Evan D. Sherden, Preparing for the Next Scenario (6)

“Welcome aboard the Dungeon Knights of Astray. I am Shine, one of the two Vice-Commanders.”

Shine was bragging a lot in front of the seven new members. He was a handsome guy known for his cold impression as long as he didn’t make mistakes in front of Evan. He lived up to his nickname, the Silent Knight.

“You are Vice-Commander…?”

“Refer to me as Mr. Vice-Commander.”

“No, no way…”

Meanwhile, Name doubted the fact that Shine, whose impression wasn’t much, was the Vice-Commander. Although the main ground where Name’s party participated in activities was Pellati, they were aware of the people whom they should be cautious against since they were assuming that one day they would come to Sherden.

And the alert they had on Shine was the lowest among all. Arisha Von Pellati was the daughter of the Pellati family, and as she was the first fiancée of Evan, her importance was great regardless of her strength. Belois was an excellent sorceress who cast large-scale magic, which attracted more attention than Evan’s magic, so she was one of the people whom they had to take the most precaution against. Raihan Drukas single-handedly blocked endless attacks from numerous Demons, including the Four Heavenly Kings, so he was someone who should be avoided instead of fought.

The person who could disarm large groups of monsters at once, the crowned princess of the Silk Line, was Serena L. Silkline, so she was considered to be as dangerous as Belois. And although the identity of the High-elf named Mirole, who recently came to Sherden, was unknown, rumors said she was as strong as Evan, so she was to be under surveillance.

“Anastasia L. Leonine doesn’t possess any abilities, but she joined the dungeon knighthood by appointment from the duke, and Shine was considered to be a lucky scoundrel who benefitted the most from the political arrangement between Leonine and Sherden since he is the fiancée of Anastasia L. Leonine.”

“Hey! Bring that scoundrel informant over to me! Bring him over here right now! My Asha being appointed by above? And I’m a scoundrel? Your intel explicitly looks down on us both! Bring that little rat right here, right now!”

“Shine, you just ruined the decent atmosphere in just one minute. You looked cool and awesome until now.”

Evan sighed and grumbled at Shine, who was shaking Name after grabbing him by the collar. Anastasia, who stood next to Evan, nodded with her regretful look.

“You looked cool so far.”

“I mean the intel contained detailed information on the Demon tribe and others, but not on us!”

“Calm down. It can’t be helped since it’s from an outsider. Princess Anastasia is seen as an inferior version of Serena, and your impact is far behind Belois’ magic when you look at the scale, Shine.”

“I’m the inferior version …”

“I’m far behind…”

Evan unintentionally stabbed a dagger named truth into Anastasia’s and Shine’s hearts. Anastasia focused on activities within the knighthood ever since she came to Sherden. The power of Druid controlled nature and empowered allies, so it was hard to get the spotlight. Moreover, Shine had absurd combat abilities in killing all monsters with his dual daggers. With his job as a thief, his movements were sneaky, so it was hard to be seen by the others. Especially when he was in a battle, Evan and Belois were with him, so his achievements were left unnoticed.

“Is it hard for you to accept the fact that he is Vice-Commander, Name?”

“I’ll accept it if it’s your command, but honestly, following commands from someone who is weak sounds nauseating for me.”

Name, who was still not familiar with calling others respectfully, gave an honest reply, and he shook off Shine’s hand that was holding his collar. Shine was shocked by the fact that he was left unnoticed, so he easily let Name go. In Shine’s void eyes, as he looked at Evan, there was a small mist that formed.

“Master…”

“No, Shine. You are being a jerk right now, so don’t cry.”

“Shine’s a good boy. You aren’t bad. The world is to be blamed for not recognizing Shine’s true value.”

Anastasia hugged and consoled Shine, who was deeply shocked. Name shook his head as if his doubts were true when he saw Shine consoled by Anastasia and her huge breasts.

“I guess the intel was rather accurate.”

“How is it that all women here have big breasts? It looks like everyone has huge breasts except one.”

“Promise me that you won’t mention who that person is. Unless you want to get killed.”

