In the bag that President brought back were gemstones about the size of a fist
“In this world, ‘jewelry stores’ don’t refer to shops selling decorative items.”
In this world, a ‘jewelry store’ deals with actual ‘gemstones’ rather than just decorative pieces. Gemstones here hold a stronger significance as tools for magic and alchemy, rather than being solely used for decoration.
“These gemstones can be temporarily crushed in your hand to boost your physical or magical abilities. The red ones enhance physical abilities, the blue ones enhance magical abilities, and there are also some that grant temporary resistances.”
I see. So with these, you can regain some of the lost abilities even in the presence of the ’cause’.
The resistances also seem quite handy.
With that said, the items were distributed among everyone else.
…As you can probably tell, these ‘crush and crush’ doping items require considerable grip strength even before doping. When I asked everyone, they said it could still be done even in the presence of the ’cause.’ However, when I tried one myself, although I managed to crush it, it took a significant amount of time and physical strength. What liars!
The whole point of these items is that you can use them instantly when needed, but struggling and putting in so much effort just to crush them and get the boost is not very practical. So, no distribution for me.
Yeah, I won’t say anything more. It’s a harsh reality to know that those who need doping the most are unable to do it in this unfamiliar world…
Now then, we cleared out the laboratory and lecture rooms that were set up in the location of the memorial hall, and there we suspended the ’cause.’
Everyone started their combat training there.
You can tell by watching that they lack their usual edge, and it’s clear that they’re struggling. It’s a completely different kind of combat from what they were used to. Well, that’s only natural.
Seeing them spar with wooden swords, it looks quite exhausting. Being unable to execute the movements they thought of must be frustrating and stressful.
As for me, I’m in charge of supplying water and taking care of the knitting. This net is surprisingly durable, but even so, it’s just a net when faced with a blade, so if it gets cut, it won’t restrain them. If the cut ends get tangled, it could prevent ‘Teleportation,’ but that’s still not foolproof.
With that in mind, the focus of the training is on disarming the ’cause.’ Even if we dye the net with something like ‘Fire Resistance,’ it will still be vulnerable to either fire or blades.
In this regard, Hagasaki-kun is overwhelmingly strong. Freezing them is a simple solution for him.
By the way, I wonder how Dahlia and the others we accidentally froze at Deichemoore are doing. Well, probably not very well. Yeah.
As I was observing everyone training diligently, I received a message from Hariu.
[Hey, is it okay right now?]
“Yeah. What’s up? Why are you so flustered?”
[Well, it’s just something we misunderstood. There’s actually no rule saying we can’t defeat the them until after the noble exchange is done, right?]
Ah, yeah, well, that’s true.
From the nobles’ perspective, they probably want to secure their positions before things get messy, and this issue seems to involve a political strategy of toppling the nobles from within.
[They’re having a meeting at Fukuyama’s house right now, and there’s a conflict between those nobles who want to secure their positions first and others, like Fukuyama and some other heroic individuals, who just want to go and defeat the Queen as soon as possible. So, I just wanted to give you a heads up. If I find out more details, I’ll let you know later.]
I see. Well, it’s understandable that they’re in a hurry.
And the nobles are probably not completely unified either. Those nobles who have already infiltrated here would want to eliminate any competition from those who haven’t yet infiltrated.
If that’s the case, there’s a possibility they might arrive earlier than expected.
I thought we had at least another ten days, but now that the heroes have gathered and they seem to have enough military power, it means the only obstacle left are the nobles who haven’t infiltrated yet. And those nobles probably have some weaknesses, like being of lower status or not having the right skills, so they might be easily disregarded.
Well, it looks like things might get more complicated sooner than we anticipated.
Yeah. I might have been a bit too optimistic in my assumptions.
In that case… It might be a good idea to start taking precautions and be on standby.
For now, everyone should remain armed. I’ll keep the cause with me so I can equip it at any time.
President will go and deliver the message to Senpai, and I’ll quickly dye the remaining nets and carpets that haven’t been colored yet.
The others will then set them up and lay them down, making sure we are prepared to fight whenever they arrive.
…But they still haven’t come. Not at all. They’re just not coming.
