第三十一話 墓所への道中
数日後、俺とルーチェはカロスの指揮の許、都市ラコリナを離れて〈
二十人の冒険者を動員している。
C級冒険者も交ざってはいるが、大半がB級冒険者である。
「これだけの数の上級冒険者を動かせるなんて、やっぱり金のある都市は違うな」
ギルドがこれだけの戦力を整えてくれたのは、カロスが説得した効果が大きかったのだろうが。
「エルマさん、そう卑屈にならなくても......」
「べ、別に、ロンダルムと比較してどうこうと言っているわけではないんだが......!」
それにエドヴァン伯爵家も資金にはかなり余裕のある貴族だ。
......ただ、都市ラコリナ程、冒険者ギルドとしっかり連携が取れてはいなかったな、という部分はどうしてもあるが。
「師匠、こいつらは本当に必要だったのか? オレは疑問だな。足手纏いが数いたって仕方ない。白魔法役だけ何人かいれば、それでよかったんじゃないのか」
「少々多めに人は集めてもらった。少し離れた地だから、私が目を離している間に事態が悪化していてもおかしくはない」
俺達のやや前方を、カロスとヒルデが並んで歩いていた。
カロスはヒルデをあまり連れて来たくはない様子だったが、どうやらヒルデに頼み込まれて仕方なく
「......なんで〈黒き炎刃〉の弟子は鎌装備なんだ?」
他の冒険者達が、ヒルデの背を指差し、ぼそぼそと小声で噂していた。
俺はさっと視線を逸らす。
......ヒルデは、未だに〈黒鋼の鎌〉と〈ベアシールド〉装備である。
ヒルデはカロスに『余っている武器を貸して欲しい』と頭を下げていたが、『決闘の反省を忘れないためにもそのままでいろ』と返されていた。
であの装備は酷な気もするが、魔剣士のスキルは反動やコストの大きなものが多い。
あの装備であれば、その魔剣士のスキルもほとんど生かせない。
ステータス頼りの戦い方がせいぜいだ。
今の装備の方が無理はしないだろうという師匠心なのかもしれない。
「どうしてカロスさん......あのヒルデさんをお弟子にしたんでしょうか?」
ルーチェが苦笑しながら零す。
ヒルデで悪かったな」
いつの間にか、ヒルデが目前に立っていた。
「ひゃうっ! ご、ごめんなさいヒルデさん。アタシそのっ、そういう意味じゃなくて......!」
慌ててルーチェが取り繕う。
ヒルデはルーチェを黙らせた後、彼女の装備の謎について考察していた冒険者の二人組を睨み付ける。
彼らもすぐに大人しくなった。
......しかし、ヒルデがああして威嚇している様子を見ると、尚更小型犬を連想してしまう。
「私は別に師匠という程大袈裟なことはしていないのだがな」
カロスも俺達の傍に並んでいた。
ルーチェがカロスの様子を見て、露骨に安堵したように表情を緩める。
ひとまずカロスがいればヒルデは大人しくなる。
「私は魔剣士を強いクラスだと思っている。ただ......燃費が悪くてな。その癖、倒せる魔物の幅は、攻撃面の性能が高いから広いんだ。だからパーティーメンバーの方針と自分の方針にズレが生じやすい。放っておけば、成果を出せないままギルドで孤立し、冒険者として腐って......その結果、一人で無茶をして命を落とすのが目に見えていた」
カロスの口にしていることは、〈マジックワールド〉でも度々あることだった。
成功している間はお互いに配慮し合えるものなのだが、一度揉め事が起きれば、互いに互いの至らなさを責め立ててパーティーが崩壊することになる。
文字通り人生が懸かっているこの世界では、余裕のない者同士がパーティーを組んで性格の不一致があれば、泥沼の争いは避けられない。
カロスの言う通り、魔剣士の燃費の悪さと、倒せる魔物の幅広さは方針のズレになりやすい。
魔剣士にとって一番いいのは、仲間に道中の敵を蹴散らしてもらって強敵相手にだけ出張ることだが、そう都合のいい活動方針になる機会は少ない。
根本的な利害の不一致は、いずれ不和に繋がる。
カロスも昔、仲間にあまり恵まれなかったと口にしていた。
駆け出しの頃にかなり揉めた経験があったようだ。
「焦れば他人から見た世界がわからなくなる。私もかつてはそうだった。無理解に苦しみ、功を焦り......何故皆、身勝手ばかり口にするのかと、そんな身勝手なことばかり騒いでいた。あのときに冷静に助言してくれる者がいればと......今でもそう思う。だから私は、ついヒルデに声を掛けた」
カロスも今の地位を得るまでに、かなり苦労してきたようだ。
しかし、カロスは本当に人格者だ。
初めて会ったA級冒険者が真っ当な人でよかった。
「オレの師匠は器が大きくて強くて優しいお方だからな! どうだ凄いだろう」
「......その弟子がもう少し中身を見習っていればよかったんだがな」
俺は溜め息を吐いた。
ルーチェはなぜカロスがヒルデを弟子にしたのかと疑問を口にしていたが、暴走して魔物に殺されるのが目に見えていたから、というのが答えなのだろう。
しかし、まあ、こう聞くとヒルデの性格も納得がいった。
魔剣士の利益はパーティーの利益にならないことが多い。
〉探索は、露払いと尻拭いを他の冒険者に丸投げして、自分はメインターゲットの討伐にだけ尽力するのが、レベル上げでは一番効率がいいのだから。
かといって他人に利益を譲って大人しくしていれば、大して活躍できない足手纏いの烙印を受けることになる。
カロスとヒルデが先導のために俺達の許を離れて先へと進んでいってから、ルーチェがぽつりとそう漏らした。
確かにあの温厚そうなカロスが、パーティーメンバー相手に口論に出たり、ヒルデのようにギルドや鍛冶屋で難癖をつけて騒いでいるところはちょっと想像できない。
Volume 2 - Ch 31
A few days later Luce and I were heading towards the Graveyard of Sorrows from La Colina under the command of Kalos.
