Yes, someone is most definitely tailing us. We should not have come here at this time of the day. If I knew that something like that was going to happen, I would have opted for masters proposal to go back home for the day and come here tomorrow morning, when the probability of something like that happening would have been much smaller.
Maybe it is not what you think it is? Maybe they are just random people who are following in the same direction as us?
I knew that this sounded like a huge stretch, but it is not like something like that could not have happened at all. This is the Labyrinth after all, a place where there is likely only one path that leads to the Boss Room on the entire floor, so it would stand to reason that the people who wanted to reach the Boss Room and challenge the floor Boss would bump into other Parties on their way there from time to time.
Initially I thought that this might be the case as well, but now I am certain that it is definitely not it, because whoever these people are, they have been following us for a long time ever since we left the starting room. I can tell because I have been sensing the same kind of smell dragging itself behind us. A foul smell, I might add.
Yeah, if Roxanne is going to put it like that, then I guess it cannot be just an ordonary coincidence, huh?
Any idea who these guys might be, Sherry?
I asked, but the answer to that question was already formulating itself in my mind without the need for Roxanne or Sherry to be saying anything, but at the very least I want to know what they think about it as well to see if my own guess was correct or not.
If they were watching us ever since we left the starting room without revealing their identities and always staying on our backs, then I would say that we are definitely dealing with Bandits or Thieves here.
Yes, I think so too as well. If they were regular Adventurers or Explorers whose goal is to find the entrance to the Boss Room, they had more than one occasion to go past us and continue marching on ahead, but since they did not do that, then there can only be one answer. They are staying behind us on purpose, an that is only something that a fould bunch of outlaws would do.
They might not be the Bandits, you know? They might be
With all due respect master, but Miss Roxanne is right. If these people were Adventurers or Explorers, they would have gone past us a long time ago. As things are standing right now, we have pretty much absolute certainty that they are Bandits, and we have every right, and even duty, to protect ourselves from them.
Sherry has cut into what I was saying before I even got the chance to finish my sentence. She is the most intellectual and reasonable member of our group, but was it really reasonable and rational to be looking at this matter the way she was looking at it now? Well, I am going to put my trust in her and Roxanne on this one, but since I am the one who is ultimately going to make the final call, then I will allow myself to slightly alter our plan of attack here.
All right, here is what we are going to do then: we are going to turn right at the crossroads. If they are still going to be following us, we are going to turn right back up and face them head, hitting them as hard as we can before they will be able to realize what is happening. Or instead of all three of us attacking them first and doing that head on, we might hide in the shadows and attack them from the sides while one of us is going to be at the front, acting as a decoy to draw attention away from the other two at the sides.
Understood!
Got it, master!
There was no dissenting opinions, and all three of us agreed on that particular course of action pretty easily. But the only question that remains now is: are we ready to do this? Because, if I am to be completely honest, I still had my fair share of reservations about this, but you know how it is: a mans gotta do what a mans gotta do when it counts the most, right?
And so I brandished Durandal. With how powerful my trusty Holy Sword is, once I hit the opponents with it they are definitely going to get scared and confused about why they are all getting decimated with just a hit or two, and it is going to be a huge aid for us in this upcoming battle. I then took a couple of deep breaths, but surprisingly enough, I noticed that I was not as nervous as I supposed that I was going to get. In fact, I was feeling strangely calm about this whole thing that we were about to do.
It is going to be okay, Michio, everything is going to be fine. You have already decided that you are going to do this thing, and Roxanne and Sherry are on board with it as well, so the time for hesitation is long since past. You just have to grit your teeth and do this thing now!