<h4>Chapter 66, To Ealdred Crow</h4>
While the guild was buzzing with excitement over Ealdred Crow’s sess in defeating the Fire Dragon, Tsutomu looked at the party shown on Monitor #1 and nodded in admiration. One Tank, one Healer, two Attackers... and the n Leader, a Summoner, so Tsutomu did not quite know how that worked, but he guessed from theposition that it was also a Tank-type Job.
“Ooh, they sure work fast, don’t they?”
“Man, they beat us to it. I swear that lil’ brat is gonna send me a letter tomorrow asking about our progress just to rub it in,” Leon said with a tone of annoyance as he scratched his head, seeing how Ealdred Crow’s victory had caused quite an uproar in the Guild.
“But thanks to them, now it’s been proven that this kind of teamposition can reliably beat the Fire Dragon. Golden Tune should be able to do the same after another month of training, I think? All that’s left now is to get everyone moving in sync and have Barbara improve her control of <<Fly>>.”
“If you say so... By the way, Tsutomu, I got something to ask you about.”
“If that’s going to be an invitation, I’ll refuse,” Tsutomu brushed aside Leon’s supposed proposal without a second thought.
“...Figures. Well, not that I was hoping for anything once I heard that you’re looking for some crew yourself, though,” Leon said and slumped his shoulders down. Tsutomu proceeded to turn to the others and said to them,
“You’ve already gotten the essentials down, so now you just have to work from there. I think you all will be better off that way — you’re hard workers, so it’ll be fine.”
Barbara looked reluctant to say anything, while Eunice only stared back nkly. Diniel lightly waved her hand and said some brief words of thanks.
“So you’re leaving already, Tsutomu? There should still be some time left, right?” Barbara finally said.
“Yes. You see, I’d been prepared to stay for about two months at first, but you’ve been quite excellent at learning everything, so it was done much sooner than I’d expected.”
“...If you say so.”
Barbara, apparently knowing that he’d said that only to lighten the mood, did not seem too pleased. She took off her helmet and held it at her side, bowed her head, and shook both of Tsutomu’s hands firmly.
“You know, Tsutomu, it’s because of you that I started to see some hope in staying as an Explorer. Thanks.”
“Please don’t mention it — I was too strict with you in some respects, after all. You did great, and I’d say it was very rewarding to teach you.”
“...Really, thanks a lot. Now I’m so d that I didn’t quit...”
Barbara, a Heavy Knight, could now explore the Dungeon withouting off as off-putting to others, while also feeling that she was being helpful. Getting to explore the Canyons had been a dreame true for her. As such, she was deeply grateful to Tsutomu for teaching her the way of the Tank.
Tsutomu, seeing Barbara sniffling and putting her steel-wrapped arm over her eyes, softened his tone to calm her and patted her a few times on her back. Then, when he was about to leave, Eunice called out to him in a panic,
“Y-you don’t have anything to say to me!?”
“Huh? ...Well, keep up the good work.”
“THAT’S IT!? I’m definitely gonna beat you one day, so be ready!”
“Uh, sure.”
While Eunice kept on stomping her feet, Tsutomu turned to look at Leon behind him instead, and saw that the Wolfman was smiling broadly with his hands sped together. Tsutomu forced out a chuckle back at Leon, then said a few words to wrap things up,
“All right, then — good job, everyone. I hope you all will find great sess in your future endeavors as well.”
Tsutomu then left the Guild and returned to the inn. After he was done with reception, he walked into his room and sat down on his bed, his face looking quite weary. Tsutomu had not expected Ealdred Crow to win against the Fire Dragon this early, and he was now stuck pondering over how he should proceed with them.
He had always thought that a party with an average level of 70 would be able to easily defeat the Fire Dragon as long as they knew the basics of the three-roleposition. What he had not expected, however, was for them to seed on their first try. Although they had indeed challenged the Fire Dragon many times before, Tsutomu had thought that they would be wiped out at least for the first few times in their new formation.
The hidden detail here was that Ealdred Crow’s informant had been observing Tsutomu’s party ever since they had gotten through the thirtiethyer. As a result, Ealdred Crow had ended up as the first to adopt new tactics for Tanks and Healers, and in turn got themselves several steps ahead of other ns.
Ealdred Crow had a system of evaluating n members once a month, and then reorganizing their parties ordingly. Each of the parties was given a quota in proportion to their abilities, which they had to work to achieve on a daily basis. Because of this, even Tanks and Healers were given opportunities to keep raising their levels, to the point that they already had a level 70 Tank among them — and not to mention one whose abilities were not too shabby.
