～ Part 2 ～
“I will go home.”
It was Kensaki Megumi (Dullahan). A kendo girl and the Oni of the Public Morals Committee. She was a headless female knight, the head which was put on the table spoke clearly.
“I am following the directions of Ryuzaki because he made a speech that he will return to the former world. When I wondered if my life in the former world was good or not, well, to be honest, I was dissatisfied…. Still, it’s a lot better than spending time lazily in this unknown world.”
And while raising her head 『It’s inconvenient!』, she shouted.
Kensaki’s opinion was probably almost the same as that of many of her cla.s.smates. It had already been more than three weeks since they became non-humans. Though they had quickly gotten used to their bodies, it wasn’t very comfortable to live your life cooped up inside the dungeon. Will we have to continue living this way forever? There was always that kind of thoughts.
“Me too, I can’t even take care of my nails.”
Harui also stood up complaining.
“Any other guy who wants to go home?”
When asked by Ryuzaki, there were hands raised up here and there in the cla.s.s. Among them was Sak.u.ma. She also seemed to be frustrated because she could not touch her favorite books ever since coming to this world. Rin and Akira could not raise their hands but a.s.serted themself in their own way, Kyousuke followed suit as well.
In line with Ryuzaki’s count, the blood characters drawn by Akai also changed. 『Whichever is fine』 was 8, 『I want to go home』 was 23. Three people were absent, and five people remained even if you excluded Ryuzaki who didn’t raise his hand.
“…Kuremori and everyone, you don’t want to go home?”
Ryuzaki asked Kuremori (Gremlin) who didn’t raise his hand at all.
“…I can’t say for sure. It’s on hold.”
Other students nodded one after another.
“M–me too…. It may be a little unpleasant if this power is lost…”
Hanazono (Alraune) who was in charge of the home garden murmured in a small voice. Ryuzaki was silent for a moment but only briefly answered 『Is that so』.
“We can not decide this by majority vote. If there is someone who does not want to return, I want to respect that opinion. However…”
Then Ryuzaki looked around the cla.s.s.
“However, it’s now the time for the cla.s.s to come together and set a goal. I think that we should leave this dungeon first. I believe there is no one among us who would want to live here forever.”
To Ryuzaki’s words, the cla.s.s started making noises again. His opinion was like this.
The reddish wasteland spreading outside the labyrinth was too harsh as a habitat. Whether they were returning to the former world or living in this world, they should move to a better location. For that, they would first go east and come in contact with the people of Selena’s country.
The larvae of wilderness worms had also been confirmed on the 11th underground floor. It was uncertain when this dungeon itself would collapse due to attacks of different type of monsters such as worms.
“So, it’s about the way to cross this wasteland as safe as possible…. Kuremori.”
“…Ou.”
Kuremori who was sitting in a corner of the dining room stood up and went to the front. Holding a large paper in his hand, Kuremori gave it to Sak.u.ma. Sak.u.ma then used magic to spread the paper and set it up in the air.
It looked like a drawing of som
e kind of big s.h.i.+p.
Even though the surrounding voices became big, Kyousuke had already known from consulting with Ryuzaki.
“Kuremori has suggested to repair the decaying heavy cruiser in the wasteland and turn it into a land-wars.h.i.+p. As of yesterday, the goods and materials that the exploration teams have been tasked to find are mostly for that purpose. Well, there are still various problems, but in the end Kuremori concluded that it’s 『not technically impossible』. Currently Gofunkawahara is negotiating with the boss of the goblins who are living in that heavy cruiser.”
The gloomy Kuremori proudly sticked out his chest a little.
Ryuzaki knew that Kyousuke had been playing social games that personified battles.h.i.+ps while he was still a human. So he asked for help with drawing up the doc.u.ments, but in the end, Kyousuke didn’t know the differences between a heavy cruiser and a light cruiser. So in order to pa.s.s the problem to someone else, he recommended Kogane who was being the excluded for the job.
Even Ryuzaki was worried whether to call Kogane or not, but Kyousuke had recommended after all so he ended up becoming the underwriter himself.
The unexpected proposal to renovate the heavy cruiser to a land-wars.h.i.+p naturally caused a ripple in the cla.s.s. However with the racial ability of Kuremori the Gremlin, it was possible to accomplish if they could secure the necessary materials. Kuremori’s reliability was high as he had previously revived the water facility of the labyrinth.
“Also, there’s a home garden properly set up on the deck. Although it will become shared rooms, we should be able to allocate private rooms. Well, I think that the living environment will be better than now.”
“But, Ryuzaki…”
Folding her arms, Kensaki gave a difficult voice.
“Is that land-wars.h.i.+p going to Selena’s country? They will certainly be wary of it.”
“That is included in the next agenda.”
Ryuzaki smiled bitterly and returned the drawing of the land-wars.h.i.+p to Kuremori. Kuremori then rolled up the drawing and unsteadily returned to his seat.
The atmosphere of the cla.s.s was by no mean bad. Probably it was the impact of the land-wars.h.i.+p presented by Ryuzaki. With that, the «future» that had been fuzzy until now became noticeably more definite. Ryuzaki had been unsure at the time when he decided to keep the information about the wars.h.i.+p a secret, but then it seemed like a good decision to publish it at this meeting.
