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Volume 9 Chapter 1 Part 8

You are going to try even more than that? I look forward to it in the future then.

After Vesta moved away from me, Miria came and helped her put a shirt on. With the help of Miria, she also puts on her equipment.

「Thank you for helping her, Miria. Are you done changing now, Vesta?」

「Yes, I am done, master.」

「It’s time to go, then. Vesta is coming with us, too, so make sure that you’re always going to stay closely behind us, okay?」

「Yes. As you wish, master.」

From the bedroom, I warped us to the eighteenth floor of Haruba’s Labyrinth.

This time, in addition to the other three, who are used to it already, Vesta is also here with us, so it’s going to be her first proper morning trip to the Labyrinth with us.

「It is still early in the morning. Vesta, are you fine with moving around?」

「I am okay for now, I believe.」

While we are still inside the small entrance room, I hand Vesta a Hardened Leather Helmet as well as a Wooden Shield and Magic Crystal.

I am sorry for Vesta’s equipment being only spares, but that is the best that I can do for her at the current moment. When I’m going to have a spare moment, we’re definitely going to have to go to the Armor and Weapon Shops and buy her some proper equipment.

「Also, use this Steel Sword for now.」

「B-But master will not have a sword, then. Are you sure that giving that one to me is a good idea?」

「Yes, because I will be using a different one.」

「O-Okay then. In that case I’m going to take you up on your offer.」

I take the Steel Sword off my waist and pass it to Vesta. Since Vesta is using both her hands, she’s holding the two-handed Steel Sword with her right hand and the Wooden Shield with her left hand.
It indeed seems that the big Vesta can both hold and swing the two-handed sword without any issues, which is good to know. That way, we won’t have to worry about such things as her tripping or losing her balance due to the accumulated momentum carrying her with it.

「Oh that’s right, I almost forgot to ask. Sherry, can you make a Tower Shield?」

「You mean the type of large shield that the Dragonkin tribe members can use, right? I’m sorry to say that, but creating such an item is impossible for the present me. Also, if you want to even start considering making items like that, then you’re going to have to get your hands on higher-tier materials that are required for forging steel plates, like either regular steel or Damascus Steel.」

Just like I thought, it looks like the current Sherry can’t make it. So, if the finished product uses steel, you have to get either steel or something greater than that, like the Damascus Steel that Sherry mentioned just now? But once we’ll be able to provide those materials to Sherry, the she should be able to create something even better than the steel Shield that Roxanne is currently using, right?

Is there even a way for us to obtain such materials right now?

「There are fewer monsters on the right than on the left. Where would you like to go, master?」

「The left will be fine. It should be safe enough for Vesta at least, since aiming for bigger groups of monsters could be too big of a burden for her without the proper equipment.」

「Yes, I also think that challenging the smaller groups of enemies might be a better idea for the time being.」

「For today, I will also try to focus more on using magic.」

Under Roxanne’s guidance, we advance through the Labyrinth. Roxanne is in the vanguard, followed by Miria and Vesta, while Sherry is the rearguard, closely behind me.

「Umm, you track the monsters by their smell, Roxanne?」

「Yes, since I have a very good sense of smell, that is the least that I can do in order to be of use to master while we are in the Labyrinths.」

「Amazing!」

While Roxanne and Vesta were having a conversation about Roxanne being able to smell monsters, we reach a group of them shortly after. They are three Fly Traps, one Kettle Mermaid and one Clam Shell.

In order to take out Fly Traps first, I need to use Fire Magic on them, since that’s their weakness.

Therefore, I think about「Fire Storm」and cast it.

「Miria, Vesta, here they come!」

「Yes!」

Roxanne commands the two of them into the battle formation while she herself takes the central position. While sparks from my 「Fire Storm」were dancing in front of us, Vesta takes a step back, and comes to the left side as per Roxanne’s instructions.

Miria covers the right side now and Vesta to the left side. While standing behind Miria, Sherry is keeping her spear at the ready. This is a good formation, since it would be pretty hard for the rest of the girls to aim at the monsters properly if Vesta was in the front. On the other hand, standing directly behind Roxanne is a bad idea as well.

「Attack incoming!」

It is especially dangerous standing behind Roxanne due to enemy’s Skills, so Vesta, Sherry and Miria line up in two separated columns, with me standing close to Vesta now. I wait for the flames to go out, and then cast the second 「Fire Storm」, following it soon after with a third one.

「Here it comes!」

Right after Roxanne’s warning, a water shot comes flying between Vesta and me. I am glad I was not directly behind her, or else I would have taken that shot right to the face with its full force. But now that I am standing behind Vesta, I do not fear any of the monsters, because standing behind Vesta is like standing behind an impenetrable wall that gives me the maximum feeling of security.

However, I cannot allow myself to become complacent. I have to constantly monitor the flow of the battle if there ever came a need for me to use Recovery Magic or items.

The monsters in the front close in and attack us. They are two Fly Traps and one Kettle Mermaid. Roxanne dodges the Fly trap’s attack easily. While dodging its attack, she hits it with her Estoc.

The Fly Trap, that spat water earlier comes to the front as well while the Clam Shell seems to be falling back. It’s probably planning to spit water at us from behind whenour guards will be lowered.

And sure enough, while it was being attacked while moving, it spat water at us.

Roxanne dodges by a hair’s breadth. While dodging the second Fly Trap’s attack, is it even possible to dodge an attack coming from behind it at the same time? I think this is the first time when I saw her doing something so amazing while dodging. I mean, she’s as terrifying as always, but even so, that was still on yet another level of awesomeness!

I cast one more Fire Magic Spell, and burn the Fly Traps into a crisp. Miria and Roxanne take on the remaining Clam Shell and Kettle Mermaid. Sherry takes a step back, and uses her spear’s 「Chant Interruption」Skill to interrupt their Skill attacks.

Without taking a rest, I cast 「Sand Storm」in order to tidy the remaining two monsters up. Without getting exposed to the enemy attacks too much, we finish the monsters off, ending the battle swiftly.

「Amazing. Everyone is Amazing!」

Vesta is in awe of what she just witnessed with her own eyes.

「Well, it’s not always like this.」

「Monsters can be taken out quickly using magic attacks. However, the monsters we fought were weak. It actually takes more time to defeat the stronger ones.」

「I guess so.」

Which reminds me, Vesta told me that she fought monsters in the vicinity of the Labyrinth before, but she never entered one before.

「Roxanne was especially amazing. Absolutely wonderful. She will be my role model starting from now on!」

Vesta goes to Roxanne while picking up the Drop items. Uhm, Vesta? I hate to break it to you, but picking Roxanne as your role model is not going to help you grow stronger, since Roxanne is one of a kind.

「Thank you very much.」

「I wonder how you can move like that? And if I can learn to move just like you with enough training?」

「You will be good if you watch the monster’s movement closely. After that, it’s just a matter of moving your waist like this in order to dodge them effectively at the last possible second.」