CH 187.1

Since the first history of the game,  「Battle against giant monsters is really troublesome」 in every action game in which a player is pitted against a monster.

Though the battle against a giant-sized, building-like monster was the peak of fantasy, in reality, it was nothing more than an accumulation of simple jobs such as keep attacking particular points like there was no tomorrow, invoking a special gimmick at the correct timing, etc, etc.

Naturally, I did have some experience in that kind of battle, but it was nothing more than hailing spamming attacks on a walking giant dragon’s weak point while scoring critical hits once in a while. Even though it was only an endless repetition of simple attacks, due to the boss’ off-the-charts physical strength, it took a lot of time for me to finally defeat it. Not to mention that play was going around the fact that the boss would give a rare drop or rare materials…

「Did you hear it properly, Momokawa-kun?」

「I heard it properly, the size is just bigger than my expectation.」

I was an avid gamer after all. I enjoyed playing games appropriately, at least more than a normal person but less than an addict.

Thus, I could differentiate between game and reality. I knew just how dangerous the act of subjugating a giant monster in reality was.

Game was nothing more than a game after all. There wasn’t a monster in reality that could be defeated so easily as long as we did this or that.

「Souma-kun, do you think it’s possible to defeat Yamata no Orochi if every single one of us here works together?」

「Impossible. It isn’t the kind of opponent that we can defeat with a mere superior number.」

""

See~.

If our opponent was a large number of gomas, we could increase the quality of our war potential to mow them down, but the opponent was a giant monster that we had never fought before, thus trying to overwhelm it with mere numbers was a fool’s errand. It was a monster that could easily crush humans with slight movement.

Nevertheless, everyone in this place was a vocation holder. Defeating Yamata no Orochi should be possible with all of us working together. Let’s force everyone to grind their power. Useless NEETS should just die like Reina.

「I understand the situation, let’s put aside the boss subjugation for now.」

Either way, we had to start by gathering the information about Yamata no Orochi first, subjugating it would have to wait until later.

Rather than that, we had to decide upon several policies first.

「It’s just as you heard, we’ve to defeat a powerful boss called Yamata no Orochi to continue to the next area. That’s why everyone here has to work together. That’s why the next thing to do is plan the subjugation, step by step.」

As expected of Class Rep, she took the lead without me having to give the clue.

「First is setting the rule for cohabitation, the rule of forbidding love relationships has already been decided, but we still have many other rules to decide.」

It would take a lot of time to subjugate Yamata no Orochi, including the preparation time. Perhaps not everybody needed that, but my 『Shaman』 definitely needed a lot of preparation. I was different from the 『Hero』 who would awaken at the last moment and turn the tide of battle.

That’s why the biggest goal of this class meeting was to decide on the policy that would facilitate the cohabitation of 18 classmates from this point on.

「Well, I’ve already prepared a draft for tha――」

「Wait.」

The one who raised his voice was none other than Souma Yuuto.

「What’s the matter, Souma-kun?」

「I understand that everybody is going to cohabit for a long time after this, but there’s something that we’ve to decide no matter what… Or should I say that we’ve to judge it.」

「Are you talking about the matter with Ayase-san?」

「Yes. It includes that matter, but I have some other questions for you, Momokawa――」

What sharp eyes! His eyes were filled with an unshakeable sense of justice, as someone who used to do shady things, it hit the sore spot in my heart.

「――How many people have you killed until now?」

「Jealous of me, eh? Well, I’m sure that you haven’t killed anyone until now.」

I replied with a little hint of sarcasm. Still, was there a need for me to confess the number of my kills?

Souma-kun’s straightforwardness was troublesome at such a time. Now that he had calmed down, his sharp intuition caught the fact that I hadn’t only killed Reina, I had also killed other classmates. Well, I guess I had to tell the truth now.

Honestly speaking, if he really wanted to condemn me, he could use Reina’s murder case. But Souma-kun, who asked about my victim other than Reina, had a good grasp of my weak point.

Yeah, I already had a previous offence of murder even before Reina. But well, it wasn’t like the police were gonna capture me for that, there were no police in this dungeon after all.

