Chương 107: Chapter 31 The Briefing(Part 2)

Depending on the location, a Lieutenant Colonel (2-Sa) would be the garrison commander—in other words, the head of that garrison. In an ordinary company, someone around the level of a department manager would probably be bowing and scraping while showing us around, which made me feel even more uncomfortable.

"It was an honor to meet you. They are waiting for you in this room. Please feel free to smoke." Being told I could smoke freely was actually rather troublesome. Smoking areas inside the garrison were strictly regulated. Since the garrison itself was self-contained, there were fuel stores, ammunition, and the like, so fires were strictly forbidden. In fact, there was even a firefighting squad stationed inside the garrison.

"Ah, thank you. Do you have a smoke can as well?"

"You know what a smoke can is? Yes, we do." (Tsukasa, what's a smoke can?) (It's an ashtray.) Mochida asked me in a whisper, but it wasn't anything particularly unusual. Well, since my mysterious pipe didn't produce any ash in the first place, I wouldn't be inconvenienced even without an ashtray. Still, one was necessary whenever I wanted to smoke cigarettes.

"Excuse me."

"Good to see you, Chloe-san."

"I'm glad to see you're doing well too, Miyafuji-san. Oh, Yuji-kun and Suguru-kun came as well. Are you two assistants?"

"Good to see you, Chloe-san. That's right. Neither of us has ever been inside a place like this before, so we were pretty nervous."

"Thank you, Chloe-san. It looks like you managed to get us squeezed in successfully. We're both assistants as well as participants."

"Hmm, the two from Akihabara?" The two of them were sitting across from the door, with Miyafuji in the middle. I had expected Miyafuji to be the only one here, so I hadn't anticipated the two of them coming as well. The fact that they were calling themselves participants meant that getting them squeezed into the group had apparently worked. Once we took our seats, I figured we'd exchange information.

"Kaori, Suguru-kun is Miyafuji-san's apprentice… would that be right? Well, more like an assistant. Yuji is in roughly the same position, I suppose. I scouted both of them as Sweepers from civilian backgrounds."

"So they're your young swallows? I don't know where you picked them up, but are you sure that's all right? I'm Kaori Mochida. My position here is participant and bodyguard." Mochida, you know, calling them "young swallows" already makes it sound like they're established lovers... Why would I have to be attracted to men?

"Kaori, enough with the jokes. Miyafuji-san, stop laughing and let's get down to the details."

"Yes, that's right. This time, we'll have classroom lectures and practical training—or rather, we'll be entering the Gate, correct? We'll support you there as well. Fortunately, my ring has somehow returned to me, so I can handle the medicines too. Basically, you can think of me as operating as a team with these two. However, Yuji is a swordsman, so when it comes to instructing people in close-combat professions, I'll have him participate in those sessions."

"So the three of you will be a team. Understood. I imagine I'll be leaving the classroom lectures almost entirely to you, but is that all right? I know practically nothing about legal matters, but I'll answer whatever I can."

"That won't be a problem. Suguru-kun and I will divide that work between us. Well, the classroom portion itself only covers a moderate amount of law, and it's structured as a dialogue-based curriculum under the name of classroom lectures. In that case, Chloe-san will be the main speaker." A dialogue-based format, huh... If it isn't about legal matters, I should probably be fine with that.

I'd be at a loss if someone suddenly asked me to make them the strongest, but in the first place, nobody would actually say something like that. If someone did, I'd have no choice but to thoroughly break that notion down once and make them rebuild it from scratch. The strongest. Invincible. Absolute. Immutable. All of it included...

"Tsukasa, you're making a rather nasty face."

"Hmm? I was just remembering the time I met an invincible swordsman."

"There was someone like that? Even though Tsukasa was there, what exactly made them think they were invincible... huh?" Yuji covered his face with both hands. Mochida seemed to have caught on as well and was looking at Yuji, while Suguru was grinning. But Suguru, you weren't all that different yourself.

"Please stop... It was a youthful indiscretion."

"It's all right. You're still young, very young." This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

"It's not very convincing when Chloe-san says that... You look the youngest of all, at least on the outside." Everyone nodded, but there wasn't much that could be done about that. After all, this body's actual age was fourteen. The inside may be an old man, but the outside is pretty good-looking.

"Understood regarding the dialogue-based format. As for the practical training, what are you thinking, Miyafuji-san? I'm thinking of setting a target floor and having everyone aim to reach it during the training period."

"That won't be a problem. In fact, we'll be diving in ourselves, so I'd like you to support us when we do. So, what floor are you thinking of setting as the target?"

"The 35th floor. I went down there to scout it out, and if they can defeat the monsters around that level with ease, I think we can judge that they've acquired sufficient ability." From what I experienced down there, there were quite a lot of small-bone monsters, but I thought four or five people could manage them. Of course, that came with restrictions, such as having to reach the 15th floor solo. However, there was no reason the Gate had to be cleaned by one person alone.

If there were thirty people, they could tackle it as teams, and it would also be a good opportunity for them to learn about professions other than their own.

"Um, Chloe-san. You went that far? With Mochida-san?"

