Chapter 21

CHAPTER 2 Reliable Supporters Part I: A Meeting in the Workshop I met back up with everyone, and we left Boutique Corleone where I saw three men I recognized. It was the three-member party Triceratops that had watched our fight with Silvanus the Enchanter’s Messenger from a distance. Their leader, the bearded guy, waved weakly when they saw me. Elitia noticed the wave since she was walking in the front. She turned back to me and said, “Arihito, those people…” “Oh, right, I’ll go say hi. I also want to ask about what the Alliance is up to.” They seemed like they wanted to talk as well, and the leader walked over to meet me halfway. He shrugged with a pained smile in my direction. “You don’t look very well. What happened?” I asked. “Well… It’s sort of our own fault. The main party said we were out if we didn’t give them information on you lot. Well, the leaders were actually pretty forgiving about it, but we put our foot down and said we weren’t willing to do any more of their dirty work.” “…Oh, I’m sorry.” “Nah, no need to apologize. We always got treated worse since we were a group of three guys. We wouldn’t have joined if we’d known it was that kind of organization… But it’s poor form of me to complain.” Listening to what he was saying, I could only think of one person in the main party he could be referring to, and apparently my prediction was correct. “It’s that ass Gray. He joined the Alliance after us, but he just does whatever he wants. We were trying to contribute to the Alliance in our own way, but since he’s been in the main party, we’ve been treated like his servants. Why would Roland let someone like him in the main party…?” “I’ve met this Gray person once… It really is strange that he’s in the main party even though I’ve only gotten a bad impression of him.” “So you know Gray? The only thing he’s good at is words… But even though he might not be one of the warriors of the Alliance, he’s stronger than us. He’s a cunning man. Never let your guard down around him.” “Thanks for the advice. What are you going to do now?” “For now, we’re going to play it safe and go where we know we can beat the monsters. We plan on trying out some of the less popular labyrinths. We’re all right on living expenses thanks to you for buying those binoculars from us.” He showed me a pouch with gold in it and smiled. He was telling me not to pity them—that they would work hard at seeking. People like him always gave a good impression. “Oh, by the way… There was something I wanted to tell you. The leader of the Alliance is getting very close to getting the contribution points he needs. After that, they’re supposed to work on increasing the contribution points for the leaders of the other parties, but the leaders have directly ordered for contribution-point farming to end soon,” he continued. “Really… I was interested in how they were doing things.” “It’s simple. Keep out any parties not in the Alliance and get a group of Seekers to keep an eye on a number of locations where monsters appear. That way you can farm the most contribution points possible in a day in District Seven and do it safely, too. I have heard talk that if you do it too much, though, the contribution points for a crab will drop.” No matter how efficient it was, if you kept doing the same thing over and over to defeat the monsters, the crabs’ threat would go down and with it the contribution points they gave. There were very limited circumstances in which you could use this type of repetition to earn experience, and the fact that you earned less meant it wasn’t in line with the Guild’s intentions. “I know it’s not right of me to talk bad about an organization I belonged to up until now. Roland has just chosen a method for moving up to District Six safely, which I get, considering his past.” “I heard he once fell to the bottom ranks in District Seven due to illness…” “Yeah… That’ll give you a certain drive. We’re not really in a place to be giving you lot advice, but never let yourself get in a position where you’re forced to stop seeking for a long period of time.” “I’ll keep that in mind.” When I said that, the bearded man looked at me a little regretfully. “If you were the leader of a group like that, I’d be willing to join despite the bad experiences I’ve had with alliances.” “I—I mean… I haven’t exactly thought about making a group like that or anything.” “Ha-ha-ha, very well. But I really do think you’ve got what it takes. You’ve already managed to get the party members you did… Anyway, see you around,” he said and left. They say that even a chance encounter can lead to a strong bond, and in that vein, I hoped I’d be able to see him again somewhere. I watched as he walked away, until he turned down another street and was lost from view. Everyone else had been watching, but they now came over to me. Misaki smiled mischievously. “Arihito, you look sooo serious when you’re talking to another guy.” “M-Misaki…,” said Suzuna. “You’re making it sound like Arihito’s usually…” “It was a serious conversation, and I approached it with the appropriate amount of discipline. Does it not suit me?” “No, that’s