Live Dungeon!

Weiss, the Clan Leader of Scarlet Devil Squad, was not that good at communication. He could read monsters’ movements just fine, but people’s hearts, not so much. He was fearful of things he did not understand — which was why he was bad at talking to people.

In fact, his lack of sociability would make one not believe that he was the Leader of his very own Clan. He even acted the same while in the Clan House as he would elsewhere; he was almost always silent. He was perceived by onlookers as a cool guy, but he was just not good at talking.

“……”

Regardless, the time was near for Weiss to change himself. His team had been wiped out by the Mount Golem so many times that he had lost count. This time, too, he and his four other team members were booted out of the Guild’s Black Gate, all defaulted to flaxen clothes. That in itself was fine, since they had also gone through this so many times with the Fire Dragon. The issue, however, was the mood of the party.

When they were attempting the Fire Dragon, things had never gone bad whenever they were annihilated. The four participating members would simply offer their input, and Weiss would nod along and even join in on the discussion, and then they would figure things out through various trial and error.

But now, no conversation took place among them. Alma was the only one to speak — mostly whining and clicking her tongue. The three others kept silent, and so did Weiss. They were all frustrated, with their defeats having been so one-sided. Without any winning formula in sight. Needless to say, the mood was dangerously awkward.

“…Let’s call it a day.” Weiss advised, and three of the team members went to line up for the Guild reception, to get themselves re-equipped. Alma gave Weiss the stink eye, clearly disapproving of his decision.

Alma was an Attacker Black Mage and used to employ a great variety of skills to fight effectively. Moreover, she had had a brighter personality up until recently, and used to be the one to ease the friction among the others.

As a fighter and a Dungeon Explorer, she had always been one of the best in town, but her private life was… somewhat too casual and sloppy. The imperfect quality of that gap had helped her build a good relationship with fellow Clan members. Things had started to change after the Clan obtained the Black Staff that had allegedly been found in a gold treasure chest, due to the public attention that came with it.

Scarlet Devil Suad had won the Black Staff from an auction, and Alma had been entrusted with wielding it. She had been terrified of its tremendous power at first, and even tried to get others to take it instead, feeling that it was too much for her. However, all the other Clan members respected her, and Weiss acknowledged her as the most capable. Overjoyed to tears by the trust she had received; Alma had worked hard since then to master the Black Staff.

Due to the Black Staff’s mental energy cost reduction, tuning assistance, and power boost, the casting of magic skills must be adjusted accordingly. Black Mages had to be careful of getting their allies caught in their attacks, so the Black Staff could be more of a hindrance without the right handling, due to it automatically increasing the scale of certain skills. Regardless, Alma’s natural expertise had enabled her to adjust to it quite quickly, after which the Clan proceeded to challenge the Fire Dragon.

Upon their victory, Scarlet Devil Squad celebrated hard. After all, they were the first group of people to get past layer sixty — the excitement of the moment was immeasurable. At that time, Alma had set aside the Black Staff and joined in on the celebration.

Since then, however, Alma started to change — particularly after a Solit Company-published news article put emphasis on how she had defeated the Fire Dragon with <<Meteor>>. She had been a Mage who used a variety of skills, but after that, she shifted to using mainly <<Meteor>>, which had become synonymous with her name. In terms of relationships, she started treating her fellow members poorly, and acted less and less respectfully toward Weiss.

The Black Staff was powerful enough to rival a unique skill, but at the end of the day, it was a tool that anyone with a Mage-type Job could use. With her suddenly gaining such power, her change of attitude was perhaps only inevitable.

“You sure act big for someone who hasn’t been doing much,” Alma grumbled and turned away, holding the Black Staff tightly as she headed to the reception counter. She showed not even a trace of respect she used to have toward Weiss.

It was true that Weiss had not been able to play an active role for some time now. His fire-elemental expertise with <<Phoenix Soul>> was naturally a bad match for both the Fire Dragon and the subsequent Volcano layers.

