by Mamare Touno
“It’s perfect, of course.”
Serara spoke to her, still in high spirits. She had probably tasted it when she was with Nyanta. It really did look good, Minori thought. The milk-colored soup had corn and crab meat in it, and even now, as she served it, it looked enticing.
“Nnuh.”
Isuzu came rolling over to them like a caterpillar. Minori hugged her, helping her sit up.
As Minori took a comb out from her pack, Serara took the dishes, saying, “I’ll handle this, then.”
The rain fell softly, and in its midst, breakfast began.
Settling down behind Isuzu, who was only halfway out of her sleeping bag, Minori combed her hair. It really was abundant and curly. Isuzu herself grumbled that it wasn’t feminine, but her hair was a bright brown, and when it was braided, Minori thought it suited her very well.
“This’s really good,” Touya muttered.
He was sitting cross-legged on his sleeping bag, wearing a T-shirt and shorts. It wasn’t really the sort of thing to show ladies, but since this was a training camp, there was no help for it.
Immediately upon returning, Rundelhaus said, “Hullo! Something smells good this morning. What a fantastic breakfast. Don’t you agree, friends?” He was scattering a breezy aura around; he’d managed to get himself dressed in a very short time and was taking things at his usual pace.
Still half in her sleeping bag, Isuzu handed Rundelhaus a sandwich, saying, “These are good, Rudy.”
“Rudy”?
Rundelhaus obediently took the sandwich, then a big bite, and said, “Oho, mashed pumpkin salad, is it? Quite tasty.” His manners were oddly genteel, and indicated he’d been brought up in a household with good discipline.
Breakfast quietly continued on this way.
The soft sound of the rain seemed to soothe their frazzled hearts. It was probably also true that thinking about the dungeon they would have to challenge again today discouraged them a bit, and they didn’t feel like talking.
They packed the rest of their generous allotment of sandwiches into a basket, deciding to save them for lunch. There had been three different kinds of sandwich; all were masterpieces made with Nyanta’s sincere good will, and they were extremely delicious. Minori’s favorite was the fruit-filled omelet variety.
The fruit was still left, but they each breathed sighs of relief, hot cups in their hands. They had each descended into that blank state of mind that comes with a full belly.
“Listen…”
In the midst of that atmosphere, Touya spoke.
“Did you want seconds?” Serara asked, peeking into the small pot as she did so.
“No. It’s not that.”
Touya searched for words; he seemed to be thinking about something.
Finding himself the focus of questioning looks, Touya hesitated, almost beginning to speak several times. He probably couldn’t find the right words—Touya wasn’t a very glib talker, and Minori was used to seeing him grope around for words like this.
Their eyes met for a moment, and with that glance, Minori understood what Touya was trying to do. He wanted to do something about their situation, and he was planning to raise some sort of question. Minori even imagined that he might be trying to put himself in the line of fire, to shield her.
If Touya had made up his mind to start something, Minori couldn’t possibly not be there beside him.
No. Actually, I should be the one to do this.
Listen up. If you run into trouble, step out in front. With your heart, not with your legs.
She remembered the advice she’d gotten from Naotsugu one day.
Step out in front with your heart. Now, finally, she thought she was beginning to understand what those words meant. They meant she had to summon up her courage. Courage didn’t mean being fearless in the heat of battle. It meant the determination to overcome the cowardice inside her.
Minori realized her own heart had been frightened and holding back.
For that very reason, she spoke decisively:
“Listen. Why don’t we wait until this afternoon to go into the dungeon today?”
6
“Huh?”
Isuzu sounded astonished.
“What are you saying, Miss Minori?! Have you forgotten we’re here for a training camp? Our top priority is to get to the dungeon as soon as we can, get as much experience as possible, and boost our levels,” Rundelhaus reprimanded Minori, his tone harsh.
“But you see, we’ve only been able to make one attempt per day. Both yesterday and the day before, we withdrew in less than three hours, remember? In that case, even if we wait until afternoon to go in, we should be able to get the same results as yesterday.”
“That’s…true, I suppose… But we can’t just stay the same forever.”
Rundelhaus seemed irritated, as if he wasn’t convinced.
“This is because we can’t just stay the same forever.”
“Minori?”
Serara sounded worried. She was probably afraid that Minori and Rundelhaus were about to fight. To Minori, her tone sounded pleading: Please don’t say extreme things.
“And so, today, for the whole morning…”
At Minori’s words, both Serara and Touya tensed up.
“Let’s just laze around and take it easy.”
However, the last half of Minori’s sentence shattered that tension at a stroke.
“Miss Minori. Are you trying to be funny?!”
Rundelhaus had risen to his knees, anger in his voice. Personality aside, with his blond hair and handsome face, when he showed naked anger like this, the impact was formidable. Inwardly, Minori felt a bit frightened.
Still, Isuzu wasn’t the least bit overawed by Rundelhaus. “Calm down, Rudy,” she told him, bluntly, deflecting his feelings. Minori thought this was strange: Isuzu was the type of girl who read atmospheres so well that she normally cared about them too much. It was as if she didn’t feel that timidity at all as far as Rundelhaus was concerned.
