Chapter 65 - The Prince Called Leon (1/2)
After two more days of training, Tsutomu had Barbara and Eunice begin operating together with the Clan’s main party. Tsutomu suggested to Leon that they explored the Canyon as they had done the first time, and Leon cheerfully, immediately agreed.
“S-so, do you think it’ll go all right?”
“You’ll be fine. Probably.”
“P-probably!?”
“Just do your best out there! If nothing changes from before, I’ll be the one whose reputation is ruined, so…”
“S-stop it! Why’re you even saying that now!?”
Upon getting Tsutomu’s semi-pressuring reply, Barbara, who had been shuddering and pulling on Tsutomu’s shoulder, held her head, bear ears folding down.
“By the way, Eunice will be the team’s Healer right from the get-go as well, so keep that in mind.”
“Tsutomu, I’d like you to show me some more examples first, if you can.”
“It’s not like you’ll get things down right off the bat, though. Just give it a try first, and we’ll go from there.”
“…All right, I understand.”
Eunice showed no particular defiance toward Tsutomu’s words; rather, she was quite well-behaved. Leon, seeing that, had his eyes sparkling as he beckoned Tsutomu to go over to him. As Tsutomu approached Leon, the latter grabbed him by his shoulder and prompted him to turn his back to the two others.
“Looks like Eunice is behaving herself way better now… Nice job, Tsutomu!”
“Huh? Are you sure it’s not because of what you said to her? You know, when I was on break?”
Tsutomu had been worried that Eunice’s sudden change of heart after the break was due to Leon scolding her. However, Leon shook his head, denying Tsutomu’s assumption.
“Nah, she’s way too stubborn to listen to anything I say. Well, that’s one thing that makes her cute in her own way, though…”
“…Could you keep your love life stories out of this, please?”
“Whoops, sorry, sorry… Well, in all seriousness, it probably was that time…”
Leon recalled the time when Eunice had asked to party up with him and practice her placement skills, an effort that had ended mostly in failure. Leon thought that was likely when she had realized the difference between her and Tsutomu’s capabilities.
“Nevermind. C’mon, let’s go and see how much stronger they’ve gotten!”
“You can expect to see some good results, Leon — it’ll be worth your effort. After all, it’s thanks to you that I’ve been able to focus on teaching those two.”
“…Duuuuunno what you’re talkin’ about, man.”
“Please, there’s no need to hide it. You’ve been putting in a lot of work yourself, haven’t you?”
It was not as if Leon had simply been lazing around the past month — had read through the materials Tsutomu had handed out and understood well the three-role composition, and he had taken the initiative to help with his members’ leveling starting from the Tanks. He’d also had the Tanks mimic Tsutomu’s training approach, and also take notes from the Tanks of Ealdred Crow’s fully-equipped parties. Moreover, the Attackers had not been left out, either — he had been working to change for the better their attitudes toward Tanks over the past month.
Even if Tanks and Healers were trained well to work together, it would be useless if Attackers were to disrupt their coordination. On the other hand, if Tanks and Healers were stable, then the flow of the battle would be stable.
Tsutomu had intended to wait and show the results of his teachings in a bid to convince the Attackers. Leon, however, seemed to have understood that from the documents he had read through, and had been trying to convince the Attackers in his own way by having them party up with Tanks. None of the Clan’s members were able to openly oppose Leon, so at the very least, there was no one who discriminated against Tanks in front of Leon anymore.
At first, Tsutomu had thought that Leon would leave everything for Eunice to manage and do nothing himself, but that perception had changed around two weeks ago, when he had gotten to see the Wolfman’s activities on Monitor #10. It was obvious to Tsutomu that he was moving to match the Tank and Healer, unlike before. That was when Tsutomu realized that he had been doing a lot of work himself.
“Well then, shall we get going?” Tsutomu asked, sporting an I-mean-business smile.
“Aye-yup,” Leon said and shrugged his shoulders.
The party, with the same members they had started with, headed for the Canyon on the fifty-sixth layer of the Dungeon.
Upon entering the combat zone, Diniel started searching and reported spotting some Orcs. The party proceeded to the specified location.
Barbara was as tense as ever, and Eunice was somewhat stiff in her movements. Diniel was the same as usual, too — sleepy eyes, occasionally yawning.
“H-hey, you two sure you’re alright?”
“Y-y-yeah, I’m fine! No problem at all! Come on, Eunice! Let’s do our best!”
“…Yeah, sure.”
Leon’s call-out to Barbara had the opposite of the intended effect, making her even more nervous. Eunice’s steps were heavy, too, what with her not even trying to hide how anxious she was. When Leon made eye contact with Tsutomu, the latter only shook his head silently.
“Apologies, but I take back what I said. Please don’t expect anything spectacular.”
“DUDE!? But you looked so confident before, though!?”
“Well, just look at them — they’re not in this at all! Then again, they might get used to it after getting to kill a few times, so…”
Seeing Eunice hyperventilating from nervousness and Barbara with her arms and legs sticking out together, Tsutomu put his hand on his forehead and heaved a sigh. As Leon looked at them with concern, he could already see some Orcs in the distance. The Orcs seemed to have detected the party, and were now charging at them with the force of a fierce boars.
“Heads up! Enemy incoming! Eunice, set up <<Area Heal>> then cast <
>! Barbara, step to the front row!”
Tsutomu shouted out and clapped his hands, prompting Barbara to ready her buckler and short spear in reflex. She had listened to Tsutomu’s voice so much over the past month that her following courses of action had become ingrained in her body. Eunice followed suit, setting up and casting the usual skills she would open battles with.
“All right, <<Combat Cry>> now.”
“<<Combat Cry>>!”
Barbara, having gotten so used to hearing the prompt, activated her skill immediately. Five Orcs, hit with the red aura, turned their attention to Barbara.
Diniel fired a volley of arrows, disrupting one of the Orc archers, while Leon held out his long sword and charged at another one of the enemies, holding it back. The three remaining Orcs, wall wielding melee weapons, closed in on Barbara.
[One cudgel and two swords…]
After confirming the types of weapons the Orcs wielded, Barbara blocked the leading Orc’s short sword with her buckler as it swung down at her. Then, she poked out her short spear to stop the following Orc while moving backward.
The three Orcs slowly approached Barbara, careful as to how she would act next, then decided to rush her all at once. Barbara first used her buckler to block the cudgel swing coming from her right, then proceeded to lunge forward with her buckler, knocking the Orc away. Then she got hit on her armor with another Orc’s sword, but it did not cut through, resulting in only a loud metallic ring and no injury.
She then swept her short spear in an arc, prompting the Orcs to jump back. The monsters stomped the ground with their thick-skinned soles and leaped forward, but Barbara avoided them by hopping back while keeping her spear held forward.