Chapter 77: CommunicationDay 90

  As the first to wake up and not wanting to disturb the girls, I check my stats.

  Hero hit level 50, so I have yet another job, Champion. [1] The name isn’t bad, but not exactly grandiose. Champion’s skill is called Overdrive in pce of Hero’s Overwhelm. The new skill sounds good, so it’s probably an improvement.

  Hero provides a medium boost to all stats, including HP and MP. Unsurprisingly, Champion goes a step higher. It seems obvious to have Errant switch to the bigger INT boost, but I have to wonder if INT has reached its practical limit. Maybe I should switch to SPI. I’ve been assuming that this is Spirit, in the gaming sense, so it should help with magic control versus INT’s effect on magic power. It’s worth trying, though all of my stats might be broken by now.

  The big question is, do I need both hero-type jobs? I won’t know without testing. I’ll start with Champion now and see how it feels. If the difference is great, I’ll try adding Hero to see if everything gets even better. It might turn out that Errant isn’t as helpful as having both hero jobs.

  We’ve been on fairly low floors, so Mage hasn’t leveled. It still feels weird that advanced jobs level just like basic ones, but it’s quite convenient for me.

  [Mage: 51, Adventurer: 46, Champion: 1, High Priest: 45, Wizard: 37, Errant: 36]

  That’s enough fiddling for now since the girls are waking up. Time to get this day started.

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  Alina is teaching Zara how to make breakfast and Roxanne is showing Sima her system of equipment maintenance. Zara and Sima aren’t new to either task, so it shouldn’t take long for them to adapt to our party. Sherry has been crafting with metal for over a week and can make iron swords. She says that it’s much harder to work with metal, so it will take much more practice to move on to better metals.

  Sitting down to breakfast, I see that oatmeal might need to be repced as the standard. We can discuss the options when shopping.

  “It’s nice that the dragons didn’t resist lightning magic. With all of us able to inflict status effects, they weren’t much of a problem. Thanks especially to our strong vanguard, Zara and Sima, for being able to hold them back.”

  They seem a bit embarrassed by the praise, especially when the others join in.

  “I should visit Rutina today. I’ll either go at lunch or maybe before evening. Sherry, I’ll take a few of the extra Cords you enchanted. Rutina has already agreed to a higher price than st time. I like selling to her directly to avoid the auctions.”

  Sherry comments, “Those pces are awful. I’m happy to make items for Rutina.”

  “Also, my brief meeting with the duke yesterday went well. He’ll write a letter for me to marry Mirabel. The duchess was thrilled.”

  Alina asks, “What happened with that weird baron?”

  “Turns out the duke was part of the same organization. Neither tried to arrest me, so it’s probably fine.”

  “Seems risky to use that as a measure.”

  “I guess. Anyway, let’s get to work.”

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  I open a portal back to where we left off. Roxanne continues to lead us to the rger groups and we make our way through without trouble. Lightning magic is awesome. Is Champion better than Hero? Maybe. To be honest, this floor might be too easy to tell, at least with the entire party working together. I should test it out alone.

  Eventually, it’s time for lunch so I take a peek outside. People are here. It’s that Adventurer along with several guards. They aren’t set up to ambush us so we may as well use the normal door.

  “Hello. Are you here to see me?”

  “What? You were inside? We have been waiting for you all morning.”

  “Anything wrong?”

  “No, Sir. I have a message from His Lordship.”

  “Thank you. Do you need an immediate reply?”

  “No, Sir. It is enough that you have received it. Good day to you.”

  He started his chant almost immediately and they were gone.

  “Let’s see what the marquis has to say. Oh, someone named Guye has shown up to ask for Mirabel’s hand.”

  Roxanne asks, “Is he asking for a duel?”

  Alina expins, “The new suitor probably doesn’t even know who David is yet.”

  “The marquis writes that we will continue as agreed. I feel like I can trust him.”

  Alina assures, “The marquis would suffer greatly if he backed out after requesting letters.”

  “Alright, let’s rex and have lunch. I’ll go see Rutina ter.”

  Those guards must have taken care of my daily monsters. Damn thieves.

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  We go back to work and find the boss room in less than an hour — damn, we’re good.

  “The boss is a Land Dragon. It doesn’t fly and is a little faster. We will also face two normal monsters instead of just one. Zara and Roxanne on the boss. Sima and Alina on the left attendant. Sherry and I on the right. I’ll hit them with lightning as soon as they appear, but not while we’re in contact with them. Any questions? Let’s go.”

