Opening the gates of Chunghoe Castle wasn't particularly difficult. The doors weren't that securely locked to begin with, and we had an incredible expert at picking locks on our side.
"Damn bastard. He placed some crude dark magic on the door."
Adel quietly grumbled while holding a large lock. The dark magic on the royal gate shouldn't have been easy to deal with... yet she neutralized it in no time.
As expected of the Hero Party's Rogue. She could dismantle pretty much any trap or alarm.
-Thud!
As we entered the castle, all sorts of insects greeted us.
Spiders, centipedes, cockroaches, and more.
When light filtered through the door crack, countless bugs scattered in all directions.
Seeing this, the party members expressed their disgust.
"Damn... I want to burn everything down."
"Sigh..."
"This reminds me of when I used to live in caves..."
Lily cursed, Camilla sighed, and Adel recalled some unpleasant memories from her past.
Indeed, this place crawling with insects made anyone cringe just by looking at it.
The problem was that we needed to stay here for at least a few days.
I inhaled the musty air inside the castle and thought to myself.
'There are mainly two ways to defeat the Insect King.'
Ambush and growth.
The first method, assassination through ambush, was the most traditional and popular way to kill a king.
Strike quickly before the insects gather in the audience chamber where the Insect King resides.
Since Valkan himself, the main body, was relatively weak, this was quite an effective approach.
When I was a gamer, I often used this method when I got tired of dealing with the Insect King properly. It was easy to execute and had a high success rate.
All you had to do was quietly sneak toward the audience chamber for a few days, then sprint at full speed when discovered.
Of course, if you got spotted too early, you'd end up in a hopeless situation with Valkan in front and swarms of insects behind... but that was just a matter of being careful.
Then there was the second strategy: growth.
Unlike the first approach that aimed for the quickest breakthrough, the second was completely opposite in direction.
You start from the outskirts and slowly work your way in.
While this castle was uninhabitable due to the abundance of poisonous insects and monsters, it was conversely an optimal hunting ground.
So if you stayed here for a few months focusing solely on hunting monsters, you could aim for significant growth.
If ambush relied on catching the opponent off guard, growth was more like building a tower brick by brick for a fair confrontation.
And I was going to use the first method.
Or rather, I had no choice but to use it.
'Honestly, the second one is more stable...'
But probably few would agree with the second option.
There was a huge problem with it.
A very ordinary problem called "stress."
As I mentioned earlier, this place was uninhabitable.
The interior walls were covered in mold, and the air was murky with insect carcass dust and moisture.
Bugs crawled everywhere in real-time, and there were woefully inadequate places to clean oneself properly.
We would have to stay in such a place for months.
Even if it seemed reasonable intellectually, it was emotionally difficult to accept.
Especially since our party's Saintess, Yulice, extremely despised insects...
'Still, I should at least discuss it.'
I decided to talk about both methods anyway.
We should at least know our options, right?
"Alright everyone, let's have a meeting."
"Hmph, I was about to suggest that anyway."
So I gathered the party members and began the discussion.
My credibility had hit rock bottom after the previous Minotaur incident.
Thanks to the Saintess speaking up for me, no one confronted me directly... but I couldn't help feeling that they were subtly dismissing my words.
So probably no one would listen carefully to what I had to say.
But that's fine.
That's what persuasion techniques are for.
"How would you all like to approach this?"
Instead of proposing strategies myself, I let them think.
People's thoughts tend to be similar, so strategies would emerge soon enough.
"What's there to ask? We should obviously rush in and take down that bastard Valkan first! I want to get out of this irritating place right away."
"Calm down, Lily. What if we get surrounded by insects? Perhaps it would be better to start from the outskirts and work our way in slowly, even if it takes longer..."
I subtly added flesh to the skeletal arguments.
"That's a good approach. Like an ambush, we quietly get as close as possible to the Insect King and then strike all at once. He would be caught off guard."
