Live Dungeon!

Afterward, as the Dungeon exploration went on, Lorena got to practice more and more new strategies, and faced a fair share of blunders. At one point, she accidentally hit a Red Grizzly with her <<Heal>> three times in a row; Misil chewed her out a bit after that particular battle, but the party’s overall attitude remained positive.

However, since the team didn’t have a Tank, the Healer would end up being targeted if fights were to drag on for long. Since this party’s style was to finish battles as quickly as possible, it wasn’t so conspicuous, but they would eventually need a Tank for multi-wave battles. At one point, after an enemy encounter was over with, Tsutomu discussed this matter with Misil while collecting the Magic Stones.

With Misil showing interest in the Tank role that Tsutomu was proposing, the latter explained to him the concept of aggro and the role’s useful skills. Misil was very much keen on the idea, in part because he had seen Garm’s performance during the Fire Dragon battle, so Tsutomu advised him that if he had the time to spare, he ought to train a Tank for his team as well.

Lorena switched the Healer role with Tsutomu several times along the way, and observed the latter’s movements each time she was inactive. Then, in the following battles, she would try to incorporate Tsutomu’s actions into her moveset. After one particular battle, she proceeded to ask Tsutomu some questions,

“Um, I’ve noticed that your <<Protect>> effect times were different depending on who you use it on — was that on purpose?”

“Yes. It would be ideal to have everything on everyone at once, but with four skills, things are tricky to manage, and then there’s the monsters’ aggro… oh, aggro in this case refers to their hostility toward targets, by the way. Using skills in quick succession would result in rapidly generating the monsters’ aggro on you, so it’ll be safer to spread the casting of your skills out.”

“Aggro…”

“Oh, I’ll pass over some documents detailing all those things to Misil later, so please do give them a read when you’re back at the Clan House,” Tsutomu called for Lorena’s attention upon seeing her fold her rabbit ears and ponder things over.

In response, apparently abandoning her old train of thoughts, she presented her next inquiry,

“Also, I’d like to improve my accuracy with my <<Heals>>…”

“Hmm, I can’t tell you anything other than to practice, I’m afraid. You’re already getting pretty good at your support skills, but still nervous when directing your healing skills, right?”

“Yes… I’m always afraid that I’d end up healing the monsters instead… How have you never messed up even once, Mister Tsutomu?”

“Let’s see… Ways to not be nervous…”

Tsutomu wasn’t one to be conscious of misfires in the first place, so nothing came to mind right away. Seeing how excitedly Lorena was waiting for an answer, however, Tsutomu pulled a wry smile and said,

“…It’s because I trust in my allies, I guess?”

“I do as well!”

“Wait, sorry, that didn’t come out right — what I meant was… trust in my allies’ strength, or something like that.”

“Strength…”

Tsutomu, with Lorena starting to get angry, hurried to rephrase his statement to her. Those words of his prompted a look of contemplation in Lorena’s eyes, as if she was searching for their true meaning.

“Consider this — Misil should be pretty familiar with the monsters here, and so are the two others, right?”

“Yes. We’ve been around here for a long time now.”

“So even if you were to misfire, those three should still be able to handle the situation, don’t you think?”

“…Yes.”

Seeing Lorena’s rabbit ears drop down as if to signify her loss of confidence, Tsutomu gulped down the words of encouragement that he was about to offer next.

“It would be ideal that you don’t hit the wrong targets, of course, but three times is still within the acceptable range, I think? Which is why I figured you’d be all right approaching battles with the mindset that it’s fine to misfire.”

“…I understand! Thank you very much!”

Lorena suddenly bowed, hitting Tsutomu’s face with her long rabbit ears and causing the latter to flinch a step back. The two Birdkins cackled between themselves as they watched the whole scene go down from the back.

After a few more battles, the time was getting late into the evening; the party returned to the Black Gate where they had come from, and stepped through it.

Now transported back to the Guild, the party of five updated their Status Cards at the reception counter, and then divided the collected Magic Stones into five equal portions. Since there hadn’t been any particular expenditures during this trip, they naturally made a profit. In fact, Misil was pleased to see that they had made twenty percent more than usual.

