Afterwards, Tsutomu heard from Garm that the training of new staff members would be done in a few months, so he decided that now would be a good time to bring in new clan members. Returning to the Clan House at around noon, he proceeded to discuss the matter with everyone while they were having lunch.
“And so, Garm and Amy will be joining us in a few months. I thought I’d find us three more members before then — one Attacker, Tank, and Healer each. What do you think?”
“Sounds good to me,” Diniel replied quickly, seeming to not care either way.
The three others, on the other hand, had grown stiff, as apparent from their expressions. Up to now, the Clan had exactly five members, which meant everyone was guaranteed a spot in the main party. Adding in three more, however, naturally meant at least a few would be making up the second team.
This was the first time Daryl and Amira had to worry about their respective positions — and they were indeed quite worried because they understood what they themselves were and were not capable of. Hannah had already gone through something similar back at Ealdred Crow, so she was not particularly thrilled about this, either.
“For now, I think I’ll look for a Channeler to be our second Healer. Either a Paladin or Dark Knight for Tank… and for Attacker, Black Mage or Sorcerer would be nice, I guess.”
“Huh? A Channeler? We’re not getting another White Mage?”
“Nothing is set in stone yet, of course… But a White Mage who’s as good as me is going to be hard to find, you know. Looking at other Clans, there’s only Lorena — and even then, her style is pretty different from mine.”
“A-ah, I see.”
Hannah felt overwhelmed by how Tsutomu had explained everything to her while keeping a perfectly straight face, but at the same time, she was determined not to be outdone if another evasion-based Tank were to join the Clan. She zipped her mouth shut so tightly that it turned into a straight line, as if to brace herself. Back in her days as an Attacker, she had an excuse to not be the very best — because she had merely been one of many — but now, she could no longer say the same thing.
“Well, for now, I’ll be recruiting on the premise that those new members will make up the secondary party. The actual main and secondary parties will be decided on after we have all ten members together.”
“Got it, Teach!”
“Hell yeah!”
“Yes, sir!”
Hannah, Amira, and Daryl replied with enthusiasm, and a few moments later, Diniel nodded. Amira seemed irritated by that lack of care on display, but she wolfed down her food as if to distract herself from it, and once she was done, she immediately walked away. Daryl and Hannah hurried to finish their food as well, and once they took their tablewares to the sink, followed Amira outside.
Ollie went to see off the three of them, while Tsutomu and Diniel stayed in the living room, carrying on with their meal.
“You’re looking pretty chill about all this, Diniel.”
“I could say the same to you…”
Diniel continued to eat slowly, barely making a sound. Tsutomu finished his soup and took his tableware to the kitchen, then threw some Colorless Magic Stones into the dish-washing magic tool and filled it with water.
“So what would you do if you were to end up in the secondary party?”
“Meh, that’s never gonna happen. Waste of time and energy to think about it.”
“…Right.”
Tsutomu could not say anything more, because Diniel had been quite on point. At best, the new recruits had a sliver of a chance to be on Diniel’s level — and only Attackers with unique skills had any possibility of surpassing her anytime soon.
“…What about if we got someone with a unique skill?”
“What would YOU do? You might end up finding a Healer with a unique skill, you know?”
“Well… I’m not about to let them outperform me so easily.”
“Same thing for me. No way I’m losing to anyone — especially to those whose life span doesn’t even reach a hundred years,” Diniel said as finished her salad, then she stacked up her dishes and carried them to the kitchen.
Tsutomu, letting out a dry chuckle at her answer, took the dishes and put them in the water.
For a moment, Diniel stared at Tsutomu with half-open eyes, and then, as if she had recalled something, spoke up,
“Well, I guess sometimes living longer doesn’t mean you’re stronger. Maybe it was too much to say that it’d never happen.”
“Hmm, pretty rare for you to consider things with this much depth, Diniel. Not that I don’t understand, of course — Unique skills are so great that they’re pretty much unfair. I wanted to have one too, you know…”
“…And I’m starting to understand the things Amy said about you.”
Diniel’s expression turned sour in response to Tsutomu’s lack of self-awareness, but even then, he only tilted his head, wondering what was the matter — Which only served to make Diniel the most annoyed she had been in quite a long time.
Even Diniel, an adult Elf with over a hundred years of life behind her, had been paralyzed in fear of the Devourer Dragon after it had busted through the nobility’s city-defending force field. Even now, she believed that no one would have been able to make a rational decision in that situation.
But Tsutomu had proven otherwise. Despite being barely over twenty years old, he had confronted the absurdly powerful enemy without a shred of hesitation. That had piqued Diniel’s interest in him. So much so that she joined the Clan so that she could observe him.
Despite everything, however, he still considered himself inferior to those with unique skills. Diniel had a hard time stomaching that attitude of his.
“…Hmph.”
“Ow–! Hey, that hurt! What did you just do?”
“I kicked you. You were annoying me.”
“Gah… Since when did you turn into Amira?”
“Dunno,” Diniel said without making eye contact and went upstairs with her cup of juice.
