“Ha ha ha! Don’t worry about it. The way Yagami-san phrased it, it was like he said ‘Amane-kun, you’re a big liability!’ I totally get why you’d push back.”
“Mmm…”
Seemed I’d tarred myself with the label of prideful kid with that stunt, but I let it go. The misunderstanding was a good cover story.
Shinonome-san smiled warmly. “I’m Shinonome Kaori, by the way. You can call me Shinonome-san, Kaori-chan, Oneesan—whatever you want.”
“Nice to meet you, Shinonome-san. I’m—”
Hold on. I was about to introduce myself when I remembered she’d called me Amane-kun. I hadn’t said my name since joining the group. Had she really remembered it?
Shinonome smiled again. “Your name is Amane Rin-kun, right? Of course, I know you.”
“I guess you would know the name of the new guy joining your party.”
“That’s part of it, but I knew about you before this. You’ve piqued my interest, Amane-kun.”
“What?” I blinked at her.
“Your name comes up when I talk to Yui-chan and Rei-chan.”
Their names explained a lot. “Are you close with the two of them?” I asked.
“Oh yes. As a healer, I’m something of a mentor to Yui-chan. I’ve been teaching her since she joined. And I talk to Rei-chan here and there.”
“Are they doing well in Yoizuki?”
“Of course! Yui-chan is incredible. Her talent as a healer keeps growing, and I don’t think it’s a stretch to say she’ll be a real battle asset for the guild in the near future. As for Rei-chan…” Her expression became somewhat reserved. “She has a unique skill, so she can’t be measured on the usual scale. What I do know is that her skill is quite…”
She looked up in surprise, as if she’d tripped on something invisible. “Actually, I’ll leave it at that. You two are close, so you should talk to her yourself.”
“Sure, I mean, I’ll do that.”
I was curious what she wouldn’t say, but it would be bad to hear it from Shinonome. Next time I met up with Rei, I’d ask her about it, just the two of us.
She deftly changed the subject to the party. “If you’d like to know what we’re like, I’ll give you a run-down of the basics. Our party has eight members, and most of us are over level 20,000. Yagami-san is the only one over level 25,000.”
“Makes sense.” I knew Yagami-san was the leader, so I figured he would be the highest level. “This is the top party in Yoizuki, right?”
“As a party, yes. Claire-chan is stronger than all of us on her own.”
I considered that. Claire was an S-rank. Anyone S-rank had to be over level 100,000. Yeah. Compared to everyone here, there was no comparison.
“How did she…” I trailed off. How Claire obtained that kind of power nagged at me. As a member of the same guild, maybe Shinonome-san knew the answer. On second thought, it was wrong to try to dig up her secrets this way. I changed my question.
“What’s Claire’s position in the guild?” I asked.
“Position?”
“Not her job, per se. I guess I mean how other guild members view her. Does her power put distance between her and her guildmates?”
Shinonome-san chuckled. “That’s a funny question, Amane-kun, but mm… Claire-chan is closed off from everyone. As impressive as her power is, she doesn’t show off, and she’s polite to a fault, but there’s something else.” She paused. “Maybe that power is exactly what makes her so polite. I get the feeling she’s built an invisible barrier between herself and others.”
“A barrier?”
“Mm-hm. Like she’s avoiding growing closer to people than necessary.”
I thought back to my past encounters with Claire. The first day I met her, she was mellow yet pointed in the way she spoke to me, beautiful and straight-up cool when she killed the cyclops in one strike. Then there was the time she made me eat a snack, and the way she’d hugged the Wolfun stuffed animal yesterday.
Wait. What was Shinonome-san talking about? None of that seemed avoidant to me. I furrowed my brow a little.
“That’s just the impression I get,” she said. “If you’re asking, does that mean she’s caught your eye?”
“N-not in that way…”
“Tee hee. Sorry, kiddo, but you can’t fool this Oneesan’s keen eyes one bit. Lots of people have their eye on Claire-chan, so you’re in for a tough fight. But I’m rooting for you!”
This conversation went places I did not expect! Chills of trepidation, almost as cold as the ones from Hana’s ominous grin, ran through me.
“Ahem,” Yagami-san cut in. “Shinonome, monsters could spawn any second now. Leave the chit-chat and gossip for later.”
“Hmph. Just when it was getting good…” she pouted. “Yes, sir!”
She pouted, but the questions stopped. Whew. Who would expect Yagami-san with the save? I was genuinely grateful, even though we didn’t encounter a monster for another five minutes.
It happened as we were traveling the first floor. All of a sudden, the sound of inhuman footsteps reached us. Yagami-san reacted quickly.
“Take positions!” he ordered.
They obeyed his instruction and stepped into formation. Beside them, I drew a weapon from my Item Box.
Speed Sword
A short sword made with a Blacksmith skill.
Recommended equip level: 7,000
Attack +6,000
Speed +3,500
Speed Sword was the best choice here, not Nameless or Greed. Both were unknown weapons, so I didn’t want to show them to anyone else yet.
Five monsters stood before us. They were bipedal monsters with tough, pointed, almost hedgehog-like fur:
Werewolf
Level: 8,000
A bipedal beast with fur tough enough to repel a blade. Swift and agile, it wields sharp claws and fangs to land powerful attacks.
The dang things stood about as tall as human adults, and their level demonstrated exactly how tough their bodies were.
But for an A-rank party, they were hardly a challenge.
“Fireline!” Yagami-san shouted.
The tanks drew the werewolves’ attention and showered them in attacks, which created openings that Yagami-san used to land fire spells to finish them off. The five werewolves went down in less than a minute.
His work done, Yagami-san grunted in satisfaction.
They definitely didn’t need my help. Watching their combo attack was reassuring, and the total opposite of the self-indulgent showoffery of Kazami and the rest of the Kings of Unique.
“We didn’t contribute at all,” Shinonome-san said.
“Not even a bit,” I commiserated.
Yagami-san nodded, thought it was more to himself than to us. “Against monsters of this level, we should fight with MP preservation in mind. Remember that as you battle.”
“Roger!” the party said in unison.
Progress was smooth as well-oiled machinery after that. We used Enemy Detection to find the stairs to the next floor and defeated the monsters in our way, leaving signs and signals in the ground along the way to track our path. We had to move forward through trial and error, which meant the length of the journey stretched like warm New Year’s mochi, much more than the journey through a familiar dungeon would. For nine floors, we managed to make it through without facing any real danger.
After a short break, we walked down the stairs to the tenth floor.
Doubt crept up to me and practically tapped me on the shoulder.
What’s this weird sensation…?
That off feeling niggling at me since I stepped foot inside the dungeon was growing stronger the deeper we went. I’d brought it up, but no one else felt it, so we were pressing on like it was nothing. Was it really all in my head?
I soon found out that my concern came from something very, very real. I absolutely should have trusted my gut.