"That is true. However, finding people specialized in close quarters combat is going to be hard since our town is a tourist town. Even if we call upon tourist adventures, our town doesn't have a guild branch to properly organize the people," The baron cleared his throat before responding.
"Then would it be possible to hire only a selected few so it would be easier to organize? You can also use their combat experience as criteria for hiring them in a one-time job," I asked again.
"That is possible, but the dungeon outbreak might come before we finish reorganizing," the baron responded back. I guess their plan was really thought through despite the short time.
"If that's the case," I glanced at Sean before returning my attention to the baron, "as long as you can gather the necessary people, Sitri can handle the judging." As much as I'd like to give this task to Sean instead, I figured he would be a much better fit for another task connected to this one.
"Then what about the countermeasures? How should we fix that?" The baron asked.
"Yeah, it's not like we can bring traps and set them up outside the dungeon since the dungeon might overflow while we're doing so. And It's not like we can also bring trap makers since no one would guard them against the roaming beasts and chimera beasts."
"Furthermore, some chimera beasts are intelligent enough to avoid traps, so it would ultimately be useless," Sean added. His points were true, but he's not looking at this the way I am.
"We don't need to completely stop the dungeon outbreak with traps. As long as we can reduce their numbers to avoid a horde forming, the town's defenses would work just fine," I answered.
Our goal is to stall, not to completely stop it since it would be stopped later anyways. Their plan was efficient but left holes that needed to be pointed out.
"I see. If that's the case, even something like terrestrial deformation would work, wouldn't it?" Sean's eyes livened up as he states his idea. I simply nodded in affirmation and let Sean and the baron discuss more details.
"Uhm, how about the dungeon boss issue?" The bulky man chimed in. He probably heard my analysis earlier and decided to press for details. Luckily, despite my young appearance, he doesn't look at me with contempt.
"It's just as exactly as I said. If we truly want to increase our chances of avoiding casualties, it's best to put off the idea of attacking the boss. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that our strength is lacking. I'm simply saying we should play it safe since we can finish it off much safer when reinforcements arrived," I explained, keeping my calm expression.
"If we do that though, we can't harvest the lumoines in the dungeon boss' room. If so, we wouldn't have enough funds to hire more adventurers. Furthermore, we might even have to split the profit with the lumoines with the coming reinforcements," the baron cut in.
So you're saying the town is lacking in funds? I thought of questioning the baron, but doing so might feel like a slap in the face to him.
My senses have been sharpened to the point that I can even tell when someone is lying or has another agenda. This was the result of being a prince busy with facing many different people with many different intentions.
Despite that, the man right here was sincerely worried about the funds. "Then can't we use the town's funds? Since the people here are already aware of the situation, I doubt anyone would disagree," I asked back.
"Yeah, but doing so would be costly since hiring off-duty adventurers are more expensive. Furthermore, since there is no guild in town, the adventurers can ask for a price that is to their wanting and we have no way of declining as the party in need."
"If we also don't get the lumoines, we can't open up a dungeon exploration contract which includes the ratio of percentage we have to pay to the adventurers," the Baron explained. So in the end, funds and contracts are the problems.
"What's more, adventurers seek fame. To be hired by a mere town to enter a dungeon that appeared due to Galaxia's influence, the risk is much higher than the reward. To compensate for that, they might even drain the town's funds," The bulky man added.
So it's a no, huh. With the details in hand, I could make a tactic that allows for the adventurers to stall the boss, while others harvest the lumoines. However, that would go against the priority of survival.
"Wait, then what about the earlier plan of hiring adventurers?" I asked again. Just a few moments ago, they were already thinking of hiring some adventurers, but how come they didn't bring this problem up until right now?
"That was still with the plan of fighting the boss," the Baron responded. So in the end, if we don't decide to fight off the boss, we can't even hire adventurers, huh. Talk about a troublesome system. If only the town had a guild branch.
"So in the end, it's either we stall the dungeon outbreak with the current manpower we have and wait for the guild or we decide to finish the dungeon off by hiring off-duty adventurers through a contract, huh." I summarized the problem.
If you think about it, the plan that is currently drafted is good enough. My plan prioritized the most efficient way to minimize casualties, but I seem to have overlooked other factors I wasn't aware of.
What's more, if we decide to wait for reinforcements, profits from harvesting the lumoine would lessen since the guild would also take compensation. Either way, it's either little or less profit.
"The things I suggested didn't take into account any profits and only focused on prioritizing safety. Then again, these are mere suggestions you can disregard," I explained. The baron nodded with a serious expression as he reread through the plan.
After a thorough revision, we decided to go with the original plan. However, we added the trap revision and decided to move out earlier in order to scout the dungeon first. If the dungeon is easier than expected, we would hire adventurers later on and sign a dungeon exploration contract.
However, if the dungeon is deemed to be difficult, the baron decided to just clear the upper floors of the dungeon as to not allow a dungeon outbreak and wait for reinforcements from the guild.
Although profit would be little, the baron seems to have understood my stance that our priority is the people's safety, and thus decided on this course of action.
As for me, I only listened through the rest of their discussions. Although there were things that I didn't understand, it's reasonable since I am not knowledgeable regarding this world.
This made me wish to finish this whole celestial reality travel thing and head straight to Eun Frigore to go to an actual academic institution.
With new ideas to add to the plan, I was expecting their discussion to last until before lunch or even longer. However, looks like the brainstorming of ideas gave out a result faster than I expected.
"To think we had revised and finalized our plans without even an hour passing," the baron sighed with relief as he commented before turning his attention to the people gathered, "So instead of two days time, we're heading out tomorrow after lunch. You guys go home and get some rest."
"Thank you for your wonderful insights as well, lord White. May I know of which house you came from?" The baron asks with a soft smile. "No, my lord. You are mistaken. I came from humble origins," I answered calmly.
He probably thinks I'm well educated because of a noble lineage. Although I can make up excuses for that, saying such excuses may deepen his curiosity so I decided to keep my answer polite with a tone of bluntness that almost says 'don't pry too much.'
"I-I see. Regardless, thank you for your insights," The baron thanked me. My insights were small since they were only there to fill up the holes in the plans. If I only knew more about the circumstances, I could have probably given out a better solution.
I simply nodded my head and accepted the baron's gratitude. After all, playing dumb here and denying my contribution, regardless of impact, would give the impression of me being vulnerable.
After ordering everyone to prepare for tomorrow, everyone departed. I went back to the baron's mansion alone as Sean still had something to discuss with the baron. Since I technically hadn't had breakfast yet, I headed to the kitchen to grab something to munch on.
However, just as I was walking down the hall, from the window overlooking the garden, I saw Anna wielding a sword. What's more, her sword style and chosen sword are different from most of the people I have seen so far.
She was using a longsword and her attacks were fluid as if she's dancing a ballet despite her injured leg. In all honesty, it was truly beautiful. However, just as I was thinking of that, her balance collapsed causing her to fall face-first on the ground.
With the interesting sight in view, I decided to go and talk to her after grabbing something to munch on.