The well-Balanced Yamamoto-san Gets Caught up in a Death Game

Chapter 25

After chatting leisurely with Gobuzou-san and Iko-san for about 30 minutes, Tatsu-san appeared at the entrance of the Adventurers’ Guild.

Behind Tatsu-san, I could see two monster figures following at a distance.

Could those be the party members for this time?

I deactivate [Invisibility] and slowly stand up.

“Excuse me. My companions have arrived, so I’ll be taking my leave.”

“Oh, is that so? The tea was delicious. Thank you for the treat.”

“I apologize if the old woman caused you any trouble. I don’t know what request you’re taking on, but I wish you success.”

Waving lightly to the two smiling faces seeing me off, I join up with Tatsu-san, who seems to have noticed me.

“Could that armor be Yama-chan?”

Ah, he can’t tell it’s me because of the veil attached to the circlet.

“That’s right. It’s your beloved Yama-chan.”

“I see. Did I keep you waiting? Sorry about that.”

Tatsu-san gracefully ignores my little joke. Well played.

“It’s fine. We didn’t specify a time anyway. Thanks to waiting leisurely, I had some nice encounters. So? Are those two the ones we’re forming a party with?”

“P-pleased to meet you!”

“Nice to meet you.”

One is a polite-seeming zombie, and the other is a reticent, long-haired, alluring girl…

Huh? Have I seen them somewhere before?

“I’ll introduce them even though Yama-chan’s not meeting them for the first time. The zombie boy is Breiva-kun, and the girl is Misaki-chan.”

I kind of knew, but they’re players, right? Surely not NPCs?

By the way, since his name is Breiva, I wonder if his real name is something like Yuuki-kun?

But where have I seen them before?

As I’m pondering under my veil, Breiva-kun shows a similar puzzled expression. Then he slowly opens his mouth,

“Um, haven’t we met somewhere before?”

He started with what sounds like a pickup line.

Perhaps unable to bear watching this, Misaki-chan elbows Breiva-kun in the side with a scary face.

Yeah, that was definitely a full-weight blow.

Breiva-kun is writhing in pain.

“We met in the tutorial.”

Ah, Misaki-chan’s words made me remember!

They are indeed the zombie boy and girl I met in the tutorial.

Maybe as a result of progressing in the game, their equipment has changed, so I didn’t recognize them at first!

By the way, Breiva-kun’s equipment gives off a very plain impression with leather armor, leather hat, leather gauntlets, and leather greaves. It’s a mob outfit that doesn’t evoke any image of a strong adventurer.

And Misaki-chan’s equipment is almost the same.

Well, since Misaki-chan is prettier, it suits her better than Breiva-kun, but their matching outfits are quite something.

Ah, but maybe they both have decent weapons?

The weapons sold in shops around here are probably made by Gaga-san. I think they’re good swords for their price.

“This is Yama—chan, who will be participating as our healer this time. Please get along with her, you two.”

I almost blurted out my real player name, but Tatsu-san’s “You’re not gonna mess up, are you?” look saved me from doing so. That was close.

“Um, I’m Breiva. I’m mainly a frontline tank.”

“Misaki. Frontline attacker.”

Yeah. The composition is as I heard.

When I glance at Tatsu-san, he shrugs his tiny shoulders.

“For small fry battles, two attackers finish things faster and with less damage. It’s a pretty common formation.”

“I see.”

I don’t know much about adventurer circumstances, so if he says that’s orthodox, I can only agree.

But even I can tell it’s probably not suited for long battles. A no-recovery annihilation style won’t last long, that’s common sense!

“Shall we head out then? To Foreside?”

“Wait, wait, our lives are at stake here. We can’t just rush off! Let’s have a proper strategy meeting first!”

And so, the four of us decided to have a meeting!

■□■

Thirty minutes into our meeting after casually taking seats.

I’m surprised at how detailed our discussion is getting.

Are adventurers always this thorough?

First, we confirmed what each person can do.

Breiva-kun can be an attacker besides being the main shield, and he can even provide some support with [Wind Magic].

Also, since he’s a zombie with dulled senses, he said pain doesn’t bother him much, so we should prioritize healing Misaki-chan.

That Misaki-chan is a speed-focused attacker type who can also act as an evasion tank, and she seems to specialize in dual wielding.

Seeing her tell Tatsu-san not to cast magic when she’s about to charge in, I wonder if she’s had experience with friendly fire? Or maybe her charging timing is unique? That would be hard to coordinate with, but I’m sure Tatsu-san can handle it.

As for Tatsu-san, he’s a freely moving fire support, and he’s asking us not to let enemies past to the rear because he’s really fragile.

Then, for me, I reveal that I can use [Light Magic] and have a stock of various recovery items.

I’m participating as a healer this time, after all.

I’ll pretend I can’t fight much.

Well, actually, I can’t really fight.

I haven’t trained in martial arts in real life, and I’m just rampaging relying on the violence of my stats.

As I was thinking about this,

“You don’t need to worry too much about Yama-chan. Even if enemies get past to the rear, she’s the type who can handle herself.”

Tatsu-san’s trust seems unusually thick.

Maybe that EOD was quite a formidable opponent? I think about this belatedly.

After discussing our roles and how to move, we next check our belongings.

