Called over by Ollie, Tsutomu went up to his room, where the former placed the letter in her hands on his desk.
“It’s for me?”
“Yes. It is from Master Brooklyn Kantjelucia, addressed to you, Mister Tsutomu.”
“Brooklyn… who?”
“Brooklyn Kantjelucia… Would you like me to remind you who he is?”
“Yes, please. I’m afraid I’ve never heard of him.”
For a moment, Ollie looked as if she could not believe what Tsutomu had just said, but she quickly composed herself and proceeded to explain,
“Master Brooklyn is the head of House Kentjelucia, widely referred to as the oldest lineage among the long-standing nobility of this nation. Much like House Babenberg which oversees the Dungeon City, they are renowned for their proficiency in defensive magic. In fact, their skills are said to rival those of House Babenberg, and the King has entrusted them with the protection of the Royal Capital.”
“I see.”
“…The letter is still sealed. You must open it yourself, Mister Tsutomu.”
“I have a bad feeling about this,” Tsutomu said, seeing that Ollie’s hand was shaking when she passed him the letter.
Tsutomu proceeded to unseal the envelope and read through the contents, and as it turned out, it was nothing complicated.
“Wow, this is scary.”
The neatly written words on the page conveyed a polite tone, but the message itself, on the other hand, was far from friendly. It could be summarized as follows: Refusing the summons to the Royal Capital was out of the question. An envoy would be sent in two days, so comply with the summons to the Royal Capital.
It was clear from the letter that the previous rejection of the Royal Capital’s summons, which had been conveyed through House Babenberg, had rubbed someone the wrong way, as evident from the sharp language used. Even the Magic Stones that had been delivered alongside the letter, while of exceptional quality, were all red, quite non-subtly symbolizing the sender’s anger.
Tsutomu collected the Magic Stones and carefully folded the letter into an origami shuriken before tossing it into the trash can. It landed without a hitch, showcasing the quality of the paper used.
“……”
Ollie watched Tsutomu’s action with a look of disbelief, then approached the trash can and picked up the letter before asking,
“…Um, and your response…?”
“I’ll visit House Babenberg tomorrow to make a report about this.”
“I-I see… Yes, that would be for the best,” Ollie said and left the room, a fearful expression sticking to her face after witnessing Tsutomu so casually discard the letter.
Once Ollie was out of sight, Tsutomu proceeded to heave a deep sigh.
[What a drag…]
Now that the Royal Capital’s side was doing this themselves, Tsutomu could no longer simply stay in the Dungeon City. Furthermore, if the Royal Capital were to actually be destroyed by the Stampede, it would undoubtedly affect the Dungeon City’s operations. As such, Tsutomu knew that complying with the summons to the Royal Capital was the safest option.
Still, the fact still stood that he did not want to risk his life for the people of this world. The previous time, he had only fought for the sake of his friends — Amy, Garm, Camille, and the apothecary Elf lady. He had no desire to provide support and healing in an environment where even a stray arrow or energy blast could kill him out of nowhere.
However, now that House Kantjelucia, responsible for guarding the Royal Capital, had gone out of the way to summon him specifically, it seemed he had no choice but to comply. Nevertheless, as Tsutomu had no attachment to the people of the Royal Capital, whom he did not even know, he slouched in his chair with an exhausted expression.
While contemplating the possibilities of his future on his own, Tsutomu suddenly thought,
[Well, I should hop into the bath or something…]
Abandoning his thoughts, Tsutomu left his room and walked down the fairly long hallway to the men’s bath on the second floor. At this time, neither Garm nor Daryl would be using it yet, making him the first to go in today.
“Yah-ho!”
“…What are you doing?”
“What’s it look like, Teach!? This is… my… training!”
“That’s right, Tsutomu!”
Hannah and Amy approached him, hopping with one leg raised, supposedly in the middle of training. Whatever this training was for, Tsutomu had no idea — but it did remind him of some martial arts poses.
