Strategy Meeting

“Could that possibly be ore magic……!?”

At Misha’s words, not only I, but even the members of Lightblade looked at her.

I asked a question.

“Misha, do you know about it?”

“Yeah…… Though I only read about it in a paper during my academy days…… Um, you know the ore that appears when you defeat monsters? It’s magic that activates with that as a catalyst.”

“Is it strong?”

“Of course.”

Misha nodded without hesitation.

“Monster ore, you see, isn’t just a mineral. The monster’s power itself is packed inside it. Since the energy contained within it is diverted into attack magic, it’s super strong.”

“How strong?”

“It deploys high energy over long distances and wide areas, after all. I’d say it can’t even be compared to normal magic.”

“Seriously…… Then isn’t it fine to just use that for everything……?”

At my words, Misha shook her head.

“Everything else about it is completely useless. It takes a crazy amount of time to activate, you have to decide the target location at the start, and a huge magic circle rises up over the targeted area.”

Hm?

In other words, a magic circle would suddenly rise up under your feet. And that position could not be changed. Then, after a ridiculous amount of time passed, it would go boom and explode—

“That won’t hit anyone, will it!?”

It might be usable as a first-time kill against someone who did not know about ore magic…… no, impossible. If a magic circle rose up under my feet, I would run.

“Yeah, yeah, normally it doesn’t hit.”

Ahahahaha, Misha laughed casually.

“Unless you fix the position of the target you’re aiming at—”

When she had spoken that far, Misha suddenly fell silent. Before long, she murmured.

“……I see. This time, they can lure it out—”

Then, Misha turned her gaze toward Filardo.

“Um, Filardo-san. Did Largorin chase after whoever broke the stone monument?”

“That’s right?”

“……Hmm…… I thought of something unpleasant……”

“What kind of thing?”

When I urged her on, Misha answered with a disgusted face.

“You see, after making someone, somewhere, break the stone monument…… yes, poison or anything would work, but they make them unable to move and leave them there. Then the enraged Largorin comes, and there—”

Opening both hands, Misha continued like this.

“Boom!”

Certainly, if that were the case, they could make this difficult-to-hit ore magic hit for certain.

“The place the ore magic is aiming at also seems like it, you know……”

“You can tell?”

“Any mage could tell. So much magic power is leaking out that it’s easy to trace. ……That way.”

The direction Misha pointed to was—

The direction where the stone monument was.

Everyone exchanged looks.

I said to Misha.

“……But wouldn’t those people die?”

I don’t think a method that kills other people like that is normal, though—

The one who reacted to the words that contained those feelings was Filardo.

“The Company’s people probably wouldn’t care about that.”

The Company?

It was a word that came up again and again. Just when I was about to ask a question, Misha said something else first.

“It might not be just the someones who die.”

Misha looked back at the path we had come from and pointed downward.

“Frast too.”

“……What do you mean?”

Misha answered Filardo, who spoke in a sharp voice.

“Judging from the estimated deployment energy, the impact and heat will definitely cause an avalanche—with this much snow piled up.”

Our surroundings were dyed completely white.

On top of that, the snow was still continuing to fall.

The town would suffer tremendous damage.

Silence fell.

That fact chilled our hearts more than the cold air covering our surroundings.

I felt unable to believe it.

Just to defeat a named monster, they would use unknown adventurers as disposable decoys, and even drag the town into it.

It was not something an ordinary person would do.

“Wh…… Why would they do something like that!”

Filardo reacted to my angry voice.

“It’s the Company’s way of doing things.”

“What is the Company!?”

“The Company is an evil organization that obtains and sells highly rare items.”

Filardo continued speaking.

“There are two parts that make them like an evil organization. One is the people they sell to. Even illegal organizations are valued customers as long as they pay. The other is how they obtain items. Like this time, they don’t care in the slightest about the damage around them.”

After that, Filardo continued like this.

“The woman who showed up during the Brennen Tiger hunt—that one was also one of the Company’s people. The Company’s people are generally like that. They’re extraordinarily strong and don’t think of people as people. ……Be careful.”

“……Yes.”

After I nodded—

“So, what are we doing, Filardo?”

The third member of Lightblade, the scout Daryl, cut in.

He was a carefree man with an air that made him seem somewhat unmotivated, but his detection ability was incredible, and he had avoided Lightblade’s crises many times.

“To sum up what the young lady there said, there’s a possibility there are nameless adventurers at the stone monument for the sake of luring Largorin, and at the summit, the Company’s people are preparing terrifying magic aimed at that place. That about right.”

“That’s right.”

“Do we save the adventurers, or do we stop the Company at the summit? What do we do?”

“Both—”

“There’s no way we can, you softie!”

Without the slightest pause, Daryl shouted him down.

“The Company’s people are a pair, one man and one woman. Both are powerful enough to instantly kill a Brennen Tiger. Meanwhile, we, Lightblade, only have three people. We don’t have the leeway to split our forces.”

“……That’s certainly true……”

“What we should prioritize is defeating the Company. If we don’t stop them, the town will be swallowed by an avalanche. I propose that the three of us head for the summit. We can defeat the two from the Company, then head for the stone monument. What do you think, Alicia?”

“I have no objections.”

His two companions said that, but,

“Right, yes……”

Filardo’s reaction was sluggish.

He was probably thinking of a way to save the adventurers being used by the Company.

Heading there after bringing down the Company—might not be in time. Because there was a possibility Largorin would reach them first.

That said, going to save the adventurers as the first move was impossible. It would give the Company time, and in the worst case, they might be burned by the ore magic together.

……To begin with, there might not even be such adventurers. It was only a hypothesis Misha had brought up.

No matter how I thought about it, there was no option to go toward the stone monument.

However, Filardo seemed unable to fully accept that. Though it had only been a short time, there was something I had understood after talking with him.

Filardo was probably the “softhearted” person Alicia said he was.

That was precisely why—

I decided to help Filardo.

“I’ll go.”

Everyone’s eyes turned toward me at the statement I had made after staying silent until now.

I continued without minding it.

“I wasn’t counted as fighting strength to begin with. It won’t be a problem even if I’m gone, right?”

“……No, but…… What will you do if Largorin appears?”

I said this to Filardo, whose expression looked worried.

“If that happens—”

With a metallic ring, I drew the Flame Tiger Dagger at my waist.

“I will defeat Largorin.”