Golden Experience

“No! It’s not necessary!”

“Oh? You don’t have to be shy about it, though.”

“It’s fine. To be honest, there’s a part of me that wanted to single-handedly destroy a country or something, and then surprise everyone later. Well, I’ll try to do as much as I can on my own.”

She declined the suggestion to borrow Giant Corpses or Samurai Skulls for my share, but I understand Blanc’s perspective.

Trying as much as you can on your own, and if you’re able to accomplish something, only then will you be able to recognize your own worth.

That’s probably how it feels.

I remember growing up with a grandmother who was great, a mother who handled everything smoothly, and an older sister who could do everything from the beginning. When everyone around you is like that, it’s hard to have confidence in yourself.

And then, when I became old enough to compare myself with other families, I began to realize that I had nothing to lose except for my family, and I became a strangely proud child, although that’s not relevant now.

“Yeah. If you want to do that, I think it’s fine. Well, at least let me offer some advice.”

“That’s fine too… Oh, I’ll ask after all.”

On the other side, the subordinates of Blanc, the Laestrygones, are signaling towards us with intense eyes. They probably want us to listen.

“Well then, Shape is a country with many dwarves, or rather, almost only dwarves. NPC dwarves are generally stronger than NPC humans. Nobles, in particular, tend to be even stronger.”

“Oh, really? But players don’t see much difference between dwarves and humans, right? I mean, there was a slight difference at the start, I think.”

Certainly, choosing elves or dwarves requires additional experience points.

They may also have higher initial ability values, but that can be considered within the margin of error once they grow to a certain extent.

“But more than that, there’s a reason why NPCs are stronger just because they are dwarves.

The lifespans of elves and dwarves are set to be very long. So even if they look similar in age, there can be a difference of more than three times in actual age between humans and dwarves. Players who have been playing since the open beta have a big gap in experience points compared to those who started recently, right?

NPCs are the same; those who have lived longer have accumulated more experience points. That’s why dwarves are generally strong, and nobles who absorb the experience points of their subordinates have an even more pronounced tendency.”

Another point is that, while I’m not familiar with the details of dwarf specifications, if they have a path to becoming a Spirit Lord or Demon Lord like elves, it can be inferred that it’s easier to build towards strengthening oneself rather than increasing subordinates. In that case, even if they are nobles, it won’t be easy for them to earn experience points like humans, but on the other hand, it also means that they are not opponents to be underestimated just because they are not nobles.

Anyway, what I want to emphasize is that it’s not certain that they will be easily defeated like in the cases of Erntal and Altriva. It’s better to assume that everyone is a reasonably skilled player.

After conveying such advice, I felt grateful gazes from Azalea and others. While I always think it’s a tough job, I also start to worry if I’m causing similar worries to Sugaru and Deas.

No, I should be fine.

“I understand. I see. If all enemies are on par with players, it might be a bit uncertain with my current strength alone. Hmm, but Burgundy has the defense of Erntal, so it should be alright.”

“If you’re okay with it, how about I lend you Ubel for the defense of Erntal instead? Ubel is a recently created Amphisbaena, well, a two-headed dragon. But it should be quite useful as a substitute for your Skeletal Ghidorah.”

“Really? That would be a relief! But, that means Burgundy, who’s the main force of my area will be leaving my territory, and instead, Rare-chan’s, um, Ubel? will be entering, right? If that happens, my forces will probably not be recognized for the dungeon, lowering the difficulty level there a lot, and there will be a suspicious phenomenon of a monster being present even though the difficulty has significantly decreased.”

“…Now that you mention it, that’s true. I’m an idiot.”

I had planned to adjust forces with Lyra and Blanc if necessary, but depending on the situation, that might not be possible. Blanc’s reasons are valid.

“Well, let’s attack some nearby towns and think about it later! The strategy will be the same as before, sending Giant Corpses to crush them. If it seems impossible at that point, just run away!”

It’s a safer plan than I had thought. If she were to suggest relying on Azalea and others if this doesn’t work, I would have stopped her, but this should be fine. Over there, Azalea and the others seem to be heaving a sigh of relief.

“When that happens, it’ll probably be frustrating, but I guess it’s still too early for me. At that time, I’ll quietly increase my forces and move on to the next town.”

“Go to the next town?”n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Well, no, it’s nothing. But increasing allies is what I truly want. I might need a little help from Rare-chan, like creating a bunch of Zombie Dragons, for example.”

If they don’t mind the Philosopher’s Stone and experience points, it’s not impossible for Newts and others to create Dragon Zombie-type monsters. Considering the performance of a Skeletal Hydra, Skeletal Ghidorah, Amphisbaena, and Gargouille, creating just one would be a considerable help.

Of course, it wouldn’t be enough to single-handedly destroy a country, but when dealing with a nation, it doesn’t mean confronting all of their forces at once. By steadily conquering small towns and gradually diminishing the opponent’s resources, it would become a fair match. Meeting most of Hiers’ forces in La Colinne town or facing most of the knight order in the capital of Portree was just a rare case, after all. That was just me.

“…”

For Blanc, who can fly and summon a large force to the scene, this elusive ability is her greatest strength. Even if a certain town is intensively defended, it’s just a matter of attacking other towns at that time. If this cycle repeats, the opponent won’t be able to easily concentrate their forces.

Especially in this world, distance becomes a surprisingly significant barrier. By the time the higher-ups receive information about an attack on a certain town, it might even be impossible to assault a town on the opposite side of that country.

Preparing undead underlings in each town as a precaution would make things smoother.

While I mentioned this as a casual chat, Blanc, who heard it, was staring with her mouth wide open.

“When I heard Lyra-san talk about it, I thought the same thing. Where do you learn that kind of stuff? Do schools these days teach stuff like that?”

“No, I mean, I learned, but it’s not like I deliberately received education in that.”

If you call it “schools these days”, it sounds a bit troubling. Considering the way she talks, Blanc doesn’t seem far from me in age. It’s like she hasn’t been to school for a long time, but if Blanc has no recollection, then neither do I.

“Ah, well, then it might be your family’s educational policy or something. What kind of family are you from?”

Now that I can’t make excuses about, because I’m aware that our family is uncommon.

“Well, anyway, if it was helpful, then that’s good.”

“It was super helpful! I thought you were reading a book like “overthrowing a nation for dummies”, or “for monkeys”, or something like that!”

I see, that might not be impossible.

If there’s room, it might be worth strengthening Monkichi and his team in that direction.

Leaving Shape to Blanc, Hiers and Aural are already in the hands of Lyra and mine. Wells and Portree are just a matter of time.

And if we can obtain information about the Mythical Beast King, Pearl has no purpose. The same goes even if that information is completely unattainable.

Originally, Monkichi and the others seem to be from Pearl, so in a sense, they can be said to be adorning their hometown. It’s the same with Hakuma and the wolves.

Yesterday’s enemy is today’s friend, so I hope these wolves will play an active role. In terms of going back to their hometown, Hakuma is their senior. They should be able to help us in many ways.

“It feels like various things happened due to various reasons, and now it’s like going back one by one and nullifying them in order. It’s like karma, well, though the retribution is often too great for the karma.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Just talking to myself. Anyway, good luck with the Shape attack.”