Moreover, parties that failed to meet their quotas would be at risk of being demoted to a lower priority rank, so their members took Dungeon exploration rtively seriously.
They were not judged purely on a team basis, however — individuals of the parties of fives who were not as talented as the others would find themselves on lower priority as well. How it worked was that their informants and quota-list managers would also watch their members through the Monitors and evaluate individuals’ performances, picking out ones they deemed worthy to be promoted.
As for their n House, theirs was thergest and most well-equipped among those of the major ns, so as to maximize Dungeon exploration efficiency. Rooms for n members werefortable, and the Dining Hall contained delicious food and packed lunch for one to bring into the Dungeon, all made by skilled cooks. They even had prostitutes of both sexes stationed in dedicated rooms.
In addition to all those, the n had exclusive employment of some cksmiths who inspected their equipment, and also clerks who managed the parties’ supplies, so as to create an environment where they could focus solely on Dungeon exploration. No other n in town offered this great of an employee benefits system.
Still, despite all the good, Ealdred Crow did have its drawbacks. Namely, the absence of an ace member to represent the n. Scarlet Devil Squad, Golden Tune, and Labyrinth Conquerors all had at least one member with a unique skill, while Ealdred Crow had none.
[I sure hope this goes well...]
Tsutomu thought while worried that his offerings would be treated as useless to them at this point, sent a letter to Ealdred Crow to inform them that he had finished his training program for Golden Tune.
――▽▽――
“Tsutomu! Wee to Ealdred Crow!”
Tsutomu’s worries two days ago ended up unfounded. On his arrival, he was greeted by Rook, the n Leader of Ealdred Crow, who held out his arms as if calling for a hug.
Invited into the veryrge n House, Tsutomu bent down a little and shook hands with Rook, then spoke to him about what had happened two days ago,
“Pleased to make your acquaintance. I saw you defeating the Fire Dragon the other day — congrattions.”
“Thanks! The documents you gave us really helped big time! We were already quite familiar with the Fire Dragon itself, you see, so applying and adapting to new strategies was just what we needed.”
“Is that so? From what I’ve often seen of your parties on the single-digit Monitors, I’ve always expected an easy time teaching here... but I’d never thought you’d go ahead and win against the Fire Dragon before then. That was your first attempt using Tanks and Healers in your team, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah, it was. We thought it’d be more exciting for the crowd, you see — lots of nning and improvisations, I tell you. What’s more, it was our Tank’s first time against the Fire Dragon, so that was a lot of trouble... but we all pulled through! Isn’t that awesome!?”
Rook was in the best of moods after his great victory, as apparent from his almost angelic smile. Tsutomu nodded along appropriately to the conversation as he walked, with Rook showing him around the n House.
The Workshop had many apprentice workers, each with towels wrapped around their heads and supervised by their masters, constantly refining weapons. In the Dining Hall, the cooks were preparing ingredients to have them ready for cooking before the mealtime of over a hundred Explorers. In addition to the Explorers, clerks and cleaners walked to and fro in the hallways; Tsutomu was even greeted several times.
“I must say... this n’s facilities are nothing short of amazing.”
“I know, right? I think they’re even as good as the Labyrinth Conquerors’ stuff. But over there, you’re putting your life on the line — not worth it.”
“True,” Tsutomu sighed in agreement as he followed Rook; at one point, they stopped in front of a room closed at the entrance by a thin pink curtain.
Tsutomu saw that the lighting here was somewhat dim and smelled something like sweet perfume in the air; Rook looked up and shot him a suspicious grin,
“Wanna sneak a peek?”
“...No, I’d rather not.”
“If you say so.”
Rook retracted his grin without saying anything more, then turned around and continued down the hallway. In truth, Tsutomu was quite interested in the room in question, but he had used his unparallelled power of reasoning to resist his urges. He did not want to have any lingering attachments in this world, at least until he knew for certain that he would never be able to return to his original one.
Tsutomu continued to walk behind Rook for a while, after which thetter stopped in front of arge door. Rook pushed the door open with his shoulder, revealing many fully-equipped Explorers waiting inside.
“Here’s where our n members gather up, pretty much to check our gear and equipment before heading to the Dungeon. I’d like you to meet up with us here at the beginning of each day, Tsutomu.”
“All right.”
Once Rook and Tsutomu walked into the room, the n members who were already waiting inside started talking loudly among themselves. Tsutomu followed Rook and saw him sitting down at a small table, so he himself sat in front of him across it.
Rook proceeded to call over a waiter, take one deep breath, and then made eye contact with Tsutomu before starting to talk,
“First things first, Tsutomu, I’d like you to check out our main Healer. I’m sure she’s already done everything that’s written in your documents, but I’d like to get some evaluation directly from you.”
