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Volume 11 Chapter 2 Part 8

Roxanne and Sherry are conversing with one another about what they just heard.

I wonder if Sherry’s impression of me has improved a bit.

Impression improved? What do you mean by 「improved」? Was it in need of improving in the first place? No, I’m pretty sure Sherry thought that I was amazing master from the very beginning.

Yeah, no doubt about it.

「So it would seem.」

「As expected of Master.」

However, the Duke has only decided to invite me to the Empire Liberation Society after watching Roxanne’s dual with the Paladin, so I cannot help but to wonder if he recommend me due to Roxanne, or did he perhaps wanted to recommend Roxanne to join the Society, instead of me?

It would be understandable if it was due to Roxanne.

「The Empire Liberation Society requires us to adhere to a strict duty of confidentiality, which means that the fact that I am going to be its newest member cannot be disclosed to anyone else form the outside, and we cannot share the information about the identity of other members of the Society as well. If we happen to do so, then there are going to be implications and consequences for us for doing so.」
「I’ll be careful. Still, that is wonderful news.」

「We are keeping so many secrets from the rest of the world already, so one or two more shouldn’t make any difference at this point.」

Roxanne seems to have agreed on keeping it a secret, and so has Sherry. Hadn’t her impression of me improved after all?

「Secret, desu.」

「I think we are going to be alright.」

Miria will be able to remember some words from here and some words from there, so she’s the one who needs to keep it a secret the most out of all of us.

「We will go to Quratar Labyrinth’s 33rd floor where it’ll be assessed whether we have the ability to fight on the upper floors or not, and throughout the duration of the exam, I won’t be using magic.」

「Understood.」

For the sake of this admission test, I will be using Durandal as my main weapon. It’s going to be revealed that I have such a great sword for a weapon, but given the circumstances, it cannot be helped. I simply have to deal with it.

「Even though the main opponent we’ll be fighting will be Drive Dragon, we have already cleared through the 33rd floor before, so there’s no need for us to get tense. If we do it like we always do, there won’t be any problems.」

「Of course.」

Now that Roxanne has said 「of course」, it should be alright, shouldn’t it? I don’t want to engage in a battle which Roxanne isn’t sure about, or the ones that might result in our untimely death.

「This time, we will enter the Labyrinth after paying the entrance fee, so let’s go to the Adventurer’s Guild first.」

Leaving the house, I Warp us to the Adventurer’s Guild.

From the Adventurer’s Guild, we walk to the entrance of the Labyrinth. Because we are used to shopping around these parts, walking this much distance isn’t an issue for us anymore.

I could Warp us straight to Quratar’s Labyrinth, exit and re-enter it, but that might create suspicion, so I am not going to do that.

「How about the map of the Labyrinth?」

The office of the Knight Order is still selling the maps of the Labyrinth like usual.

They mean business….. ah!

I just remembered that we didn’t bring our map with us.

「Do you remember the route of 33rd floor?」

「Yes, it’ll be alright.」

I whisper the question to Roxanne, but she seems to have it covered, so everything should really be alright.

As expected, she doesn’t overlook anything when it comes to the Labyrinths.

「Well then, here’s the entry fee for five people.」

I pay 5 silver coins and receive 5 thin pieces of paper in the name of tickets. It would have been nice if my 30% Discount Bonus Skill worked, but unfortunately it didn’t.

When we move to 33rd floor through the entrance, Baron Ester was already there, waiting for us.

Including Baron, there are six people in total. I wonder if it’s Ester’s Party.

The rest, excluding the Baron who’s a Paladin, are an Adventurer, Explorer, Grand Wizard, Beast King and Senior Priest… Wow, what an amazing lineup.

Their levels are quite high, too.

Beast King must be the higher tier of the Beast Warrior Job. It’s my first time seeing one.

Senior Priest must be higher tier of the Priest Job. It’s my first time seeing this one as well.

With three females and three males, there’s a balance between vanguard and rearguards in the Party, and it’s full of veterans, too. As you would expect from the examiners of the Empire Liberation Society.

「Oh, Michio? Nice to see you again.」

When I arrive at the entrance of the floor, Baron Ester calls out to me.

「The pleasure is mine.」

「So this is Michio’s party, huh?」

「Yes.」

「Because we have been fighting on higher floors for a long time, we can give Michio’s Party some pointers. If you wish so, we can advance to the Boss Room at a slow pace while fighting monsters. If you don’t, we can go ahead and wait for you in the small room close to the Boss Room. So, how do you want it to be?」

So I can choose the approach that we’re going to take here, huh?

I would like to not be seen as much as possible.

Because I don’t know as to how other Parties in this world fight, it will be helpful to receive pointers from them, but my main fighting style is magic, so I don’t know how useful that’s going to be.

「Our fighting style is based on our equipment anyway, so you can go ahead and wait for us.」

「So you’re equipment based, huh? Got it.」

When I decline the offer, the Baron simply nods. Although I came up with an excuse spontaneously, it seems to have gone well, but it is true that when it comes to battles, we are pretty much equipment-based, and if the fighting style is based on equipment, it’ll change whenever the equipment of the Party Members changes as well.

And because during this admission test I won’t be able to use my magic outside of the Boss Room, I have no choice but to rely on Durandal, Miria’s Estoc of Petrifaction and Sherry’s spear with 「Chant Interruption」 Skill embedded into it.

「Well then…」

「Pretty much everyone doesn’t wish to reveal their full hand before others, so it’s not unusual for you to think that way as well. All I can say here is that there’s no need to be modest.」

So other Parties are pretty much the same as us, huh? That is actually something that I can agree with him on: I don’t want to disclose how me or my Party fights to anyone else, so that desire for privacy must be the same no matter the world you’re in.

The Baron simply nods at me and then issues instructions to the Explorer of his own Party, and the Explorer then invokes 「Dungeon Walker」Spell, causing the black wall to appear on the wall closest to us, and then the his Party members, including the Baron himself, walk through it.

Is that why he brought an Explorer as a Party Member with him? I wonder if that was a full-time member of his Party, or perhaps just a temporary one?

But since his level as an Explorer was pretty high, then maybe he was a regular member of his Party after all?

「Alright, let’s be on our way as well, shall we? They might be gone, but our plan remains unchanged: I will still fight without using my magic at all. Roxanne, guide us forward, please.」

「Understood. 」

We decide to catch up with the Baron’s Party as soon as possible.

Although we are not currently being observed by anyone, I decide against using magic after all, because I have a bad feeling that’s telling me I shouldn’t be using it for the time being, but it shouldn’t be that much of a problem on this floor.

I could also use 「Dungeon Walker」 and move us to the small room where we are supposed to meet up with the Baron and his man immediately, but I decide against it as well.
If my hunch is correct, then Baron Ester must have probably heard from the Duke that the Job I currently possess is an Adventurer, so I cannot tell him that I am an Explorer.