Book 2. Chapter 8
The day Hajime and Yue met, and survived their life or death struggle with the scorpion.
Kouki and the rest of the heroes once again arrived at the 【Orcus Great Dungeon】. However, those who came were only Kouki’s Hero group, a small group of rogues, and another group consisting of five boys and girls led by a bulky judo guy called Nagayama Jugo.
The reason was simple. Even if they didn’t bring up the topic, Hajime’s death had casted a deep, heavy shadow over their hearts. If they couldn’t face the reality of “death in battle”, they wouldn’t be able to fight properly. This was a type of psychological trauma.
Of course, the officials from the Saint’s Church wasn’t sympathetic. Thinking that as long as the students experience actual combat incessantly, they should be able to fight again after some time, they continued to urge them to return to the battlefield everyday. However, there was a vehement protester. It was Aiko-sensei.
Aiko did not participate in the expedition at that time. Due to the fact that her job was the special and extremely rare Agriculturalist, rather than combat training, the church hoped she would put her effort towards agricultural cultivation instead. As long as Aiko-sensei was around, there’s a high possibility that their provisions problem would be solved.
When Aiko learnt of Hajime’s death, she was so shocked that she was left bedridden. Faced with the fact that one of her students died while she was just leisurely spending time within the safety zone, and the fact that it was no longer possible to bring everyone back to Japan. Aiko, who had a strong sense of responsibility, suffered a powerful impact.
That’s why, she absolutely wouldn’t permit for students who couldn’t fight anymore to be sent to the battlefield. Aiko’s Class ⌈ 1⌋ was an extremely rare one which had the possibility of bringing about a complete change to the world’s food issue. And that Aiko-sensei was protesting with unwavering determination against the students’ forced combat training. The church, which wanted to avoid worsening their relationship, accepted Aiko’s objection.
In the end, only the Heroes, the rogues, and Nagayama Jugo’s party willingly continued with the combat training. After training for some time, they decided to challenge the 【Orcus Great Dungeon】 once again. This time, they were also accompanied by Commander Meld and several knights.
Today was the sixth day of their dungeon exploration. They were currently on the sixtieth level. It was just five levels before reaching the highest confirmed level. However, Kouki’s party was currently stuck. No, rather than being unable to advance, it was an involuntary recollection of the nightmare from that time that brought them to a standstill.