Live Dungeon!

With Hannah’s temporary membership decided, the Clan now only needed another Attacker. Tsutomu waited three days for the Guild’s recruitment bulletin board to open up some space, doing nothing outside of his usual routine in the meantime. He would wake up early in the morning, leave the Clan House — which was now his new home — to line up at the Forest Apothecary, and then buy something to have for breakfast while watching the Monitors. Then in the afternoon, he would follow his predetermined route around town to check out the stalls and shops, chatting with shopkeepers and workers while browsing around for goods he could use.

Though this routine life went unchanged, there was one notable change in the Forest Apothecary, that being the addition of the old lady’s newly arrived student. The old lady had been doing things all by herself before, but now she had a younger Elf woman as her apprentice, who helped run the busy shop by cleaning and managing the counter.

This woman hailed from the Royal Capital, and apparently had been chosen from a competing pool of tens of thousands of aspiring apothecaries. At the present, she was to watch and learn from the old lady’s work while performing miscellaneous tasks.

“Take it easy, girl. You’ll master everything in about a hundred years,” The old lady said casually.

“It seems so… impossible for even someone of my level, ma’am,” The apprentice replied and looked up at the empty ceiling, seeming discouraged.

As it turned out, the old lady was known as a living legend among Elves for having invented her Potion brewing methods by herself. The apprentice, although being the only one certified to inherit them, had been quite discouraged the first time she had seen the techniques in action.

The apprentice’s Potions were also on sale, so Tsutomu bought some to try out. They were effective, with recovery power comparable to other top-grade Potions in the market, but the old lady’s solutions were still clearly better. They tasted a little bitter, too, but still perfectly tolerable — Potions from other shops either tasted awful but had good effectiveness, or tasted good but were not at all effective.

In other words, if one were to stop comparing the apprentice’s potions to the old lady’s, and one would find that the former’s Potions were perfectly good. And in fact, they were quite popular all the same — even if not immediately sold out, they were indeed flying quickly off the shelves, the stock likely to exhaust by the afternoon.

“Seeing my recipes and sales, she probably knows by now how much more she’s got to learn,” The old lady said bluntly, a rare expression from her usual kind demeanor.

“Hahaha…” Tsutomu cracked a dry chuckle in response before taking his leave. Indeed, the apprentice still had much to improve before being able to take over the lady’s business.

Over at the Guild, a slot had finally opened up on the recruitment board, so it was time to post a bulletin for a new Clan Member. Thanks to Tsutomu’s Stampede reputation boost, at least a few people were sure to apply soon. As such, he headed to the Guild in the evening, when the place was more crowded, bringing with him a custom recruitment poster he had commissioned from a newspaper publisher.

Once he went to the reception to have the paper posted, however, the receptionist lady only looked awkwardly over his shoulder. Noticing that, Tsutomu turned around, and was suddenly grabbed in place.

“There you are. Tsutomu, we need to talk.”

“Huh? Wha– wait a second!”

Camille, hands sweaty from running all around town all day in her indigo uniform, dragged Tsutomu to the Guild’s Dining Hall. This occurrence reminded Tsutomu of when he had been obligated to accompany the Guild on one of their outer Dungeon raids.

“Why weren’t you at your Clan House today? I was searching all over for you, you know.”

“Uh-huh… so, what is it?”

“Now, this will be a bit long. Have a seat.”

Camille, finally settled down, took a few deep breaths and directed Tsutomu to one of the open seats. Tsutomu timidly sat down, and Camille briefly observed his reactions before starting to speak,

“So you’ve finally founded your Clan, right? Absolute Helix?”

“Yes.”

“And you’re looking for an Attacker?”

“Yes, I am.”

“So I’d like to request you this — would you please let my kid join you?”

“…Come again?” Tsutomu tilted his head at Camille’s suspiciously gingerly request, then added as he recalled, “Oh, you mean your daughter?”

“You do remember meeting her once before, don’t you?”

“That happened, yes… Amira, was it?”

“Right,” Camille replied while wiping sweat off her forehead with her handkerchief.

Tsutomu was quite willing to welcome Amira’s addition, but he had one doubt,

“Doesn’t she already have her Clan, though? I remember her mentioning that she’s the leader of one.”

“Right, she did… DID. They disbanded,” Camille explained, her eyes downcast.

“…They did?”

Tsutomu crossed his arms. He had seen Amira’s team in action on the Monitors several times. Knowing how horrible the mood among the members was, he could more or less imagine reasons the Clan had disbanded.

Camille seemed to know as well, as apparent from how awkward she looked now.

“It happened pretty much because members kept leaving, one by one, until the number went under the minimum requirement. Honestly speaking, Amira’s got… problems. She’s strong, that’s for sure, but not at all cooperative. That’s not to mention her violent and irreverent tendencies. She seems to have started reconsidering her ways after she lost her Clan, though, so her cooperativeness must’ve improved at least a little by now. Her strategies are getting more well-rounded, too.”

“……”

“So, is it out of the question?” Camille asked again, and followed it up by bowing her head.

“No, not at all. She’s welcome to join us if she’d like,” Tsutomu answered without any hesitation.

“You mean it!?”

Tsutomu, although surprised by Camille’s sudden spurt of enthusiasm, proceeded to raise his index finger and say,

“But do keep in mind that she’ll be on probation for a week. If she causes any trouble during that time, then she won’t be with us anymore.”

“Yeah, of course. I wouldn’t mind her being kicked out immediately if she messes up again.”

“All right, I’ll be bringing the contract for her to sign later. When is a good time?”

Camille rested her elbows on the desk and thought about it for a moment, then turned back to Tsutomu.

“I’m too busy to walk her through this, but Amira visits the Guild’s training space every day. I’ll pass the message to her, so you can just head over there whenever you’re free.”

