Holy Assassin*4
… And so.
“I see. So, each Church has its own Holy Knights Order, and the nearest Church’s order numbers twenty members…”
“And since that Church is in town, that makes it about half a day’s distance from here!”
“In other words, once they move out, twenty of them will be here in half a day.”
I quickly summarized the information we’d gathered, and finally, the shape of the enemy was starting to come into view.
Twenty in total, huh. Hm… honestly, how would that even play out? Most adventurers entering a Dungeon come in parties of three to five. I just can’t picture twenty people barging in all at once.
“And the Holy Knights Order has even subdued Dungeons before… That means there are at least two or three skilled fighters among them.”
Lisas-san once said he used to be part of the Royal Knights, so his assessment probably isn’t far off the mark. Grateful for that.
“… And these are the kinds of people who’d set fire to a village, right? Hey, can we really call them *holy* knights?”
Mishisia-san was clearly angry, and yeah, I get it. I don’t want anything to happen to the village either. I feel the same—it’s definitely not “holy.”
“Defending the Dungeon is one thing, but we also need to defend the village. In that sense… having the adventurers on our side is incredibly reassuring. Thank you!”
As Edele-san smiled, the adventurers shouted, “No problem at all!” “I’ll take the bucket brigade!” “We’ll do it! We’ll handle it!” That’s a relief.
So.
“I guess… I’d like to ask the adventurers to focus on defending the village.”
I quickly made my request.
“See, if the village is set on fire, we’ll need to fight the blaze, and if someone’s attacking, stopping them is just self-defense, right? But if we wait in the Dungeon or chase after them to kill them, wouldn’t that count as a crime?”
“As long as they don’t find out, it’s fine!”
“No, it’s not! Enough of that!”
A hotheaded adventurer immediately got scolded by Edele-san, and meekly answered, “Yes.” There’s just something about her—when she scolds people, everyone falls right in line with a “Sorry, ma’am!”
“Look, no matter how you think about it, if we kill them… there’s no way it won’t be found out, right?”
“Well… if the Holy Knights are deployed, there will be a record. At the very least, it’ll be clear they went missing in this village and Dungeon. That would definitely cast suspicion on us.”
Once Mishisia-san and Lisas-san said that much, the adventurers nodded. “That’s true.” Yeah, so suspicion from the Church people is basically guaranteed, and they’ll probably come picking fights with us…
“Either way, this village and Dungeon will be under suspicion. Which means we have to make sure we can insist, ‘We didn’t kill them.’ That’s why the goal this time should be to let the Holy Knights return alive.”
… So, yeah, that’s how it is.
This time, to avoid giving the “bigger enemy” any excuse to burn us down, we’ve got to let the attackers live.
“… Let’s lay it out. Okay, so: whether the Holy Knights survive or die, and whether the higher-ups in the Holy Knights Order are friendly, unfriendly-but-reasonable, or completely unreasonable. That’s two by three, so six possible patterns to consider.”
As I said that, Mishisia-san drew a 2×3 chart on a stone tablet with charcoal. On the left, she wrote “Holy Knights survive” and “Holy Knights die.” On top, she wrote “higher-ups friendly,” “higher-ups reasonable,” and “higher-ups unreasonable.” … What a sight that was.
“First, if the Holy Knights survive, and the higher-ups are friendly and regret the invasion… then the knights who set fire to the village and the Churchman who sicced them on us will be punished, and it ends there. No losses for us. That’s the most peaceful outcome.”
Leaving aside how it looks written down, I presented the best happy ending I could imagine. Mishisia-san promptly wrote “Peace!” in the top left box.
“Next, if the Holy Knights die, but the higher-ups are reasonable… Well, depending on how reasonable, if their subordinates were all slaughtered, there’s no way to build friendly relations after that.”
At the very least, grudges will remain. The knights probably have families, too, and their families’ appeals would hit the higher-ups directly.
“Next. If the Holy Knights survive, and the higher-ups aren’t exactly friendly, but at least follow reason… We didn’t kill them, so it’s possible to negotiate: don’t kill us either, right?”
“That’s true… If the knights survive, then it depends on what testimony they give… The higher-ups would have to start by ‘investigating their testimony.’ If they follow reason, once the knights’ lies are exposed, they’ll punish the knights and issue us an apology.”
Yeah. If the other side’s reasonable, that’s how it’ll go. Good.
“Then, if the Holy Knights die, and the higher-ups aren’t friendly but still reasonable… We’ll at least have to start by explaining ourselves. That much gives them an excuse.”
