Tsutomu managed to narrow down the list of candidates to eight — two higher than he had hoped, but in the end, he made plans to meet up with all of them. And so he went to meet one person per day, talking with them over meals in restaurants where they could hold casual conversations without difficulty.
As it turned out, however, most of them tried to be perfectly inoffensive while interacting with him. After all, they knew that they were practically in a job interview. Conversations with four of the Tank-role Explorers ended with him deciding not to recruit any of them.
[…Maybe I should have just let that guy in.]
On his first day of these interviews, Tsutomu had been disappointed by the extremely self-confident Paladin, but thinking about it now, perhaps he would have been a good choice. He seemed to have some quirks in regards to how he wielded his abilities, but that could apply to anybody, in-game and in reality.
Besides, the way all the other Tank candidates talked seemed to show that they felt inferior to the Clan’s famous members. Indeed, all of Absolute Helix’s members were quite well-known in town by now, including future members Garm and Amy — and as such, the candidates seemed like they would be perfectly satisfied with landing a spot in the secondary team.
Tsutomu’s first party, well-known in the dungeoneering scene for spreading awareness for the three-role team composition, had allowed Garm to show off a great deal of potential during their Fire Dragon battle, which in turn rapidly popularized the concept of Tanking. Since then, Healers had stopped being treated as disposable, and Knight-type Jobs had found their usefulness as Tanks, resulting in the now-popular tactics for efficient battles.
The Tanks, previously unable to work as anything more than luggage carriers, had capitalized on the changing trends, making their way into more and more parties. There were still some who felt inferior to Attackers, however, as apparent in the behaviors of some of the Tanks Tsutomu had talked to.
The over-the-top Paladin, on the other hand, had shown no signs of being that way. According to his provided background, he had grown tired of being a luggage carrier, so he joined up with a Clan made up of similarly disgruntled Tanks and made ends meet by writing third-party articles for newspapers. As of now, Tsutomu thought he would actually make a fine addition to the Clan.
As for the Channeler, she was a member of the decently well-regarded Clan of White Strike Wings. As seen on the Monitors beforehand, she seemed to be the most skillful among her peers, and after getting to talk to her, she turned out to be well-behaved and not at all problematic. As such, the decision to accept her was made right on the spot.
Then came the day of the last candidate. The meeting was set to be at a coffee shop particularly popular among the townspeople. Tsutomu left the Clan House at an appropriate time, but the other person was already waiting for him by the time he arrived.
The Spiritualist had been a member of Amira’s old Clan. She had long, glossy green hair — it went below her shoulders, but not as long as Amira’s in her current getup. The length perhaps would be around the same as Amira’s if she had not adjusted it by tying it back at the top.
“Hello, I’m Tsutomu. Nice to meet you.”
“Likewise. My name is Leleia.”
From the green scales on her neck and the back of her hands, she was undoubtedly a Dragonewt. Although Tsutomu had already gotten a general idea of her appearance beforehand from the documents, he could not help but be surprised by the similarities between her and Amira in certain aspects.
Leleia bowed, then the two went into the coffee shop and chose a table where they could sit facing each other. First impressions suggested that she was polite and quite normal, personality-wise. She had the face of the serious, no-nonsense type, and was somewhat stiff in how she expressed herself. According to her profile, she was seventeen years old, one year older than Amira.
[Now that I think about it, I’m still the second oldest guy in our Clan, huh…]
Diniel was naturally the oldest, while Daryl and Amira were sixteen, and Hannah was seventeen. Garm and Amy were also younger than Tsutomu, despite how they looked.
Tsutomu ordered some drinks, took out a stack of documents from his Magic Bag, and proceeded to read through them again. Then, after asking Leleia about her layer progression and how Spiritualists worked in general, he got down to business.
“I see you’re with Ealdred Crow’s secondary party, Leleia. Surely you have a great deal of potential to work with, especially considering your numerical level — and I think you have a good shot at being promoted to the main party. So why did you apply to join Absolute Helix, if I may ask?”
“My main reason was the Clan’s victory on the seventieth layer. After witnessing that achievement on the Pedestal, I was convinced that Absolute Helix would become the best Clan eventually,” Leleia said, her expression overly subdued like a knight; she did not seem to be lying.
“You think so?”
In the Guild’s general character evaluation, Leleia had been described as extremely serious — and due to what had been shown on the Monitors, she was indeed known for her professional, no-nonsense mannerisms.
“And you used to be a member of Amira’s Clan, yes?”
Upon being asked so, Leleia’s thin eyebrows subtly twitched, but her reply was not at all delayed.