After looking at them hopping away, Tsutomu reached for the knob of the door to the changing room. Before opening it, however, he noticed that someone was already inside. Discreetly opening the door, he peered inside and then let out a heavy sigh.
[Damn it, Amira…]
Judging by the underwear left inside the changing room, Tsutomu deduced that it was Amira occupying the bath. Although he had been trying to use the bath before anyone else each day, so as to avoid the fur shedded by Garm and Daryl, he had been finding himself missing out often recently.
Xeno, who would occasionally stay at the Clan House, would also be the quickest to bathe — but Tsutomu could tolerate him. Missing the first bath because Garm and Daryl had gone in ahead of him was fine as well, at least to an extent. When it came to Amira and Diniel, however, he would find it awkward — as they sometimes would avoid going downstairs to use the women’s bathroom there, opting for the second-floor bath instead.
The women’s bathroom on the first floor was even better equipped and highly praised by the other women of this Clan — even the bath connoisseur Hannah. But despite that, Amira and Diniel would often opt for the convenience of bathing on the second floor. Their tendency to do this ended up frustrating Tsutomu, as well as Daryl, quite a bit.
Whenever Tsutomu tried to warn Amira not to do this, she would invite him to join her, while Diniel simply did not listen to him. Although their frequency of doing this had decreased recently thanks to Ollie’s efforts, Tsutomu was not so lucky today, and as such, he descended the stairs and slumped onto the living room sofa in frustration.
▽▽
The following morning, Tsutomu made his way to the Babenberg estate, handed over the letter from House Kantjelucia, and provided a summary of its contents. Leaving behind the gatekeepers, who were bewildered the instant they saw the crest on the letter’s envelope, Tsutomu continued on to the Guild.
As promised the previous day, Tsutomu, along with Daryl, Hannah, Amira, and Leleia, formed a party and descended into the Dungeon. This time, they were going to the seventy-fourth layer, both to assess their strength and to earn gold by collecting Ice Magic Stones.
“So… we can consider this ‘Flame Attack’ of yours a Magic Fist move, right?”
“No! Flame Attack is Flame Attack!”
“Okay, okay, fine. Let me ask something else, then — why did it blow you up like that?”
Considering the fact that Hannah had held a Large Fire Magic Stone, it was undoubtedly a Magic Fist technique. Its power might not be on Melchor’s level, but it had still displayed a tremendous explosion. Therefore, it was sufficiently practical — in a sense.
“Hmm, well… The Magic Fist involves damaging a Magic Stone and drawing out the energy from the cracks… Well, at least I think that’s how it works…?”
“…Yes? And?”
Tsutomu contained his urge to call out Hannah’s inability to grasp things despite Melchor’s instruction, allowing her to continue.
“And then you’re supposed to carefully focus that energy onto your hands or feet, but I couldn’t do that. So, instead, I let the energy circulate throughout my whole body! That’s how I learned to release the energy properly!”
“Yeah, ‘properly,’ by getting yourself killed?”
“Exactly!”
Hannah spread her blue-feathered wings wide on her back and gave a thumbs-up. Tsutomu, on the other hand, sighed heavily at Hannah’s complete lack of fear about the prospect of death.
“Lemme show you what it looks like up close!”
“No need for that. I already saw it through the Pedestal.”
“C’mon, seeing it for real’s gotta have a bigger impact than through a screen!” Hannah emphasized her point like a photographer.
“No, really. Don’t.”
Tsutomu pushed away Hannah’s head as the latter approached him. He then turned to Leleia and said,
“By the way, Leleia, you’re letting Amira form a <<Contract>> with the Sylph, right?”
“Yes. Her compatibility with the Spirits is as high as yours, Tsutomu, so I figured that she would find them useful.”
“Well, that’s true,” Tsutomu chuckled, seeing that Leleia was somehow being as pushy about her own as Hannah was about hers.