  I cast two Lightning Storms and stun the Drive Dragon on the right. Alina quickly manages to petrify her Love Shrub so she and Sima help with the boss. Sherry and I continue to bash our pitiful Drive Dragon until it goes poof. The boss follows soon after. I draw out Durandal for the petrified shrub, since this sword really is the best in this situation. It’s worth the minor effort of rearranging bonus points.

  Once I finish chipping away at the st monster, Roxanne asks, “Master, where did that sword come from?”

  “Oh, right, you’ve never seen it. This is a very special sword called Durandal. One of my skills is to make special weapons and armor appear when needed. I have to turn off other skills so I don’t do it often.”

  Everyone is just staring at me, except for Alina who is walking back from a corner of the room.

  “David, I found a crystal.”

  “Fantastic! This is a Dragon Skill Crystal. I’ve never even heard of one of these.”

  Sherry snaps out of her previous confusion and into the next. “What kind of crystal? Did you say ‘dragon’?”

  “Yes, Sherry. Alina just found it.”

  I rearrange my bonus points to normal so Durandal disappears and pce the new crystal in my storage. Sherry is now just staring at where the crystal used to be.

  “David, I don’t know the Dragon crystal’s skill.”

  Roxanne doesn’t seem to care about the crystal.

  “Master, could I see some of those special items someday?”

  “Yes, Roxanne, I’d be happy to show you. I haven’t seen all of the items myself.”

  Alina says, “Right, you don’t really use that sword anymore. I wondered what happened to it.”

  Sherry answers, “It’s made from one of his skills. Remember when Marcus was telling us stories?”

  Alina responds, “So that was real?”

  Off to the side, Zara says, “Boss is special.”

  I’m starting to get lost in all these separate conversations. Time to settle this the old-fashioned way.

  “We’re done here. Let’s go.”

  We exit the boss room to enter the start of the 24th floor.

  We have completed the assigned task, so we can stop here. But, what about this Guye guy? What if he or the marquis cim we were simply dropped here. No, we need to keep going.

  “Roxanne, can you identify the new monster for this floor?”

  “Yes, Master. Half Herb.”

  “They’re sensitive to fire magic, just like the shrubs. Let’s do a little more, just in case. Lead the way, Roxanne.”

  “Gdly, Master.”

  It’s nice to fight monsters with shared sensitivities. Storm spells are effective, but double walls are fun. Monsters who pass through my Fire Wall have a chance of getting stunned by my Lightning Wall. When they do, they just burn there. I enjoy this technique way too much — at least I didn’t use fire when I did the same against the bandit.

  Oh, I’ll switch Errant’s spell to Lightning Wall. Aw, the poor, hapless monsters now have to pass through three walls before getting sshed by Roxanne and Alina. Any that get past them are stopped in their tracks by Zasi.

  This is all great fun, but time to go.

  “That’s enough for today. Let’s go home.”

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  “Great work, everyone. Sorry to just take off, but I need to visit Rutina. Sherry, is your Item Box clear?”

  “Yes, David.”

  I change Sherry’s job, grab the enchanted Cords, change my clothes, and warp to the usual spot outside Rutina’s castle.

  “Hello, I am David Moreau. Lady Rutina is expecting me, though we didn’t specify a time.”

  “Yes, Lord Moreau. Please follow me.”

  Rutina is in her study with piles of papers and fabrics.

  “Lady Rutina. Am I interrupting?”

  “Come in, David. Want some tea?”

  “Sure, thanks.”

  “Alright, David, what’s on your mind?”

  “First, I brought some Cords of Substitution.”

  “Yes, I’ll take as many as you can spare. Marcus and Theo still have theirs, so I should pay for those as well.”

  “No, you already paid for theirs.”

  “Oh, did I? I’m lucky you’re so honest. So, how many can I have?”

  “I have five with me. How many do you want?”

  “So many? That should be enough for quite a while. Thank you. ?Lena, fetch twenty gold coins.?”

  “Just fifteen, Rutina.”

  “David, do you speak Elvish now?”

  “Not very well, though it was enough to fool Mirabel. She thought I was an elf when we met.”

  “Why?”

  “I had a hat on. Anyway, she’s the second reason I’m here. We’re engaged.”

  “David, aren’t you lowering your standards a bit too much?”

  “By social rank, it’s the other way around. Mirabel’s father is the Marquis of Valois.”

  Rutina stands and shouts, “What?!”

  “Please calm your guards before they drag me away.”

  ?Everything is fine?, Rutina calls to the guards, in Elvish.

  “As you might expect, the marquis didn’t accept me immediately. I have to complete a task and he wants letters to vouch for me.”

  “Quite impressive, David. Do you want to bring Mirabel to the ceremony?”

  “Really? Thanks, Rutina, that would be great. I’ll ask her tomorrow.”

