01x02 - The Ultimate Party Is Formed? Survivors!

[bunniefuu]

U-Um...

Yes?

Hey! Don't go making our
pretty little receptionist cry.

So you're Nick?

From Masters of w*r?

Yeah. If you know me,
that'll make this fast.

Let's see...

Swashbuckler, Dragoon, Mage, Cleric.

A nicely balanced party.

Oh, so the survivor girl is back at it?

What do you mean?

Her.

She achieved a miracle by coming back
alive alone from a C-Rank labyrinth.

The guilds talk about her.

Survivor, huh?

Survivor...

Curran?

I'm sure you've been through a lot,

but the most important ability an adventurer
can have is the ability to come back alive.

To come back alive...

So what will you name your party?

Survivors...

We're going to come back
here alive, no matter what.

So why don't we call ourselves "Survivors"?

It's a little obvious.

But not bad.

Survivors...

Curran?

I like it.

It's important to be tough to k*ll!

So your name will be...

Survivors!

Ningen Fushin: Adventurers Who Don't
Believe in Humanity Will Save the World

It seems a miracle to me that
they met in that tavern that night.

But now that they were a party,
what of their adventures?

All right, one more time.

"The Ultimate Party Is Formed? Survivors!"

As disillusioned adventurers, we're going
to set out three laws for ourselves.

"Laws" is a bit of an exaggeration.

The Three Laws of the Survivors!

What's the first, Tiana?

No interfering with other peoples' hobbies!

Zem.

Watch the money.

Curran.

Come back alive, no matter what.

That's right.

For the money, we'll all have a part in
keeping it safe, instead of just one person.

I'll handle the books.

Tiana checks what I put in the books
and holds the money we carry with us.

Curran's in charge of the safe.

I-I'm kind of nervous...

I'll get you a really sturdy one
that can't be busted open

with a sledgehammer, or even magic.

And Zem will handle the key...

Forcing.

It's a technique used by magicians.
You're making it look like you're assigning roles,

but actually arranging things
to benefit yourself.

That's just what I wanted to hear!

If anything else seems sketchy, tell me.

In fact...

It's actually Nick who's going to have the
hardest time getting into the safe like this.

'Cause I'd have to get past you to do it.

Why not try to break into the
safe while we're all asleep?

I'm gonna eat so much yummy food!

Look. She's all set to steal from the party!

You're being careful about this.

I learned from my time at Masters of w*r

that just putting someone in charge
of something isn't "trust".

"Trust" means everyone recognizing that
the other person isn't out to hurt them.

You're telling us to both trust,
and doubt, each other.

Th-That's difficult.

Curran.

Can you bring yourself to believe in me?

I'd like to, I think.

But...

It's hard to believe in someone.
And even harder to doubt them.

Believing in someone
is the easiest thing in the world.

'Cause, in a sense, you're letting
someone else take charge of your fate.

Yeah.

And doing that is what brought us here.

That's why we all need to be
very skeptical of each other.

But... I want to believe in everyone.

Well...

We feel the same way.

We want to believe.

The Sticky Aqueducts.

We're starting at G-Rank, which means
we're only allowed access to three labyrinths.

We need to go into two of them and defeat
the bosses there to be promoted to F-Rank.

It sounds easy, the way you're putting it.

And it's not that hard, actually.

They're basically practice areas
for us to learn the ropes.

But Tiana and I have never
been in combat before.

And I can't imagine what I learned
at school being too useful here.

True...

I can't imagine someone
getting k*lled here...

No, I suppose you might,
if you let yourself get c*ck.

There it is.

That?

This is Survivors' first prey.

A slime!

It's cuter than I expected.

It's chewing grass!

Is that grass yummy?

It may look harmless,
but it'll eat anything.

If it gets too big, it'll go to a farm
somewhere and start eating the cows.

That would be a problem.

That said...

You can defeat a slime empty-handed
just by grabbing its core.

This is where we'll get our money.
So make sure you don't leave any behind.

Okay, Teacher Nick!

