Otoko Nara Ikkokuichijou no Aruji o Mezasa Nakya, ne?

Year 7446, Month 8, Day 8

Since there's also the convenience of the {Butchers} and {Exterminators} days off, with one day in between that starting this morning we {Slaughterers} have stepped foot into the dungeon again. This time when entering the dungeon we've sent Zenom to the {Butchers} and Zulu to the {Exterminators}. Including myself the remaining 9 of us are the unit exploring the 9th floor but up until now I've just had the {Butchers} and {Exterminators} continue training in the dungeon and not let them do anything like exploration.

Starting this time other than the time spent clearing the floors I've also given them a different mission. Explaining starting with the {Exterminators} that has the simpler one and I have them delivering consumables centered around dried meat to the 4th floor. I have them piston transporting the supplies over the one and a half day one-way trip to the teleport crystal on the 4th floor. The only parties that have arrived at the teleport room on the 4th floor and setup camp there excluding us {Slaughterers} is currently just those that have gone past the 5th floor, {Verdure.Brotherhood}, {Black.Topaz}, {Gehenna.Flare}, just those three.

They leave one person there to watch over it and then after the remaining 9 of them lower the supplies they teleport back to the surface right away and then enter the dungeon after preparing more supplies once more.

Next up is the {Butchers}. I have them primarily doing the job of {porters}. They end up transporting the supplies that have gathered in the teleport room on the 4th floor once more to the teleport room on the 6th floor. What you need to be careful of here is that I changed the organization of members in the {Butchers} and {Exterminators}. I moved Ginger and Hisu out from the {Exterminators} to the {Butchers} and in exchange for them I moved my combat slaves Henry and Rubi from the {Butchers} to the {Exterminators}.

Since the {Butchers} ended up organized with almost completely the members of the former {Sun.Ray} I left things there in the care of Zenom who everyone including them look up to. Even from their end Zenom is a leader they can relax with and they don't have any doubts at all about his abilities. As bait I also said, "Zenom will keep an eye on things during the journey down and if he gives his okay then it's fine if you beat down some ogres on the 7th floor to a reasonable extent."

Thanks to that this time the morale of the {Butchers} is strangely high. The members who it took the shape of being left behind in the {Exterminators} were upset but they know the best that their abilities are low from the combined training we do. If I were to speak my real feelings I'd have preferred if even just Rodrick moved over to the {Butchers} since it would be easier for him to earn experience points.

In regards to this I discussed it with Kamu and Ginger the night of the day before yesterday and for the time being they accepted it as well. Above all else the fact that he can use magic is big. Putting aside healing spells, attack spells are indispensable in combat further in the dungeon.

Particularly Kamu who's previously experienced combat on the 7th floor. Since it's almost right to say attack spells are a requirement to taking on ogres she was actually progressively pushing for it. If Zenom is accompanying them then there's also the expectation that Zenom will almost definitely take down one ogre himself so there was no point in even taking into consideration the death of a member including Rodrick. Even I don't think there would be any problem with taking on the few in number ogres that appear in the areas where you first teleport into the 7th floor as long as they have Zenom.

In addition to that there's also the reason that Rodrick is the eldest son of Count Faruergaz who has both political and financial power. It would result in a gold lining for Rodrick and hearing of his efforts the Faruergaz family might send combat slaves or some kind of aid it seems. If that's true then it's certainly something good and I've also heard of similar stories before so it would be a happy occasion if we could put into practice. If the number of combat slaves increases then it would be possible to rotate the members out as well.

The amount of experience each individual gains would decrease but it would raise the average for the lower level people. It's not like everyone has to reach the realm of a first-rate adventurer after all. Even if they don't make full use of their increased ability values, if they can just level up and the time is right there's also the benefit of an increase to HP after all.

In any case after I managed to get the two of them to agree I called out Rodrick and tried sounding it out with him but he turned it down. The primary reason was, "Moving itself is appealing but I have combat slaves that I need to take responsibility looking after." Hearing that Kamu and Ginger were enraged.

"If you're going to say that then what about Al who has combat slaves in both the {Butchers} and {Exterminators} and depending on the case even sends over Zulu and Angela? Are you saying that Al isn't taking responsibility for his combat slaves?" was their viewpoint on it. Hearing that while I thought it made sense, I fully intend to be taking responsibility for their lives but I felt like it was a bit different from what Rodrick wanted to say so I approved of his wishes.

And just a bit I empathized with Rodrick's way of thinking.

Somewhere I still haven't completely accepted the concept of slaves. I have the feeling as if I'm employing cheap labor. I was born and raised in Bakuddo village which wasn't very wealthy and somewhat carefree so a big part of it is that I was able to grow up without touching the tragic side of slavery almost at all. Adding to that almost all of the slaves I was in contact with were serfs and they were focused around manual labor.

After starting the rubber business there was another source of labor needed centering around the squires and their family. However, just the same as before agriculture was still the largest key industry. We can't treat the laborers who support that agriculture unreasonably. The slaves who work from morning to night for low wages without any real holidays are important assets but there was never any pitiful situation where we had to tear apart families going against their individual will. Rather, in some meanings my parents used slaves in more of a systematic way. They didn't just give duties out based on what the individual was suited towards but I think they put in work so they wouldn't lose their important assets that easily.