“Yes, of course. I look forward to meeting her.”
Tsutomu had an inward sneer as he listened to Rook, thinking how different this time was shaping up to be,pared to when he had dealt with a certain fox girl. On Rook’s order, a waiter came to serve Tsutomu a cup of tea, which he picked up to drink with one hand while flipping through a stack of documents with the other.
“Tsutomu, this may seem like a personal request, but may I ask you something?”
“Please go ahead.”
“Thanks. It’s about the documents you handed out...”
Rook flipped through the pages and pointed at a certain word in the text. Tsutomu took a sip of tea, then took a look. Rook continued,
“I’ve been wondering if you could tell me more about this ‘Buffer’ role. The Jobs of this type include Minstrel and the like, right?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Could you exin it to us in more detail? We’ll put on some extra rewards on top of what you’ll already get, of course.”
“Well... I don’t need any payment for just exnations, really. The information itself isn’t that big of a deal anyway.”
“You mean it? Thanks a bunch!”
Rook, the androgynous young man, raised his voice quite high. Tsutomu, while doubting whether or not the former actually was over twenty years old, proceeded to speak.
“Buffer, as its name would suggest, refers to a role that involves mostly providing support to allies. For example, White Mages could use <
> and <<Haste>>, while Minstrels have <<Hymn of Protection>> and the like.”
“Mm-hm, mm-hm.”
Rook picked up a pen from the pedestal on the table and began to quickly jot down Tsutomu’s words. Thetter stopped and looked at Rook to make sure he didn’t miss anything before continuing,
“There’s one more thing — the Debuffer role, which I haven’t mentioned in the documents. It refers tobatants whose main task is to weaken monsters. ck and Gray Mages could use <
>, and Enchanters have <<Blind>>.”
“......”
“In many cases, a White Mage and a ck Mage would work in conjunction as a Buffer and Debuffer, respectively. Incidentally, I double as a Buffer for my parties as well. What’s worth noting is that Jos like Minstrel and Enchanter could work as both Buffer and Debuffer at the same time, so it’s prettymon to have just one of them, too. In this case, they would be simply called a Buffer.”
Minstrels had skills that augmented the STR of all party members at once, and Enchanters could inflict various status effects onto their enemies — in Live Dungeon, they were considered an Attacker’s eternal best friends. Out of the whole game, only these two Jobs had the ability to buff STR, so they were indispensable for Attackers who wanted to maximize the numbers they dished out.
“...And that’s pretty much all there is to it. Ealdred Crow does have a few Minstrels, so it might be worth considering, I’d say.”
“Tsutomu,” Rook said, his eyes implying a serious tone.
Tsutomu, slightly startled, straightened his posture up.
“So this Buffer role... Enchanters can do it, right?”
“Yes, they sure can.”
“...Noted.”
Rook crossed his arms and seriously pondered over things for a moment, then looked back up at Tsutomu.
“So here’s the thing, Tsutomu — could you train up a Buffer for us? An Enchanter, as you might have guessed — I’d like to request that of you, if you are able.”
“...Me, teach a Buffer?”
“Appropriatepensation provided, of course.”
Rook, seeing that Tsutomu was reluctant, pressed him for an answer. Tsutomu, though showing hesitation, brought up a proposal for the reward in question,
“You see, I’m actually nning to establish my own n...”
“...So you want personnel, then? Mm-hm. But now really isn’t a good time, what with us having taken down a Fire Dragon just days ago... If I’d known this, I would’ve dyed our attempt for a bit,” Rook whispered, so as to keep the talk away from the others around him.
In response, Tsutomu cracked a dry smile.
“Is there anyone decently capable you could send my way at all? Level no lower than 30, preferably.”
“...There ARE a few that fit those general criteria. Still can’t make any guarantees, though.”
“I see...”
Tsutomu’ disappointed, dropped his shoulders in a dramatic fashion. Then, while changing his ns in his head now that his only option was to look for the people he needed at the Guild, Tsutomu raised his face back up and said,
“I can help teach the Buffer role, no problem. By the way, about your victory over the Fire Dragon — is there any chance you would agree to be interviewed, free of charge, by the two newspaper publishers other than Solit Company? I’d appreciate it if you would do that as part of the aforementionedpensation.”
“Huh? If you’re alright with just that, then we’re happy to oblige!”
“Thank you very much. Oh, but some personnel would also be nice — if possible, of course,” Tsutomu put his hand over his mouth and whispered to Rook, who answered by giving him a thumbs-up.