"Adel has a point too. I'm not sure how many monsters are in this castle... but we could grow stronger as well, which would be beneficial."
With each comment, the party members' eyes grew more intense.
They were trimming the flesh I had subtly added and modifying the plans.
The meeting dragged on. Numerous opinions were exchanged, and the plans gradually became more concrete.
I summarized the two plans that had emerged and presented them back.
"Good. So to summarize, we have these two options. First, break through as quickly as possible and strike the Insect King while he's off guard. Second, start from the outskirts and slowly deal with monsters..."
As I presented the two options, I thought to myself.
'The Saintess will probably speak up now.'
And she'll blindly advocate for the first option.
Since she extremely dislikes insects, she'd want to escape this castle as quickly as possible.
In the actual game, whenever the second option came up, she would immediately oppose it. Simply because she hated insects so much.
To choose the second method, persistent and thorough persuasion was absolutely necessary.
That's why I, currently hindered by the curse making persuasion difficult, had no choice but to go with the first option...
"The second one! Let's go with the second option!!"
"?"
The Saintess suddenly started advocating for the second method.
'Huh?'
This couldn't be right.
Ah, maybe she confused the order?
Thinking that might be the case, I spoke to her as if addressing a slightly slow student.
"Just to clarify, the first option is ambush, and the second is growth..."
"I know that much! I chose the second option knowing full well what it meant!"
For the first time in a while, I saw the Saintess getting irritated.
I tilted my head in confusion.
She knew and still chose it?
'Why on earth?'
While I was secretly pleased, I couldn't help but be puzzled.
"Are you sure? I should mention that with the second method, we'll have to live here for at least a few months. Are you still okay with that?"
"What does it matter if it takes months? In my view, the second method is definitely better. We should always prioritize stability, don't you think?"
Her words were so reasonable that I could only nod in agreement.
The issue was that it was the Saintess saying this.
These were words that I, as the persuader, should have been saying.
'What wind has blown her way...'
I really couldn't understand.
The game had deviated too drastically from the beginning.
The Saintess who hated insects had completely broken character, and the game had become frustratingly difficult with too many variables.
'Damn, even I don't know anymore.'
Since it was ultimately beneficial for me, I decided not to overthink it this time. What's good is good.
"I also agree with Yulice. My father always said that haste often ruins operations."
"I'll go with the majority decision this time as well."
"What? We have to stay here for months? Sigh, I'm already losing motivation..."
Once one person agreed, it was easy to get the others' consent.
I nodded with inner satisfaction.
'That's fortunate.'
I thought we'd go with the first option.
This was a pleasant surprise. I had been looking for a hunting ground to grow stronger, and now we could fight in an appropriate one.
As I mentioned before, the Insect King, who appears as the first boss, is tougher than any of the Four Heavenly Kings in the early game.
While he had numerous poisons and combat insects, we weren't even properly equipped yet.
Moreover, this world now had a much higher difficulty than the original game. It was hard to predict just how monstrous Valkan had become...
Even if we caught him off guard with an ambush, it was unclear if we'd have a chance of winning.
In that case, it would be better to grow stronger for a few months and face him fair and square.
And I had something I was counting on.
'Heavenly Martial Body.'
I planned to maximize growth using this skill that enhances growth potential.
Additionally, I intended to help my teammates grow to some extent.
I briefly checked their levels through the system.
<71>
<72>
<75>
<74>
These were the levels of Yulice, Lily, Adel, and Camilla respectively.
Considering my level was 74, the party had a fairly even distribution.
Surprisingly, the highest level belonged to Adel, the Dark Elf Rogue. Of course, being a support character, her actual combat ability was similar to the others despite the level difference...
Anyway, this was the overall level of the party.
I looked at the party with satisfaction after a long time.
They still had immense potential for growth.
Looking at them, I thought to myself.
Just follow along quietly.
'I'll help you level up like crazy.'
About 2 levels or so.