Twenty adventurers were mobilized over all.
There were a few C rank adventurers among us, but most of us were B rank adventurers.
"Being able to hire this many high rank adventurers, cities with money to burn are sure something."
The reason why the Guild prepared a force this large was most likely due to Kalos persuading them of a need for it.
"Elma-san, there is no need to be so mean...."
"I-I wasn't making a dig at Rondalm with that or anything.....!"
Also, the Edvan Family is pretty well off too.
....it's just that they don't work as close with the adventurers' guild like they do here in La Colina.
"Teacher, was there really a need for all these people? I really doubt that. We don't need so many useless baggages with us. Bringing a few people that can use white magic with us would've been just fine."
"We gathered a bit more people than what we should need. It's somewhat far from here, so the situation might've worsened while I was away from it."
Kalos and Hilde were walking a bit further ahead of us.
Apparently Kalos didn't really want to bring Hilde with us, but then she begged enough that Kalos didn't have any other choice but to include her in the Raid Quest in the end.
"....why does the disciple of the Black Flame Sword have a sickle as a weapon?"
The other adventurers kept pointing at the back of Hilde, gossiping about her with quiet murmurs.
I quickly averted my gaze.
....Hilde's equipment was still the Black Steel Sickle and the Bear Shield.
Hilde bowed her head to ask Kalos to lend her a spare sword, but he then said that 'she should remain like that to not forget the lessons learned from the duel'.
Still, having her participate in a Raid Quest in equipment like that sounds a bit too harsh to me. Her Skills as a Magic Swordsman are a bit too costly to use and provide too much of a backlash as well.
With that equipment, she won't be able to make good use of her Skills at all.
She'll be fighting only supported by her basic stats.
Perhaps her teacher feels that she will be less likely to act recklessly like this.
"I wonder why Kalos-san accepted that Hilde-san as his disciple?"
Luce mumbled with a small frown.
"Sorry for being that Hilde."
Hilde was standing in front of us all of a sudden.
"Hyau! I-I'm sorry Hilde-san. I didn't really mean it that way.....!"
Luce hurriedly tried to backpedal.
After Hilde managed to shut Luce up, she moved her glare towards the adventurer duo that was gossiping about the mystery of her equipment.
