After entrusting the mission to everyone, I was left alone in the floating cottage. Feeling glum, I watched the sea, sighing to myself.
“Chirp! Ren, go! Ren, go!”
Worried, my boy Draco flew over to me.
Awww. What a sweet little dragon he is, caring about his master.
I held him in my arms and petted his little head.
“Heh, thanks. I’m doing my best, Draco.”
Still, I let out another sigh. Things couldn’t always go as planned. At times like this, I needed to bench myself for the good of the team.
Though I believed in my decision to back off for Akira’s sake, it still felt all wrong! What I really wanted to do was to gallantly defeat the Hadean Rose and win the Rainbow Guard for her.
I wasn’t one of those guys who offered up everything to Hime-chans, though. I just wanted to look cool.
That said, I couldn’t just sit here sighing away like a loser. Since I’d sent them off to do the dirty work, I figured I should do something productive too.
“But the question is, what?”
Maybe I ought to go gather intel at Homura’s Item Museum again? Or return to the game stands and get in line? Emily is still on top, so maybe I ought to come forward as a challenger.
Otherwise, I could also go visit the Island Bunnies for more testing. Not that it has to be them, but just for the sake of any testing that might help us in the future. After all, even if we beat the Hadean Rose with the Super Special Warp Stone, we don’t know what might come after.
I still couldn’t shake the feeling that I just wasn’t suited for Aswarth’s, though. Each floor had its own condition to open the way, but having the ability to kill a ton of enemies quickly was a common requirement. For example, a gate might require you to kill all the enemies on a floor or defeat a certain number of waves of undead.
It was a little late to say this, but I just didn’t do well in those situations.
Using my ultimate moves on small-fry enemies was just pointless overkill. Activating my expensive attacks over and over for no good reason meant losing my Money Power too fast to make up for. Between every single ultimate, I would have to craft new weapons and wait for the cooldown of Final Strike, the thing that allowed me to craft the weapons to begin with.
Final Strike’s cooldown time could be skipped if I had a sword dancer use Sword Samba, but that meant using up the sword dancer’s AP. In a battle against several smaller enemies, it would be a lot faster for them to just attack normally.
Avoiding my ultimates because they were overkill just widened the performance gap, though.
My new magic, the Elemental Circle, added elemental damage to each normal attack. But instead of using my MP, it used the MP of the person benefiting from it. The dark circle specifically absorbed HP and increased maximum HP if there was any overflow, while the light circle did the same with MP.
Because it used up MP with each strike, it could interfere with allies if not used carefully. Yet if there was a light circle or some other MP recovery method, it could be a useful support ability.
At this point in time, I didn’t have a way to secure any circles other than dark. Thanks to us being in Summertide, we could at least use the yukatas that made up for its deficit.
But if that was all I could do, then throwing a rogue like Kataoka into the fray to just smack things around and throw out powerful arts would make for a smoother run. It was like upgrading from “useless supporter who can’t keep up with the party” to “slightly useful guy.”
Killing tanky, high-HP enemies and bosses in one hit was the symbologist drama cannon’s reason for being, but it seemed the Hadean Rose didn’t quite get the memo on that one.
If the devs meant for us to use Super Special Warp Stones to defeat bosses in battles of attrition, then what if future bosses were the same way? I would be completely useless!
Usually, it wasn’t a problem for me to take enemies down at my own pace. In a competition, however—and one we couldn’t afford to lose, at that—I needed to be taken out for the sake of efficiency.
“I guess that means... I need to find a way to fix myself.”
I didn’t want to be on the bench forever! It was time for me to set out. Akira and the others could take care of the Hadean Rose, no problem.
“All right! Let’s take a walk, Draco!”
“Chirp! Ren happy!”
“Yeah! I can’t just sit around and be bummed out forever. We’ve gotta go on a hunt.”
Just as I headed for the entrance of the cottage, however, I ran into a familiar face.
“Baaawk! Ren, are you around, bawk?!”
Oh, it’s Kokoru! He looks pretty upset.
“I’m right here. What’s the matter, bud?”
“Oh, Ren! Thank goodness you’re here, bawk!”
“Chirp! Chicken, chicken!”
Draco flapped over to Kokoru and started chomping on his head. He loved giving the guy little nibbles.
“Bagawk?! Why do you always do this, bawk?! Don’t prey on meee!”
As usual, I had to get between them or we’d never make progress. It happened every single time.
“So, what’s up? Did you need me?”
“Yeah, bawk! You’ve gotta help me, bawk!”
“Sure, but what happened?”
“Th-There’s big trouble at my house! It’s like a den of monsters now!”
“Huh?! How did that happen?!”
“They did it all for me, bawk!”
“What do you mean?”
“Thanks to your help, I’m a knight of Mishuria now, bawk. My pops was real happy, and so were my momma and my brothers. I was doing my best, bawk!”
“Yeah, of course. You look more like a knight now too.”
Kokoru was wearing a suit of armor, but since he was so fat and round, it looked comical and cute instead of cool and imposing. Silly as he looked, though, Kokoru had topped the hero-raising event from a while back. That event had been a pretense for us to help develop the people who would shoulder Mishuria’s future.
Afterward, Kokoru had returned home, where he was knighted. It had been a big deal, and I’d been prouder than ever.
I’d brag to all the world, “I raised that boy!”
“So what does that have to do with your house being a den of monsters?”
“You know the way I fight, bawk. I can’t fight on my own, so I’ve gotta use Golden Sweets to hire monsters to fight for me, bawk.”
“Oh, I see. I think I know where this is going!”
According to Kokoru, his father had started wrangling monsters in hopes of helping him fight. After that, they started going wild and taking control of the place.
“Then it spiraled out of control, huh?”
“That’s right, bawk! One of the monsters my pops brought home was a real crazy one, bawk!”
I get it. Kokoru’s dad tried to help him, but it ended up making things worse. Y’know, maybe this is partly my fault? After all, I raised that boy.
If I hadn’t emphasized the Golden Sweets strategy and made Kokoru successful enough to become a knight, none of this would have happened. I should probably take some responsibility for this and help him out.
“Bawk, I know you’re busy with the Aswarth’s stuff, but I really need a hand! Please help me, bawk!”
“Don’t worry about that, Kokoru. I’ll help you out! Let’s go to your house!”
“Bawk! Thank you, bawk! I feel so much better with you around!”
“Aww, c’mon. I’m not that—”
Ding-dong! Ding-dong!
Suddenly, I got a system notification! A message appeared along with it.
Limited Quest “Drama at the Kokoru Family Home!” has begun!
Ooh, a limited quest! Limited to only our guild, that is.
“Well, let’s get to it! Sorry you’re stuck with just me and Draco, though.”
“Bawk? I don’t mind, but where are the girls, bawk?”
“Well, they’re off at Aswarth’s.”
“Huh?! Why aren’t you with them? I’m glad you’re here, bawk, but...”
“I’m just not part of the strat this time, that’s all. Sucks, but I’m no good against this boss, so I’m stuck here at home. Heh.”
“Bawk... D-Don’t be sad, bawk! Ren, you’re not all big damage! You taught me how to fight too! You’re smart, bawk, and that’s what really matters!”
“Hahaha! Sorry for making you worry, Kokoru. I’m fine, so let’s get going!”
I patted Kokoru on the back, and we left the cottage. I didn’t mind being asked for help while I stared wistfully at the sea. It was nice to feel needed, after all.
This quest was limited to our guild alone, so it was the perfect time to change my frame of mind and kick some butt!