“‘Laze around and take it easy’ was going too far, but I do think we should introduce ourselves.”
Choosing her words carefully, Minori continued. As the other group members looked perplexed, she began to speak. “My name is Minori. My level is twenty-one, and I’m fourteen years old. I’m a human in this world, too. I’m Touya’s older twin sister. I’ve got the lowest level in our party, and I feel bad about holding everyone else back.”
At her words, Rundelhaus gave a quiet snort, but Minori paid no attention. More accurately, having come this far, she couldn’t afford to pay attention.
“I’m a Kannagi. Kannagi is one of the three recovery classes.”
“We know that.”
“No, you don’t know.”
When Rundelhaus tried to cut her off, Minori answered back, her face serious.
“You don’t. I mean it. I don’t know anything about the rest of you, either. I don’t know what you like and don’t like, or whether you want to step out front or draw back. I know nothing about you. Since I don’t know anything, even if I want to help you… I can’t.”
“”
Serara had frozen; she seemed startled. She’d probably never heard Minori contradict someone else this plainly. The only member of the group who wasn’t surprised was Touya. The one reaction that was a bit unexpected was Isuzu’s: Although she was startled, she soon broke into a kind smile.
“Please tell me. I’m weak, so if I don’t hear these things and remember them all, I won’t be of any use to you.”
“What do you mean, ‘all’…?”
Serara’s question was hesitant.
“‘All’ means ‘all.’ …For example— That lava shell you use, Rundelhaus. What is it?”
“Hmph… That’s Orb of Lava. As the name says, it’s an orb made out of lava,” he answered flippantly.
“But that’s—if that’s all I know, I might as well not know anything. For example… Why do you use that spell? That particular spell, i
nstead of another one. I mean, you have lots of attack spells, don’t you?”
“Because that spell’s effective.”
“Why is it effective?”
Minori peppered him with questions. Rundelhaus organized his words a bit, then answered.
“That spell is one of the most powerful spells I have. That isn’t all, though. It has a short chant time; it’s ready in just two seconds. For all that, its recast time is eighteen seconds, which is fairly short as well. To begin with, this balance is incredibly good. Two seconds plus eighteen seconds is twenty seconds total. The turnover isn’t fast enough for me to cast it as a barrage, but being able to use it once every twenty seconds is quite excellent. I can use it several times in the same battle. On top of that, even though the spell is meant for attacking groups, it’s characterized by a small orb that races through enemy ranks. That means it can pick off the enemy without involving Touya, even if Touya is on the front line. It’s an outstanding spell.”
Minori listened intently as he spoke, nodding several times.
“Hold it. Samurai taunting has a short range, and it takes a second and a half to chant.”
Touya spoke, sounding troubled.
“What do you mean?”
“Umm… Okay, so: When the enemy gets close, I use Samurai Taunt. It’s a thing called ‘taunting,’ and it doesn’t inflict damage, but it pulls enemies’ attention to me as if I’d caused massive damage.”
Serara was also listening, frowning a little in concentration. She could understand the content of the conversation itself, but she didn’t know much about other classes’ characteristics. These were all special skills she’d never heard of before.
“Yes, I see.”
However, Rundelhaus seemed to understand quite well.
—It was a very natural special skill.
If monsters’ wariness was concentrated on any opponent who inflicted damage, then in order to hold the enemy, you’d need to cause greater damage—in other words, to have greater attack power—than anyone else. However, in order to take the enemy’s attacks, you needed HP and defensive power.
As a tank, Touya’s specialty was defense; in other words, being able to withstand enemy attacks. In terms of offensive power, Rundelhaus had more than twice Touya’s ATK.
In that case, it was only natural that he would acquire a special skill that could allow him to use his insufficient ATK to draw the enemy’s attention. An outstanding tank would have special skills that could focus the monsters’ hate more than anyone else in the party.
These were a series of special skills known as “taunting.” They didn’t inflict actual damage, but they caused the monsters shock and pain, deeply impressing the tank’s existence on their wary minds.
“See, though, taunting’s got all sorts of different characteristics, even among the Warrior classes, and the characteristic for Samurai Taunts is that they have a short range. I think it’s maybe three meters… Anyway, as far as a katana can reach. That means I have to draw ’em in before I use it. It takes two seconds for it to hit.”
Isuzu was listening to them with a blank look on her face. It really was a complicated conversation.
“So here’s what I’m saying. Orb of Lava and Samurai Taunt take almost the same amount of time to activate, but Orb of Lava goes way further. If we both attack as soon as they’re in range, Orb of Lava’s going to hit ’em that much faster. It’s no wonder the Skeletons head straight for you.”
In conclusion, that was it.
Touya’s taunting was supposed to protect everyone, but it wasn’t working.
If the enemy used projectile weapons, they’d be outside its range, and in any case, Rundelhaus’s attack spell was getting to them before the taunt did.
“Then you’re telling me not to use Orb of Lava?”
“No, just wait two seconds.”
“But that will waste two seconds. In a magnificent battle, a loss of two seconds is fatal.”
