Chapter 63 - Signs of Improvement (1/2)
Afterward, Tsutomu ate dinner with Amira and Camille while discussing with them mainly about topics relating to the Dungeon. Seeing how Camille’s expressions were the brightest she’d had all day while everyone was trading their knowledge about the Dungeon, Tsutomu could not help but pull a wry smile while he tidied up the table.
Amira, Camille’s daughter, had told Tsutomu that she had recently reached the forty-first layer and was already looking for ways to deal with the Shell Crab. Her initial idea seemed to be the same as Camille’s: raise five Attackers’ levels up to the point where they could take on the Shell Crab, then bring along a Healer for the real fight.
Tsutomu had almost brought up the information regarding the Shell Crab’s nest, but then remembered that the newspaper publishers had already been informed of it, with there being plans to publicize it in a few days from now. With the article scheduled to be published soon, Tsutomu had simply suggested that Amira checked out the two newspaper companies’ publications.
As a replacement, Tsutomu decided to tell Amira about a place to efficiently gain levels instead.
“By the way, have you had the chance to conquer the Team Graveyard on layer thirty-nine yet?”
“Team Graveyard? Oh, that shitty place… It’s only good for White Mages, right?”
“Not quite — the Demi-Lich’s experience yield is quite high, you see, so I’d recommend leveling up there if your team can conquer the overall area.”
“Huh…”
“Only White Mages are able to neutralize the Skeleton minions in the starting stages, but they’ll stop reconstructing themselves once the Demi-Lich comes out to fight. The experience yield you can expect from there is higher than at the Beaches, even.”
“What!? Really!?”
“Yes. Still, it’ll also take some effort for White Mages to adjust to the right strategies… oh, look at the time!”
In the middle of the conversation, Tsutomu hurriedly left his seat upon catching a glimpse of the clock on the wall, realizing that it was already past nine o’clock. While thinking to himself how he had gotten too absorbed in the discussions, Tsutomu called out to Camille,
“Sorry for staying so late. I ought to get going now.”
“Sure thing. Come visit us again whenever you feel like it.”
“What? You’re not staying over for the night? If you’d like, I’ll go with– ow!”
Amira, getting a ladle thrown at her head, fell to the ground and writhed in pain. Tsutomu faked a chuckle to dodge out of the scene and excuse himself, leaving Camille’s house and returning to the inn to get some sleep.
The next day, as usual, Tsutomu went to cash in the Magic Stones and replenish his Potion stock. He only remembered Amy after he was done with everything, and was glad that it was not her who was in charge of the Guild’s Magic Stone conversion service.
Amy’s appraisal work was for the Dungeon’s items, so he would need to find some treasure chests first before having a reason to visit her. Unluckily for Tsutomu, he had never come across a single treasure chest before. An average Explorer usually would find at least one by the time they reached the fortieth layer, but sadly, that was not the case for Tsutomu.
[I do wonder when we’ll actually meet again…]
Tsutomu, while preparing for tomorrow’s visit to the Golden Tune, thought to himself how nice it would be if he were to find a treasure chest soon, not even stopping to consider that they could just meet up during the holidays. He then spent the rest of his free time in front of the Monitors, observing other Explorers fight through the Dungeon.
The next morning, Tsutomu headed to the Golden Tune Clan House, feeling somewhat more fired up than usual. He was at the entrance a little past eight o’clock, intending to look over some documents like usual, but then he noticed Eunice standing in his way with her yellow tail wagging unhappily.
Wondering if Eunice was waiting for someone, Tsutomu paused a moment upon seeing her and turned to go around to the back door, not wanting to be involved with her business… But then Eunice came running after him.
“Where do you think you’re going!?”
“…Oh. Good morning.”
Tsutomu, thinking to herself how energetic Eunice was this early in the morning, responded to her as she caught up to him. Eunice was as grumpy as ever, but he also noticed her fiddling around, seeming somewhat embarrassed.
Then, as if she finally made up her mind, Eunice looked up at Tsutomu and bowed her head.
“…I’m sorry.”
“Huh?”
“Like I said…! I’m sorry. Now I understand that your skills are not the only thing you’re good for. I was wrong.”
“Huh…”
Still not getting why he was so suddenly being apologized to, Tsutomu gave a non-committal reply, prompting Eunice to raise her head and give him a serious look.
“So I’d like you to teach me what I should be doing. At any rate, you told me before that I had to start by prioritizing the Tank, so that’s what I’m doing now.”
“…Oh, right. It’s been three days already.”
Tsutomu, guessing from what he could see from Eunice that she had failed, pondered things over for a moment before looking at her again. It was a mystery to him where all of her audacity had gone, but at least she seemed to be behaving herself much better now.
“Let’s go for some test runs in battles, then — show me what you’re capable of now. I’ll decide on my instructions accordingly.”
“…Yes, I understand.”
“All right, then. We’ll meet up at nine o’clock as usual.”
With that, Tsutomu slipped past Eunice and went into the Clan House. Eunice, ticked off by Tsutomu’s curt attitude, looked as if she had something stuck in between her teeth before following him inside.
――▽▽――
“<<Area Heal>>.”
The group of four had immediately headed to the Team Graveyard on the thirty-ninth layer. With Tsutomu observing them, the three combatants proceeded to engage in combat. While the bones started congregating, Eunice set up a healing perimeter.
“<
>.”