not it. You’ve always been really good at handling people when you first met them. Not like me; I’m always shy around people I don’t know,” said Igarashi. “A-actually, Igarashi…I feel you’ve always been really open.” When Igarashi complimented me, I could think of times before we reincarnated that she’d complimented me, but I felt a lot prouder now than I had then. “……” “Sorry to make you wait, Theresia. You’re probably getting hungry about now, right?” “……” Theresia didn’t respond; she just held on to my suit jacket sleeve. I thought maybe she was trying to express that she was concerned that I’d gone off on my own to have a conversation. “What would we do if those men asked you to support them and you left us…? N-not that there’s a single tiny part of me that thinks that’s possible, but I feel like they might have asked you.” Elitia was surprisingly a bit of a worrywart. But thinking about it, I probably would help out another party if they were really in a bind. “It’s all right. I would never go support another party without talking with everyone first,” I said. “There aren’t any rearguards better than you, Atobe. You don’t want people to start talking about that… You sure those guys are okay?” Igarashi whispered so people around us couldn’t overhear. I replied in kind, and Misaki put a finger to her lips to indicate we should stay quiet. “They didn’t report on us, and so they were forced to leave the Alliance. That’s why I don’t think they said anything about me,” I said. “Trustworthy men, then… I wonder if part of that was from seeing you, Atobe.” “I think anyone would have been moved if they saw Arihito then. Just thinking about it makes my heart…” “…Suzuna, are you okay? Do you need a Healer to do a checkup?” “Oh, Elitia, you’re waaay more innocent than I thought you were!” “Uh… Don’t you think it’s a bit of a leap to assume it’s that simply because she said her chest hurt?” Misaki and Elitia argued, or maybe it was more accurate to call it bantering. Anyway, as an adult, the only thing I could do was scratch my nose awkwardly and watch. “It’s not only women who admire you—men do, too. That’s a sign that you’ve got what it takes to be a leader,” said Igarashi. “U-uhh… Igarashi, do you think you could rein it in a bit where I’m concerned?” “Why? I’m just speaking my mind.” Were we to a point in our relationship where she didn’t feel the need to only compliment me in roundabout ways? Standing by Cion was Madoka, who also seemed like she wanted to say something, but she averted her gaze in embarrassment when I looked at her. “Everyone’s thinking how they aaaaall wanna talk to you,” said Misaki. “You don’t have to be so hesitant about it. Madoka, could you contact Melissa for me? I’d like to see a material list if we can, even if it’s a preliminary one.” “Y-yes… Actually, that’s also what I wanted to talk to you about; I’ve been waiting for a while!” Also meant there were other things she wanted to talk to me about, but Madoka was as work-focused as always and started by showing me the monster material list that Melissa had sent her. Apparently, Melissa and Rikerton had left the storage for the time being and gone to the workshop that Ceres and Steiner had rented. Since the materials would be used for equipment, I decided it would be better to have a meeting with all of them at once. We went to the workshop, which was a few minutes’ walk from our home, to find Ceres and Steiner had completed their preparations for work. Melissa and Rikerton were sitting down for a cup of tea. “We’ve been waiting, Arihito. Well, actually we’ve only just finished preparing this workshop for our work,” said Ceres. “Master, it’s impolite to stand while holding your teacup.” Ceres wasn’t wearing the hood she normally had on. She was a native to the Labyrinth Country and did resemble someone from another world. Her appearance was fairly close to what I imagined an elf to look like. Her ears were long, and she appeared far younger than she actually was. She said she didn’t normally show herself in front of customers. That and the fact that she was willing to come to a different district to do work for me made me feel very grateful. “Wh-what…? You’re making me uncomfortable looking at me like that. Are you that happy to see me again? If so, I would have wanted you to not make me wait like you did.” “I just really wanted to thank you. Thanks to you and Steiner coming here, we can finally figure out how to use the materials we have that have been sitting around.” I thanked her again, and everyone in the party bowed their heads. It made Ceres blush a little, but she used Steiner’s hand as a platform to climb up onto his shoulders, where she sat down. She looked down at us from her newly gained height. “Hmph, it’s nothing… I just wanted to try saying that.” “Master has been concerned ever since your party moved to District Seven. She was very happy that you requested she come. That, and a craftsperson always feels blessed when they’re requested to work exclusively with a party.” “W-well… All my clients up until now have taken me lightly when they saw me or been afraid of Steiner. I