Tiana, joining this party
is a gamble for you, right?

Hey!

Teacher Nick, Zem is interfering
with somebody's hobbies.

Oh, that's right.

If you're talking instead of paying
attention, you're going to regret it.

Okay, Teacher.

Maybe we were right to
form a party together.

Maybe, if I'm with them, I can...

I know they're monsters, but it still feels
wrong to take a living creature's life.

But if we don't get rid of the miasma,

normal plants and animals
will become monsters, too.

If you don't cull the monsters
and get rid of the miasma,

the labyrinths will grow bigger.

You'll just have to keep
telling yourself that.

But why do monsters attack people?

There's extensive research on trying
to communicate with monsters.

But all monsters, regardless
of type, attack people.

So we have to fight them?

That's kind of sad.

Yeah.

Just don't let your guard down.

But we've gone up a few floors,

and the only change we've seen is that
there's more of them and they've gotten faster.

I may not look it, but I've defeated
orcs and goblins, you know.

The ones on this floor will
sh**t sticky fluids at you,

and if you step on them they have the
same lethal power as a banana peel.

So as I was saying...

"Don't let your guard down."

I know.

No letting your guard down.
Your safety's your responsibility.

This was my fault.

Ow...

But...

I'm going to pay them back for that!

Wait!

Icicle Dance!

Y-You're okay...

right?

I'm sorry I just fired off a spell like that,
but you should be more careful...

I tried to believe in you!

I wanted to believe in you, Tiana!

What? I-I'm trying, too...

Next time...

I might be the one to make a mistake.

What the hell?

I was trying to believe in you, too.

We're up to the top floor already?

Everything that happens here
will teach you something.

So stay focused until the very end.

Nick! Nick!

There's a really big one up ahead of us!

That's a huge slime,
the boss of the Sticky Aqueducts.

So here's his deal...

Tiana?

I can deal with him myself!

Well, I guess it's okay.

Ice Spear!

How about that?

Get away, Tiana!

I can't trust her.

Huh? What was that?

Huge slimes react to powerful magic
by sending slime everywhere.

If you'd just told me,
I could've done something.

And if you'd told me what kind of magic you
were using, I could've given you advice.

And Zem...

Yes?

You belong in the rear,
not the front, right?

I felt guilty just sitting in the rear...

No, that's your job.

Or did you think it would be
faster to defeat it yourself

instead of counting on your
fellow party members?

That's right.

I think this is a good time.

This is every weapon I own.

I'm good at unarmed combat,
with daggers, and with scouting.

Also, I'm good with handling
items and bookkeeping.

I don't know a damn thing about magic.

And I can't use heavy weapons.

Nor perform alchemy or healing spells.

Is this your way of showing us your secrets?

You can't trust the people around you

because you don't know
what they're capable of.

I think if we better understood each other,
we might trust each other more.

So we're all supposed to
reveal our weaknesses?

No.

I know you've all got your reasons
for being the way you are,

assuming we all believe
each other's stories.

The one thing we all have in common

is that someone exploited us
for what we're good at.

Some people were jealous of our skills.

Some people took advantage
of them to deceive us.

That's how we became disillusioned,

and that makes us reluctant
to reveal our true skills.

So if you don't want to tell us,
you don't have to.

Our time together is uncertain, but if you
want to talk at some point down the road,

you can do it then.

But instead... there's one
thing I want you to decide:

what you hope to accomplish in this party.

What I hope to accomplish...

If you wanted to defeat me, it would be easy.

Swords, fists, magic...
I'm weak to all those.

But you wouldn't want to
take a long time doing it.

'Cause I can heal small wounds with magic!

Stop talking like somebody's
going to try and k*ll you.

My apologies.

I'm a mage.

Wind and water are my best elements.

I can also use lightning
as a combination of the two.

I can use earth, as well,
but I'm not as strong with it.

And I can barely use fire magic at all.

I screwed up this morning.

I'm sorry.

I'm helpless against earth and fire attacks,
as well as quick attacks at close range.

