CH.46 ns for Tomorrow
<span style="font-weight:400">Why has Dark Magician Girl not run out of time?
<span style="font-weight:400">That was what was going on in my mind. I thought the two hour rule with my cards was absolute. How did Alice and Mana break it?
<span style="font-weight:400">“What were the two of you doing?” I asked them.
<span style="font-weight:400">“We were just practicing.” Alice answered. Well that’s to be expected, but you shouldn’t go overboard.
<span style="font-weight:400">“And we talked about the boys we like.” Mana added. “I told her about Pharaoh Atem and his glorious win against Zorc the Dark One. And she said she wants to marry Mas, ah. Mh, gh.”
<span style="font-weight:400">Alice pped her hands onto Mana’s mouth in an attempt to keep her quiet, but I think she might have been too slow. I think the important part has alreadye out.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Don’t say that.” Alice said. “It’s a secret.” I don’t think it really is Alice. You have sneaked into my room twice. And slept next to me, after knowing me for like a day. I think the confusing part would be, if you weren’t interested in me at all.
<span style="font-weight:400">But the rtionships are not really what I need to know about right now. This extended summon is more important.
<span style="font-weight:400">“What kind of practice were you doing?” I asked them. As I did, Alice took her hands away from Mana’s mouth.
<span style="font-weight:400">“We were just doing the basic mana cirction practice.” Alice answered.
<span style="font-weight:400">“And I was teaching some spells to her, while at it.” Mana continued. “I wanted to give Alice some material to study with, in case Master was to leave soon.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“...I don’t want you to leave yet.” Alice said quietly. Well, she would lose her teacher if I left. I guess I could leave Dark Magician Girl with her, but I won’t do it if Mana wants toe with me.
<span style="font-weight:400">“I see…” I really don’t understand anything. Nothing about that seems strange. (Laura, do you have an idea?)
<span style="font-weight:400">(Information on Master’s skill is limited, as such no absolute theory is avable.)
<span style="font-weight:400">(But you do have an idea?)
<span style="font-weight:400">(Yes. It could be due to the bond between Alice and Mana. Or Mana could be forcing herself to stay active for a little bit longer.)
<span style="font-weight:400">(She doesn’t seem strained.)
<span style="font-weight:400">(She is a practiced magician. She might be used to dealing with and hiding pain.)
<span style="font-weight:400">(I see. Better just to ask her.) I decided. “Mana, how are you feeling?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“I feel fine, Master.” She answered. “Why do you ask?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“It’s just that your summoning time should be up by now. Laura said you might be forcing yourself to stay here.” I told her.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Oh, is it? I didn’t even notice.” She answered casually. Perhaps it really is just easy for her to stay here. Or was the two hour limit wrong? No, I remember with Kagemusha, he got noticeably weaker when the time limit ran out.
<span style="font-weight:400">“You two must have done something strange to do that.” I said. “Well anyway, Alice, you should unsummon Mana now, before something bad happens to her.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“But, she seems fine.” Alice argued.
<span style="font-weight:400">“It’s fine Alice.” Mana told her. “You’ll get to see me again tomorrow. Isn’t that right, Master?” Mana got on my case about summoning her tomorrow.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Yeah, I don’t mind summoning you tomorrow.” I told her.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Fine then.” Alice gave in. “Mana, thank you for the second lesson. You can go now.” Alice said and the Dark Magician Girl’s card appeared.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Sure. You better keep your promise, Master.” Mana said to me, before flying into her card.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Alice, show me her card.” I asked Alice. I need to make sure it didn’t get damaged in any way from that extended summon.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Sure.” Alice said and handed it over.
<span style="font-weight:400">I inspected it from every angle, but I didn’t find any damage on it. That’s good at least.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Is she fine?” Alice asked me, seeming a little worried.
<span style="font-weight:400">“I don’t see any damage on the card and she seemed well when she left, so I it should be fine.” I told Alice.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Good.” She seemed a little relieved.
<span style="font-weight:400">“I still don’t think you should keep her here for too long at a time.” I told Alice. “Even if it was fine this time, you should be more careful in the future. I don’t really know the limits of these toploaders, so if it breaks, we might lose Mana’s card. Forever.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“NO!” Alice yelled out. “That can’t happen. I won''t let it.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Then don’t keep her here for too long. At least until I really get why she even could do it.” I told her as I ced Dark Magician Girl back into my collection.
<span style="font-weight:400">“I promise I won’t.” Alice promised me.