Tsutomu proceeded to withdraw his belongings before leaving the Guild; on the long way back to the Clan House, the team of five discussed the results of today’s battles as they walked. Back at the Clan House, the in-training fighters were seen breathless in the mud of the garden, while Garm’s breathing was fine as he wiped the sweat off his face. He had been supervising dozens of fighters since noon, yet he was still perfectly calm.

Inside the Clan House was Camille, sitting on the sofa, cheerfully keeping four children company. Seeing how the kids’ attitudes had changed so drastically, Misil let out a burst of laughter.

For the evening, too, food was served on large pots and plates in the open space on the first floor, and a crowd of more than a hundred people began to gather for a lively stand-up buffet. Tsutomu called over Garm and Camille, and they joined Misil.

“Misil, here’s a summary of our battle strategies. I do think your usual approaches are good enough already, though — just need improved accuracy, but I suppose you could use this as a bit of a reference.”

“Oh, that’ll be helpful. Been unsure of what we should do with our Knights, you see. If we train them to be… Tanks? — then they’ll probably get to do more interesting stuff than chores ’round the house.”

By mid-tier Clans’ standards, Silver Beast had quite a wide variety of Jobs among its members, so having the role of Tank was a very much welcome addition. Misil, while getting himself some of what looked like pasta from the serving plate, received the documents from Tsutomu and gave them a look.

Camille, having watched the exchange the whole time, set her plate on the table and spoke to Tsutomu,

“So you’d like these strategies to be more widely known?”

“Well, yes. Right now, it’s all about the Attackers, you see — I’d like everyone to be able to have fun exploring the Dungeon regardless of their Job, if possible.”

“…Fun, huh? I could see that you’ve always enjoyed yourself in the Dungeon, now that I think about it. I see, I see…”

Camille, after saying that, fell silent as if pondering things over; Tsutomu looked at her, perplexed, before being called by Garm by a tap on his shoulder.

“This would mean that Tanks being widespread is a good thing, isn’t it?”

“Hmm? Oh, yes. Totally.”

“All right. Let’s get teaching as soon as possible, then.”

Seeing Garm in a strangely good mood, Tsutomu tilted his head in perplexion while eating his slices of sautéed potatoes. After that, Tsutomu had a good time chatting and exchanging information with the others over the course of the meal.

――▽▽――

The next morning, Tsutomu and Garm were present in front of the Guild’s Monitor; the former was in a pure white robe and carried his Magic Bag on his back, and the latter wore Silver Armor and carried with him a tower shield. Also with them was Camille, wearing red leather armor and with a rugged iron greatsword on her back. Joining everyone later was Amy, in light armor and with her dual blades in their sheaths.

“You’re thirty seconds late.”

“Dude, so petty!”

Tsutomu threw a snide remark Amy’s way as he stood with his white staff rested on the floor; the latter wasted no time to call his ridiculousness out, but also smiled happily. Seeing Amy like that, Garm groaned in displeasure.

“Hmph, try not to get in our way.”

“What!? Don’t get high and mighty just because you killed a Fire Dragon before me! Besides, if THAT hadn’t happened, I would’ve already killed it myself by now!”

“What nonsense. Are you saying that you’re stronger than Miss Camille?”

“Ugh…”

“Now, now, don’t start fighting already — it’s been a while since we’ve been together, you know.”

Once Tsutomu warned them against immediately starting an argument, Garm promptly looked away from Amy, and Amy did the same with quite a miffed look on her face. Tsutomu, getting a questioning look from Camille, only shrugged his shoulders in response.

The four of them lining up at the reception counter naturally drew the eyes of the Explorers in the vicinity. The party that had defeated the Fire Dragon, with the new addition that was Amy — expectations were high, as one would expect. Today, the receptionist lady’s counter just happened to be free, so Tsutomu went there.

“Good morning.”

“Good morning. We’d like to update our Status Cards and apply for a new party, please.”

