Chapter 82: Amy's Past

Once Tsutomu came to join the group, Camille started the meeting off by confirming everyone's abilities. Most of the twenty-five Guild Staff Members gathered here were at the high level of seventy, and although they were not as well-known as Garm and Amy, they were all very capable.

As for their Job types, most of them were Attackers, numbering at fifteen; of the remaining, six were Tanks and four were Healers. Tsutomu looked at all their status ratings, focusing especially on their unique skills, and then proceeded to talk with every one of them.

"Long time no see, Mister Tsutomu," the Deputy Guild Master greeted, happily puffing up his plump cheeks and exuding the friendly aura he had always had. He had joined the group as well, having reached level 70 in his Job as a Spiritualist.

"Ohh! Long time no see, indeed, sir!"

By the time Tsutomu was done confirming everyone's skills and status ratings, the other Clans were done with their meetings as well; they decided then that it was time to wrap up for the day, what with it being almost nighttime. All the organization representatives were going to have another meeting shortly, however, so Camille left her group and headed for the city rulers' residence.

As Tsutomu was wondering what to do now, Amy invited him to a dinner gathering of Guild members participating in the Stampede. They entered a nearby tavern, the inside of which was empty due to the Stampede, and were easily let in.

At first, everyone sat down and ate and drank in a well-ordered manner, but as the drinks started making the rounds, everyone started to move around as they pleased.

The receptionist with the buzz cut walked over to Tsutomu's seat and talked to him, "You know, Tsutomu, that lady's been real grumpy because you kept lining up for me! Hah!"

"I'm not grumpy." The receptionist lady, sitting diagonally in front of them, chugged her drink down while keeping a perfectly straight face.

"Ahaha..."

Tsutomu had been quite surprised to hear that the lady was a level 70 Gray Mage, having thought that she, and by extension the other receptionist, were regular full-time office workers.

The Gray Mage Job's functionality was somewhere in the middle between White and Black Mages, and was often regarded as a master of none. It was not completely written off, however, thanks to its specialty skill that copied another skill used by their allies, enabling them to use it once. Additionally, they had access to a great variety of attacking elements through the common magic spells and Holy-elemental attacks, enabling them to easily exploit monsters' weaknesses.

In addition to the Gray Mage, there were many Guild Staff Members who had reached level 70 with their rarer, less popular Jobs such as Sorcerer, Channeler, Spiritualist, Hunter, and Spellblader. Some were of the more sough-after Jobs such as Swordfighter and Boxer, of course, but the minor Jobs made up half of them.

As such, the Guild was home to many individuals who could be considered top of the line despite their suboptimal Jobs. Tsutomu found it interesting to hear all their stories and find out what was different from the game, but the one he was most curious about was the Channeler.

The Channeler Job, being closely associated in functionality to White Mages, had always been a subject of interest for him. Although he had talked with one during the gathering earlier, it was not enough to satisfy his curiosity. So now, he found himself approaching the person in question — a Channeler woman — once again, but he came off as too insistent and passionate, complete with heavy breathing, that the woman tried to distance herself from him.

"If you don't mind me asking, how do you maintain your channeling effects? I'm quite curious, you see, seeing that their chanting times seem so long and all..."

"......"

The more Tsutomu asked, the more the Channer backed away. She had always been introverted and unconfident in her looks, and it had been a long time since she had to interact with an assertive man.

"C'mon, Tsutomu! Stop bullying her!" Amy scolded Tsutomu upon seeing the scene, putting herself between him and the Channeler.

"Uh, I didn't mean to do that..." Tsutomu, putting up no resistance in the first place, was then promptly shoved away.

Seeing no use in staying around, Tsutomu then went back to his previous seat and started talking to some other people. He had some extent of technical knowledge on Spellbladers' budget management and Spiritualists' skill loops, so he brought those topics up as some of the Guild staff moved over to his table.

They were all interested in Tsutomu, what with him having partied up with Amy, and with the latter declaring that she would join his Clan, no less. That was the actual reason they gathered around.

"So, Tsutomu, how'd you force Amy to group up with you?" The receptionist lady, sitting opposite to him, asked with a mischievous smirk.

"Wording! And I didn't force her to do anything!"

Just as Tsutomu was about to explain, the receptionist lady chugged down the wine from her glass and chuckled.

"If you told me six months ago that she'd joined a party, I wouldn't have believed it, you know..."