don’t feel good about my work when we’re treated like that. I’ve worked in the forge for a long time, though, so it’s not like I’ve never seen a Seeker with promise.” It was a compliment in and of itself to have Ceres see that much potential in me, considering she’d lived for more than a century. I was thinking that when I realized it was strange she would decide to set up her forge in District Eight where runes were practically unheard of. There must be a reason she did. “I’m sorry, there’s something I want to ask… Ceres, why did you and Steiner live in District Eight?” I asked. “Hmph, and a good question it is… Truthfully, there’s no particular reason. After I stopped seeking, I traveled around to find a place to live that I liked. The area around the forge I’m in now is quiet, and the canals are beautiful, so I decided it would do.” So Ceres had been a Seeker before, too. As a jade, a native of the Labyrinth Country, was she required to seek the same way we reincarnates were? I was curious, but I didn’t feel like she was going to let me ask any more right now. “Right… About the magic stones you have. You’re not going to leave them in your old equipment, are you? You’ll become stronger if you think of how to use them effectively, instead of letting them sit around. It’s best to use them as much as possible,” she said. “Yes. Melissa learned a skill that lets her merge magic stones, so I also wanted to try that out.” “There are some that can be merged and some that can’t. Right now, I can only merge once. Choose two, and I’ll merge if I can… Tell me if there’s something that looks like it would be good,” said Melissa. “I haven’t learned Magic Item Creation 2. Instead, I can create runes if you gather enough magic stones of the same kind…but you need ten stones to do that. It’s difficult to get that many,” said Ceres. I started to think that it would indeed be difficult to gather ten of the same kind of magic stone, but Melissa brought over a sack that clattered with the sound of stones inside it. “…We found a few magic stones while dissecting.” “Thanks, Melissa. That’s quite a few…” “Sometimes monsters will use magic stones as a source of their power, if they’re the kind to use magic. And you just defeated quite a lot of monsters as well.” Rikerton showed us a list of the magic stones that were inside the sack, but it was too early to talk about making a rune. First and foremost, I saw that it wasn’t only magic stones in the list—there actually was a rune already. I didn’t know what it did just by looking at it, but it would surely help us get more powerful. ♦Discovered Magic Stones and Runes♦ > Trans Rune × 1 Dropped by PARADOX BEETLE > Gale Stone × 1 Dropped by AERO WOLF > Elastic Stone × 18 Dropped by STRAY SHEEP > Lightning Topaz × 1 Dropped by THUNDER HEAD > Dark Bullet Stone × 12 Dropped by DARKNESS BLITZ > Fornia Rune × 1 Dropped by SILVANUS THE ENCHANTER’S MESSENGER “Hmm, elastic stones and dark bullet stones can be added to the projectiles from long-range weapons. They can’t be compressed into runes,” said Ceres. “I’ve actually gotten a magic gun, and it uses magic stones as its bullets. It’d be nice if I could use them for that,” I said. “Wh-what?! A magic gun… They say only a person with the Gunsmith job can make those. I never thought I’d meet someone who had one…” Ceres trembled. I thought it was more from shock than from being impressed. I placed the silver case on top of the table and showed the gun inside to her. “This is it…” “Hmm… I think it could be strengthened, but it doesn’t seem like it has been. It won’t be easy to get the metal you can use to strengthen it; it’s best to leave it as is for now. I’ll need to study to make sure I can work on it in the future.” “I specialize in metalworking. I think I can strengthen it without a problem. But I agree with you; it is complete as is. It would be best to leave it until we find the materials necessary for modification.” “Good, I’m glad to hear it could become even more powerful in the future,” I said. I needed to try shooting it sometime, but we had a lot of elastic stones, so I could use those for test shooting. My first chance to use it would have to be our next seek. “So can you tell me about what equipment we can make from the materials we got?” I asked. “Yes. Melissa, how far have you gotten in dissecting?” said Rikerton. “The big one will take until tomorrow, but we have a dissection plan. I can propose ways to use the materials.” “The Paradox Beetle has some marks on it where the outer shell fell off partway through the battle, but the largest section of shell remains and can be used for a large shield.” Theresia used a targe, but we didn’t have any members in the party who could use large shields. If we could only use it for the one thing, though, it might be a good idea to have the shield made and store it for later use. If we got someone who used large shields in the party later, we could have them equip it then. The topic of people who used large shields made me think of Seraphina, but it would be almost impossible to get her to join the party. She had her duties as a Guild Savior.