“Right away. Your body fluid sample here, please,” the receptionist lady answered, loud and clear, and held out four small sheets of paper.

Tsutomu took one and put one edge of it in his mouth, soaking it in his saliva, then put it down on the counter with the dry half facing forward. The other three did the same and handed back their respective sheets.

Among those who looked at them doing so, no one made a fuss or mocked them. Whatever the ‘bugger’ Explorers may be thinking, they now had not the gall to say it out loud. The receptionist lady accepted the sheets and fed them into her magic tool. Then, from the multi-colored lines of Status Cards behind her, she pulled out some red and brown cards and placed them near the magic tool.

Then, as she held up each one of them and whispered something, the Status Cards flashed briefly. It didn’t take long for the process to be completed for all four.

“Sorry to have kept you waiting. Here you go.”

“Thank you.”

The receptionist lady, with a mind-soothing smile all the while, proceeded to take the papers off the Magic Tool and putting them into the lantern, burning them, then handed the Status Cards over to Tsutomu, Garm, and Camille. Looking on as the red cards were being passed to the three, Amy bit her lower lip out of frustration.

“You’ll get there, Amy. You’ll get there.”

“T-that’s right!”

“I doubt that.”

“Shut up, Garm!”

Tsutomu forced a smile in response to Garm’s condescending remark toward Amy, then turned to look at his own Status Card.

KYOUTANI TSUTOMU

LV: 38

STR: C-

DEX: C

VIT: D+

AGI: D+

MND: C+

LUK: D+

JOB: White Mage

SKILLS: Heal, All Heal, Flash, Air Blade, Protect, Medic, Haste, Raise, High Heal, Area Heal, Holy Wing, Fly, Air Blaze, Barrier

[I sure would like to go over forty-five by the time people stop calling me the Lucky Boy.]

Tsutomu, while thinking that to himself, returned the Status Card and headed for the Magic Circles. He said nothing to the two arguing behind him, instead sparking another conversation with Camille,

“Speaking of which, the agreement of our party would be in effect until my Lucky Boy nickname dies off — are you the one who decides whether or not that is the case, Camille?”

“Right. Many people are still calling you that, though, so there’s no need to think about it for now. Say, do you plan to defeat the Fire Dragon again?”

“Yes. The plan is to go with Garm and Amy this time around.”

When Tsutomu opened his narrowed eyes and calmly directed his gaze to the two arguing behind him, Camille’s tightened expression slackened.

“I see. Let’s make it so that the contract lasts until either the Fire Dragon is defeated or another month passes, then. Are you all right with this much time?”

“That’ll be enough. Thank you very much for your consideration.”

Tsutomu bowed to Camille; the latter proceeded to speak again with a serious expression,

“Say, Tsutomu… If you’re all right with it, why don’t you consider–“

“What’re you two whispering’ between yourselves for!?”

“Whoa!”

Just as Camille was about to finish her sentence, Amy, who was done arguing with Garm behind her, jumped on Tsutomu’s back. His neck practically grappled on, he stumbled forward as Amy shook him as if she were riding a vehicle.

“C’mon~~ Lemme in on the convo, too~~!”

“Gah, would you mind getting off me? You’re heavy, you know…”

“W-what!? I’m not even fat, for cryin’ out loud!”

“Uh, I mean, you’re fully equipped! That’s where the weight is coming from!”

Amy, despite her armor being of the light variety, was in fact too heavy for Tsutomu to carry with a full set on. Practically peeling Amy’s arms off him, Tsutomu then gasped as if he was exhausted. Despite him being like that, Amy pulled him by his hand and stepped into a Magic Circle.

“C’mon, let’s go!”

“I’d prefer that you let me rest a bit…”

Tsutomu, looking like a father being dragged around by his daughter in a theme park, half-reluctantly held Amy’s hand. Behind them, Garm entered the Circle as he kept a careful watch on Amy; Camille followed him, looking somewhat exasperated.

“Teleport to the fifty-first layer!”

And so, led by Amy’s cheery voice, the team of four was transferred to the Valleys of the fifty-first layer.