CH 156

The goblins here on the ninth floor aren’t as strong as superior species, but some of them are even stronger than regular goblins with jobs. And they come in groups.

That’s why knights come here from time to time to practice fighting against humanoids. Apparently this is one of those days.

“So what do we do at times like these?”

“Hold on. I know one of them, so I’ll go have a talk.”

When the fighting is just about done, Fred goes and talks to the person that seems to be responsible for the knights.

The knights in the vanguard are all paying attention to the front, but the ones in the back are peeking over here.

“Did you talk to them?”

“Yes…”

It looks like Fred is having trouble telling us their conditions.

He looks at the knights with bitterness in his eyes, but then musters up his courage and speaks directly to me.

“They say they want the girls to be positioned on the vanguard of this party.”

He says loudly, and they cheer.

Are you sure you want to be that loud? You’re going to attract goblins.

Edel looks at Fred like he can’t believe what he’s saying, and Gown shakes his head and sighs.

But Fred is being very serious.

I look at the knights again, and see them posing, nodding silently, and looking over here with anticipation in their eyes.

“I know what you’re thinking, I really do, but they want to look cool in front of cute girls. I don’t think they’re going to start making moves on them or anything, so please.”

Why are you so eager to please them? I’m starting to think they know something you don’t want anyone to know.

“It’s fine, Sora. Just stay back for now. I don’t mind.”

I don’t know if it’s because they heard Rurika or what, but they start cheering again.

“Master, watching from the back is a kind of training too.”

Says Sera, but it’s not like anyone in our party uses a shield like them or anything. Or are you just telling me to watch and learn?

I think about it, and in the end, agree to their demands.

We could just follow a different path and look for the staircase, but watching how other people fight might really be nice for me.

Hikari and the others might also be more tired than they think. They took breaks and rested, but that doesn’t change the fact that they came here from the first floor. And if they want to conquer this floor on their own, they can always come back another day.

Fred runs over there to tell them, and people shake his hand. They also start hitting him.

I get what’s going on. It’s like when a baseball player hits a game-winning hit or a home run, and all the other players start celebrating like that.

It’s settled then, and everyone takes their places. The knights are in front of us, and they advance while yelling to fire themselves up.

Again, won’t yelling like that attract monsters? Are these people all right?

Are they doing it on purpose because they’re here to train? I hope they aren’t just doing it because they want to look cool.

As for us, Sera, Rurika, and Hikari are in front, with me, Chris, and Mia behind. And behind us are the three guys, with half the knights positioned further back.

To put it bluntly, the knights fight like meatheads, using shields and pressing forward with raw power.

They hold up their shields and run towards the enemy, push against them to make them fall back, and finish them when they lose their footing.

Once the enemy formation is broken and they have a clear path to the enemy mage, lightly equipped knights not holding shields charge forward quickly and cut through the enemy.

It’s a pretty plain way of fighting, but it’s reliable. The knights standing back quickly retrieve the magic stones from the fallen enemies.

I guess they fight this way because they don’t have anyone who can attack from a long range.

And apparently they hunt down every enemy they find, because the magic stones they collect are distributed among everyone evenly as extra income.

“Is this your first time seeing this, Sora?”

“Yes. I’ve never walked along with knights before. You have, right Mia?”

“Yes. I have accompanied them on hunts a few times. Although they weren’t such cheerful hunts like this…”

It was back when she was a saint. I guess it was different for her when she was just a healer. And I’m assuming most knights from the church are more serious than this, and carry out their duties silently.

“Chris, I know it’s kind of late to be asking this, but there really aren’t that many adventurers that can use holy magic, are there?”

“I can’t say I have seen many. But I think that means there aren’t a lot of them, not that they don’t exist.

I have heard that there are S ranked adventurers that can use holy magic. Or I guess it’s more like the higher ranking adventurers are, the more likely they are to have mages in their parties.”

It’s true that there are way more adventurers using swords than adventurers using magic. When I was an adventurer, I think less that twenty percent of adventurers could use magic.

That must make our party stand out, because half of us use magic. I guess I should have thought of that before. There are bad rumors running around the guild already, and we’ve also gotten into some trouble with the biggest clan in this city.

And I guess adding two more girls to our party is just making them resent us more, especially since they aren’t even slaves.

We keep walking as I talk with Mia and Chris, and for some reason, their captain asks me to show them how we fight. And just as I’m about to turn the conversation over to Fred, the captain says he’s talking about me specifically.

He smiles awkwardly, and says some of the knights asked that because they’re jealous of me for having fun talking with the girls while they’re trying to look cool.

If he’s self-aware enough to feel awkward about it, he really should just say no to them. Apparently they just couldn’t take it anymore and asked him this, kind of as a way to vent.

I’d rather not hear what’s going on over there so bluntly, but…

Mia is against this, because she says it’s too dangerous for me, but she reluctantly stands down because if I really am in danger, the knights will step in to protect me and show how great they are. And because I ask her.

I might as well put on a little show, in a way that leaves no room for misunderstandings. And despite the stupid reason, I don’t feel any malice from them.

It’s like I can’t even really hate them, because they’re looking at me with nothing but pure envy.

I step away from our party and advance alone, and the knights step to the sides to open up a path for me.

“Just know that the way I fight won’t leave you any magic stones.”

They look at me like they have no idea what I’m talking about, and their captain nods.

All right then. I’ll let loose a bit.