ch221-ch240 · 228-ch228

Chapter 228: Anego

"Keep the 'Lilliputian Spear' on you at all times—even when you sleep, please."

"Got it. We're off, then."

Seeing us off is a worried-sick Kasumi-san, as we set out on the newbie's Double-Rank promotion request.

"Off we gooo, ssu!"

The newbie's getup is unusual: the bow and quiver I saw before on her back, and a spear in her hand.

She was always maintaining that bow, so I assumed she was a bow job—she uses a spear too, huh...

"Speaking of which—what are your Jobs, anyway?"

Anego-san asks us.

Maybe this will tell me the newbie's Job?

For the record, Anego-san's misunderstanding remains unresolved.

Mia-san apparently insisted for all she was worth that it wasn't true, but since she couldn't talk about Kasumi-san or me, the effort failed.

In the end, inside Anego-san's head, things settled into the setting that Mia-san and I aren't dating yet but are mutually in love.

That's not resolved at all, is it.

"I'm a 【Dancer】!"

"Heh. Rare one, that. Having one in the party makes a world of difference. But careful—if you lay dance skills on more than five people, you get nosebleeds. Back in the day nobody knew that, and I pushed the girls way too hard... Good times, huh."

"Ehh, really? I'll be careful, then."

This is that "skill overuse" thing Dr. Amamiya keeps talking about.

Besides using skills continuously for long stretches, using many skills at once—like my 【Charge・Spear】 super mode—is bad for you too.

And on top of that, with a skill that applies to many people, like Aikawa's dancing, laying it on more bodies than it was designed for seems to send the strain back into your own body.

Dr. Amamiya might love to hear field testimony like this.

Speaking of Dr. Amamiya and the new hospital—the 'Holy Maiden' is scheduled to come, so I can't go anywhere near it.

With an 【Analyze・HP】 holder coming to Chiba, even walking around inside the dungeon will get complicated.

Well, with a presence that enormous I couldn't possibly miss her—stay alert and I should be fine?

"I'm a 【Staff User】 and a 【Water Mage】... or, um, going to be."

Careful there, Soushi.

Soushi and Aikawa are officially still pre-sub-job, so I'd like them to watch their wording.

I'm the only Double-Rank with a sub-job.

The adventurer the branch manager has expectations for—the one who'll be carrying everyone this trip. That's the setup, anyway.

"【Staff User】 main, hm. Rare one, Soushi. With 【Staff User】 stats, the Forest Ogres of the 20s floors might give you some trouble. But with Natsuki's dancing, you'll manage? Buffers really are something else. Take good care of Natsuki, you hear?"

So far, Soushi hasn't struggled against Forest Ogres at all.

Not that it counts much—his own buffs plus Aikawa's dance buffs are piled on thick.

Normally, because of MP, you're not walking around with buffs permanently active.

I remember struggling plenty back in the day without buffs.

The rental spear got ragged and then broke soon after...

And Soushi has the special skill 【Cooking】, so his weapon enhancement is fully covered, huh...

Isn't Soushi kind of strong?

"Yo."

Come to think of it, Soushi and Aikawa already know Anego-san.

When we went to pick up Aikawa's belongings before, Anego-san and the women freelancing out of headquarters apparently came to help.

Bear Ossan must have had an awful time, buried under all those young women.

Eh? Soushi had a rough time too?

Is that a brag?

"I'm a 【Charge Spearman】, ssu! The strongest romance job there is, ssu!"

"Oh, same as Haru-kun."

Well, what a coincidence.

"Eh? Really, ssu?"

"Yep. 【Charge Spearman】 main, 【Scout】 sub."

"As expected of a rising-star adventurer, ssu. You've got promise, ssu."

The newbie's the one with promise, though.

A beauty with black hair and thick brows—serious-looking, but scatterbrained.

Funny way of talking, and somehow impossible to hate: the newbie, aka Fuyutsuki-san.

Her transfer to Aomori is decided, so we'll be parting soon.

And just when I'd learned we share the same Job, no less... what a shame...

"Hm-m. 【Charge Spearman】, huh. Not a job I hear good things about. MP consumption's brutal, and without MP you can't even use weapon enhancement, right? Doesn't it just get worse the deeper you go?"

"In exchange there's the super mode—a mega-strong move, ssu! And 【Charge・Spear】 is the strongest of them all, high-rank jobs included, ssu! What's YOUR job, then?"

In raw firepower alone, 【Charge・Spear】 outclasses every other skill by a wide margin.

Even with the charge capped at 10 MP, it beats a 【Slash】 that costs the same 10.

The more MP you pour in, the stronger it gets—no ceiling in sight.

The only skills stronger are ones needing 50 high-rank job skill points, like the 【Sword Saint】's 【Dimension Slash】 or the 【Wide-Area Shielder】's 【Dimension Wall】.

"Me? 【Holy Knight】."

"AHHH! She's job-flexing on us, ssu! She asked for our Jobs from the start just to take the high ground, ssu! That HAS to be it, ssu!"

What an outrageous accusation!

And here she'd been holding forth on the "【Charge Spearman】 is strongest" theory this whole time...

【Holy Knight】 is famous as a top-tier capable job—the standard beginner advice is "aim for 【Holy Knight】 from 【Knight】"—except 【Knight】 itself is famously hard to get in the first place.

The 【Holy Knight】's defining trait is high Magic.

No holes in its stats, and the total sum is said to beat even the 【Sword Saint】.

Its MP pool rivals the magic jobs', so skills are always usable.

At the 【Knight】 stage you can already learn the basic shield skills and the provocation skill, so it can play the shield role too.

Its weapon enhancement is supposed to be sword, but with stats that high, the sub-job decides what weapons it can handle anyway.

And with a magic job as sub, it can even act as a magic job at range.

If it has a flaw, it's that the 【Holy Knight】 itself has no magic among its learnable skills, I suppose?

"The hell? All I did was say my own Job—why am I catching this much flak? What is WITH this kid..."

"It's fine, ssu. I'm becoming a 【Spear Saint】 at Floor 30, ssu—so I'll let her have the high ground just for now, ssu."

︙

︙

"Oh, a goblin."

"Leave this one to me, ssu."

The newbie plants her spear in the ground, draws the bow from her back, and takes aim.

The arrow that leaves it nails the goblin square between the brows.

Impressive stuff.

"And the spear? What about the spear?"

Anego-san fires back.

Soushi and Aikawa charge the remaining goblins.

"I'm using the bow en route, for my sub-job's sake, ssu."

"What kind of logic is that. What about the 【Spear Saint】, hm? What about it?"

"First comes drawing my target sub-job at Floor 20, ssu. The 【Spear Saint】 can wait its turn, ssu."

I don't know about waiting its turn, but with archery this good without even a job, the 【Bow Saint】 might be closer for her than the 【Spear Saint】.

"You're not jumping in, Haruki? I'll hold the luggage if you want?"

I'm carrying all three of their packs besides mine, so both my hands are full.

"No—part of the point is letting them build experience."

"My point is judging YOU, though...... Well, getting stuck as the pack mule and not complaining—that's admirable, I'll give you that."

If I wanted, I could beat a goblin with my legs alone even like this.

My stats are that high now.

But if she sizes THAT up, I'm in trouble, so I want to avoid combat as much as possible.

That's all it is—yet she takes it as a virtue...

No, wait—I'd rather NOT meet her approval.