“Hiiiik!?”

That ‘one person’ was feeling very uncomfortable since Lin and Lan’s breast grew much bigger than hers when they reached thirteen years old! Delicate treatment was needed, like handling a bomb! Evan barely saved the life of the poor god race child.

“If you have a problem with it, you may check Shine’s abilities for yourself. I didn’t appoint a weak person as Vice-Commander.”

“Is that true?”

“Yup. And if you win against him, you don’t need to follow his orders.”

Name’s eyes sparkled. Anyways, this guy was taking the word ‘command’ so sensitively after he was saved from being brainwashed. So, forcing him to follow orders would result in a reverse effect. Proving it to him with a show of skill was the best method at times like this.

“Then, if I beat this guy, no, I mean, that person.”

“The limit of your freedom grows quite wider.”

“Great!”

Name was rejoicing. And Shine, who regained his posture by that time, separated himself from Anastasia, who didn’t want to let him go.

“Great. Let’s go to the underground training ground.”

“Bah, acting all tough won’t work.”

Name followed Shine confidently. But Shine, who was a few steps ahead, suddenly looked back and asked a question as he tilted his head.

“Why aren’t you guys coming?”

“Because we trust our leader!”

“Our trusted Name won’t lose to someone like you! We’ll wait here!”

It had been said repeatedly, but Name’s credibility in his party was the highest among all. Especially all three girls who were part of the party seemed to be fond of Name as a member of the opposite sex. Then the other three boys…well, this was how the world goes. Evan decided to call them Junior 1,2, and 3.

“No, it’s not like that.”

Shine showed the most provocative face to Name’s party members, who seemed to be misunderstanding something.

“I was asking all of you to come at me at once.”

“Huh?”

“Don’t you dare look down on us! We are the best party that completed the 70th floor of the dungeon!”

“Leader, crush him to pieces!”

Name’s party members were easily pissed off. Of course, they were much calmer than when they were brainwashed, but as a result, they were showing extremely impulsive and sentimental tendencies.

“Why, you guys have nothing to lose, right? You don’t want to follow my orders, then you can just jump on me all at once. What if your so-called leader gets defeated?”

“That won’t happen!”

“In any case?”

“No, never….”

Their spirits were shaken. It came to their mind that Shine didn’t become Astray’s Vice-Commander with pure luck, but their realization was too late. And at that moment, Name spoke.

“Let him do what he wants. Since when did we fight for honor? We fought to survive. And we move as one. All we need is to find our freedom regardless of our method.”

“Yeah, that’s right!”

“Our leader won’t lose to you! But we move together as one!”

“Together…Name and I are one…!”

What a nice party. It seemed like there was one pervert among them, though. Evan smiled happily while looking at Name’s party members, who prepared for battle at Name’s command. These guys could become stronger as long as they cared and loved for each other.

“Arggggh!”

“…Well, I think they still have a long way to go, though.”

The battle took place in the underground training area, and Name, who wore all his equipment, got blasted away into the wall by Shine’s punch when he was about to use his skill.

“What, huh…argh!”

“Yiiiiiek!”

“Cough!”

“Sa-save…grgh!”

Shine kicked the rest of the party members one by one and stacked them up next to where Name was lying down. They couldn’t understand what they just saw. There was no mercy for women. Shine was the guy who could drop kick even a weak girl for the sake of Evan’s safety. Considering what happened today, perhaps he could do that for himself, too.

“Whew, I’m relieved.”

Shine stacked the seven new members like a tower and happily brushed off his hands.

“That was an immature duel, Shine.”

“I was able to settle down all my emotions with this, so shouldn’t you be praising me for handling things like a man?”

Shine sneered and approached the human tower he made just to squat down in front of Name, who was struggling at the bottom of the tower.

“I believe now you understand, right? Address me as Vice-Commander from now on.”

“Vi…vice-commander.”

“Great. The reason how I became Vice-Commander is that Master has personally appointed me to this position. Engrave into your hearts that our master’s decision is never wrong. Ah, and I hope we get along…ouch!”