Do we have enough recovery items? Do we have camping equipment? Are we taking food or not?

This.

I was really surprised, but it seems quite a few adventurers decide to forego food, treating it as just flavor.

Well, I guess it leaves more space in their [Storage Bag] for loot drops, so it’s “profitable!”…

Personally, I’ve completely fallen for this game’s cuisine, so not taking food isn’t an option for me.

So, after much resistance, we decided to leave it to individual judgment. Essentially, a victory. Yay.

Now, after deciding what to take and dividing it up, we confirm our route. We also check the types of monsters we might encounter.

“To reach the fourth city, Foreside, from Evil Grande, we need to cut through the forest to the northwest like this. There should be a prepared road, so if we follow it straight, we shouldn’t get lost.”

Maybe because I peeked at the map of the Evil Grande area, the black parts of the map suddenly filled in white. Maps are convenient! The adventurers don’t seem particularly impressed. Maybe theirs are already filled in?

“What level are the monsters that appear on the road?”

“Same level as the shallow parts of the forest. You should be able to handle that much, right?”

Well, if we couldn’t handle it, we wouldn’t be aiming for the next area.

Indeed, Breiva-kun and Misaki-chan’s eyes seem full of confidence.

“Well, the forest shouldn’t be a problem. The issue is Foreside’s underground labyrinth.”

After progressing through the forest, there’s an image of a rocky mountain on the map with an X marked on it.

Apparently, this is the entrance to the underground labyrinth.

It’s kind of exciting!

“The monsters in the underground labyrinth are incredibly tough. They have high physical defense, so normal weapons barely damage them. That’s why we’ll mainly progress with my magic in the underground labyrinth. I’ll need you two to mainly act as decoys for the enemies.”

“We’ll leave that to you then. But basically, we’re trying to avoid fighting as much as possible, right?”

“That’s right. Our target is the area boss. It’d be foolish to wear ourselves out on the way.”

That’s standard RPG strategy.

You don’t fight enemies on a leveling spree when you’re heading to defeat a boss.

“Well, there might be some

“Well, there might be some unavoidable battles, so that’s what we’re talking about. By the way, you said you have a map of the underground labyrinth, right?”

“Bought it.”

As I looked puzzled,

“Foreside is inside the underground labyrinth. So when you buy a map to Foreside from the map shop, you get the dungeon map thrown in as a bonus.”

It’s like a package deal, huh.

“It was a bit expensive.”

“Well, it’s an amount you can recoup if you make it to Foreside. Not a bad deal when you think about it.”

I see.

I knew the name Foreside from Milene-san, but I didn’t realize it was a city in an underground labyrinth.

When I think of underground cities, Cappadocia comes to mind first, but Evil Grande was already a black Sagrada Familia that defied my expectations.

I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of city it is.

“Alright, let’s look at the map and confirm the shortest route.”

“Ah, Tatsu-san.”

“What is it, Bre?”

“Bre…”

“It’s hard to call you Breiva in battle, right? So it’s Bre. At least that’s what I’ll call you. Get used to it.”

“Bre… is it? Somehow it feels like I’m going to be unstable in various ways…”

“It’s okay, Bre. Cheer up.”

“Even Misaki-chan!?”

Misaki-chan, who had been expressionless until now, suddenly seems lively. Maybe she just can’t help but tease Bre-kun? The relationship between these two is quite mysterious.

Oh, by the way, I’ll be calling him Bre-kun too.

Breiva is hard to say, and I’ve been on the verge of mispronouncing it several times. For the safety of my tongue, I’ll use the abbreviation!

“So? What is it, Bre? Something on your mind?”

“Well, I was wondering what we should do if we encounter Rock Lizards…”

Rock Lizards…

I feel like I’ve heard that somewhere before… where was it?

“If I can take them down quickly with my magic, I will. Well, if it seems impossible, running is our only option.”

Ah. The ones you sink in mud and finish off with [Fire Pillar]. Not much of a monster…

“Huh, run away!? Why!?”

I couldn’t help but blurt out!

Because they’re super easy to defeat!

Yet we’re going to run…?

I’m really confused…

“Yama-chan might not know, but…”

I know more than just knowing, I’ve fought them and instant-killed them – but I can’t say that.

If I said something like that, Tatsu-san would definitely be dumbfounded.

“Rock Lizards are so tough that physical attacks barely work on them.”

Is that so?

I have an impression they were weak to magic, but I don’t remember the details.

“So magic is the only way to defeat them, but if we keep blasting away with magic, other enemies will quickly gather. That’s why if we judge we can’t defeat them quickly, running is the right choice.”

“I see…”

I think they’re not that strong and can be instant-killed, but I’m the healer this time. I won’t speak up too much about attack strategies! I’m a woman who can read the room!

And so, after another 30 minutes of discussion.

Just as we felt we’d confirmed everything we could, a loud noise echoed through the guild.

What’s going on?

Could it be the event where someone picks on a rookie who’s come to register as an adventurer–!?

“Shut up! What’s impossible is impossible!”

An adventurer stands up and shouts, and,

“Gobuzou-san, are you alright?”

“I’m fine, Iko-san…”

Gobuzou-san has fallen to the guild floor, maybe tripped, and Iko-san is bending down to check on him…

Huh, where’s the scene of someone picking on a rookie…?