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Volume 1 Chapter 13-2: Tower of Reitoku

「Fumu…Sistina…why are you attacking first ja?」

Upon witnessing this, Hotaru-san could not allow it to continue and called out to her.

「Haa, haaa…..I-if I don’t attack then I can’t defeat it.」
「But you have guard and self-defense arts right? Isn’t it easier for you to defend than attack ja?」

Sistina’s movements paused as soon as she heard those words.

「Even if you received greater power from the subordinate contract you can’t lose sight of yourself or it will be meaningless.」
「…Okay!」

As if she had overcome something Sistina fixed her breathing and her stance suddenly changed.

She stopped leaning forward in an attacking pose and instead shifted her weight back making her look far more stable. She changed her grip on the battleaxe to one closer to the center and her hands spread more widely apart.

「Hmm? It feels a lot more substantial now.」
「Umu, not bad. From now on this should be Sistina’s actual strength ja.」

Hotaru-san said with satisfaction as the wolf finally took the initiative to attack.

The wolf clawed at the floor and approached in an instant, but Sistina quickly shifted the battleaxe and struck its chin with the hammer side.

It was a clean and heavy strike unlike the ones she had previously made with brute strength.

The wolf managed to ward of the shock and fixed its posture in the air before landing and leaping forwards once more. This time it wouldn’t be as foolish as to leap through the air again.

Despite that, Sistina utilized both sides of the axe effectively to ward of the wolf’s moves and memorized its movements until she struck it in the side of the head with the hammer.

「Oh, looks effective.」

Even for a monster, getting struck in the side of the head would cause it to waver. It seemed unsteady as it stumbled around.

Sistina didn’t let that opening go and struck with the blade.

「Well, it’s a passing mark. Your defense, attacks, and movements aren’t too bad.」
「Thank you very much….I’m sorry to show you such an embarrassing sight….」

I’m sure she was referring to the first exchange where she relied on brute strength.

「Because of my contract with Master I got an unexpected boost to my power and that caused me to lose sight of my own abilities.」

Sistina said as she brought over the Tower Wolf’s magic stone. It was a dark stone around the size of the fingernail on my pinkie. Then, the Tower Wolf’s corpse disappeared for some reason.

「Why’d the corpse disappear?」
「If a monster born in the Tower, dies within it then most of the power will return back to the Tower. However, there is a bit of time to collect the monster’s stone before it disappears.」
「So that’s…a magic stone?」
「Yes. Also, once a monster is ejected out of the Tower, the Tower will no longer be able to recover the power used to birth it. Once the monster lives for a certain time outside, its body will adapt to the environment in which it finds itself. It is said that the magic stone within the beast’s body is used as fuel to change its body once it leaves the Tower.」

So basically, monsters in the Tower leave behind magic stones but no bodies and monsters outside leave behind bodies but no magic stones. That means I’ll have to hunt outside if I want materials…

It seems like it’s necessary to plan hunting around the profits of both materials and magic stones.

『Magic Stone (Nil) Rank: H』

Nil…must mean there is no attribute attached to it. The rank is also H. Things on the first floor are like this….how much would it sell for? I want to return the debt as soon as I can. If Sistina would be taken away from me because of my debt then I would have no choice but to kill Will and…

Oops, my mind wandered in a dangerous direction. We had 300 days to return the debt so as long as we earned 1,000 mars a day there would be no problem.

「Alright, next is for Soujirou ja. The closest is…this way.」

Tossing the magic stone into my bag I followed after Hotaru-san.

「Good going back there Sistina.」
「No, I’ve only defeated one and it ended up like that…」
「It can’t be helped. You’re not used to your strength yet and it was your first real combat.」
「I can’t make excuses. No matter what, my circumstances don’t matter to the monsters after all.」

Well, Sistina was correct. This isn’t good…maybe I still hadn’t thrown off the feeling that I was ‘sightseeing’ in another world. I didn’t intend on doing so but…

Anyways, in order to not let my guard down I had to start fighting. Once I died I would not be able to get a ‘Continue’ screen.

「There it is. Remember what I taught you, calm yourself, and fight ja.」

Hotaru-san said and I spotted the same type of Tower Wolf Sistina just fought, the only difference was that it was Rank G.

「I understand.」

I replied and pulled my sword and Sakura-chan from their sheathes before standing in front of the wolf. It had already noticed us and lowered its posture while growling.

In my right hand I held the longsword and aimed it towards the wolf, in my left hand I held Sakura sideways and supported the longsword.

I was more afraid than expected. On Earth it was possible that you might not win against even a normal dog, but suddenly I have to face a monster wolf in a different world.

「Owa! Damn!」