“Yes. In that case… well, the higher-ups surely want crystals and gems, too. They might brand us all as heretics and arrange to burn the village—‘legitimately.’ Even if they’re reasonable, that’s still plenty possible.”
Right. If we break reason, there’s no guarantee they’ll uphold it either. Yeah…
“Then, if the Holy Knights survive, but the higher-ups are unreasonable… There’s nothing we can do, is there?”
“Exactly. In that case, along with the knights we send back, they’ll send in additional forces.”
Yep. If the enemy’s unreasonable, nothing works. Simple as that.
“In that case, wouldn’t it be better to just kill the Holy Knights, or if not, at least keep them locked up?”
“I think so. If they’re inevitably enemies, then it’s better to kill them first… I know it sounds savage, but sometimes that’s just what has to be done.”
“Yeah, I get it, Lisas-san.”
So basically, if the other side’s unreasonable, it hardly matters if we keep them alive or not. Their response won’t change.
“… Still, if possible, capturing them alive would be better. We could use them as hostages.”
“Wh-what… That’s an option too…?”
“Yes. If we kill them, we lose a bargaining chip.”
… Lisas-san had a distant look as he said that. To think he’d come up with that. The Royal Knights must’ve been a brutal workplace…
“Well, anyway, the number of cases where it’s better to kill the knights is pretty small. Unless we decide to take on all of the Church, we should keep them alive.”
“In that case, we have no choice. There’s no way we could take on all the Church. And if we did, it would be a long war… This little village couldn’t hold out.”
At Edele-san’s words, the adventurers nodded. “Makes sense.” They know when to back off. Good.
“So, I’d like the adventurers to drive the Holy Knights into the Dungeon as much as possible. Prioritize keeping damage away from the village. As for capturing the knights alive, let the Dungeon handle that.”
When I explained that, the adventurers nodded—or tilted their heads…
“… But hey, why’s a kid like this the one in charge?”
A fair question. Yeah, right. I *am* a kid. No matter how you look at it, this is a weird sight—some kid running the show!
I scrambled for an excuse… but then—
“Isn’t it obvious!? This boy’s a Tamer! He’s commanding nearly a hundred slimes!”
“What!?”
An unexpected supporter spoke up.
“A kid with a hundred slimes! Of course he’s the one who should be in charge here!”
“Ahh, now it makes sense!”
So they were convinced. Great.
… Wait, really? Is this okay? Now I’m worried. Hope these folks don’t get tricked by the wrong person someday…
“Th-that’s right! Since my slimes often go into the Dungeon, I know the layout pretty well! Heh, heh…”
But since I’m a bit of a bad kid, I decided to roll with the misunderstanding. Sorry. Sorry…
“And, you know Lisas-san does the patrols around the Dungeon, right? That’s why I asked Asuma-sama for help. Makes sense, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah. I’ll vouch for him too. For reasons, I’m acting as Asuma-sama’s guardian, but his ability is the real deal.”
With both Edele-san and Lisas-san backing me up, their trust in me shot through the roof. Too fast. This has to be a trap, right!?
… But no, it wasn’t. The adventurers just said, “Well, they do call him -sama and is respected by the villagers anyway,” “He doesn’t look like a normal kid,” “And he’s cute, so it’s fine.” And accepted it.
I was still unsure, until… A female adventurer sidled up, whispered, “You’re some noble’s son, right? We all get that it’s complicated, don’t worry,” winked, and walked off.
… Ohh. So that’s the misunderstanding, huh. Feels like I’m deceiving them, but it’s better than claiming to be the Dungeon god, I guess…
And so, with my status misrepresented—
“So… uh? We’re leaving the Holy Knights to the Dungeon?”
“Are you sure? If the Dungeon gets conquered, we’ll be in trouble!”
The adventurers were all worried about whether just defending the village was enough.
… But I’d like them to leave that part to me.
“Yeah. Leave that to me.”
I didn’t go into detail. But… I *do* have a plan.
After all, I’m the Dungeon Master. If I’m welcoming intruders whose goal is to “destroy the Dungeon,” then… I’ve got some tricks ready.
So then… the next day.
“The Church guy—he’s gone?”
“Yeah, gone! I watched him leave the village and head toward town!”
After confirming with Mishisia-san’s scouting that the Churchman had left… Well then.
“First, let’s set up fire-fighting equipment in the village.”
That’s what we needed to do first.
… This village is part of the Dungeon, after all.
And besides, a warm-up battle makes things more exciting, right?
What do you think about this chapter?