<span style="font-weight:400">—
<span style="font-weight:400">“Brian, you shoulde visit the guild.” Alex said to me. “You didn’t register yet, did you?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“No, I never got the chance.” I answered. “But I thought you said the guild was a mess or something like that, so it might be a better idea to wait a few more days.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Registering a new adventurer won’t make a difference. The problems are mostly on the back end, after all.” Alex exined.
<span style="font-weight:400">“I hope the young adventurers are not getting into problems due to this. I would feel bad for them.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“That’s part of the reason Rico stayed behind today. He was going to help them.” Alex said to me. “Lua has also been draining the blood of all the boars that were taken down today. And Zayaan took the guild master’s seat temporarily.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“What happened with that B-rank party you talked about? Did theye back from the guest? They were hunting something B-rank, if memory serves.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Yes, Diamond Sword had a sessful wyvern hunt.” Alex answered. “They came backtest evening and were resting until noon. We just saw them as we made our way here.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“And they are helping to keep the guild up?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“I would assume so.” Alex told me. “High ranking adventurers want their home guild to be strong after all.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Has the news of the dungeon spread to the guild yet?” I asked.
<span style="font-weight:400">“I don’t think so.” Alex answered. “There are some rumors, and a lot of the guild staff know about it, but I think most junior adventurers still think it’s just a rumor. But we did make a lot of noise yesterday and you even made a path in the woods, so theories are going to fly.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Yeah, and then there were the trees that are going to be cleared away.” I said. “I know Brandon asked the transporters to clear them, but wouldn’t they also hire some adventurers to act as muscle?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“They do, yes.” Alex answered. “I think they left for the first pickup in the morning. But, considering the work there is, it will take at least a week to clear it all the way to the dungeon. Even the explorative juniors will be afraid to walk too far into an unexplored forest.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“People don’t go there?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Not really. There is little of value in that forest. The main thing is these berries that grow there. Every year the baron buys arge amount of them, so the guild sends a group to pick them up. But they don’t go as deep as the dungeon during the picking.”
<span style="font-weight:400">I remember those berries. They tasted good. I think the juice I had on the first day was made of them. But they really don’t go that deep? The dungeon was only like a two hour trip through the forest. Well I guess it would be easy to get lost without system support. Or just apass. Do they not havepasses? Or they might be toorge to carry on your person. Like the ones they had on old ships.
<span style="font-weight:400">“I see. Well, I’ll try to visit the guild tomorrow.” I told Alex.
<span style="font-weight:400">—
<span style="font-weight:400">After the guests (or summoning students) left, I had some tea and snacks with Alice and her mother.
<span style="font-weight:400">“So Brian,” Christina began. “When will we visit the dungeon again?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Why would you need to go there?” Alice asked. I think she still remembers all that blood everywhere. I did clean it when I absorbed all the monster corpses, but that won’t destroy the memories.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Brian said he is going to make me the dungeon master.” Christina replied.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Really? But then you won’t be able to leave the town, right?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“As long as we name someone from the guild as a secondary dungeon master it will be just fine.” Christina told the worried Alice. Where would Christina even need to go? The capital probably. I think there might be some big parties that would require the presence of all nobles in the country.
<span style="font-weight:400">“I think we should wait a few more days.” I told her. “I think you would have heard, but I had a summon clear a path in the forest, so it will be easier to get to and from the dungeon. But the fallen trees are still there, and a road has not been made yet, so if we wait a few more days, we can get there easier.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“That is true, but didn’t you speak of a flying summon? Couldn’t we just fly there?” Christina asked.
<span style="font-weight:400">“I only have one, so we could only fly one way.” At least if my assumption is right about Cyber Falcon. Sonic Bird might be able to handle it, if it was just one person and Twin-Headed Fire Dragon would probably just burn us. Queen Bird seems nice, but it’s too small to carry a person. I think. I could always try summoning one, but waiting a few more days shouldn’t be a problem. I can just check up on the dungeon every day.
<span style="font-weight:400">“I see.” Christina answered. “That’s too bad.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“The dungeon won’t run away. And I did kind of promise the position of dungeon master to you. And I do tend to keep my promises.” I said to Christina.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Of course you do.” Alicemented.
<span style="font-weight:400">Thank you for your trust, Alice.
<span style="font-weight:400">With that, our tea time came to an end.
<i ss="fa fa-exmation-triangle" aria-hidden="true" style="padding-right:5px;"></i> Announcement
So CH.49 won, by a lot. CH.48 is going toe out on April 7, at 2PM GMT. And CH.49 wille out at the regr time at 4PM.