Welcome to the Impregnable Demon King Castle

28 – The Hero Party’s Review Meeting That Didn’t Quite Work Out 2

「What the hell are you saying, Bella? That doesn’t make any sense.」

「Alba, do you truly believe that you’re simply just off your game?」

Alba grunted in response.

「…The Avatar is a representation of one’s body in their most optimal state. That would mean that there is no possibility that you’d be experiencing any problems physically speaking. If there were to be any problems, it’d have to be mentally speaking…」

Lily spoke in an annoyed tone.

「And I doubt we’d really be having emotional damage from Lem leaving us. We were the ones who wanted him gone, after all…」

Lark agreed.

It has nothing to do with either their physical condition or their mental state.

In that case, what was exactly causing them to be「off their game」?

「I’m typically more of a magic-user, so I’d be in the middle guard, which is the same position Lem had. But if he really was so useless, shouldn’t our firepower be purely increasing if a Hero were to take his spot?」

Everyone did in fact expect that to happen.

But it didn’t quite work out that way.

Bella was stronger than expected, but the other three were having trouble getting the results they wanted.

From their point of view, it didn’t make any sense.

I, of course, knew why, and Bella seemed to have realized why as well.

It was impressive of her to have realized that it was because of the lack of Black Magic, but she was probably more likely to come to that conclusion because of her unique perspective as an Adventurer.

She didn’t seem to be that proud over becoming a Hero, and she didn’t seem to have much interest in the Adventurer business, either.

Perhaps that was why she was able to look at this situation without any bias.

「That can’t be right though, Bella. Black Magic is complete shit. Maybe it’d be worth something if it at least lowered attack or defense by 10% something. But most guys can’t even do half of that.」

「Well, yes, but my theory was that he wasn’t just like ‘most guys’, remember?」

「I did find it to be a bit strange. Even Fenix wouldn’t force us to carry someone completely useless just because they’re his friend. But I can’t really say that his Black Magic seemed to be especially exceptional…」

「Wait, hold on. Let’s say Lem really was a Black Sorcerer capable of improving our performance in battle. In that case, why didn’t he ever say anything about that? You might not know this Bella, but Lem would always avoid our questions, and he never talked back against Alba’s insults. Wouldn’t that be the same thing as him admitting his lack of ability?」

「Or it could mean that he had some reason for not wanting to reveal his true ability.」

「Huh? What the hell kind of reasoning is that?」

「Alba, your precision with your Magic Sword hasn’t changed at all, yet your accuracy has been dropping, yes?」

「…」

「Could it be that Lem was making it so that it was easier to land your attacks?」

「H-Hell no! There’s no way that…」

「Lark, haven’t you been feeling more susceptible to enemy attacks lately? As well as your attack power being lowered?」

「To be honest…yeah. I thought it was just because we were assaulting the Demon King Castle, the hardest Dungeon out there, but I still felt off even in the Dungeons we were raiding as test runs.」

When Bella joined the team, we decided to take a short break from the Demon King Castle and went into some other Dungeons.

They were private runs so the public didn’t know, but that was when they found that they weren’t doing as well as usual.

「As for you, Lily-」

「I know. My arrows haven’t been making their marks as often.」

「On top of that, from what I’ve seen from videos, your arrows used to brilliantly land into the enemies’ vitals, but it seems like it takes all you have to just land a hit now.」

It seemed that Bella looked over old videos in order to confirm her suspicions.

「Then what are you trying to say? That I’m completely useless without that Lem bastard around?」

「I don’t know what led you to assume that… All of you here are first-rate Adventurers. I’m just saying that Lem further boosted your abilities.」

「…So you’re saying we should operate under the assumption that his excellent Black Magic isn’t around to help us anymore?」

Lily picked up on what Bella was trying to say.

「Yes. It seems that the three of you are struggling with figuring out what’s affecting your performance. You excused your failures in battle under the pretense that you simply weren’t feeling well. That kind of thinking might work in most Dungeons, but not the Demon King Castle. And… you did in fact get defeated in the sixth stratum.」

Bella seemed to hesitate when saying that last bit, possibly because she herself got defeated in the fifth stratum as well.

Just as she said, Lark had gotten devoured by the Sea Creature Forneus before we reached the Floor Boss.

Forneus was a shark-like monster the size of a building.

It knew human speech and gave out his name before attacking us. After Lark got defeated, Alba wrapped his magic sword around him, to which Bella and I helped to pull him out of the water. Bella then defeated him by skewering him with an ice stake she had prepared.