Anyhow, how would everyone feel once they knew that there was a murderer living amongst them? If I were in their position, I wouldn’t want to live this close to that person. If we consider human sentiment, the normal punishment would be execution, even the lightest punishment would be something along the lines of banishment.

What kind of personality that person has or what kind of crime they were burdened with, honestly speaking, we should really start with whether such a person should be allowed to enter the community.

But this judgment was completely unfair to me. It was exactly why I didn’t try to mention this matter. I advanced the story with a preamble that everyone would be together but―― I guess Souma-kun had realized that he would lose the chance to mention Reina’s case once this meeting was over. At least, on the surface.

I half prayed for him to forget about Reina’s case till the middle of the meeting but… I guess it was in vain. Seeing that Souma-kun mentioned this matter clearly, there was no way for me to ignore this matter anymore. That’s why even though I failed to reach the ideal result,  I guess I had to settle for the second-best result.

Meaning, the first thing I had to do was…

「Calm down, Mei-chan. I’ll take over from this point onward.」

「… Uhm.」

…Stopping Mei-chan whose killing intent had flared from rampaging. The discussion until this point would be for naught if she suddenly jumped out and started killing Souma-kun’s harem. This class meeting had yet to reach the desired result.

「What’s the matter, Momokawa?」

「Before I answer your question, let me ask you, is it a crime to kill someone in this dungeon?」

「What?!」

「Sure, you can condemn me as a murderer. You can even report me to 110 right now with your cell phone. If patrol cars of the police can come to this place, I’ll obediently let them put a handcuff on me.」

「Hahaha, that’s impossible Momokawa.」

Though he said so with a dry smile on his face, everyone knew such a thing was impossible. I mean, Japan aside, this wasn’t even the earth, but the fantasy world of sword and magic.

「Until the police come to arrest me, murder is something irrelevant, right?」

I am Japanese through and through right? The crime of a Japanese should be judged according to the law of Japan, you’re the only one who thinks like that.

「That’s why your question is invalid. You’re free to report me to the police once we return to Japan though, Souma-kun.」

「Don’t screw with me, Momokawa. That’s not the reason for me to ask you that question.」

「Then, elaborate on your question, please.」

「I asked that since I won’t be able to work with you as long as you keep secret about Reina and other classmates that died at your hands.」

「So you’re telling me not to lie or keep a secret, are you, my boyfriend?」

「Your crime of murder has to be clear first before we can start to cohabit.」

Whoops, Souma-kun splendidly dodged my joke. Well, even if I were a girl, someone like Souma-kun would be the last person I wanted as my boyfriend. His stubborn nature was a literal minefield for everyone around him.

But, I do realize that Souma-kun’s opinion in this regard was correct.

I mean, this was also the chance for me to wash my hands and clear my name. Everybody commits small crimes, but murder is another matter.

「Fine, I will tell you the name of everyone who died in my hand, but on a condition.」

「Condition?」

「Right now, the crime confession in this class meeting shall not be questioned any further. In short, including murder.」

「DON’T JOKE WITH ME!」

「Do I look like I am joking, Souma-kun? Why would a criminal want to confess their crime in a situation where there’s no amnesty or reduction of penalty?」

「Are you trying to escape from your own crime? Do you even have a fragment of justice in your heart?」

「Humans don’t live with justice, they live because of their desire. Open your eyes and see the reality, Souma-kun.」

「THAT’S BULLSH*T!」

「That’s enough, Yuuto-kun, Momokawa-kun.」

「Thanks Class Rep, I did believe that you’ll step in to stop the situation from spiralling out of control.」

My gratitude was replied to with a sharp glare from Class Rep. I decided to leave the rest to Class Rep while acting dumb.

「Everyone has their own view in life. Yuuto-kun, you said it yourself that the crimes committed by everyone until now should be settled at once. Momokawa on the other hand gets zero merits even if he confesses all his crimes.」

In short, this was nothing more than trying to gain an advantage over me. Justice or whatever the reason, Class Rep did a really good job in understanding the situation.

「Anyway, everyone has to work together from now on. While it’s true that some amongst us have committed murder, in my honest opinion, we really cannot afford to lose anyone in this place.」