"Ah, no. I went to scout it out by myself. Fufufu, it was fun." Suguru asked the question, and it really had been fun. Next time, though, support would be the main objective. It was somewhat disappointing, but unless I helped raise those who would come after me, I wouldn't be able to go home. So they would have to do their best here.

"So, what kinds of things were there?"

"Hmm? Come to think of it, I have the camera footage." It was the camera Chiyoda had given me, but there was no reason it shouldn't be all right to watch it here. Yuji said he could handle the wiring, so we connected it to the television installed in the room and started watching the footage together. They watched the screen with keen interest as the monsters and terrain appeared, though they looked somewhat taken aback whenever the magic came into view.

"Hey, Suguru. We really were being reckless, weren't we...?"

"More than that, I feel like we should be grateful just to be alive..."

"Tsukasa, wasn't that a bit too much? The terrain..."

"Well, well. Once you reach that point, you'll be able to do things like that too... probably?" Everyone gave their own impressions, but what could I do? It had been fun, and I had also been carrying around a great deal of frustration. I got to clean things up, relieve my stress, and have fun on top of that. It was nothing but benefits.

"Well, it was fun, you know? It's a mountain of trash anyway, so nobody's going to complain no matter how much I destroy. There's nobody around, and thinning them out might even reduce the chance of a stampede..."

"W-Well, there wasn't any damage, after all..." I fiddled with the seek bar, letting the footage of the plants and scenery play as I moved farther and farther ahead.

"No safe spaces all the way to here? Not being able to take a break is going to be a problem."

"In the worst case, I think we could bring in a camper van and use that to rest. If we want more firepower, we could also have armored vehicles and gunners provide long-range suppression. That might work." The safe-space issue—or rather, the issue of basic human bodily functions. Not being able to eat and sleep with any sense of security could really wear down the mind.

I wouldn't say this particular situation had to be treated as a special case, but it might actually make for a good environment in which to train Kaori.

"Kaori, can you defend against the attacks of those monsters?"

"I can defend against them, but if they come at me all together, I'd be worried. Isn't there something like a sound that combines offense and defense?"

"That's something you have to find yourself. If you're going to imagine it, then listen. Listen for your own sound."

"That's right. I need to make it resonate... Come to think of it, this has been going on for quite a long time. What about taking a break?"

"Somehow, with magic... If this is supposed to be the final stage of Ranger training, I think it's probably meant to be something like this." It was a lie, but this should be convincing enough. Keep moving continuously for two full days without eating or drinking. If anyone could do that, it would have to be someone who had undergone that sort of training. Someone like Hyodo could probably manage it.

"A mantis? No, a snake? Suguru, what do you think that thing is?"

"To me, it looks like a butterfly with its wings spread... Wait, did something just explode? Is that a monster too? It's like a mimic. It's not a box—it's completely blended into the terrain. That's troublesome."

"Is that smoke dog Chloe-san's pet?"

"So the image is to make it wear an outer shell, huh? If it's smoke, it shouldn't damage the main body that much. After that, it's just a matter of durability." The dog had been rampaging around as it pleased after taking in the smoke. It would probably come if I called it, and if I gave it an order, it would probably respond. That was probably simply a dog's instinct. Even if it had gone from a wolf to a dog, it would still follow a strong leader.

If that monster had lost and become a dog, then it would probably obey me... I thought. I puffed on my pipe. Oops, this must be around the part where I was talking with the Witch and the Sage. Since it would look like I was talking to myself, I should probably skip this part. Come to think of it, apparently, if I could use magic, I could spin thread as well. Maybe I should bring that up with Miyafuji and Mochida too.

"Come to think of it, Miyafuji-san, apparently thread can be spun with magic. Kaori, can't you produce something like thread? From the way your power works, maybe something like strings?"

"Thread? If it's fire, I think of it more as something that burns or cuts through things. Is there something you want to do with thread?"

"I can imagine something I can pluck, but I don't have any strings."

"I was wondering whether we could make something like armor. That pill bug's shell was pretty hard."

"Hmm... With the way I imagine things, that would be difficult. If someone had an image of fire more focused on warmth, they might be able to do it, though... Chloe-san, why did you remove the camera?"

"The camera?" The screen now showed footage from a camera with a much lower viewpoint. Yuji and Suguru both froze, their eyes going wide. Ah, right. That was the end. Miyafuji probably hadn't seen it because she had been talking with me at the time. In the first place, I had deliberately placed the camera where it couldn't see anything. She knew my age, too, so surely this wasn't something she was interested in as a hobby.

"My clothes had been torn and I was half-naked, so I changed everything. Even if it was captured on camera, the top would only be visible for an instant, and the bottom would only be visible down to around my knees, so it should probably be fi—""No! It's not 'fine'! Hearing only the sounds makes you imagine even more! You two, don't look over there! Ah, she took off her underwear!" Mochida hurriedly pulled the wiring out.

I hadn't checked the footage myself, but there shouldn't have been anything particularly risqué on it. I'd taken care around that area, so it should be fine.

"Kaori, calm down. Almost nothing was shown. You two know my age, right? Sorry for making you uncomfortable."

"Ah, no, it's just... right?"

"Well, yeah. It's fine." The footage came to an end, and we'd finished discussing the objectives. All that remained was to hope that the study group starting tomorrow would go well...