Those two also quieted down right away.
....however, the more I see Hilde trying to be intimidating like that, the more she reminds me of a small dog.
"I haven't really done anything to be called her teacher though."
Kalos also fell in step with us.
Seeing Kalos join us, Luce's expression relaxed obviously.
With Kalos present, Hilde should be more docile.
"I consider the Magic Swordsman a strong Class. However....it's not at all energy efficient. Yet thanks to its high offensive power, the breadth of enemies it can take down is wide. This can easily lead to disagreements with other party members due to differences in how to approach things. If left alone, this could lead to the person unable to achieve anything notable, which leads to them getting isolated within the Guild, which may as well mean their end as an adventurer.....The final result is most often the person taking extreme chances while going solo and dying alone."
What Kalos was talking about just now was something that happened sometimes even in Magic World.
While everything is going well the party would support each other, yet once it turns into an argument they would start bringing up each other's shortcomings, breaking up the party in short order.
Especially since in Magic World, the best way to level up was to come up with a way of defeating higher level opponents, rather than hunting a lot of lower level ones.
Like Kalos just said, a Magic Swordsman's lack of energy efficiency and its ability to take down a wide range of opponents are characteristics that could easily lead to disagreements on how to deal with things.
For a Magic Swordsman, the most efficient way of operating would be to let their teammates take down the enemies along the way and only actively fight against the most powerful monsters, but rarely such things would be allowed to happen.
The difference in each member's basic interests would always lead to friction.
Kalos said that he wasn't blessed with good teammates when started out either.
He must've experienced a lot of arguments back then.
"If you get too impatient, you become unable to see the world from other people's perspective. I was the same once. I felt that no one understood me and I was over eager to leave my mark....I was always complaining about people being selfish, while acting selfish myself. Even now, I wish that someone would've been there to calmly offer me some advice. That's my reason why I called out to Hilde."
It seems Kalos also had it rough before he reached his current position.
But.... Kalos is really a person of character.
I'm glad that the first A rank adventurer we've met is such a decent person.
"My Teacher is such a generous, strong, and nice person! He's so amazing, am I right?"
"....it would be nice if his disciple would learn to be more like him though."
I let out a sigh.
Luce brought up the question of why Kalos would make Hilde his disciple. The reason seems to be because he thought that the most likely outcome for her was getting killed by monsters due to recklessness.
However, after hearing all that, I can somewhat understand why Hilde's personality is the way it is.
What's good for a Magic Swordsman might not be what's good for the party.
Because the optimal strategy within a Dungeon as a Magic Swordsman, leaving the small fry entirely for others to take care of and then only contributing to the fight against the main target, is also the most efficient method for leveling.
That being said, meekly letting someone else have the benefits might lead to getting branded as a useless tagalong in the end.
Luce whispered after Kalos and Hilde went ahead to lead the way.
Indeed, I also can't imagine that mild-mannered Kalos getting into an argument with his party members, or kicking up a fuss about something at a smithy or within the Guild.
The Reincarnated Heavy Knight Who Was Exiled After A Supposed Big Miss Is Unparalleled With His Game Knowledge
大ハズレだと追放された転生重騎士はゲーム知識で無双する
https://www.novelupdates.com/series/the-reincarnated-heavy-knight-who-was-exiled-after-a-supposed-big-miss-is-unparalleled-with-his-game-knowledge/
Action Adventure Fantasy Romance Shounen
Abandoned Children Adapted to Manga Adventurers Alchemy Arrogant Characters Artifacts Blacksmith Calm Protagonist Clever Protagonist Determined Protagonist Dungeons Fallen Nobility Fantasy World Game Elements Guilds Hot-blooded Protagonist Level System Love Interest Falls in Love First Lucky Protagonist Male Protagonist Mystery Solving Naive Protagonist Nobles Poor to Rich Previous Life Talent Reincarnated in a Game World Romantic Subplot Skill Books Strategic Battles Strong Love Interests Strong to Stronger Sword Wielder Underestimated Protagonist Weak to Strong
https://ncode.syosetu.com/n8465gx/
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