Still, he was famous in Dungeon City for being one of the best wielders of a great variety of weapons; in fact, no one around was known to have mastered as many weapon types as he had. Since the Volcano layers were full of cut-resistant monsters, he had switched to wielding hammers and other blunt weapons. Moreover, the automatic healing from his <<Phoenix Soul>> was still useful regardless of its current elemental disadvantage, so one could say that he was inadequate for the task, all things considered.

“…Alma, you’ve done nothing but use <<Meteor>>,” Weiss finally made a comment toward Alma… after a month of not saying anything of note to her.

The other party members in line turned to look at him, surprised. They had never expected him, of all people, to be the one to start an argument.

“Huh? Are you saying that’s my fault?”

“…It doesn’t work on Mount Golem. Why don’t you try casting other spells instead? Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten how to use them already.”

“Look who’s talking! You were useless! Both when we fought the Fire Dragon and down in the Volcanoes! And you’re telling ME how to act!?”

“…True, I haven’t been able to do much.”

“Yeah! So, what right do you have to talk about what I do!? Hell, you rarely speak at all! I don’t even know what you’re thinking! And NOW you’re telling me what to do? Like you’re some hot stuff!? How about you stop being so damn weird, you edgelord!”

“……”

Weiss was unable to bring himself to say anything. Despite everything, Alma still had the better performance in the Volcano layers. And as ineffective as the <<Meteor Stream>> had been, its damage output still surpassed Weiss’ due to the Black Staff’s power boost.

“What’s with the commotion?” Garm, standing guard in his indigo uniform, called out to the pair. Since the ones making the noise were of the Scarlet Devil Squad, Garm specifically had been requested to resolve the situation due to him being acquainted with Weiss.

Alma trembled slightly upon noticing him glancing at her in particular, quite certain that he had heard her long-winded rant just now.

“N-nothing, nothing at all,” she promptly said.

“I don’t mind arguments but try to keep it within your Clan House.”

“…Sorry,” Weiss said apologetically, suddenly in low spirits — an expected effect whenever any variation of the word ‘edgy’ was involved.

“You’re always so quick to bend the knee,” Garm grumbled.

Immediately following, Weiss grabbed Garm up by the collar of the latter’s shirt. Those were the exact same words that had been said between them years ago — a particularly sore spot. The onlookers gasped, surprised to see Weiss angry for once.

“You… shut your mouth!”

“Hmph, at least you’re somewhat more willing to confront things. Hey, we’re not putting on a show here. Move along.” Garm said to the onlookers, seeming not to mind Weiss’ almost-murderous rage one bit, then he clapped his hands, prompting the people to continue about their businesses.

Weiss, silently looking up at Garm and proceeded to let go without further fuss and walk away.

“And you’re as annoying as ever” he rebuked before leaving the Guild without changing out of his default clothes.

――▽▽――

Back at his Clan House, Weiss sat down on the sofa.

“Don’t worry about it too much” Cecilia, the main Scarlet Devil Squad team’s Healer, immediately came over to speak to him.

Weiss swiped the bangs over his eyes to the sides.

“…I’m not worried about it.”

“So what if you’re a little edgy? We all understand, I swear.”

“……”

Weiss was stunned by how unexpectedly wicked Cecilia’s approach was right off the bat. She normally had the angelic demeanour of an ideal saint, and up until now, she had carried out the classic disposable revive-Healer role without a single word of complaint. Moreover, she had been friends with Weiss for the longest time since he began exploring God’s Dungeon.

She still looked as kind as ever now but seemed to also be showing some anger that no one had seen from her before. Weiss could not get a read on her, despite them having worked together for close to six years now. He looked away at nothing in particular, fearful of the encroaching sense of being dominated.

“Not to badmouth Alma, but I’m sure everyone agrees with what you just said, at least. They just don’t know what you’re thinking. I mean, you don’t really… talk much.”