Well, I guess they’re still having their meeting, so they won’t come until Hariu sends us more information.
We’re all getting pretty impatient, it seems. Yeah… Very impatient…
Alright, maybe I should make some tea…
We stayed armed, sipping tea and having snacks, while the maid dolls worked tirelessly to weave more nets. It was already evening, and then night fell, and finally, Hariu and Toriumi returned.
“In the end, the meeting just got postponed without reaching any conclusion.”
…This guy! Does he even realize how long we’ve been waiting here for him?
Moreover, even if the meeting got postponed, it’s still possible that the group of heroes led by Fukuyama and others, plus some more, might come to attack. So, we have to stay vigilant.
And even though we don’t know when they’ll come, we can’t afford to let our guard down! That guy! Is this his strategy? Is this what he planned all along?! Damn it! Cunning bastard! Aaaaaah!
“Hey, what if we just leave and go out there?”
Hariu seems to have reached his limit. He’s been tense all this time, but this is too quick. Too quick.
“It might be fine for us to retreat if we’re just going to collect the heroes, but this is related to the political issues of this country. It would be safer to crush the nobles along with it.”
“But can’t we leave it to Senpai?”
“If we wait for them to handle everything, it will take even longer for us to leave.”
“Huh? Leave to where?”
…Hm?
“To our original world.”
…Hmm, there’s something I can’t quite put my finger on, but it feels like an unidentified sense of discomfort.
“But if we keep waiting like this, who knows when we’ll be able to leave.”
…Wait, President seems to be thinking about something.
“…Maito-san.”
“Hmm?”
President remains silent, lowering his head while lifting his bangs.
Ah, this must mean “share” the information. Alright, no need to hold back, I’ll headbutt to “share.”
In the mysterious space, I find the thing President wants to show and receive it.
…I see, I see. Ah… yes, the possibility can’t be denied. So, the plan is to catch anyone suspicious, just in case.
As soon as I leave the shared space, I headbutt Kadomi-san, who is nearby, to “share.”
Then, I immediately exit and start replenishing my MP while sharing with everyone.
However, I exclude Hariu from the sharing.
Instead, I connect with the Maid-san dolls.
…It’s dark.
The sounds I hear are…
Oh no, they got us!
“Hariu, come here for a moment.”
I beckon him over, and when he approaches, I headbutt him again, but this time it’s a different kind of “share.”
Now, spill the information. Where is Hariu? And who are you?
…Once I obtained the necessary information, I exit the shared space and headbutt Hariu again.
His bewildered expression is genuine. This is not how Hariu usually looks.
“Sleep Cocoon!”
Let’s put him to sleep for now.
“Now, what should we do? Should we split into two teams or go along with their plan?”
“Let’s go along with it. However, we will definitely prepare countermeasures. We won’t settle this peacefully anymore, but that’s their fault. They will regret laying a hand on our comrades.”
We’re angry. We’re really angry.
Although Hariu is the intruder, in that aspect, we are at fault. But we’re still angry. We can’t forgive them for what they did to our comrades.
…President’s thoughts were mostly in line with mine. However, he seemed to have noticed the oddity much earlier than I did.
In other words, there is a possibility that Hariu has been swapped with something else.
…I can’t help but think both that I noticed it quite quickly and that I should have noticed it much earlier.
Although they look exactly the same, their gestures and reactions were somehow different if I think back.
Yes, I was outsmarted. I was too naive. The fact that our opponent is a hero means they can use any number of skills against us.
The moment Hariu was replaced was between noon and evening.
During that time, Hariu managed to make some kind of mistake and was found out. The impostor was skillful enough to send a substitute over to us.
The impostor’s goal was to keep tabs on our movements, disperse our forces, and then strike the royal castle. That’s why they recommended that we attack first.
…So, we’ll deliberately go along with their plan.
We know where Hariu is located. We can reach him through Minamo, and the impostor provided us with information as well. So, I’ll have everyone head to rescue Hariu.
In the meantime, the throne room in the royal castle will be empty.
…Yes, it will be completely empty.
There, even the Queen won’t be present. She operates from behind the scenes, remaining hidden.
Yes, the only one present will be the Demon Lord.
Now, I need to prepare my lines.
