn't seem so bad after all.
"...Well, now it's finally the 45th floor."
It was the beginning of March. They were holding a strategy meeting in the house living room. The next floor was expected to bring an even fiercer battle.
"A battle to protect a town, not a fortress."
"The number of people who can fight is small, and panic is likely to occur."
The target of the attack was a small human town inland. A monster horde was suddenly expected to assault it. Since it wasn't a military base, enemy discovery would be delayed, and the defensive strength was weak. On top of that, the area they had to defend was wide, making it difficult to let their guard down.
"We don't know the victory conditions in detail, do we?" Iris asked.
"It's certain we have to protect the town, but we don't know what level of damage is acceptable."
Specifically, what must they protect: the people or the town? What percentage of damage is allowed? Past examples suggested that a situation of roughly half-destruction was considered a failure, so they would broadly assume, "If there is major damage, we lose."
The monsters would appear in an empty house in the middle of the town. They would have about ten minutes before the attack. The town had defensive soldiers, but meeting them, explaining the situation, and being connected to the person in charge was risky.
"Apparently, if the town was attacked without warning, a large number of people who tried to flee in panic were killed by a separate enemy unit."
They at least wanted the townspeople to stay safely inside their homes.
"If we can give a warning quickly, the soldiers can mentally prepare. There should also be adventurers and mercenaries in the town, so if we can stir them up, it should be a little easier."
They knew the location of the soldiers' barracks. They could rush there immediately at the start and appeal directly—but:
"Our foreign language skills are still too dangerous," Ren said.
"Dangerous isn't the word. It's broken. It's obvious you only learned the bare minimum because you needed to. Wouldn't you, a Succubus, only sound suspicious if you spoke it?"
Therefore, they decided to take a different approach this time.
"If they won't believe us about the enemies, why don't we just cause a ruckus ourselves?"
"It conveniently works out that Ren and Mee-chan already look like villains. That might be the quickest way."
It seemed their enemy-like appearances might be useful this time
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