We met up with Merle, and decided to leave the Imperial Capital early and head for the Temple of Janpani.
We had refused audience with two Emperors, as Sophie had softly declined the invitation of the Bakius Emperor via Foreign Minister Nukakai.
As for me, if there was a King or Emperor that we needed to meet, I would meet them otherwise I wouldn't.
Just because the Emperor called us didn't mean that we could meet him right away after all.
It also took ten days for Sophie to have an audience with the King of Latash.
I had heard that people needed to wait for a month before they could have an audience with the Emperors of large countries.
Being allowed to meet the Queen of the Elves whenever I wanted to was actually her showing me great favor.
My friends and I rode B-rank Birds to the Temple of Janpani, northeast of the Imperial Capital of the Bakius Empire.
I also gave a cursory explanation of my summons to Foreign Minister Nukakai.
In the future, I planned to use my summons to move around and conquer dungeons in the Bakius Empire.
It seemed that Foreign Minister Nukakai had little information about me and my summons, but he only had heard little things.
However, I was told to refrain from sending out summons in the city, but otherwise it was fine.
I was somewhat surprised, as he was not as surprised as Rosenheim had been.
I didn't show him my summons on the spot, but I wondered if the lack of reaction had something to do with the Golems of the Bakius Empire.
He probably thought that my summons weren't stronger than their Golems so he didn't necessarily care.
Perhaps it was the comfort of a country that prided itself on being the strongest in the world.
Normally, Cecile and I rode together, but I was with Merle that day.
"Then you're a Noble."
"Yeah, I tried!"
Merle, who looked like a girl but refers to herself in the first person as "I,"(Boku) talked about what happened after she left us with a big smile on her face.
(TLN: Boku is a pronoun used by boys.)
When she was at the Academy, Merle was somewhat unsure of herself, but now she was full of energy, probably because she was able to play such an active role in the war.
Merle was able to become an honorary Baron after the war.
She was the same as Kurena.
Apparently, it was customary to make honorary Nobles out of those with Talents equivalent to 3 stars, such as Master Swordsman and Saint.
Normally, one would become a Noble after they graduate from the Academy, but since there was a large-scale war, Kurena and Merle became Nobles because of war merits.
I felt that it was also a measure to prevent countries from losing Talented people from their own countries.
(Merle's 3-star Talent is a fact, but she sold the [Mana Seed]s to the Empire in the middle of the war, so her skills aren't quite up to par. She's already at Level 60, though.)
Merle did not receive any Skill Experience when she was going around the dungeons during her time at the Academy.
It was because Merle could only learn skills using Golems.
She served in the war against the Demon King's army as a Golem Soldier, so she was able to earn Skill Experience, but she hadn't reached their Level cap.
I thought it was because she had given the [Mana Seed]s to the Bakius Empire, as if she used them all for herself, she would have probably reached the Skill Level cap.
[Name] Merle
[Age] 14
[Talent] Magic Rock General
[Level] 60
[Power] 1677 + 900
[Mana] 2420 + 900
[Attack] 782 + 900
[Endurance] 1318 + 900
[Agility] 782
[Intelligence] 2420
[Luck] 1503
[Skill] Magic Rock General <4>, Rocket Arm <4>, Piercing Fist <4>, Light-flux Sword <4>, Alloy <1>, Spearmanship <3, Shield Art <3>
[Extra] Combination (Right Arm)
Skill Levels
[Flying Arm] 4
[Piercing Fist] 4
[Light-flux Sword] 4
Skill Experience
[Flying arm] 430/10,000 0
[Piercing fist] 550/10,000
[Light-flux Sword] 280/10,000
And Merle's status as I saw in the Grimoire had increased by 900 in each of her four statuses, just like Kurena when she was a Master Swordsman.
(Her overall status has increased quite a bit, but her [Attack] hasn't. Merle's fight is still predicated on getting a Golem. Piercing Fist is a drill punch? It kind of makes my heart flutter.)
We could get Golem parts in the S-class dungeon.
Obviously, the attack-oriented skills using Golem were making me excited.
In the Grimoire, I record what I wanted to get in the S-class dungeon.
Collecting parts for Merle's Golem
Orichalcum weapons and armor
Items that increase one's status by 1000 or more
Useful magic tools
We could find many useful items in the S-class dungeon that were not available in the A-class dungeons or at auction.
I wanted to update our equipment and other things at once.
The Hero Helmios had also told us that we would be able to get the magical tools we needed for our adventures.
"You met the Hero Helmios in Rosenheim?"
"Oh, Merle. The Hero man was the same as ever. Speaking of which, after the celebration of winning the war in the Giamut Empire is over, he's coming to conquer the dungeon."
Helmios, who was giving me some advice on conquering the S-class dungeon, changed his Talent from a Hero to a Hero King, and his level was reduced to 1.
In addition to leveling up, Helmios also said that he and his friends would attack the S-class dungeon.
"Oh, Helmios is coming too? I didn't know that you were close to Helmios."
Merle was impressed with me.
"No, we're not close."
It had been a while since I had a conversation with Merle, and with a lunch break in between, we went to the S-class dungeon.
We had finished our lunch and were flying further when I felt something strange.
After some time, something strange appeared in front of me.
That something that appeared in front of my eyes made me feel like my eyes weren't working properly, or like I was looking at a picture where the perspective wasn't quite right for a little while.
"That's it, right?"
"Yes!"
"Isn't it kind of big?"
I said honestly what I was thinking.
"Yeah, I can't see the top of the tower."
Merle, riding in the back, said as she peered over my shoulder.
(Well, I knew it was a dungeon in the shape of a tower because it's called the Tower of Trials, but it's nothing like the dungeons in Academy City.)
My question wasn't wrong.
We were on the backs of B-rank Bird, flying in the sky.
I was with my friends a few kilometers up in the sky, but I could see a tower that was reaching for the sky a little while ago.
It seemed to be completely different from the style of dungeon that we used to conquer when we were in Academy City.
In the Academy City dungeon, I remembered moving from one room in an apartment-like building to a dungeon with several layers of time and space.
It was a dungeon that could be called another dimension, so it could be said that the building was not that big.
I looked up to the sky, but I had no idea how high it was because the tower went past the clouds.
And the width of the tower felt thicker than the Imperial Capital of the Bakius Empire.
"Huh? Where's the Temple of Janpani? All I can see is the Tower of Trials."
The S-class dungeon was clearly visible to me.
The Tower of Trials was the pride and joy of the Bakius Empire, an S-class dungeon.
However, I couldn't see the Temple of Janpani, which enshrined the Dungeon Master named Digragni.
"I heard that the Temple of Janpani is on the first floor of the Tower of Trials!"
Merle knew that we were going to conquer the S-class dungeon when the war was over, and had been gathering information from her seniors and superiors on the battlefield during the war.
"Seriously, the S-class dungeon and the Temple of Janpani are all in the same giant tower?"
The S-class dungeon stretches from the desolate earth to the heavens, and was dozens of times larger than the World Tree we saw in Rosenheim.
My friends and I gasped at how gigantic the tower was, wondering how something like that could be made.
"..."
In the midst of all that, only the Spirit God riding on Sophie's shoulders was staring at the huge tower with a stern gaze.