Why are you telling me this?

Oh, that's right.

You're good with fire and
close-range attacks.

And?

No, I was just thinking I should've
kept my mouth shut. That's all.

Thanks.

Too bad.

I was planning on burning you
to a crisp... but I missed.

Well, don't miss next time.

Or I won't be able to trust you when
you're out fighting in front of me.

Leave it to me.

Okay, last up is the Goblin Forest.

Mostly goblins live here.

Goblins are weak individually,
but fight in packs.

You need to make sure you don't get surrounded.

You okay?

I guess humanoid monsters aren't
as easy to defeat as slimes.

They've got a degree of intelligence,

so they can use simple words to
organize and attack in formation!

I didn't realize how strong Nick was...

Idle talk will cost you three dinah!

Thank you!

That's most of them in this area.

I'll check the surrounding area.

Oh, I can handle that.

Detect Magic!

There are 10 or so to the northeast
in about 500 meters...

I think.

They're spread out,
but the closest is there.

How can you tell?

Detect Magic can find any traces of
magic within a three kilometer radius.

You're amazing.

Not many people could detect
magic across that wide an area.

I've learned we can't trust Nick, though.

That's right.

Why not?

When you told us about your skills,
you didn't say you could fight like that.

You seem to have a major problem with
your ability to evaluate yourself.

That's right!

You were so strong, I barely
got to do anything!

And I just shared my own weakness like an idiot.

I mean, well...

What the hell?

What's wrong?

One of them has way too
much magic to be a goblin.

Five times normal.

That's bad.

Any idea what it might be?

An ogre, probably.

An evolved version of a hobgoblin
that's vastly more powerful.

And difficult even for you?

Even if we work together,
if we're not careful... you know.

We don't have enough experience
working together as a team.

What should we do, then? Retreat?

No, that's not an option.

If we don't stop it here,

that pack will absorb the others around it

and finally start to attack
the people who live nearby.

And more than anything... it's worth money.

I hate to say it, but, yeah...

Ogres are highly resistant to magic, right?

I won't be able to do much
more than distract it.

In the end, Curran and I will
just have to deal with it.

The plan's simple.

Tiana uses spells to distract it,

Zem buffs with his magic,

and Curran and I attack.

But if we're going to break through
the tough skin of an ogre,

Curran, we need your attack power.

Don't worry. I'm fine.

Okay, let's go.

Tiana.

I still don't fully trust you.

I'd like to, but I don't know if I can.

Don't worry.

That's true for me, too...

No, for everybody, I'm sure.

We all think that.

We don't know if we can trust
each other... but we want to.

Here it comes.

Go. With your back turned towards me.

Can you do that?

I can...

I can do that much!

Let's go!

Unyielding Fortress! Iron Strength!

Icicle Dance!

Don't get c*ck, humans!

Attack!

What I want to accomplish...

What I want to accomplish in this party...

I knew that from the start!

I want to believe in everyone!

She apologized instead of blaming me
for running out in front.

She's a noble!

She's probably never had
to apologize to anyone!

I won't look behind me!

I'll believe! I'll believe to the end!

I'll...

believe and believe and believe and believe!

Fire Dragon Strike!

Well? I did it!

See? Turning my back on Tiana
was as easy as eating happonyaki!

Oh? This might not be the only
chance I get to aim at you.

Really?

I won't let you beat me!

Look forward to it.

Do those two not like each other?

Maybe not.

Want to help, guys?

I don't get involved with
people's private hobbies.

I'm not doing it because it's my hobby!

We have to do it if we want to get paid.

It's tough being an adventurer.

It's easy when you get used to it.

You don't have to learn anything, Curran.

They didn't teach me anything last time.

Whew, that was close.

This one was in the process of evolving.

If we'd had another ogre,
it would've been bad.

It's stuck on!

Damn it!

Sorry, you okay?

Y-Yeah...

"Crack"?

Next time:
"Curran's Secret"

Next time: "Curran's Secret".