“I was. Why?”
A hint of disgust had flashed in Leleia’s eyes upon hearing Amira’s name. Having noticed that, Tsutomu was unsure how he should proceed. In terms of pure abilities, she was a candidate he would like to immediately accept, but things could go south fast if conflicts were to arise between her and Amira.
“I’d like to hear your perspective on your time there, if you don’t mind.”
“…She was strong, but severely lacking in leadership. That is all I have to say. You are aware that that Clan is now defunct, yes?”
“Well, yes.”
“I do not like her by any stretch, but being in the same Clan as her is a non-issue for me. I will be sure not to cause any trouble, even if we must operate in the same party sometimes down the line.”
“All right. Now, how about your time with Ealdred Crow–“
Tsutomu proceeded to talk with Leleia more, mixing in a good chunk of idle chatter between the relevant topics; the meeting lasted three more hours before they went their separate ways.
――▽▽――
Tsutomu spent the rest of the so-called off-activities days taking measurements to prepare for the new equipment, giving interviews, and making plans with Ollies to hire more managers. In the meantime, Amira and Daryl went to train with Camille and Garm, respectively.
Garm was training Daryl with the intention of whipping him back into shape after that disgraceful display on layer seventy, but was half-disappointed, half-relieved to see that Daryl was performing surprisingly well. In fact, the boy seemed to have already gotten back on his feet and into a better mental state than before.
After they were done with running, skill control, and other basics, they were about to go down the Dungeon when they heard two familiar voices coming toward them.
“C’mon, I’ve made time to train with you, so at least let me have a bit of fun.”
“But I don’t wanna…”
They were Camille, with a troubled look on her face, and Amira, blatantly against whatever her mother was asking her to do. These two looked so alike when standing side by side, so it was easy to tell that they were of the same family. Before long, Camille noticed Garm and Daryl; she proceeded to chat with them, and her eyes sparkled upon learning that they had plans to explore the Dungeon.
“Hey, nice timing. We’re about to do some exploring as well. How about we go together?”
“Yes, of course. We’d have one free slot — we ought to bring in a Healer, if possible.”
“Right. I’ll find us one.”
With that, Camille went to see if there were any unoccupied staff members; after a while, she came back with a receptionist lady whose Job was White Mage, who had jumped at the invitation the moment she heard that she would be working with Daryl. The five of them proceeded to register their party and agreed on exploring the Volcano layers.
“Nice to meet you,” Camille said to Daryl in particular.
“Y-yes, ma’am! Nice to meet you, too!!” The boy replied while shrinking back in fear, what with him getting to interact so informally with the Guild Master.
Seeing that, Amira grumbled out of frustration, “Tch, talk about overreacting…”
The beautiful receptionist lady let out a dry chuckle before proceeding to speak up,
“This is my first time teaming up with you two, so first of all, let’s have a little meeting.”
The Healer receptionist proceeded to discuss strategy with Daryl and Amira, deciding on what to generally do in the case someone died and what kind of support spells she would cast. After that, the team agreed on going to layer sixty-three to gain some experience points and gather materials.
This was Camille’s first run in a five-person party in a good while, and it involved two teacher-student pairs; Amira and Daryl were feeling quite motivated. Camille herself was eager to go, too, as it had been long since she last explored the Dungeon with her daughter. Garm, on the other hand, seemed indifferent as usual. The receptionist smiled, happy to see the Guild Master show some excitement. After a little more small talk in line, the team then used a Magic Circle to teleport to the sixty-third layer.
And so they spent some time in the dungeon, killing monsters and collecting materials by digging for ore. Camille had the ability to use her <<Dragon Form>> while retaining control of her consciousness, so she was practically a perfect version of Amira. Garm was a Knight, so unlike Daryl, he could move around with relative ease, and he was tactically flexible thanks to having experience working as an Attacker.
Camille and Garm’s moves were helpful to their respective students as a reference, so it could be considered a fortunate coincidence that this party had been formed. Still, both Daryl and Amira seemed to show some subtle dissatisfaction during the fights.
Support skill effects occasionally ran out, no one ever got any <<Medic>> casts, and sometimes the Healer’s skills accidentally hit the monsters instead. The receptionist lady’s performance was less than ideal, especially in Daryl’s opinion. After one of the battles, Daryl wondered whether or not he should say something about it, but then Amira went ahead and said what was on her mind,
“No offense, but Tsutomu is totally way better at this.”
“…I know — but that’s not exactly a fair comparison. Do you have anything more specific you’d like to point out, anyway?” The receptionist asked Amira, having no idea what else to say to the girl’s remark.