"Huh, really?"

"What, you haven't heard? She was pretty aggressively against it back in the day... and even had a bias against Explorers who worked in groups, you see?" The receptionist sighed and tipped her empty glass. Tsutomu promptly took a wine bottle and poured it into the glass, while the receptionist lady proceeded to continue. "So the thing is that her Clan disbanded after failing to win against the Shell Crab, but the way they did it was... not good. It was just a sham, so to speak."

"A sham? How so?"

"Long story short, the old Clan members went and created a new Clan while leaving Amy out of it. When she found out, well... she got REALLY violent with them. Right in the Guild building, no less. Things were pretty messy after that."

"Whoa, that never crossed my mind..." Tsutomu nodded in understanding, himself having gotten used to such Clan conflicts from his time with Live Dungeon.

The receptionist lady moved closer and whispered,

"I know, right? That's why I thought you'd threatened her, as those articles said... but those turned out to be fake. So what'd you do to her, exactly?."

"Well... I didn't do anything special, really. We just went and won a fight against the Shell Crab, that's it."

"Don't lie to me! Come on, out with it! How'd you force her to join you!? C'mon!"

"He didn't force me to do anything!"

"Ouch!"

Amy karate-chopped the receptionist lady's head from behind, causing the latter to clutch her head in pain. She did not stop there, however, continuing to pound her fists on the receptionist's head, causing the latter to writhe in pain. Tsutomu, seeing that Amy was probably drunk, left the scene while she still was preoccupied.

――▽▽――

Representatives of the relevant organizations began making their way into the Noble Manor, the nobility's residence located in the center of Dungeon City. They all gathered in an excessively spacious conference room, wherein they sat around a round table.

The people who arrived were Leon, Rook, Alma, Camille, and Bruno — the last of which towered over the rest because of their unique skill, <<Muscle Body>>. Waiting for them was Melchor, the middle-aged representative of the nobility's private armed forces, famous for his ten consecutive championships in the national Martial Arts Competition, and also his splendid white mustache. He knocked on his aching hips a few times as he took his seat.

For this meeting, Alma had been sent to represent the Scarlet Devil Squad in the Clan Leader's stead. She had been getting more and more famous these past few months, albeit in large part thanks to her Black Staff. Then again, she had always been a big show-off, and had begged her Clan Leader to be put in charge of this task.

Alma nervously looked around, what with all the others being practically celebrities. The other representatives seemed to take well to her relatively new presence.

[Curses... To think Weiss is actually a no-show at a time like this... What a drag...]

Melchor, after seeing Alma, called over the support staff behind him and started whispering something to them. Having been informed beforehand of Alma's character and history, he ordered a quick alteration to some of the meeting documents' contents he had prepared.

In the meantime, the maids served tea to all the guests, so as to keep the idle chatter going. Melchor, after taking a sip from his cup, used his fingers to stretch out the wrinkles around his eyes.

The documents' alterations had completed by the time everyone finished their tea and made themselves comfortable, after which Melchor coughed to clear his throat and spoke up,

"Now, let's get the meeting started, shall we? ...Not that there's much to talk about, but first, we shall decide on which organization will be responsible for which Dragons."

Melchor signaled to the support staff behind him, prompting them to begin handing out a set of documents to the representatives. They contained the descriptions of the Dragons that Leon had observed on-site, and also the information that Tsutomu had provided. Melchor held up his copy of the documents in one hand and stroked his mustache with another.

"With reference to this set of documents, we have made the following assignments of Dragons to each of the organizations. If there are any objections, do feel free to state them."

"May I have a word, sir?" Alma immediately replied, being the first of the group to do so. She pointed at the documents and continued, "Why was the Scarlet Devil Squad assigned only two Fire Dragons? We should be able to handle some of the other Dragons as well, I say."

The current assignments were as follows: four Fire Dragons for Ealdred Crow, and two for Scarlet Devil Squad. No Dragons for Golden Tune. The Black Dragon and one Ice Dragon for the Guild. One Lightning Dragon for the Security Team. The remaining two Ice Dragons and one Black Dragon for the nobility's private army. Alma seemed to be dissatisfied with what her Clan got.

[This young lady is too damn motivated... Curse you, Weiss, pushing more trouble my way again...] Melchor grumbled at the Scarlet Devil Squad Clan Leader in his mind, while also turning back to look at Alma, whose eyes had been sparkling this whole time. "I don't think so — the Scarlet Devil Squad is simply too low in numbers. Aren't there only ten of you?"