Finally, the next agenda was on the treatment of Selena. With all the students firmly watching Ryuzaki, the cla.s.s meeting s.h.i.+fted to the next topic.
Kogane eventually didn’t partic.i.p.ate in the cla.s.s meeting. Well, the reason was simply «it’s hard to stay». Although Ryuzaki told him to partic.i.p.ate without minding it, Kogane just couldn’t bring up that kind of courage. As a result, he was then plagued with boredom and was hanging around the base.
Kogane was glad for the new job that Ryuzaki had left him. Even after about a month, things like his favorite knowledge had hardly rusted, so Kogane had continued to write down all he knew about cruisers and battles.h.i.+ps on the papers prepared by Ryuzaki all day.
However, he still couldn’t feel like showing his face in the cla.s.s meeting.
As Kogane walked around the corridors, he found a girl who was wandering the corridors in boredom just like him.
“Ah…”
“Oh…?”
When the girl turned around, she smiled toward Kogane.
“h.e.l.lo, Kogane-san. You’re not attending the meeting?”
“Ah, umm…. Yeah.”
Kogane scratched his head and looked away awkwardly.
It was Selena. The transfer student. He was thankful that she called out, but the boy students such as Kinogasa (Matango) struck the nail on the head with a warning 『Keep away』. [Notes] Although there was no need to worry about it since they were in the meeting at the moment, Kogane who had completely reverted to his bullied mentality couldn’t think of that idea and was as expected unable to calm down.
“Because I am hated…”
“Ahh, I heard. You seem to have really done it.”
Selena put her hands on her hips and nodded ∗un un∗. Kogane looked down. What, did someone tell her about it?
“I know only half the story since it’s through hearsay. But, yeah. That’s no good, you know? Doing such a thing.”
“How far have you heard…?”
“Up to to the part where you tried to sell out k.u.mosaki-san and Was.h.i.+o-san in order to save yourself…”
Isn’t that the whole story then? Kogane felt like running away more and more.
“…You must despise me, don’t you?”
∗Bosori∗ he muttered. Why did I say such a thing? Kogane was increasingly disgusted with himself. Whether it is affirmed or denied, only unpleasant feelings would remain.
But Selena put a hand on her chin and said, tilting her head.
“Since you’re aware that you did something bad enough to be despised, have you properly apologized?”
“…Eh?”
“Kinogasa-san was saying. That guy never apologizes for what he did.”
Kogane raised his face at once. Apology. That’s right. I didn’t do it.
“If you do bad things, you need to reflect on it and apologize. That much is obvious. I am a human, Kogane-san is an elf while everyone else are dragon-kin or skeleton, but still words are coming through so there is no different at all, is there?”
“Y–yeah…”
“Well, even if you apologize, there are still things that can not be recovered…”
Selena suddenly lost the light in her eyes and looked up at the ceiling while leaning against the wall. She was a girl whose emotional changes were extreme.
He certainly hadn’t apologized. Not to anyone in the cla.s.s. Because Ryuzaki group talked to him with an unchanging att.i.tude, he didn’t notice it. And yet, expecting that everyone would treat him as usual was too much of a good story.
But, even if I apologize, will I really be forgiven?
If they won’t forgive me, what should I do next?
What goes around comes around. You reap what you sow. What’s done is done, you can’t get it back.
The fear of not being forgiven even if he apologized. Kogane knew it for the first time.
“…What if they won’t forgive me?”
“Eh, that’s right…. Wh–what should we do…”
Selena’s line of sight wandered. Well, you don’t know. Of course.
However, with the natural choice of 『apologizing』, Kogane’s feelings cleared up a little. First of all, Was.h.i.+o ——— is scary, so should I apologize to Ryuzaki and Kyousuke group. But, I am scared of Akira when apologizing to Kyousuke. Also, I have to lower my head to Sak.u.ma, k.u.mosaki, Rin and the others as well.
Can I really apologize?
It was when Kogane thought so.
“Ahh.”
Selena raised a small voice.
Wondering what’s wrong, he turned his light of sight and ahead of him, Kogane saw an unfamiliar person.
That’s right, it was an unfamiliar face that he had never seen before. When that person noticed Kogane group, he slowly came closer. He was a tall man who dressed in black armor. Since he wasn’t wearing a helmet, only his face was visible, but he had dark skin and a well featured face. And on the back, red wings like burning blood were growing.
Red wings.
When he saw it, Kogane finally realized that the man was a foreign enemy.
“Hou. Elf … no, high elf…”
While looking at Kogane and Selena alternately, the man grinned ∗niyari∗.
The idea of talking first floated into Kogane’s head. There was a mean of communication with the opponent. But the man in front of him was obviously not a human, unlike Selena. He didn’t know the man’s purpose for being here. And, according to what he heard, it was probably this man with the red wings who destroyed Selena’s troops.
However ignoring Kogane’s confusion, the man continued.
“It seems quite an interesting race has been drawn out.”
“Eh…”
“Look like I can have some expectations in this case.”
“Wh–what are you saying…”
“But for now, let’s put you to sleep.”
The man ——— That is, «Red Winged Devil», just as he said, grabbed hold of Kogane’s head and vigorously threw him into the wall.