Amira stuck her greatsword into the ground, leaned her arm on its handle, and proceeded to try and explain,
“Well, like, there’s that blue thing you shoot — I’ll feel like a sack of bricks if I go too long without it. Messes with my senses.”
“Ah, <<Haste>>. All right — I’ll try not to let it run out. But Amira, you should adjust how you act a little, too. Honestly, you’re… difficult to follow when you move around however you please like that.”
“Oh? You think so?”
Seeing Amira’s furrowed brows, the receptionist frowned a little.
“I’ve gotten to team up with the Guild Master and Garm pretty often, so they’re easy to work with, but this is my first time with you, so things are bound to not be perfect, really. I’ll try to fix my flaws, but it won’t work out if you don’t as well.”
“…Well, that’s fair, I guess? Sorry. Also, if I use my <<Dragon Form>>–“
“Absolutely not. I know I definitely can’t land my skills on you while you’re transformed — especially in battle.”
Tsutomu’s trick to disengaging Amira’s <<Dragon Form>> involved placing <<Medic>> pick-ups in the predicted paths of her movement, which was extremely difficult to replicate. Perhaps the receptionist could also manage that if she concentrated, but it was impossible to pull off during battle since she had many other things to manage. Since Amira could not yet disengage her <<Dragon Form>> by herself, it was naturally difficult for it to be useful without Tsutomu’s help.
After getting to talk with Amira and reaching a mutual agreement to work together better, the receptionist excitedly turned to Daryl. She had always been curious about the boy behind Garm, and had even become a fan of his after he joined Absolute Helix and made a good show of his abilities. Needless to say, she was happy to have gotten to party up with Daryl today.
“Do you have anything you’d like to point out, Daryl?” She asked, her voice quite non-subtly flirtatious.
“Um, quite a lot, actually… Where do I even start?” Daryl said straight out, causing the receptionist to freeze over.
“……”
For a while, Daryl looked at her with a straight face, wondering what was wrong — And then he was utterly horrified upon realizing exactly what he had just said.
“Ah!! Sorry! I’m so sorry!! I shouldn’t have said that!”
“That much, huh… Hahaha…” The receptionist mumbled as if she was being possessed by a ghost as Daryl tried all he could to apologize to her. Then she gradually regained her sanity each time she heard Daryl’s voice.
“This is the first time working together, so it’s bound to happen!”
“Y-you think…?”
“Yes! We got to get some extra practice in anyway, so it’s all good!”
“So we need more practice because I’m not up to snuff…”
“No no no! That’s not it! It’s that thing you said earlier — you know, I think I have a tendency to move around however I please, too! I’ll try to adjust myself, is what I meant!”
“Boy, you need to work on your choice of words…” Garm heaved a sigh, frustrated by Daryl’s shoddy attempt at salvaging the conversation.
After a while, the receptionist somehow managed to recover her mental state, and the exploration continued.
“…And so, if you have the time to spare, please see if you can cast <<Medic>> for us.”
“All right.”
The receptionist had retired as a full-time Explorer, but before then, she had been in a Clan that managed to defeat the Shell Crab — not to mention that she was at level 70 due to her current line of work. The more she got to fight, the more she was accustomed to supporting and healing the party.
However, she still was having a hard time juggling everything — including but not limited to estimating the remaining time of each support effect, managing aggro, and handing out instructions. This time, the two Tanks were so good that they never got hurt too much, but if one of them were to collapse, the Healer would not be able to keep up with the situation.
“<<Defensive>>.”
Up until recently, Daryl had been fighting the same way as Garm, but now he was using more of his Heavy Knight skills. Amira had also started to use her skills more actively, too, after seeing how Golden Tune’s Greatsword Fighter in action.
And both of them were trying their best to cooperate with the receptionist. Daryl had been getting better and better as he not only followed other people’s instructions, but also planned things for himself. Amira had not gotten to work properly with those outside her usual groups before, so her performance was fairly awkward, though she was trying her best.
Before Amira’s big change, she never would have tried to cooperate with her allies, but now she was doing all she could to accommodate the receptionist whom she had never worked with before. Seeing this, Camille was almost moved to tears, considering how her daughter had never really done this with the usual Absolute Helix either due to Tsutomu adjusting himself to her instead of the other way around.
“Looks like we didn’t need to worry about them so much, eh?”
“Yes, I suppose…”
Garm nodded. Daryl had learned everything Garm had to teach him, and was now working on his own strategies through trial and error. For a moment, Garm felt lonely — as if he was a bird whose child had left the nest — but then he turned around and tapped the ground with his tail.