"Numbers don't matter, sir. After all, Weiss and I will be there... If anything, we can handle the addition of the Ice Dragons, I reckon."

"No can do — BUT we could make an exchange: we'll take your Fire Dragons, you take our Ice Dragons. Keep in mind that have a good chance of defeating some of the Dragons during the opening interception anyway."

"...Yes, sir, that will be fine," Alma reluctantly agreed to the offer.

Melchor grumbled in his mind again, albeit while maintaining his outward smile. He could tell that Alma simply wanted some credit for offering her opinion here; such was a common mentality for those new to the scene.

In fact, the Scarlet Devil Squad had been assigned the Ice Dragons originally, out of consideration of their compatibility. That was what had been changed in the documents just before the meeting, out of Melchor's consideration that Alma would present an objection either way, wanting to stand out with the very act of speaking up.

Seeing that Alma had apparently calmed down by now, Melchor proceeded to look around to see if anyone else had anything to say. The slender woman with long red hair raised her hand — it was none other than Camille, the Guild Master.

"The Guild would like to propose an alteration as well, sir. We would like to be responsible for the two Black Dragons instead — is that possible?"

"Hmm..."

"As we have been informed, the Black Dragons' black flames can only be extinguished with either Holy-elemental skills or Holy Water. Additionally, the Guild has access to the White Mage that has provided substantial information regarding the Dragons, so I think it would be best if we took care of it."

"Ah... Tsutomu, was he now?"

To Melchor's knowledge, the young man was initially famous for his 'Lucky Boy' nickname he had gained for finding a golden treasure chest, and then noticed for his strategic abilities after leading his team to defeat the Fire Dragon for a second time. This same Tsutomu was the one who had provided information regarding the Dragons to the town defenders; it was certain that his information was credible, considering the Dragons that had attacked Uga'ol.

With Tsutomu's knowledge of the Dragons, one would assume without a doubt that he had experience fighting in some of the other Dungeons. It was unlikely for a White Mage to explore the Dungeon alone, so the general assumption was that he belonged to a yet unidentified organization, though no details regarding that had surfaced thus far.

His entire identity was still unknown even to the nobility's information network, so it was believed that he hailed from a very remote region. At any rate, the nobility certainly had high hopes for Tsutomu's contributions through his knowledge and capabilities.

"Very well. The Guild shall handle both Black Dragons. We expect good results from you."

"Leave it to us, sir," Camille answered and bowed.

"Now, anything else?" Melchor asked and waited a few moments for further comments. Then, seeing that there was not any, he moved on to the next topic. "Our Stampede strategies will be largely unchanged from the ones before. The main difference is that the attack will be opened by the Dragons — which will force some adjustments, but not all too much. House Babenberg's barrier magic will be used to stop the Dragons, after which all forces will shoot them down with magic spells and other skills. That will, at the very least, damage their wings. The surviving Dragons will then be dealt with by ground forces. That is all."

"...That sounds about right. No objections, sir."

"We're counting on all of you to properly lure the Dragons, people," Melchor further explained.

Rook nodded, and Leon answered with a broad smile. Bruno said nothing... and instead struck a pose and bulged up their muscles.

"Very reassuring. Now, as for the rest of the way... I suppose it's business as usual. Detailed procedures and resource management policies are included in the documents, so consult them as needed. Rook, you might want to double-check them to be sure."

"Yes, sir!"

Rook proceeded to flip through the documents, even humming cheerfully while he did so, helping the others around him to feel relaxed. As unorthodox as this Stampede may be, it was just about as festive as ever for them. Placing their trust in House Babenberg's barrier magic, they had no particular worries — that was just how powerful the barrier was.

As long as God's Dungeon was accessible, the defenders' supply of Magic Stones was inexhaustible, and as long as the nobility did not all die, the barrier magic would be maintained. No problems were predicted to happen during the interception of airborne monsters, what with the abundance of Mages and anti-air magic tools. And in the case that they failed to defeat the Dragons, they still could use a communication magic tool to call for backup from the Royal Capital. In the meantime, Explorers could simply stall the enemies by keeping on collecting Magic Stones from the Dungeon.

"All right, I think that's all we needed to go over. Get to it, people," Melchor threw out an abrupt, sloppy remark before leaving his seat, effectively ending the meeting.