Furthermore, the Floor Boss known as the Ruler of the Waters Vepal was extremely difficult to locate and approach.

The road was already extremely thin for Adventurers to cross, yet she made us have to deal with the storms she summoned.

A mysterious fleet appeared at some point as well, making us have to deal with mermen attacks and bombardment. 

Lily was defeated at that point, and there were only three of us left by the time we located Vepal.

In the Floor Boss battle, Bella was forced to use all her remaining Magical Energy to freeze the water’s surface, slowing down the movements of Vepal’s subordinates as well as preventing her from escaping back under the water.

I then instantly closed the gap between us and finished her off.

「I understand how this would be hard to accept, though. You’d be forced to accept all these ridiculous things, as well as admitting that the person who you were convinced was useless was actually the one supporting you all along. It makes sense. That’s why I’m just speaking hypothetically.」

Bella did mention that at first.

She suggested we challenge the seventh stratum under that kind of assumption.

「…So basically, without Lem’s Black Magic, we’re essentially at our base power right now. That’s how you want us to think?」

「Yes.」

「So you’re saying we should change how we’re evaluating ourselves. We won’t be able to use our abilities to the fullest extent if we believe ourselves to be stronger than what we really are.」

「Correct.」

「…If this actually works, we’re going to end up looking like a bunch of fools.」

「It depends on how you look at it. From what I can see, the three of you… especially Alba, never really cared about Lem’s ability, yes? Even if he was capable of lowering enemy stats by 10, 20, even 30%, you still would have wanted him out of the party, right?」

「…Just the fact that we’d be carrying around a Black Sorcerer was bad enough.」

Alba affirmed Bella’s assumption.

「You’re talking popularity-wise, yes? I admit that even if he were to be an excellent Black Sorcerer, which I do believe he was, his Job alone meant that he wouldn’t be able to contribute to the party’s popularity. It would have been a different story if he revealed his true ability and used it as a selling point, but the fact was that he didn’t. He was someone who stuck to doing his job no matter what the public thought or said about him, after all.」

Since Bella didn’t look up to Adventurers or Heroes, she was probably able to come to that fair evaluation.

「That doesn’t make sense. Well, I get what you’re saying, Bella. I understand it. But if that was the case, why exactly did Lem want to be an Adventurer? He could have all the power in the world, but it means nothing if he doesn’t show it.」

「I don’t understand what he was thinking, either. If someone had power that they didn’t want to reveal, then they could just choose not to be an Adventurer. But considering that he withstood being looked down on every day, it’s clear that he at least had some goal in mind.」

「I’ll be able to reach the top with you, Lem. Let’s become the best in the world as the first Flame Hero in 130 years and the strongest Black Sorcerer.」

He had accepted my proposal.

He didn’t give up on his dream.

Even without me, he’d aim to become the number one hero.

「Fenix…You are childhood friends with Lem, right? Did you know?」

Lily asked.

「I’ve already vouched for his ability multiple times to you all. My words did not contain any lies.」

「…If that’s true, then why did Lem hide his power? He stayed quiet until the very end, even when he was about to get kicked out of the party.」

「I can’t speak of what he chose not to speak of, Lark.」

Originally speaking, I wasn’t supposed to know, either.

If it weren’t for his master begrudgingly giving me permission, I wouldn’t have ever known.

Sometimes I think about whether or not I would have noticed his ability if it weren’t for that.

「Well, none of that matters for this「assumption」we’re going for right now, so let’s not worry about it. Anyway, for the next Dungeon run we do, make sure to drill that thought into your head. If you stop trying to do things that are in fact above your ability, you’ll likely be able to perform at your normal level.」

「…You’re sure talking down on us, huh?」

「It’s a good thing for a Hero to have confidence in oneself. Let’s do our best as to not become the ones dragging the newbie down.」

「You sure are soft on Bella, Lily… But, as long as we don’t have any alternatives, I don’t mind going with that.」

Since the three of them were struggling with doubt over their own abilities, and also possibly because it was Bella and not me that proposed it, they all agreed to go with her plan. 

And so, we headed off to the seventh stratum.

– Supplementary Material –

As a penalty for getting defeated in a Dungeon, that adventurer will not be able to return to that dungeon for the rest of the day.

For example, if an Adventurer were to get defeated in the fifth stratum, then they wouldn’t be able to participate in the 5th stratum for the rest of the day. 

Even if the party moved on to the sixth stratum, participation would still not be allowed, but they would be allowed to rejoin once the day passes. 

If the entire party gets wiped out, then they’ll have to restart at the first stratum regardless of which stratum they reached.