Chapter 263: Leveling while searching


    After crafting all of the Aligerous Tribe’s equipment, what came into view when we returned to the Demon Continent base was Maria having a friendly chat with the spear group of the Aligerous Tribe, bagworm-kuー Bart-kun, I meanー lying on the floor like a worn out rag, and Sophia who was looking down on him with an icy gaze as if looking at trash.


    「Uhh, what’s going on here?」


    「……this garbage was speaking ill of Takumi-sama with his foul mouth, so I unconsciously worked him even harder. I would have finished him off, but I tolerated it in consideration for Valkan-dono.」


    「……ah, s-so that’s what it was.」


    「Acts such as speaking ill of Master (Husband) warrants certain death. He should be thankful that he is alive.」


    Even Marnie who was nearby was looking at the worn out ragー I mean Bart-kun with an icy gaze. Seeing Sophia’s and Marnie’s truly angry faces which they would never show me, yep, it’s definitely Bagworm-kun’s fault.


    Just in case, I used healing magic on Bart-kun and distributed the equipment to each person. Now that we’ve handed out the equipment of the Aligerous Tribe, we were going to level them while searching for the remnants of the old Sydnia.


    We’re dividing the party into two teams for power leveling and exploration, with Marnie, Laeva, Kaede, and me in one, and Sophia, Maria, Akane, and Lulu-chan in the other team.


    Each team searched the areas assigned to them while hastening the leveling of the Aligerous Tribe.


    「Rearguards, preemptive attacks after the diversion! Vanguards, attack after the rearguard shoot arrows!」


    「「「Yes!」」」


    After dispatching Team Sophia from the Ouranos, we made an effort to control the number of monsters in the monster nest we’re assigned to as we leveled our team.


    Amazingly, Berkut-san had the best battle sense. Even if she used a spear, or switched to rearguard and uses a bow, or handled the Wind magic that the Aligerous Tribe always possessed, the talent she had was the crème de crème of the warriors participating today.


    「Rearguard, collect the arrows! Vanguards, split up and start working on dismantling and watching the surroundings!」


    「「「Yes!」」」


    In the desert monster nest, they worked on breaking down a 5m long Desert Scorpion after defeating it.


    Having lived in that solitary ind, dismantling monsters was a normal thing for the Aligerous Tribe and their young warriors.


    「What an amazing bow! It pierced the Desert Scorpion!」


    「This spear is great too! It broke through the hard shell!」


    The young Aligerous Warriors talked excitedly as they looked back on the battle.


    Having had no option but to use the bows they crafted themselves until now, they seemed astounded by the bows and spears they received from Laeva and I. Well, though we call it a bow, what I made this time was a Crossbow magic device.


    Unlike long bows and short bows, it has the demerit of being incapable of high-angle fire, but there’s no need for that in the Sky Ind dungeon.


    Incidentally, the deployable crossbow inserted into the bracer could use magic imbued bolts in addition to the normal bolts. Even normal bolts would be effective if against small fries, but for monsters after a certain rank, it wouldn’t be effective unless it was a magic imbued bolt.


    「Takumi-sama, we’ve collected the dismantled materials.」


    「Understood. Then the next enemy is…… 500m away in the 2 o’clock direction, there are 3 more Desert Scorpion.」


    Berkut came to report that they hadpleted the order to dismantle and collect the materials from the defeated Desert Scorpion. Also, before I knew it, Berkut had started calling me “Takumi-sama”. I was perplexed by how fast I gotten close to Berkut.


    I wonder if Sophia and the girls fine with it.


    「You damn bugs! Attack without flinching!」


    「「「Yessir!」」」


    「…………Tsk.」


    All but one of the Aligerous warriors attacked the primate monster, the Killer Apes, in the forest-type monster nest at Akane’smand.


    「You fucking bugs! Cooperate, you imbeciles!」


    「「「「Sir! Yessir!」」」」


    「……hey, Akane. What is this?」


    With a bewildered expression, Sophia asked Akane who was in high spirits.


    「Eh, you don’t know? Isn’t military training like this?」


    「……be it in Yggurle Kingdom or Valkyra Kingdom, I’ve never heard of such a thing done.」


    Leaving aside Akane’s wicked ruling, the training of teams led by Sophia and Maria were doing well. ……minus one person.


    Yes, wouldn’t Valkan-san cry if he knew? His only son, the future leader candidate was the #1 good-for-nothing.


    「Bagworm is hopeless nya.」


    「It’s really just his mouth.」


    「So you understand my feelings too, Lulu, Maria?」


    Lulu-chan and Maria looked at the worn-out Bart-kun on the floor with cold eyes.


    Bart-kun seemed to have a more conceited mouth than anyone else. And yet when ites to battles, he gets cold feet. Even when Sophia said that he should take the spear instead, he didn’t yield the sword and shield. And as he caused trouble for everyone, he would repeatedly be worn out. Yes, again and again. Bart-kun, who wouldn’t reflect, was ultimately branded as a “bagworm” by Maria and Lulu-chan as well.


    Good luck, Bart-kun.


    ***