As Touya and Rundelhaus kept arguing, their voices gradually got louder and louder. They didn’t seem ready to fight, not exactly, but it seemed as if heat waves rippled the air between them.
“…What if, maybe… Listen. Would Cowards’ Fugue mean anything here?” Isuzu broke in hesitantly.
“What’s that, Isuzu?”
Touya looked blank. Rundelhaus said, “The name sounds craven. Is it a special skill, Miss Isuzu?”
“Cowards’ Fugue is a special skill I just learned; it’s a Continuous Support song—Continuous Support songs are special skills that are always ‘on,’ and their effects are constant. I can only use two at a time, but they never stop working. So, Cowards’ Fugue is… If I set that song, apparently I can make damage caused by anyone other than a Warrior look like less than it really is.”
“There’s actually a special skill like that?!” “Really?!”
Touya and Rundelhaus cried out in surprise.
They’d known that Bards had a wide variety of support abilities, but they’d never dreamed they had a special skill like that one.
“Uuuu, yes, there is. There really is.”
Isuzu must have felt rather daunted by their intensity: She drew back a bit. She didn’t seem to understand the ferocity her two interrogators had turned on her.
“I mean, the song doesn’t increase damage or recover anything, and it doesn’t raise the evasion rate or attack power, you know? Up until now, I’d always thought it was a pretty useless special skill…”
That was perfectly understandable.
Minori thought that if someone had suddenly started telling her about an ability that made damage caused by anyone other than Warriors look like less than it actually was, even she would have thought, What a pointless special skill.
However. Even knowing that was a step forward.
“We have to know more.”
“Hm. Miss Minori. It seems I owe you an apology. I admit that I was ignorant and that my understanding was shallow.”
Rundelhaus bowed with good grace.
“No, I didn’t know any of this, either. Since that’s the case, Rundelhaus, please tell me about all the spells you know. Not just their names or their capabilities. Tell me what you like about them, what you don’t like, the times when you use them and the times when you want to use them. Everything.”
“Everything…? That’s going to take time, Miss Minori.”
“That’s fine. Do take your time. If there’s anything I don’t understand, I’ll ask as many questions as I have to.”
Outside, it was still drizzling, but none of them heard the rain anymore.
What they could do, and what they couldn’t do.
What they were good at, and what they were bad at.
Minori and the others talked long into the afternoon.
1
Shiroe rolled over in bed.
It wasn’t yet dawn. There wasn’t the slightest sound in the dark room.
The curtains were closed, shutting out even the starlight, and the room was ruled by pitch-black. The darkness was so dense that it didn’t make the least bit of difference whether his eyes were open or closed.
In that darkness, Shiroe was thinking back over the past few days.
As predicted, the nobles of Eastal, the League of Free Cities, were approaching Shiroe and the other members of the Round Table Council separately. Although their requests were varied, few places hoped to have soldiers dispatched to them. The majority wanted to be provided with technology or to form trade agreements. Shiroe’s delegation had gotten the impression that they were much wilier and more intelligent than they had first imagined.
The nobles knew that dispatched Adventurer troops could easily destroy the balance of military power between cities, and that the current equilibrium could be lost. Also unexpected had been the fact that quite a few nobles had information on the magic steamship prototype that was being jointly developed by the Marine Organization, the Roderick Trading Company and Shopping District 8. He’d guessed
as much from Akatsuki’s report, but the town of Akiba seemed to have been infiltrated by a fair number of spies.
It spoke to the amount of attention they were attracting.
There was no gag order regarding technical information in Akiba. It probably wouldn’t be that hard to extract. At present, they might as well not have any secrets at all. However, technology like steam engines required high-level Blacksmith and Mechanist subclass skills. Even if word got around that such-and-such an item was being made, it was hard to believe that they would find themselves in a situation where other countries were able to produce that item right away.
He’d spoken with Michitaka and Krusty, and with the other Round Table Council members via telechat, and there didn’t seem to be any disadvantage to concluding a free trade agreement regarding foodstuffs. When it came to food, Akiba wasn’t very self-sufficient at all.
The situation regarding staple foods—rice, wheat, beans, and potatoes—was particularly catastrophic. If limited to that type of food, the trade agreement would work in Akiba’s favor. On the other hand, seasonings could become Akiba’s main food export.
Of course they would be weak with the basic seasonings—salt, sugar, and herbs—but Brewers in the town of Akiba had knowledge from the old world regarding processed seasonings like soy sauce and other sauces, and they were good with them.
They would have to accept—with qualifications—some of the nobles’ requests, or promise to consider them. There were probably several times as many requests that would have to be turned down. All were steps that would be necessary in order to clarify Akiba’s stance.
However, his encounter with Li Gan had had even more of an impact than these meetings with the nobles.
I can’t relax…
Shiroe turned over yet again, and thought.
Li Gan himself hadn’t been an unpleasant character at all. Shiroe thought he was a rather charming researcher. He was both clever and knowledgeable. Could they trust him…? Maybe not, but Shiroe didn’t think he was lying.
However, the world history that he had related had unsettled Shiroe badly.