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Volume 1 Chapter 13-4: Tower of Reitoku

「Fuuu…man was that dangerous.」

If I had just been able to calm myself I wouldn’t have had to fight so hard…but I guess things just don’t go your way sometimes.

Anyways, as I thought, Hotaru-san is amazing. Since she’s been on battlefields for hundreds of years her combat sense is incomparable.

I was certain of her experience after seeing how she could correct the errors in Sistina and my movements after watching us fight for a short time.

「Soujirou-sama, here.」

『Magic Stone (Nil) Rank: G』

I appraised the magic stone Sistina brought and saw that it was the same rank as the monster I defeated. It was also a bit bigger than the last one.

So seeing this I suppose that as monster ranks increase, so will the ranks of the magic stones.

「Also, I will care for your wounds.」

Sistina said as she gently grabbed my left hand that still grasped Sakura-chan.

「…ow!」
「Please don’t move. 『Cure』」

Sistina spoke the magic word as a soft and faint light enveloped my hand and the wounds on it.

「Ah….amazing」

The tears and scratches that the wolf’s teeth had caused were disappearing before my eyes. After the light faded my hand was still covered in blood, but not a single wound remained.

「So this is recovery magic? It’s amazing. Thank you Sistina, it doesn’t hurt at all.」
「Yes, I can always heal you, but please do your best not to get hurt in the first place.」

Sistina said with a slight joking tone, but I could tell she was being completely serious. It looks like I caused her to worry. Tonight I’d have to combine 『punishment』 with 『gratitude』.

「Alright, I don’t think anything on this first floor should pose much of a challenge. I think we should push ourselves to reach the next one ja.」

Hotaru-san said with a ferocious smile as she released her blade from her right hand.

「Basically we shall have Sistina as the vanguard to draw the enemies. Soujirou’s role should be hit-and-run, but as you aren’t used to it I’m sure you wouldn’t know when to attack and when to hold back. For now I’ll give you orders. Don’t think I will only speak orders, if there’s not enough time I may use 『Empathy』 to send them mentally. Move to where you are told and fight. If you feel the desire to move of your own will then I don’t mind you doing so. I will be able to make up for any deficiencies such movements may cause.」
「Okay!」
「Roger that」

Hotaru-san nodded seeming pleased at our answers as we started moving at a faster pace.

We needed to fight and being spirited was important…but I felt like Hotaru-san was a bit too gung-ho. It might be because she had been born for battle, yet for the past 100 years she was used as a decorative item…I’m sure she must have a lot of stress built up.

In addition to that this was one of the first times she could move herself freely and battle. She must have been really happy.

Sistina didn’t know the details of Hotaru-san’s past but she read the mood. We met our gazes, shrugged, and laughed at her excitement.

「Let’s go, there’s a group of three!」

Wow already fighting a group of three?

『Tower Wolf (1st Floor) Rank: H』
『Tower Wolf (1st Floor) Rank: G』
『Stone Puppet (1st Floor) Rank: G』

There is a stone doll around the size of a child holding a stone axe with two wolves flanking it.

The doll up front should be the stone puppet.

「Two wolves! Right G Left H! Stone Puppet Rank G!」

I conveyed the results of my appraisal to the two of them just in case. I thought that maybe the reason the wolf had made tricky movements when I fought it was because it was a higher rank than the one Sistina fought. If that was the case, then it was worth telling them.

「Sistina will fight the middle doll. Soujirou will take the left. I will take the right ja.」

We silently nodded and accepted Hotaru-san’s orders before moving forward. Sistina charged in first and made a fairly large swing from her left to the right.

She wasn’t repeating her mistakes from the previous fight though. She was using a larger attack to force the wolves into dodging thereby splitting up the enemies.

After separating them, she maintained her calm while facing the stone puppet head on.

Hotaru-san was completely overwhelming the G Rank wolf. She seemed to be testing her movements in her human form and was dodging each of the wolf’s attacks by millimeters. I wanted to catch up to those movements some day, but in all honesty I felt that the hurdle was far too high.

That aside, the two of them didn’t seem to have any issues, so it was down to me.

I took up my dual wielding stance as the wolf charged at me. My movements weren’t comparable to Hotaru-san’s, but I used the stance she taught me to easily shift my weight and side stepped it. As I stepped to the side I moved my blade to strike.

The wolf had leapt for my throat so I struck with Sakura-chan. She had Hit Correction so I doubted I would miss an attack on this First Floor.

Because I struck it in the air, it was unable to fix its posture and lost its balance once it hit the floor. I quickly pursued.

Alright, nice! I had defeated the wolf and it disappeared, I took the time to check on the other two and saw that Hotaru-san had finished up a while ago and was now watching the two of us.

Sistina was just now crushing the Stone Puppet with the hammer on her axe.

「Alright, pick up the magic stones and let’s move on.」

I see she doesn’t want to waste any time to rest. Well, I wasn’t tired yet, but if Hotaru-san doesn’t take into account that we are humans and will get tired, then I’ll have to stop her eventually so that Sistina and I don’t get worn down.

In the end, Hotaru-san dragged us around the whole main area of Level 1 and we basically defeated every enemy we found. The monsters we faced were basically just G and H Rank Tower Wolves, G Rank Stone Puppets, and eventually we found some Tower Bats that were G and H Rank.

The First Floor of Reitoku may only produce those three types of monsters.

「Umu, I think we can call it a day with this much ja.」
「Haaa, haaa….okay. Then, let us exit through…that window.」
「Fuu….I think I’m a bit tired. The Power Ankles are starting to feel heavier.」

We looked out the window to see the sun setting as it dyed the lake a glittering orange. Truly it was a romantic view, but because we were pretty tired we didn’t have much desire to take it in.

Sistina leapt out the window, but I wanted to look down and check it out, but the view warped and twisted making it difficult to tell if the ground was far or close.