“…”

“There you go again, not saying anything…” Cecilia chuckled and continued to stare at Weiss as the latter looked back, seeming quite agitated.

Weiss could not even guess what angle Cecilia was coming at him from. He was so frightened that he wanted to run away.

“We’re aware that you’re always looking out for us, Weiss — well, at least I do. I’ve been friends with you for the longest time, after all. Even if you don’t say anything, I can tell what you’re up to… more or less.”

“……”

“I still want you to say it, though. It’s a sensitive subject, I know — you might even kick me out for this. Not that I’d expect you to do that, but I’m THAT serious about fixing this for you, you know?”

The whole Clan knew that Weiss was not a bad person, but sometimes they were still unwilling to state their opinions, worried that he would start thinking badly of them. Knowing that, Cecilia, as the Clan’s Healer and a long-time friend, had decided to take the lead in trying to amend the situation.

With the three-role team composition becoming more widespread lately, the general role of Healers had changed, such that the classic Healers that only hid during confrontations and came out only to use <<Revive>> had become obsolete. All things considered, Cecilia would be fine even if she was expelled from Scarlet Devil Squad, since it meant that she could find somewhere else to work a better role.

From a spectator’s point of view, the classic White Mage role was dishonourable and parasitic. For the sake of her fellow Clan members, Cecilia had endured that disgrace as well. In turn, everyone had secretly voiced their concerns to her and heard out her complaints.

The same could not be said for Weiss, however. Cecilia could tell, despite him not saying anything, that he most likely appreciated what she did. But the what-ifs were still worrying — whether or not he did not speak to her because she was not necessary, whether or not he had been saying nothing because he thought they were weak. All Clan members had the same suspicion toward Weiss, to varying degrees.

Back when Alma started acting up, the other Clan members could not bring themselves to speak up, out of consideration for Weiss’ silence. They had been worried that, just maybe, Weiss approved of Alma’s power-mongering, and would not appreciate their opinions. That suspicion had prevented the situation from being addressed, which in turn contributed to inflating Alma’s ego.

If Weiss would just express his gratitude, perhaps Cecilia would have felt just fine carrying out her role. If the Clan members had known what Weiss thought of Alma’s change, perhaps they would have stopped her before she got out of control.

Cecilia stared straight at Weiss, the look in her eyes fully serious.

“Me, the rest of us — we all want to know what you’re thinking. Let’s say that we know what you feel about Alma now… What about the others? Scratch that, what about me? Do you want me around? Or do you not?”

“…I’m…”

Weiss looked away as he wondered how he should answer, seeing that Cecilia was on the verge of tears. He was not sure how Cecilia would react if he were to state his issue outright. Many words came up in his mind, and subsequently faded away. For a moment, only his breathing could be heard.

Then, after the awkward silence, Weiss forced an answer out of himself,

“I’m… scared.”

“Scared…? Of what? Did Alma do something to you–“

“People.”

The confession caused Cecilia’s expression to freeze over — it was that confusing.

“You’re… scared of people?”

“…Yeah.”

“Wait a second… I did imagine this before at some point, but you haven’t been talking much because you’re… SHY?”

“…Yeah.”

“…”

Cecilia was already feeling somewhat of a headache due to the unexpected revelation. Crusty, scary, mysterious, but with moments of kindness — that was the impression she had of Weiss. Him being averse to interpersonal interactions had been one of the lowest on her list of possibilities she’d had for him.

“Uh… what can I even say? And here I am, ready to get expelled…”

“…Sorry,” Weiss apologized, further confusing Cecilia. Regardless, he had felt that he needed to get it out of his system.

“Well, we can’t keep on being like this. Everyone’s got problems — you, Alma, the rest of us. And I know we have to change.”

“…Right,” Weiss reaffirmed, helping Cecilia to feel some peace of mind, at least for the time being.