  “We’ll need to seat you at a secondary table.”

  “Sure, anywhere will be fine.”

  “So, David, I guess you want a letter from me, right?”

  “Yes, if you wouldn’t mind. Sorry to ask when you’re so busy. Of course it can wait.”

  “Actually, it would be better to wait until I can sign with my title.”

  “Ah, yes, that’s good. By the way, I also asked the duke for a letter. He was careful to expin that he will not call me diplomatic.”

  “That’s wonderful, David. Uncle’s support will have serious weight.”

  “I’m guessing that your letter should be calm and impersonal, right?”

  “Yes, David, I know these things. I am an actual noble, after all.”

  “Thanks and sorry if that was rude.”

  “No more than usual. Now, I should get back to work.”

  “Anything I can do to help?”

  “No, not unless you could help with this paperwork.”

  “Sure, no problem.”

  “Really? Then, could you check the numbers?”

  I sneakily switch Errant to Merchant. Its Calcution skill is even faster than using a calcutor so I can zip through the stack.

  “All done.”

  “Seriously? How did you do that so fast?”

  “A special trick. Anyway, I’ll get going now. See you in a couple days.”

  I grab my money and follow the guard to the gate. This feels like twenty gold coins.

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  “Welcome home, Master.”

  “Thank you, Roxanne. Happy to be home.”

  “Dinner will be ready soon.”

  Yes, this really is home. Is Mirabel really going to be happy in a pce that revolves around me? Can a noble make that transition? Speaking of transition, who is this Guye guy anyway? Does Mirabel know him? Is he a pest or a former love interest? I won’t politely bow out at this point, but I don’t like the idea of her pining for him ter. Look at me getting jealous with a house full of women, three of whom adore me, one curious and the st is at least on good terms. Well, letters have been promised, I’ve completed the required task and we still have time to get through an extra floor. I should be fine.

  Sitting down for dinner, I start yapping as usual.

  “The discussion with Rutina went well. I stayed longer than expected to help her with some paperwork.”

  Alina asks, “David, how do you know how to do noble work?”

  “Actually, I just checked the numbers, not the contents. I wonder if I should make an abacus. Better yet, have someone else do it.”

  “David, you’re drifting again.”

  “Anyway, how are the nguage lessons going?”

  Sherry answers, “I don’t think more will be needed. They just need to practice.”

  “Zasi, should we stop with Brahim?”

  Zara answers, “Yes. We speak better now. Still learn.”

  “Alright, just ask one of us for help if needed. Anyway, I’ll meet Mirabel at noon tomorrow and go with her to Valois Territory.”

  Roxanne asks, “With a guard?”

  “Alina, what do you think?”

  “I agree and Roxanne is the best choice.”

  “Alright, Roxanne, you can come with me. Sherry, if the library is open, would you like to go there?”

  “Yes, it should be open and I definitely want to go. I could do some more research on tier five and maybe find something on dragon skill crystals.”

  “I thought so. Alina, Zara and Sima, it would be nice if the three of you could do something together. The only catch is that I want you to stay away from Curatar since the big sve auction will be held there.”

  Alina asks, “Any suggestions?”

  “How about going to Elven Territory? You can be the guide.”

  Sima responds, “I want to see elf.”

  Alina asks, “Wouldn’t I be intruding?”

  Zara answers, “No intrude. We all go.”

  “Great. With that all set, I want to speak to Zasi for a moment.”

  I give Sherry a Caterpilr crystal and ask her to make a new Cord of Substitution since I just sold all of our extras.

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  “Zara, Sima, I’d like to crify a point in your contracts. You do not have to share affection with me, not even on shell days. That’s what we agreed on, regardless of tradition or my retionship with the rest of the party. But, if you do want or need my affection, I will gdly share. You may decide together or individually. I don’t want to cause trouble between the two of you, but both are free to choose.”

  Zara says, “Boss, only shell day, please.”

  “Alright, Zara. I’ll make an effort to be avaible for you on shell days and not seek your affection at other times.”

  “Sima, you seemed to enjoy watching us st night. You may continue to peek, come in for a closer look or join us.”

  Sima looks really embarrassed. I guess she didn’t realize how obvious she was.

  “The two of you seem to want different things. Please discuss this with each other so there’s no misunderstandings. I will allow any reasonable solution, as long as the two of you don’t fight too much. Is that understood?”

  “Yes, Boss,” they answer together.

  I go upstairs and Sima follows a moment ter. It was a good move to get the explorer bed.

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  [1] The LN calls Hero’s advanced job Great Hero, which isn’t great. The WN’s name transtes to Brave or Champion. I chose Champion because it works better in English.