ch121-ch140 · 126-ch126

Chapter 126: 【Charge・Spear・Magic Up】

"Mind if I ask something? You haven't been using 【Charge・Spear・Magic Up】, right? I'd like to hear the reason why."

Because I never learned it, that's why.

There was never any reason to.

"【Charge Spearman】 is a close-combat job. Raising Magic would be pointless, so I never learned the skill itself."

"I see. Exactly the answer I imagined, delivered right on cue. I'm a little disappointed. ...The truth is, I've recently taken on a rather troublesome patient. I've thought of a treatment for them, and it might apply to you as well. Though it's still at the hypothesis stage, mind you."

"So you can cure it?"

"Hypothesis only. Unlike that patient, you seem able to manage your own case—but if you'll let me collect data, I'll gladly tell you."

"Data, huh..."

I look at Kasumi-san.

Her usual 'mmm-mmm-mmm' mode.

Thinking it over...

"It's nothing major, you know? Your level, your job, and your stats, maybe? Just report those to me regularly. Let me take your blood samples, and I'll treat you. Fair trade, no?"

The level and job are the problem, though.

"Dr. Amamiya, you are a doctor, yes? Then you can keep patient confidentiality, correct? Can you keep it secret from the other doctors as well?"

Kasumi-san said that.

"I'm a researcher, you know. If you asked me from the bottom of my heart whether I'm a doctor, I'd say no. But I understand what you two are getting at. This is my personal research. Haruki-kun's personal information will stay secret from my superiors—my researchers under me as well. So, come now. Deal?"

The doctor's hand creeps toward my leg.

She came armed with a honey trap, but with other women present it has the opposite effect.

"Not happening!"

With a sharp snap, Kasumi-san swats the hand away.

What a shame.

Well, I got the hint anyway, so it doesn't matter, but...

"So what you're saying is, you believe the cause is magic power? My magic resistance is insufficient, so I should just use 【Charge・Spear・Magic Up】. Thank you very much."

【Charge・Spear】 burns MP for as long as it stays active.

MP—in other words, I'm using magic power.

And given that the stat-boost skills can't even be used unless 【Charge・Spear】 is running, it's fair to think of them as enhancements powered by magic.

With base Endurance at 150, and 【Charge・Spear・Endurance Up】 and 【Charge・Shield・Endurance Up・High】 stacked on top of that, I'd already wondered why it was damaging me at all.

I figured it was a side effect on par with an Ogre King's punch...

But apparently what I was short on was Magic.

If magic is what's straining my body, then the 'Magic' stat matters far more than 'Endurance'.

The 'Magic' stat governs not just attack magic but magic defense as well.

The reason 【Holy Knight】 is said to have such strong resistance to magic is precisely because its 'Magic' stat is high.

"Eh? Eh? How did you figure that out?"

Sounds like I hit the mark.

"I knew it. As expected of you, Haruki-san. Now then, Doctor, the exit is this way. Ah, Shiraishi-san—please cast 【Heal】 on Haruki-san."

Sasa-Haru—

Kasumi-san ushers Dr. Amamiya out through the service entrance, practically pushing her along.

"Coming, coming~. 【Heal】, there."

Thank you very much.

When they examine me at the general hospital, they find nothing wrong, so the nosebleed itself seems to be the sort of thing 【Heal】 can take care of.

"Ahh, wait, wait. Miss 【Spear King】. I have business with you as well."

"What is it? If you mean payment, bill the Association for the consultation later."

Kasumi-san is ice cold.

"I want to file Triple-Rank promotion requests. For our newcomer, and for me too, if possible. We're going to be neighbors, so let's get along, hm? Yes?"

Neighbors?

"You're the one who did things that make getting along impossible, Doctor. I am not taking Triple-Rank promotion requests. Even if I could, it wouldn't be until next year. Look elsewhere."

"I told you about that troublesome patient, remember? No danger to their life, but they're suffering. I want to do something for them soon. You heard about it, didn't you? The lab construction application going through means you gave your consent. I'm talking about that patient."

A research lab being built? So that's what the construction was.

So the university hospital's getting a facility in the Chiba Dungeon, huh.

If I recall, police boxes are going up in dungeons nationwide too.

Chiba's open space just keeps shrinking.

Still, what on earth is this 'Kasumi-san's consent'?

"Haruki-san is not an Association employee, so please drop the subject. And my answer on the Triple-Rank promotion request remains no."

Something Kasumi-san is keeping secret from me?

(Hey, hey, what are they talking about?) whisper-whisper

Apparently Shiraishi-san doesn't know either.

(Maybe there's someone with a magic-derived illness, and they'll be admitted to the lab being built here in Chiba? If Kasumi-san's escort is needed, they'd have to be a serious VIP. The Prime Minister's daughter, maybe?) whisper-whisper

Kasumi-san's 'consent'... the only thing I can think of is consent to act as an escort.

She guards them on the days the patient comes in—something like that?

"That patient has low Magic, you see. I thought the problem would be solved if someone cast a Magic Up buff on them, but nobody has one. Well—there is one person. My, Haruki-kun, you're quite sharp. You're a high school student, right? My university—no, any university will do. Why not come join my lab?"

Whispering doesn't mean much inside a dungeon.

Apparently Dr. Amamiya heard every word.

A Magic Up buff, huh...

The lower-rank 【Staff User】 job's buff only works on the caster.

Higher magic jobs are probably the same.

Only buffer-type jobs—not mage jobs—can put buffs on other people.

【General】 is one of those.

And that 'one person' with the Magic Up buff is probably Ao-san.

Even for Dr. Amamiya, is commissioning Japan's number one party that difficult?

It's safe to say that people outside the mage jobs almost never learn a Magic Up buff.

Finding one is too much hassle, so she'll just become one herself—that's what the Triple-Rank promotion request is about.

"Stay away from Haruki-san!"

And with that, Dr. Amamiya was carted off.