In the Light and Darkness layers that they were about to challenge, Leleia’s ability to use the Spirits’ magic had a high likelihood of being useful — both during the exploration process and against the ninetieth layer’s boss monster.
Tsutomu’s outstanding affinity with the Spirits was perhaps due to him being someone brought into this world by God. In addition to the increase in various stats, his bond with Leleia allowed him to consume her mental energy while being able to utilize the Spirits’ magic. The Undine, who could raise mental power, was particularly valuable for Healers as it also absorbed monster attacks automatically using its resilient body.
The Salamander was useful as a secondary damage dealer, and the Sylph could carry out the role of a supporting Tank when needed. While the Gnome was not particularly needed for its parameter enhancement, its ability to manifest as an Earth-elemental body might be useful down the line, as it could somewhat act as a sixth member of the team.
As such, making Leleia a part of his team was a decision quite worth considering. Another major factor in this was Tsutomu’s strong affinity with the Spirits. However, even without that, Leleia’s ability to use the Spirits’ magic alone made her a top candidate.
“…Yeah, you guys plan out the complicated stuff. I’mma do things the simple way!”
In response to their discussion, Amira lifted her greatsword as if to show it off, then struck down a Snow Wolf that had been hiding nearby. This marked the beginning of the team’s battle against the monsters.
“<<Dragon Form>> and… <<Power Slash>>!!”
Amira, now transformed, unfurled her wings on her back and violently swung her greatsword. The impact sent a flurry of snow into the air, revealing a pack of Snow Wolves beneath it. Amira proceeded to relentlessly cut them down as they lunged at her.
Amira used to rely solely on her <<Power Slash>> skill for attacks, but she had changed after observing how other Attackers fought. Now, her approach to combat had significantly diversified. After using all the skills at her disposal, her pattern rotated back to using the <<Power Slash>> again.
At a glance, her actions might seem roundabout, but it was anything but. Previously, she had no choice but to use that one skill — as it had been the only thing she could reliably pull off — but now, thanks to intensive training with everything, Amira had access to a wide range of options. This flexibility enhanced her combat style, making her far more versatile than her previous one-dimensional approach.
Moreover, she had learned to control her <<Dragon Form>>, which used to simply drive her berserk before; now her level of control was comparable to that of Camille’s. She had developed stronger wings and even the ability to breathe fire from her mouth like a Fire Dragon.
Ever since she had not been chosen as a member of the ‘primary’ team for the previous boss battle, Amira’s confidence had been shattered into pieces. From then on, she had begun to put in more effort than before. That, added on top of her unique skill, <<Dragon Form>>, made her an even better Attacker than ever before.
[Now all she needs is to be more cooperative… Yeah, I don’t see any other particular flaws,] Tsutomu thought to himself as he watched Amira, her eyes sober and calculating despite her being in the transformed state, battling the monsters.
He found Amira’s remarkable growth highly favorable, and considered her a valuable addition to the clan, even if he were to disregard her status as Camille’s daughter.
“<<Combat Cry>>!”
Daryl, too, had managed to change Tsutomu’s initial perception of him being a lesser version of Garm, especially after their battle against the Mount Golem. Thanks to the unique equipment of the Heavy Knight Job and guidance from Xeno on how to use <<Combat Cry>>, he had gained a great deal of influence within the community.
[Hmm… Now, what to do about the ninetieth layer’s boss…]
Hannah had acquired the ability to use Magic Fist — despite the drawback of it being a self-destruct button. Daryl had gained influence through the proving of his strength. Amira had grown as an Attacker. Leleia could handle long and short-ranged combat with the Spirits’ magic.
All of them were strong in their own right. However, when it came to facing the boss monster on the ninetieth layer, they were likely to have limited information, so Tsutomu’s decision would have to take that into account. Tsutomu had no choice but to contemplate his choices while observing the four engaging the monsters.
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