Chapter 40

40 – An Interview Right Before Entering the Tenth Stratum

「Now then, you’ve finally reached the tenth stratum. Looking back, how do you feel about your journey so far?」

A male reporter was asking a question in front of the Demon King Castle.

The five of us faced the video camera lens that was recording footage for television use and responded to the interview.

Television broadcasts have dedicated time slots. They start at a specific time and end at a specific time.

That’s why regardless of whether the dungeon run ends in success or not, it’s better if it lasts as long as possible. A long run can simply be edited to fit the time slot, but if it’s too short, then extending footage can be difficult. There’s a limit to how often they can just repeat footage over and over again.

In other words, filler is used to fill up the timeslot if necessary.

Stuff like hyping up the viewers or making comments on a successful run. It wasn’t uncommon for broadcasts to use things like that.

No one could possibly expect what could happen in the Demon King Castle compared to other Dungeons, so being interviewed right before the tenth stratum wasn’t all that strange.

They’d probably do it right before the battle with the Demon King themself as well.

「As shown by all the parties trying to follow our example and getting wiped out at the very first stratum, the Demon King Castle is an extremely difficult Dungeon. The few parties that have gone past the second stratum have all been defeated by the fourth stratum as well. I suppose you could say the strata so far are all much more difficult than the Recommended Level they’ve been given.」

Ever since we first cleared the first stratum, a mysterious robed Majin and Hellhounds that utilized Black Magic began showing up, enemies that we had never encountered. Ever since then, not a single party has gotten past the first stratum.

Our party could be considered fortunate in that sense, but I didn’t bother bringing that up.

…But from what I’ve heard, there seemed to be quite a number of Black Magic users showing up. Could it be that they just weren’t recruited until after we cleared the first stratum?

The mysterious robed Majin really did have a mysteriously undefined role. Some say he’s probably in charge of directing the Hellhounds.

「True. Your party didn’t have a single person defeated until the fifth stratum. Since then, you had someone getting wiped out pretty much every single time.」

「It simply means that the Monsters they have gathered truly make the Dungeon deserving of the word Impregnable, as well as a Dungeon deserving to be challenged by us.」

「Speaking of the fifth stratum, wasn’t that your first run after the Black Sorcerer Lem left your party? Apparently, he was your childhood friend, but do you think that his withdrawal had any effect on your Clears?」

……

It should have already been established that Lem was a taboo subject, but the reporter continued to face the mic towards me with an innocent look.

My opinion towards Lem’s withdrawal had yet to be made public. I’ve remained completely silent on it.

No one would want to hear that Lem was actually necessary to the group, they wanted to hear me say that I wanted him gone.

But there’s absolutely no chance of me ever saying anything like that.

I rounded up the interview and began heading to the Dungeon, but someone spoke out right before that.

「I believe Lem was an exceptional Black Sorcerer.」

It was the Frost Hero Bella.

The reporter was caught off guard for a moment, but he soon began speaking.

「Y-Yes, but you were Lem’s replacement, yes? Because the party felt like they needed more firepower, right? And it actually has in fact gone up since you joined.」

「If you really think that, then you must not be the very attentive type.」

「…」

The reporter froze up against Bella’s cold smile.

「If anything had improved after I joined the party, it’d only be our visual impact. I believe the party was more balanced overall before I joined. The only benefit I brought to the table was improving the flashiness of our combat. I don’t believe anything else has improved. I’m not so shameless as to give myself more credit than I deserve.」

I wasn’t even surprised at this point.

I already knew Bella was the type of person to say exactly how she felt.

She was a bit timid when she first joined us, but it didn’t take her long to get acclimated.

「L-Lem was an exceptional Black Sorcerer, you say? I’ve heard that his comrades found him to be an issue since he was a deadweight, though.」

「Are you using rumors as your basis for what kind of person Lem was? What were you even expecting from asking something like this to a newcomer like me? Oh, also, didn’t the No.1 ranked Storm Hero Aerial praise Lem as well? Have you not heard about that?」

「T-The No.1 ranked Adventurer said that? I haven’t heard anything like that…」

It was something he said to us personally. Of course, the public wouldn’t know.

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The reporter’s face grew red as he quickly turned the mic to Alba.

「You mentioned it in a previous interview, didn’t you, Alba? That you were the one that urged Lem to leave the party, and that it was the correct decision.」

「…Isn’t this an interview for the tenth stratum? What’s the point in talking about someone who isn’t even here anymore? Let’s get to work, already.」

Lark and Lily made surprised faces.

The usual Alba would have happily criticized Lem’s faults.

But for some reason, even he was chastising the reporter for mentioning such things.

Realizing that he wouldn’t get any desirable responses out of us, the reporter made a frustrated face for a while and then proceeded to the questions he originally planned to ask.

「A total of three people were defeated between the seventh and ninth stratum, but how do you think the tenth stratum will play out?」

「I’m sure many formidable unseen enemies will be waiting for us. But we will not lose. Our battles should be proof of that.」

After some more questions were made to the rest of the members, the interview concluded.

After the camera stopped rolling, I called out to the reporter.

「Y-Yes, what is it? Those questions weren’t my decision, the higher-ups wanted-」

「I don’t care. Just be more careful next time.」

As I directly gave him my warning while standing in front of him, the reporter trembled in fear.

If Bella didn’t pull on my sleeve, the reporter might have fallen into incontinence.

「…I know that you have a strong bond to your childhood friend, but you shouldn’t use your Magical Energy to threaten people.」

Even if someone might not be able to use magic, they are able to feel Magical Energy.

Just like how people are able to sense presences, they are able to sense the Magical Energy that unconsciously gets emitted from others.

Not many are able to sense it, but it is similar to bloodthirst.

If the Flame Hero were to purposely emit Magical Energy, the average person would get overcome with incomprehensible fear.

It’s much more inefficient than something like Lem’s Black Magic, and it’s rather weak against those who have the ability to cloak themselves in Magical Energy, so it doesn’t have much use in Dungeon Clears.

Also, it doesn’t show on the camera.

「I wasn’t threatening him, just warning him.」

「That’s just semantics.」

「…You’ve gotten pretty used to our party. I’m glad, as your leader.」

「I’m honored. Do you miss Lem?」

「Don’t tease me.」

「I’m just showing my concern for you.」

「That’s just semantics.」

Bella made a small laugh.

「We’ll be able to win with this party.」

「Yeah, I know.」

We headed towards the Demon King Castle.

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「Bella’s been doing all the work lately. I need to redeem myself.」

「This Dungeon really is tough. But I don’t want to do anything over after coming this far.」

「…I’ll cut down anything that shows up in our way, no matter what it is. I’m not letting myself get defeated anymore.」

The three of them were completely motivated.

「All right, let’s Clear the tenth stratum.」