In the bag that President brought back were gemstones about the size of a fist
“In this world, ‘jewelry stores’ don’t refer to shops selling decorative items.”
In this world, a ‘jewelry store’ deals with actual ‘gemstones’ rather than just decorative pieces. Gemstones here hold a stronger significance as tools for magic and alchemy, rather than being solely used for decoration.
“These gemstones can be temporarily crushed in your hand to boost your physical or magical abilities. The red ones enhance physical abilities, the blue ones enhance magical abilities, and there are also some that grant temporary resistances.”
I see. So with these, you can regain some of the lost abilities even in the presence of the ’cause’.
The resistances also seem quite handy.
With that said, the items were distributed among everyone else.
…As you can probably tell, these ‘crush and crush’ doping items require considerable grip strength even before doping. When I asked everyone, they said it could still be done even in the presence of the ’cause.’ However, when I tried one myself, although I managed to crush it, it took a significant amount of time and physical strength. What liars!
The whole point of these items is that you can use them instantly when needed, but struggling and putting in so much effort just to crush them and get the boost is not very practical. So, no distribution for me.
Yeah, I won’t say anything more. It’s a harsh reality to know that those who need doping the most are unable to do it in this unfamiliar world…
Now then, we cleared out the laboratory and lecture rooms that were set up in the location of the memorial hall, and there we suspended the ’cause.’
Everyone started their combat training there.
You can tell by watching that they lack their usual edge, and it’s clear that they’re struggling. It’s a completely different kind of combat from what they were used to. Well, that’s only natural.
Seeing them spar with wooden swords, it looks quite exhausting. Being unable to execute the movements they thought of must be frustrating and stressful.
As for me, I’m in charge of supplying water and taking care of the knitting. This net is surprisingly durable, but even so, it’s just a net when faced with a blade, so if it gets cut, it won’t restrain them. If the cut ends get tangled, it could prevent ‘Teleportation,’ but that’s still not foolproof.
With that in mind, the focus of the training is on disarming the ’cause.’ Even if we dye the net with something like ‘Fire Resistance,’ it will still be vulnerable to either fire or blades.
In this regard, Hagasaki-kun is overwhelmingly strong. Freezing them is a simple solution for him.
By the way, I wonder how Dahlia and the others we accidentally froze at Deichemoore are doing. Well, probably not very well. Yeah.
As I was observing everyone training diligently, I received a message from Hariu.
[Hey, is it okay right now?]
“Yeah. What’s up? Why are you so flustered?”
[Well, it’s just something we misunderstood. There’s actually no rule saying we can’t defeat the them until after the noble exchange is done, right?]
Ah, yeah, well, that’s true.
From the nobles’ perspective, they probably want to secure their positions before things get messy, and this issue seems to involve a political strategy of toppling the nobles from within.
[They’re having a meeting at Fukuyama’s house right now, and there’s a conflict between those nobles who want to secure their positions first and others, like Fukuyama and some other heroic individuals, who just want to go and defeat the Queen as soon as possible. So, I just wanted to give you a heads up. If I find out more details, I’ll let you know later.]
I see. Well, it’s understandable that they’re in a hurry.
And the nobles are probably not completely unified either. Those nobles who have already infiltrated here would want to eliminate any competition from those who haven’t yet infiltrated.
If that’s the case, there’s a possibility they might arrive earlier than expected.
I thought we had at least another ten days, but now that the heroes have gathered and they seem to have enough military power, it means the only obstacle left are the nobles who haven’t infiltrated yet. And those nobles probably have some weaknesses, like being of lower status or not having the right skills, so they might be easily disregarded.
Well, it looks like things might get more complicated sooner than we anticipated.
Yeah. I might have been a bit too optimistic in my assumptions.
In that case… It might be a good idea to start taking precautions and be on standby.
For now, everyone should remain armed. I’ll keep the cause with me so I can equip it at any time.
President will go and deliver the message to Senpai, and I’ll quickly dye the remaining nets and carpets that haven’t been colored yet.
The others will then set them up and lay them down, making sure we are prepared to fight whenever they arrive.
…But they still haven’t come. Not at all. They’re just not coming.