At that moment, Evan ran and hit Shine’s head from behind.

“You brat, don’t try to brainwash them when they just recovered from it!”

“I just told them the truth!”

“Just let them see for themselves for now.”

“Are you saying I can give them a beating often?”

Well, that wasn’t his intention, but he couldn’t completely deny it either. Evan sighed and turned back. He saw the Junior group running into the training ground after completing an outside mission.

“Woah, the real villains are here!”

“Will we be playing with them too from now on, Commander?”

“Did you scold them first? Are they all right since they’ve been scolded?”

The junior group members surrounded Evan with a glimmer in their eyes as they found Name’s party. Evan was worried about what went wrong with their education.

“…Perhaps you guys have to learn from Name what it looks like to behave like an adult.”

“Are they, perhaps…”

Name, who barely managed to retrieve his members, grumbled as his eyes widened. Evan replied with a smile.

“Yup, that’s true. The Junior group consisted of only the god race’s children. You guys will be able to get close with each other soon.”

Excluding Belois and Shine, the Senior group members weren’t god race, and the same goes for Elizabeth and Eir, who were in the beginner group. But only the Junior group consisted of solely the children of the god race, and their ages were somewhat similar in range to Name’s party. Although Evan adopted them at a young age, he thought they were the most suitable people who could understand and accept Name’s party.

“You guys will be working together in terms of party-sized activities, but in joint training, everyone will often participate during weekends. You will have a lot to talk about.”

“…”

Name looked at the god race’s children with perplexity, met with happy faces without the slightest hint of worry. Were they really the same race as him? But he started to accept the fact instinctively that they were the god race, like how he met with his members for the first time. How were they laughing like that? What made them smile? He wanted to hear that. Getting answers would relieve the hatred and the burden in his heart.

“Anyways, Full Heal!”

“Everyone, get better!”

It was at that moment. Lin and Lan, who were temporarily excluded from the Louise party as the current scenario ended, healed Name’s party in the blink of an eye.

“We now have seven more allies!”

“Perhaps we may defeat Commander Oppa today!”

“Oh, that’s right! They are part of our guild now!”

A sudden tension was being built up out of nowhere. Name and his party members didn’t seem to understand what was going on, so they tilted their heads. The Senior group members, who appeared in the training ground, and even Elizabeth and Eir, who were training in the second training grounds, were all bewildered.

“Then everyone, get ready! The person who defeats the Commander can do whatever they want to the Commander for the day!”

“Hey, who came up with that rule!?”

“Me too; Liz wants to join too! If I defeat Oppa, I will bring him to the wedding hall!”

“Then, I’ll ask Evan and Liz Eonni to play with me in the Ancient Forest!”

The members from the beginner’s group were the ones who were showing the most interest. This was because Evan wasn’t able to spend time with them since he was occupied with the scenario, but in Evan’s defense, he let them have their sparring time with him during the training period. Now it seemed like that wasn’t enough for them.

“You guys, get ready, too.”

Shine equipped his daggers, which he didn’t even use when defeating Name’s party, and gave them the order.

“It’s time for our daily joint training.”

“Joint…joint training?”

“Yup. It’s training where we do our best to defeat Master. It’s called the Great Rough and Tumble.”

“What kind of training is that!?”

The time couldn’t be extended any longer. Everyone else had finished their preparation for the battle!

“After a few more times.”

Shine spoke in a tensed tone.

“You won’t fear the Demon King anymore.”

That sentence being the last, Shine started charging towards Evan. And all the others followed him as they took Shine’s action as the signal for engagement! Even Belois and Mirole cast magic and pulled her bow, respectively, and they just looked marvelous, but putting them aside…Name charged with his weapons! His party members followed him as well!

“Kiiiiiiiiiiill himmmmmmmm!”

“Wait a moment! Somebody is seriously trying to kill me here!”

It would take a lot of time for Name’s party to completely get used to Astray, but Evan thought that their first step was quite successful. Of course, the Great Rough and Tumble winner was Evan, as always.