Tsutomu, though puzzled by Diniel’s sudden aggressiveness, proceeded to prepare for his visit to one of the news publishers’ offices.
――▽▽――
While Tsutomu went to the press to draft up a recruitment form, the trio that had left the Clan House put on their spare gear and proceeded down the Dungeon to level up. They had wanted to plunge straight to layer seventy-one so that they could start getting used to the Snow Fields, but since their anti-cold equipment was not yet ready, they settled for the Volcano layers.
Through the process of forming parties using the Guild’s official Status Cards, experience points were divided equally among participating members. Agreeing on that as they had always done, the three registered their party and went to hunt monsters in the Volcano layers.
[They’re both so full of energy,] Daryl thought to himself as he looked at Hannah and Amira, what with how they seemed to never spare their effort in killing the monsters,
This was especially apparent in Amira, who exerted her full strength in every single attack — perhaps because she hated being the lowest-leveled member.
Daryl, as usual, used <<Combat Cry>> to pull the monsters’ aggro, making sure that they did not target the others. By now, he was so used to getting VIT-boosting buffs and mid-battle healing that their absence felt wrong, but Daryl was still able to carry out his Tank role well enough.
Since they had no Healer with them, they had to drink Potions after each fight was over, and without <<Fly>>, Hannah had to rely on the standard grounded combat style. Still, this party of three was able to gain levels at a fairly efficient rate.
After the fight, Hannah immediately ran to scout ahead, while Amira and Daryl drank some Potions to heal up.
Daryl used his monthly salary to donate to his childhood orphanage, and also to treat himself to some good food. He still had plenty to spare, however, so he spent them on Potions for personal training sessions. He did not particularly like the grassy-smelling Green Potions, while Amira was able to drink them with a perfectly straight face.
Right after Daryl steeled himself and managed to take one gulp, Hannah came back and reported that she had found monsters. And so, the team resumed onward with Hannah in the lead.
[…I should think about what I want to do going forward.]
Having been told by Tsutomu that Garm would be joining the Clan in a few months, Daryl was feeling quite conflicted — and even confused.
Without being how he was now, he definitely would have been happy to hear of Garm’s addition — and he would have given up his spot in the main team to Garm, whom he considered superior to him. And worse, he would have been satisfied with being moved to the secondary party.
After the team’s victory in layer seventy, however, his attitude had started to change. Now he was not so sure if he wanted to forfeit his spot, whether it be to Garm or some other Tank. All this thinking about the future caused Daryl to feel a little ache in his heart, as if he was being pricked with a needle.
[Would be nice if I got to stay in this party forever, though…]
Daryl was happy to finally get a good flow going with Amira, and he had always had good synergy with Hannah’s evasion-based Tank style. Tsutomu’s support and healing were nothing short of amazing, too.
[Miss Diniel, though… I have no idea how to deal with her…]
His interactions with Diniel had not been so ideal, with her tendencies to try and touch his ears and tail, but it was undeniable how powerful she was. Daryl was convinced that the current team of five would be able to conquer the rest of the Dungeon as well, and when he had pathetically failed to stand back up on layer seventy, everyone had supported him without a complaint. As such, he wanted to live up to their expectations, and to not be left behind by them.
“What’re you waiting for?” Amira, hiding behind a rock and keeping an eye on a group of monsters, called out to Daryl who seemed to be spacing out. “Come on, hurry up.”
“Ah– right!”
Daryl pulled all of the monsters’ aggro with <<Combat Cry>>, then Hannah and Amira moved in to attack them. Daryl ran alongside them, his heavy armors’ rustlings echoing through the air.
[I can be stronger than this. We all can,] Daryl thought to himself. All his comrades were reliable, and he did not want to be a liability to them.
With his tower shield, Daryl blocked a Golem’s attack and then knocked it back.
[I have to be stronger… stronger than even Sir Garm. So that I’ll always have my place here.]
Listening to the sound cues, Daryl anticipated an attack coming from behind him; he turned around and blocked another Golem’s punch at just the right moment.
“<<Shield Bash>>!”
Activating his skill immediately, he sent the three-meter tall Golem flying. With the monster collapsed on the ground, Amira swung her greatsword down on its neck. The Golem ceased all movement, and subsequently dispersed into light particles.
[I don’t know if I can do it… But I just have to try!]
After that, Daryl kept up his effective performance, which had a positive effect on Amira and Hannah’s individual movements as well. Daryl was out of breath by the end of the fight, but then he received a pat on the back.
“Hey, looking good.”
“T-thank you.”
Daryl’s eyes darted about in slight embarrassment. Amira groaned and proceeded to take a swing from her canteen.
Hannah, sensing a change in Daryl’s reactions, declared to him,
“You’re not gonna outshine me for long!”
“Yes, let’s all do our best. I want all of us to stay together, in the same party as we’ve always been.”
“…Yeah. Gotcha!”
“Man, if ya get demoted, I’mma be the first gal to laugh at ya.”
“What the hell, Amira!? How about I do that to YOU, huh!?”
After that, the three continued their training, talking among themselves from time to time.
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