Well, I guess they’re still having their meeting, so they won’t come until Hariu sends us more information.
We’re all getting pretty impatient, it seems. Yeah… Very impatient…
Alright, maybe I should make some tea…
We stayed armed, sipping tea and having snacks, while the maid dolls worked tirelessly to weave more nets. It was already evening, and then night fell, and finally, Hariu and Toriumi returned.
“In the end, the meeting just got postponed without reaching any conclusion.”
…This guy! Does he even realize how long we’ve been waiting here for him?
Moreover, even if the meeting got postponed, it’s still possible that the group of heroes led by Fukuyama and others, plus some more, might come to attack. So, we have to stay vigilant.
And even though we don’t know when they’ll come, we can’t afford to let our guard down! That guy! Is this his strategy? Is this what he planned all along?! Damn it! Cunning bastard! Aaaaaah!
“Hey, what if we just leave and go out there?”
Hariu seems to have reached his limit. He’s been tense all this time, but this is too quick. Too quick.
“It might be fine for us to retreat if we’re just going to collect the heroes, but this is related to the political issues of this country. It would be safer to crush the nobles along with it.”
“But can’t we leave it to Senpai?”
“If we wait for them to handle everything, it will take even longer for us to leave.”
“Huh? Leave to where?”
…Hm?
“To our original world.”
…Hmm, there’s something I can’t quite put my finger on, but it feels like an unidentified sense of discomfort.
“But if we keep waiting like this, who knows when we’ll be able to leave.”
…Wait, President seems to be thinking about something.
“…Maito-san.”
“Hmm?”
President remains silent, lowering his head while lifting his bangs.
Ah, this must mean “share” the information. Alright, no need to hold back, I’ll headbutt to “share.”
In the mysterious space, I find the thing President wants to show and receive it.
…I see, I see. Ah… yes, the possibility can’t be denied. So, the plan is to catch anyone suspicious, just in case.
As soon as I leave the shared space, I headbutt Kadomi-san, who is nearby, to “share.”
Then, I immediately exit and start replenishing my MP while sharing with everyone.
However, I exclude Hariu from the sharing.
Instead, I connect with the Maid-san dolls.
…It’s dark.
The sounds I hear are…
Oh no, they got us!
“Hariu, come here for a moment.”
I beckon him over, and when he approaches, I headbutt him again, but this time it’s a different kind of “share.”
Now, spill the information. Where is Hariu? And who are you?
…Once I obtained the necessary information, I exit the shared space and headbutt Hariu again.
His bewildered expression is genuine. This is not how Hariu usually looks.
“Sleep Cocoon!”
Let’s put him to sleep for now.
“Now, what should we do? Should we split into two teams or go along with their plan?”
“Let’s go along with it. However, we will definitely prepare countermeasures. We won’t settle this peacefully anymore, but that’s their fault. They will regret laying a hand on our comrades.”
We’re angry. We’re really angry.
Although Hariu is the intruder, in that aspect, we are at fault. But we’re still angry. We can’t forgive them for what they did to our comrades.
…President’s thoughts were mostly in line with mine. However, he seemed to have noticed the oddity much earlier than I did.
In other words, there is a possibility that Hariu has been swapped with something else.
…I can’t help but think both that I noticed it quite quickly and that I should have noticed it much earlier.
Although they look exactly the same, their gestures and reactions were somehow different if I think back.
Yes, I was outsmarted. I was too naive. The fact that our opponent is a hero means they can use any number of skills against us.
The moment Hariu was replaced was between noon and evening.
During that time, Hariu managed to make some kind of mistake and was found out. The impostor was skillful enough to send a substitute over to us.
The impostor’s goal was to keep tabs on our movements, disperse our forces, and then strike the royal castle. That’s why they recommended that we attack first.
…So, we’ll deliberately go along with their plan.
We know where Hariu is located. We can reach him through Minamo, and the impostor provided us with information as well. So, I’ll have everyone head to rescue Hariu.
In the meantime, the throne room in the royal castle will be empty.
…Yes, it will be completely empty.
There, even the Queen won’t be present. She operates from behind the scenes, remaining hidden.
Yes, the only one present will be the Demon Lord.
Now, I need to prepare my lines.