“Tomorrow, then.”

“Really, you’re a lifesaver, Tsutomu. I didn’t think you’d agree to let her in so easily.”

“You did help me out before as well, after all.”

Tsutomu at least owed Camille a favor for her assistance during his trip to one of the Dungeons out of town. If he had avoided going on the mandatory trip that time, his reputation surely would have been much worse right now… but at the time, he had had no one to party with. His assignment to the Guild during the trip had been a great help.

Camille narrowed her eyes, apparently exasperated at Tsutomu, and proceeded to rest her chin on her hands. Then she cracked a flirtatious grin.

“I thought you’d refuse at first, so I actually prepared some things to help… persuade you. What a waste.”

“That doesn’t sound like something I would want, anyway…” Tsutomu bluntly swatted away Camille’s teasing and shifted the topic to the concerning part instead. “But are you sure about Amira? I’ve seen her fighting on the Monitor before, and if she keeps acting like that, she’ll be out of our Clan in no time, you know?”

Amira’s party’s many face-offs against the Shell Crab, all shown on the Monitors for all to see, had been particularly bad. Amira would be the only one who said anything… and every word she spat out was rough and wild, while the others simply fought while keeping their mouths shut. It was as if the party consisted of one master and four servants.

Despite Amira’s unique <<Dragon Form>> skill and talent for combat, her tendency for verbal abuse was simply too much, and her strategies showed just how little she cared for cooperating with others. Moreover, once she transformed, she would sometimes attack enemies while her allies were still in her greatsword’s swinging range as well. Surely, if not for the fact that she was Camille’s daughter, no one would have wanted anything to do with her.

Camille did not seem particularly worried about that now, however, as she simply crossed her arms and nodded.

“Yeah, no problem. The girl’s learned a lot from the rude awakening she just went through. If she messes up again, then… she’s a lost cause. Kick her out immediately if that happens.”

“I understand. And looks like I’ll get to keep this poster for myself… at least for a while.”

Tsutomu put away his Clan member recruitment poster into his Magic Bag. Tsutomu’s plan now was to solidify the Clan’s teamwork among the five available members until the eventual addition of Garm and Amy. He still took Hannah and Amira’s possibilities of quitting into consideration, however, so he still had plans to look out for promising newcomers in the next few days as well.

“Now then, I’ll be going to the training space tomorrow.”

“Sorry for the trouble. Treat my kid kindly if she deserves it, all right?”

“If she deserves it, yes. She can definitely be a good Attacker — all she needs to do is to work with others. Thank you for introducing her to us.”

With the conversation over, Tsutomu excused himself and went back to his Clan House.

――▽▽――

Around noon of the next day, Tsutomu headed over to the Guild’s training space, and saw a pouting red-haired girl, leaning against the wall near the entrance — Amira, Camille’s daughter.

She was slender, and tall by women’s standards, making her look like a younger version of her mother. Her long red hair lined all the way down the length of her back, and her distinct red leather armor pieces looked almost as if they were hand-me-downs. She also carried her steel greatsword — one that was too heavy for Tsutomu to hold up — in a scabbard on her back.

“…What’re you looking at?”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to stare. Amira right?”

“Oh… You’re Tsutomu, yes?”

Amira stepped forward and straightened her posture, albeit still with a somewhat downcast mood. Then, once she had a good look at Tsutomu’s face, she turned away in annoyance.

“Go on, laugh all you want. After that big talk about being your rival, this is all I have to show for it.”

“Ha… there, I did it. Now let’s go sit down over there and talk, shall we?”

With Tsutomu putting up a friendly gesture in pointing her toward a free seat in the Guild’s dining hall, Amira quietly nodded and followed him. Tsutomu actually felt uncomfortable with how polite Amira was being, but said nothing as he went ahead and sat down. Amira placed her greatsword on the ground and sat on the opposite side of the table.

“So, Amira, before you officially join our Clan, you’ll be on probation for one week. With that said, as long as you don’t show any behavioral issues, then you’ll most likely not be let go of your membership…”

“No need to be so formal. Just go on.”

“…All right. Quick and easy it is, then. That’ll work better when we’re in a party as well, I reckon.”

“You think?” Amira asked back as if trying to crack a joke, then proceeded to call a waiter to order some drinks. Tsutomu also ordered himself a mug of orange juice before continuing,

“First off, mind showing me your Status Card?”

“Here.”

Amira presented the blue-colored Status Card that she had prepared in advance, which Tsutomu accepted and scanned over.

Current level: forty-six. Best-rated attribute: STR. The skill list contained <<Dragon Form>>. Tsutomu, seeing that everything was as he had expected, proceeded to return the Status Card to its owner.

“Hmm, those were some awesome ratings. Here’s your contract sheet.”

“…You sure about this? Letting someone like me in?”

“I’m perfectly fine with this, yes. You’re one of my friends’ family, after all.”

“Tch…”

Amira clicked her tongue, seemingly annoyed by Tsutomu’s reply, then briefly scanned over the contract’s clauses and signed it without a second thought. She would be considered the Clan’s temporary member once the signed paper was submitted to the Guild receptionist.

“I forgot to mention — we won’t be going down God’s Dungeon for another week or so. But I do have an ice-breaking meeting of sorts planned for three days from now, where everyone will gather at our Clan House. Are you free to participate?”

“I am, yeah, whenever you need. All I do these days is train, anyway.”

“Okay. In three days, at our Clan House, all right? I’ll show you the way after you turn in the Contract sheet to the reception.”

Tsutomu stood up from his seat. Amira did the same, her movements somewhat slow and lacking in enthusiasm. Tsutomu, believing at this point that what Camille had told him was true, completed Amira’s registration process and showed her the way to the Clan House. Once that was done, Amira returned to the Guild’s training space.